Chapter 7 Rome
SEVEN
ROME
Flashback
She’s stopped writing letters. Every day after school, I sneak back to the classic literature aisle, slide out our copy of Romeo and Juliet, only to find it empty once again.
She’s avoided looking at me when we pass each other in the hall.
I never thought I’d feel this way when, in truth, Julianna has done exactly this same thing our entire lives.
Ignore me. Hate me.
I can’t even write her emails anymore. Our pen pal assignment finished the last day before Christmas break.
I don’t even know what the fucking point is because not everyone figured out who their pen pals were.
The grade never depended on whether you found out who they were, like we’re supposed to be detectives or some shit.
Regardless of that stupid fucking assignment, I’m thankful for it. On the surface, nothing has changed between Julianna and me. We still don’t speak in public. We don’t look at each other longer than three seconds. At least not until tonight.
I bring my beer to my lips, take a sip, and eye Julianna across the room.
Her hair is pulled into a tight ponytail, revealing her sharp cheekbones and the soft curve of her neck.
She’s wearing a spaghetti strapped tank that’s tucked into a pair of tightfitting, lavender-colored pants.
When she turned to grab a refill of her drink, I noticed the smattering of freckles across the back of her shoulders—something I’ve never noticed before now.
I’ve eyed her relentlessly, hoping she’ll so much as even glance in my direction but she won’t. She refuses. It’s driving me fucking crazy.
I’m sitting on Keirnan’s large leather sofa.
He’s beside me, rambling on about how some chick sucked him off last summer while he was staying at his beach house.
Something about how they broke into the lifeguard station, and she immediately dropped to her knees.
I honestly stopped listening when he told me about how he got more turned on when she gagged as she swallowed his cum.
“Are you even listening, fucker?”
“What?” I snap my head to my right.
“I was telling you about the be—”
“Beach house,” I cut him off, nodding. “Right.”
He turns to look in the direction of Julianna, full of obvious suspicion as he scoffs and shakes his head. “Can’t believe the Capuleti princess was brave enough to show up here.”
“I thought this was Sola’s party. Isn’t she best friends with Julianna?”
“Fuck, I don’t know.” He adjusts his place on the sofa, drapes his arm around the back, and turns to me.
“Capuleti may be obsessed with our entire lacrosse team, not to mention she’s your enemy, but I won’t lie, she’s also kind of fucking hot.
I know for a fact more guys would want to fuck her brains out if she weren’t the mayor’s daughter.
Considering how she looks tonight, I might be able to look past it.
I bet those lips would feel better wrapped around my cock than that chick’s at the beach.
I wonder how her voice would sound when she’s moaning my name. ”
I curl my fingers into a tight fist. I’m going to fucking kill, Kiernan. It’s ridiculous. He’s said shit before. Fuck, I’ve even joined in from time to time. But now?
Kiernan lifts his plastic cup to his mouth, and I turn, reaching out my hand and slapping the bottom of it. Beer spills out from the top and all over his mouth. He chokes on the frothy liquid as it flows down his chest.
I stand up and take another sip of my own beer.
“What the fuck was that for?” His brows slant together and his cheeks bright red.
I’ve caught the attention of everyone in the room now. They hold their breath, waiting to see if a fight is about to break out. It won’t. Kiernan won’t do shit because he knows I’ll beat the crap out of him.
“Shut the fuck up, Kiernan.”
“You didn’t even want to come tonight,” he mutters back. “You don’t have to be such a dick.”
Ignoring him, I turn around.
Finally, Julianna’s staring directly at me. Her lips are parted and her gaze is frozen. It’s as if she’s just now noticing I’ve been in this massive fucking room with her all along.
Kiernan continues cursing me under his breath before he storms off toward the kitchen, leaving me to simply stare at Julianna.
Lark.
My heart is hammering in my chest when she breaks our connection to whisper in Sola’s ear. Then she’s heading down the small hall, where there’s only one room. The bathroom. Before she disappears around the corner, her eyes find mine again.
Inhaling a nervous breath, I follow her, hoping to fuck I’m right. I hope I don’t step into the bathroom and find someone else or an angry Julianna instead.
I walk toward the large wooden door. One of Sola’s parents is the attorney general. Considering my father’s work, it’s probably dangerous and reckless that I’m here, but I couldn’t resist when I found out Julianna was going to be here.
Glancing over my shoulder, I make sure we’re alone. The last thing I need is Sola or Kiernan seeing me enter the same room Julianna did seconds ago.
