Why Romeo Hates Juliet (13 page)

“Screw you, Romeo Boyd.”

“Anytime Juliet, just say the word.”

Irritated by his mocking tone, she yanked him hard towards the door and unlocked it. She found Sara and Tommy both standing there, their faces full of concern.

“Juliet, is everything alright?” Sara studied her sister’s face for any signs of distress.

“I’ll be fine as soon as I can get this two hundred pound tumor removed from my wrist,” she snapped, as she unceremoniously pushed past Tommy and Sara, and started marching back to the kitchen, pulling a laughing Romeo behind her.

“Oh, come on now, Juliet, that’s not nice,” he cracked. “I only weigh one seventy-five.” Ignoring him, she stomped into the kitchen and dragged him in impatiently. Tommy and Sara followed closely behind with Tommy carrying a bottle of nail polish remover in one hand and q-tips in the other. He held the bottle up to them.

“I’ve got the magic potion right here, children. All the websites we checked out said that nail polish remover unsticks this kind of problem.”

“We’ll have you guys separated in minutes,” Sara confirmed. “We’ll just soak a q-tip in the remover and then use that to gently pry apart the attached skin. It should be easy.”

“It can’t be soon enough for me,” Juliet mumbled, as she plopped her hand with his attached one onto the counter.

“For once, lady, I agree with you completely,” Romeo gritted.

Tommy opened the bottle, dipping one of the q-tips inside. Coming over to the pair, he bent down and began to gently wipe where their skin was attached.

“Shit, does that stuff stink,” Romeo cracked, before wrinkling his nose up at the strong chemical smell.

Tommy wrinkled his own nose at it, as he bent down further to get a closer view of what he was doing. “This stuff is going to save your ass, dude, so put up with it.”

* * *

A half hour later found the quartet outside, sitting around the backyard patio table with all of the lights on - and Romeo and Juliet still stuck together. The pungent nail polish remover smell had permeated every inch of the house and they’d been forced to flee for some fresh air. A frustrated Tommy had given up his attempts at getting the couple apart and now Sara was gently using the solvent to pry apart the first of Romeo’s fingers from her sister’s wrist. She shook her head at her failed efforts.

“We’ve been at this for over thirty minutes and we’ve barely got one finger off,” she mumbled, as she shook her head in defeat. “This is going to take hours with all the superglue here and this nail polish remover on your skin can’t be that good for either of you.”

“Yeah, all the websites we found talked about how to unstick skin from a drop of this stuff, not a whole tube,” Tommy corroborated.

Feeling his blood pressure rise to a new level, Romeo rolled his eyes in Juliet’s direction. “You had to use the whole tube, didn’t you?” he huffed at her in frustration. For the past 30 minutes, he’d very quietly sat there trying to keep his anger in check while Tommy and her sister had worked on his hand, but now that their attempts had failed, he could feel his anger at Juliet’s antics begin to flare again.

Juliet, on the other hand, had begun to see the humor in it all and if she’d managed to annoy the hell out of the dirtbag beside her, so be it.

Chalk up one big score point for her. “What can I say? I’m very thorough in my work,” she giggled.

Romeo turned glowering eyes at her, stunned by her audacity. So she thought this was all so funny, did she? And he was just one big joke for her to laugh at? Was that it? Suddenly, he had an overpowering urge to wipe that arrogant smirk off her face and make her grovel at his feet - and he knew just how to do it. He turned to his friend.

“You know, Tommy, maybe I should call the police,” he calmly announced. Both women went deathly quiet as all eyes focused on him. He continued. “I think I might have a good case of assault here and this time, it’ll probably ‘stick’ - pardon the pun.” Smirking, he turned to Juliet’s now pale, white face. “What do you think, Juliet? Should I have you arrested for assault? I’ve even got witnesses.” He turned to stare at Tommy and Sara.

Juliet jumped out of her chair, pulling him up with her. “You - you can’t do that!” she yelled, suddenly frightened out of her wits.

