Summer, 2000
“What do you think of this dress?” Juliet asked, holding up a summer dress.
He made a face. “Juliet, please. You know how important this is for me.” He glanced at his watch. “We have to go, we’re already late.”
Juliet sighed. “A dress isn’t going to make the difference; I have never worn this one before!”
“Juliet.” His voice was stern. He glance irritated at Juliet, as he adjusted his tie.
“Mark.” Juliet shot back. “I’m wearing this dress.” She scurried into her bathroom and quickly put the dress on, smiling confidently in her mirror.
Mark sighed, turning away from Juliet and looking in the mirror. He let his gaze glance over his outfit. He wore his most expensive, grey, suit, the one he saved for important occasions. He nodded satisfied; he looked great. “We have to go, I can’t be late.” He collected his phone and walked out of the room.
“Just don’t speed; I don’t want to have to call the cops on you.” Juliet joked. She took her purse and hurried after him.
Mark sighed.
“Come on, Mark. I was kidding. You know that. Live a little.” Juliet said, now irritated by the behaviour of her boyfriend.
Mark was silent for the whole drive, which took half an hour, because he didn’t speed. That made then ten minutes late, what made Mark even more annoyed.
“Great. Now we’re late.”
Juliet slapped Mark lightly on the arm, earning her a glare, to which she did not respond. “Alright. If it’s so important, let’s just go in.” He got out of the convertible and slammed the door, cursing when a chip of paint flaked off. “I told you to get that professionally done.” He glared at her, turned on his heel and walked towards the tent. “Why did you bring me here anyway. It’s not my ass on the line here.”
He swung he body around, with fire in his eyes. She knew that look at decided that that was enough. She swallowed and raised her hands just above her waist. “Mark.” She said sternly.
“Because I thought it might work out well to have someone presentable looking to show off to the admissions committee at Harvard Law. But apparently you didn’t feel the need to even try to put yourself together. God, Juliet, it’s as if you are trying to get me kicked out. You do know they don’t usually invite underclassman to this thing. If I’m going to be a Senator by the time I’m forty, I’m gonna need somebody serious. You are so high school, you know that?”
Juliet bit her lip and strutted past him, into the tent, as he pressed the butt of his palms into his eyes. He reluctantly followed her. For how much he seemed to detest her, he’d never leave her.
Mark walked off immediately, to a bunch of older men, all dressed very neat. Everybody was dressed neat. Suddenly, she regretted being so insisting on wearing the dress, she didn't fit in, at all. She let her gaze wander around the room, from the men that were talking animated, to the women that were chatting politely in the corners of the tent. Her eye fell on a man, standing apart from the rest. The man looked up, apparently noticing her gaze. Juliet couldn't help but blush at his intense gaze.
He wasn't dressed as neat as everybody else. He wore jeans and a T-shirt. His brown hair was perfectly in model and his smile made her knees go weak. But, wait. That wasn't supposed to happen. She was with Mark.
She was just about to go walk over and talk to him when he winked at her and moved over to the corner where a pod of attractive woman, who looked to be just slightly older than Juliet, stood.
He sidled up to them and although Juliet couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying, she could tell he was sweet talking them.
Figures. thought Juliet. He’s a player. It’s always the hot ones. She looked begrudgingly over to where she’d last seen Mark and rolled her eyes at his obvious schmoozing.
She walked over to the bar and plopped down. Her attention towards the party waned as her mind wandered. Why did she come all the way to Connecticut for this stupid party for a guy that didn’t even care about her? She was just his arm candy, and she knew it. She just wanted to go back to Miami.
When she snapped out of it, she was surprised to look up and see it was dark outside. She was also surprised to find that the last image imprinted on her mind was not of Mark, but of that guy. The player. She scoped him out in the crowd, and for what felt like hours, watched him flirt with practically every female in the room. She studied him closely while he was ‘on the prowl’; the impish smile, the hungry spark in his eye, the way he scanned the woman up and down, stopping only to settle on the chest area. He’d ask one to dance, then twenty minutes later buying some bottle blonde a drink.
Juliet raised her hand proudly to her loose curls that fell across her shoulders. She stroked a strand, smirking at the natural shine. Nothing from a bottle could look and feel that good.
