What could you possibly see in me?

Is it my soul hung out to dry?

I think my dysfunctional family

Has shaped it throughout my life

~*~*~*~*~*~

Thursday, May 12, 2019.

I went back to the cafeteria, hoping my parents and aunt and uncle were still there, and hoping they weren't mad at me for leaving them there for so long. Just when I wanted to go inside, Hanna and Caitlin walked up with Kal.

"Hey, guys," I said. "I thought you'd be back already by now."

Caitlin shrugged. "Henry said Kal likes long walks, so we went on an extra-long walk."

Hanna pulled me into a tight hug. "And I wanted to give you some time to recover. Are you all right, babe?"

I smiled. "I'm fine. Henry proved himself to be surprisingly good at handling my attack."

"Tell me everything later," Hanna mouthed. Then out loud she said, "Well, let's ask your parents' permission to turn you into a movie star."

We went inside and found my family still sitting at the two tables we'd shoved together. Mom smiled as she saw us approach. "Hello. That was quite a long walk you guys went on."

"Yeah, sorry, Anna," Hanna said. "We were just having too much fun with Kal."

"Where's Henry?" Dad asked.

"He went to talk to Ryan, the director," I explained as I sat down. "Speaking of, I have a question for you, Quentin and Lorene." They raised their eyebrows questioningly at me, and I felt Caitlin tense up nervously beside me. "Henry thought it might be fun to have Caitlin and Hanna in the background of the scene we'll be filming this afternoon. You know, as extras? But seeing as Caitlin is still underage, we'd need parental permission."

"I really want to be in Juliette's movie," Caitlin said, giving her parents her best puppy dog eyes.

Just like I'd expected, Lorene nearly swelled up with pride. "Oh, I think that'd be magnificent, having our daughter play in a movie. Don't you think so, Quentin?"

Also just like I'd expected, Caitlin's father was a lot harder to convince. "I don't know, Lorene..."

"It'd be fine," Hanna said. "I'll be right with her, and she won't really have lines anyway, so the focus won't be on her. The focus will be on Henry and Juliette."

Lorene's face fell at that realization, but Hanna's words seemed exactly the thing that convinced Quentin. "All right then. If she really wants to, she can be a movie star for a day."

"Are you sure you can't give her just one line?" Lorene asked. "I'm sure she'll be a great little actress."

Trying my hardest not to grit my teeth in irritation, I said, "Honestly, it'd be entirely up to Ryan. We don't even really know if he's allowing them in the background yet. I mean, I think he'll say yes to them being in the shot, but them having actual lines? I'm not sure."

"We don't need lines, do we, Caitie?" Hanna asked. "All we really want is a front seat to watching Juliette and Henry do their job, right?"

Caitlin nodded. "Yeah, that's right. I don't need to say anything, Mommy."

Lorene sighed. "Fine. But I do think you'd make an amazing actress."

"She'd be an amazing anything, but what matters most is what she wants," I said sharply, and Lorene quickly shut her mouth.

"Good job," Hanna mouthed at me, making me smile.

Henry walked in (wearing a black T-shirt this time), and Kal, who'd been lying by my feet, jumped up and ran to greet his owner. Henry bent down to pet him with a smile and looked at me. "Have you asked them yet?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I have. They said yes. What did Ryan say?"

"He's gonna have Hanna and Caitlin play with Kal on the grass field in front of us while we sit on the bench. He thinks it will add to the 'cuteness' of the scene," Henry said, throwing up air quotations.

I laughed. "I suppose it kind of will, though."

"Anyway, we should probably head into makeup. Shooting starts in an hour."

I nodded. "Yeah, all right. Do you guys wanna come? I mean, it'll be a tight fit in that trailer, but I think it'll be fine and I'm sure Ella and Marie won't mind."

The eight of us headed to the makeup trailer, after Henry had made a little detour to drop Kal off at his trailer. As expected, Ella and Marie didn't mind the extra company at all. I made the proper introductions, and as my family watched, Ella and Marie started working their magic on Henry and me.

