Having already put in a third load of laundry, Juliette finished folding the last of Uncle Andy and Jude's clothing. She always washed the boys' and girls' clothes separately. It was not a necessary thing to do, but she had gotten into the practice of doing so because of her mother.

   One lazy weekend afternoon, Rose Wakelin had said quietly, with a mischievous smile, "Ew, we can't mix the boy and girl clothes together, right? Let's keep them separate so the girl clothes can get really really clean." Young Juliette, her two front teeth missing, replied with a dramatic squeal, "Eeee! Yes, Mama! Gross! Keep them separate!"

   Rose knew exactly what to say to get her children to help with the household chores. From that point onward, Juliette helped her mother with the laundry almost every weekend. She was Mommy's Little Helper, and she beamed at the title.

   Juliette cleaned almost all of the surfaces in the house with a mixture of water, baking soda, and vinegar just as her mother had done. She had fun adding different essential oils to the mix as well. Today she added drops of lemon and lavender into the spray bottle. After wiping down the newly cleaned out fridge, she continued over to the counter tops and table tops and soon the entire common area of the house smelled faintly of lavender lemonade.

   "Phew! It's freakin' hot in here!" Juliette said to herself, wiping at her misty forehead.

She had opened all the windows in the house after her family had left earlier, but the morning coolness outside and accompanying breeze had completely passed. She closed the windows and switched on the air conditioning. After taking a long swig from her water bottle, she began making all the beds in the house.

Cleanliness and order was a constant gift that Rose gave to her family with love. Juliette strived to keep her mother's memory alive with every folded shirt and every spotless surface. She had committed herself to doing as much as she could and as often as she could for her household over the summer. Once college began, she knew the house would not be as neat and orderly as it usually was, and she found that a little upsetting.

   Jude's bedroom was in the basement. When the Wakelin family first moved in, none of the children dared to sleep down there, and Andy did not have the heart to leave them alone during the night on the floor above. The basement bedroom was vacant for over a year. Andy slept on an inflatable mattress in the living room, with the glow and hum of the television on at a very low volume.

   Sometimes, Andy would wake up to the tiny, muffled snores of Lenny, snuggled up close to his side, along with Jude and Juliette sprawled on the couches above, blankets and limbs hanging over the cushions. Once the twins began high school, Jude took possession of the basement, and Andy moved into Jude's old bedroom.

   With a roll of her eyes, Juliette shoved Jude's indigo and white tie-dyed comforter off of his bed and shook out his sheets. As she laid his sheet back out and tucked in the corners under his mattress, she looked with annoyance at the state of his room.

   "What a slob!"

She picked up the clothes he had on the floor and tossed them hurriedly into his hamper. A small package of condoms fell out of one of his pockets. She stepped backward, with a jolt, as if she had just seen a spider.

   "Well, Jude-ster, nice knowing you're safe, bud."

She let out an exasperated sigh, picking up some scattered empty glasses and bowls before leaving his room. She made sure to give his door a good, swift kick after closing it behind her.

   After putting Jude's dirty dishes in the sink, she made her uncle's bed, and then walked into her sister's room. As she walked towards Len's bed, she thought she spotted her sister's laptop open and glowing in her peripheral, but when she turned to look it was closed and on top of Lenny's desk as usual. She furrowed her brows, shook her head, made her sister's bed, and then stood with both of her hands on her slender hips in the middle of the bedroom.

"I need a break!"

   She walked the few feet to her own bedroom, discarded her sweaty shirt and pajama shorts into her hamper, and put on her bathing suit, a bright yellow halter top one-piece. Before exiting her room, she gave her long hair a quick brush, tossing it back up into a large loose knot with a hair clip. She also grabbed her sunglasses and a long beach towel.

   The pond behind their house, thankfully, did not appear to be swarming with mosquitos just yet. She laid out her towel and then sat with her legs straight out. Her hands soon strayed past both sides of her towel. She twirled the long blades of grass with her fingers. Juliette let out a pleasant sigh. She was not nervous about her upcoming freshman year of college. She was not excited about it either.

   Uncle Andy had told her that the sky was the limit, but instead of taking out a loan and following a fanciful dream of attending a college like Sarah Lawrence, or even a more realistic one of attending the University of Georgia, she only applied to one place, Blanesville Community College.

   Juliette kept telling herself that she was the sole owner and manager of her intellect and future. She did not need a fancy degree to tell her she was intelligent and worthy. She did not need a fancy degree to dictate whether or not she would be deemed successful in life. She was content in knowing that what she really wanted to do was to simply help others. She would find her own way in her own time. There were countless ways, after all, to be of service to others.

   She moved onto her stomach and perched her head on top of her crossed arms. Her turquoise colored sunglasses had round-shaped frames and were accented with teeny tiny pineapples on each side. They were a birthday gift from Lenny that she had kept and used for the past three years.

   She closed one eye, then opened it, and then she closed her other eye, and then opened it. Juliette did this several times. The lovely picturesque scene of wildflowers and faint rippling of the pond before her shifted playfully in her vision from left to right, left to right, left to right. Over and over. Suddenly, without want or need, an image of a man she saw at the grocery store earlier last week begun playing in her increasingly overheated mind.

   "Ugh!"

She returned to a seated position and sat criss-cross applesauce, as her elementary school teachers had taught her. She placed her hands in her lap and straightened her back. It felt as if the harder she tried to deny it, the more it grew, unashamedly and deeper within her.

   She had always been attracted to the opposite sex. During the past year, however, this attraction grew and grew, far beyond what she thought she was naturally capable of controlling.

The man from the grocery store had to have been older than her uncle. He had a clean-shaven face and eyes the color of ocean water. She imagined what it would be like to be wrapped up in his strong, tanned arms. Rolling around on the pink sands of an isolated beach. Looking at his full, parted lips with longing and hunger.

"Ugh!" She swatted at a fly that zoomed past her face, or was it a mosquito?

It was not just the azure-eyed man from the market, though. There was also the man she stood behind at the movie theater with Lenny two weeks ago. He was her height, and maybe only a few years older. She really could only see the back of his head and body, but that was enough.

He had these tiny hairs on his neck that glistened under the bright lights of the theater. She noticed his toned muscles shift under his shirt as he bent down to scratch his knee. His behind in his fitted jeans did not skip her attention either. He looked like the athletic type.

   What if she surprised him after a game? He would take his water bottle and pour it onto his hair and face. Shaking his head from side to side, opening his eyes and laying them upon her sweetly sunset-bathed figure. She is wearing a flowing dress, his favorite one, seashell pink with spaghetti straps that keep sliding off her shoulders. He begins eyeing her up and down with a wicked grin.

"Ugh!"

Juliette then stood up, tripping over a rock while doing so, and bent over to grab her towel. She removed her sunglasses and unclipped her hair. It fell in long and glimmering waves down to her waist. She draped her blue towel over the crown of her head to block the almighty heat. Feigned restraint and composure covered her face as she allowed her fingertips to barely graze the petals of some long-stemmed wildflowers on her path.

   She comically likened the Virgin Mary as she walked slowly back toward the brick house with a fresh, sun-kissed glow. The burgeoning glow within her, however, radiated even more. It had the power and light to outshine the sun.

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A/N:
Hello, delightful reader!

Juliette is one of those quiet ones, you know?

Did you like spending the morning with her?

Or is there someone else you wish to spend your time with? ;)

If you love wallflowers or wildflowers, please vote and comment...or if you're just plain wild!