Why Romeo Hates Juliet (11 page)

The next morning, Juliet rose early and after making herself a quick coffee, headed to her computer to work on her novel. Sara was still in bed sleeping and everything seemed to be quiet next door. At least for a few hours, she’d have the world to herself, or so she hoped. But by 9 a.m., the music had begun blaring again and her serenity was gone for the day. Drawing in a long, exasperated sigh, she immediately stopped her typing.

She and Sara had discussed things last night and they’d decided to go home to Vancouver on Friday, which was only a couple of days away.

Sara had argued that they needed to go home immediately, but Juliet had refused, insisting that she’d be damned if that idiot next door was going to chase her away by what he’d said. No - she needed to do something about it first - a kind of parting gift she hoped he’d remember forever and then she’d leave the island, and only then.

Juliet’s mind raced back to the night before when she’d heard those nasty things coming out of his mouth, and her temper began to flare again.

Was she just supposed to take it and go away meekly? No - she was going to do something about it, and that’s where her little superglue plan would come into play.

Okay, maybe it was childish and juvenile and immature, as Sara had lectured last night, but after what he’d said about her, he deserved a sweet memento to always remember her by. Then she could go back to Vancouver with her held head high, knowing she’d gotten the last laugh on him and not the other way around.

A giggle escaped from her smiling lips. Yes - she had every intention of supergluing two of Romeo Boyd’s body parts together and watching the fireworks from afar, but which parts? Preferably his hand to his penis, of course, if she could somehow manage to do that, but if she couldn’t, she’d settle for gluing his finger to his nose or maybe his hand to that damn lounge chair he seemed to love so much. Juliet let out another short laugh as the silly images raced through her mind.

Getting up from her desk, she walked over to the bank of windows overlooking the ocean and spotted Romeo slicing through the water, enjoying a morning swim. The blond jerk named Tommy was having a cigarette by the pool and the two bimbos, whom she’d found out from Faith were named Carrie Ann and Kristen, were racing towards the surf in their bikinis. The two girls had shopped for groceries at Faith’s store the day before and their friend had been able to ferret out some information about them. Apparently, Carrie Ann was Boyd’s girlfriend and Kristen was with the blond guy.

Sara came to stand behind her and her eyes traveled out to the scene next door. “I hear the party’s back on already,” she commented, as one heavy metal song followed another.

“Bright and early. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from them.” Juliet turned to her sister and gave her a quick, mischievous smile. “Are you still going to help me today?”

Sara sighed. “Of course I am, but I still don’t know how you convinced me to do this.”

“I didn’t convince you; he did, by what he said about me.” Juliet turned back to watch Romeo swimming in the ocean. His back must be better, she thought. He was definitely slicing through that water with powerful strokes and she hadn’t noticed any signs of distress as he swam closer to shore. “I’ll definitely be crawling over there today on my hands and knees, just like Mr. Movie Star wanted me to, but I won’t be ‘sticking’ anything in my mouth. I will, however, be ‘sticking’ something on him.” She turned back to her sister. “So, you know what to do?” Sara nodded, “We’re going to stake him out all day and the minute he’s alone in the backyard, I’m going to knock on their front door with Faith’s peace offering pie and keep the blond guy and the two girls occupied inside while you somehow sneak up on Boyd and do your thing. But I still don’t see how he’s going to let you get close enough for you to put superglue on him.”

“I’ll just play that part by ear when I’m there, but somehow he’s going down - I swear it.” Juliet held up the tiny tube of superglue she’d found in the kitchen drawer and gave her sister an impish grin.

* * *

She’d been in the house all day, spying on the party going on full blast next door. Romeo, the girls and Tommy had spent their time lounging by the pool. At noon they’d fired up their barbeque and had a leisurely lunch on the patio. Juliet had lost count of all the beer bottles she’d seen the men consume, but she’d noticed that the women had stayed away from the alcohol, preferring bottled water instead.

At four o’clock, she’d watched as Romeo and Tommy, both shirtless and wearing baggy swimming trunks, had played a game of touch football on the beach with the bikini clad bimbos. Romeo had tied his long, wild hair into a low ponytail and was still sporting the full, facial hair. He certainly didn’t look anything like the A-list actor whose face and body had graced the cover of countless magazines and who’d been in all those blockbuster films.