Halfway through, Ryan showed up to meet my family, and I made the proper introductions with him, too. "Juliette, do you only have gorgeous family and friends or something?" Ryan joked, bumping me with his elbow. Ella hit him on his arm with her makeup brush for nearly making her mess up, and Ryan laughed. "Sorry, Ella. But to be serious again, they'll be perfect for the scene. Ella, Marie, would you be okay with putting some light makeup on these two as well?"

"No problem," Marie said just as she was nearly done finishing up Henry's hair.

"Good," Ryan said, turning to leave the makeup trailer again. Just before he stepped outside, he paused and turned back to us. "Meet me at wardrobe once you're all done here, yes? We'll search for something good to wear for these two."

"Ryan..." Henry started. "I think we'd better leave the outfit picking up to the professionals. You hardly know how to dress yourself, let alone a seven year old girl."

"You'd better watch yourself before I choose one of your worst scenes for the final cut, Cavill."

"Go right ahead. I have no bad scenes," Henry joked back.

Ryan grinned mischievously. "You'd be surprised, Cavill. I guess you'll just see your worst scenes in the bloopers."

"You'll be adding bloopers then?" Hanna asked hopefully. "'Cause I'd actually pay to see those."

"I'm not sure yet, but I am thinking about it," Ryan told her honestly. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it, and I'll see you guys later."

He left for real this time, and Ella and Marie went back to work. Once Ella was done with my makeup and hair, I excused myself and retrieved my phone from my pocket. I dialed a familiar number and waited for him to pick up, hoping he would awake by now.

"Ah, look who it is," he said, and I couldn't help but smile at the sound of his jovial voice. "My favorite ex-employee."

"Hey, Harvey."

"How you been, Juliette?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing, Harv. Hanna told me what happened."

Harvey sighed. "That damn girl can never keep her trap shut, can she? Don't worry, Juliette, I'm fine. I'll be good to go back to work in no time. Actually, I'm good to go now, but the doctors are forcing me to stay in the hospital for a couple more days."

"Harvey, please promise me you'll take it easy? I know how important that restaurant is to you and how much you love it, but your health should always be number one, okay? A heart attack isn't just something you can shrug off."

"You worry too much, my child. Really, I'm fine."

"I swear, Harvey, I'm sicking Keegan on you to make sure you're gonna take it easy. And if I hear from him that you aren't, I'll sic all the others on you, too."

He laughed loudly. "All right, all right. You know your threats, young lady. I'll try to take it easy, but I make no promises."

"No, Harvey, I want you to promise me. And I'll be calling in, too, to make sure you're keeping that promise. You know how I am when it comes to broken promises."

Sighing, he said, "Fine. For you, I'll be willing to make that promise. I promise to take it easy until the doctors say I'm good to go again. Are you satisfied with that?"

"As long as you keep your promise, yes, I am. And I promise you that when I get back, you and I are gonna do something fun together, okay? I'm missing my old boss."

"And I'm missing my old employee. But I know that you're about to make a name for yourself in Hollywood, and I really couldn't be prouder of you. Kick those haters' asses for me, will you?"

I smiled. "I will."

"Good. Now go back to making out with that hot boyfriend actor of yours again."

I felt myself turn bright red under all the makeup Ella had just applied. "Harvey, not you too! He's not my boyfriend."

"The pictures on the Internet sure say otherwise, sweetheart. Remember, just do what makes you happy, okay?"

"What pictures?"

"You know, the pictures. Anyway, the nurse is coming in now, and she's hot, so I gotta go. Love you, sweetheart."

I shook my head. "I love you, too, you womanizer."

He was laughing as he hung up, making me smile. But as soon as the line went dead, I frowned, wondering what pictures he was talking about. Were there new pictures, or was he talking about those pictures of Henry and me at the beach? I quickly Googled Henry's name, knowing that'd be the quickest way of finding new pictures if there were any to be found. Sure enough, a new article about Henry Cavill and his "mystery girlfriend" had been posted about an hour ago, but at least now they knew my name and that I was starring in the movie Henry was filming right now (I probably had Steph, my agent and publicist, to thank for that).

The pictures were of Henry and me standing outside of our trailers this afternoon, after my anxiety attack. He wasn't wearing his shirt, and the pictures showed him caressing my cheek, us hugging and him kissing my forehead. The pictures did look kind of romantic, I had to admit. And because Henry was shirtless in the photographs, the article was suggesting we might've had sex.

