𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄
𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒

DREW smiled as he watched Juliette interact with Chase, the two standing in the kitchen of Madison and Mariah's house, laughing to themselves over a giant pot of boiling pasta noodles.

"Stare long enough and you might be able to count the hairs on her head."

Drew chuckled and glanced over at Madison, rolling his eyes at her teasing. "I like her a lot, by the way. She's very easy to get along with, and she's damn funny." Madison smiled and took a sip of her wine. Drew nodded in agreement, "Yeah, she's pretty funny, huh?"

Juliette gasped, following by an obnoxious laugh, which caught both Madison and Drews attention. Juliette was bent over in laughter, Chase leaning back against the kitchen island and clutching his stomach from how hard he was laughing.

"Asshole!"

"It was an accident!" Chase managed between laughs, Juliette turning towards Drew with a smile, "Your friend is a fucking klutz." The front of her apron was drenched in cold water, and it had bled through onto the girls pretty baby blue sweater and skirt. Drew couldn't help his laughter at the sight, hiding his smile behind his beer bottle. "I'm not refilling that pot, and also I'm not cutting your potatoes for you. Suck on that, Stokes." Juliette giggled, peeling the soaking apron over her head. Juliette huffed dramatically, looking up at Madison, "Where should I put this, hun?"

Madison placed her wine glass on the dinner table with a smile, reaching out to take the apron, "I'll toss it in the wash. There's a towel cabinet in the master bathroom, in our room. You're more than welcome to go in there and dry off."

Juliette's shoulder slumped and she squeezed Madison's elbow, "Thank you so much, Madison." Madison nodded at the shorter girl, disappearing into her house as Juliette approached Drew. "Gonna go dry myself off, I'll be back."

Drew nodded, reaching down to grasp her hand, "I'm sorry he spilt water all over you, you look so pretty tonight." Juliette's cheeks warmed at the compliment, teasingly rolling her eyes, "I'm gonna go get dry."

She gave his hand a squeeze before slipping past him to walk up the stairs. She found the master bedroom immediately, admiring Madison and Mariah's abstract art and decor style before sliding into their bathroom. Pulling out a towel, she began wiping and dabbing at the bottom of her sweater and top of her skirt eagerly.

The doorbell rang from downstairs, making Juliette perk up and begin drying faster. She didn't want to seem stand off-ish to his friends, nor did she want to appear as aloof. She wanted a good introduction with a dry outfit. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the open bathroom door, and Juliette spun back to look at Drew, "Hey, sorry, I'm tryna go faster."

"No, no, you're okay. I was just checking on you. Everyone else just got here and Carlacia ended up helping Chase in the kitchen, so it's no rush." Juliette nodded in relief, looking down to continue drying her clothes.

"I meant what I said though, downstairs. You look really beautiful."

Juliette looked up at him with a smile, continuing her movement against her dress, "Thank you, Drew. You look very handsome tonight." Drew chuckled, stepping closer to her. "My friends really like you." Juliette grinned happily at that, "I love your friends, seriously. They're all so much fun, and so nice! It's so rare to find such a tight-knit group of friends that are genuinely good people in this city."

Drew chuckled and nodded in agreement. He watched her slip her tongue between her teeth in concentration, staring at the almost dry spot on her skirt through the mirror. A small smile etched itself onto his face, and he took another step closer to her, now pressing his hip against her side.

She glanced up, smiling brightly at him before tossing the towel on the counter and looking forward. Her eyes met his in the mirror before glancing at the now small wet patch on her stomach. "I think that's as good as I'm gonna get right now."

Drew nodded, reaching a hand up to cup her cheek. Juliette paused, breath catching in her throat as she stared up at him. Drew smiled down at her, running a thumb across her cheek before nudging his head in the direction of the door, "Let's get down there, yeah?"

Juliette playfully scoffed as he pulled the hand away, "Tease." Drew laughed and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the bathroom, "You're the one who said slow, Carter."

Once downstairs, Juliette noticed how crowded it had gotten in the maybe 10 minutes she had been upstairs, living room and kitchen now filled with several more people and their partners.

Madelyn saw Juliette first, the blonde rushing over to the singer and throwing her arms around her neck. Juliette chuckled, keeping her hand locked with Drew's while using the other arm to wrap around Madelyn. "You came! I'm so glad you came!" Juliette smiled at the girl as she pulled away, and nudged her head in Drew's direction, "I'm not too sure this one would've let me stay home."