“Why not? I think I’ve got a good case here, and the cherry on top for me would be that you would get to feel everything that I felt when I was booked, fingerprinted and strip-searched before being thrown behind bars for the night. Now that sounds like a plan to me.” He gave her his best movie star smile. “See, you’re not the only one who can come up with a good plan to ‘stick-it’ to someone.”

“No - I - you can’t do that to me. You can’t!” Fear flowed through every vein in Juliet’s body. Frantically, she tugged at his hand still imprisoning her wrist, trying to get away.

“Sure, I can,” He smiled even more as he realized how effective he’d just been at turning the tables on the she-devil in front of him. “In fact, let’s go find my cell phone so I can call the cops right now.” Using all of his male strength, he dragged her behind him as he began stalking to the sliding doors and entered his house.

“Stop! You can’t do this,” Juliet screamed, as her wriggling, resisting body disappeared inside along with him.

A shocked Tommy and Sara jumped up from the patio table and ran after the couple. Inside, they discovered them in the living room with Romeo clutching his cell phone high in the air with his left hand, out of reach of Juliet’s grasping right one, who was doing her best to get at it. Their bodies were pressed together, with her t-shirt clad chest pressed against his shirtless one and in her frantic, panicked state, she was practically climbing up on top of him to get to the phone.

“You can’t do this to me!” she was shouting at him.

“Why not, Juliet? Give me one good reason not to.”

“Because - I - I…,” she blustered, not being able to think of one good reason to tell him. She knew he was in the right. What she had done to him tonight had been a form of assault on his person, and if he called the police and pressed charges, tears inside a jail cell would not save her this time.

Literally scared out of her clever wits, Juliet could feel her heart racing, as if it wanted to scream out of her chest. Her shallow breath was lodged in her throat and droplets of fear began to form on her forehead. If he went ahead with his threat, she would be in big trouble - more trouble than he’d been in with his stupid pot bust.

Romeo stared into her horrified eyes. Being so close to her body like he was now, he could feel every tremor of fear emanating from her. She was shaking, literally shaking and holding onto his bare chest for support. Could he call the cops on her? Could he have her arrested after everything she’d done to him?

When he’d hit on his little plan moments ago, he’d just wanted to scare the hell out of her, but as he’d walked with her into the house, his thoughts had raced wildly ahead and a part of him had asked, ‘why not do it’? Make her feel all of the humiliation, mortification and embarrassment he’d felt when he’d had to spend his night in jail. One call from him and he could make it all happen in a New York minute.

Tommy stepped in and broke into his thoughts. “Romeo, man, don’t do that, okay?” He turned to his friend. “Why not, Tommy? Look at what she did to me.” He raised their stuck hands up.

“Because the lawyer told you to stay out of trouble until your court date, and even though you’re not the one to blame here, you’ll still have to deal with the police and statements and charges. Not to mention the press will have a field day with this and more bad press is something you don’t need right now. Be smart about it.”

Romeo turned back to Juliet’s pleading eyes and his anger evaporated like a puff of smoke. He couldn’t do that to her, no matter what she had done to him. As his sanity came back down to earth, he could feel how her free hand had wrapped itself around his back and he became conscious of how her yielding, pliant body had fit itself nicely into him. She was so close to him that he could smell that exotic perfume she always seemed to wear. His fury was replaced by a primitive yearning to pull her even closer and claim those soft lips of hers in a kiss.

Slowly he lowered his hand, and in one quick movement, threw the phone onto the couch. “You can thank Tommy for saving your sweet ass because I was just one second away from dialing 911.”

Juliet’s heart began to return to its normal staccato beat as a giant wave of relief enveloped her. She quickly moved off of Romeo’s chest, putting as much distance between them as she could. Turning to his blond friend, she whispered, “Thank you, Tommy; thank you so much.” She closed her eyes briefly, silently thanking the heavens that she’d escaped jail for a second time in one week.

“Don’t sweat it, honey,” Tommy grinned. “But this doesn’t solve our immediate problem.” He nodded towards their still glued appendages and turned to Romeo. “You know what we have to do, don’t you?”

Romeo nodded. “Go to the hospital.”

“Right, but I can’t drive. I’ve been drinking all day.”