Great. Just motherfucking great.

I turned even redder once I realized Harvey had seen this article. Thinking about Harvey thinking about my sex life was a million kinds of wrong, and I tried to push it out of mind as quickly as possible.

Shoving my phone in my pocket again, I walked back into the makeup trailer.

"How's Harvey?" Hanna asked, her eyebrows raised inquiringly.

"Pretty much just like you said he was. Eager to go back to work and even more eager to shrug off the fact he just had a heart attack."

"Who had a heart attack?" Henry asked. "That friend you mentioned that you heard some bad news about?"

I nodded. "Yeah. My old boss, Harvey, had a heart attack. He's convinced he's good to go back to work, though, which is mostly just very frustrating because I want him to be as healthy as he possibly can be. But I made him promise me he'll listen to whatever the doctors say, otherwise I'm sending Keegan after him."

"You always were the best at convincing people to do things your way," Mom said, a laugh in her voice.

"When you say it like that, you make me sound bad."

"It can be bad. But you only use your amazing convincing skills for good, so it's okay."

I shook my head. "Thanks, Mom."

Things fell quiet again, and I looked at Ella and Marie working on Hanna and Caitlin. Both already pretty much had flawless faces, so they only used a bit of light makeup to enhance their features. I could see that Caitlin was loving it. She wasn't used to being pampered so much, and it was fun to watch her in awe at the whole process. Whenever I visited Jersey those few rare occasions a year, she always asked me to do her makeup and paint her nails. Now that a professional was doing it for her, she seemed to be in heaven.

Once we were done in makeup, we thanked Ella and Marie and walked to wardrobe, a couple yards farther away. Henry and I were given the same outfits we were wearing during our kissing scene, because chronologically, this scene would come right after Amelia ran away.

Hanna and Caitlin, on the other hand, needed something entirely new, and the stylists we had on hand were more than happy to help. Ryan had been waiting there and was giving directions on what type of outfit it had to be, but Hanna and Caitlin ultimately had the deciding hand. Both of them seemed in heaven with all those clothes and shoes. Eventually Hanna decided on a pair of short jean shorts and a lilac blouse, and Caitlin chose a soft pink sundress with a flowing skirt.

"You both look amazing. I feel so simple in this," I said, pointing to my ripped skinny jeans and loose crop top.

"You do look kind of simple," Lorene said, and I gritted my teeth.

"She doesn't look simple," Henry said, and I could tell he was trying his best not to glare at my aunt. "She looks beautiful." He smiled at me. "She always does, whether she's wearing sweatpants or a dress."

I felt my face heat up at the compliments, but at least it shut Lorene up, which was definitely a bonus.

A P.A. went to fetch Kal, and we all walked to set together. "This is really exciting," Mom said, smiling from ear to ear. "I finally get to see you do your thing." She wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer so she could whisper in my ear. "And please, pay no mind to Lorene. She already gave you an anxiety attack today—oh, don't give me that look, I know the signs and I know my daughter—so don't let her afflict any more damage. Not gonna lie, I kind of feel like punching her for all her comments myself." We'd gotten behind the others a bit, and she looked around to make sure no one else could listen in before she said, "But it seems like you've found someone else to protect you. Henry is really sweet and he seems to care about you a lot. Not even mentioning how handsome he is, or that amazing accent of his."

I groaned softly. "Mom, I'm really getting sick of having to say this. Henry and I aren't together."

"That might be so, but you like him. Maybe even more than that. Again, don't give me that look, I know you. I also know you're probably stressing about your feelings for him and his feelings for you, but please don't, love. Don't worry about it. If it's meant to be, it will happen. And if it's not meant to be, you'll find someone even better, I promise you."

I smiled. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too."

We reached the set, and Ryan gave us some last minute instructions. Hanna and Caitlin took Kal a few feet away, sitting down in the grass to play with him. I sat down on the bench that faced them, staring gloomily ahead as I tried to get in Amelia's mindset—which, these days, I was finding easier and easier to do because our emotions were so similar.

Then the cameras were rolling and Ryan yelled, "Action!"

Henry walked onto the grass field, passing Caitlin, Hanna and Kal. Kal raised his head curiously at his owner, but he obediently stayed with Hanna and Caitlin. I tensed a little as I watched him approach nearer and nearer.

