I nodded. “All right. I’ll get my cousin to kill Tibby, then you can kill him and we’ll call it a day.”
“Or we can just skip ahead to consummating our marriage?”
“The one we couldn’t have because we couldn’t find a friar?” I clarified.
She nodded. “That one.”
I ran my hand over my chin. “Yeah, all right.”
I looked around behind us. Some kids were swimming, some were sitting down talking, some were wandering around hand in hand, some were grouped together like they were afraid of being alone. And among us all, keeping an eye on almost everyone, were our teachers and camp counsellors.
“Going to be a little difficult to find some privacy,” I mused.
“Shame,” she sighed and I looked back to her to find her smiling.
“Honestly, whose clever idea was it to get a bunch of horny teenagers to basically roleplay ‘Romeo and Juliet’?”
She smiled. “How many of them do you think are playing as close to the book as possible?”
I gave her a half-smirk. “I’m sure a few of them are trying to see how far they can get before they get caught.”
“I’ve got a feeling our teachers aren’t quite so…understanding as Nurse.”
“You’re probably right. Besides, we once again come to the most pressing concern for this week.”
“What’s that, then?” she asked.
“No balcony.”
She laughed. “And why is that a problem now?”
“How am I supposed to descend tomorrow morning if there’s no balcony?”
“Hm,” she mused. “I see your dilemma.”
“‘One kiss and I sneak back to my dorm,’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.”
I felt her shrug. “We could give it a go anyway.”
I looked at her. “What? Me sneaking out of your dorm in the morning?” I paused for emphasis. “Bold of you.”
She chuckled as she brought her knees to her chest and leant on them to look at me. “I meant the kiss, but sure.”
“You think we should kiss?” I asked her, looking her over.
“Are you not my fair Juliet and me your dashing Romeo?”
I snorted. “In that case I’m not sure I have much of a choice.”
“Exactly what are you saying about their relationship?”
“Nothing more than if Romeo wants a kiss, Romeo just needs to…ask for one.”
“Romeo wouldn’t want to pressure Juliet into anything.”
“No? How unthematic.”
She smiled widely. “Is this some bit about the pilgrims again?”
“There’s usually something about pilgrims.”
“A thousand times,” she laughed.
I nodded. “There’s a lot of that, too.”
“There really is.”
I brushed her hand with mine. “So, there’s saints and pilgrims, and hand and lips…”
Our fingers entangled as our hands came up beside our faces.
“And letting lips do what hands do…” she said softly before she licked her lip.
My eyes darted to follow the movement. When my eyes caught hers again, I saw the cheek in her, I saw the trouble. She was as familiar as she was foreign. I felt like I knew nothing about her, but like I knew exactly who she was.
We slowly leant towards each other and it felt a lot like we were both giving each other time to pull away. Neither of us did.
Her lips met mine and my stomach dropped. She was soft and warm, her lips sweet and fruity from her lip gloss. Our heads tilted as our kiss deepened for a moment, then we both pulled away, our hands dropping and disconnecting.
She had her lip caught in her teeth like she was trying to suppress her smile, but her eyes were unrestrained humour.
“That could have been worse,” came out of my idiotic mouth.
She looked at me for a second like she was trying to work out if I was actually insulting her or not, then she laughed and looked back over the billabong.
“It could have,” she said, a smile still at her lips.
5
Jess
“The friar had a good point about how ungrateful Romeo was about the whole thing,” I said to Ryan when we stopped for a break on Wednesday morning.
“He was probably a millennial,” he replied into his cup as he took a drink.
I barely kept in an undignified snort. It still came out as a smile. A smile I was having trouble wiping off my face around him. The kind I didn’t know I was wearing until I was wondering how long I’d been wearing it.
“Is it just me, or does Romeo kinda have a Byron thing going on?” he continued.
I fiddled with my pen. “Was it the melodrama that gave it away?”
“He was Byron before it was cool,” he delivered seamlessly deadpan.
There was no keeping that snort in. “What do you know about Byron anyway?”
“We studied him last year.”
I grinned. “Byron and staging ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Watch out, I’ll think you’re cultured in a second.”
“Be merciful, say death,” he quipped.
“Romeo’s not the only Byron-wannabe, I see,” I laughed.
He shrugged. “Teenagers be crazy.”
“A thousand times, yes.”
He spluttered what I could only assume was a suppressed laugh. He did a far better job at it than me.
He seemed to do a lot of things better than me. He oozed the kind of confidence I wished I had. He gave off a devil may care attitude I wanted for my own. He was witty and, dare I say it, charming. And he actually seemed intelligent. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with all of that except think that I’d been truly #blessed with my partner for the week.
A sentiment Norah wasn’t sharing.
“Okay. So, Connor can bite me,” she huffed as she sat across from me with a biscuit she bit into angrily.
I looked up at her and my eyebrow rose. “And what’s the status on his wanting to do that?”
Ryan’s friends, Mark and Ben, sat down in front of him and started talking about their own stuff.
“Like I care,” Norah replied. “All he wants to do is play cricket and try to kiss me.”