When she looked up, she saw him standing there, staring at her with his head cocked to the side. She noted that he was not smiling, his eyes- somehow different looking- were trained directly on hers, and his body language was significantly different than that of before. She took a sharp shot of air in, and made a snap decision to play it cool.
“It’s about time. Do you think there is any way you could get me a drink?” He smirked briefly before leaning in closer to her, so he was whispering in her ear.
“How old are you?” She shivered and smiled. His low voice exhilarated her in ways that Mark’s voice never had.
“Twenty.” She said decisively.
“So… eighteen.” He backed away slowly, making a ‘Tss’ noise. She shrunk in her chair, but kept her eyes glued on his. He smirked, shrugged, and continued, “Eh, close enough. What are you… hmm.” He turned to the bartender. “Hey, barkeep, I’ll have a vodka tonic with...” He turned to Juliet for a moment, looked her up and down, and cocked his head back to the bar. “six cherries, and a pineapple wedge? Oh, and a beer. I’m thirsty.” Shawn grinned childishly. The bartender smiled knowingly, but didn’t comment. He retrieved the drinks and slid them down the bar to Shawn. “Thanks Mike. I owe you one.” ‘Mike’ nodded and returned to wiping down his bar.
“Not bad.” Juliet said. He let out a loud breath and plopped down next to her as she sipped.
“I know. So what’s your name? You look like a Maggie, or a Margie, or a Jackie, or Wonder Woman. A blonde Wonder Woman, but still. The resemblance is remarkable.” He took a swig of his beer.
She laughed, and shot a quick glance over to Mark, who was so far from paying attention to her it was laughable. She shook her head. “Juliet.” She watched him roll the name around his tongue, mouthing it, sounding it out.
“Nope.” He shook his head.
“Nope?” Juliet chuckled.
“Nope. Isn’t natural. You’re Jules. Does anyone call you Jules?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Well I do.” Shawn lifted his bottle and she clinked her glass to it.
“And you are?”
“Shawn.” She mimicked him, dramatically mouthing ‘Shawn’ over and over, swishing it around like mouthwash. He laughed genuinely. She smiled, because she made him laugh.
“Shawn. I guess it will work. And how old are you, Shawn?”
“Twenty-five.”
“So… twenty-two?”
“Not bad, Jules, not bad. Speaking of not bad, you look beautiful tonight.” Juliet looked at him as if he was crazy. People hit on her, but not so directly; or in the worst case scenario, much more directly. “What?”
“I underdressed. But thank you.”
“Well, I don’t think so, if it means anything.” She watched him as he swilled his beer, and followed suit.
“You are underdressed as well, are you not?”
“Would explain why I got fired.” Shawn made an ‘Oh, rats!’ gesture, snap and all.
“You work here.” Juliet said, trying her best not to sound disappointed.
“Well, not anymore. Hope you aren’t too disappointed.”
“You are a welcome change from my current situation.” Juliet looked to Mark and shook her head. Shawn followed her eye line a cringed.
“Ouch! You’re dating a suit? Gosh, I expect more from you, Jules.” Juliet chuckled.
“Spencer! Didn’t I tell you to get your sorry ass off of my property?! Shawn’s head snapped up towards the man who was shouting at him, presumably his boss. He stood up, turning to Juliet. “Excuse me, Jules.” He winked at her and walked a good twenty yards away. She watched him walk away and continued to stare when Mark sidled up next to her.
“Where did you get a drink?” Juliet ignored him. Mark followed her line of sight to Shawn. “Who’s he?”
“No one.” Juliet turned to Mark. “Don’t you have some lawyers to schmooze, or something?” She turned her back to him, and he- predictably- walked away.
When Juliet’s attention was back on Shawn, she caught him staring at her. Sensing Mark’s presence, again, she rolled her eyes.
“What?!”
“Seriously, Juliet, who is he?”
“No one.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Summer, 2012
“Hey Mark? Whaddaya think I should wear?” Juliet stared in the mirror, eyeing herself.
They’d broken up a couple of weeks after the party, and gone their separate ways. Juliet dropped out of school and ran around the country for several years, until she ran into Mark Turnov at their high school reunion. Of course, Mark was a few years ahead of Juliet, but he crashed those things every year. Having made it in to Harvard Law School, he graduated with an internship to his Professor Callahan.
