Falling in Love, Falling Apart (The Devereaux Story)/Chapter 2

Juliet's eyes widened as she backed up from her older brother. She shook her head in disbelief as she tried to back up more, only to trip on the hem of her dress and fall backwards. Luckily, Dante was there to catch her.

"N-no," Juliet finally stated, "No! Clumsy's not the reason why I'm tripping so much!"

"The falling backwards told otherwise," Dante rubbed the back of his head.

"But, it's not his fault," Juliet timidly toyed with her wavy hair, "He's just accident prone, that's all."

"You haven't been falling all over the place before he came along!" Astrid told her.

"So, maybe you should break up with him!" Allura added.

"No! Please!" Juliet dropped to her knees, "I-I have a reason!"

"Okay, give us one," Astrid crossed her arms, and the others waited to hear her answer. Juliet tried to think of an answer to give to them, but she was too timid to. She looked at the ground in guilt.

"Yea, that's what we thought," Astrid stated.

"Juliet, we're just doing this for your own good," Wilt put a hand on her shoulder, "We're just trying to protect you."

Juliet said nothing. She knew her siblings would get angry if she tried to speak on her behalf so she just walked away, stumbling a bit on one of the bell bars on the way.

Later that morning, a knock came by the door and Astrid looked to see who it was. She glared as she saw Clumsy standing by the door with flowers in his hand.

"Don't answer the door," She told the others in the lobby, "It's that Clumsy Smurf."

"But, what would Juliet say?" Dante asked.

"We're just gonna have to separate them ourselves," Astrid told him, "If we keep him away from Juliet, maybe she'll never know."

Little did they know that Juliet was eavesdropping on the whole conversation. Juliet stealthily crept out of her hut and up to the top of the dome where she spotted Clumsy with flowers.

"Jeepers," Clumsy wondered, "Is Juliet okay?"

"I'm fine," Juliet stated from behind him, which startled Clumsy and almost made him fall over, until Juliet helped him regain his balance."

"How...how did-?!"

"I slid down the dome," Juliet explained, then sighed. Clumsy looked at her and thought she was on the verge of tears.

"Jewel," Clumsy looked at her in concern, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, Clumsy!" Juliet hugged him, "My siblings think you're being a bad influence on me! I've been acting a little clumsy recently and they think it's because of you!"

"Me?" Clumsy repeated.

"They think breaking up with you would fix the problem," Juliet wiped a tear from her eye, "But, I don't want to! You're pretty much the only one who would let me be my own person!"

"Well, what should I do?" Clumsy took her hands, "What can I do to prove to your siblings that I am worthy of your hand?"

Juliet thought for a moment, then a sparkle came to her eye, "I can train you."

"Huh?" Clumsy cocked his head, "What do you mean by that?"

"I can train you to become, well, less clumsy," Juliet explained, "Even though I like you for who you are, we can convince them to think you can control your clumsiness. Does...that sound like a good plan?"

Clumsy looked into Juliet's eyes. Once he thought about it for a moment, he finally nodded,

"Let's do it,"

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