"Can I sit down?" he asked, his beautiful voice soft. It reminded me of the voice he'd used when I was having my anxiety attack, and I nodded as I tried to fight the tears. Apparently I was more anxious than I thought. He sat down next to me, leaving a considerable amount of distance between us. We sat there in silence for a bit, both of us staring at the threesome playing in front of us. "I'm sorry," he said suddenly. "I shouldn't have dumped all that on you right after you broke up with Ambrose, and I definitely shouldn't have kissed you. So for that I'm sorry. But what I'm not sorry for is the way I feel about you, because every word of what I told you was true."

I turned to him. "I'm not sorry about that, either," I said softly. It was quiet for a few moments more before I spoke again. "How did you find me here?"

Henry shrugged. "I know you," he said by way of explanation, the ghost of a smile playing around his lips.

I studied him. "You do. You're the only one who does. I'm sorry about running out on you."

He shook his head. "Don't be. I understand."

"I'm not sure you do, though. All my life, I've been terrified. I've been terrified of being close to someone, terrified of giving my heart to someone, terrified they might break it beyond repair. So I always dated guys whom I knew I could never love. But then you came around, and that fear returned, and for good reason. Because you wouldn't just be able to break my heart beyond repair. You have the power to turn it into dust."

Henry scooted closer, holding my hand in his. His thumb stroked soothing circles on my skin, but I don't think he even really noticed he was doing so. "You have that power over my heart, too, you know. But I'm completely willing to take a leap of faith if you are."

I looked in front of me again, looking at Hanna. She wasn't looking at me, but I could feel how much support she was sending me right now. Looking at Henry again, I whispered, "I love you, Noah. I'm sorry it took me this long."

He cupped my face with his free hand, and to my utter surprise, he kissed me, going off script. The kiss was sweet and lingering, and exactly what I needed. It seemed to soothe my anxiety as much as it did Amelia's. "I don't care it took you this long," he said after he broke the kiss. He rested his forehead against mine, maintaining eye contact. "All I care about is that everything is out in the open now. I love you." He smiled. "I love you. I love you. I love—"

Finding the courage to go off script as well, I kissed him to make him shut up. I was supposed to just press my fingers to his lips, but I couldn't stop myself. This kiss was a little more intense than the previous one, making my heart pound even faster than it already was. I laughed elatedly when I pulled away. "I love you, too, Noah."

"I'm sorry," he said, a sheepish smile shaping his lips. "But now that I can finally say it, I can't seem to stop."

"You don't have to. You don't ever have to." My smile falling, I turned utterly vulnerable again. "Please don't ever stop."

He squeezed my hand. "Never." He pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me, and together we looked at Hanna and Caitlin playing with Kal as the camera panned out.

After a few more moments, Ryan said, "And cut! Excellent, guys! Really, just perfect. I love that you went off script and added those kisses. They're perfect for the scene. Absolutely perfect. Let's do a couple more takes, and I want you to keep the kisses in, okay? Hanna, Caitlin, you two were awesome, too!"

Caitlin swelled with pride (I didn't even have to look at Lorene to know she was doing the same thing), but Hanna was just giving me meaningful looks. When we were taking a small break, she took me apart from the others. "Improvised kissing, huh?" she asked, grinning. She tapped the side of her head. "Smart." Her grin widening even more, she said, "Oh my God, though, is it bad if I tell you that I ship you and Henry so Goddamn fucking much? I just—gah!"

I laughed. "Is that really all you can think about? What about my acting?"

"Magnificent, of course. But I knew that already. Really all I can focus on right now is your incredible chemistry with Henry. That sex scene is going to be the bomb. I can hardly wait to see it, and it's not even filmed yet."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "You're excited to watch your best friend pretend to have sex?"

She grimaced. "Ooh, that does sound kind of weird, doesn't it?" she asked, but then shrugged. "Oh well, I don't care. You guys are now my new OTP."

I laughed. "You're weird." I grabbed a bottle of water and joined the others.

"You were truly amazing, love," Mom said, smiling like the proud mother she was.

"You really were," Quentin agreed. "I mean, I sometimes forgot to watch my own little girl, that's how good you were. You're gonna make it big, hon," he said, giving me one of his side hugs.