Juliet, having been single for the vast majority of their time apart, was somewhat thrilled to see a friendly face. She had clearly romanticized the past, not seeing the controlling, obnoxious man she had ‘loved’ when she was 18.
12 years later, and she was back together with the bastard. And he wasn’t attending the Harvard Law School soiree, he was running it. As a highly successful lawyer at Stidwell, Zyskowski, Fox, and Callahan, he was a success story. She still didn’t understand the point of moving the party to the west coast. Just more costly
“I don’t care, Juliet.” He stood in front of his hotel mirror, admiring himself. When she came out of the bathroom, dressed in a royal blue ball gown, far more similar to the dresses the woman were wearing the first time she went to this thing, she looked absolutely stunning. Her hair was in a complicated up do, and her makeup highlighted her best feature, her eyes.
She looked good, and she knew it. So when he didn’t look twice in her direction, she totally didn’t believe him to be sincere when he said “You look nice.”
She hitched her eyebrows and pursed her lips, shaking her head as she walked past him.
The limo ride there was silent on her end, as she listened to him guffaw with his buddies over the phone.
When they walked into the tent- not touching- Juliet was proud to see that several men’s attention turned directly to her. She looked to Mark for gratification, only to find that he had left her side. She sighed, and trudged over to the bar. “Vodka tonic with six cherries, and a pineapple wedge, please?” She couldn’t where, when, or why she first started ordering the strange concoction, but she liked it. All she knew is that on her twenty first birthday, it was the first thing that popped into her head when their waiter asked what she wanted to drink.
She stared in Mark’s direction. He did have good days. Sometimes he would bring flowers to her house, and they’d share a beer, or something. But that was the extent of his romantic side. She sighed.
Scanning the room, she noticed a specific man in particular. He looked nervous. His eyes were darting about underneath a shock of brown hair. His hands stayed in his pockets, always, although they moved around a lot. He looked awfully suspicious to her. She tracked him with her eyes as he worked his way across the room towards the area where Mark, his friends, and Callahan were all huddled around.
One of Mark’s buddies- Juliet remembered his name to be Shane, or something preppy like that- caught sight of the man, and smiled. “Alex, what are you doing here? I thought you got kicked out of Harvard?” Mark and all his friends laughed. Juliet grimaced, but her eyes widened when the man reached into his suit jacket. She was no expert, but from all the movies she watched, she knew that that was the place to keep a- gun!
“Get out of the way, Shiloh. I don’t want to hurt you.” Shiloh- that was his name!- practically bolted, along with all of Mark’s friends, and Mark. “NOT you, professor.” Callahan froze. “Come back here.” He slowly, painstakingly, turned on his heel to face Alex Burke, an ex student of his, that he had a hand in expelling. “Quickly!” shouted Burke. Callahan practically jumped to his place in front of him. “You, sir, you played a hand in ruining my life. So now, I’m going to ruin yours, or, better yet, take it.”
He was just raising his gun to the man’s head when out of nowhere, a man dressed in a suit tackled him to the ground. “Alex Burke, you are under arrest for the murder of Layna Ryan, Edward Dalton, Michelle Meyer, Timothy Evans, and the attempted murder of Benjamin Callahan.” Several other police officers flooded the area and took the man away. The policeman who tackled Burke shook Callahan’s hand.
Juliet heard him say, “I do recommend you stop sleeping with undergrads who’s boyfriend is absolutely crazy.” Callahan nodded.
The policeman swiveled around in place, taking in the area. Juliet watched him, and there was a spark in her mind. She recognized him. But she couldn’t place his face.
Apparently, he recognized her, too. When their eyes met, there was a moment of mutual recognition, before he strolled over to her.
“Do I know you? I feel like I know you.” He smiled, which caused another spark. She knew that smile, at least a little.
“The feeling is mutual.” He gestured to the chair next to her and she nodded. He sat down and ordered a beer. “Don’t you have a station to get back to? A criminal to book?”
“Something tells me there is an entire precinct of officers lined up for that job.” She laughed, causing a spark in his mind.
“So who is that guy?”
“Ms. Juliet, that is classifi- Juliet! That’s your name.” He grimaced. “Nuh-uh. Jules.” He nodded with a smile, content with himself, and sipped his bear. “Still don’t remember who you are though. What are you doing here?”
