No Reason But Us

Chapter 51 : Spoken Word Bar

Weeks turned to months, and it was crunch time in the theatre club as they were finally rehearsing for the last act while the set designers were done making all the costumes, props, and of course, the backdrops of each scene.

It was bittersweet for everyone to those who were so passionate about the play. Some of them were relieved that it was going to be over soon, including Gage and some of them were sad since they had fun practicing with fellow theatre actors.

Anyway, the ex-couple was getting used to the idea that they were broken up. The Romeo still could not find it in his heart to forgive his ex-girlfriend he still looked at her with disgust for being untruthful during their time together even before they were an item.

As for the Juliet, she stopped wearing the Love Knot that Gage gave her when he surprised her with a paint picnic. Although, she kept it in the outside pocket of her bag. Oddey did not want to be delusional that her ex-boyfriend would just walk to her and they get back together, and that she knew she had to return it, but it was difficult since the guy kept dodging her.

Probably, their feelings for each other were not entirely gone, but it was still hard for them if either one was being approached by any guy or girl that would go their way. How Courtney relished her closeness with Gage and used her role of Juliet to her advantage, while few other guys in CarmU were throwing themselves at Oddey.

One night, the Juliet was in her dorm room, sitting by her desk staring at the red braided wristlet and just could not help but reminisce all the wonderful times that she had with Gage.

Suddenly, Rita came out from the shower, already in her PJ, and saw her roommate drying out her curly hair. "You still have that," she snickered.

The art student became startled, "Yeah," she replied while feeling bashful. "I know, I should give it back to him."

"It's almost been a month, Bestie. If he wants it back, then he should have come to you and told you that."

"That's the problem. He's been avoiding me like I've been infected by COVID before there were vaccinations."

"So then just keep it," Rita advised. "It is a gift anyway. What's the big deal about it?"

"It's not just any gift. This was his mother's," Oddey reminded. "I don't deserve that."

"Oh..."

The Juliet let out a heavy sigh. "I guess I have to do the hard way then."

----

The next day, when the rehearsing session was over, the art student went inside the lift. She was the only one there at first as the door was slowly closing in, "Hold the elevator!" a voice exclaimed.

"Oh, okay," she responded and pressed the open button.

However, it was Gage entering quickly to get to his class. They both subtly flinched that they were going to be inside the same elevator, but he had no choice. "Uhm... thanks," he muttered to her.

"No problem."

At that moment, when they were waiting to get to the ground floor, the atmosphere was thick, and the silence was loud as if they were trying to be strangers to one another.

they both remembered being trapped in that very elevator one stormy evening. It was the time when Oddey had an asthma attack when she was experiencing claustrophobia and how the Romeo swooped in to help her. Also, she admired how caring he was of her, yet she lost all that and him.

Gage looked back at how he had her sleeping in his arms, and it was the night when he started to fall for her slowly. It was from there that he realized how wonderful it was to be with her when she offered to help him get ready for the audition. Those were the happiest times of his life, but at that time, it was not. However, he was confused as to how he felt about it after everything that happened.