The Juliet Dilemma

Book Signing: Part Three

The awkwardness didn't last the entire night for both Romeo and Troy. Troy realized there was no way he was ever going to impress Julie while Romeo was around and Romeo realized his friends were going to take every opportunity to make fun of him. They silently decided to stay away from each other. Which caused Romeo to stay very close to Julie. The group of friends were discussing Mark's love life.

"Okay what about that one-" The Indiana Jones theme song interrupted Romeo's sentence. He picked up his phone. "I'll be right back." He mumbled.

He walked a little while away from the group, his back turned away from Juliet. She really didn't try to eavesdrop, honestly! He was just so close that it was hard to tune out his melodic voice.

"Hey, Nick!" Cameron answered. "I'm good... Really? Awesome... I'm looking forward to it... Okay, bye." He hung up. It seemed that Nick knew that Romeo was out with friends and probably would rather keep the conversation short.

"What was that about?" Anthony wondered when the brown haired teen returned to the group.

"My mom's coming to visit next Thursday." Romeo stated, nonchalantly. Juliet knew him better. Inside he was very excited. He saw his mother less than once a month and visits were scarce. Julie didn't know exactly what stopped her from visiting more often, besides her love of wine, but she knew that Romeo was just glad to be able to see one parent on occasion.

"That's great, Ro." Julie beamed. Romeo's gave her a doofus-like grin, or at least that's what he thought it looked like.

"We were thinking about playing truth or dare. Wanna join us?" Ivy changed the subject.

"Let's not." Juliet groaned.

"Not after last time." Romeo grumbled, his brow furrowed in the memory. Julie nodded.

"Oh come on. It wasn't that bad." Ivy waved off.

"You locked us in a closet!" Julie and Romeo both glared at Ivy after uttering the statement in perfect unison.

"I can't believe you are still upset about that." Ivy shook her head.

"Ivy..." Anthony just shook his head at his girlfriend, letting out a sigh that almost had a note of laughter in it. She just didn't understand other people sometimes.

"I think I'm going to reread the books one last time before I find out the ending." Julie smiled, getting up from the circle they were sitting in on the sidewalk, instead moving over and unfolding the crimson chair she brought. Romeo scooted his azure camp chair over to her.

Neither of them said a word to each other for hours. Neither of them needed to. They say in a comfortable silence, sitting next to each other. Occasionally Romeo would gaze over at where Julie was sitting or Julie would glance over at Romeo. Sometimes they would catch each other's eyes and smile at the other.

After hours of reading and finishing one and a half thick novels Julie yawned.

"Maybe you should get some rest." Romeo suggested.

"I'm fine." Julie yawned again. "I've only got a couple chapters left."

"If you're sure. You don't want to be bleary eyed when you meet your favorite author." Romeo yipped.

Julie rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine." She replied.

It wasn't long before she was passed out with the book opened and laying on her chest. She wasn't exactly a beautiful sleeper, but no one seemed to care.

Romeo smiled and yawned. Maybe he needed to take his own advice. He wanted to be able to get up in the morning.

He woke up when it was mostly still dark, but the sky was lightening. He groaned and rubbed his eyes. The sun was preparing to rise.

Romeo decided that maybe Julie would like to see the sunrise and shook her awake.

"Whaddoyouwant?" Juliet slurred in her sleepy state.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty," Romeo teased. "Look at the sunrise!"

"You better not give me another nickname." Julie groaned, sitting up.

Orange light began to light up the previously violet sky. The golden sun slowly creeped across the sky as the teens watched. The orange and red reflection was caught in Julie's eyes contrasting her blue. Julie's smiled with awe.

"I love sunrises. It's so beautiful." She whispered. Romeo gazed at her, smiling to himself.

"It's even better where I'm sitting." Romeo's eyes didn't look away from Juliet. She tucked a wavy strand of golden hair behind her ear. She was too hypnotized by the sky to realize what Romeo was actually talking about.

"Well, I'm going to finish my book. We've still got a while before the signing starts." Julie grinned, silently thanking Cameron for waking her up.

Julie had finished rereading The Guardian Of Magic: Desire, the second in the series, by the time the book store opened.

They were some of the first in line so it didn't take long before they saw the author. O. Z Christian was a tall woman with dirty blonde hair and black glasses. She had a large grin on her face that looked quite genuine and there was a pencil tucked behind her ear. She sat at a desk covered in different colored pens and a stack of her new book.

Julie froze as she approached one of her favorite authors. She nearly turned around in her nervousness, but Romeo rolled his eyes and pushed her forward.

"Howdy!" The author stated, beaming. "What's your name?"

"Juliet Hunter," Julie surprised herself by not stuttering.

Christian seemed to sense her nervousness and smiled gently. "I don't bite. What color do you like?"

"Um blue."

O. Z Christian grabbed one of her blue pens and began scribbling something inside the front cover of one of the books. She beamed when she was done and handed it to Julie.

"There you go. Thank you so much for joining me on Jackson's adventure. I hope you like the finale." The author grinned. Julie squealed with delight and excitement.

She immediately opened her copy up to see what was written.

Juliet Hunter,

Thank you for joining Jackson on his journey, for being an adventurer, and for being a loyal reader. You are a magician. Don't forget it.

~O. Z Christian

"Romeo, huh? You must know that the girl in front of you is named Juliet. I'm a big Shakespeare fan myself. Are you two friends?" She heard the author say from behind her.

Julie hugged the book as Romeo returned with his own copy, signed in red. The sight of her so happy just because of a single book got him thinking.

He headed over to a different section of the bookstore, scanned the shelves for what he wanted, couldn't find it, asked a worker there, and then finally found the book he wanted. He paid for his items before dashing back over to Christian's table.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but may I borrow a pen?" Romeo wondered, interrupting the line. He had just asked a world famous author for a pen. He felt a little stupid but he didn't care. The woman nodded and smiled.

"Sure,"

Romeo quickly scribbled a note down on what was about to be Juliet's new copy of Once Upon A Marigold in red ink. He waited for a perfect moment, which didn't take any time at all because Julie was distracted enough with her head in her book, and slipped Once Upon A Marigold into her bag.

Romeo smirked triumphantly at his success. Now he had made up for their childhood fight and she now got her book back.