Juliet nudged her chin towards Mark’s direction. “My boyfriend is running this thing. The one in the red tie.” She looked down at her drink, and felt another spark.
“What, and he didn’t even match your outfit? Disgusting. What a suit.” The man rolled his eyes, and smiled when Juliet laughed.
“You are wearing a suit, too.” And she couldn’t help but notice that his tie was royal blue.
“Yeah, because I was undercover to catch that wackjob.” As he said this, he removed his jacket from his shoulders, revealing that he wasn’t wearing a long-sleeved suit shirt, but a polo shirt. He loosened his tie, revealing a green t-shirt underneath. Upon further examination, she could see some sort of logo on it. “You, on the other hand… well, you look stunning. I’m literally stunned.”
Juliet looked down at her drink, and a bell went off. She lifted the glass up so it was at eye level. “Shawn.” She turned to him. “Shawn Spencer. You introduced me to this lovely drink, illegally.”
“And then I was dragged off of the premise by force! In Massachusetts, I believe.” They were leaning in closer, each getting more excited that they knew each other by the second.
“Yeah.” She searched his face for any indication of what was happening.
“Yeah.” He did the same, but his eyes lingered on her lips.
“Juliet.” Juliet and Shawn leaned back again.
She didn’t even turn her attention from Shawn as she said, “What, Mark.”
“Who’s this?” Juliet rolled her eyes. He didn’t even appear jealous that a very attractive man was staring hungrily at his girlfriend.
“No one important to you, Mark.” Shawn would have noticed Mark’s obliviousness had he been paying attention.
“Excuse me?” Mark hitched his eyebrows, and nodded hello, raising his glass, to someone waving at him from across the room.
“Bye, Mark.” Mark stared at her inquisitively.
“Bye, then.” He turned to walk away when Juliet grabbed his arm. “Juliet, this is pure cotton.”
“I’m breaking up with you. Yeah.” She nodded to herself, eyes still glued on this Shawn person. “And I’m moving. I don’t know where. But I’m moving, and going to school, and getting a job. Because honestly, I sort of hate you. Only a little though.”
“What? Juliet, why?” Juliet turned abruptly to him, with anger hot in her eyes.
“Why? Why not! Do you see this man?” She gestured to Shawn. “I’m fairly certain he likes me more than you do, and I literally have known him for ten minutes.” She placed a hand on Shawn’s knee. “Excluding that one time, like, twelve years ago.” She stood up. “You, you’re judgmental, and controlling, and for the love of god, do you always need to wear a suit? Bye, Mark.”
“Juliet, you can’t break up with me.” Mark said with a laugh.
“Oh, can’t I?” Juliet straightened and pushed her sternum upwards.
“No, you can’t.”
“Fine.” She grabbed Shawn by the neck and brought his lips to hers.
Although she originally just kissed him to make Mark angry, she soon got into it, and so did he. They had just gotten into a rhythm when Mark pulled her off of him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re embarrassing me!”
“Break up with me, Mark. I’m cheating on you.” Juliet crossed her arms.
“Fine. I’m breaking up with you.” Mark turned on his heel and walked away, unaffected.
“Finally.” She sat down at the bar again. “Sorry about that.”
“I don’t appreciate being used, Jules.” At first, she felt badly, but then he winked, and she smiled.
“Well, you were very useful.” She brushed her fingers over her lips. Best kiss in a while thought Juliet.
“Glad I could help.” They both had their heads down, but they took turns staring at each other out of their peripheral vision.
“I like you, Sha-“ They both started talking simultaneously.
“I like you, Jul-“
“What?” They said in unison.
“I like you, too.” Then, his hands were on her hips, hers around his neck, and their lips were glued together.
Story Notes:
Loosely based on 'Summer of '69' (*Sexual reference!*)
Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey guise. Love ya.
Chapter End Notes:
AAAAAAAAAAALLLTERRRNAAAATTTEEEE UUUUNNNIVEERRSEEEEEEEE.
Happy spring break guise. At least, it's spring break for me. I'm at my beach house in North Carolina, where it is chilly. Good excuse to stay inside and write, right?
K, love you. I'm gonna go write.
Happy spring break guise. At least, it's spring break for me. I'm at my beach house in North Carolina, where it is chilly. Good excuse to stay inside and write, right?
K, love you. I'm gonna go write.
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