Chapter 4 : The next morning

*Eric*

My head is pounding when I wake up and I regret my choice of beverages from the previous night. I open my eyes to see a familiar room that I haven’t been in for a long time. I try to sit up but find my arm trapped. I look over and see Juliet passed out next to me, using my arm as a pillow. A smile creeps over my face. I didn’t realize how much I missed her until I saw her on the beach last night. And right now, she looks so peaceful and tiny curled up by my side.

I try to slowly pull my arm out from under her without waking her but she stirs at the last second when I pull my arm free. Juliet rolls over and her eyes flicker open. She blinks a couple of times before she focuses on me and her eyes go wide. She bolts upright.

“Ugh,” Juliet groans as she clutches her head. “That was a mistake. I got up way too quickly.”

“Shit, are you okay?” I reach across her to grab the glass of water off her nightstand.

Juliet leans back to move out of my way and then looks grateful when I hand her the water. She chugs for a few seconds before handing it over to me. I take a couple of sips and then it hits me why I woke up. I have to use the bathroom.

“Excuse me,” I say to Juliet and then hop out of bed and quickly make my way to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me for some privacy.

Relieving myself gives me a few seconds to think about everything that happened last night. Part of me is mad at myself for telling her to stop, but the other part of me knows it would have been wrong to continue.

When I return to the bedroom, Juliet is still lying in bed and has her hands over her face. She peaks out from between her fingers when she hears me. Juliet looks so embarrassed that I want to just turn back time and fix things. Or close the distance between us and kiss her until she knows she never has to be embarrassed about anything around me.

“Hey,” Juliet mumbles and pulls the covers up under her nose. I laugh, remembering when she used to do the same thing during movie nights when she was scared and wanted to hide.

“Good morning.” I lean against the doorframe and admire her while she tries to hide her embarrassment. “Do you remember anything from last night?”

“Well,” Juliet murmurs, pushing herself up into a sitting position and rubbing her face. Her curly blonde hair is plastered to the side of her face when she sits up, and she runs her fingers through her hair, trying to detangle the curls. Juliet hunches over, trying to think and her body seems to shrink, as she tugs her hair nervously. “I remember going to the bar and then hanging out with you on the beach. I remember leaving together and coming back here…”

“I poured us each a glass of something old from your grandparents’ liquor cabinet,” I add for her and she nods.

“Yeah, that was not my favorite,” Juliet admits, closing her eyes again.

“Yeah, that was a bad choice,” I agree with her “So, do you remember anything else?”

“Oh, god,” Juliet says after a few seconds. She looks up at me. I raise my eyebrows with a small smile on my face, ready to hear what she remembered. “I like totally threw myself at you, out by the pool, and now, this morning…” Juliet once again trails off, looking over at the space in the bed that was occupied before I got up and the implication that goes with it.

Her eyes go wide when she thinks about what came next.

“Don’t worry,” I say after a second, not wanting to leave her in suspense for too long. “We didn’t do anything. I mean we did make out for a while but I could tell you were too drunk to know what you were doing.”

“Oh. Was it a bad kiss?” Juliet tilts her head looking at me. She looks so pretty and vulnerable sitting in bed looking up at me, her big blue eyes wide, waiting for confirmation.

She brushes her hair behind her and the curls spiral down her bare back. When she pushes her hair back, she knocks the strap of her sundress off her shoulder and uncovers more of her pale, freckled skin. The neckline of the dress also dips down, exposing the top of one of her breasts.

My eyes follow the slipping fabric and I remember the first and the last time I had my hands on her. My mouth on them. I quickly jerk my eyes back up to hers. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to notice me staring.

“Oh, no. It was great. Very, very good,” I respond quickly, trying to reassure her. “Better than when we were in high school.”

Juliet blushes at my comment and I clear my throat. I shouldn’t have brought that up right now.

“Sorry.” I wave my hand, dismissing the thought. “That made it sound like we had sex. We didn’t, just to clarify, we didn’t have sex,” I inform Juliet and she looks relieved.

“Oh, okay. Good,” Juliet mumbles.

I watch as she gets out of bed, still fully clothed in yesterday's outfit. She stands up and wobbles a little. I reach out to stable her, gripping her arm gently. “You okay?”

Juliet takes a second before she stands up straight. She looks up at me and we hold eye contact for a few seconds too long. I think I see something in her eyes but she looks away quickly. I let go of her arm, still warm from the bed.

“Yeah, thanks. So, uhm, I’m sorry but I haven’t gone grocery shopping yet so I don’t have anything to offer you for breakfast,” Juliet says, rubbing her eyes again.

“Oh, it’s no worries. My go-to hangover cure is at a stop on the way home, so I’ll just swing by and grab that. Anyway, I should get out of your hair,” I tell her and step around to grab my phone off the bed where it must have fallen out of my pocket.

