The Birth of Juliet

Romeo was not the kind of guy to fall in love. It wasn’t that he was some kind of sociopathic jerk that thought of women as his play things. He just didn’t have the time. He always liked the idea of falling in love, but all the girls he’d encountered lived shelters existences in the happy suburbs and held no greater understanding of a life outside their own. They were selfish girls who had never had a hardship that they could recall besides the store not having those shoes in their size. It was pathetic and frankly got on his nerves. Although there was a part of him that marveled at those girls and how they lived so lightly, how they seemed so giggly and free.

Romeo grimaced as his younger brother jumped from seat to seat on the public bus. He’d had a long day and was quite fed up with Antonio’s foolishness. He was too tired to tell him to sit down and be still, though. Diego was fast asleep in his lap, obviously just as worn-out from running errands.

Antonio, while running down the aisle in the bus, was suddenly jerked onto an elderly woman’s lap. Most would have asked the five-year-old if he was okay before beginning to reprimand him, but not this woman. She brushed him off her lap forcibly, turning around to glare at Romeo as she said, “Control your child.”

He didn’t try to correct her. Instead he merely called Antonio, who crawled up into the seat beside him. He was on the verge of tears, so Romeo pulled his head forward and kissed it gently. “You’ve gotta be more careful next time, buddy,” Romeo said, ruffling his hair. His brother nodded and sat still, a smile on his face.

Romeo looked up as the smell of flowers hit him. She must’ve been sitting outside of the florist’s shop for hours to smell that strongly of roses and tulips and daisies, but that wasn’t why he continued staring at her. She was lovely. Dark brown hair fading into lavender tips framing a round face. She had big, circular dark eyes framed by thick glasses and thin lips with dry patches that she quickly wiped a bit of chapstick over. She had slightly tanned skin, not unbearably dark or orange but not a pasty color either. She was petite and didn’t appear very athletic in build. She quietly paid the driver and scurried past him to find a seat. He watched her the entire time.

He wanted to greet her somehow, to start a conversation with this creature who for some unforeseen reason mesmerized him, but he felt too insignificant. His black hair was messy and dripping with sweat from the errands he had run and the lack of an air-conditioner in the bus. He was sure he smelled awful after spending a majority of the day in the 90ºF heat, and he probably looked just as bad. His clothes were worn with holes and covered in filth. His skin was badly burned from all the sun he’d encountered in the day and certain parts were peeling from other days.

Antonio jumped out of his seat and began running around the bus pretending to be a ninja. They began moving again, the bus coming to life in a violent jolting motion that flung Antonio to the floor and had Diego nearly falling out of his lap. He grasped his three-year-old brother tightly as he awoke to the screech of the brakes. The loud honk of a horn from a car as it sped past filled the air before the bus driver tried once more to get out. Romeo looked around for Antonio, only to find him talking to the lovely creature rather loudly. He called his brother, who silently pleaded with him to allow him to stay. Romeo stayed firm and called him again.

Antonio looked back up at the young girl and said his farewells. He jumped up from the seat only to pause and turn back around to her. “Do you wanna come sit with us?” he asked, his eyes afire with excitement. He looked at his big brother for a sign of approval, but Romeo was trying to find Diego something to eat. “Please,” Antonio begged.

“I’m not sure your dad would like that,” she said, her voice quiet in an attempt to not disturb the other passengers.

“He’s not my daddy,” he said. “He’s my big brother.”

She broke down and nodded, following Antonio over to his brothers. Romeo stared at her as she cleared her throat to gain his attention. “Do you mind if I sit with you?”

“N-no,” Romeo stuttered. He coughed and tried again. “I don’t mind.”

She smiled and sat down beside him. He wondered how this had happened. How was it that this hypnotic girl was beside him? Was this a sign of some kind? What was he supposed to do now? He begged for another sign as to what he should do.

She swept her hand lightly across her forehead, moving aside her bangs as she smiled at him. She extended her other hand and said, “Hi, I’m Nicole.”

“Romeo,” he said, shifting his brother around to grasp her hand and shake firmly. “I hope Antonio didn’t bother you too much.”

“Oh, no. He’s quite charming.” She swept her hand across her forehead again. She gave a little giggle while saying, “He was just telling me about this dog he saw earlier.”

Antonio, by this point, had lost interest in sitting still once more, and restarted his ninja game he played by himself.

“I tell him he shouldn’t play with stray animals, but he doesn’t seem to listen to me,” Romeo said, adjusting himself as Diego turned around to see her.

“Hi,” Diego said, grinning at her.

She smiled at him in a friendly manner. “Hey, cutie.”

He just grinned bigger in response.

“So, you take your brothers Downtown often?” she asked, turning her attentions back to Romeo.

He shrugged. “I suppose.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say, but he somehow felt compelled to continue some kind of a conversation with her.

He turned his head to look out the window and make sure he hadn’t caused them to miss their stop. The sign on the street read Lover St. There it was. The sign. Quite literal, he thought.

He faced her. “Would you like to go to dinner sometime?” He asked the question with such calmness, but his heart was beating a mile a minute. The blood rushed to his face as the surprise settled on hers.

“Well, I-I,” she stuttered. Nicole took a breath and tried to collect her thoughts. She looked at him. He wasn’t half bad looking, but they had only just met and there was no telling what he was really like. What was the harm to one dinner, though? If she turned out not to like him much while on the date, she could just as easily never have to talk to him again afterwards. “Sure.”

She smiled at him. It seemed genuine. He smiled back.

“I can pick you up this Friday, if you want,” he said, already trying to think of where he could possibly take her on a first date.

“Okay,” she said. She flipped through some of the pages in a notebook she had been holding, bothering a pen from a man a row across from them. “Here’s my address.” She handed him the piece of scrap paper she had been scribbling on.