Juliet Won't Wait Forever

(2) - Aaron

Chapter 2

My stomach is twisted, and I have the sudden urge to puke like that other guy a while ago. “Can't you spin it again?” I plead. “Carrie's my cousin! Cousin!”

Kailey shakes her head, her eyes sad. “It's kinda unfair. Fate the bottle wants you to kiss Carrie! Either you do that, or you do a dare. Don't worry, Carr will also do a dare right?”

Carrie glares at Kailey. “You're sick! Aaron's my first cousin, Kal. It's just... so disgusting! If Fate the bottle wanted you to kiss Walker, would you?”

Kailey sighs. “Walker's not here. It's not my fault the both of you relatives didn't notice each other while I was explaining the rules.”

I want to say that I did notice Carrie, but I didn't think it mattered a few minutes ago.

Yasmin bites her thumbnail. “Kiss or dare. Just pick one. We only have a few hours until curfew, and the both of you are wasting our time.” By curfew, she means 2AM. That's how long our dean allows us to stay up. Anyways, he told us that it's our responsibility if we're sick or cranky or tired the day after.

“You guys are sick,” I mutter coldly. “Dare.”

“Dare it is,” Kailey says. She turns to Carrie. “Dare too, right?”

Carrie rolls her eyes. “Do I have a choice?”

“Whose dare do we make first?” one of the guys, Shawn I think, asks. I know tons of people in Lisbourne, but if they don't make an impression on me, I usually forget their names.

“Aaron's,” another girl replies.

“What should I do to make my life a living hell?” I grumble.

“Does he still have a crush on Juliet?” Yasmin asks Riley, a smirk appearing on her lip glossed lips.

“I don't,” I say smoothly and proudly. I mastered the art of lying after a few months here; it's something really important and needed for times like the one I'm in.

“Yes he does,” Riley slurs. He was giving me a look, and I smacked him on the head.

“Thanks, dude! Thank you so much!”

Riley grins. He finally looks tired for once. “You're welcome, brah. You need to confront her after... how many years? Eleven I think.” Some people snicker at the latter.

I glare at him. Nothing about this is amusing. “You're paying back later. I promise you.”

“Awh, Aaron's blushing!” Kailey squeals.

I put my head back into my hands. “Shut up, what hell should I do then?”

“Something Juliet related of course,” someone says.

“Thanks for stating the obvious, Leon.”

“Hey, wait. Isn't Aaron YouTube famous or something?” another voice asks. I don't bother to lift my head up to flip off at Riley.

“Yeah! Oh my god he is!”

“So… maybe he could sing a song for Juliet!”

“That's so adorable!”

I lift my head up. “What?!” I growl at them. “This is my social life! Not your play thing!”

Yasmin sighs. “Aaron, you do realize that Juliet won't be single forever. You may have let her slip once, but you can't let her slip twice.”

I bite my lip. “But-”

“No buts,” Kailey interrupts me. “Now we just have to decide what song he should sing and how he should dedicate it. Oh, and when he should put it up.”

I lean back on the couch, feeling completely powerless. They expect me to do all that? Fuck that, I won't do it.

“Oh and if you don't do it. You need to pay fifty bucks,” Yasmin tells me directly as the others discuss my death march. I smile. Fifty bucks is a piece of cake; meaning, there is hope of not- “To each and everyone here.”

My grin falls. “But we're like twenty five here!”

“That's the point?” She laughs.

“Okay!” Kailey suddenly shouts. “We decided that you need to sing 'Check Yes Juliet' by We the Kings. It has to be up by tomorrow midnight. It's okay if you don't say her last name, but you need to come up with a line that shows it's directed to her.  If you can't show that clearly or if it's not up on time, you do your consequence. Did Yas tell it to you already?” I nod hesitantly. Check Yes Juliet is a nice song by a great band, but the whole dare still scares me. “Good. So that's all settled then?”

Riley starts snoring beside me.

“I guess I should bring Riley back to our dorm now… See you guys tomorrow.” I say. I need to get some air. I need to get out of there.

Kailey sends me a reassuring smile before I walk out with Riley's arm slung on my shoulders. The others are talking about Carrie's dare. “You can do it, Aaron. You know you could. I know you could. Go get Jules.”

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I stare at my Nikon DSLR and my acoustic guitar blankly. I just finished retouching the chords online a bit so it fit my voice better, but I'm not sure whether or not I should start. Like a calling sign, my phone started to ring with the worst ringtone ever.

“Riley Heffron is calling. Aaron Kennedy, pick up 'cause I'm calling.”  Riley changed my ringtone for him to an annoying recording of his voice ages ago. For some reason I can't change it, so I'm forced to keep it there. “Riley Heffron is waiting for you to answer the call, you douche!”  I'm not going to pick that up. I know he's just going remind me to start filming already. “Aaron, pick up the fu-”

“Hello?” I ask irritably. I just rememberedthat the recording went on forever until he was cursing and screaming at me. “I'm about to go filming, Riley. I don't want you cursing at me in the middle of the video.” There's a silent option for that, but I still warned him nevertheless.

He laughs. “Okay, I won't call anymore for an hour. But seriously dude, I don't want you to lose big bucks.”

“You were the one who told all of them I still like her! This is all your fault!” Before he could respond I end the call and throw my phone under my bed's thick comforter.

I pick up my camera and place it on my tripod, adjusting it so that the angle is nice. “This better be worth it,” I mutter as I set the timer on the SLR. “This better be worth it.”

“Hey guys, Aaron here. This cover is dedicated to my school's very own Juliet; the most beautiful hopeless romantic I've ever known. This is 'Check Yes Juliet' by We the Kings.”