I smiled at him. "Thanks, Quentin."

"Really?" Lorene asked. "Because I really couldn't take my eyes off my little Caitie. You did so great, sweetheart! You stole the scene."

I rolled my eyes and turned away, snorting at my dad. He was glaring holes in the back of Lorene's head. "It's okay, Dad," I said quietly, so only he could hear.

He turned to me and whispered, "Someday she's gonna go missing and no one will ever find her body."

I laughed, shaking my head. At normal volume, I said, "So what did you think, Daddy?"

"You were amazing, sweetheart," Dad said, pulling me into a tight hug. "You were amazing, too, Henry. I gotta say, though, you have such good chemistry with my daughter that I had to physically restrain myself from walking out there and having a stern talk with you."

Henry laughed, but I did see his cheeks turn slightly pinker. "I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or as a threat."

Before Dad could answer, Ryan called us back into position. I put my hardly touched water bottle on the table and sat back down on the bench, already feeling the excited butterflies in my stomach, knowing I was about to kiss Henry again in just a couple of minutes.

Turns out it took a little longer than a couple of minutes, though, because just as Henry leaned in, his hand on my cheek, Kal chose that exact moment to stop being obedient. He charged at us with a happy bark, and Henry pulled away just as our lips grazed. Kal jumped on his lap with his front paws and licked Henry's nose. Henry laughed, gently pushing Kal away. "You jealous little git," he said affectionately.

"I'm so sorry," Hanna said as she ran up to us. "I tried to make him stay put, but you have quite the stubborn dog."

"Don't worry, I know."

"Blooper!" Caitlin yelled, making all of us laugh.

Still with a laugh in his voice, Henry said, "I'm sorry about Kal, Ry. Do you need us to go from the beginning again?"

Ryan thought for a moment. "No, start from the part where Juliette says, 'I love you Noah. I'm sorry it took me this long.' We'll just leave Kal and the girls out, because we have enough footage of them anyway. Just finish the scene, and then we'll be done for today." Henry nodded in understanding, and Hanna and Caitlin joined the others, taking Kal with them. "Okay, the cameras are still rolling, so just start whenever you're ready."

I stared at the spot Hanna, Caitlin and Kal had been in just a few moments ago as Henry took my hand in his again. I turned to him and whispered, "I love you, Noah. I'm sorry it took me this long."

He gently caressed my cheek with his free hand again and leaned in to kiss me. My eyes automatically fluttered shut as his lips captured mine, my heart going crazy just like it always did when he kissed me. When he broke away again, he rested his forehead against mine and said, "I don't care it took you this long. All I care about is that everything is out in the open now. I love you." He smiled. "I love you. I love you. I love—"

I cut him off by kissing him again. Knowing it was the last time I'd be kissing him in a while, I put more force in the kiss than I had the previous times. I just couldn't get enough of kissing him. But I knew this wasn't about what I wanted, so I pulled away and laughed. "I love you, too, Noah."

We finished the scene without a hitch after that, and my family and Hanna clapped once Ryan cut the scene. I couldn't help but smile at them, feeling my cheeks heat up.

"Excellent work, everyone," Ryan said, a smile on his face. "You're all free to go now. I suggest you go out and celebrate how well this scene went. I sadly won't be joining you, because I have plans with my beautiful wife." He winked and walked off after gathering all of his stuff.

"We should go out," Dad said. "We haven't properly celebrated that you got the part, so now would be the perfect time. We'll all go to a nice restaurant together. Miami should have enough of those. Henry, you should join us, too."

"Are you sure? I would hate to impose."

Hanna laughed. "Would you quit it already, dude? You're not imposing. In fact, I'm pretty sure you'll just offend them if you choose not to go with us."

"Yeah, you should come," Caitlin said, giving him a smile that made her look like an absolute angel. It was a smile I always found very hard to say no to, and Henry wasn't much different.

"All right then, I'll tag along."

"Good," Dad said, his smile widening. "My treat." I saw that Henry wanted to protest, but Dad threw him a look that shut him up before he'd even uttered a word. "None of that, boy. I'm buying, whether you like it or not."

Henry shook his head and gave me an exasperated look. "I see now where you've got your stubbornness from."