And obviously his back was better; otherwise he wouldn’t be roughhousing with a football in the sand, now would he? He looked healthy and fit, she thought, as she watched his perfect, movie star body twist and turn while playing the game.

Juliet reached for the binoculars and brought them up to her eyes. What did he have slathered all over his body, she wondered, because she could have sworn that it was glistening in the sun, or was that just his male sweat? He did have an amazing body though, she had to admit. His stomach was flat and ripped, and as he went to throw an overhead pass, she saw his abs contract and ripple. His shoulders were well defined too, and she watched as his biceps bulged with effort as he caught the football that Tommy had passed back to him.

Yes - he had a powerful, muscled body that was like a well-oiled, finely-tuned machine. It probably did what he wanted, when he wanted, and Juliet could see why so many women were after him. And after having gotten an eyeful of his private parts when he’d exposed himself in the police car the other night, she was certain that life was unfair. Some were given so much while others were given so little. And life had certainly blessed Romeo Boyd - in all departments.

Through the binoculars, she watched as Romeo ran at and tackled one of the bimbos, probably that Carrie Ann ‘girlfriend-of-his’ that Faith had mentioned. Laughing loudly all the way down, the couple fell in the sand together with Romeo landing on top of her. He then began to tickle her sides, causing her to scream with laughter. In a split second, Juliet suddenly saw him whip off the girl’s bikini top and run into the ocean with it.

Carrie Ann, or whatever her name was, squealed with excitement. Topless, with her large and surgically-enhanced breasts fully exposed, she ran into the water after him. Catching up to him, Juliet watched the girl wrap her arms around the A-lister’s neck and start kissing him as their bodies fused together even more.

A thought flashed in her mind. What would it be like to kiss that hairy face of his and taste those sensuous lips? To be wrapped in his arms as Carrie Ann was at that moment, to feel his breath fanning her cheeks and see his mesmerizing blue eyes half close just before his lips swooped down on hers? Would he make a sound or be completely silent? What would he taste like, smell like, feel like?

Juliet gave herself a mental shake as she refocused her binoculars on the couple in the water. What was she thinking about that for? The guy was a disgusting pig and had all the charm of a moldy garbage can. The only way she’d ever let those lips kiss anything on her body was if he offered to kiss her ass and apologize to her for - well, for everything.

As she continued to watch their heads bob up and down in the surf, still locked in their passionate kiss with his hands plastered all over her fake, bare breasts, Juliet rolled her eyes. When were they going to come up for air? A surge of irritation lit into her system at how long they’d already been making out.

Lowering her binoculars, she stomped away into the kitchen and felt like smashing every dish in the house.

* * *

It was almost 5 p.m. by the time Romeo and Carrie Ann finally emerged from their ocean romp and walked back up on shore, arm in arm.

Turning to her boyfriend, she gave him a quick peck on his cheek, excited to see that her loverboy was back to his old, frisky self again.

“Hey baby, why don’t Kristen and I go get something to eat in town and bring it back here for dinner?”

“Sounds great, Carrie Ann. Just take some of the house money in the cookie jar,” Romeo said, while steeling a quick glance next door at Juliet’s house. Where was she? He hadn’t seen her since the police station, but he knew her and her sister were home because their car was parked in the driveway and no one had come or gone from there all day. Earlier, he thought he’d seen some movement inside, at one of the large windows in the back of the house, but other than that everything had been quiet - and almost ominous. He refocused his attention on Carrie Ann who was speaking to him again, as they continued to walk up from the beach to where Tommy was smoking a cigarette by the pool.

“And Kristen and I saw these really cute sundresses at this tiny shop not too far from the restaurant. Do you mind if we stop there first?” she threw him a woeful, puppy dog look.

