𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 (𝐢𝐢𝐢) | ✔

sixteen

┍━━━━━━━★━━━━━━━┑
sixteen: worth it
┕━━━━━━━★━━━━━━━┙

     Juliette walked out of the barn and into the green paradise that was the camp. All around her, people engaged in different activities but all she could think about was what had just happened. Her hands travelled to her own waist, where Ricky's fingers had been not too long ago, making her unable to think properly. She could still feel his touch, her skin burning at the remembrance. 

     "Hey," someone greeted her, breaking her chain of thought. "Is everything okay?"

     "Um, yeah, sure," she nodded, Ben's blue eyes feeling as if they could read her mind. "Just a hard rehearsal."

     "Do you want water? Something to eat? For me to beat someone up?"

     "Some water would be nice," she told him, with a look that spoke more than a thousand words. In just some minutes, he was sitting by her side, handing her a bottle of water, the door of the barn still closed near them. 

     "Do you want to talk about it?" the boy asked, putting a hand on her upper arm. Juliette did not even move, she was too focused on keeping her breathing steady.

     "Honestly, I would rather not," she half-laughed. "I don't even want to think about it."

     Their eyes moved towards the door once their heard it open, only to see a boy standing there, his eyes travelling to Juliette's arm. Ricky seemed about to step into the barn again. "I didn't know you were... um..."

     "It's okay," Ben told the boy, taking his hand off Juliette and standing up, "be my guest. I'll see you tonight, then?"

     "Yeah, sure," she smiled, waving him goodbye as Ricky moved closer to her. 

     "Are you okay?"

     "Yeah, it's just... that was pretty intense, back there," Juliette breathed out, her whole body relaxing as Ricky took a seat near her. 

     "I told you we could... I'm sorry if I..."

     "No, Ricky, you... you didn't do anything wrong," she clarified. "We got carried away, both of us."

     Neither of them knew how to act around each other anymore. Juliette could not stop moving, unsure of what to do. Having Ricky so close made her want to reach for him again, feel his touch again like she had felt it mere minutes ago, especially after longing for it for so much time. Just when she thought she was getting over him, she found herself wondering what would have happened if they had been left alone for two minutes back there.

     "At least we gave them the show they wanted," Ricky looked at her, a hopeful expression on his face. "But I need to know you're okay."

     "I am. I just... when I agreed to come to camp, I didn't think having to flirt with my ex-boyfriend for the cameras went with it," Juliette attempted to laugh. Ricky's eyes travelled to her own. "But we're actors, that's what we have to do, right?"

     "Yeah, right, acting. And, for what is worth, I thought you were amazing back there. You know... vocally. And stuff."

     "Vocally, yeah."

     After some seconds of silence, Ricky spoke again: "and, um, I meant what I said back there. You looked beautiful in that costume. Well, you've always been beautiful, don't let anyone say otherwise."

     "Thank you, Ricky," she smiled at him, not showing her teeth. "That really means a lot."

     "What are friends for?" he returned the gesture, his eyes not leaving hers, his voice lowering. The moment, however, was soon interrupted by Jett, who asked them to come inside for a final shot. Ricky stood up and showed Juliette his hand, the girl's eyes travelling to his silver rings. "Let's give them the final act, then?"