Chapter 2 - I Didn't Even Realize

6:30pm - 12th Sunday

Once the siblings made it home they were greeted by the wonderful smell of homemade food. It smelled mouthwatering enough that both of them imagined just how good it would taste once it was completed. "Hello there, darlings," their mother called from the kitchen. "Did the two of you have a nice time?"

"Yes we did, but Jules wasn't doing what she was supposed to be doing," Eli grunted, outing his sister once more this week.

"Is that true, dear?" Her mother paused her cooking and narrowed her eyes at her middle child.

"I can explain," Juliette said, bringing her arms in front of her. "I took a short break and that's when this devil showed up," she pointed to her brother.

"Hey! I'm not a devil," Eli crossed his arms and pouted.

"Yes, sweetheart, don't call your brother that," her mother smiled softly before focusing her attention on cooking.

"The only mistake that we didn't make was run

(Now look what we've done)"

"Whatever," Juliette shrugged her shoulder before removing her sneakers and socks. Apart from the ruckus in the kitchen the house was silent, she walked into the bathroom without touching anything. Uncomfortably she lifted the tap with her elbow and pressed down on the soap bottle, washing her hands for a solid two minutes before wiping them dry.

She headed upstairs with a clatter, once she reached her room she dropped her bag in front of her bed and plopped onto her chair, sighing. The sky outside was still bright even with the change of color, and the trees by her windows slowly swayed to the wind, not too forcefully, but not unnoticed either.

"Hey, Jules, what do you think of this?" Eli walked in with a cute smile, opening the door to her room that was closed for a reason most younger siblings find annoying.

"Mom!" Juliette instinctively shouted. "Eli's bothering me!" She continued watching the boy's expression change from happy to annoyed.

"Bro, I just walked in what do you mean?" He whined, walking right back out without uttering another word.

"Close the door behind you, dimwit," she muttered, waiting for him to come back and shut the door. And just like that he did, but before closing it Elijah stuck his tongue out, and then he slammed it shut. "Children these days," she hissed before grabbing one of the books on the desk.

"Says who?" A laughing voice said behind her, she turned to be greeted with gorgeous honey eyes.

"You know who," she frowned looking at him.

"Don't you ever change, Julie?" He chuckled, sweetly, then sat on her fixed bed.

"Nope, that's just the way I am, besides you can't say anything either, Carter," she grinned, the Cheshire's grin couldn't match this one for sure.

"Why not?" Carter wiggled his eyebrows in a teasing matter.

"Because, as my brother, and someone who literally, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, acts like me, you also have no say," she stated, her point proved as soon as her brother groaned and laid his body down to the right side of the bed.

"Ugh," he groaned, he shifted his legs from the wooden floor to on top of her bed and stared at the plain ceiling. "Did anything interesting happen today?" He asked lightening the mood.

"Oh yeah, I and Eli saw a train pass with flashing lights, it looked creepy-cool," Juliette replied, nodding quickly. "It's like 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴," they both said in unison before laughing. "Although Elijah freaked out after seeing it."

"C'mon he's still a baby, besides, any kid that age would freak out about that," he mumbled bringing his hands under his head, making himself even more comfortable.

"Mhmm, I guess so," she watched her brother, he was tall, about the same height as their Dad, probably taller since the last time they compared heights. The bed was smaller than him so he bent his feet, with both knees pointing towards the ceiling.

His dark blond hair fell to his shoulders and the bed below him. If they weren't related Juliette would've believed that her brother was a Vogue model or something, it was insane how he got the good looks in the family. In her opinion, it should've been her but instead, she's stuck with neither looks nor smarts.

"Something on your mind?" He bends over to face her, resting his head on his left forearm.

"Nah, you just look better than me," she blurted out, immediately regretting the second half.

"Oh, this?" He runs his hand down his hair while looking at himself. "Fairly disappointed."

"What? Bro, you look like, the guy from 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘔𝘦 𝘐𝘧 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘊𝘢𝘯? Yup, Leonardo DiCaprio," she paused. "You look amazing, shut up bro," she fumed throwing her hands in the air. Annoyed. "You say 'fairly disappointed' again and I might have to throw you out my window."

"I'll survive the fall pretty easily," he shook his head. He would though, with her bedroom on the first floor and patches of grass below, he would easily survive it. Unfortunately.

"We've seen everything from Saturn to Mars

As much as it seems like you own my heart"

"Dammit," she rubbed her temple and reopened her book again. Ever since high school started Juliette was known in her class just for reading books, according to the few friends she had she was considered the 'bookworm' of the group... and they all started calling her that. Not that she hated it, but that name being said by other people she doesn't necessarily call her friends just rubs her the wrong way.

The book was nice, something she loved to read over and over again, she never really got tired of it. But every time she opened a good book she wished she could read it again for the first time. Her brother fell silent, either the good-looking idiot fell asleep or he was also reading. A common hobby that's passed through the family.

When she looked to his side her older brother was reading a book, in his opinion he loved it, but she thought it was boring. It was called Nothing Ventured by Jeffrey Archer, a story about a detective, not a detective story, it wasn't her genre. She hoped it will not be in the future either.

Juliette was a die-hard fan of romance. It wasn't even a joke. In public, she would open her phone and be reading either a really cheesy rom-com or be reading so crazy really intense romance novel. She couldn't blame herself, falling in love wasn't on her agenda, but she enjoyed how others wrote about how it felt to fall in love.

Sometimes things can be too good to be true, and sometimes those things are actually true, but what matters is that everything isn't set in stone and that everything can change even with the smallest impact.

When Juliette was younger a problem rose between her parents, her father, moved out of town causing the family to break. Her mother decided that she doesn't need another man in her life and that was the beginning to an even bigger problem. Juliette's mother found another way to deal with the problem, she never showed up at home.

Her mother had believed that her husband chose another woman and ran off with her than believing that he actually got a job out of town. Then after three years he returned with a bag full of expensive gifts and lots of homemade things as well, her mother realized she was wrong and that's when Juliette realized as well, love is a powerful thing, and can be also adorable when you watch it unfold.

But instead of wanting that love she wanted to grow up become crazy rich person and spend her money like there was no tomorrow, obviously, she believed that love wasn't for her but the money was.

She clearly had her priorities, or at least that's what she thinks.