He smiled at her, knowing full well that she wanted money from him to pay for whatever. It was all part of the ‘arrangement’ they had. She pretended to love him and he gave her what she wanted as he pretended to love her back. They both knew the score and were jaded enough to accept it as the truth. But it wasn’t the truth. It was all Holl ywood make-believe and suddenly, Romeo had had enough of it. He didn’t want ‘pretend’

anymore in his life - he wanted the real thing.

He stole another glance at Juliet’s backyard. Where was she and what was she doing? He looked down at Carrie Ann, nestled under his arm.

“Sure baby, anything you want. Just take one of my credit cards from the bedside table.” Wrapping her arms around his neck, Carrie Ann gave him a long, passionate kiss before breaking away. “You’re the best sweetie, and tonight I’ll show you just how much I mean that,” she whispered into his lips. Turning, she called out to Kristen and the two girls disappeared into the house.

Romeo flopped down into one of the lounge chairs by the pool and began massaging his back. A concerned Tommy approached him.

“Is your back bothering you again?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think it might have been a little too soon for touch football,” Romeo moaned, as the soreness began to flare up once more.

“Dude, why in hell did you insist on playing then? I told you to sit it out. What were you thinking?” Tommy was furious. He’d told Romeo earlier to take it easy, but his friend hadn’t listened and had played the game with as much gusto as he and the girls had.

“I was feeling better, Tommy, and the swim this morning really helped out, but when I tackled Carrie Ann, I think I twisted something again. It’s still not as bad as before. I just need to sit here for awhile with the sun on me and chill.”

“Do that,” Tommy shook his head at his friend’s stupidity before continuing. “I’m going into the house for a quick shower, but I’ll be back out in twenty in case you need anything.”

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine.”

Tommy nodded before walking away into the house. As soon as his friend disappeared through the sliding doors, Romeo took another long look at Juliet’s house. He knew she was in there, he could just feel it, and his sixth sense was always right when it came to women.

He hadn’t been completely honest with either his friend or Carrie Ann. He’d played touch football today and put on that big makeout display in the ocean, not because his back was better, but because he was hoping to entice the tigress next door out of her lair. He could have sworn that if he’d just put on a show and partied his heart out at a loud decibel all day, she would break and in frustration, come screaming out at him to tell him to put a stop to it. Getting on her nerves was the only way to see her again, he’d reasoned, because he knew she sure as hell would not come outside just to say hello or to apologize for what she’d done to him or to try to resolve their differences in a calm, rational manner. No - big bitches like her didn’t operate like that, and so Romeo had thought that by irritating the hell out of her with his loud partying, it would give him another chance to see her again.

And no - there was absolutely no chance of him going over there and knocking on her door and apologizing to her. He did have some pride, and besides, he really had nothing to apologize for except for maybe playing his music too loud. No - she had to come to him and that’s all there was to it! But she hadn’t come out and he’d waited patiently all day, hoping for that chance to see her again.

Romeo closed his eyes as he felt the warm, healing rays of the afternoon sun touching his bare chest. Oh well, he wouldn’t think about her anymore today. He’d just concentrate on getting his sore back better instead.

* * *

It was late afternoon by the time Juliet spotted her perfect moment. Seconds ago, she had seen the two girls climb into one of the black SUVs and drive away, and the blond guy named Tommy must have been in the house because he wasn’t out back. The only person left lounging by the pool was Romeo Boyd, all by himself. He was sitting in one of the chairs, facing the ocean.

“Sara, it’s showtime!” she yelled out to her sister.

Sara came quickly running out of the kitchen. “Now?” she asked.

Juliet nodded, “Now!”

Sara giggled and as she went back to the kitchen to retrieve her pie, Juliet tucked the small tube of superglue into the back pocket of her white shorts. Taking a deep breath, she watched from the side window as Sara, with the dessert in hand, walked towards the front door of Romeo’s house. Okay, now was the moment she’d been waiting for, she thought, as her heart began beating wildly in her chest.

Her plan was going to be very simple. She would approach the jerk, maybe with a lets-be-friends type of opening line or something like that and then somehow figure out on the spot how to place drops of the glue onto his hand or his leg or his chair or his ‘whatever’. She’d just play the whole thing out by the seat of her pants - but whatever she had to do, she was determined to superglue something on him, that was a given.