“It was really great running into you,” Juliet says and I hear the sincerity in her voice. “I’m sorry we didn’t stay in touch the way we said we would. But I’m glad… I’m glad we’re back together. I’ve missed my best friend.”

“Ah, yes. Best friend,” I repeat. When she said she was glad we were back together, I got my hopes up. We were never together as a couple but we did share a lot of firsts. “Oh, speaking of best friends, how’s Kat? I haven’t seen her since she left for college and her mom moved.”

“Yeah, she’s great. She is actually coming to visit at some point while I’m here,” Juliet smiles thinking of her best friend. She looks around the room and catches the time on the alarm clock. “Oh, crap. Is that the time?”

“Ah, yeah. Guess we both slept in a little,” I chuckle a little at her reaction.

“Oh, no, sorry to be so dramatic. I just have a schedule I’m trying to stick to,” Juliet explains as she leaves her bedroom. “It worked for me in college and I just have so much work to do here.”

“Oh, it’s fine. I get it. You have a lot on your plate, and a timeline to stick to.” I follow her down the hallway and into the living room. “Oh hey, I think I left my jacket out by the pool,” I say, and Juliet comes outside with me.

She grabs our glasses off the table and practically glares at the liquor bottle. I chuckle and she shoots a look at me as well. I lift my hands in surrender and she shakes her head but I can see a small smile on her face. I grab my jacket off the chair we made out on then follow Juliet back inside.

“Do you mind letting yourself out? I desperately need to shower. And I also need to wash my sheets because of all the sand we brought in. I always forget that the sand here practically clings to your clothing,” Juliet chuckles and I let out a laugh. “It’s nice hearing your laugh again. You have such a great laugh.”

“See, you paused before saying ‘great’, so I feel like you really mean ‘unique’. Which is never a good thing,” I tease Juliet and she rolls her eyes at me but laughs as well.

“No, no. Hush. Yes, it is definitely unique but it’s great,” Juliet laughs as she reassures me. “So, hey, last night was fun. We should definitely hang out again, and catch up some more. But preferably when I am sober, or at least soberer than I was last night,” Juliet chuckles, embarrassed again.

“That sounds great. I’ll text you, yeah?” I pull on my coat and head to the front door. Juliet follows me to the door and we kind of dance with each other trying to figure out how to say goodbye. We end up awkwardly hugging.

“I’ll see you later,” Juliet says, giving me a little wave before she goes back down the hallways toward her room.

I watch her disappear around the corner before I open the front door. The bright light blinds me and my head starts to pound. I groan as I head down the steps of the porch.

“Eric?” A familiar voice makes my head jerk up. I look over and squint in the brightness to see Logan walking toward me.

“Oh, heyyy man.” I give a little half-wave and hope I don’t look too trashed. “How’s it going?”

“Uh, I’m fine. What are you doing here?” Logan walks closer, his boots kicking up the gravel between us. He comes over and we greet each other. “Do you know Juliet?”

“Yeah. You remember me telling you about the best friend I had from childhood up until college?” I ask and Logan nods. I gesture back toward the house. “That’s her. Just ran into her last night. We hadn’t spoken in like two years.”

“Must have been nice to catch up,” Logan says and I sense some tension. “So you ran into Juliet at Craters?” Is he jealous? How does he know Juliet?

“Yeah. I actually have to get back there because I left my boat at their dock. I don’t think they’ll mind but still, I should probably go get it. So, what are you doing here, man?” I ask to cut the tension.

“Ah, well I’m here to go over the contract and hopefully get started on the renovations today,” Logan explains and I nod my head. That makes sense.

“Oh, you’re the contractor for her renovations?” I ask just to say something even though that is pretty clear.

“Yeah. Well, the house’s renovations, to be clear, not Juliet’s,” Logan laughs awkwardly. “Juliet doesn’t need any renovations,” Logan adds, and then red spreads over his cheeks. “That sounded weird.”

“A little bit,” I agree. “But we’re gonna move past it.

The front door creaks and we both look over to see Juliet coming out of the house. She’s dressed in fresh clothes and her hair is still damp from a shower. I didn’t realize I had been talking to Logan for that long. She stops on the porch when she spots Logan and me standing together.

“Oh, hello,” Juliet says. She looks shocked to see Logan and myself still standing in her driveway.

“Juliet,” Logan and I both say at the same time.

“What’s going on here?” Juliet narrows her eyes at us. “Do you two know each other?”

“Yeah,” I say but don’t expand on the answer.

“Okay, neat.” Juliet looks back and forth between us again. “Well, I have to run some errands. Logan, before I go, do you have the contract?” Juliet steps off the porch and confidently walks over to Logan.