3-D-ness
Josh found Juliana waiting for him outside the northwest gate. The winter's first snowfall had just started, and Juliana stood on the sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue, staring up into the night sky and falling snow.
"Wow!" Josh exclaimed. "Do you usually just stand in front of the White House at night, or are you waiting for someone?" At first Juliana didn't speak. She didn't even move to acknowledge his presence. Finally she spoke to Josh, without taking her eyes off of the falling snow.
"You never get this experience when you grow up in California. Falling snow is so magical. Do you know what I love about it? It's 3-D-ness. It makes you feel so small but at the same time such a part of everything as it comes down all around you."
"Okay…I don't think 3-D-ness is a word." Josh said, smiling and walking over to Juliana.
"Shut up." Juliana said playfully, hitting him on the shoulder. "You're ruining the moment."
"I'm from Connecticut. I've had plenty of these moments. What are you doing here anyway?"
"You said you wanted to see me after work. I wanted to surprise you." Juliana commented as if this were common knowledge.
"But how did you…"
"I had Donna call me when you were leaving the west wing. I told her I had something I needed to give you,"
"So, instead, you just decided to stand out on the street staring up into the sky, hoping that I would notice you were out here?"
"Give me some credit. I thought I'd wait out by the gate where you were sure to see me. The falling snow was just something to do to pass the time. More like an added bonus."
Josh looked at Juliana and grinned a boyish grin. He had hopelessly fallen for Juliana's whit and spontaneity. He couldn't help but notice how buoyant and jovial he was when he was around her. There were times where he wished he could just bottle Juliana up and take her with him where ever he went. Usually this thought then led to bizarre I Dream of Jeanie scenarios with Juliana dressed in Jeannie outfits, which just made him happier and giddier.
"You want to go back to your place? I'll drive." Josh offered, breaking the silence and Juliana's gaze into the snow.
"Sure. But, let's walk. Please?" Juliana tugged on Josh's arm childishly as she pleaded with him to walk. Josh relented, rolling his eyes, nodding his head and smiling. Juliana and Josh took off, arms linked towards her house.
By the time they were approaching Juliana's home, the snow was starting to stick to the ground and was blanketing the sidewalks with a fine white powder. Many times, Juliana would grow quiet and Josh would look over at her only to catch her staring into the falling snow completely transfixed.
"Did you really not have snow growing up?" Josh asked innocently.
"Of course we had snow! I have some great pictures of the 8 foot snowmen that we built every year in the backyard!" Juliana's sarcasm wasn't lost on Josh. "Josh! I grew up in Orange County! When was the last time you heard of it snowing in Southern California? Really!"
"Well, it happened once on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and she lived in Southern California." As Josh tried to defend himself he realized how silly his defense sounded.
"Are you sure you're really a lawyer? Because that was a lousy defense, counselor. I can't believe that you're justifying yourself using a TV show. And what were you doing watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer anyway?" Josh didn't want to go down that path, so he smiled, shrugged his shoulders and put his hands up in defeat.
A few minutes later when they walked inside, Josh found it nice to be in from the snow. Juliana had her coat off in a matter of seconds and was walking towards her bedroom. Josh shrugged his coat off and hung it over a dining room chair to dry. He walked closer to the fireplace and then yelled through it into Juliana's room.
"I could start a fire if you wanted. It might be nice with the snow outside."
"Oh no!" Juliana's response was decidedly firm. She reappeared in the living room wearing worn jeans and a sweater set the color of raspberry sherbet. The sweater had lighter color sequins encrusting the neckline and fanning out towards her chest. Josh could help but notice how Juliana seemed to shimmer in the light of her living room. "I know your track record with starting fires! You just stay away from my fireplace!" Juliana stepped forward, putting her hands firmly on Josh's chest to push him away from the fireplace.
"Hey! It was just the one time! How was I supposed to know the flue was welded shut?" Josh took this opportunity to grab Juliana hands and pull her closer. He planted a quick kiss on her lips. As she pushed him away good-naturedly he was left with the taste of her strawberry lip-gloss on his lips.
"I see what you're trying to do, Mr. Lyman." Juliana joked. "You're trying to seduce me into letting you start a fire." Juliana smiled. Suddenly she threw a remote control at Josh. It seemed to have come out of nowhere, but he deftly caught it in his hand.
"TV? Your solution to a fire in the fireplace is TV?" Josh was feigning more confusion than he truly felt.
"No, smart guy. Press the big white button." As Josh pressed the button, he heard a click and suddenly flames roared to life in the fireplace.
"Whoa! Cool!" Josh was all at once impressed and walked over to the fireplace to take a closer look.
"Don't let it go to your head." Juliana shook her head at Josh and walked into the kitchen. When his fascination with the fireplace faded, Josh followed her and wrapped her arms around Juliana's waist.
"So, what should we do tonight?" Josh whispered into Juliana's ear.
"Build snowmen?"
"Nah. Not enough snow. Maybe tomorrow morning, though."
"Well, why don't you start by taking off some of your clothes?" Juliana commented.
"Hey now! I'm not a Chippendale. I don't strip on command!" Josh countered. Josh launched in to what Juliana could only assume was his impression of a Chippendale. To be honest, Juliana thought that Josh looked more like a drunk chipmunk with all the flailing and twisting he was doing.
