"You don't love someone because they're perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they're not." ― Jodi Picoult
Do you think you're talented? Do you think that you deserve this house? Because I think you're just visiting, that you're trailer trash hiding under a pile of sequins…
You are a lie. A uneducated, mildly talented lie and you know it…
The label head's words echoed in her head over and over as she lifted the bottle of vodka to her lips having decided that the glass was just slowing her down. She'd locked herself in her bedroom, letting her bodyguard Bo know that she didn't want to be disturbed.
She knew that drinking herself into oblivion wasn't going to solve anything but she didn't care. All she wanted to be numb. To forget everything that had happened over the last few weeks. Forget the protesters picketing her shows and burning her records. Forget that everything that she had fought so hard to achieve was quickly slipping away.
"Juliette! Juliette, wake up!" His voice pierced through the haze and she recognized it immediately.
"Avery?" she asked as she opened her eyes squinting against the bright light of her room. "What are you doing here? Don't you have a girlfriend?" her head was pounding and her stomach was churning but that was the first thing that came to mind as soon as she heard his voice.
"No not anymore."
His words swirled around in her head. Did she hear him right? They broke up? No, she was probably hallucinating. All that vodka was messing with her head. She opened her mouth in confusion just as her stomach lurched forcing her scramble off the bed and into her adjoining bathroom.
She vaguely heard Bo suggest they give her some privacy followed shortly by the sound of their retreating footsteps.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror as she toweled off her face and sighed.
"Good going Juliette. Way to make a bad situation worse. As if Avery didn't feel sorry for you enough already," shaking her head in disgust she grabbed her robe from it's place behind the door and slowly made her way to living room where she knew he would be waiting.
She'd just settled on to the couch when he walked out of the kitchen holding a cup of tea. She took it from him offering a small smile of gratitude. His eyes locked on hers for a second before she quickly averted her gaze, choosing instead to focus on the lush fabric of the couch. She could feel his eyes trained on her as he sat on the coffee table in front of her. He hadn't said anything to her since she came out of her room. He hadn't asked any questions, hadn't offered any comments or judgments. He was waiting for her to be ready to talk about it, like always. She wasn't quite ready yet but the silence was killing her so she bypassed the elephant in the room and decided to focus the conversation on him.
"Did you really break up with Scarlett?"
He couldn't help but smirk a little at her question. It was a classic Juliette diversion but he was going to let it slide for now. He knew she'd talk to him when she was ready and she obviously wasn't quite there yet. Besides, this was definitely something that they needed to talk about.
"Uh yeah."
"Was it because of me?" she asked, interrupting him and getting straight to the point. The last thing she needed right now was to find out she broke up another perfect couple. She'd thought she made a fairly decent recovery when she showed up at Avery's that night but evidently she should have given Scarlett more credit. Not waiting for his answer, she grabbed her phone off the table and quickly scrolled through her contacts.
"Juliette, what are you doing?" he asked grabbing at her hand.
She pulled her hand out of his grasp and continued her search.
"I'm calling Scarlett. What do you think I'm doing?"
"Juliette."
She continued to focus on her phone, ignoring him.
"JULIETTE,"he said a little more forcefully in an attempt to get her attention.
"WHAT?" she snapped her head back to face him.
"Put the phone down," he grabbed at the phone again.
"No," she held it out of his reach, "I have to talk to Scarlett. I have to make this right. Just let me talk to her, I can fix this." She pleaded with him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"There's nothing to fix," he said softly, as he reached for her hand one last time finally managing to take the phone from her. Setting it back on the table he joined her on the couch his hand still grasping hers. He could see the hurt and desperation in her eyes as she stared at him unsure of the meaning behind his words.
"Things between Scarlett and I were over a long time ago. It's just neither of us was willing to admit it."
She bit her lip unsure of what to say and unwilling to open herself up to another devastating rejection. Just because Avery had broken up with his girlfriend didn't mean he wanted to be with her.
He took her silence as his cue to continue.
"The truth is, we both just fell into our old patterns because we didn't think we could have what we really wanted."
"And what's that?"
"Well I'm pretty sure Scarlett still has feelings for her ex and somewhere along the line, without even realizing it, I've fallen in love with you."
"Why?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"What?" he asked back unsure of what had just happened. That certainly wasn't the response he was expecting, but then again he'd learned to always expect the unexpected from Juliette.
"Why? Why would you want to be with me when you could be with someone like Scarlett? I mean she's beautiful and talented and sweet. She's perfect."
Avery just stared at her for a moment, his piercing blue eyes staring deep into her soul as a lone tear made it's way down her cheek.
"I'm not in the market for perfect," he said as he brushed his thumb across her cheek wiping the tear away, his eyes never leaving hers.
"I'd rather have this." He leaned in closing the distance between them as his lips lightly touched hers.
She pulled away first, part of her still unwilling to believe what had just happened.
"Are you sure?" she asked with hopeful eyes that still held a tinge of wariness.
He just smiled as he pulled her into his arms. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
For the first time in weeks she finally let herself relax, enjoying the safety she felt when his arms were wrapped around her.
"You have no idea what you're getting yourself into," she said looking up at him with her patented Juliette Branes smirk.
He chuckled and leaned down, bumping his nose against hers playfully. "I think I'll risk it."