Madelyn nodded, looking behind her as laughter entered the room from the hallway. "Hey!" A curly haired girl smiled when she saw Drew, throwing out her arms and wiggling two sets of heavily ringed fingers.

Drew laughed in surprise, releasing Juliette's hand to approach the girl, "Dess!" Drew chuckled, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and squeezing. "I thought you didn't get back for another 2 days!"

"I got an earlier flight!" She laughed loudly, pulling away from the tall man. "Hey," He mumbled, stepping back and reaching out to Juliette. She awkwardly stepped forward, smiling brightly at the new girl.

"This is Juliette. Juliette, this is Odessa."

Juliette reached out a hand to Odessa, the curly haired girl giving a small glance down at Juliette's hand then back up at the blonde. Her frown quickly morphed into a large smile, "Hi! I'm such a fan!" Odessa pulled Juliette into a hug, shocking the blonde. She hugged back before pulling away, "It's so nice to meet you!" Juliette smiled widely at Odessa.

"Carter!"

Juliette turned to Austin, smiling up at him as he leaned down to give her a small hug, "Long time no see, North."

"Hope you've still got those beer pong skills." Austin joked, but Madison released a tut of disapproval and shook her finger at him as she approached, "This is a classy dinner, Austin. No beer pong allowed." Austin chuckled his teeth, "Good to see you, Juliette. Just one game?" He called out, trailing after Madison, making Juliette chuckle at the man's reaction.

Juliette turned towards the kitchen, where Chase was staring down at a pot of spaghetti sauce, "I'm gonna go help Chase, he looks like a lost puppy." She smiled up at Drew, who nodded and reached out to squeeze her hand, "I'll see you in a bit."

The group began sitting down at the table, taking seats beside their significant others and friends. Juliette and Chase giggled amongst themselves as Chase carried a large bowl of spaghetti over and Juliette followed with a plate of their homemade garlic knots in one hand and a large chicken salad bowl in the other.

"Woah, Juliette. Do you need help?" Rudy stood slightly at the sight of the small girl carrying obnoxiously large bowls, but she clicked her tongue at him and shook her head, "I was a server in high school, I got this, thank you, though." She smiled brightly at him and placed the bowls down in the middle of the table.

When she turned, she noticed Drew watching her with a smile as she re-entered the kitchen behind Chase. "Got the potatoes?" Juliette asked Chase, who nodded and grabbed the large tray.

Juliette smiled, happy to have formed a bond with the actor. He was good company and a fantastic comedian. She was happy to have formed friendships with all of them, really. They were all so great and accepting, and she found herself in lack of great friends in that city. She loved Noah and Sadie with her whole heart, but with Reena in another state filming and her other few actor friends filming in other places as well, things tended to get a little lonely.

She grabbed the tray of roasted brussel sprouts in one hand and the bowl of meatballs in the other, making her way back into the room just as Chase settled the roasted potatoes in the table.

She placed them down gently, wiping her hands clean before removing her apron and placing it on the breakfast bar separating the kitchen and the large dining room. "That's all of it." Juliette grinned, thanking Chase for his help and squeezing his arm before walking over to where Drew sat. He had saved the seat to the right of him, and Juliette sat down between him and Carlacia.

Madison stood to her feet across the table and raised her glass of wine, "So, before we eat, I wanted to say a few things. First, thank you to, Juliette, Chase and Carlacia for cooking tonight, everything looks so beautiful and smells divine-"

"That's because they're Juliettes recipes." Chase teased, sipping his beer. Madison chuckled and went back to her speech, "Second, thank you to my fellow OBX costars for these amazing past few years. You've all truly changed my life and I'm so grateful. We finished filming season 3 two months ago and I miss it so much already. I wanted to put tonight together as a thank you and also as a celebration of three whole seasons. A lot of shows don't get this far and I'm so excited to continue this journey with you guys. And I'm also excited to have so many new friends going into next year." Madison smiled over at Juliette, the blonde smiling widely up at her.

"Anyway, I'll shut the hell up because I know all of you dogs are hungry."

Madison sat down, the table erupting into claps and cheers at her speech. "It looks amazing, J."

Juliette smiled over at Drew, "Thank you. I hope it tastes as good as it looks."

"It tastes phenomenal."

Juliette looked over at JD, who sat at the head of the table shoveling spaghetti in his mouth over a full plate of food. Laughter bubbled from Juliette, the blonde rolling her eyes and turning back to the table.

