Romeo and Juliet: Love and the Mafia

Chapter 8: Parting

In the Capulet's manor library, which occupied two floors and was where Juliet's homeschooling had taken place several years ago, Rosaline was seated next to her cousin on a leather sofa, soothing her. She patted Juliet's head which was resting on her shoulder, gave her a handkerchief and whispered comforting words in her ears until Juliet had calmed down. A moment's silence followed before Rosaline asked if Juliet was OK.

"Of course I'm fine Rosie", Juliet replied quietly, "I'm sorry for making a scene."

"Don't be", Rosaline said, "What made you so upset anyway?"

"I don't know", Juliet sighed, fiddling with Rosaline's handkerchief, "I was talking to Romeo about how you were leaving and I got all upset again."

"Oh, Juliet!"

"You're like a sister to me Rosie. I don't know what I'll do if I can't have you around anymore."

"Look at me", Rosaline said. Juliet peered up into her wet blue eyes. "I know that this is scary for you and in all honesty, I'm scared too. Maybe I was too hasty when making this decision but I explained why didn't I?"

Juliet nodded.

"And just because I'm leaving, it doesn't mean that we can't be sisters anymore. I'll try to call you every day and I'll come back to visit every break I get."

Juliet watched tears roll down Rosaline's cheeks before embracing her again. The two held onto each other, crying, until they laughed.

"Look at how silly we both are!" Rosaline exclaimed.

"You're not silly, I am", Juliet teased. She then paused for a second and said, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why don't you like Romeo back?"

"He told you that?!" Rosaline hid her face behind her hands and leaned back on the sofa.

"Yeah...but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, it's fine. The truth is, he lied to me."

"About what?"

"When we first became friends, we had so much in common. We liked the same music, books, films, food and we even had the same dreams. He was so different from all the other guys I'd met. Or so I thought."

"What do you mean?"

"One day, I was meeting up with Mercutio and he'd ran into Romeo before I showed up. As I was approaching them, I heard them talking about me so I decided to hide and listen. Mercutio was saying how surprised he was that we got along because we had nothing in common. I laughed to myself at the time because I thought that we had everything in common but after some reflection, I realised that it was strange that Mercutio, who had been Romeo's friend since they were little, would say such a thing. So the next time Romeo asked me out, I tested him. Instead of talking about what I liked, I asked him questions about the things that he supposedly liked too. And, of course, he didn't know what to say without me filling in the gaps for him."

"Oh, Rosie!"

"I thought I knew him so well but it turned out that I didn't know him at all. Not that it matters now because I'm over it."

"Don't get mad at me but is he part of the reason why you're leaving too?"

"Of course not!"

"Rosaline, you don't have to pretend. You may be good at putting up a front but I can see that you're still really hurt by this. And I saw the looks you shared with each other while we were dancing. There are still feelings there. That's why you want to get away from him, right?"