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If she had laser vision, Juliet’s phone would have been blown to pieces by now, Althea thinks. Her co-star has been on that thing for almost thirty minutes now, eyes never leaving the screen, fingers briskly typing away.
It’s the clicking sound that annoys her, Althea tells herself. Not the fact that Juliet has almost been ignoring her since they’d arrived on location earlier.
Absolutely not that.
Not the fact that they’re about to shoot another on-screen kiss, a pivotal one at that, and Juliet doesn’t feel even a bit of unease. Not that Althea is. Feeling unease? Pftt. She’s kissed her plenty of times—well, Gabby. She’s kissed Gabby plenty times, what’s one more?
Juliet suddenly bursts into giggles, eyes still on her phone, and somehow it sets the other actress off.
“Jet.”
No answer.
“Samonte.”
Still nothing.
Althea gets up from her foldable chair, walking towards where the other actress is sat. Towering over, she tugs on her shirt’s sleeve.
“Yes, mahal?” the devil incarnate sing-songs. She doesn’t even need to look up. Which is a good thing because Althea’s cheeks choose to heat up at that exact moment.
“Can I have my script back?”
Juliet wordlessly reaches inside her bag, handing it over. The other woman turns around to walk away but not before Juliet gets to ruffle her hair. Althea allows it. She’s not quite sure why. She can see Emilia smirking from the corner of her eye, she doesn’t dare meet her gaze.
Althea’s just returned back to her seat, script opened to the scene they’re about to do when she feels the weight of an arm above her shoulder.
“So bakit na’kay Juliet script mo ha?”
She just shrugs. “She sometimes annotates it eh.”
“You told her to?”
“No ah,” Althea objects. “I think you and I both know you can’t make Juliet do just anything. She told me she wants to, I let her.”
Her cousin scoffs. “Ang prinsesa mo???”
The actress’ face switches to a frown, making ht director giggle. “Shouldn’t you be happy we’re at least trying to be civil?”
“Oh I’m happy, alright. Intrigued even.”
“…”
“…”
“Spit it out, Ems.”
“Ah wala naman. Naisip ko lang, personally I wouldn’t spend hours annotating the script of someone I hate.”
The director then simply walks away before her cousin can think of a rebuttal, whistling a random happy tune. “Oks na ba tayo, my dudes?” she speaks through her megaphone. “Take na tayo in 5!”
I wouldn’t spend hours annotating the script of someone I hate.
She tries to reconcile the Jet Who Wouldn’t Even Give Her the Time of Day with the Jet Who Takes Time Putting Sticky Post-Its and Writing Mini-Notes on Her Script and convinces herself it makes sense. She tells herself Juliet’s just being professional. They might not be fond of each other but Althea knows Juliet would never deliberately leave her to fend for herself with anything concerning their work. And Jet. When did she even start calling her Jet? Althea shakes her head.
She’d rather deal with Jet Who Still Hasn’t Spoken to Her Today, she decides as she approaches the other woman.
Wordlessly, she repeatedly tugs on Juliet’s sleeve, and when that doesn’t work, you raise your other arm to tug on her other sleeve.
“Wait laaang. Two minutes,” Juliet says, holding two fingers up.
Althea bites her tongue to stop herself from even daring to ask who she’s talking to. A minute and 43 seconds later (no, Althea definitely isn’t counting) she finally puts her gadget down and looks up at her.
“Okay, I’m all yours na,” the taller actress whispers, wearing her annoying smirk, playing with the tip of Althea’s black tie.
The other woman scoffs in answer, “You wish,” tilting her head in challenge.
“Places, everyone!”
Althea looks up when she feels a nudge against her arm. She raises her brows in question.
“Okay ka? I mean, do you feel comfortable?”
It takes four words for Althea to [momentarily] let her guard down. Do you feel comfortable?
That’s just Samonte’s professionalism talking, she reminds herself.
The taller woman grins when she gives her a soft nod and dashes to her place, making the two of them feet apart from each other.
Today, they’re shooting at an abandoned factory. In this particular scene, Gabby had just rescued Sophia from another one of Don Juan’s not-so-clever death traps. (A/N: please see link sa notes :>)
Set people help tie a piece of rope loosely around Althea’s body but she catches here scene partner’s playful wink just before Direk Emilia yells ‘action!’. She watches as Juliet’s face morphs into that of Gabby’s, filled with desperation.