The bowls of food were being passed around, dining room filled with lively chatter and conversation. She sat in silence as the food approached her, the girl smiling gratefully at Drew as she took the bowl of spaghetti and placed a small portion of it on her plate. She didn't want to overeat and get bloated, and she didn't want to feel guilty and then feel the need to go to the gym in the morning.

She passed the bowl to Carlacia, the last person to receive the food, before serving herself small portions of each of the foods until she was satisfied.

"I didn't know you were a server in high school." Drew mumbled loud enough for her to hear, the blonde nodding happily and peeling her eyes away from her plate to look up at him, "Yeah. Before I turned 15, I asked my dad to buy me a new guitar for my birthday, but the one I wanted was too expensive. So I got a job at this restaurant close to my school. I worked for a year to save up enough for the guitar and some recording stuff. Turns out my dad actually did buy the guitar and gifted it to me on my 16th birthday."

Drew slowly smiled at that, "That's awesome. Do you still have it?" Juliette smiled excitedly, "I write and record all my songs with it." Drew quirked an impressed brow at that, "I'd like to see that sometime. Your recording process."

Juliette blushed, not only at him wanting to see her record her songs, but at the thought of him hearing the song she'd been writing. Writing about him.

She didn't have a name for it yet, but it was incredibly horny and she would be mortified if he heard it this early in their...relationship. "Yeah, yeah, that'd be cool."

"Juliette!"

The blonde looked up at Elaine across the table, smiling at her, "Yeah?"

"Tell Rudy that story you were telling Madison and I earlier!"

Juliette laughed as she squeezed Madelyn, pulling away from the girl with a smile, "I'll text you my schedule and see if any of our days line up for coffee!" Madelyn grinned and nodded in agreement, "Yes, please do!"

Juliette stepped back and pulled Madison into a hug, thanking her for inviting her and letting her cook, before moving to Mariah and giving the tall girl a side hug, thanking her as well for welcoming her into their home.

"Drew! Can you take me home tonight?"

Juliette glanced back as Odessa approached Drew, quickly turning back around to say goodbye to everybody else.

They were all standing outside the house, cars on and doors open as they bid their goodbyes to each other.

Juliette smiled at JD and squeezed his arm before turning towards Drew with a smile. "Ready to go?"

Drew nodded and gestured his head towards Odessa, "I told her I'd take her home as well, that okay?"

Juliette beamed and nodded at the girl, "Yeah, of course, absolutely. I don't mind at all."

"Sweet, less'go." He clapped, giving JD a fist bump and smiling at Maddy and Mariah, "Thanks again, guys. I'll see you later!"

Madison and Mariah waved at everyone before disappearing back through their front door.

Drew rushed ahead of Juliette as they approached his car, unlocking the vehicle with his key fob and opening Juliette's door for her. Her cheeks colored at the action, smiling up at him and placing her hand on the corner of the car door, "Thank you."

He smiled down at her, watching as she sat down in the passenger seat and waiting for her to get settled before closing the door for her.

He went to go around to the drivers side, but when he looked up Odessa was approaching the car. Hesitantly, he reached forward and opened the back door for her, "Thanks, Drew." She meekly smiled up at him, sliding into the backseat and closing her own door.

Quickly, he ran around to the driver door and hopped in, smiling over at Juliette as he started the engine.

"You can drop me off last, Drew."

Drew turned to look back at Odessa, lips turned in a lopsided smile, "Well I was gonna drop you off first, Juliette lives around the corner from me."

Odessa's face fell, and she nodded quietly and buckled herself in.

Drew took off down the street, reaching down to grab the aux cord and holding it out to Juliette.

She smiled and reached over to take the cord from him, fingers brushing against his as she did so.

The ride to Odessa's was quiet, not uncomfortable, but not totally pleasant either, the soft sounds of Juliette's playlist filling in the silences between small talk.

Drew slowed to a stop in front of a quaint apartment building, turning back to smile at Odessa.

"Thanks for the ride, Drewski." He nodded at her, "Yeah of course. Anytime, Dess."

Odessa smiled weakly at Juliette as the blonde turned back towards her, "It was lovely to meet you!"

Odessa nodded, "It was nice to meet you, too, Juliette. Have a good night and drive safe. Text me, Drew." Juliette frowned at the girls lack of the excited enthusiasm she had earlier in the night.

That's when she started thinking about it.

