Bumblebee

Sometimes the natural world order dictates that certain things should never exist in conjunction. Cats and fish will never get along as one will always try to eat the other; plaid will never look good with polka dots; pyromaniacs shouldn't be allowed near fire. Juliet abided by this rule for the most part, but on this particular day, she broke the rules.

"Are you done in there?" called a voice beyond the bathroom door.

"Just a minute," Juliet said as she took one last look at herself in the mirror. She wondered if she could still—

"Don't even think about changing back into those baggy clothes! I won't allow it!"

Juliet sighed knowing she wouldn't win this fight, not in a million years. "Alright. I'm coming."

She couldn't believe she was wearing… shorts.

And they weren't just shorts, as if that weren't a big enough crime. They were shorts from the seventies. They weren't indecent, not by a long shot, but they were definitely embarrassing.

It didn't help that bad things always seemed to happen to her when she wore shorts. There had been that time in fifth grade when she had worn shorts. That was the first time she had ever broken a bone. In ninth grade, she wore shorts the first time she ever failed a test. The day she discovered her sister had cancer, she was wearing shorts. She wasn't normally superstitious, but she realized it happened too frequently to be a coincidence.

But she supposed any fate the world would bestow on her would be better then facing Lily's wrath. The woman was definitely crazy, to put it lightly.

Juliet opened the door and stared blankly into the face of an excited Lily.

"Wow!" she exclaimed approvingly, stepping back to get a better look. "Why don't you dress like that more often. I'm sure guys would be all over you."

Because clearly, that's my only objective in life, she thought snidely.

"Wait until Jim—"

"I will not see James looking like," she gestured to her ensemble, "this. He'll get too many laughs at my expense."

Lily's pretty face looked puzzled for a moment, "But I thought you guys were together."

Juliet's eyes widened before she suddenly laughed loudly at the idea. "Of course not. He's just a member of my …crew. We're just friends."

"Right," she said quickly.

Juliet got the impression that Lily didn't believe her, but instead decided to ignore it. The girl could come up with any thoughts she wanted. "Would you happen to know where Amy is?"

She was supposed to be the one to let me borrow clothes, Juliet refrained from adding.

"She went somewhere with Horace. He said it was urgent."

Juliet bit her lip to hide her smile. She channeled Sawyer for a moment, thinking urgent my ass.

Juliet nodded and turned to walk in the direction of the front door. "I guess I'll be going now, Lily. Thank you so much for letting me borrow your clothes."

"No problem! I'm totally sure loads of guys here won't be able to look at you the same way after—"

Juliet closed the door shut, cutting her off. The girl was completely insufferable! She would make a note to tell Sawyer the object of his live soap opera was a complete ditz.

Juliet cursed inwardly as the island breeze blew her hair into her face. She had told Lily that wearing her hair down wasn't practical, but she refused to listen. She had even used a scissors to cut the hair tie so she could no longer use it to hold her hair up.

"Hey, you're Juliet, right?"

A man with dirty blond hair and green eyes walked up to her. Juliet cursed her luck. "Yes, I am. Did you need something?"

He scratched his head, sheepishly. "I just wanted to introduce myself properly. My name is Leroy Davis. Nice to finally meet you."

She stared at his hand for a moment before grasping it firmly in her own. "Juliet Burke," she said simply. "But I suppose you already knew that."

"Guilty."

"Well, it was nice meeting you Mr. Davis—"

He waved his hand dismissively. "Call me Roy, please."

She raised an eyebrow. "Right. It was nice meeting you Roy, but I've got to go… take a walk."

"Excellent! You mind if I come along? I was just heading out."

Juliet shook her head. "I usually go on my walks alone."

"But I've seen you go with whats-his-name—"

"James," she said through gritted teeth. "His name is James. And where I go or who I choose to go with is really none of your concern."

Lee raised his arms in defense. "I didn't mean it that way, Juliet. Just making small talk. But I don't think you should be going off by yourself. This island is a very dangerous place."

"I'm sure I can handle it."

"Well I guess I can't persuade you otherwise then," he said, finally giving in. "Just be careful."

Juliet watched him walk away, holding the breath she was holding. She really did hate it when people tried to treat her like she was made of glass. She had been through so much more than he could possibly imagine. Did Horace send him to check up on her or something?

"You know, Sunshine, one of these days I'm going to have to give you a lesson on the art of flirting."

She jumped up, startled. Turning around to face him, she said, "I know how to flirt just fine. It's not very difficult."

"Clearly you're not great at readin' signals though."

She furrowed her brows, "I don't know what you're talking about, James."

She could tell from his smirk that he was enjoying himself. "Do I have to spell it out for you? That man was tryin' to flirt with you, but you were too clueless to notice."

Oh. So that was what this was about.

Juliet looked down at her shorts in dismay and Sawyer chuckled, noticing her reaction. "I'm sure it ain't the shorts, though I'm sure those didn't hurt. I'm surprised you never noticed him lookin' at you before."

Juliet raised her eyebrow. "That's because I don't stare at other people in my spare time. I'm what some would call normal."

Sawyer hesitated before saying, "I only noticed this time because he was looking at you. I didn't know if I could trust him or not."

The butterflies in her stomach were fluttering non-stop now. "I guess you really do have my back."

"Of course I do," he said as though it was obvious. "So you gonna give wonder boy over there a chance?"

"I've stayed here for a month and a half, James." She sighed heavily. "I'm clearly not planning on staying here forever. I don't think a relationship is my prime objective right now."

"The simplest answer would be that he just 'aint your type."

"I was getting to that," she said, smiling. "And how did you know he wasn't my type?"