“Sophia?? Soph!” the doctor calls, dashing to her, hands shaking as she puts the prop gun down. Her fingers work fast, untying the thick bands of rope wrapped around the detective.
She embraces Gabby once she’s been freed. “Gabby naman, ang kulit mo! Sabi nang hindi ka na dapat sumama sa rescue team,” she whispers, eyes brimming with tears. “What if na-late yung reinforcement?? At nadakip ka ng tauhan ni Madrigal??” her arms tightly grip the taller woman’s waist.
Sophia’s hands skim the other’s face, traveling towards her arms, frantically turning her around and checking for any injuries. “What would I have done, ha?? Kung may nangyari sa’yo? I should be the one protec—“
Gabby envelops the other woman in her arms cheek resting against her head. “I was so scared. Soph, I was really scared na baka hindi kita maabutan,” her voice breaks.
First take and Juliet’s nailing it so far, Althea thinks.
Gabby pulls away, pushing their foreheads together, close enough that Sophia can feel the wetness against her cheek. “They couldn’t find you. One of Madrigal’s men must have jammed the GPS. We were up all night, trying to hack the system. There was no way I was going to sleep nang hindi ka—“
Sophia softly presses their lips together, putting an end to her rambling. Just like the script says, Althea tells herself.
It lasts merely for seconds but it works. Gabby [reluctantly] pulls away, mouth slightly ajar, eyes jet black. “I’m right here, Gabs. You found me,” Sophia whispers, taking the other woman’s hands in hers.
Gabby takes a deep breath before diving in again, hands gripping the either side of Sophia’s waist, as if to make sure she doesn’t lose her right there and then.
The doctor kisses her like the world is ending, because for a moment she thought it would. Swiftly. Hurried. Exactly like the script says, Althea reminds herself.
Sophia lets her take the lead, as she’s supposed to. She loses track of how long it’s going. Althea forgets how long it should be. It seems like Jet has, too.
Some time, in the middle of needy breaths and warms touches, Althea Sophia decides to slow it down. They have time. Gabby has given them that for now. Sophia’s hands move to press on her shoulders, pushing Gabby until her back hits the nearest wall.
She cups the doctor’s cheek, thumb smoothing her lower lip. Gabby watches as the other woman’s tongue dart out to wet hers. Her eyes stay on hers as Sophia’s lips replace where her thumb has been.
Gabby is wanton under the detective’s touch. They have time, her kisses seem to convey. She raises her hand to her own cheek, intertwining it with Sophia’s.
An alarm goes off in Juliet’s head, warning her this is nowhere near what's written on the script. But she follows Althea’s lead. (She has yet to realize she can never say no to Althea Del Mundo.)
Direk Emilia hasn’t yelled cut so they must be something right.…
Or something very wrong? Somehow, in the heat of it all, the tip of Juliet’s tongue barely grazes the roof of Althea’s mouth and the sound that escapes her breaks the spell. They pull away for the second time. Juliet stares at her with a look that she can’t quite place.
A soft “Cut!” is heard through the megaphone and then…
“DE LEON??? Ikaw ba ‘yan? Gagi na miss kita accla!”
Juliet’s hands immediately let go of Althea’s just as her head turn back to where their director jogs off to.
And her face. Oh.
Juliet’s mouth stretches into a wide grin, her expression exactly the same as earlier when she’d been talking to a certain someone on her phone, Althea notes.
Suddenly all eyes on set are on her—a bouncy, small woman sporting low braids and an oversized hoodie, on top of a probably white frilly dress, and ankle-high boots. “Juju!!”
Juliet wraps her in a tight embrace, slightly lifting her up. Warm hello’s and how are you’s must have been exchanged, Althea wouldn’t know. She chooses to look away, drowning them out. She heads to her set chair, letting their make-up artist re-do her face.
It doesn’t escape Emilia. Nothing does, really. Not when it comes to her favorite cousin.
Althea glances back at them out of curiousity and Francesca catches her staring through the mirror. Juliet’s friend waves at her, grinning and she shyly smiles in return.
