Chapter 21 Juliette
JULIETTE
The music is suddenly too loud and someone turns it down.
One of the officers clears his throat. He looks at his notepad. “Ma’am, we have Romeo downstairs who’s being detained. He gave your name as an emergency contact.”
I blink. “I’m sorry, who?”
“Romeo. He’s being held following an altercation in the hotel bar.”
“I don’t know anyone named Romeo.”
The cop raises his eyebrow and checks his notes again. “Romeo Rodriguez?”
The room goes completely silent.
“I’m sorry… ” I say slowly. “Did you say Romeo?”
“Yes ma’am. Romeo Rodriguez. He says he’s your boyfriend and that you’re the maid of honor at this wedding.”
“ROMEO?!” Olivia’s voice cracks and I turn. She’s got both hands clamped over her mouth. Her eyes are huge and already tearing up.
I turn back to the officer because this can’t be real. “He told you his name was Romeo.” I can hear the disbelief in my own voice.
“Yes ma’am. Is there a problem?”
“ROMEO AND JULIETTE!” Olivia shrieks.
Then she’s laughing. Doubled over, can’t breathe, tears streaming down her face laughing.
My mom makes a sound, half laugh, half gasp. She looks at me, then at Olivia, and then she’s laughing too.
“Oh my god,” Emma gasps. “Oh my GOD.”
“His name is ROMEO?” Lauren is wheezing. “You’ve been dating a guy named ROMEO?”
My mouth won’t form words. My brain has stopped processing language entirely.
“I didn’t know,” I finally manage.
“How did you not KNOW?” Olivia can barely get the words out. “How long have you been dating him?!”
“He goes by Rodriguez! Everyone calls him Rodriguez!”
“His NAME is ROMEO RODRIGUEZ and you’re JULIETTE!” She’s crying now. Tears running down her face. “ROMEO AND JULIETTE!”
The cop clears his throat again. He’s trying very hard to not laugh but I can see the corner of his mouth twitching. “Ma’am, if you could come down to the security office—”
“Wait.” I hold up a hand. “What happened? What kind of altercation?”
“A physical altercation between Mr. Rodriguez and another guest. We need someone to collect Mr. Rodriguez and confirm his identity.”
Physical altercation. Hotel bar. Another guest.
Garrett.
It has to be Garrett.
“Is the other guest okay?”
“He’s being treated by hotel medical staff for a possible broken nose.”
Rodriguez broke Garrett’s nose. On my sister’s wedding day. While I was upstairs getting my hair done and obsessing over whether he was okay.
“I’ll handle it,” my mom says, but she’s still laughing. “Juliette—”
“No.” I’m already moving. “I’ll go and—”
I look down at myself. Silk robe. Bare legs. Slippers. My hair is pinned up in an elaborate style that took almost an hour. My makeup is camera-ready.
“I can’t go down like this.”
“Ma’am—”
Olivia’s still in full hysterics. “You have to go get your boyfriend Romeo from hotel security on my wedding day while wearing a bathrobe.”
“Olivia—”
“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” She’s crying and laughing at the same time, she’s ruining her makeup. “ROMEO!”
“Can someone please make her stop.”
My mom is trying to compose herself. Failing spectacularly. “Sweetheart, just go. We’ll be fine here. Go collect your Romeo.”
“Mom, please don’t—”
“Romeo and Juliette,” she says again and dissolves into fresh laughter.
“Ma’am?” The cop is waiting and he sounds tired.
“Okay, yes, I’m coming.”
I follow them out into the hallway. Both cops walking ahead, me trailing behind in a silk bridesmaid robe and slippers.
We pass other hotel guests. A family with kids who stop and stare. A couple checking in who pause mid-conversation.
But I keep my head up because if I’m going to do this, I’m doing it with whatever dignity I can scrape together.
Rodriguez got in a fight, on my sister’s wedding day, with my ex-boyfriend.
He stopped responding to my texts. Then he got in a fight. Then he gave the police my name.
What did Garrett say to him? What could have possibly made Rodriguez lose control like that?
I don’t care. Rodriguez is in trouble and I need to get to him.
They lead me to a security office off the main lobby. A small room with a desk and two chairs.
And Rodriguez.
He’s sitting there with his head in his hands. His white shirt is ruined. His knuckles are split open. His jaw is red and swollen.
He looks up when the door opens.
The expression on his face is pure devastation. Like he’s just ruined everything and he knows it.
“JuJu—”
“Your name is Romeo.”
He blinks. “What?”
“Your name. Your first name. It’s Romeo.”
“I, yes. But that’s not—”
“Romeo Rodriguez.”
“Yes, but—”
“ROMEO.” My voice goes up. “Your name is ROMEO and you let me call you Rodriguez for FIVE MONTHS.”
The cop clears his throat. “Ma’am, we just need you to confirm his identity.”
“Yes. That’s him. Romeo Rodriguez… my boyfriend.”
