Aaliyah was clearly a mirror image of her mother, in terms of being able to throw a flawless event. It wasn't like Juliet had not attended this party countless times in the past years, but every time that she showed up at the annual white party, she was impressed at Debby's party planning skills. Everything was perfect, and no one would expect anything less of the a Shanks. Juliet had very reluctantly come with her mother and her "boyfriend", who happened to be Teegan's father. She would deny it being as completely immature as it was, but Juliet disliked the man for a few reasons, but mostly because of who his daughter was. Ask Juliet why she disliked Teegan so much, and she really wouldn't be able to give you a solid answer. One minute she would reason that she was a horrible singer who was destined to be a one hit wonder, and the next, because she was a jealous slut. Really, though, was it her fault that Teegan's ex-boyfriend was obsessed with her? It was Juliet who had slept with him first, so if anyone had a right to be petty, shouldn't it have been her? At this point, she would just scoff and tell you that the slut wasn't worth her time, but at the same time, wouldn't mind tossing a few jabs in before and after telling you that she wasn't going to waste her precious time talking about her. Understandably, though, Teegan's father was the last person that she wanted her mother to be dating, and the fact that it meant that she had to occasionally spend time with Teegan was a big reason for it.
When Aaliyah had found her, Juliet had been (barely) involved in a conversation with some acquaintances. She didn't find the guy talking to be half as amusing as he thought himself to be, so when she spotted her friend headed towards her, she easily separated herself from the group. "You're always stressing about something, Leah! This is like, the official last party of the summer and I refuse to let you spend the afternoon stressed about something you can't even control!" It was probably easier for Juliet to say and think than it was for Aaliyah, though. She was aware of how strict Leah's mother was, or at least, strict was what it seemed like to Juliet. Even if that was true, it was still hard for her to grasp that maybe it was possible that Aaliyah strove for greatness not because she was forced to by her parents, but because she actually wanted, personally, to achieve those things. She knew that Aaliyah was a perfectionist (that kind of went without saying), but she felt like some of her need to want to be the best had to come because her parents had sky high expectations for her. Luckily for Juliet, she didn't have to worry about that. Or so it had seemed lucky for a while. Now, there were times when she almost wished that her parents had pushed her into something. Be it a sport, or a musical interest, or academics, or some other hobby, she wished that she was really good at something. Something with the potential for a future, and something with the potential to support herself. Modeling was fun and it did make her money, but it wasn't something that she took seriously. It was hard to, when like everything else in her like, if her father hadn't had connections in the industry, she never would have gotten involved in it. Whether she really wanted it or not, Juliet was at a point in her life where she needed something that was her own. Not a job where she could never be fired because her dad wrote everyone's check. Not even having a vague idea of what she wanted to do with her life made that difficult, and maybe a bit ironically, knowing that she was set for life to an extent where she didn't have to do anything made it more difficult too.
She sipped the lemon water in her hand, tempted to grab a mimosa when Aaliyah took one from a passing server. It was unusual, if not absurd, to see Juliet turn down a drink, but she was still nursing a hangover from the night before, and her morning filled with yoga and Erin's never ending chatter had not done her aching head any good. She would certainly pick up an alcoholic beverage within the next few minutes, but she was hoping her Advil would kick in first. If not, she would treat the ailment with alcohol. Looking around, she picked Erin out, only a few yards away. What brought a smile to her face, brought it away just as quickly, when she noticed the girl standing beside her. "Oh my God, why did you let your mom invite her family?" She said, referring to Brynn. In typical Juliet filter-less fashion, her followup question was no better, being, "Where's Beau?"