Hopelessly Devoted ☆ Pierre Gasly

III

"...this is your father's fault! I hope you realise what you have done, Juliette. And I really hope your father will see what kind of arsehole he is!" Claire, the mother of Juliette, hissed and lowered her eyebrows.

"Don't fucking involve dad," Juliette sneered and pointed at her mother. "I totally get it now why he wanted to divorce you, why he wanted me to move to England with him."

"You are such an ungrateful woman, unbelievable." Claire was shaking her head and looked disappointed at her daughter.

Juliette arrived at the neighbourhood barbecue a few hours ago in Rouen, France. The barbecue was in the park in the centre of the neighbourhood. It looked nice, luckily the weather was pleasant as well. Kids were playing football on the field, adults were talking and laughing. Everyone was seated on picnic tables. There were good vibes, until a collision happened between Juliette and her mother.

Although Juliette grew up in this neighbourhood and knew many people, she felt like she ended up at the wrong party. It didn't feel like this used to be her neighbourhood. People were holding back from talking; even a smile was almost too much to ask for. She promised herself she would try to stay, because it might get better.

But it didn't get better. Juliette walked around with a fake smile on her face; she tried to stay positive and even tried to socialise with old neighbours. Of course, it didn't go well. There was a reason for that, and Juliette knew the cause; some incidents happened in the past. Also, someone was trying to be cool and interesting by talking behind Juliette's back, her mother Claire. Claire wasn't particularly shy or afraid to express her feelings about things towards other people.

"Why did you even invite me over if I'm such a pain in the arse to you? You keep talking behind my back, and you don't even seem happy to have me here." Juliette tried to get answers. "Because it took me five hours to get here, I drove five fucking hours to be here at your stupid barbecue. I have worked for two weeks straight, I have made long days. You won't even appreciate that I'm here. I don't know why I keep thinking you will accept me for once."

Claire took a deep breath. "I was trying to be polite. I never thought you would show up, since you never show up. I even question if you even remember that your family lives here."

"You were trying to be polite," Juliette snorted. "That mission completely failed." She grabbed her bag and was standing in front of her mother. "You know what, keep believing I am wrong, keep believing I'm the black sheep of this family, but I am not. It was my biggest mistake to believe you changed. Au revoir."

Juliette stepped away from her mother, scanning the area. It was utter silence on the field; everybody was listening to the fight Juliette and Claire had. Juliette lowered her eyebrows and shared some angry looks with her old neighbours. She didn't really care about the negative assumptions all those people would get; they already had negative opinions about Juliette, and nothing would change that.

Her eyes fell on a group of young adults, young adults she knew well. Two of them used to be close to Juliette. Sara and Pierre didn't show any emotion - unlike the rest of the group, but they didn't react to it either. They honestly were surprised to see Juliette at the barbecue; they didn't expect her to be here. They were even more surprised about the situation. But what is Sara doing at the neighbourhood barbecue in Rouen? She doesn't come from Rouen.

Juliette opened her car and stepped in. She refused to be angry; her mother was not worth it. A deep breath entered her lungs, and she closed her eyes. It was a complete mistake to show up. For a moment, she just sat in her car, doing nothing. Until her phone rang. Juliette opened her eyes and accepted the call.

"Good afternoon, Toto," Juliette said and cleared her throat. She started the engine of her car and made sure the call was connected to handsfree.