We Don't Have to be a Tragedy

Romeo’s Point of View

“Are you sure you’re ready?” Juliet asked, double-checking.

“You have my undivided attention, Jules,” I told her soothingly. “Please. I wanna hear you sing again. It already seems like it’s been years.”

“Okay.”

She took a deep breath.

“You're the direction I follow
To get home
When I feel like I can't go on
You tell me to go

And it's like I can't feel a thing
Without you around
Don't mind me if I get weak in the knees
'Cause you have that affect on me
You do

Everything you say
Every time we kiss I can't think straight
But I'm okay
And I can't think of anybody else
Who I hate to miss
As much as I hate missing you

Months going strong now
And no goodbye
Unconditional, unoriginal
Always by my side

Meant to be together
Meant for no one but each other
You love me, I love you harder
So....

Everything you say
Every time we kiss I can't think straight
But I'm ok
I can't think of anybody else
Who I hate to miss
As much as I hate missing you

So please give me a hint
So please give me a lesson on how to steal
To steal a heart as fast as you stole mine
As you stole mine

Everything you say
Every time we kiss I can't think straight
But I'm ok
I can't think of anybody else
Who I hate to miss
As much as I hate missing you
So please give me a hint
So please just take my hand…”

There was a pause, and then Juliet’s voice, as her piano playing died down, “What do you think?”

“I think…” paused, then changed what I was going to say. “I can’t think of anybody else who I hate to miss as much as I hate missing you.”

She chuckled, “Oh, shut up. Did you…did you like it?”

“You did amazing. I’m going to have to start looking up Hey Monday and asking you to sing their songs to me whenever we talk,” I told her, half jokingly. I loved to hear her singing, because I could tell she put her heart in it.

Juliet’s Point of View

“I don’t think I could sing a different song every time we talked,” I laughed, glad he liked it. And I was glad he picked up on I can’t think of anybody else I hate to miss as much as I hate missing you, because that was exactly how I felt every minute he was gone.

“Well, maybe not a different one. I wouldn’t mind hearing this one a few times,” his voice seemed so far away, just as far away as he was.

“Maybe you will,” I told him.

“I hope I do,” he retorted, and I decided that it was okay that he sounded far away, because at least I still could hear his voice.

We talked, then, for around an hour, with me playing a few more pieces on the piano, and singing along for a chorus of Nine in the Afternoon, with Romeo actually joining in. It was so good to hear his voice again, that I barely paid attention to the fact that a few people were walking by, wondering who was in the old music room.

When we said our goodbyes, I put my phone in my pocket and sang through the song 6 Months one more time, this time noticing that four people had stopped to listen, and I walked back to the dorms with one of them, a girl who was in my art class. Her name was Mallory and she was a shy, quiet type of girl.

“You’re a really good singer, y’know?” she told me, smiling softly. “You should be in the musical.”

“I’m going to try,” I told her, “the try-outs are next Thursday and I’ll do my best to get in.”

“Good,” she told me as we stopped at her door, on the floor below mine, “you’ll definitely make it in. And probably as the lead, too.”

That was her final say as the door closed on her, and I flushed slightly. I hoped she was right and that I’d make it in, because singing was probably the thing I loved most, other than Romeo.

I finally made it back to my room, and it was about seven thirty. I sat down and worked on a few assignments, none of which were due quite yet, for half an hour until my stomach proclaimed its emptiness, and I grabbed my keys and my wallet and headed down to the on-campus store for some potato chips and a deli sandwich.

So the first week closed, and so the second week began.