The Scientist

Chapter 3. holly jolly pop-bangers

Eliza tolerated London at winter only because she got to see Emma. Those were always sneaky meetings, that they planned for months in advance over the phone. She kinda hated that they had to be so secretive about meeting each other, and Emma was still so little. Well she was like thirteen or so but that was very little for Eliza, but she didn't want her to get in trouble with their mother.

So they had been doing this for about a year or two. It was fun. They planned a weekend when Emma would claim to be going to a sleepover with a friend of hers and since their mother didn't give a fuck she never got caught. Eliza in the other hand just said to her father that she needed a day or two for herself and that she'd be back by a certain date.

And Eliza would book them a hotel room. Emma always waited for her in the train station and they exchanged a long and wholesome hug whilst Eliza would fight back tears. Then they would walk to the hotel and Emma would explain about everything that was in her mind, and Eliza would listen carefully. She wanted to know everything.

Eliza would check into the hotel. They would go up to their room, unpack, get all dressed up and go out to eat dinner and gossip. Then they'd watch a movie or two. Saturday was the wild one. They always went shopping on Oxford street. Eliza would keep an eye on the clock, she didn't want to be out on the streets too late on a Saturday night, not when it was just the two of them. So they'd go back to their hotel room and order pizza and fries and watch more movies or series and have a fashion show with all the clothes they had bought.

They did one of these weekends at Spring, one at Summer and one before Christmas. It was now the Saturday of the weekend before Christmas and Eliza guarded their bags in a restaurant table while Emma was in the restroom. She was exhausted.

Eliza texted Juliette.

Juliette was her guilty pleasure. But the very thing about Juliette was that Eliza didn't feel guilty about things with her. And sure it sounds pretty bad if you think about it but... she needed it. They had met a year ago on the Oxford Street and Juliette had asked Eliza out to dinner. It had been a really expensive restaurant that neither of them couldn't actually afford. But Juliette had stolen his boyfriend's credit card (after finding out that he was cheating) and paid their evening with it.

On that moment Eliza had kinda fallen in love with her.

And they were a pretty iconic duo. Juliette was reckless beyond her own safety and one of those people who everybody just fell in love with. She loved the way Juliette didn't judge if she swallowed her pain down with some shots or just paced into nothingness whilst she would paint her nails on Eliza's lap. And they danced. In night clubs that they managed to get in, in Juliette's bedroom, in her kitchen. Juliette made Eliza feel okay and in return she intimidated away every guy who wanted a piece of them. Because they did sometimes play with men and then they run away, back to Juliette's place and kissed each other to sleep.

They only met on those weekends and on rare occasions (one time they had gone to Paris together but that's a different story), and Eliza was cursed with the knowledge that they weren't an end game. Juliette had had plenty of affairs with girls but had no interest in actually dating one. Plus she wanted a "traditional marriage", and kids. And Eliza knew that even if she'd be an exception, the idea of being somebody's long term partner scared her. And for at least as long as she was that messed up she didn't want kids. Which seemed to be a deal breaker.

And they were both only seventeen.

On Sunday morning Eliza held her breath as Emma went back to their mother.

In the evening she went to dinner with Juliette and was again swept away by her perfection.

When the night fell they fell more in love under the influence and shared the world in all it's terror and beauty.