Relieved that neither her sister or herself were going to be in trouble with the law, Sara said, “I’ll drive. Let me just go home to get our purses.” She moved towards the front door and walked out.

“Where’s your wall et, Romeo? You’re going to need i.d. and cash,” Tommy asked.

“Upstairs by the bed.” Tommy nodded and left the room.

Suddenly blowing out a huge cleansing sigh, Romeo ran his free hand through his wild hair. “What a mess, man,” he mumbled, half to himself and half to no one in particular. His curious eyes then alighted on Juliet’s beautiful but guarded face. He knew she’d been watching him from under her lashes, still not sure what he was going to do next.

Suddenly, he plopped down onto the couch and jerked her along with him. She landed on his lap against his bare chest and in the instant it took him to let out a dangerous laugh, she’d already scooted off of him and onto the seat beside him.

“O sweet Juliet, do you have anything to say for yourself?” he mocked her.

Juliet stared into his glistening, laughing eyes and she knew exactly what he wanted to hear. He wanted an apology from her.

“Like what?” she replied coyly.

“Like, maybe you’re sorry?”

“Yes, I am sorry. I’m sorry I ever thought up this stupid plan,” she mumbled, suddenly feeling shy under his intense gaze.

He shook his head in amazement at her stubbornness. “That’s it? That’s all you’re sorry for?”

“What else?”

Irritation slashed across his features and before she’d realized his intentions, he’d swooped down on top of her with his powerful, tense body, trapping her beneath him. He brought his lips to an inch away from hers.

She gasped as his intense eyes held hers for an instant before lowering to her lips. Mesmerized by his overpowering presence, Juliet couldn’t move a muscle and all her thinking processes stopped as did her breathing. She felt defenseless beneath him and could only wait for his next move.

“I wonder,” he whispered into her mouth, as his piercing eyes came back up to hers, “…if you have a heart inside that delicious body of yours?

Do you, sweet Juliet?”

Another gasp escaped her lips as he brought the index finger of his left hand up to her soft lips and let it linger there for a microsecond before he let it trail ever so gently down her chin, down her throat, down to her chest and over to her left breast.

Juliet was hypnotized by his light touch and his firm lips and those teasing eyes. Her breathing became shallow as she felt his palm replace his fingertip and he plastered his open hand against her full breast. Her heartbeat leapt in response to his tender touch and she saw him smile at her.

“I feel a heart in there, so you must have one,” he whispered, his soft breath fanning her cheek. She felt him put more pressure on her breast and her traitorous heart began beating even more strongly against his exploring hand.

Feeling her response, Romeo’s eyes flew from her supple, inviting lips back up to her confused eyes. “If I profane with my unworthiest hand, this holy shrine,” he whispered into her soft lips, “… the gentle fine is this… My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.”

As he quoted the romantic, delicate words from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, she felt his hand move against her breast in a gentle circular pattern and he lowered his eyes back to her lips. Swooping down even more, he brought his own lips to a hair’s breadth away from hers, so that all he had to do now was cross the space of an atom and his lips would have captured hers in a kiss. But instead of a kiss forming on his lips, Juliet suddenly saw the beginnings of a slight smile and she knew that he was laughing at her! The bastard was laughing and enjoying himself at her expense! On hearing Tommy’s footsteps approaching them, she brought her right hand up against his chest and pushed with all her might.

“Get off me, you slime,” she yelled, as she shoved him back to his side of the couch.

Romeo let her push him away and broke out into a wide smile, knowing that he’d gotten to her on some level. The witch wasn’t going to get off scot-free tonight if he could help it, but he had to admit that when she’d been trapped underneath his body just now, he’d forgotten all about his little plan to get the better of her. In fact, if it hadn’t been for hearing Tommy coming back down the hall, he’d have captured those soft, pouty lips of hers with his desperate ones and taken what she’d seemed so willing to give him mere moments ago.

