Juliette hadn’t meant to seek him out, she really hadn’t. But when she’d spotted a tall, dark haired man that she thought may be Julien Legume moving towards the hallway, Juliette found herself rushing in that direction.
But not too fast. Not enough to be suspicious.
Though her heart may have been pounding and anxiety had most definitely kicked in, Juliette did not allow herself to break out into a run. She couldn’t. Moving at a healthy clip instead, she made sure that she slowed her pace enough when walking past others to keep them from noticing her hasty departure.
But then she was in the hall and she’d confirmed that her identification had, in fact, been correct. It was then that she slowed her steps even further, almost leaving her at a standstill so as to not appear desperate.
He had been avoiding her, or at least hadn’t made any effort to see her since their arrival in Auradon, and Juliette was beginning to panic. Things with Nikolai had been a mistake, but things with Julien had seemed so promising. She would not have done half of the things she had done with him if she thought the outcome might be the same as before, and on some level her brain was refusing to process that she could be in for a repeat situation.
But on another level, with full recognition of the fact that she might have been getting ahead of herself by immediately rushing to the worst conclusion (and perhaps she owed Julien more than that), she could recognize that in a room full of suitors she’d been approached by approximately zero. Up until recently she had most definitely had one. The complete lack of the male’s presence in her life since their living situation had changed. She didn’t have a great understanding of mathematics, but she wasn’t nearly as naïve as one might believe.
“Oh-” she started once she found herself close enough to him, pretending to be surprised that they just so happened to have found each other. “Good. I see that you did make it over in one piece.”
@cnceuponadream