"Don't go getting any ideas of a second career. Look at you and then look at me." Juliana said. Josh looked down at himself, at realized that Juliana had a point. Here she stood in comfortable jeans and a sweater, while in stark contrast, Josh still had on his tie, suit pants and good dress shoes. While Juliana gathered some things and walked into living room, Josh toed off his shoes, took off his tie, and loosened the buttons on his shirt. He looked down at his pants. Wishing that he had something more comfortable, Josh sighed and walked into the living room.
"You left some jeans here the other day." Juliana said without looking up. "They're in my bedroom. There's also a sweatshirt if you want something other than your dress shirt."
"You're a mind reader. You know that?" Josh asked as he walked into Juliana's bedroom.
"I'm talented like that!" Juliana called after him. Josh reappeared a minute or two later, wearing comfortable jeans and a faded Duke sweatshirt. Juliana was sitting out the floor in front of the coffee table. There was a scrabble game set up and ready to be played.
"Scrabble?" Josh questioned.
"Yes. I thought we could put your SAT scores to the test." Josh looked to the other side of the coffee table, where Juliana had set up two shot glasses, and a bottle of tequila.
"You know, last time I read the scrabble rules they didn't include alcohol." Josh playfully picked up the box top and began to read the rules for the game.
"You are the type that would sit down and read all the rules, or memorize them, before playing." Juliana grabbed the rules out of Josh's hand and threw them across the room. "We don't need the rules. The tequila is just to make it interesting. You're always bragging about your awesome verbal skills. Well, time to prove it. Except, we'll play the way we played in college. Every time you make a word that's less than 6 points or shorter than five letters you take a shot, well or have some beer, whichever you prefer."
Josh shook his head in slight disbelief. "Wow. We never played scrabble like this in college. Makes me wonder what else you learned."
"I think I could keep us quite entertained with my knowledge – now pick your letters, it's your turn!"
Josh picked out his letters and began staring at them, formulating words in his head. There was no way he was going to lose this game. Josh looked over at Jules and used his dimples to smile a devious smile. Dramatically, Josh laid down his first word. One by one he laid down letters to spell "foiled". Josh looked up and raised his eyebrows, silently challenging Juliana to do better. Juliana sighed, giggled and laid down letters to spell "ding". While she was picking out new letters, Josh decided to remind her of their new rules.
"I believe that you're forgetting something." Josh chided, holding out a full shot glass for Jules.
"I'm not forgetting anything, it's just hard to drink and pick out letters at the same time." Juliana grabbed the shot glass from Josh and downed her shot of tequila without blinking.
"This is going to be fun." Josh said. He wasn't sure that he had meant to say it out loud, but it had definitely come out louder than he intended.
"We'll see about that." Juliana smiled.
An hour and a half later, the scrabble board was filling up with words and the bottle of tequila was rather empty. The game had begun with a flurry of masterful words such as "active" and "quire" and a few bouts of boasting by Josh. There had been times where Juliana suspected Josh of using weak words such as "kid" just so that he would have to take a shot or so that Juliana had nothing to play off of. It also could have been the fact that after a few shots of tequila, the quality of words declined drastically. Finally, with the room feeling warmer and warmer and beginning to spin just a little, Juliana laid the final word on the scrabble board.
"Chair. That's it, it's over! And…I think I win." Juliana announced.
"That's not possible." Josh attempted to swipe the score sheet out of Juliana hands, but his swift movements were effected by the large amount of tequila in his body and Josh ended up toppling over into Juliana's lap.
"We don't need to fight over it." Juliana said, looking down at Josh with an intoxicated smile. "I think it was a good game all around."
"I lost." Josh's voice with overly theatrical, but resigned. He seemed to deflate with his loss.
"Everyone loses sometime, Josh." Juliana ruffled Josh's hair.
"It's not supposed to happen to me." Josh pouted as he stuck his lower lip out dramatically. Juliana got up suddenly, letting Josh's head fall to the ground with a thud.
"It's time for bed. Are you staying?"
Josh looked up at Jules. She was standing over him, and to him it seemed liked she was whirling around above him.
"Yeah. If I can." Josh said sheepishly.
"Come on, tough guy. Let's get you up." Juliana offered Josh her hands and heaved him up. Josh almost fell back to the floor, taking Juliana with his momentum, but instead he settled for stopping his momentum by leaning into Juliana and grabbing her around her waist. When Josh kissed Jules, he tasted the tequila that was still lingering on her lips and then he tasted her. He noticed that Jules had turned off all the lights, except for those in the bedroom, and that they were both standing in the light of the fire. Juliana kissed Josh back, slipping her tongue in between his lips and gently caressing them. Juliana broke the contact between their lips gently and broke all contact between their bodies, except for Josh's hand, which she held tightly in hers.
"Let's go to bed." Juliana tugged slightly and led Josh into the bedroom, clicking the fire off as they walked away. Josh smiled and soon found himself deep underneath Juliana's blankets with Juliana hugged securely to his own body. The bedroom seemed to move around as Josh closed his eyes and fell fast asleep.
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