Once satisfied that everyone is either too drunk or high, I wrap a hand around the door handle and push down. The door slowly creeps open. When it’s wide enough, I slip inside and close it behind me.
Julianna is standing with her arms crossed and her back to me. When she hears the clicking of the door closing, she turns around.
Her pretty eyes rise, and her voice is soft. “Rome.”
“Hey,” I say, leaning back against the door.
“You shouldn’t be in here.” Her words are void of emotion. Goddamn, she’s stubborn.
“You’ve ignored me for weeks.”
“I’ve ignored you my whole life.”
“It’s killing me.”
“It shouldn’t.” She sweeps her tongue across her lips while tightening her arms beneath her chest. “My silence can’t kill you when you hate me.”
I take a step, moving away from the door. “I don’t hate you.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Stop telling me what I feel.” I take another step.
“Or what?” She raises her chin, firming her stare.
I close the space between us and bend down. She’s a foot shorter than me, even in her metallic, strappy heels. Lifting my hand, I hold my breath, shivering with nerves. Fuck, I’ve never done this before. Apart from her hand, I’ve never had the privilege of touching her anywhere else.
My fingers ghost her jaw, skimming across her soft skin. It prickles at my touch, tiny goosebumps lifting and spreading down her neck to her freckled shoulders.
She inhales a shaky breath.
“You don’t hate me,” I tell her. If she did, she wouldn’t be reacting to me this way.
Her gaze is cast down because she’s unable to look me in the eye. At least until I’m lifting her face with my fingers. I press them gently under her chin. Her eyes sparkle under the bathroom lighting. Fuck, I want her so badly.
The air is tense, stifling my lungs. I lean closer, bringing my mouth dangerously close to hers.
“Stop telling me what I feel.” She tosses my words back at me.
I chuckle, the corner of my mouth tilting. “I like your smart mouth, Lark.”
“You never have before.” She pulls back, looking past my shoulder. “No Macy tonight?”
“No Macy ever.”
Tipping up her chin, she firms her jaw. “How can I trust you?”
“Because I was willing to risk my reputation by following you into this bathroom.” I step forward again, placing my fingers under her chin once more, hovering my mouth above hers, aching to taste her.
“Someone could walk in and see us.”
“I don’t care,” I lie. I do care. Only because I know if someone sees us together, the rumor will spread like wildfire. The Montgomery prince and Capuleti princess caught together.
Julianna lets out a small moan as my fingers move along her jaw to her cheek, then behind her ear. We’re almost there. I feel her breath brushing my lips, begging to be put out of their misery. The silence. Her averted gaze. All of it is utter torture.
“I should still hate you.” She softly closes her eyes before flickering them open again.
“But you don’t.”
The only reply I get is a heavy breath and a subtle, very minute shake of her head. A silent answer, one only I can hear.
I lift my other hand to cradle her other cheek when her eyes drop to my arm to look at the fresh ink scarring my still-healing skin.
“New tattoo?”
“My first.” I force myself to look away from the beautiful woman in front of me and down at the snake wrapped around my wrist, up to my elbow. “Birthday present from my dad.”
Julianna’s brows knit. “Interesting gift from your dad.”
“It’s a Montgomery thing.” I don’t really want to talk about this here. Or at all. “We all get the same one on our eighteenth birthday.”
“Oh.” She runs her hand along the serpent. “Well, happy birthday, then.”
“It was four days ago. I’m just glad it’s over.”
“You’re eighteen, Rome. You shouldn’t want your birthday to be over.”
“In my family, I do,” I admit. What the hell?
I’ve never been this open with Julianna before.
Well, duh, of course I haven’t. But then I remember why I fell for her so easily in her emails and letters.
She’s easy to talk to, and despite the hatred she may still have for me, I get the sense she also understands me.
“Lark…” I start, pressing my fingers against her cheeks.
She shakes her head and pulls my hands away from her face. “Not here, Rome. Not here.”
“Where, then?” I ask, hoping this means she wants to meet with me again. Maybe in a place where our entire senior class isn’t waiting on the other side of the door. “When?”
“Not tonight. I’m staying here, at Sola’s.”
“You are?”
“Yep.” I can’t look away from her mouth. “We’re celebrating my eighteenth birthday. I wanted to spend it at my best friend’s house. I mean, it’s not as crazy or exciting as getting a snake tattoo…” Her gaze shifts to my arm again before a laugh is spilling from her pretty mouth.
Fuck, it’s the most beautiful sound in the world.
“Today is your birthday?” I ask, realizing I’d never paid attention before. I never really thought about it.