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Juliette stayed over by the drinks, teaching herself how to sip the beer without making a face to give away just how gross she thought it was, and glancing around the backyard for some familiar faces. Shy was definitely a word used to describe the blonde – she always had a nice group of friends both growing up and now in college, and was always willing to go out of her way to meet someone new.Â
Unfortunately, it seemed that extraverted personality of hers disappeared as soon as she hung out with people from work. Juliette began to overthink everything – the sundress she was wearing, which she had spent nearly a half hour picking out, and still seemed too out of place; the way she lingered alone by the drinks, too nervous to reach out to the coworkers who were friendly to her at work, as they were now speaking people people who Juliette didn’t even recognize; and in general, just the question of why did she show up in the first place? Perhaps it was too soon for her to try to get a social life out of work, and instead stick to the boring dinners and parties her parents were always inviting her to.
Just as Juliette began wondering how long she’d have to stick around before Irish exiting, a familiar face approached her. Her lips broke out in a relieved smile at the sight of Nate, so happy to see someone nice that she could’ve hugged him right there.  “Hey! Yeah,” Juliette let out a laugh, taking a sip of her drink.  “This may just be the most social I’ve been this entire summer. I haven’t been to a party in ages.” Parties that Juliette went to usually involved uppity Manhattanites and guys humble-bragging about themselves to get her attention. Juliette would gladly take this kind of party any day, even if it meant hanging out in the corner.
“It’s weird to see you not behind a bar,” she observed, flashing him a small smirk. “Who are all the non-restauranters here? Friends from the area?”Â
It was nice to see her smile; she didn’t smile like that at work and Nate couldn’t help but feel a little proud that that smile was because of him. “Well lucky for you you’re at the hottest party in town,” he joked with her, a smile breaking onto his face that mirrored hers. For a quick second he wondered what kind of parties she went to back in Manhattan; definitely ones much larger and fancier than this. It made him feel very small-town.
Lightly laughing under his breath, Nate moved so that he was now standing opposite her on the other side of the drink table. “There we go. That more familiar to you?” He was kidding but it was a little strange to see her outside of the restaurant, though he was the one that had invited her. And she was still the boss's daughter, and his boss, but it was easy to forget at a causal party like this, somewhere more on his territory than hers.Â
“Yeah just people from around town, friends of friends and stuff like that.” He waved it off with a small shrug. He figured it must be hard to literally be the only person not from the area and to not really know anybody. It wasn’t anyone’s ideal party. “Since I’m back here do you want anything to drink? We’ve got beer, some wine coolers, White Claws, cheap liquor store vodka and tequila,” none of the top-shelf stuff that they had at the restaurant, “What are you feeling?”













