Chapter Fourteen - Julianna

Julianna woke early, the sun just starting to appear from behind the trees. Scott still slept next to her, his lips slightly parted and drool resting on his chin.

She wanted to capture that moment, afraid she’d never see it again. Or experience a kiss like the evening before.

It hadn’t been her first kiss. There had been one other in tenth grade. But it had been a dare. One that the boy’s friends had given him.

He’d won ten bucks off that kiss.

This one, though…holy camoly.

If anyone ever asked about her first kiss, she was going to tell them about this one. Because it was the first one that meant anything. And everything. And stole her breath.

Even though it had been she who had crazily made the first move, Julianna no longer doubted Scott or his intentions. That had not been the kiss of someone who was playing her. It was the kiss of someone who was playing for keeps.

She didn’t know how long that would be—she was a realist, after all. Julianna still needed to figure out what she was doing with her life, and Scott had a world tour to go on that fall. She may have been on his website more than a few times since he’d arrived at the ranch. And a hundred times before that.

But his band’s website was all show—all glam. It focused on how unbelievably attractive he and his bandmates were. But it could never capture the true essence of who Scott Dallenforth was.

The funny, compassionate, sensitive musician she was lucky enough to be able to spend the rest of the summer with.

“You’re awake early.” Scott had woken and was watching her, his lips twisted up into a half-smile.

“Sorry, I wasn’t staring,” Julianna said quickly, though realizing she’d been doing exactly that. Staring off into space, not completely aware of what she was looking at, her thoughts taking her places she’d never thought she’d go. “Not on purpose, anyway.”

He pushed himself up and propped his head up on one hand. “I don’t mind you staring, as long as I’m offered the same courtesy.”

Julianna’s cheeks warmed and she glanced down, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “I have bedhead, and I’m sure my mascara is running and—”

Scott interrupted her by leaning forward and placing his lips on hers. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered against her lips. “So stop making excuses for yourself. It’s not your fault if all the other girls wish they could be you.”

“They do not.” She gave Scott a playful nudge.

“Awww…you two are so cute,” Penny said, flopping over in her sleeping bag on Julianna’s other side. Her curly hair was usually a bit of a mess, but this morning had taken things to a new level. Julianna wouldn’t have been surprised to find at least three squirrels nestled up inside. “Do you mind being cute quietly, though? Some of us didn’t get to sleep as early as you.”

Julianna wouldn’t have considered her and Scott’s night early, considering they had been talking until three in the morning. But to Penny’s credit, she’d had yet to come to bed before they had drifted off.

“Wish we could,” Scott said while glancing at his phone. “But breakfast at the lodge starts in twenty minutes. So much for showering before work this morning.”

Julianna groaned. “Good thing we work at a ranch where some level of filthiness is expected.” Scott sat up, and she saw he had a long patch of dirt that spread from his neck up through his hair on one side. She snorted. “Of course, I think they have standards that might not be met today.”

He raised an eyebrow and then craned his neck as he searched himself, trying to see what Julianna saw. “What?”

“Nothing.”

Penny sat up and stretched. “I bet I could plant a garden in that ‘nothing’ up the side of your head.”

“It would go well with the petting zoo you got going in your hair,” he retorted as he resumed his search for what he was obviously missing. Penny just laughed.

It took the better part of those twenty minutes to wake everyone up and get Blair walking in a straight enough line that he felt he was awake enough to drive.

“Maybe I should drive,” Scott suggested.

Sandra seemed okay with that idea, her eyes lighting up, but Blair bristled and stuck out his chest, suddenly seeming much more awake. “I got it, but thanks anyway.”

Scott raised a shoulder, like he didn’t care either way, and jumped into the back seat of the Suburban.

Blair seemed to care more about the interaction than Scott had and took the dirt road back to the ranch faster than he had on his way to the campground.

“Want to try slowing down?” Amanda asked, her voice shaky.

Julianna noticed that everyone in the vehicle was holding on to something.

“Got to get back in time for work,” Blair said with a grunt. “Hopefully, the dining hall will still be open, and we can at least grab an apple or something.”

Sandra laid a hand on his arm. “But it’s not worth—”

Her words cut off when the back of the Suburban fishtailed as they rounded a bend. Blair tried to regain control but overcorrected and sent them up a bank, where the front wheels hit a tree. Better that than the drop-off on the opposite side of the road.