~ ~ ~

As their black SUV drove out from their private road onto the public road leading into town, it was immediately surrounded by a swarm of paparazzi that had stationed themselves at that junction point. Sara, who was driving, slowed the vehicle down to a crawl so as to make the turn safely and as she did that, hundreds of flashes began to go off as cameras were pointed into the truck’s windows trying to get as many pictures of the famous occupants inside. Even though it was nighttime, the lights from the flashes going off ill uminated their little corner of the world and photos were taken of Sara driving, Tommy sitting in the passenger seat and a still shirtless Romeo with Juliet seated beside him in the back. Because of the way Romeo’s hand had been glued to her wrist, there had been no way of getting a shirt sleeve up his arm and so he’d resigned himself to showing up at the hospital bare-chested and making the best of it.

As Sara slowly eased the large vehicle through the crowd of photographers, Romeo leaned forward towards her. “Easy does it, Sara; don’t let them rattle you. We don’t want anyone getting hurt. Just let them take their pictures,” he calmly instructed, with the wisdom of someone who’d been dealing with this for many years.

Sara nodded. “I’m okay,” she said as she drove the truck slowly through and easily passed them all. The second she was clear of them, she pressed her foot on the gas and took off down the highway. Looking back into her rearview mirror, she saw them all scrambling into their own cars, ready to give chase. They were like a hungry pack of wolves that hadn’t eaten in days and had just spotted a delicious deer that was getting away from them.

Tommy glanced into his own side mirror and witnessed the same scene. “They’re after blood tonight and won’t be giving up anytime soon, Romeo. You know they’re going to follow us all the way to the hospital.”

Romeo shrugged. “There’s not much we can do about it, so just let them. I don’t want anybody getting hurt for some stupid pictures if we try to outrun them.”

Juliet had been uncharacteristically quiet in the backseat. She’d been studying Romeo when he’d been advising everyone on how to handle the press and she had to admit that his composure had impressed her. He’d shown the maturity of someone who was - well, a grownup, and not the usual partying frat boy he normally portrayed. Maybe there were other, deeper layers to Romeo Boyd than she’d imagined. Had she misjudged him?

Romeo turned to her at that very moment and caught her staring at him. “You know…” he suddenly said to her, lowering his voice so the two up front couldn’t hear him, “… if you’d taken my first suggestion about crawling over on your hands and knees, none of this would have happened and we could have had an entirely different ‘happy ending’ to this evening.”

No, Juliet thought to herself, she hadn’t misjudged him at all. He was still a total and complete idiot. “You’re disgusting. Don’t speak to me anymore,” she voll eyed back, before turning her head away to stare out the window. She heard him laughing softly beside her.

The Memorial Grace Hospital was situated in Charlottetown and in no time at all the SUV had pulled into the parking area of the Emergency entrance. The pack of paparazzi cars followed closely behind and before the doors of the black SUV could open, the photographers had already jumped out of their vehicles and positioned themselves around the truck, angling to get their moneyshots.

Sara switched the engine off and turned to the backseat. “Juliet, are you okay?” she asked her sister, who’d been practically silent throughout the entire drive.

“I’m fine. Let’s just get this over with.” She reached for the door handle, but Romeo promptly stopped her with an imperious “Wait” command.

She turned to him and he continued.

“When we get out of this car, don’t say anything. Just keep walking straight towards the entrance. They can’t follow us in there,” he dictated.

“I don’t take my orders from you,” she shot back. “If I want to say something, I will.” His eyes grew stern and they narrowed on her petulant face. “Juliet, for once, you’re going to do what I say and I say to keep your big mouth shut. Why? Because, as soon as we step out of this car, they’re going to start taking our pictures and they’re going to start taunting us. They want to get a rise out of us so they’ll get a better photograph and they’ll be hoping and praying that one of us will say something back. So no matter what they say, just ignore them and keep walking until we’re in.” He turned to Sara and Tommy who’d both turned to listen to his lecture. “Got that?” he asked them and they nodded in agreement. He turned back to Juliet at the same time as the cameras were pointed into their truck windows and flashes started going off again, “Promise me, Juliet?”

Juliet’s face turned sour. “Why should I promise you anything? You’re just worried about your Holl ywood reputation and how this is going to affect you.”