She redirects her gaze, looking down at her hands instead. They unconsciously ball to a fist when she hears Juliet let out a particularly loud giggle, probably laughing at something her visitor had said.
So that’s what she sounds like when she’s happy—how she acts when she’s around real friends, Althea thinks slightly bitterly.
She absentmindedly reaches for her script lying on top of the chair beside her, trying to distract herself. Tries to busy her eyes with the color-coded highlights she’s grown familiar with. Juliet sometimes likes to put random stickers on random lines to get a rise out of her. There’s a mini blushing cat just above the part that says GabPhia have to kiss. She’s so annoying.
But there’s also a “you got this” on the following scene of Sophia fighting off the bad guys. She ignores the tingling sensation on her lips and the aftertaste of cinnamon.
Script on one hand, she gets up and starts walking back towards the food station where her cousin, Juliet, and Francesca are hunched over, munching on some snacks their visitor had brought straight from Tokyo, where she’d just gotten back from.
She tries not to let out a scoff every time her co-star and her friend giggle but every ‘Juju’ makes her brows scrunch even more.
Direk Emilia walks closer towards Francesca, placing an arm above her shoulder. “So bakit nga ulit ‘Juju’ palayaw mo kay Jet?”
The shorter woman shrugs. “Parang everything fell right into place after I’d met her eh. I will always thank my lucky stars for giving me Juliet Samonte.”
The said woman shakes her head, chuckling. “Bolera.”
Her cousin appears beside her, tapping the back of her hand. “Kawawa naman yung script, wala naman yang kasalanan sa’yo,” she whispers. Althea realizes she had been clutching it.
“Jet,” she says, clearing her throat. She just needed her help with the script, that’s all.
Only a couple of feet apart and yet she didn’t seem to hear her.
“Jet.”
Francesca places one hand atop her friend’s shoulder, whispering something to her ear. And the way Juliet’s eyes twinkle in delight sets her off.
“Mahal,” Althea singsongs, a bit louder.
The giggles halt for a moment, and she watches as Juliet face her, tilting her head adorably. “Yes po?”
Juliet’s beside her in a second, eyeing at something she’s pointed in her script. The pair don’t see how Francesca’s subtly turned to Emilia mouthing ‘mahal?’, brows raised. The director simply flashes her a smirk, sipping her cold brew.
Clearing her throat, Francesca says “Juju, you want to sleep over later?”
A dull thud makes the other three look at Althea. “Sorry. Phone slipped.” She resists the urge to flip her giggling cousin off.
“Sige ba. Kawawa ka naman kasi, na-miss mo ‘ko,” Juliet says to Francesca, ruffling her hair.
Next to directing, Emilia loves, and enjoys, watching a fuming Althea Del Mundo. “You know what,” the director starts. “Mag-lo-long weekend na lang rin naman, tara nomi mamaya! Thei, sama ka. Yayayain ko kina Viv, yung tropa ko sa film school. Ikaw Jet, pass ka muna?”
Juliet sheepishly grins, “Bawi ako, direk!”
The director announces a lunch break, leaving the three other women to themselves. Althea looks up when somebody touches her forearm. “Lunch sa labas? Sama ka sa’min ni Ces—“
“-No thanks, hindi pa naman ako gutom.”
“‘Dinig ko tunog ng tiyan mo hanggang dito.”
“…”
“We can eat at that dim-sum place you’d been dying to go.”
“Your treat.”
Juliet lets out a loud sigh. “At bakit na naman lib-“
The shorter woman gets up, turning to walk back.
“Okaaay, kamahalan. My treat. Tara na po, kamahalan,” Juliet resorts, placing her hand at the small of Althea’s back who playfully glares at her, but lets herself be dragged along.
They’re almost a feet away from where Jet’s parked her car when Althea remembers they haven’t figured out the seating arrangement. Can she call shotgun? Will Francesca? Should she call shotg—
“Ako sa backseat, please! Hihiga lang ako slight,” Francesca interrupts her thoughts, saving her. “Medyo nahihilo pa kasi ako sa flight.”
They’d just settled into their seats when the woman sitting on the backseat tuts. “Huy Juliet, sira ba aircon mo?”
“Ay sorry, lamigin kasi yung isa dito. Wait lang, lalakasan ko,” the driver replies, pressing a certain button.
