I don't own Nashville and never will. No copyright infringement intended.
As they lay in bed and cuddled that night, Juliette felt like she was at home and safe with Avery. Like she told him earlier, this scared her. She had truly never been in love before. All those other relationships she had? Nothing compared to this. "What are you thinking about?" Avery asked, jolting her thought of her thoughts.
She grinned at her boyfriend. "You."
He moved closer to her and kissed Juliette. "Good to know," Avery murmured. Juliette wasn't the only one scared of this relationship, but he was determined to ease her fears. He didn't plan on hurting her if he could help it.
Juliette yawned. "I'm so happy to be with you."
"The feeling's mutual. And you have my heart too you know. I'm so in love with you it catches me off guard sometimes, baby." He had never felt this way about anybody before, including Scarlett. He knew exactly how Juliette felt.
Tears slipped out and she wiped them off her face. "You need to stop being so sappy, Avery. We have reputations to uphold." She didn't mind being so vulnerable and emotional in front of him, though – he never thought she was weak for it. It made Juliette love him even more.
"Sorry." But the smiling Avery definitely wasn't sorry and they both knew it.
"I love you too, Avery." Juliette had said it earlier, but she had to tell him again. Avery was her best friend, and terrifyingly enough, the man she was actually considering spending the rest of her life with. She had rushed into her marriage with Sean and wouldn't make that mistake. She'd do everything in her power to make sure this relationship succeeded.
Avery swiped a stray hair out of Juliette's face. "You're so beautiful."
"Thank you." She yawned, suddenly exhausted from the long day she had endured.
"We both need to get some sleep."
"You aren't up for another round?" Juliette joked.
"Of course I am, but I don't think you are. We both need some sleep. And we can have all the sex we want in the morning." Avery leered at her and laughed when his girlfriend playfully smacked him.
"I'm definitely looking forward to it, and you're right. I've done a lot today. Actually, we both have." Juliette was just glad to be home now so she could relax.
"Yeah. You okay if I turn on the TV?"
Juliette shook her head. "Go ahead. I'll probably watch with you until I finally fall asleep." She yawned again and then snuggled closer to Avery after he grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.
"You up to going out to breakfast tomorrow?" He didn't feel like waking up early and making anything.
"Sure – sounds like fun." Juliette kissed him and then turned her attention back to the TV. Both of them were asleep within the next hour.
The next morning, Avery and Juliette made love several times before grabbing a shower (together) and heading out to eat breakfast. "What are you getting?" he asked as they perused their menus.
"Don't think I'm sharing with you," she warned.
"You steal food from me all the time!" he cried.
Juliette laughed at the look of mock outrage on Avery's face. "That's because it's my prerogative as your girlfriend. Let's make a deal – I'll let you steal something off my plate once."
"How generous," he murmured, trying and failing to sound angry (the grin on his face gave him away).
She cracked up even more. "You should see the look on your face! I'll generously share with you if it makes you feel better."
"I don't really care either way," Avery admitted.
Juliette threw her balled up straw paper at him and he threw it right back. They briefly stopped to order and then returned to playfully throwing the tiny little pieces at each other. She had never felt this comfortable with anyone – not even family – before. And she wasn't about to let fear drive her behavior again. She wasn't going to let jealousy or anything else ruin her happiness. "We really need to be more mature."
"What's the fun in that?" he asked.
"Good point. We'll continue this later, when we get home. What else are we going to do today?"
Avery shrugged. "No clue. What do you want to do?"
Juliette's eyes narrowed. "I know what you want to do, but not yet. Let's go shopping."
He groaned. "Do we have to, baby?"
She nodded in glee. "Yes, and you can complain about it while I'm trying on clothes. Come on, it'll be fun!"
"You're lucky I love you so much."
"I am very lucky," Juliette acknowledged, suddenly switching gears to serious instead of funny.
"So am I." He leaned across the table and kissed her. They made out for a few minutes before their waitress cleared her throat and set their plates down.
"Sorry," Juliette apologized. The waitress waved her off and when she left, the couple burst out laughing.
"We need to traumatize more waitresses," Avery told her.
"I'm game for that." She had always hated this particular waitress anyway so that had actually been awesome to annoy her.
"Good." They dug into their food and the conversation temporarily came to a halt. Juliette stole some fries off Avery's plate, and he stole an onion ring off of hers.
Once they paid for the bill and departed the restaurant, Juliette dragged her boyfriend to the store. He held her bags and purse, but didn't complain as she tried on several outfits (she rewarded Avery for that later). By the time they got back to her house, both were exhausted again. "We need a day where we don't do anything," she told him.
"Except have sex all day," Avery added.
She snorted. "Good luck with that. Not even I can have sex all day."
"I'm sure we can beat our previous record." He grinned at her and helped put one of her bags awake.
"Now that we can do." Juliette surprised Avery when she hugged him and refused to let go. He put his arms around her and the two stayed like that for a few minutes.
Avery and Juliette wouldn't have an easy relationship – they were themselves after all – but they were the love of each other's loves. And they'd be able to make it work. And even though she felt vulnerable and exposed, Juliette eventually overcame her fear. She and Avery made an amazing, relatively happy couple. Avery and Juliette did have to endure some drama, but they managed to overcome it and were more solid after that.