I snuck a look at Ryan at the mention of kisses.
Neither of us had said anything about it that morning and I hadn’t said anything to my friends. The way he was talking with his friends made me think he either hadn’t heard Norah or he was totally unfazed by the fact we’d kissed.
Which was surely a good thing. Right?
I mean, I was also unfazed that we’d kissed.
I just kept finding my eyes on his lips and thinking about doing it again. Every minute or so.
Tibby arrived with Danny and they were laughing. Tibby even lay her hand on his arm. He noticeably puffed up. Oh boy. I’d seen this dance a million times and it never ended well.
“Here’s trouble,” I muttered as they sat down with us. I kicked my chin at Norah. “Where’s your Romeo?”
“Whereforart my Romeo, indeed?” she snorted. “Who cares. This assignment sucks.”
I felt Ryan lean over, his shoulder pressing against mine. “I think you’ll find–”
I nudged him, swinging my head so my lips were near his ear. “She knows. She’s trying to be funny,” I whispered.
He moved his lips to my ear, his hand going to my back. “Funnier if it was right.”
“Funny enough.”
“Funnier if she was actually wondering why he was her Romeo.”
I smiled and felt our cheeks bump. “Obviously some of us aren’t as smart as you.”
“Don’t go telling everyone, I’ve got an image to maintain.”
I laughed and pulled back only far enough to look at him. I looked him up and down. “I get it.”
He huffed, a self-satisfied half-smirk at his lips. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Both eyebrows rose twice. “Good.”
One of his friends nabbed his
attention and I turned at hearing my name in Tibby and Norah’s conversation.
“What?” I asked.
Norah smirked and looked at Ryan. “Just saying someone seems awfully chummy.”
I rolled my eyes. “Like I can’t get along with him?”
Norah shrugged. “Do I need to ask him about his intentions?”
“No. You don’t.”
“Do I need to ask about yours?”
I grinned and leant towards her. “Just what are you implying?”
Norah looked innocent enough. “Only that I don’t want you hurting Ryan.”
“Me, what?” he asked, turning back to us, his knee bumping mine under the table.
“Norah’s worried I’m going to remove you from your dignity,” I informed him.
Ryan’s eyes were full of humour. “Oh, really?”
“Yes,” Norah replied, leaning towards him. “It would be just like Jess to make you fall in love with her, take what she wants, and leave you in her dust.”
Ryan looked me right in the eye. He looked like he was trying not to laugh, and succeeding. I took a deep breath to calm the sudden hitch in my chest and tried not to think too hard about kissing him again. My heart behaved itself. My lips only semi-behaved – at least I wasn’t trying to kiss him, but I was smiling like a total loony.
Outside the small bubble we seemed to have created, I heard our friends talking about dignity and arguing about which one of us was likely to be left with the least. Ryan’s friends sounded as adamant that he’d steamroll my heart as my friends were that I’d wreck Ryan’s. But I couldn’t pull myself away from his gaze to weigh in.
I saw his smile grow in his eyes, they brightened and crinkled a little around the corners. My eyes dropped just in time to see his tongue drag slowly over his lower lip like he was fighting the smile.
“What?” I asked, feeling a burning need to break the moment as well as dive right into it.
“Oh nothing.”
“I find that very hard to believe–”
“Ryan,” Miss Johnson said and we sprang away from each other with a self-conscious huff.
“Miss J,” he replied, nodding at her.
“How are you two finding the assignment?”
She looked us over with interest. Too much interest.
From the expectation on her face, I had to wonder how nerdy Ryan actually was. Or was it the opposite? It seemed far more likely that he was the type of guy she felt needed more encouragement because she didn’t expect much from him.
Ryan shrugged, all sign of a smile gone. “Fine. We’re falling in love right on schedule, thanks. Deepest, truest love and all that”
Miss Johnson smirked at him. “I’m a little disappointed to hear that. I thought, out of everyone, I could rely on you to stay detached.”
Well, this just made things more interesting.
“I wouldn’t possibly dream of not giving an assignment one hundred per cent, miss.”
“And you, Jess?” She looked at me.
“Me, what?” I asked, shooting a questioning look to Ryan.
“How are you finding the assignment?”
I nodded. “Great. Many kudos. I really feel I’m getting to know the source material now.”
She looked between us much in the way that Mr Lawrence had looked at us the night we met. It was like she saw something she thought we didn’t see. As though she knew something we didn’t know. It was the kind of look that gave me palpitations and a very strong urge to tell her to shove off and mind her business.
“I’ll regret not getting to read your essay,” was all she said to me. She looked up and nodded to Mr Lawrence. “Time? All right, let’s get back to it.”
She moved off and both teachers called for quiet.
Ryan leant towards me. “You should have changed tables.”
I was only almost considering being insulted. “Really? Why is that?”
“We’re technically cheating.”
“Ah.” I’d had a sneaking suspicion he wasn’t just being rude. “How do you figure that?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure you’ve been exiled, Romeo.”
“That’s right.” I nodded. “And you’re supposed to poison yourself tonight.”
