Before she could attempt to push herself up to stand, Darcy stood up in a split second, offering both of her hands to Juliet to help pull her up.
She wanted to roll her eyes, but she accepted the help. Then, Darcy kept their fingers intertwined, and Juliet was happier to accept that.
Darcy’s stare was intense, scanning over her face. “What do you want me to do, now?”
She seemed poised to zip away and fetch Juliet anything under the sun. Juliet swore she could feel the vibration from Darcy, like she wasready.
“My toothbrush.” She winced doing everything in her power to ignore the taste in her mouth. “But I can get it myself–”
Her insistence was moot, as Darcy darted away from her again. If they were in a cartoon, Darcy’s cartoon-self would have been wearing a hat when she ran away. The hat would have stayed in place as she ran, then – with how fast she returned – she’d have made it back for the hat to land back on her head before falling.
Juliet laughed, before she felt another bolt of pain, and she sucked in a sharp breath.
Focus on the bare minimum, she ordered herself.Don’t get caught up in Darcy being all… cute and concerned.
With that, she plucked her toothbrush from Darcy’s hand. “Thank you.”
After she brushed her teeth, then used Darcy’s mouthwash, she blinked at herself in the mirror. The bathroom lights were off, thankfully, so she couldn’t see her reflection in HD. But she was willing to bet her skin was sallow.
She turned the cold water back on, running her hands under the faucet then splashing it over her face. She then peeked her eyes open enough to reach for Darcy’s face wash, scrubbing intently over her skin.
Once she was done, she looked up to find Darcy holding out a hand towel for her to use.
She couldn’t help but smile as she accepted it, patting her face dry. Then keeping the soft towel pressed against her for several seconds, just to gather her composure.
Finally, she lowered it, handing it back to Darcy, who tossed it back over the wall hanger without taking her eyes off of Juliet.
It was absurd, really, how closely Darcy was watching her right now. Juliet counted out her breathing, keeping it slow and measured and steady, as she walked back into the hotel room.
Darcy was on her heels, walking over to grab the remote that had all of the room controls on it. She furrowed her brow as she searched over the buttons, then hit one that had the blackout curtains moving smoothly over the windows. Inch by inch, the afternoon sun disappeared from the room, leaving them in darkness.
“You don’t need to do that,” Juliet assured her, her voice hoarse. She reached up, rubbing at her throat, before she turned to grab one of the bottles of water on the bedside table near her. Throwing up before any performance was not ideal, but it wasfine.
She screwed the top open, taking a few large gulps of water. Her stomach seemed to tolerate it.
Her vision was getting back to normal, too, which was the biggest relief. If her aura symptoms dissipated, then she could definitely push through the pain to go onstage.
“Just a minute,” she breathed out, closing her eyes. “Then we can go over the schedule. I know we have to leave soon.” She frowned, annoyed at herself. More accurately, her head. They probably had to leave very soon; she had no idea how long she’d been sitting on that bathroom floor.
“Uh, get real.”
Juliet’s eyes snapped open, narrowing her eyes at Darcy in the dark room. It wasn’t pitch black; she could stillseeDarcy, but she was uncomprehending. “What?”
“I said: get real,” Darcy repeated, as she crossed her arms and walked toward Juliet, closing the distance between them. “Youaren’tcoming to the show tonight. That’s… insane.”
She shook her head, refusing to accept that. Then cut off the movement with a groan. “But–”
Darcy gently pressed her fingertips over Juliet’s lips. “No buts. No ifs or ands, either, for that matter. Juliet, you’re sick. Come on.”
“I’m notsick,” Juliet disagreed, because that was simply factually incorrect. She waved her hand, dismissing Darcy’s assertion. “I have a migraine. I’ve done entire shows with them before; I just have to get through it.”
Darcy’s finger fell from her lips as she leaned back, looking affronted. Like Juliet was somehow insulting her?! “Okay, well, this isn’t your show, this ismyshow, andIforbid you from performing through pain that’s so intense you threw up. You still can’t even properly snap at me because you’re out of it. So, no. Sorry, but you’re not coming.”
Juliet wanted to fight – and she would… in a minute, when she gathered some more strength. As it was, she felt her cheeks sting with heat, her stomach twisting. This time, thankfully, not from needing to be sick. Just from good old-fashioned humiliation.
She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had seen her in that position. That… vulnerable. Actually, she didn’t think anyone ever had, other than her mother when she’d been younger. She’d started getting them when she’d been thirteen, and she’d at first believed she was dying.
Even Laura hadn’t experienced that with her. It was, quite literally, sickening.