I grinned. "It actually runs strong in both of them, which is why I've got double the dose."

"Oh, just blame it on your parents, why don't you?" Mom said, laughing.

I just stuck my tongue out at her.

"Anyway," Dad said pointedly, trying to fight an amused smile, "we'll head back to the hotel to get ready, and I'll try and make a reservation somewhere in the meantime."

I said goodbye to my family after we'd changed back into our own clothes, heading to my trailer with Henry and Hanna once they were gone. We parted ways with Henry when we reached the trailers, and Hanna and I stepped into mine. Hanna would be staying with me for the next coming days, and she'd already put her bag in my trailer. When she went to sit down on the couch, she lifted something off of it.

She raised her eyebrows as she held it up for me to see. "Is this the shirt that Henry was wearing earlier today? Did you two do anything naughty that you conveniently forgot to tell me about?"

I felt myself turn bright red. "Oh my God, no, we did not! I got it wet from crying, and he was the one to just take it off right in front of me. Here, see?" I grabbed the shirt from her and showed her the stains. It had dried now, but the mascara smudges were still clearly visible. "Somehow some paps did manage to take pictures outside of his trailer, though, and they definitely seemed to think we'd just had sex. At least they've started calling me by my name now instead of 'Henry Cavill's mystery girlfriend.'"

"There are new pictures out?" Hanna asked, her eyes wide. "Oh my God, let me see."

"Just Google his name, and then the article will pop up. It was posted just a few hours ago."

As Hanna whipped out her phone, I moved over to my closet, still holding Henry's shirt. It still smelled like him, and the fabric was incredibly soft. I wanted to keep it forever, but knew I couldn't. So I grabbed my own phone and typed up a quick text to him:

You left your shirt here.

His response came quickly:

Just keep it. I've got enough T-shirts anyway. ;)

"Oh my gosh, these pictures are so cute! I especially love the ones where he's kissing your forehead. I wish you two would just have babies together already."

"Oh my God, Hanna, you're getting out of hand," I protested, feeling myself turn red for about the millionth time that day. "We're not gonna have babies together."

"Hey, you never know. I mean, he was really cute with Caitlin earlier, so you know he'd be a great dad." She grinned cheekily. "A great dad to your babies."

"You are impossible. Absolutely impossible. But I do need your help. I have no idea what to wear tonight."

She quickly made her way over to me. She'd always loved the challenge of picking an outfit for me. "Well, you should obviously go for a dress, and it should be sexy for Henry's sake. I mean, he's already way into you, but he still needs to be persuaded into actually making a move." She let her hands slide over all the dresses in my closet. "Ooh, this one!" she said, pulling out the black pencil skirt dress I'd bought on Colin's birthday. Her excitement fell as she reconsidered. "Wait, maybe not. You should keep this until the wrap party and use it as your ultimate power play." I just shook my head as she looked at the selection of dresses I'd brought with me to Miami again. She brightened up as her hand slid over a white dress, and she pulled it out. It was a short-sleeved skater dress with a low round neckline and skinny black belt. The back was as low as the front, stopping just above where my bra would be. "This one. This one all the way. Henry is going to lose his shit."

"It's kind of simple, don't you think?" I asked uncertainly.

She glared at me. "Don't you dare go buying into that crap your aunt was telling you about the other outfit. This is not simple. This is elegant, yet casual enough for a dinner with family and friends, but also sexy enough to drive Henry crazy. You should wear a good pushup bra with it. Oh, and a short necklace to put more focus on your cleavage. Trust me."

"Are you sure? I mean, I get that you're trying to make me look 'hot' for Henry, but don't forget that my family is going to be there. Won't it be inappropriate?"

"Just try it on, and then we'll see. If it's inappropriate, we'll try to find something else for you to wear."

And so I changed into the dress, even wearing a nude pushup bra as she'd instructed. She gave me a floral collar necklace and I put it on. I studied myself in the mirror, nervously smoothing my dress down. "What do you think?" I asked.

"I'm thinking that you look so good I might have to turn gay for you. Damn, girl. And if you don't want to wear this, too bad, because I'm forcing you."

"Fine. But if I end up being ridiculously overdressed, I'm gonna tell everyone it's your fault."