Unfortunately, the tree acted like a lever, making the vehicle tilt up and backwards. Julianna grabbed the seat in front of her and glanced at Scott and Penny, their wide eyes matching hers.

Julianna didn’t remember much after that. Not until she was hanging upside down by her seatbelt.

“Everyone okay?” Blair called.

They all seemed to be, though Julianna felt lightheaded, and she could hear that someone was still pressing down on the accelerator, the rev of the engine making her anxious. “Blair, you gotta turn it off.”

“Right.” He turned the key, and silence settled over them. It was worse than the noise from the engine.

“I need to get out of here,” Julianna mumbled.

As she moved to unbuckle her seatbelt, Scott said, “Wait.”

It was too late, though, and when she pressed the button to unbuckle the belt, she fell to the roof of the vehicle.

Oh, right. Gravity.

In her panic, Julianna had forgotten she was hanging upside down.

It took some scrambling and a bruised knee, but she got the side door open and stumbled out into the sunshine.

Sandra appeared through the passenger door a moment later. “Are you okay?” she asked. “I could have opened that for you from the outside.” She was looking at Julianna so kindly that Julianna felt guilty about the things she’d said about Sandra. She’d always known that underneath all the skulls and spiked bracelets was someone Julianna might have been friends with if they hadn’t fallen for the same guy.

Except, Sandra was better. And Blair had been right about choosing her.

Maybe it was the fact that Julianna was still struggling to stand and that Sandra was helping her walk over to a large rock at the edge of the road. Or maybe it was because they’d just had a near-death experience. But before Julianna thought better of it, she blurted out, “It was me.”

Sandra raised an eyebrow and adjusted her spiked bracelets that kept slipping. “No, that was all Blair. I think he was jealous of your new boyfriend and had something to prove. Boys can be so dumb sometimes.” She laughed, and it only made Julianna feel worse.

Julianna sucked in a deep breath as she sank onto the rock. “No, I mean, it was me who spread those pictures last year. Of you and Blair. It’s because of me that Principal Howell found out about you two. I mean, how his mom found out.”

“Oh.” Sandra’s eyebrows shot up, and Julianna braced herself for Sandra’s anger. Except it never came. Instead, her lips quirked up at the edges, and she sat on the rock next to Julianna. “You’re the last person I would have ever suspected.”

“That’s because you didn’t know I existed.” Julianna shouldn’t have said that part. High school was over. A post-school pity party wasn’t what anyone needed. She watched as the rest of their group made their way out of the Suburban. A car lumbered up—more kids from the ranch, and they were talking to Blair. One was pulling out a phone.

“You’re not wrong,” Sandra said. “I had my little group of friends and didn’t really know anyone outside of it. The only reason I met Blair was because he was best friends with Amanda’s boyfriend. Never stopped to think what it was like for someone who didn’t already have their own group. Not unless they were literally thrown into my path.” She paused. “I hate to ask, but why did you do it?”

Julianna gave a humorless laugh. “Why does a high school girl do anything? To try to get the boy she likes to notice her.”

At least, that had been the way it was for Julianna. Maybe others weren’t quite so desperate.

Sandra turned her gaze to her spiked bracelets. “I get that. And I’m sorry.”

“Hey, I’m the one apologizing here,” Julianna said, sitting up straight. “I was selfish, and I never got to know you beyond the spikes.”

“Join the club,” Sandra muttered. “Not many people do.”

Julianna gave a quick shake of her head. “The point is that he totally made the right choice. Not that there was a choice, but if there had been, you’re it. You’re the one for him. And it took us coming here for me to realize it.”

Sandra shot Julianna a side smile. “No hard feelings. Seriously. It was better that his mom knew. Who knows, if she hadn’t found out, maybe we wouldn’t have had a happy ending.” She glanced toward the upside-down Suburban and groaned. “I better get over there. I can read Blair’s moods, and right now he’s beating himself up about this.”

It wasn’t another minute after Sandra left that Scott joined Julianna on the rock. “You okay?”

The fact that people kept asking probably meant that she wasn’t. Her gaze dropped. “Sorry, I kind of panicked there. I took off and didn’t even check on you and Penny.”

Scott placed a finger under her chin and lifted it, so their gazes met. “Don’t worry about us. It’s you that we’re concerned about.”

Moisture pricked at her eyes. “I’ve never been in a car accident before.”

“Me neither.”

Then he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and they sat in silence. She didn’t need him to say anything—his presence was enough.