Love Her

Page 4

"What time do you want me to come up?"

There was an unexplained excitement in her replying smile. "I'll call you first, okay?"

"Sure." I frowned to myself, wondering what was up. Her smile widened.

We sat and talked, slowly nibbling our lunches until I saw people leaving. It was time to go, so I reluctantly wretched myself away from her and I was gone, a chill filling my stomach as I walked away.

The rest of my time at school was unfortunately uneventful.

When I got home, I went to the kitchen to sit by my phone and bite my nails.

I leaned against the kitchen counter, my hand inches from the phone, and tried to wait patiently.

Instead of moving, I thought about my school work. We were reading about Romeo and Juliet. I wondered what she would have done if Romeo had left her, not because he was banished, but because he lost interest in her entirely. What if Rosaline had given him the time of day, and he'd changed his mind on the matter? What if, instead of marrying Juliet, he'd just left her?

I thought I knew how Juliet would feel.

She wouldn't go back to her old life, not really. She wouldn't have moved on, I was sure of that. Even if she'd lived until she was old and gray, every time she closed her eyes, it would have been Romeo's face she saw behind her eyelids. I wondered if she would have married Paris in the end, just to please her parents. No, probably not, I decided. But then, the story didn't say much about Paris. He was just a stick figure, a prop, a pressure, a deadline to force her hand.

What if there were more to Paris?

What if Paris had been Juliet's friend? Her very best friend? What if he was the only one she could confide in about the whole traumatic thing with Romeo? The one person who really understood her and made her feel whole again? What if he was patient and understanding? What if Juliet knew she couldn't survive with losing him as well? What if he really loved her, and wanted her to be happy?

And what if she loved Paris? Not like Romeo. But enough that she wanted him to be happy, too?

If Romeo was really gone, never coming back, would it have mattered whether or not Juliet had taken Paris up on his offer? Maybe she should have tried to settle with the leftover scraps that were left behind. Maybe that would have been as close to happiness as she could get.

I sighed and then groaned when the sigh scraped my throat. I was reading too much into the story. Romeo wouldn't change his mind. That's why people still remembered his name, always twined with hers: Romeo and Juliet. That's why it was a good story. "Juliet gets dumped and ends up with Paris" would have never been a hit.

I closed my eyes and drifted again, letting my mind wander away from the stupid play. I didn't want to think about it anymore. I watched the clock as the minutes ticked by Ten. Fifteen.

Eighteen minutes. I picked up the phone and dialed.