Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew,--
O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones;--
Which with sweet water nightly I will dew,
Or, wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans:
The obsequies that I for thee will keep
Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep.

I lay still, listening to the despair in Gerard's voice at taking in the site of my dead body. I heard the low whistle off-stage and fought off a smile. For some reason this scene always made me happy...in an odd morbid fascination. I heard the approaching footsteps, both in my tomb and out in the graveyard. Then I hear it, that squeak of the tomb entrance and I smile to myself.

This is that banish'd haughty Montague,
That murder'd my love's cousin, with which grief,
It is supposed, the fair creature died;
And here is come to do some villanous shame
To the dead bodies: I will apprehend him.
Stop thy unhallow'd toil, vile Montague!
Can vengeance be pursued further than death?
Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee:
Obey, and go with me; for thou must die.

I had to blank my mind, I always laughed during practice because Quinn and Gerard got way into this scene. Though I think that had to do with the fact that I've sucked face with both of them and well, Quinn it's now mandatory since he is the Romeo to my Juliet and Gerard's not too keen on that.

I must indeed; and therefore came I hither.
Good gentle youth, tempt not a desperate man;
Fly hence, and leave me: think upon these gone;
Let them affright thee. I beseech thee, youth,
Put not another sin upon my head,
By urging me to fury: O, be gone!
By heaven, I love thee better than myself;
For I come hither arm'd against myself:
Stay not, be gone; live, and hereafter say,
A madman's mercy bade thee run away.

I do defy thy conjurations,
And apprehend thee for a felon here.

Wilt thou provoke me? then have at thee, boy!

I wish I could at least lie with my head turned, but no, I'm forced to lay with my eyes closed because the stage lights are fiercely bright and I'm supposed to be dead. I hear their fake swords clash, and then that gasp from Gerard.

O, I am slain!
If thou be merciful,
Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.

I smile inwardly. Juliet's kind of a whore in the sense that both guys die for her. Paris adored her, loved her even, and wanted nothing more than to make her happy as his wife. And Romeo, well they did have that star-crossed lovers thing going for them, so it evens out a little.

In faith, I will. Let me peruse this face.
Mercutio's kinsman, noble County Paris!
What said my man, when my betossed soul
Did not attend him as we rode? I think
He told me Paris should have married Juliet:
Said he not so? or did I dream it so?
Or am I mad, hearing him talk of Juliet,
To think it was so? O, give me thy hand,
One writ with me in sour misfortune's book!
I'll bury thee in a triumphant grave;
A grave? O no! a lantern, slaughter'd youth,
For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes
This vault a feasting presence full of light.
Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr'd.

I hear their shuffling, Quinn's moving Gerard's body around. I think Mr. Sanchez lucked out, we're all a bunch of scrawny dudes, otherwise I don't think we'd be able to lift each other, say if we were built like Ray or Bob.

How oft when men are at the point of death
Have they been merry! which their keepers call
A lightning before death: O, how may I
Call this a lightning? O my love! my wife!
Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty:
Thou art not conquer'd; beauty's ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death's pale flag is not advanced there.
Tybalt, liest thou there in thy bloody sheet?
O, what more favour can I do to thee,
Than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain
To sunder his that was thine enemy?
Forgive me, cousin! Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorred monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee;
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again: here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber-maids; O, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last!
Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
A dateless bargain to engrossing death!
Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!
Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!
Here's to my love!

I love the emotions Quinn lets out during this scene. He truly masters Romeo's pain for his dead lover. He makes me cry every time we run through it and my eyes are watering now. I'm glad I get to wake up soon; I don't like being still for this long.

O true apothecary!
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.

I feel his lips press against my own and then he slumps beside me. That's my cue to listen for the others—to start waking up. I listen to the scuffle outside, the shouts between the Friar and Balthasar.

Romeo! O, pale! Who else? what, Paris too?
And steep'd in blood? Ah, what an unkind hour
Is guilty of this lamentable chance!
The lady stirs.

I slowly turn to his voice, shifting stiffly and slowly open my eyes. A smile slowly spreads across my face.

O comfortable friar! where is my lord?
I do remember well where I should be,
And there I am. Where is my Romeo?

We both glance at the tomb entrance at the noise from the other side. He quickly puts his arms around my shoulders, slowly getting me to my unsteady feet. He tries to turn me from the body that is lying beside me.

