Why Romeo Hates Juliet (10 page)

It was almost 8 p.m. by the time the girl’s left Faith’s store. Going home, Juliet was driving and Sara was sitting in the passenger seat holding their friend’s homemade pie on her lap. Juliet gave the dessert and her sister a quick look before returning her eyes to the road.

“You know, I don’t think Wild Huckleberry Pie is going to go over that well with these people. You should have gotten them the brownies laced with pot instead. Now that would have been a real party pleaser,” she giggled.

“Oh, hush up, Juliet. Everybody loves pie and this is a nice way to say all is forgiven, so let’s be friends.”

“Okay, have it your way, but I don’t think it’s going to work.”

“Yes it will. And as soon as we get home, we’re going to take this pie, knock on their door and politely ask them if we can come in and talk about this whole mess. I’m sure we can resolve it amicably.”

Juliet stole a quick glance at her sister again. Sara was being such an optimist about this because she so badly wanted to get to know the movie star, but Juliet knew differently. Romeo Boyd was a selfish, pampered Holl ywood brat who was used to getting his own way about everything.

He wasn’t going to be interested in being ‘friends’ with them or having to tone down his wild party for their sake. And remembering the look of pure hate he’d given her when he’d realized how she’d played him with her tears at the police station, she didn’t think he’d be in a neighborly mood anytime soon either.

As they turned into the entrance of the private road leading to their beach house, the girls saw several cars parked there and photographers milling around. As Juliet slowed down to make the turn, flashbulbs started going off as the group of people swarmed their car and started taking pictures of them through the windows. It was obvious that they thought whomever was in the vehicle might be part of Romeo Boyd’s entourage and they wanted the pictures to sell to the gossip magazines.

“It’s the paparazzi,” Juliet mumbled, as she inched forward slowly, being careful not to hit any of them with her car.

Sara was excited. “They probably think we’re famous too.”

“At least we’re lucky our house is way down this private road where they’re not allowed to enter otherwise we’d have camera lenses coming through our windows day and night.”

“Maybe they’ll be gone by morning?”

Juliet threw her naïve sister a disbelieving look. “Come on, Sara! They know that Boyd lives here and he just got arrested, which apparently is big news and they’re going to stake him out as long as they have to in order to get their photographs.” She finally pulled up to their house and got out of the car. “One more reason to get the hell out of here by tomorrow,” she reiterated, as they both entered their cottage.

“Never mind about going home just yet,” Sara affirmed, as she ambled into the kitchen and placed the pie on the counter. “Let me make a quick bathroom stop to freshen up first and when I get back, you and I are going over to our new neighbors to talk things through in a calm civilized manner. I’m positive we can all resolve this and maybe even laugh about it later on.” As Juliet watched her sister disappear down the hall, her thoughts raced to Romeo Boyd and a shiver went up her spine. Frankly, she was scared what his reaction was going to be when he came face-to-face with her again. Would he lunge at her and finish what he’d started back at the police station?

Stepping into the living room, she went to stand at the floor length windows overlooking the ocean. A majestic orange sun was slowly lowering itself as dusk took over the day and she sighed at its awe-inspiring beauty.

Steeling a glance next door, she spotted Romeo lounging in a chair by the pool and enjoying the same sunset. Her heart suddenly leapt into her throat as she took in his still form seemingly transfixed by the view. His head was turned away from the houses, looking out over the ocean and he wasn’t moving a muscle. He looked like a marble statue, cut into stone and set forever in that pose for all eternity. What was he thinking about, she wondered?

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Tommy walking from the direction of the house with two beers in his hands. Approaching Romeo, he flopped his body into the chair beside his friend and passed him one of the bottles.

Hearing Sara approaching from behind, Juliet turned to see her sister walking into the living room carrying the ‘peace offering’ pie between her hands. “I’m ready, let’s go,” her little sister announced.

Suddenly, feeling a rush of apprehension at having to face Romeo again, Juliet began backtracking. “Sara, let’s not do this. Why don’t we just fly home tomorrow? It’ll be easier for everyone.”

“No, we’re resolving this tonight, one way or another.” Sara was adamant.

“Fine, but I swear, if he starts getting pissy with me, I’m going to take that Wild Huckleberry Pie and smash it over his head.” She just knew that Romeo would be spoiling for a fight and she was all ready to give him one, a really big one, if that’s what he wanted.

“You’ll do no such thing,” her sister admonished. “Promise me that you’ll let me do all the talking and you won’t say a peep.”

“Sara, I’m not…”

“Promise me, Juliet!”

Juliet took in Sara’s set face and knew her sister was putting her foot down with her, which was something she rarely ever did. Her anger deflated. “Okay, I promise.”

Sara nodded, “Good! And promise me you won’t be smashing any pie over his head.” On suddenly seeing the absurdity of it all, Juliet felt a chuckle bubble out of her. “Okay, I promise I won’t attack him with the dessert. I’ll fight the urge for you, baby sister.”

