Zen's Juliet

Chapter 6

The next morning, I open my eyes to see Zen's alarm clock strike 6am. "Mmm, it's too early." I close my eyes and roll onto my opposite side. When I open my eyes, I see Zen's sleeping face directly next to mine. "Ah!" I jump away from him and fall off the side of the bed. "Hhm! Ow..." I rub my, now in pain, back and peek over the top of the bed. When I look over, I see Zen's eyes slightly open, and he's smiling over at me. 

"Good morning, Rein. I didn't know you were an early riser?" Zen says while sitting up, and I see his bare chest. 

"I'm not. I guess, I'm just- well, an early faller," my cheeks blush and I sit back on the floor and hide my face in my shirt, that is technically Zen's shirt. 

"Did you fall out of bed?" Zen quietly asks. 

"Maybe," I answer. 

"Ahahaha!" I feel Zen's hand mess up my hair, and I flop over onto my side. 

"That's not funny, Zen!" 

"Haha, yes it is!" Zen laughs, as he climbs out of bed, and sits next to me on the floor. 

I pull his shirt over my face, and continue to lay on my side. "My face is a mess, so don't look at me!"  

"It's alright, I'm a mess too," Zen places his hand on my shoulder and I roll onto my stomach. 

"NO! I'm a sock!" I yell, as I continue to hide my face. 

"Rein! You can't be a turtle all morning! And you're not a sock, you're in my shirt!" Zen shakes my back.

"It's my shirt now," I laugh. 

"REIN!!!!! I have an audition today, and I can't just leave you here," Zen says as he flops over onto my back, and just lays on me. "You just got laid," Zen mumbles.

"ZEN!!!!!!! Wait, audition? I have one today too?" Zen sits up, and I look up at him. "What's your audition for?" I ask.

"The Musical theater across the street is doing a musical performance of Romeo and Juliet, and I'm going for the role of Romeo," Zen says proudly.

"No way!" I yell, as I lean closer to him and rest my arms on his legs. "I'm auditioning for Juliet!" 

"Really!?!?! That's amazing!" Zen hugs me tightly and I feel instant pain as he touches my new bruises on my back. 

"Ow, Zen- my back," I lightly pat his back and he pulls away from me. 

"Sorry! I'm just excited! I had no idea you were into acting!" Zen smiles brightly.

"Zen," I cover my face with my hand. "I used to be a musical theater nerd in high school, and I'm still helping out with the theater program as much as I can."

"Yeah, I know. That's why you were on costume crew this year," his smile fades a bit.

"Yeah, that's why," I force a fake smile. (That's so not the reason why I was on costume crew, but let's go with that for now).

"Okay, well we should get ready for auditions then! We gotta be the first ones there!" Zen quickly stands up, and holds out his hand to me. "By the way, you can just give me the shirt back later. 

"Nope, this shirt is mine now," I say as I walk past him and towards the front room.

"You're still not giving it back?!" Zen shouts at me.

"Nope!" I yell back at him. 

About an hour later, Zen and I are standing in line for our auditions with our scripts in hand. "Zen are you going first, or am I scheduled to go first?" I ask, while looking over my script for Juliet.