Romeo & Juliet (2014)

Act 3

It turned out shortly after I left for the restaurant, Mercutio was really mad at me as well as Benvolio. As if timing couldn't have been better, Tybalt had shown up at the beach with some of his friends and got out because they saw Benvolio's Maserati. They walked over and started provoking him and Mercutio.
"Hey, faggot," sneered Tybalt looking at Mercutio with a devious look on his face. "Where's Lover Boy?"
"Back off, Tybalt," shouted Benvolio as he stepped in front of Mercutio. "Neither of us has a swell mood going and we don't want to start a fight right now. That's odd coming from me, but I'm not in the mood to break your neck."
"That's too bad," said Tybalt mockingly. His chumps laughed with him and one of them pushed Mercutio to the ground, hard. Benvolio ran and helped Mercutio to his feet.
"What the hell is your problem," shot Benvolio out loud. "I will fuck you up!!"
"Yeah, yeah," replied a half-listening Tybalt as he stretched his arms. "Listen, I want to drive fast and I have no one to go against, so I wanted to embarrass one of you."
"Forget it," responded Mercutio bluntly. "We won't race chumps like you. You're not worth beating."
As if trained dogs were told to attack, Mercutio was knocked down and kicked in the stomach by Tybalt's pals. They took a few extra shots at him until Mercutio curled up.
"Fine, I'll race," said Mercutio hoping they would back off. And they did. Tybalt smiled as he turned around to head back to his car. All he said was the location of the starting line and we'd get the details when we got there.
"Oh, and don't think about skipping out," said Tybalt as he stopped and turned around. "If you do miss the race, let's just say Romeo won't know what hit him."
With that, they left in a cloud of smoke and RPMs as they drove off.
"What do we do for cars," asked Mercutio as he and Benvolio got in the Maserati.
"You could take this," suggested Benvolio as he patted the stick shift.
"No, I can't take your pride and joy," said Mercutio sympathetically as he shook his head in disagreement. "You worked hard for this card. You refused to buy it with anyone else's money so you could truly call it your own. I couldn't risk damaging it."
Just then, Benvolio had an idea. He looked up Peter on Facebook and messaged him asking what kind of car Tybalt drove. It turns out even though that Tybalt drove a convertible around, his real heart and soul was a high end sports car called the Pagani Zonda F. There was no way a Maserati could keep up! He then said that he knew a place that kept a car that could match, or even beat the Zonda. That was pretty much the story, and the race was going to start in ten minutes. Juliet looked me worried as I got off the phone because she could see I was troubled.
"Romeo, what is it," she asked with a worrisome tone. "Is you friend going to be okay?"
I told her the story on the way to the restaurant door and as we sat in the car for a few minutes. I'm glad they are defending me and not wanting me to get hurt...but how the hell do you race a sports car if you've been driving SUVs pretty much since you could drive a vehicle?

When we got there, I almost crashed the Lamborghini after I saw what was lined up at the "starting line". It was Tybalt's Pagani and Mercutio was behind the wheel of a Ferrari FXX which goes 345 km/h. His Navigator's top speed of 200 km/h. Plus, the Ferarri is like driving a paper airplane compared to the Navigator. I left Juliet back at the restaurant so no trouble would brew with enemies sitting together. I parked quickly and got out of the car. I managed to find Benvolio.
"Is he insane," I cried out grabbing Benvolio's shoulder. "Where the hell did you find him that car anyways? It's a car that goes for two million in price!"
I quickly squeezed between the bodies that came to watch the starting of the race and ran out to the noisy race demons about to take off.
"Mercutio, you and Tybalt don't have to do this," I shouted at Mercutio after I tapped on his window. "Can't you and Tybalt just shake hands and make up?"
"No, this idiot needs to learn some respect," snarled Mercutio as he revved his engine. "They mistreated me because of my sexuality. Yes, I'm gay if you haven't noticed or caught on. Romeo, I do feel strong about you, but that's no reason for another person to treat me like shit. This race means a lot to me apart from just proving a point. It's a moral doing I must complete and stand up for what is right. If that means racing Tybalt to earn my freedom, so be it."
I stepped back for a second absolutely stunned. That explained why he acts so close with me. I'm not gay or bisexual myself, so I was oblivious to the fact he liked me. That's why he was so mad at me with Benvolio this morning.
"Look who decided to show up," said a voice behind me. It was Tybalt with his window rolled down. "While you're there, want to start the race for us? We waited for you. That's the only reason we're still here."
"Tybalt, come on! You don't have to do this," I yelled at the top of my lungs. "We don't have to be enemies. There's no reason for all this fighting. In away, I've come to respect the name of Capulet!"
"Blah, blah, blah," replied Tybalt as he revved his car. "Now get your sorry ass to the starting line and wave us off!"
Damn it! No matter what I do, nothing is working. I'm more concerned about Mercutio racing a style of car he has never even driven his whole life. It's kind of like being a guitar player and then someone randomly gives you a twelve string guitar instead of six and has you play a concert right out of the gates. I walked up to the starting line with a racing heart and sweaty palms. I raised both arms which is the equivalence to "On your mark, get set..." and then dropped my arms for "GO!" Both drivers took off fairly quickly. I ran back to Benvolio who had live GPS on his phone. He sent me a copy of the route and then traced the cars from their position. I ran to the Lamborghini and took off after them. I have a feeling this race will have more to it than just the cars and drivers.