forum In Fair Verona // Modern Romeo and Juliet // Private RP - CLOSED

Started February 05, 2019 by @blue_topaz

tune

JULIET: Ouch. Wait—that annoying guy who works for the Latin teacher? Or someone else?

ROMEO: That’s the one and only.

JULIET: Rip. I don’t have that Latin teacher, so I’m lucky, but I’ve seen the guy around.

I took a moment to think of a question, not wanting to ask something overly profound, but at the same time, avoid being too shallow.

JULIET: if you had a choice, what would you want to be when you’re older?

ROMEO: You know, I always say an olympian athlete when I get asked that, but if I’m being honest? Probably like… an instagram famous type deal where I can just be handsome af and make money off that. Not to sound stuck up or anything…

I almost snorted out loud. Oh my god… Out of all the professions, that was what he wanted to be?

JULIET: hate to break it to you, but that does sound stuck up. Lol.

ROMEO: Twelve year olds everywhere would disagree. I’ll be the next… whatever that American kid was. Alex from Target?

JULIET: no idea who you’re talking about, but sure

ROMEO: And you call me uncultured? Anyways, what would you be?

JULIET: Never having sampled the traditional food of your country and not knowing who some Instagram guy is are VERY different things. But I’d want to act. Broadway and stuff, on a stage, not in movies.

ROMEO: I can see you doing that. You’d make a beautiful/terrifying Lady M.

My gut twisted as I read his message, shoulders tensing and drawing up. It took me a full five minutes to come up with and send my response, praying he’d just agree and move on.

JULIET: Romeo… I appreciate the fact that you’re complimenting me, but please don’t call be beautiful. Or anything along those lines.

I let out a quiet sigh, rereading Juliet’s message three or four times. It still hurt to get rejected, I couldn’t deny that. But would I lose her if I kept complimenting her? If I was going to do it, I needed to be more subtle in the future, which isn’t exactly my specialty.

ROMEO: Romeo? That Montague scum? This is Alessandro.

For now I just needed to avoid making my tired heart ache anymore…

I sighed, taking the reply as some form of an apology.

JULIET: My mistake

(Can he ask about why she’s always drawing roses?)

(Absolutely lmao)

As I traced the roses and my cast, I chewed my lip, considering my next question.

ROMEO: Hey, I don’t know how personal this is, but why do you always draw roses?

(Lol)

My heart skipped a beat.

It took me about four minutes of staring at the text and fighting the sudden rush of emotion to figure out how I was supposed to reply.

JULIET: A habit I picked up from my mom.

Juliet’s Mom was someone I actually never heard of before, now that I think of it.

ROMEO: So should I start sketching rolling pins?

JULIET: No lol. My mom used to have these rose tattoos all over her back and arms.

I felt far from ‘lol’, but definitely didn’t want him knowing how badly choked up just a mention of my mother had me.

I spotted the phrase “used to”. I wanted to ask if she had gotten the tattoos removed. But I knew better. I could be an idiot at times, but I understood what had happened.

ROMEO: I’m sorry.

Chances are this was my family’s fault…

Fuck.
He'd caught on. He wasn't supposed to catch on, wasn't supposed to know. I lay my phone facedown on my chest, my hands suddenly trembling too hard to hold it or type out a reply.

It took a good fifteen minutes before I was calm enough to reply, before I had managed to scrub my mind clean of the memory of hearing the gunshot, seeing my mother's twisted body on the ground.
They'd killed her in front of me.
They'd forced me to watch.

JULIET: Happened a while ago. It's fine.

I wait. Fifteen painstaking minutes. Staring blankly at the screen. Her reply didn’t do much to soothe me, but at least she was still with me.

ROMEO: I’d hug you, but you’re not here, and you’d probably knock me unconscious.

JULIET: More like have a full-scale panic attack.

Somehow, I couldn't grasp exactly how stupid I was being. Confessing this much to anyone was dangerous, especially a Montague, and especially Romeo. But once I'd started, I couldn't seem to stop.

ROMEO: Can I ask you another question?

JULIET: Sure.

I didn't know whether I'd actually answer it, but…. One problem at a time.

It took me several minutes to type it fully. My hand shook violently as I slowly typed one letter at a time.

ROMEO: Do you think we’ll ever be happy?

My eyes were locked onto the small screen as I watched the typing icon appear and disappear, going on for several minutes until….

For some reason, his question shook me to the core. I couldn't tear my gaze away, couldn't stop my hands from beginning to quiver, couldn't stop the wave of memories that began to wash over me, dragging me deep down below the surface of an inescapable sea of fear.

JULIET: No. I don't.