Darcy couldn’t argue with that.
As soon asher flight took off, she excitedly took out her phone.
After Juliet had left New York, she’d had a hectic schedule to return to, not only including that rescheduled event with Robbie, but she’d also been a guest on the Press Tour podcast. Darcy wasn’t really a podcast person. When it came to music, she waslocked in. When it came to listening to other things? A lot more difficult to focus.
Even though she wasn’t super knowledgeable about podcasts, though, she still knew what Press Tour was. The two women who cohosted it were in their early twenties, and they’d started it a couple of years ago when they’d been in college together. Interviewing different people around campus, starting as a project for some class, but it had taken off.
In the last few years, they’d hosted a ton of people of note: authors, actresses, politicians – musicians, with a focus on women in different industries.
Juliet had gotten the rough cut sent to her last night – as Press Tour was starting to release teasers on their social media – and Darcy had immediately asked for her to send it. She might not have an interest in listening or watching most podcasts, but she had an interest in Juliet doing one.
She settled back into her seat, put her headphones on, and played the video she’d downloaded from Juliet’s email.
Juliet was, unsurprisingly, great at being interviewed.
The funniest thing, in retrospect, was that theonlytime Juliet had really snapped during an interview had been regarding Darcy. Kind of flattering, really.
It was impressive, though, the way Juliet could remain totally unflappable but appeared so laidback. She really gave theperfect impression, all cute and sweet and casual, and Darcy totally bought into it, grinning down at her phone like an idiot as she listened to Juliet go back and forth with the hosts – Kaitlyn and Mackenzie – about her last tour, what she was currently working on, her thoughts on burnout and the creative process.
If she wasn’t in public, she might even have kicked her feet up when Juliet mentioned her, in terms of the creative process. “Darcy, actually, has–”
“Darcy Kincaid?”Mackenzie clarified.
“The one and only,” Juliet confirmed, with the littlest hint of a smile.
That, right there, was what Juliet was so good at, in a way Darcy could not replicate. If she was talking in an interview about Juliet, she’d be smiling the way she was at her phone right now.
Juliet continued,“When we worked together for our last collaboration, it actually taught me a lot about how she approaches music. It, genuinely, has been really transformative.”
Darcy’s stomach fluttered more at that than when they hit turbulence.
“So, you two reallyhaveburied the hatchet. It’s not some elaborate scheme to calm the fervor after last summer,” Kaitlyn brought up, leaning in with obvious interest.
Juliet rolled her eyes, letting out a sweet, sprinkling laugh. “Ah, no. If it was a ‘scheme’ we wouldn’t have needed to take it this far. The hatchet has been buried, deeply. It’s swimming with the fishes. Excuse the mixed metaphors.”
They all laughed, including Darcy.
One of the final things they did on their show was a game, where Juliet had to spin a wheel and would have to partake in a dare.
“We’ve revamped the dare wheel,” Kaitlyn sang, as she placed it on the table in front of the couch they were sitting on.
This was the single moment Darcy could see Juliet was thrown off. And she could only tell by the slightest flinch because sheknewJuliet; no one else would notice a thing, because everything was smoothed over in an instant.
Juliet leaned in to read the options, laughing. “Well. Let’s do it.”
As if Darcy was a part of the podcast herself, she leaned closer to her phone as Juliet spun the wheel, anticipating what it would land on. Juliet had given her a quick overview from the podcast after she’d recorded it, but they’d both been exhausted that night, and hadn’t talked for very long.
Which was okay; Darcy was excited to watch it play out for herself.
When the wheel stopped, Mackenzie leaned forward and picked it up, reading aloud, “Take your phone out and read the last text message you received.”
Oh, there it was again. The slightest tick in Juliet’s perfect smile, before she kept it rolling along. “I see I got one of the new dares.”
“You’re the guinea pig!”Kaitlyn laughed, as she shifted from where she was leaning against the arm of the couch, close in toward Juliet. Really close. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to read everything. I’m just making sure you’re playing honestly.”
This was a part of their podcast, Darcy knew that. The dares and the leaning in and the double-checking.
Still, she felt her heart skip a nervous beat in her chest, her own smile frozen. Had she been the last message in Juliet’s phone? With the way Juliet had reacted, shehadto have been.