Francesca watches as her friend takes off the hoodie she’s wearing, handing to Althea. “Euan oh.” The smaller woman wordlessly puts it on. Huh.
Juliet catches Francesca’s teasing stare through the front mirror, and subtly shakes her head, starting the engine.
‘Shadow’ starts playing from the speakers, picquing Francesca’s interest. “Kelan ka pa nakikinig kay Carly Rae, ha?”
“Sa phone ni Euan nakaconnect yung bluetooth.”
“That’s the second time. I’ve heard ‘Euan’. Nickname mo yun, Thei?” Cesca asks.
“Well…not really. But also not a lot of people call me that kasi.”
Francesca feigns thinking. “So pwede rin ba kitang tawaging Eu-“
“-No.” She turns her head to the driver when she butts in. “Ako lang.”
“Psh. Damot.”
Althea suddenly feels warm all over but the blames it on the fluffy hoodie she’s just put on.
“Ga’no na kayo katagal magkakilala? You and Jet, I mean.”
The dim-sum place was merely a 10-minute ride away from their shooting location and there had been little to no traffic. Juliet had excused herself after orders were made, leaving the two women alone.
“Hmm. Long enough to know she hogs the bed when she’s sleeping.” There’s a certain twinkle to Francesca’s smile, Althea notices. But no malice. None at all.
She clears her throat, racking her brain for questions to keep the small talk going. Francesca has this air of affability around her and Althea wants so badly to find a reason to hate her but she’s having trouble doing so.
“Juju was right,” Cesca muses, interrupting her train of thought. Right about…what?
“…You really are the prettiest.”
Althea tucks her chin, ignoring the warmth that rushes to her cheeks because since when does Jet think I’m pretty?
Goddamnit.
“I heard you’ve taken a break from acting gigs muna? Jet’s mentioned it once.” Francesca smiles at her, amused.
“Hmm-mm. Currently I’m hosting this one travel show. But I’m happy naman. I get to go to places while working,” Francesca pauses, letting out a soft sigh, “…naiiwan ko nga lang puso ko dito.”
Before Althea can overthink her answer, Juliet reappears at their table, taking the seat beside Althea, and right across Francesca.
“Ganda ng timing ko ah, eto na yung fooood,” she says, eyeing the waiter approaching them.
Francesca watches as Juliet places two pieces of steamed hakao, one empress roll and sweet and sour fish atop Althea’s plate, the latter simply letting her. Althea, in turn, mixes condiments for the other woman.
“Uhmm, parang that’s too much chili flakes, Thei.”
“Parang ‘di naman?”
“Ha? Eh mahina yang tolerance ni Juju,” Francesca replies, scoffing at her friend.
“Weh ba, Jet? Kaya mo ‘to ‘di ba, Jet?”
The audible gulp Juliet makes doesn’t escape Cesca. “Ah oo! Oks lang yan.”
“Okay lang daw pero ang pula-pula mo na.”
Francesca makes her friend look her straight in the eye as she dips a bacon roll in the concoction Althea had made and giggles endlessly as she tries to stop herself from coughing a lung out.
Juliet does survive lunch, albeit with watery eyes and her nose tomato red. She and Francesca had gone their separate ways agreeing to just meet at the latter’s place. Meanwhile, the drive back on set had been quiet as a mouse. Juliet tells herself maybe the other woman’s just recharging her social battery, being the introvert she is.
But then the Althea also totally ignores her once they’re back on set. When the shoot comes to an end though, she puts Juliet’s hoodie back on. The hoodie’s owner lets her, not having the heart to ask for it back; she simply walks back to where she’s parked her car.
She’s about to open her door when—
“Jet.”
Althea’s staring back at her, arms crossed. She raises her brows in question. “Sabay ka?”
The other woman shakes her head no. “I’d be out of the way pa eh, you’re heading straight to Francesca’s, ‘di ba?”
Juliet frowns, waiting, not quite sure what to say. She’d never seen Althea like…this. She lets out a sigh when the shorter woman stays quiet. “Uhm, ingat kayo m-mamaya.”
She catches Althea’s almost-sullen expression in the rearview mirror as she drives away and doesn’t really know what to make out of it.
She’s still thinking about it by the time she reaches Francesca’s place.
