Somewhere Else

Chapter 3

3

Elle

The excitement I was feeling in preparation of our midnight matinee at the Globe completely washed away the dread harboring in my heart of Jude's impending travels. I'd seen Shakespearean plays performed in high school and college, but they didn't involve the level of acting I knew we were in for that night. And Romeo and Juliet, I mean, come on, could it be more perfect?

I remembered thinking just a few days into our relationship that we were competing with Romeo and Juliet for quickest nose dive into love, but I could easily draw another parallel between us. I picked up their wonderful quality of not really thinking things through. Of course, my superb ability to jump to the worst possible conclusions didn't lead to anything catastrophic as it did for them, but it was the catalyst to many of our spats. Luckily, that little flaw of mine faded away; I knew Jude wouldn't betray me and being confident in our relationship was the best feeling in the world.

Thoughts of the star-crossed lovers from Verona swarmed around in my head as I got dressed in Jude's (our?) bedroom. Jude had told me to dress warmly, so I pulled on layer after layer to fight the frigid winter air. I was bundled up so snuggly that it was difficult to zip up my jacket, but I was sure that the wind had zero chance of reaching my skin. As I finished pulling on my gloves, I walked into the kitchen where Jude was preparing two thermoses of hot chocolate. The moment he sensed my presence, he turned around, and the laughter that broke from his chest shook the entire house.

"Babe," he stopped in an effort to catch his breath from his laughing fit, "you look like the kid from that Christmas movie who falls in the snow and can't get up."

"Okay, one, that is my least favorite Christmas movie. I just don't get the fascination with that leg lamp. Two, you gave me specific instructions to dress warmly!"

His laughter started all over again.

"Please explain to me exactly what it is that's so funny."

"How many scarves have you got on?" he asked.

"How many do you think I have on?"

He eyed my neck and torso as if he were able to see through my puffy jacket. "I'm going to go with four."

"NOPE. Three. See, it's not even as many as you think."

"You've still got two too many on."

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the hallway to return some of my layers. I felt Jude follow me the whole way.

"Don't worry, I'm removing some of the clothing so you don't have to look like you're on a date with the marshmallow man."

But before I could reach up to unzip the jacket that was pulled tightly around my frame, Jude's hands reached for the zipper. He carefully unzipped my jacket, and once my lungs had room to allow air into them, he moved on to the scarves around my neck. He removed the top two I'd been wearing and then peered at my torso.

"I'm sorry, Elle. I didn't mean we had to dress this warmly. It's an open air theater, but I'm sure they'll have heaters. Now, please, love, don't take this the wrong way, but how many jumpers are you wearing?"

A low guttural growl came out of my mouth. "Maybe if I had a little more direction, I wouldn't have wasted so much time layering on all of these stupid clothes! I'll be back down in a minute." I made a move to pull away from Jude so I could retreat upstairs and remove the two extra sweaters I was wearing, but he grasped onto my jacket. He pulled me in and set his lips on mine. I could taste that he'd been testing the cocoa.