CHAPTER NINE   ౨ৎ    Lovesick
"Can we pretend that nothing's changed at all?"

It'd been a couple days since the entire 'let's-pretend-to-be-friends' thing and Juliette hated to admit, but she was indeed right. Nobody cared to ask anything more (except for the occasional 'are you guys back together').

Which they weren't! Obviously.

And Paige couldn't explain how wrong that felt. 'It was your fault'! She knew. Did she regret ending things? Maybe. Is that 'maybe' a lie? Maybe!

        Yeah, currently they were... pretend friends? Now, was her bringing up the 'being friends' proposal a way to have contact? Yes, of course! But she couldn't lie to herself and say she didn't wish they were more because she did. Again, it was her fault. And she'd do anything to fix what happened between them.

Except things were so beyond ruined for them that she didn't (and couldn't) bother trying to make it better, to make things right. Because, like she said, she couldn't. Paige was aware, more than aware, of where Juliette stood. She practically avoided her like she was the plague.

That said more than words ever could in her opinion.

It screamed, 'I hate you'! Or, 'I want you dead'.

Oh! Moving past that. The blonde slumped in her chair. Running a hand through her ponytail with a sigh. They both had a flair for the dramatics, but that's what made them uniquely them.

What was she even saying?

Paige would be lying if she said she didn't have to remind herself that it was just a lie. Forgetting that she couldn't just text her like an actual friend would, or call, or hang out. That it was just an excuse to avoid any future accusations, or well, any drama in general—

"Okay, get up." KK's voice brought her out of her head, her eyebrows pinching together in confusion. "You've been moping for hours, get up. Ice wants to go to Target."

"I wasn't even moping, what are you on about."

        Pursing her lips, Ice walks into the room and leans against the doorframe. "What've you been doing for the last ten minutes?"

        "Sitting and thinking?" Paige answered.

        Both Ice and KK shoot each other a look before replying, "Yeah, Moping."

        "You guys are actually annoying," Getting up, she swiped her phone from off her bed and faced them. "Do you guys want to go to Target or not, because I'll sit back down."

        "Okay, I'm going. See? Slip on your shoes, I'll be in the car." Ice spoke, lifting her hands up in a 'i-surrender' type of way while exiting the room.

The sound of the front door opening and closing filled her ears. Stepping into her slides, she lifted her head up to see KK staring at her with her arms crossed. "What?"

"Nothing. Can I not stare at you?"

Scrunching her face, Paige shook her head.
"No, that's weird. You're weird, now let's go."

She laughed, throwing her head back. "Oh, whatever. I'm waiting on you, you're saying 'let's go' but you're not even ready."

"I am now. So, let's go." Paige grumbled, pushing the girl out of her room by her shoulders.

( Real Life Continued . . . ! )
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

        "Hear ye, hear ye!" Clementine started, grasping the girls' hand. Juliette having to place a hand on both hers and Loreleis conjoined hands since she did unfortunately only have two hands. "Did you guys hear that?"

        Giving each other curious brows and confused glances, they all shake their head. "No? What did you hear?"

        "A voice saying it's Amara's turn to do the dishes." With that, she releases everybody's hands and goes to sit on the couch. Draping the blanket over her legs, she grabs the remote and turns on the TV.

        "What the fuck? That's it?"

        Clementine nodded, a smile on her face. "Yes! It's come to my attention that it's been mostly Lorelei doing them, so! It's your turn."

"I literally did them last week," Amara defended, "Lorelei barely does them!"

"Hey now. Don't lie? Clem's right, I haven't seen you do them at all. You've probably done them once! Which was the time you said you did them. Last week." She cut in, placing her hands on her hips.

As the two continue to bicker, Juliette pats their shoulders and takes a seat on the couch. "What are you planning on watching?"

"YouTube—" Her voice comes to a halt when she sees something that catches her attention. "What a coincidence! You and Paige have just become friends and that's the suggested search bar. A sign!"

