Let the Walls Break Down

If it wasn’t obvious by the shock in her eyes, the expressions that Juliet was making made me feel like a complete jerk for coming over. I wasn’t doing this to piss her off; I was doing this to get a chance to talk to her. It was probably the only chance I’d get.

She didn’t seem to touch the food on her plate, except for moving it around with her fork. And she didn’t bother to look up when I was answering questions that her parents were asking me. When she finished pushing her food around, she put her fork down and turned to address her dad.

“Can I be excused real quick?”

“Sure,” her dad answered without looking up from his meal and without skipping a beat in the conversation with her mother.

Juliet slid out of her seat and walked out into the living, and through the front door. I guessed she was sitting out on the front porch to get away from me. Who am I kidding? Of course that’s what she was doing.

“Excuse me for a second,” I said to her father. “Would you mind if I went to check on Juliet?”

“Be my guest, Jack,” he answered and continued the conversation with his wife.

I stood up from my seat and walked out to the front porch. Juliet was sitting on the porch swing, looking down the street. As I walked over, the floor had creaked and made her jump slightly. She looked over at me and back down the street.

“Why are you here, Jack?” She asked.

“I told your parents I’d come check on you,” I answered, taking a seat on the rail across from her.

“No,” she said, “I mean, what are you doing here? At my house. Thought this would at least be a safe place to be away from you.”

“Why are you so bitter?” I asked. “I’m here because I wanna talk to you. Is that so bad?”

She pursed her lips together and shook her head.

“I’m not bitter. And I don’t want you here just because you want to talk to me,” she explained. “Do you have any idea what you did to me when we were kids?”

I thought about her question for what only seemed to be a second because she started to answer it for me.

“You have no clue, Jack. It was horrible. I cried my eyes out everyday during lunch in the nurse’s office and all you did was laugh with your stupid friend. The nurse was nice enough to give me a pass for each day.”

Crap. There was nothing I could think of to make her feel better. I was the one who sent her to the nurse’s office everyday. I made her cry all those times in middle school.

“Juliet, I…”

But before I could finish, she interrupted me.

“Jack, I’d really appreciate it if you just didn’t. And if you would just leave, please.”

“But…”

“Jack, please spare me.”

I couldn’t make her let me stay. The only thing I really could do for her was just leave.

“I’ll get my jacket,” I said and walked back into the house.

Juliet’s parents were still deep in conversation, and I noticed Melissa was now in it as well. Her father looked up as I approached the table.

“Jack!” He said and stood from the table. “How’s my Juliet?”

“She’s good, sir,” I answered and grabbed my jacket from the chair I was sitting in for dinner.

“Good; good. She’d been through quite a lot, lately. Far off look in her eyes, sadness.”

“It’s heartbreaking,” Mrs. Parker cut in.

“Why?” I asked, being nosey. I was curious. She was pissed at me but by the way they had enjoyed having me over, I don’t think they knew that.

“Oh, it’s about her boyfriend,” Mrs. Parker began. “She was in the car with him, coming here, when the accident happened, and she walked away with only a broken wrist, but it was much worse for him. Slipped into a coma the night after it happened and passed away a week later. It’s been about five months now, but she’s been a mess ever since. Among his clothes, they found a small, velvet box. He planned on asking Greg for her hand in marriage. Such a sweet boy; very much a gentleman.”

I don’t know if my jaw actually dropped, but it felt as though it hit the ground.

“We’re trying to get her out and about, again. Greg and I are planning on letting her have her own apartment. I just hope we’re making a good choice; she seemed happy about it.”

“Oh, I-I’m so sorry for her loss; I had no idea.”

“Yes, thank you, dear,” Mrs. Parker said. “But I’m sure she can use a friend,” she insisted.

“Of course,” I answered, and hoped that maybe I actually could be a friend.

I left soon after that. Juliet had snuck back into the house while I was still in the kitchen, so I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to her before leaving. If her mother hadn’t of told me, I would have never guessed that Juliet was going through such a hard time. It didn’t show through the anger that she held against me. Maybe this could be an opportunity to get through to her. Maybe I could break that wall down.