“So, kelan mo pa siya gusto?” Francesca muses, breaking her train of thought.
Juliet puts the carton of banana milk she’s drinking, putting her feet up Francesca’s sofa, hugging her knees. “Luh. Hindi ko gusto si Euan???”
Her friend guffaws. “Wala akong binanggit na pangalan.”
“…”
“So kelan pa nga?”
“She doesn’t like me.”
“One, hindi naman yun yung tanong ko. Second…sure ka?”
Juliet’s face morphs into a frown. “Anong sure ako? Sinungitan ako niyan sa table read pa lang. To think I was the one who wanted her in on this project. I wanted to work with her,” Juliet sneers.
The other woman chuckles, shaking her head. “Kasi gusto mo siya?” Juliet’s baffled face makes her laugh even harder. “You really can’t see how she acts around you?” Francesca pushes.
Juliet scoffs. “That’s just what’s expected. Loveteam kami, Chesca. It’s all for show, alam mo ‘yun.”
“Alam niya ba? Who was around on set earlier that had to hear her calling you ‘mahal’?”
The other woman gets up, getting a class of cold water from the kitchen counter. “That’s just her trying to get a rise out of me so she’d win the bet.”
Francesca perks up at that. “Bet?”
“Bet,” Juliet confirms.
The other woman sighs audibly. “Do I even have to ask what the bet is about or do I already know?”
Juliet swallows a large gulp of water. “I can’t fall for her. You know I never lose.”
Her friend raises both arms, placing them behind her head as she leans back against the sofa. “Alam mo, I only asked if you like her…you can like her without falling naman?” Checkmate, Francesca thinks.
The sound of a phone ringing breaks the short silence.
“Hello, Euan?…Direk? What happened?” Francesca watches as Juliet’s face grow agitated. “Pa-share ako ng location niyo, wait for me there.”
She flashes Francesca a sheepish smile, gathering her things. “Juju.”
Juliet hums in answer. “Hit me up when you figure it out.”
“So ano pa’ng tinatago mo sa’kin?” are the first words Althea utters to Juliet ever since she’d picked her up from the bar.
Juliet had gotten to where they were fifteen minutes and three traffic violations later. She’d thank the heavens for never missing leg day because how on earth is her co-star twice heavier when drunk.
“H-Ha?” Juliet answers, carefully dropping her onto her bed. Emilia had given her Althea’s house key earlier.
Ano pa’ng alam ni Francesca tungkol sa’yo na hindi ko alam?
“Why couldn’t you just say na hindi ka mahilig sa maanghang, Jet? Eh almost every time kumakain tayo I order spicy food for you? Bakit mo kailangang tiisin?” Althea babbles, some words a bit slurred.
Juliet doesn’t answer, reaching for the glass of water she’d gotten instead. “Drink, please. Let’s talk tomorrow, Euan?”
The other woman flashes her a glare, but follows suit. “You never talk to me, Jet.”
The taller woman freezes when Althea grips her shirt on either side, sitting up until their faces are inches apart.
“Sometimes, I wish you’d let me in, Jet.” She moves the hand gripping Juliet’s waist and places it atop the left side of her chest. “Kahit ‘wag na dito.” Juliet’s breath hitches when she presses their foreheads together. “Kahit dito lang.”
She falls asleep soon after that. Juliet, miles away, doesn’t get a blink the entire night.
Althea wakes up the next day with a throbbing head and still wearing Juliet’s red hoodie. Her phone’s pinging noise makes her head hurt more.
j 
GOOOOD
MORNIIIING
EUANNNNN
euan ko [sa’yo]
‘wag ka sumigaw
j
may paracetamol
jan sa bedside mo
bangon ka na
euan ko [sa’yo]
ayaw
j
euan althea
euan ko [sa’yo]
juliet miguela
j
:((((((
bangon ka na tapos eat
something oily
euan ko [sa’yo]
ayaw >:(
j
ayaw mo talaga?
*sent a photo*
Ay putanginang ‘yan.
The photo doesn’t show Juliet’s full face but there’s no mistaking it’s her because taunting you is that mole atop her upper lip. And her bare deltoids. Fuck you, Samonte.
j
post mo tapos
sabihin mo nilalandi
kita