“I understand. Liam said something similar.”
“Liam?”
I look around, now finding the aforementioned Liam standing a few feet off by a tree with Ollie, pretending not to watch us while also full-on watching us. “That’s Juliette’s nephew,” I say as Paul follows my gaze. “He thought it was a mistake to even come here.”
“That’s Isabelle’s son?” he asks surprised. “When I saw him a second ago, he told me he was looking for a man named Sven in regard to some antique car parts.”
“Yeah, Liam can get a bit tense when it comes to greeting people. If you give it some time, it actually morphs into a very charming quality.”
“I’ll take your word on that.”
I wave Liam over, and a few seconds later, he’s joining us at the table, sitting beside me. “Turns out Sven was busy today,” he says jokingly.
I place a comforting hand on his knee. “It was a convincing story.”
“Thank you. I tried my best.”
“I could tell.”
Paul watches our interaction with a discerning eye. “Sorry, so are you two dating, then?”
“Um...” Liam and I look at each other for a moment until we both start to mumble. “You know, we’ve really only met recently,” I explain. “We’re just getting to know each other more than anything else.”
Liam also chimes in with awkwardness mode fully engaged. “Exactly, so we’re technically undefined at the moment. It’s sort of a complicated situation. Lots of potential, poor timing.”
Paul only smiles. “All love stories are complicated.”
Liam and I both freeze at the mention of love stories, and this only seems to entertain Paul further. “Alright, the both of you relax. I’m only having a bit of fun. I think I’m at least due that much considering my quiet pint has now transformed into a somewhat memorable life event.”
“Has it?” I ask, more intrigued than ever.
“To be honest, I never thought I’d have any link to Juliette again. Even if she’s not here right now, just talking about her feels...pleasantly jarring.”
“She does seem to have that effect on people.” Paul nods, looking nostalgic, and I pick Ollie up from the grass to sit in my lap. “Will you tell us about her?”
“I wouldn’t even know where to start,” he says. “When we first met, Juliette hated me. Did she tell you that?”
I shake my head with a grin and instinctively lean in. Enemies-to-lovers? So much yes.
“We were going to some play opening with mutual friends, and somehow we ended up sitting next to each other. Part of the way through, I had an idea for a story, so I took out my notepad to jot it down. Juliette got so offended, seething at me that I was disrespecting the actors and everyone involved in the show by not paying attention. Mind you, we were in the last row, but she was adamant. I told her I could write and listen at the same time, feeling the emotion of the scene even if I wasn’t completely focused on it. She was not impressed.”
“What did she do?” I ask, already coming up with a string of possibilities in my head.
“She took my notebook and shoved it down her shirt. She then proceeded to tell me that if I tried to take it back, she would bite my hand off.”
“And you fell in love?” I ask.
“Hardly,” Paul answers. “I thought she was a stuck-up eccentric who was also extremely rude. She thought I was a know-it-all square who was better suited for the library than artistic society.”
Liam and I both smile as Paul continues.
“We saw each other a few more times after that. Being in the same friend circle, you learn to be cordial, even if you don’t exactly get on great. But eventually, cordiality gave way to being moderately friendly, which then shifted into a friendship, which then grew into attraction, which then led to...”
He doesn’t finish his sentence, and neither Liam nor I tries to finish it for him. We all know the answer.
Love.
“We balanced each other out. I was reserved and quiet; she was a wild child with zero filter and with even less care as to what people thought of her. She made me a more exciting person and set fire to my writing in a way I had never experienced. When I was with her, I was an elevated version of myself. I constantly felt like I was on such a high, but then, once and a while, I just felt so tired. She expected so much of herself, and I felt like I had to expect the same of myself to keep up. But she was worth it. It was a heavenly delirium. An addictive exhaustion. I would have run until I dropped, but then things changed so fast.”