He placed his arm around her shoulders as they started walking. "You seem to like guys who are capable, want to take care of you, but know you can take care of yourself. That guy seems like the type to hang on your every word, and somehow I feel that would bore the hell out of you."

"I guess you're right," Juliet said, amazed at his perception. "And you?"

He abrubtly stopped walking, causing Juliet to stop as well, as his arm was still wrapped around her shoulder. "Me? I've been around women of all kinds. I don't discriminate."

Juliet rolled her eyes. "I don't mean women to sleep with. I was referring to women you would like to be with."

"Well," he mused as he scratched his head with his free arm. "I suppose I like to be with women like—"

"Ouch!"

Sawyer looked down at her alarmed. "What's the matter with you?"

Juliet shook her head, using her palm to cover a portion of her exposed legs. "Nothing."

Sawyer narrowed his eyes, suspiciously. "It don't look like nothing to me."

"I knew I shouldn't have agreed to wear these shorts. They're a bad omen," Juliet mumbled under her breath.

"Well if you aren't gonna let me at least see…"

Sawyer hooked his elbows under the backs of Juliet's knees and quickly lifted her off the ground before she could protest. Her instant reaction was to wrap her arms around his neck to hold herself up.

He whistled, looking at her thigh. "That must have been a pretty angry bee."

"It figures that the first day I get stung by a bee that I happen to be wearing shorts."

If Sawyer found something odd with her statement, he didn't show it. He carried her back to her house, only letting her down when he was standing right in front of her couch. He the dropped her gently on the cushion and hoisted her affected leg onto an ottoman.

When she had finally shook herself out of her dazed stupor, she said," It's really not that serious, James. It's only a bee sting."

He ignored her and walked into the kitchen, noisily searching through drawers. "It looks like the bee was tryin' to kill you. I wonder what you did to offend it."

Juliet closed her eyes, enjoying the cool air of her house. "I thought I was the victim in this scenario."

He walked toward her with various bottles and a plastic bag in his hand. "I don't think you play the part of the victim very well."

She cocked her head, contemplating this for a moment. "No. I guess I don't."

They sat in silence for a moment as Sawyer reached into the plastic bag and pulled out an ice cube. When he reached out to place it on her skin, she flinched slightly. He looked into her eyes as though seeking permission. She nodded, closing her eyes.

The cold feeling of the ice on her thigh made her bite her lip. She could feel his fingers moving the ice back and forth and occasionally his fingers would make contact with her skin. During those rare moments, she could feel her back arch slightly with… well she wasn't certain what it was, but it felt amazing.

Her body was trembling and she was pretty damn sure it wasn't from the cold. It was a peculiar feeling, different from any sensation that had ever passed through her body. Just when she thought she couldn't take it any longer, when her lips had parted and a moan was rising in her throat, he stopped.

Sawyer suddenly regretted grabbing such a small ice cube. As soon as he had removed his fingers from her thigh, he missed the feeling. It was strange, to be acting in such a way in the presence of a woman. He was usually the one to make them squirm, not the other way around. And he had always been the one in control.

He was sure Juliet hadn't felt a thing at all. Her leg was probably numb from the ice and her eyes had been closed the entire time. His eyes traveled to her face, almost as though on their own accord. Her eyes were still closed, lips were slightly parted, and her hair spread around her like a halo—

Sawyer looked away feeling slightly ashamed at himself. He was acting like some hormonal teenage boy. If he wasn't careful, he would soon find himself in some real trouble. He might as well climb out of the deep end before it was too late.

With fumbling fingers, Sawyer grabbed the plastic card he found in the kitchen and quickly scraped it across her thigh, causing the bee's stinger to rise out of her skin. He pulled it out from beneath her skin, being careful not to make any contact with her again.

"There now," he said, trying to hide the hitch in his throat as she opened her eyes, "That wasn't so bad, now was it?"

Juliet shook her head, suddenly wondering if she would ever be able to regain the ability to speak.

Sawyer pointed to a pink bottle on her coffee table. "There's the calamine lotion. You're a doctor, so I'm assumin' you know what to do with it?"

She nodded. "Thank you, Sawyer."

He plopped down on the sofa next to her. He faced her, suddenly remembering something. "Yeah," he mumbled. "You remember how I was gonna say something to you before that bee stung the hell out of you?"

Juliet nodded again.

"I don't believe in love," he said truthfully. "Never have and never will. But if you asked me what kind of person I'd like to just be with…"

He could suddenly feel himself getting nervous, but he continued nonetheless. "I guess I would like to be with a person just like you."

Juliet, gently laid a hand on his shoulder, touched by his words. "But, that's what we're already doing Sawyer. It's possible to have a friend who is a woman that you don't sleep with."

Sawyer chuckled. "I guess it's possible if the sky 'aint fallin' yet."

But inside he knew her assessment wasn't quite right. He felt protective of her as he supposed a friend should. They were there for each other in the way friends were. But he was sure that if she were truly just his friend that her presence wouldn't make his so damn nervous. If he were just her friend, he wouldn't have felt anger when that man had approached her. And he couldn't blame it on her clothes this time.

He now knew why he had felt like a teenager around her as of late, and he cursed himself for being so stupid as to let it happen.

As Sawyer turned to look at her, his stomach churning, he realized he had a crush on Juliet.

Miki-hime here! Aww! Poor Sawyer. I promise I won't torture him too much. I do promise you that this relationship is going to develop very slowly. Right now, he merely has a crush, he's clearly not in love and will not be for a while. But you'll know when it happens. This chapter was inspired by the song "Bumblebee" by Bambee. I'll try to update as soon as possible, but no guarentees. Let me know what you think!