A smile twitched on Sara’s lips. “Let’s go then,” she said, as she started walking towards the backdoor.

The girls walked out into their backyard and noticed that dusk was slowly turning into night. They could still make out the forms of the two men sprawled on the lounge chairs and so they headed towards the four foot hedge which separated both properties. As they approached the green thicket, ready to cross into their neighbor’s side of the yard, they could hear Tommy and Romeo talking to each other.

“It is beautiful here, isn’t?” Juliet heard Romeo say.

“Yeah, it’s awesome,” Tommy confirmed, as he took a swig of his beer. “By the way, I’ve got some gossip on our neighbors.” On hearing the word, ‘neighbors’, Juliet grabbed Sara’s arm and made her stop dead in her tracks. She put her finger to her lips, instructing her sister to be quiet. The girls were still on their side of the hedge and hadn’t yet been seen by the men.

Yanking on her sister’s arm, Juliet pulled Sara down with her behind the tall bush so that they were completely concealed by the vegetation, but could still hear everything that was being said. She motioned again for her sister not to say a word.

Romeo took a swig of his beer. “So spill, Tommy, what did you find out?”

“Apparently, her name is Juliet Soma and she’s a romance writer. Her first book was called Juicy Monday and it hit big on the New York Times Bestseller List last year. The other one is her sister, Sara, and they’re both here for the summer from Vancouver, British Columbia.”

“A romance writer? Her? That big bitch?” Romeo nearly choked on his beer. “She wouldn’t know the first thing about romance if it fell at her feet.” Tommy laughed and Romeo continued. “She’s got ice water running through her veins and any man stupid enough to sleep with her would be in danger of getting frostbite on his dick.” Romeo took a long sip from his beer bottle. The mere mention of that woman made him crazy.

still well concealed by the hedge, Juliet’s eyes narrowed dangerously at his comments. She looked at Sara, whose own eyes had widened with astonishment.

They heard the boys resume their conversation.

Tommy laughed again. “Maybe she’s not that bad, Romeo.”

“Not that bad? Are you serious, Tommy? After everything she did to me? I had to spend a night in jail, man, and now I’ve got a drug arrest attached to my name forever. It’s a good thing she wasn’t home today, because I had every intention of going over there and tearing a strip off her skinny hide like she did to me. Do you know that my eye only re-opened this morning? And I had to beg - beg Tommy, beg - for one goddamn, lousy aspirin for my back when I was locked in that jail cell. Man that was humiliating! And she did that, she was responsible for it all.”

“Romeo, that’s not totally fair. After all, it was Chace’s pot that you got busted for, not Juliet’s.”

“It’s a good thing that scumbag left before I got home. It saved him from me ringing his sleazy neck.” Romeo swallowed the ale quickly, hoping that it would erase some of the bitterness which was welling up in his throat at the mere thought of his ex-friend.

“Yeah, he and Rachel high-tailed it pretty quick back to ll.A. the minute he found out you got busted for his drugs.”

“Good! And I hope I never have to see his sorry ass again.”

“Well, Chace is gone but Juliet and her sister are still here. Maybe we should just all forgive and forget and keep things on the down low for now.”

Romeo turned incredulous eyes at his friend. “Are you kidding me? Forgive her? For what she did to me? I wouldn’t forgive her if she crawled over here on her hands and knees and offered to put my dick in her mouth!”

still crouching behind the hedge, Juliet and Sara turned to look at each other with incredulous eyes and both of their mouths dropped open in unison at the filthy comments they’d just heard Romeo Boyd say.

Tommy let out a whoop of laughter and Romeo turned to his friend, shooting him a cagey smile. “On second thought, maybe if she did that, I’d consider it.”

Tommy let out another peal of laughter before taking a long swig of his beer. “Let’s go in. I think the girls have got supper on the table,” he said, and then he and Romeo got up from their lounge chairs, walked to the house and disappeared inside.

As the sisters slowly rose up from their crouching position behind the bush, Juliet’s facial expression registered anger and Sara’s was still in shock. Mad as hell, Juliet marched back into their house followed by a stunned Sara who was still holding the ‘peace offering’ pie.

Inside, Juliet began to pace the living room. “Did you hear what that low-life said about me?” she shouted.

Placing the dessert on the coffee table, Sara sat down on one of the couches still stunned at what she’d just heard. She looked up at her sister’s furious visage. “I’m so sorry, Juliet. You were right about everything.” Juliet nodded. “I know. And now, there’s only one thing left for me to do.”

“Take the next plane out of here?”

“No! I’m going to superglue two of his body parts together.”

For the second time that night, Sara’s mouth hung open in shock as she admonished her sister, “Juliet!”

~ ~ ~

Romeo was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Turning his head, he took a good look at Carrie Ann’s naked form snoring away beside him.