'UConn WBB Compilation'. "Hah-hah, very funny." Juliette murmurs, "How about some Corpse Bride instead!"

        "You don't want to take a small peak at it?"

        "Take a peak at what?" Both Amara and Lorelei ask in unison, apparently done with their small unsure-why-it-even-started argument as they make their way towards the couch.

        Juliette throws her friend a pointed glare, but Clementine couldn't care less when she begins to speak. "There seems to be a compilation on YouTube of your—"

        "Clementine!" She interjects, voice high-pitched. "There's no need to do all that, there's just a compilation of our literal school on YouTube that just so happens to be of the women's basketball team. That's literally it."

        Sparing her one last look, the redhead throws herself on the couch. "Okay, well! If it's just a compilation of our school that just so happens to be of the women's basketball team, then there shouldn't be any problem with us watching it, right?"

        "You guys are seriously so annoying." She grumbles, standing up and grabbing her keys from off the hook. "I'm going for a drive."

        "Oh! Can I come?" Lorelei jumps up.

        Thinking for a moment, she smiles and nods. "You can! You girls can watch it. We will not be attending, thank you."

        In a swift motion, she quickly grabs her shoes, and together they make their way towards the front door. While one of them is already outside, the other promptly turns around. "Save it in the watch history and we can watch it tonight. Bye, love you!"

        "Lorelei, I swear." Juliette huffs, "I'm sick of you all."

        A collection of laughs are heard until the sound becomes muffled by the door shutting, the girl following suit behind her. "Lighten up, Julie! You guys are basically friends now, this is a beautiful moment. Enjoy it, please!"

        "Pretend friends." She corrects instantly, earning a scoff in response. "That's all we are."

        "I love you, but I hope you know and realize how stupid the term 'pretend friends' is. You guys are friends, there's no pretending about it. It's either you are or you aren't."

        Juliette looks over at her, "Hello? Were you not there when I explained what she said? Because you were. She was the one who said we were just pretending. Us being friends isn't real, and nor do I want to be friends with her. It's just a—" She heaved a sigh, "You're thinking too much about it, Lor. I couldn't care less about this situation."

        "Why can't you take hints, I'm sick." The brunette sighs exasperatedly, "I bet the entire 'we-can-pretend-to-be-friends' was fake. Paige could've just addressed it and said you were just talking, that nothing else was going on. But she didn't, instead! She brought up how you can be friends, do friendly stuff that only friends would do, etcetera, why? Because she misses you."

        "See, I was going to hear you out until you said that. The way you're going so far as to say she misses me? Yeah, you're crazy," She paused, "She's the one who ended things."

        "I've heard, so that's why I'm going to hold your hand when I say this," Lorelei whispers, taking her hand in her own. Her tone monotonous, "Believe it or not, people can still miss someone even if they're the ones who ruined everything. Why? Because it means they've realized they were stupid and made a mistake."

        "Mistake or not, we're done. That's final." Pushing open the doors leading outside, she looked over at her. "God, I'm really regretting agreeing to letting you come with me."

        She laughs, a smile breaking out on her face as she keeps their hands interlocked. "You love me! Now how about you go ahead and get me some froyo for telling you something you quite literally needed to hear or else I, and everyone around you, would've gone insane. Sorry, not sorry."

        Pursing her lips, Juliette sends her a quick look before sighing. She knew her friend meant well, but it didn't mean she'd want to consider it a possibility. Not at all. So with a small shake of her head, she spoke. "Right, whatever you say, L. Put the location in my GPS."

        "Beautiful, you're beautiful!"

౨ৎ

Hey!!!! Is the plot lost, maybeThis is just to show how Paige feels because the synopsis literally says how shes determined to fix things w her and I've inserted nothing to back that up so! There's that And then lorelei tells Juliette her thoughts because hello are we kidding she's genius bless.

ALSO. 5K????? I LOVEYOU ALL.

bellita and!!!!!!!!!!! Veración. Okay pls hello I'll come up with something better Soz. I LOVE AND WANT U BOTH. 👋👋💌💭

elena!