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“O Romeo, Romeo, where- where- wherethou-”
“Wherefore, Juliet, wherefore art thou Romeo?” Sally Starlet said, articulating every word. “It’s the tenth time we repeat this scene, come on, concentrate!”
“Well, it’s not my fault the language is freaky deaky! No one talks like this!”
Sally rolled her eyes. They’d been rehearsing for almost two hours, and she was getting annoyed at the rainbow monster’s indifference.
“Gosh, almost looks like it was written in the Seventeenth Century...”
“Exactly!” Yelled Julie. “Outdated, is what I meant to say.”
“This is a classic!”
“This is incomprehensible.”
Both women turned to the third person in the small room, hoping to find an ally.
“Franklin, tell her.”
“No I’m right, aren’t I, Frank?”
The entomologist pinched the bridge of his nose. He had no desire to be part of the debate.
“Firstly, that’s not my name, Sally, and you know it. Secondly, let’s just follow the script and get this over with, ok?”
Julie frowned.
“Frank, please! I hate the script!”
Oh, that hit a nerve...
“How dare you insult Shakespeare?! You’ve been given a role plenty of actresses in the whole universe can only dream of!”
Sally Starlet was furious, but the rainbow monster couldn’t care less.
“Jeepers creepers, I don’t even want this role! I wanted the villain! I never play the villain! You play the Prince, Eddie plays the Nurse, so why am I forced to act as this dumb girl that has my same name?”
“Well, that’s a reason, for starters-”
“Which one?”
“You really wish-”
“Is it because of Frank, right?”
Silence fell like an avalanche.
Sally and Julie were glaring at each other, but Frank could see them throwing glances from the corner of their eye. The spotlight was on him, and he had no idea how to switch it off.
Fuck. Why, Julie, why?
“Julie please-” He searched for words. “You don’t- There’s no need-”.
She raised a finger. Her face had turned from childishly angry to very serious in an instant. Even her voice had dropped.
“No. You’re right. I’ll deal with this on my own. We’re adults here.” She then turned to Sally. “Would you like some tea? I have decaf at home”
“Why not? It’s getting late, anyways.”
“Good. Let’s confab there. Frank, you’re free to do whatever you like.”
The entomologist had been taken off guard by the quick escalation and de escalation of the argument, so he found himself at a loss for words again.
“I... I’ll stay. Practice. You two go, have a good night.”
The rainbow monster smiled at him, compassion in her big eyes. He could tell she was sorry for almost throwing him under the bus to win a silly quarrel against Sally.
“Night. See ya!”
“Yes, have a good rehearsal. And a good rest, as well.”
Alone with his thoughts, like every night. He was not fond of this particular routine, but it was a hard one to get rid of. It kept following him anywhere, no matter the bedroom he was in.
Right. Rehearsal.
“But soft, what- what light through yon- through yonder- yes -window breaks?
It is- It-"
Frank let out a long sigh and started again.
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.”
He smiled softly at himself. There he was again, playing the lovestruck, wealthy boy going through some baloney for the love of his life, which turned out to be played by Julie. Every time.
Another routine.
Better get back to his lines.
“What was that part- yes, yes, wait-”
He gesticulated vivaciously, as if someone was actually listening to him.
Hold on.
Was someone there?
Frank moved to the balcony while reciting some verses.
“See how she leans her cheek upon her hand.
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!”
No one in sight. Good.
He felt like an idiot. A total idiot.
He must have looked so unrealistic as a Renaissance teen in tights, willing to die... for a crush? Really?
Too old for foolish love.
Foolish love.
“O, that I were a glove upon that hand-”
...Foolish.
What deafening silence.
He felt naked, up there. Like a thousand nonexistent eyes were suddenly staring at him.
Fuck, Romeo was not even supposed to be up there!
But he felt no need to run away. There was something, deep inside, a sense of... peace.
He felt at peace with himself.
Frank leaned his cheek on his hand, elbow propped on the fake marble. He sighed again.
Only, that time, in awe.
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”
He felt stup-.
Giddy. Giddy with delight.
“Deny thy father and refuse thy name,
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”
He hugged himself. With no one really watching, he was free to be foolish for as much as he preferred.
At last.
“ ’Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague?”
Oh, his heart was pounding! Too many thoughts were running inside his brain. Too many scenes.
But only one face.
“It is nor hand, nor foot,”
One smile.
“Nor arm, nor face.”
One voice.
“O, be some other name
Belonging to a man.”
One body.
“What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which-”
All came crashing down in an instant.
“Bullshit. Nothing would change.
Who cares if his name’s Romeo, Augusto, Tom, Dick or Harry, it doesn’t matter!
It’s not the name. It never was.
...And you’ll both die, anyways. That’s the destiny awaiting those who go off script in life. Yeah.
But you don’t give a damn. You’re too young. Too careless.
I envy you.”
Frank felt a sting in his throat. No, that was not the time to get sentimental.
But when was it, then?
In the darkness of his bedroom? Perhaps.
The weight was always heavier, though. Up there, his mind felt clearer.
Too clear.
His head fell between his arms, stretched on the balcony.
“Romeo. Oh, Romeo. My sweet, sweet flower-”
“I take thee at thy word.”
Frank screeched an octave higher.
“Ah! Shit! Who’s there?”
“By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am.”