I pulled on some crème colored Jeffrey Campbell Litas as Hanna changed into the pale blue collared skater dress she'd bought the same day I'd bought my black pencil skirt dress. For makeup I kept it quite simple: nude lipstick and bronze eye shadow matched with a cat eye. Hanna Dutch braided my hair back for me, putting the rest of my hair in a messy bun low in my neck. When I put on my jewelry, I smiled as I slid the earrings into my ears. They were studs shaped to look like the Superman logo, and I secretly hoped Henry would like them.

Hanna and I finished getting ready around the same time I received a text from my mother saying they were about to roll up to the parking lot. And so I sent a text to Henry asking if he wanted to meet us outside our trailers, and Hanna and I quickly checked our appearances one more time before stepping outside.

Henry was already waiting out there for us, casually leaning against his trailer. He was looking way too good for his own good (and better than I could handle) in his dark washed jeans and white button down. The shirt was tucked into his jeans, accentuating his small waist and broad chest. It was unfair, really, how good he looked.

Luckily for me, though, he had a similar reaction to me. He stiffened as his gaze swept over me, staring at all the features Hanna had wanted to highlight with this outfit. "Wow, you look amazing," he said, almost in awe. Quickly recovering himself, he said, "You both do."

I felt myself blush. "Thank you. You cleaned up nicely, too."

He just smiled at me. "Shall we go?"

He offered us both an arm and the three of us walked off to the parking lot. We passed Scott on the way, and, seeing Hanna, he whistled. She just winked back at him in response, not saying anything as we continued to walk.

"Is he giving you trouble?" Henry asked as soon as we were out of earshot. "Because I could talk to him if you'd like."

Hanna smiled at him. "It's nothing I can't handle. Besides, I don't mind."

I laughed. "Why do I have the feeling you'll be leaving Miami with his phone number and the promise you'll go out someday?"

"Probably because it's true," Hanna admitted, grinning cheekily.

We reached the parking lot just in time to see my family's rental car driving up. They got out, all dressed up (or as dressed up as my family ever got) and greeted us with smiles.

"Well, don't you all look gorgeous," Mom gushed.

"I wanna have a dress like yours, Juliette," Caitlin said with an adorably wide smile.

"You're never gonna wear a dress like that, young lady," Quentin said, making me both laugh and blush.

"But I like it," Caitlin pouted.

"Anyway," Hanna said pointedly, fighting a smile, "shall we go?"

"Yes, of course," Mom said. "I'm sure you have your own car around here? I'm afraid we won't all fit in the Range Rover."

"It's no problem," Henry said. "We can take my car."

Caitlin's eyes widened. "Can I ride with you guys?"

"Sure you can, if your parents are okay with it."

Caitlin gave her parents her perfected puppy dog eyes and they consented, not really having any other choice. And so they, along with my parents, got back into their car while Henry, Hanna, Caitlin and I walked up to Henry's car.

"Here, Juliette, you go sit in the front seat, I'll entertain your cousin in the backseat."

I almost rolled my eyes at my best friend but realized just in time that both Caitlin and Henry were looking at me. So I smiled and nodded. "Sure, that's okay."

Dad drove in front of us, leading us to the restaurant he'd chosen for tonight. It was a classy place for my family's standards, but I was sure Henry had frequented much classier and more expensive restaurants. But he didn't seem to mind one bit and sat in-between me and Caitlin after she had demanded she sit next to him. Caitlin was usually quite shy, but Henry had charmed her to a point beyond return, which wasn't too much of a surprise.

As she was telling him something and he was distracted by her, Hanna took her chance and whispered in my ear, "I'm sure you've already noticed just how amazing Henry's butt looks in those jeans."

I couldn't help but giggle and nod. "I have, yeah," I said.

"And he definitely checked out your boobies."

"Hanna!" I protested with a laugh, slapping her arm gently, even though I'd seen him do it myself.

She just wiggled her eyebrows at me.

"What's up?" Henry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Hanna and I said in complete unison, both of us holding back giggles.

Henry gave us both a suspicious look, but then shrugged it off and returned to the conversation he was having with Caitlin.

This would be quite the dinner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lyrics at the start of the chapter are Your Glasses by Maria Mena.

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