The words feel bizarre coming out of my mouth. Romeo. His name is Romeo and I didn’t know. For five months I didn’t know.
“Alright. Mr. Rodriguez, you’re free to go. But I’d suggest avoiding the other guest for the remainder of your stay.”
“Understood,” Rodriguez says quietly.
He stands slowly. Carefully. Wincing as he straightens up.
“Can you walk?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You’re covered in blood and there were cops involved.”
“Most of the blood is his.”
“That doesn’t make this better.”
We leave the security office and walk through the lobby. A woman in silk robe and slippers and a man in suit covered in blood.
We get in the elevator and the doors close and we’re alone.
I turn to look at him. Take in the split knuckles. The bruise spreading across his jaw. The absolutely miserable expression on his face.
“Your name is Romeo,” I say again.
“I know.”
“Romeo Rodriguez.”
“Yes.”
“And I’m Juliette. Juliette Chastain.”
“I’m aware.”
“Romeo and Juliette.” I’m staring at him. “We’re literally Romeo and Juliet.”
“Technically we’re Romeo and Juliette. With a ‘te.’ Different spelling, so—”
“That doesn’t make it better!” I can feel myself spiraling. “That makes it worse! You never once thought to mention that our names were ROMEO and JULIETTE?”
“Everyone calls me Rodriguez, I didn’t think it was a big deal—”
“I’m not everyone! I’m your girlfriend! I should have known your first name!”
“I told you my name,” he says quietly. “That day at the coffee shop. When we exchanged numbers. I put Romeo in your phone. You’re the one who freaked out and told me it was a bad pickup line.”
I freeze.
Oh my god.
He’s right. I remember now. Seeing “Romeo” in my phone and thinking—
“I thought you were joking,” I say slowly.
“I thought you were making a play on my name. Like literally every other guy has done my entire life. ‘Oh you’re Juliette, I’ll be your Romeo’ as if it’s the most original line ever invented.
I thought you were being utterly unoriginal and I changed it to just Rodriguez because I wasn’t going to fall for that. ”
He’s staring at me. “You thought—”
“Yes! I thought you were doing the Romeo thing! Because EVERYONE does the Romeo thing! Do you know how many times I’ve heard ‘Where’s your Romeo’ or ‘Are you looking for your Romeo’ or some guy introducing himself as Romeo thinking he’s hilarious?
” The words are spilling out now. “I changed it to Rodriguez immediately because I was NOT going to be that girl who falls for the Romeo line!”
“But that’s actually my name!”
“I DIDN’T KNOW THAT!”
The elevator dings and we walk down the hall in silence.
“So you got in a fight, broke Garrett’s nose, your name is Romeo, we’re Romeo and Juliette, my entire family is upstairs dying of laughter, there are photos in forty-five minutes, when we—” I break off and suck in a breath because rapidly listing all the things is only making me feel worse.
“JuJu—” He takes a step toward me.
“What did he say?” The question comes out sharp. “What did Garrett say that made you hit him?”
He shakes his head and walks toward the bathroom, ignoring the question. He’s fumbling with the shirt, trying to unbutton it with his swollen hand.
I can’t watch this.
“Stop.” I cross to him. “Let me.”
I step in front of him and reach for the buttons. My hands are steadier than his even though I’m the one shaking. The shirt is ruined. I peel it off carefully.
His ribs are definitely going to be bruised, and I trace my fingers over the redness.
“Did he get you anywhere else?”
“My jaw. But it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine. None of this is fine.” I throw the shirt toward the trash can and it lands short, hitting the floor. “Sit down. Let me see your hands.”
He sits on the edge of the tub. I turn on the tap and let the water run warm. Wet a washcloth and start cleaning the blood away.
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly.
“For what?”
“For ruining your sister’s wedding. For getting in a fight. For making you come downstairs in a bathrobe to collect me from hotel security. For all of it.”
I move to his other hand. “You didn’t ruin the wedding. But you’re going to tell me what he said.”
“JuJu—”
“What did Garrett say that made you lose control like that?” I look up at him. “Because you don’t lose control. You’re the most easygoing person I know. So what did he say?”
He looks down at his hands.
“He said you’d never put me first. That you were using me to make him jealous and that once this wedding was over, you’d realize you didn’t actually want me.” His voice is flat. Carefully controlled. “He said I was just convenient for you and that I was too stupid to see it.”
The room goes very quiet. I can hear water dripping from the washcloth into the tub. I look at him sitting there. Looking absolutely miserable.
“And that’s when you hit him.”
“That’s when I hit him.”
He fought for me. Lost control completely because someone said things about me that he didn’t like.
Garrett spent three years with me and never once defended me like that. Rodriguez has known me for five months and broke someone’s nose for me.
Before I can figure out what to say, there’s a knock on the door.
We both freeze.
“Juliette?” My dad’s voice. “Are you in there?”