She’d wanted to make love tonight but he’d refused. His back was still sore and he just wasn’t in the mood for it anyway. In fact, he and Carrie Ann hadn’t been together since Los Angeles, before they’d gotten on his private jet to fly over here. What was wrong with him? He’d always been in the mood for it before. Guess he was losing his touch.

His thoughts raced ahead to everything that had happened to him these past couple of days and he could feel his blood pressure rising again.

He had been fingerprinted, booked and strip-searched, and then he’d been forced to spend one miserable, horrible, humiliating night in jail, all for something he hadn’t even done.

By the time Tommy and the girls had realized where he was and found him a lawyer on the island, it had been well into the next evening. He’d then been released on bond and was told he’d have to appear in court in a few weeks time for a hearing. His lawyer told him that he was being charged with marijuana possession and the maximum sentence for a first offense could be 6 months in jail and a $1000 fine. But because this was Romeo’s first time in trouble with the law, he’d probably only have to pay the fine and do some sort of community service instead of the jail time. It would all be up to the judge, of course, at the sentencing. Romeo would also have to stay on PEI until his court date and he’d been strongly advised by his attorney to stay out of trouble until then.

The paparazzi had been waiting for him outside the police station when he’d gotten out, and like a pack of wild dogs, had followed his SUV

home, taking pictures all the way there, stationing themselves at the entrance to their private road. Their pictures had already appeared in all the papers, on the internet and on all the celebrity gossip shows on TV, as had Romeo’s mug shot. His arrest was big news all over the world.

And then to top everything off, the minute he was safely back home, his cell phone had started ringing non-stop with calls from all of his ll.A.

friends and business associates, wanting to know what had happened. His agent, Knox had called and blasted him for getting himself involved in even more bad publicity and he told Romeo how his career was now hanging in the balance. Yes - the entire day had been a complete and total disaster.

Romeo shut his eyes tight, trying to obliterate the thoughts streaming through his brain about the mess he was embroiled in. But the second he closed his eyelids, images of Madonna brown eyes started to flit through his inner screen. Those bottomless eyes were staring back at him with an intense glare that caused him to hold his breath as he studied their serene beauty. Suddenly, they turned angry and narrowed on him, and then just as quickly, they were laughing at him; then he remembered how they’d looked so sad when she’d been crying and the tears had been streaming down her cheeks.

His thoughts raced back to when they’d fall en together onto the couch and how her body had felt so warm and pliant, fitting nicely into his like a jigsaw piece finding its proper place in the puzzle. Would the evening have turned out differently if Sara hadn’t barged in and jumped on his back?

And if Rosie hadn’t shown up and surprised all three of them? Could maybe he and Juliet have gotten to know each other a bit and laughed at all the sill iness that had happened?

He opened his eyes and looked over at Carrie Ann sleeping beside him again. In a flash, he knew why he hadn’t wanted to make love to her tonight and it wasn’t because of his sore back or his legal troubles or anything else. It was because he wanted Juliet instead! It was her that he wanted naked in his bed beside him, her - the one with the Madonna eyes - that he wanted in his arms, tasting every inch of her and hearing her say his name over and over again as he drove every man she’d ever had out of her system. It was as plain as white bread - Romeo wanted Juliet!

Romeo shook his head, trying to get the images of her out of there. What was wrong with him? How could he want a woman like that? She was a piece of work, and besides, she hated his guts. She didn’t want him in any way, except maybe to torture him some more. And she certainly couldn’t be trusted. If he ever ended up getting her into his bed, he’d be afraid he just might wake up with a knife stuck in his back - if he woke up at all!

Romeo had no experience with this type of woman - none. Every woman he’d ever slept with in his life, and there had been many, had wanted him. Whether it had been for love, money, sex or fame, they’d all wanted him as much as he had wanted them. He’d never had to fight for any of them. It had all been so easy.

He thought back to the first, major, big movie he’d starred in, when his meteoric movie star career had taken off. Even that had been easy for him. After leaving his dysfunctional home life with his dependant mother and drug addict father behind, everything had been given to him on a polished, solid gold platter. Is that what was wrong with him? Is that why he didn’t want anything anymore? He was so sick of the fame, the traveling, the money, the movies, the false friends; he was tired of it all and it had lost its appeal many years ago. He just didn’t feel alive anymore. Everything had been so easy and sweet for him for so many years that he hadn’t realized how he was slowly falling into an abyss of blandness. Is that why he wanted Juliet? Because he would have to fight for her? Because nothing would come easy for him with her? Because she was dangerous, deadly even, and he had no idea what she would say or do next?

It was true, she’d made him feel more alive these past few days than he’d felt in a long time, even with every bad thing that had happened to him that she’d caused; he felt like he was living again. Maybe feeling pain was indeed better than not feeling anything at all?

Was that it, he wondered? Was that the reason he wanted Juliet in his bed? No, Romeo thought to himself, as his eyes closed of their own volition and he finally began nodding off to sleep. It was more than that. Her Madonna eyes had somehow touched his heart.

~ ~ ~