Frank took a peek under the balcony. Illuminated by moon rays from a window left open on the set, he spotted him.
Eddie.
The mailman wore a purple turtleneck and dark pants; his ginger hair were a bit dishevelled from having worn the Nurse’s headpiece.
Stunning.
He smiled at the other as he continued.
“My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself
Because it is an enemy to thee.
Had I it written, I would tear the word.”
A nervous chuckle escaped Frank’s lips. Eddie really had a great memory when it came to theatre scripts.
“Excellent, dear... what if they see you here?”
In a dramatic fashion, Eddie raised one hand and placed the other on his heart.
“I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes,
And, but thou love me, let them find me here.”
He then spoke with his- lovely -southern accent.
“And b’sides, who’s gonna hear, Mr. Frankly? Ev’ryone’s sleepin’”.
Frank finally allowed himself to laugh. He nodded with his head for Eddie to come up. The redhead rolled his sleeves, preparing to climb the set piece.
“No- ugh- use the stairs! Sally’s going to kill us both if we chip it!”
“Ahah, sorry, m’ bad!”
Eddie ran up the stairs as fast as he could and embraced Frank from behind, kissing his neck.
A breathy moan escaped the entomologist’s lips.
More.
“Eddie.”
Another kiss.
Yes, more.
“Romeo.”
He felt the other moan as well: on his skin, under his jaw, followed by an open-mouthed kiss on the same spot.
Ah.
Large hands laid on his hips, weighting him down. Keeping him grounded.
Because his mind was already floating.
“Say it again.”
Fuck, that whisper was too close to his ear.
Frank leaned his head towards Eddie’s and rested slender fingers on the other’s.
“What a great Romeo you’d be.” He whispered.
Eddie raised his head. They locked eyes, while hot breaths mingled.
“Only with this Juliet by m' side.”
Everything else disappeared: Home, the set, the play, the balcony, nothing existed anymore.
Only themselves.
And their lips.
Eyes closed, Frank’s other senses were heightened by pleasure: Eddie’s arms embracing him again, pushing their bodies together; Eddie’s heat coming from his clothes; Eddie’s scent of lavender – of all those lavenders in his garden- and sweet taste on his tongue.
Eddie.
Eddie.
Eddie!
When they broke the kiss to catch air, silence frightened them.
No, that judging silence had no place in their litte, intimate world.
“Love me, Eddie.” Frank began. “I beg you. I know it’s a torture, it’s dumb and dangerous, but please. Love me.”
“I’ll swear if ya want.”
Frank chuckled. “Swear? On what? The inconstant moon?” He quoted sarcastically.
Eddie lowered his eyes. When he raised them again, they shined with the outmost seriousness.
“I swear by thy name, the god of my idolatry.”
“Ehy!” Frank said while laughing. “That’s my line- I mean, that’s Julie’s. If she’ll remember it...”
Julie.
How was the discussion with Sally going? Would she have managed to change something, that night?
Were they all even able to?
Eddie stopped his lover’s wandering mind by turning his slender body around and pressing it against his.
“Shhh... Darlin’, don’t let anxiety get to ya now. We’re safe here.”
“Are we?”
The ginger looked at the other with tenderness.
“Do ya love me?”
“Of course.”
“Prove it.”
“What?”
“C’mon.”
“What the hell, Eddie?”
Eddie left a peck kiss on Frank’s lips.
“C’mon honey.”
“What do you want me to do, exactly?”
Another peck.
“O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?”
“I’m so confused, what's there to prove, more than this?”
“My lady.” And another. “ My love.”
“Eddie...”
And another.
The entomologist put his fingers on the redhead’s lips.
“You’re being childish.”
“I know. Romeo’s a kid, after all.”
“Eddie-”
“And you’re the fairest maid.”
Silence came again. But not an uncomfortable one.
No. It awaited... For something to click, to shift. To change.
Juliet placed her hand on the ginger youth’s chest.
“What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?”
Romeo took her other hand in his.
“Th’ exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.”
“I gave thee mine before thou didst request it,
And yet I would it were to give again.”
“Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?”
Juliet chortled. Not at her Romeo, no.
“But to be frank- oh, for goodness’s sake- and give it thee again.
And yet I wish but for the thing I have.
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep. The more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.”
Romeo kissed her passionately, putting both hands on her cheeks. She placed hers in his hair, messing them up even more.
When they parted, both were breathless. And blissful.
“This is the part when you start yelling for Juliet to get back inside.”
“Yep. I look good in that dress.”
“Don’t ask me about the marriage part, please. I did not memorize that.”
Eddie roared with laughter and hugged Frank.
“Nah, love, it would be depressin’ stuff to talk about.”
“Ouch.” Frank said monotonously.
But on the inside, he felt a crack.
“We should go, you know.”
Eddie freed him from his strong- cozy -arms and combed his hair.
“Yeah. Tomorrow I have a lotta stuff to do.”
Frank nodded and started heading for the stairs, but Eddie took his wrist.
“Please, drop by.”
The entomologist smiled.
“I will.”
He then swiftly went down the stairs and walked to the set’s main exit.
But an irresistible voice made him turn his head one last time to the balcony.
“O blessèd, blessèd night! I am afeard,
Being in night, all this is but a dream,
Too flattering sweet to be substantial.”