“As surprising as this may be for you to hear, I’m more worried about you and Sara. This,” he pointed to all the flashes going off outside, “is nothing for me. Believe me when I tell you that they’ve caught me at worse moments in my life than having to go to an emergency hospital, but you and your sister, you’re both fresh meat for them. Within 15 minutes of you two stepping out of this car, they’re going to know who you are and where you live, and finding out that you’re a New York Times bestselling author who is ‘somehow’ involved with me is going to pique their interest. By this time tomorrow, your picture is going to be splashed everywhere in print, on TV and on the net and your name will be dragged through the manure...”

“You mean the Romeo Boyd manure?” Juliet piped up.

“Yeah, that pile and you’re going to be chest deep in it, honey. Your name is going to be linked to mine and it probably won’t be pretty with all of the innuendos and accusations they’re going to make. So, in order not to make a bad situation even worse, I am asking you, Juliet, to do as I say.

As soon as we step out of here, don’t say a word, don’t give them any emotion and keeping walking. Got it?” Juliet stubbornly remained silent. She hated being told what to do by him even if she knew that what he was saying was right.

Sara, who’d been waiting to hear her sister’s agreement, was shocked at her stubbornness. “Juliet!” she admonished.

Juliet reluctantly turned to her sister. “Fine,” she said before turning back to Romeo. “I’ll keep my big mouth shut. Happy?” He gave her a slight smile, knowing how much her capitulation had cost her. He then reached for his door handle and gave her wrist a hard yank with his glued hand, silently stressing to her that in this situation he was the one in charge and to follow his lead.

As soon as their doors opened, the flashes began going off like fireworks. Although the paparazzi kept about five feet away from the four of them, they followed the group’s every move with their cameras and began shouting out questions.

“Romeo, why are you here? Are you hurt?” “Is everything okay?” “Romeo, where’s your shirt?” “What happened with your drug bust?” With head held high and ignoring all of their taunts, Romeo walked ahead with a clasped Juliet behind him. Because of the way they were glued together - with his right hand over her left wrist - it looked like he was just holding onto her and leading her into the hospital. The photographers had no idea that the couple was actually stuck together.

“Hey Romeo, who’s the new girl?” “Is she your new girlfriend?” “Where’s Carrie Ann?” “Did you two break up?” “Why are you going to the Emergency?” “Romeo, are you okay?” The questions rattled on and on while the flashes kept going off. Very stoically, Romeo simply kept walking and didn’t give them the time of day.

Juliet, who had never experienced anything like this in her life, began to feel trapped by all of the attention suddenly focused on her. The cameras were flashing in her face, the questions were coming fast and furious and the paparazzi suddenly came up very close to them, trying to crowd them out.

She felt a rush of panic like she’d felt that day when she’d almost drowned as a child. She could clearly remember what it had felt like to not be able to breathe and she was feeling exactly the same way now. Air - she needed air - this second - and she desperately needed to get away from all of these people!

Not realizing what she was doing, she instinctively shielded her face from the cameras and then pulled herself closer to Romeo’s back, using his body for protection. He just kept staring straight ahead and walking forward, but she felt him give her wrist a small squeeze, a kind of reassurance to her that she was doing fine and that he was there for her.

They reached the automatic doors to the Emergency entrance and the four of them glided through. The doors closed on all the mayhem going on outside, separating them from the frenzied pack of photographers.

Inside, the emergency room was a beehive of activity as countless people were already waiting to be seen by the doctors and nurses who were walking back and forth doing their jobs, trying to tend to as many patients as they could.

Sara turned to the glued couple. “Tommy and I will go to the front desk and find out what we have to do to get you seen by a doctor. You two wait here.” She indicated two chairs side by side in a far off corner, before walking away with Romeo’s friend.

still feeling dazed by all of the lights and commotion that had just happened outside, Juliet let Romeo lead her to the seats and they sat down beside each other.

Romeo turned to her and noticed her pale cheeks. “Are you okay?” he asked, concerned that what she’d just been through might have been traumatic for her. For him, the press was an everyday occurrence and he’d been dealing with it for years, but for someone who wasn’t used to it, it could be daunting. He had felt her cowering behind his back when they’d been walking in and even though she had brought this all on herself with her stupid stunt and she deserved everything that she was feeling right now, he still, for some strange reason, had an overpowering urge to protect her from it all. He noticed that she was nervously biting her bottom lip and her eyes had a hunted look in them.

