𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 (𝐢𝐢𝐢) | ✔

eight

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eight: got it covered
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     Once the bonfire was over and the air was already too cold to stay out, Ben walked Juliette walk to the Honeycomb, not without first running into a very stressed E.J. He explained how, in order to avoid any kind of bias, Val had taken up the task of casting the show herself and not knowing the roles that any of his friends were going to play was killing him inside. Juliette's eyes softened at the sight of the boy who, usually very well collected, could not stop pacing up and down and biting his nails. It took them a while to calm him down but, once he assured them he was okay and was going to sleep already, Juliette hugged him goodnight and walked with Ben to her cabin.

     "Thanks for tonight," she whispered, since her friends would probably be asleep already. "I really needed that."

     "I have been told I'm a pretty good distraction, he laughed. "I loved hanging out with you. Oh, and keep the sweatshirt. It doesn't fit me anymore."

     Cupping her face with his hand, he leaned over and kissed her cheek, making the girl blush. She wished him the same and waited until he was out of sight to enter the Honeycomb silently. She expected for all of them to be fast asleep already but, actually, all of them were fully awake and waiting for her to "spill all the tea" (in Kourtney's words). After assuring them that the outin had been as casual as hanging out with any of them, she was finally able to sleep, much to the disappointment of the rest of the girls

—

     The next day, Juliette woke up to Gina's and Kourtney's screeching. Confused as to what was going on, she sat up on her bed and tried to open her eyes despite all the light entering the cabin. 

     "What's going on?" she managed to ask in between all the yelling.

     "The cast list's up!" Gina exclaimed, making Juliette open her eyes fully. She basically jumped off her bed and ran out.

     She felt that she had done a good job at auditions, even though there were many crazy-talented people there, so she hoped to at least get a secondary role. Juliette's excitement, however, vanished as soon as she saw her name written next to

     "Anna's understudy?" she whispered to herself. She hadn't even been cast as the ensemble. She had no role in the musical.

     Juliette, eager to get out of there as soon as possible, turned around and walked away without looking at any of her friends, who were trying to comfort her. Ricky, however, was not going to let her out that easy and followed her.

     "Talk to me, please," he whispered, putting his hand on her shoulder. Juliette, who could not keep it cool anymore, turned around and hugged him as tight as possible, letting his cologne fill her nostrils and the soft fabric of his shirt get wet with her tears. "Come on, Juli."

     "How can I be such a failure?" she cried into his chest while he kept stroking her back and hair. "I thought I had done great..."

     "And you did great, you did amazing and I'm so proud of you for that. I just don't know why Val made you an understudy," he whispered back. "Do you want me to go talk to her? Or to E.J.?"

     "I just want to stay here, please," she confessed. She was at her weakest at that moment and, as much as she had fought with Ricky, she knew that he was going to keep her safe no matter what. 

     "Let's sit at least," he took her hand and sat down with her far from everyone else, letting her straddle him like they used to do. It was Juliette's favourite way of hugging, and he knew that it would make her feel secure.

     "Hey, Jul." After some minutes, E.J. arrived and sat with them, not without first giving Ricky one of his looks. "I'm sorry about the musical, I... I wouldn't have cast you as an understudy, you deserve a better role."

     "See? E.J. thinks so too."

     "I just talked to Val and she said that she really does want to see you as Anna, that you deserve to be more than ensemble."

     "The problem is that I'm not going to be Anna. Gina is. Because she is amazing and she deserves the role," she turned around to look at him, still hugging Ricky. "I just wanted one last musical with you."

     "And you will have it. We will make this one the best one yet."

—

     Once Juliette had calmed down, Ricky walked her back to her cabin while E.J. fulfilled her duties as director and counselor in training. They barely spoke the whole way there until they encountered Ben and Oliver, who walked side by side. As soon as they saw Juliette's state, they were quick to approach them.

     "Hey, gingerbread. Is everything okay?"

     "Yeah, got it covered, man," Ricky explained, throwing a look at the two boys.

     "You sure? 'Cause she doesn't look that nice," Oliver commented, alternating his look between Ricky and Juliette.

     "Yeah, I'm sure. I know my ex-girlfriend well enough, thank you." 

     The four of them fell silent at that statement, making Ricky regret all the decisions that had brought him to that moment. But, seeing that it was already too late to fix it, Juliette assured Ben and Oliver that they would talk later and let Ricky accompany her to the Honeycomb.

     "Sorry for—"

     "Thank you for—" both of them spoke at the same time as Juliette stood in front of the door of the cabin. Chuckling, Ricky let her speak first. "Thank you for all of that. I'm sorry I put all that burden on you."

     "You're never a burden, Juli," he caressed her cheek, "I was hoping you knew that already. And sorry for the 'ex-girlfriend' comment, it came out twisted."

     "It's okay Ricky. See you tonight? For the Newbie Camp Initiation thing?"

     "Yeah, sure, see you tonight," he gave her a smile and waited until the girl entered the cabin, after which he spent some seconds looking at the spot she had just occupied. Juliette Duchamp was going to be the death of him.