funny, juliet never had some grand love of her own or even felt capable to give her heart completely over to someone in fear of being broken. she’d watched her mother’s jealousy over her father’s extramarital relations; heard them fight until the late hours of the night before she’d sneak out to escape their demise with some trusted friends. she categorized TRUE LOVE as an adulthood curse to shatter any recollection of whimsical daydreams or starry eyed hopes, yet when juliet read the script…heartstrings tugged for the two lovers who had everything against them & loved each other despite their realities. deep down, her heart sang of a hopeless romantic, sheltered and buried until juliet needed her hopeless heart to help capture her character. she related to carly more than any other she’d encountered, simply because carly buried her own emotions until they all began to spill over the surface.
in a completely petty manner, juliet studied jace’s every flicker of emotion and movement as he brought his own character to life in the rehearsal room to see any crack or flaw in the performance. however, the senior’s talent seeped through each pore and left her wide eyed & captivated in every word uttered. she could see exactly why he’d been chosen to play jasper, a complex role in any standard that few professionals could even pull off. yet he did it effortlessly. if they hadn’t gotten off on the wrong foot, juliet might have asked him for advice or tips to be the best she could be. now though? now juliet just wanted to show she had been chosen for carly due to her acting chops, rather than the supposed wet dream incarnate for their director.
baby blues remained opened when jace rested his forehead against hers, breath hitched in her throat and relieved ner next lines would break the physical contact between them. “ jazz, i.. i know, because you hold the same power over me. ” a pause for the quiet, cracked sob off her lips before juliet used the opportunity to raise herself off the couch and fold her arms around her petite waist. with her back cheated away from him, juliet felt her heart swell and allowed the emotions to pour into each & every syllable of her next words. “ you don’t know… i’m not perfect, jazz. there are things… so many things you don’t know. that no one knows and i can’t even tell you, because if i did, i could lose everything. things you really would hate me for, no matter what i’ve done to fix them. ” juliet paused once more to wipe the tears from her cheek and turn to face him, lower lip quivered as her gaze relayed the depths of such an overwhelming, over powering love story. “ i hate you. ” whispered soft, almost underneath her breath before juliet strengthened her voice. “ i hate you for making me love you. i’d give it all away for you, and that terrifies me. ”
jace was a reasonable man. he could admit when he was wrong about someone, and he has absolutely no issues with admitting his first impression of someone was off. he could apologize for being an asshole, but only when it was completely justified. and in this situation? it definitely wasn’t and he’d been completely right in how he viewed juliet and her supposed acting skills. for jace, acting came naturally to him, to the point where he barely realized he was doing it until primary school teacher had suggested he take part in the school’s play and they’d realized he had something. over the years, it’d simply become a matter of embodying character after character, with that clear distinction between him and then and the ability to flick the switch between himself and a character without any effort. he didn’t feel the character’s emotions, because he wasn’t himself when he was acting.
juliet, however... well, she seemed to be a completely different story. as he watched her play carly, she seemed to be more the type to mix herself in with her character, and jace had always held somewhat of a distaste for those kinds of actors. for really, if you were just putting yourself into the characters you were playing, where was the finesse? the skill? in jace’s eyes, juliet would never be anything more than an amateur who may as well move onto more realistic endeavors.
gaze followed the blonde as she pulled away, a frown forming on his brow as he watched her, as though every word that fell from her lips pained him, left him feeling as though he were about to crumble before her. he waited for his queue, her words drifting over him in a meaningless buzz until the ones he needed to hear were spoken. he opened his mouth to respond, no words coming out as he inserted a hesitation, his character visibly struggling to put himself back together as hands shook, quickly placed inside his pockets. jasper was the sort to hide weakness, though jace had no doubt the male was practically riddled with it, and so he swallowed as though a lump had formed in his throat, tongue darting out to lick his lips before he spoke once more. “thank you. i believe you.” gaze remained just off to juliet’s side, knowing jasper wouldn’t of been able to make eye contact with carly in the moment he believed he’d finally convinced the female to leave him. if anything, jasper’s silence as he bemoaned his situation and drowned in his self pity gave jace a chance to consider how far he could take his next part.
