We Don't Have to be a Tragedy

Romeo’s Point of View

I could already tell that Juliet was enjoying herself. When she muttered about Ryland asking Maria out to see if her reaction was ‘only natural’, I knew she was having fun. And then she herself said, and I quote, “ ‘This is going to be so fun,’ ” and then laughed at Todd jumping up and his surprise at James’ new girlfriend.

Juliet’s Point of View

“Romeo, Todd, Ry, what’s up?” the newcomer asked with a huge smile, his long-ish blonde hair falling into his eyes, holding hands with the girl, who had light brown hair tied back in a ponytail.

“Hey, James!” Todd cried excitedly, and the rounds of man-bump-hug-thingamajigs started all over again.

“Oh, yeah, I’m not here,” the girl said, in a pretend huffy tone.

“Oh, hi Sarah.” Todd said quickly, waving frantically to try to please her. She just shook her head in laughter.

“Hi, Todd. Romeo, Ry.”

“Hi, Sarah, right? I’m Taylor! I’m Romeo’s girlfriend’s best friend!” Taylor chirped happily. “This is Juliet,” she gestured to me.

“Oh, yeah, I totally can’t speak for myself,” I retorted, tweaking one of her curls playfully. Romeo then tweaked one of mine with a grin, and kissed me on the cheek in a spur-of-the-moment sort of romantic thing that I now took for granted.

“Hey, Taylor, hey Juliet,” Sarah shook hands with us, and James followed suit after the four guys were done with their man-hug-bumping thing.

Next to show were Tim and Clarisse, who I’d met on a few previous visits to Whitney’s, since Tim just so happened to be one of the waiters. He wasn’t on the schedule tonight, so he and Clarisse decided that coming to hang with the gang would be fun.

About ten minutes late, a girl with black hair and bright red streaks stepped in, laughing in ripped jeans and a tank top underneath her jacket. With her was a blonde guy with an earring in one ear. They looked like a pretty badass couple, if I did say so myself. It wasn’t until Todd stood again and waved frantically at them, calling, “Trisha! John! Get your asses over here!” to a stern glare from an old lady a few tables away that I realized these were the last of our party.

Introductions were made and seats were shuffled and I ended up beside the badass Trisha.

“So, you’re the famous Juliet I’ve been hearing about, eh?” Trisha said, with a faint Canadian accent. I vaguely recalled that Romeo had told me she’d moved from Alberta, Canada in Sophomore year.

“I guess so,” I replied, with a grin. Somehow, Taylor had been shuffled in between John and Todd, so she was two people away from me. Trisha smiled at me, and we all talked for a while. Todd was just as excited as when we’d all first walked in, and Taylor kept whispering across Todd (in a carrying whisper, too) to Ry that Maria definitely had a thing for him.

“Yo, she’s right,” James grinned slyly. “I’ve been trying to tell you for years, man.”

“Thank you!” Trisha cut in, “Someone else finally tells him that.”

“We’re old friends, guys, c’mon!” Ry said, with a blush darkening his already tanned cheeks. “Por favor, mi amigos!”

“Don’t even say‘it’s only natural’ again,” Taylor warned, “or we’ll have Juliet tell it to you again.”

“What, the, ‘ask her out and see if her reaction is only natural.’ part?” I asked.

“Duh.” Taylor, Todd, and Romeo all said in unison. I grinned.

“Yeah, they’re right.” I consented.

“They just don’t get women’s intuition, do they?” Trisha shook her head, grinning at Taylor and I as Sarah laughed.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice said about a half hour later, “we have an excellent turnout tonight! Now, how many of you are actually going to brave our stage?”