“Do you think my picture’s really going to be in the press tomorrow?” Juliet asked, not liking that idea at all.

“Oh yeah! Thanks to my drug bust, I’m big news this week. And a couple of days after I get out of jail, I’m seen going to the Emergency with a bestselling author in tow, who isn’t my girlfriend? Sweetheart, this is just the beginning, so get used to it,” he drawled. He looked down at their still stuck hands and brought her wrist up to her face. “Too bad you didn’t think of the consequences when you came up with your little plan, huh, Juliet?” Juliet watched as his eyes glinted fire at her and a glimmer of a smile quickly passed her lips. “Oh, I figured you’d probably have to go to the hospital. I just didn’t think I’d be going with you.”

A sudden giggle escaped out of her as she thought about the ridiculousness of the entire situation. And yes - she was worried about her picture being in the papers tomorrow and being caught up in his bad publicity, but really, this was all very funny. She, Juliet Soma, had actually somehow managed to glue herself to another human being; and not just anybody but a big jerk Holl ywood movie star. Most women would give their first born to be in the same predicament she was in. Another chuckle suddenly rose out of her and she brought her free hand up to her mouth to stifle it.

Romeo glared at her with a dangerous expression. “You think this is funny?”

Juliet tried to hold the laughter in, but it burst out of her like a gusher. “You’re… you’re lucky you’re stuck to me, Romeo Boyd.”

“Really? And why is that, Juliet?”

“Because - because I also had a backup plan to glue you to that damn lounger you’re always sitting in and - and it would have been pretty funny seeing you walk in here with that chair attached to your hand instead of me.” She laughed even harder.

Romeo’s eyes widened with shock. Had he heard right? Did she just admit that she might have stuck him to a goddamn chair? What the fuck?

“Are you serious?” he hissed at her.

Juliet nodded. “I could just see your picture in Gossip World with you dragging a swimming pool accessory in here!” She bent over, laughing even harder.

“Holy mother of…” Romeo gritted through his teeth, as he too imagined the much worse disaster that could have befal en him tonight. But he wasn’t finding any of this funny like she was. Suddenly, he had an overwhelming compulsion to get away from her.

In one fluid motion, Romeo shot out of his chair and started marching to the admittance desk, half pulling, half dragging a startled Juliet behind him with enough force to shock her out of her laughing bender.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” she shouted, as she ungracefully tried to keep up with his long stride.

“You’re the matter,” he threw back at her through his clenched jaw as he whipped her beside him with one good yank when they finally reached the desk where Tommy and Sara were standing at. “How long before we see a doctor?” he barked at his friend.

Tommy winced as he took in his best friend’s angry visage. “You’re not going to like this.”

“How long, Tommy?”

“Fifteen hours.”

“What? Are you kidding me?”

Tommy shrugged. “They’re busy tonight, they’re short-staffed and your emergency isn’t exactly serious. That’s what they told us.” Livid, Romeo’s eyes scanned the room, taking note of all the people that were already there waiting for help. His gaze returned to his friend.

“There’s no way in hell that I’m going to be stuck to this nasty piece of ass for fifteen goddamn hours,” he gritted out, as he motioned to Juliet with a nod of his head.

Both sisters gasped in unison at what they’d just heard him call her and even Tommy looked slightly taken aback. But Juliet recovered quickly from her shock and her eyes narrowed dangerously on him.

“What did you just call me?”

Romeo turned to her then. “You heard me. I called you a nasty piece of ass, which is exactly what you are, Juliet,” he enunciated.

“You take that back!”

“I will not ‘take that back’. In fact, I’m lucky I’m not dead from everything you’ve done to me.” Glaring, the pair squared off and were so focused on each other that they hadn’t realized that a crowd of onlookers had suddenly surrounded them, until Romeo felt a tap on his bare shoulder. He whipped his head around to see a young woman holding a cell phone.