I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest
Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep:
A greater power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away.
Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead;
And Paris too. Come, I'll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns:
Stay not to question, for the watch is coming;
Come, go, good Juliet,
I dare no longer stay.

I gasp and fight out of his grasp and rush to Quinn's side. Tears now free falling down my cheeks.

Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.
What's here? a cup, closed in my true love's hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end:
O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after? I will kiss thy lips;
Haply some poison yet doth hang on them,
To make die with a restorative.

I kiss him, hard. Then bring my fingers to my lips.

Thy lips are warm.

Lead, boy: which way?

I gasp and turn towards the noise. I glance around harshly, my gaze landing on the dagger sheathed on Quinn's belt.

Yea, noise? then I'll be brief. O happy dagger!
This is thy sheath;
there rust, and let me die.

I stab myself in the chest and fall across Quinn's body. I fight myself from laughing and I can tell by how tense he is, he is too. We listened as the others filed in on the stage around us. I was still crying; it truly is a beautiful story and the guys have done so well with this ending. Finally it came down to those final words.

A glooming peace this morning with it brings;
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished:
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

I could hear the swish of the curtains closing, the crowd's applause began and that was our cue to move. I stood up with a grin on my face and turned quickly around to where Gerard was propped up against one of the pillars. I grinned down at him and helped him to his feet. I pulled him in for a hug, wrapping my arms around him. I felt his lips press against my forehead.

“Well done Frankie. You look beautiful, I wanted to tell you that earlier, but those words didn't exactly fit in with the script.”

His fingers trailed down my wig as he pressed his lips to my own in a brief kiss.

“Ahem.”

We turned and grinned at Quinn who was holding his hand out. I sighed and took it, removing myself from Gerard's arms. Quinn and I had our own curtain call, everyone else was to come out before us. We walked back to center stage and waited. We could still hear the applause and I smiled.

“Great job Frankie!”

I grinned and hugged him.

“You too Quinn!”

We listened as the applauses started to get louder, they had begun curtain call. It was only a matter of seconds before one of the crew motioned for us to come forward. The lights were brighter now, giving the audience a clear view of who they had just watched perform. I grinned as Quinn and I walked right up to center stage and took our bows. The applause and cheers grew louder. We glanced behind us to the rest of the cast and nodded, as a whole we applauded each other and then we raised our hands to gesture our sound booth. I loved that Mr. Sanchez had us acknowledge everyone involved in the show because without everyone who doesn't make an appearance on stage, there would be no show.

The curtains closed once again and the lights flooded back on and I turned to find my boyfriend. My boyfriend, I loved being able to use that word. I felt a body collide with my own and bony arms wrap around me—Mikey.

“You were amazing Frankie! You were the best Juliet I've ever seen! You died way better than I did too!”

We laughed and then I felt a presence beside me. I glanced and smiled at the boy standing there. Sure I had touched him, kissed him even, but now, now I had time to do whatever I wanted. Well not all the time because we had to go out and meet everyone who came to our opening night. But I did have a few minutes I could steal with him.

He reached out with his hand, I freely took and let him pull me in. I adored this gentle side of him. The one that seemed to cherish the ground I walked on. He started walking backwards, towards the left wing of the stage, behind one of the prop walls. He turned us around and backed me into the wall and then pressed himself against me. His lips covered my own, slowly but so fiercely. His fingers were laced with my own as our hands hung at our sides.

He was jealous. He'd always do this. Every day since that night in my room where we established our relationship, he has to erase all proof that Quinn had touched me. He had to press so close that all I could smell was him. He had to kiss me so hard that all I could taste was him. I couldn't complain, he always left me craving a cigarette and a cup of coffee. Well that and the promise of a make-out session when all was said and done.

“Oi, lovebirds, let's go! Sanchez wants us all in the classroom.”

I heard and felt Gerard's groan as he pulled away. We glanced over his shoulder at Bert who had a cheeky grin on his face and a red-faced Quinn attached to his hand. Gerard waved them off and turned and faced me once again. He unlocked our fingers and brought his hands up to cup my face. I smiled at him and leaned into his touch. He placed a gentle kiss to my lips and then stepped back and offered me one of his hands. We walked hand in hand back to the classroom. Mr. Sanchez was leaning against the door frame and smiled when he saw us.

“Told you Paris wasn't too late, Mr. Way.”