Odessa was attached to Drew's hip as often as she could throughout the night, constantly starting up conversation with him when he was talking to Juliette, plus the obvious disappointment when Drew declined dropping her off last.

As they drove down the streets of LA, she attempted to gather the courage to say something about her suspicions. She had learned after Griffin that when she has questions, to speak up and not let them simmer. After about 10 minutes, she sucked in a breath and looked over at him with a smile, deciding screw it, "So..."

A small smile crept up on his cheeks and he glanced over at her, humming in acknowledgment. "You and Odessa?"
His face fell for just a moment, confirming Juliette's suspicions. "You caught on to that, huh?"

Juliette nodded with a small smile.

"Yes, but no." He mumbled, left hand that was gripping the steering wheel tightening against it briefly, "We never dated. It was just kinda...casual. She's one of my best friends, and it was fun for a while. But she wanted more from our...situation, and I just didn't feel that way about her. We agreed to stay friends."

Juliette hummed and looked out the windshield, "Okay. I was just wondering."

"Does that...make you uncomfortable?"

Juliette shook her head with a smile and turned her head to look at him, "Not at all. She just seems like she isn't over it, yet. That's all." It did make her slightly uncomfortable, but she had no right to judge him for his choices or who he was friends with.

Drew reached his right hand out, softly grabbing her left hand and leaving their intertwined hands in her lap, "Well I'm over it, and I'm not interested in her. I'm interested in you."

Juliette blushed as they stopped in front of her apartment complex, "Well, that's good to know." She stared down at their hands, right hand tracing invisible lines over the man's hands. "Want me to walk you to your door?"

"No, it's okay. I'll be fine. Thank you, though."

He nodded nervously, running his thumb over her knuckles, "Uh, can I see you again tomorrow?"

Juliette sucked in a breath and looked over at him, "I gotta get into the studio to record a couple songs, we could hang out after that. Or if you're still willing to spend a couple hours watching me sing songs we could do that too."

Drew grinned widely and nodded, "I definitely still wanna see you record a song." Juliette hid her blushing cheeks from him and nodded, "Okay, I'll text you the address of my studio and what time to be there. It'll probably be a little early, though."

"Eh, I'm an early riser, anyway."

Juliette chuckled and released his hand to grab her purse from the floor of his car, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Drew nodded, grabbing her hand again to stop her before leaning in quickly to place his lips against her cheek. She chuckled, opening the car door and stepping out.

Her lips pulled to the side with a last second decision, turning back around and leaning her knees against the seat, placing a kiss against his cheek before jumping from the car and shutting his door. "Goodnight!" She giggled nervously, waving at him through the open passenger window.

Drew giggled, actually giggled, waving at her at she spun around and walked quickly towards the building. He waited, watching as she greeted the doorman, the burly man nodding down at her with a smile while opening the door for her. He could see her through the windows, waiting until she was safely behind the doors of the visible elevator before driving off toward his house.

liked by drewstarkey and 98,516 others
juliettecarter dinner at madison and mariah's ; as seen from the disposable camera that i found in madelyn's car

thank you for letting me take control of your kitchen madisonbaileybabe ❤️
October 11th, 2022

user the queen has resurfaced for her monthly post

madisonbaileybabe after the dinner you & chase made you can use our kitchen to cook us dinner anytime 💀❤️
-juliettecarter ily ❤️ (i will be taking you up on that offer your kitchen is beautiful)

user juliette casually dropping not 1 but 2 photos with drew in it 🤭

smittynoah praise her cooking all u want, but this bitch CANNOT cook scrambled eggs 2 save her LIFE
-juliettecarter DONT TELL THEM THAT  ! THATS SO EMBARRASSING 😭😭

user so she meets drew at a premiere and suddenly shes included in his friend group ?? 🤨🤨
-user ur just salty bc its not you
—user true

madelyncline she's hot AND she can cook ? marry me plz
-juliettecarter u don't have to ask me twice 💍👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏼

jonathandavisofficial if this was ur cooking for a normal dinner i can't wait for friendsgiving 🥳
-juliettecarter im gonna blow ur mind dnt you worry 🤯

user this new era of hers is giving🤭

reenakay i so desperately miss your cooking i can't wait to come home
-juliettecarter ill fed-ex you some meatballs 😉

This chapter's dedicated to Rina because she saw Sabrina Carpenter in concert recently and I'm so happy for them (i'm crying with jealousy ily rina 😭🫶🏻🫶🏻)
stuhhhhlinski