Letters to Juliet

Dear Juliet

Dear Juliet.

"Hey guys. What are you two doing in..." My mother walks into the room and stops, staring at us.

We had been sitting on the bed, kissing, and my mom looks like she caught us in some sexual ritual.

"We were just kissing, mom." I say innocently.

"Just kissing." She says slowly. "On the bed. Alone."

I look at you and smile deviously, and you blush.

Mom looks appalled. Perfect. The prostitute is looking at me like I'm the dirty one in this family.

"Did you at least brush your teeth?" She asks incredulously.

This statement is so insane that we both just laugh. You look at me and struggle to catch your breath. And you fail miserably.

"I thought you weren't dating her, Devin." My mom says accusingly, but with a small smile. Hopefully she's loosening up.

"Change of plans." I shrug, and you raise your eyebrows. "He took a little convincing." You explain to my mother with a smile.

She laughs, and says, "You should have seen the argument we had back when he was going into kindergarden. I had to make him put on his pants because he claimed that nobody else was wearing pants because it was 'the style'."

You laugh, but I'm horrified. "MOM!!" I exclaim. She just rolls her eyes and laughs along with you. This is completely humiliating. Maybe when they become texting buddies they can talk about all the baby pictures of me naked in the tub from when I was little. Moms always have those. Fantastic.

"Hey." You say, smacking me lightly on the arm. "Earth to Devin. Come in, Dev."

I look at you and smile, though not about what you said. I'm smiling because maybe, just maybe, I can finally walk around school and call you mine. But first, we have to do something about Brandon. he's not gonna like this at all. 

It takes me a minute to realize my mom has left and we're alone again. 

"Did you hear what she said?" You ask with a smile. I shake my head, but my thoughts are elsewhere. I'm thinking about what we're gonna do tomorrow at school with Brandon and all his friends.

"She said that we had better behave like responsible adults and that you better not take advantage of me unless you plan on marrying me whenever I have the baby."

"Mmmhmm. That's nice." I nod along. Then what she said hits me. "Wait, what??" I ask, jumping up off the bed like us both sitting there beside each other might end badly. 

You frown slightly, and say, " I trust you Devin. I know you're not going to try to do something stupid. As if I'd let you anyway. First off, mt step-dad would kill you. Slowly." Great. I totally forgot about your parents. Another thing to add to my list of worries. "Second off, it's not like I'd let you anyway. I have morals, you know. So don't try anything; I'm a good girl."

I laugh at that, and you stand up and cross the few feet between us. "Now can we please continue kissing? I was enjoying myself. A little." You tease. 

"Only a little?" I say back with a smile. " I guess I'll have to change tactics."

You laugh then, and we start kissing again. Then I remember what I was worrying about before. And why it was worrying me so much. I push you back gently. 

"Stop." I say. "We have to talk." You sigh. "Not about what we just talked about. We need to talk about Brandon." 

"No." You say, sitting on the bed."I don't want to talk about him. Not when I just got you. Please." As much as I don't want to talk about him either, we have to.

"Look, Bethany." I say, sitting beside you. "I know that he's going to be mad. Really, really mad. And I know that anger is going to be focused on me. And I'm completely okay with that. I f he comes after me, I'll be ready. But if he goes and tries to confront and pressure you, I'm going to lose it. I know that an hour ago there wasn't even an us, but now that there is I don't ever want to lose it. Do you get what I'm trying to say? You need to make sure that you tell him to leave you alone. And in front of a lot of people so he'll be forced to keep away from you. I'm not going to let him bother you anymore."

You nod and look down at your hands. "I'm sorry." You say quietly.

I wasn't expecting that. It leaves me speechless for a moment; I'm unsure of what to say. Why would you have to be sorry?

"Why?" I ask. "You have nothing to be sorry for. It's not your fault you dated Brandon. People can't help who they like."

"It's not that," You say, finally looking up and making eye contact with me. "I mean I'm sorry that I got you into all this. I wasn't thinking about the consequences it could have for you. I was only thinking about me, and that was extremely selfish. Dev, I am so so sorry." You look genuinely ashamed and I pull you close.

"Bethany, Bethany." I say, and kiss the crown of your hair. "I promise you that everything is going to be all right. You have nothing to be sorry about. Don't worry about me. It's not like I have friends anyway." I say jokingly.

You look up at me with shining eyes. "That might change." You look so hopeful that I don't mention that I don't have friends for a reason. People hate me. Because I'm the quiet kid. 

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I have a lot of friends at school. Well, I guess they're friends." You say. "Anyway, once they find out I'm dating you, they should accept you. And they'll become your 'friends', too. It's solid logic. They loathed Brandon, so they're gonna love you! You're way cuter than him anyway."

I shrug. "I don't care about them. The only one I care about is you."

You smile and blush. "Well, now that we've talked about all that bad stuff, can we finally finish what we started?"

I smile too, and nod. Then I lean forward and kiss you lightly on the lips and I feel you shiver.

You smile against my lips and whisper, "This is going to be a interesting relationship."