“I would, but I’m all out. You got any?”
I snorted as I shook my head. “Sorry. Sold my last batch last week.”
“How else am I going to look like the dead?”
“I think our first problem, chronologically, is my exile.”
He looked around like he thought we might get told off for talking again. “Good point.”
“How long do you think it will take me to walk to the nearest town?”
Ryan’s mouth dropped open in a silent mock-gasp. “You mean you don’t want to be stuck in the wilderness with me for another two or three days, or whatever?”
I smirked. “I dunno. You might be the only thing that makes this whole shitshow worth it.”
Thank God for us technically being in the middle of a lesson.
Ryan pulled away to look at me and I felt the panic rising.
That had been an interminably stupid thing to say and not what I’d meant at all.
Had we not been in the middle of a lesson, I would have spewed forth word vomit the likes of which had never been seen. I would have tried to backpedal so hard and fast I would have ended up back in Year 10. I would have made even more of a fool of myself. I would have said a thousand things stupider.
But I was saved such a fate by Mr Lawrence saying, “And what does that tell us, Jess?”
I shot one more look at Ryan, trying for the life of me to work out what was churning behind his eyes, then looked at Mr Lawrence. I’d just caught enough of what they were talking about to give him a vague answer.
“Uh,” I started somewhat shakily. “It tells us that hormones have been ruling teenagers forever?” By the end of my sentence, my voice had gained back its strength and I even managed my usual level of sass.
Mr Lawrence grinned. “Okay. That is one takeaway, yes. What else? Reese?”
I breathed deeply and hoped I’d dug myself out of two holes.
6
Ryan
After lunch, a bunch of the Prince Edwards boys had set up a game of cricket. They even had the traditional wheelie bin stumps. It looked like two mixed teams were playing.
I found Jess, who shaded her eyes as she looked up at me.
“You’re not playing?” I asked as I sat beside her.
She shook her head. “I don’t do cricket. Big Bash, maybe. If my brother has it on. You?”
I huffed a humourless laugh. “I don’t do sports.”
“Oh, you don’t do sports,” she teased.
“No.” I fought a smile at her tone.
“What do you do then?”
“Stuff.”
“How enlightening,” she chuckled.
“Well, what do you do?” I countered.
She sucked her teeth as she leant her arms on her raised knees. “You know? Now I’m thinking about it, I don’t know. I watch stuff, I read stuff, I listen to stuff, I hang out with my friends I guess…”
“All right. What’s your favourite movie, then?”
The way she laughed seemed self-conscious. She looked at me and I had the feeling she was worried I’d judge her for whatever it was.
“Uh… ‘John Wick’,” she finally said. “All of them.”
Of all the movies in the world, that had not been what I was expecting. “No way.”
She nodded. “Way.” She shuffled, still seeming self-conscious. “What about you?”
“‘Kingsman’,” I replied unhesitatingly.
“Seriously?” she asked and I nodded. “I want to see that prequel one coming out.”
“Good luck. We have to wait until September.”
Jess sighed heavily. “No wonder the rest of the world thinks we’re behind.”
“I mean, we literally are.”
“Minus the wh
ole being ahead on the whole timezone thing.”
I nodded. “There is that.”
We fell into a companionable silence as we watched the kids around us; playing cricket, watching cricket, walking, talking, swimming, just sitting in the shade.
I saw Mark and Ben with their Juliets. Ben’s Juliet had what looked like the text book and was waving her arms around as though she was enacting it. Mark’s looked thoroughly bored by it. I saw Jess’ friends fielding with Danny and Conner. Norah looked much happier with the whole ‘cricket and kissing’ thing than she had earlier. At least, judging by the way she giggled as Conner picked her up and swung her around in the middle of the cricket ‘pitch’, she didn’t mind so much. Danny and Tibby were smiling and talking to each other. Between the four of them, fielding was probably a generous term.
Jess and I were a little apart from everyone else and that afforded us, I presumed, enough privacy for her to feel like she could ask me a rather personal question.
“So… Is there a particular reason you seem as unenthusiastic about this assignment as me?” She was looking at anything but me as though it was the most interesting thing she’d ever seen.
I cleared my throat.
“Not that,” she said quickly before I could reply, “you have to tell me your backstory or anything. I just figured… The assignment and all… You know?”
I breathed out heavily. I hadn’t quite expected that. I didn’t necessarily mind her asking. I just hadn’t been prepared for it.
“Uh…” I cleared my throat again and ran my hand through my hair. “So…”
“You don’t…” Jess said, then huffed a laugh. “Don’t feel like you need to–”
“No.” I shook my head. “No. It’s fine.”
“I mean, if it’s because of the whole being not afraid to love again thing…?”
My smirk was rueful as I snuck a look at her from the corner of my eye. “It is all about the being not afraid to love again thing.”
“Ah…”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Broken heart?”
“You could say that.”
“Would I be right?”
I scoffed. There was a little humour in it. “There was a girl. I thought… Well, I thought she was worth it. Suffice to say she wasn’t.”
Be Mine: Valentine Novellas to Warm The Heart Page 32