by H. T. Night
We stood at the bar and all ordered more tequila. We were definitely a tequila crew. We tried other drinks but there was something very festive about tequila.
The music was pretty thumping and suddenly, something caught my attention and caused my heart to do somersaults. It was the girl from the subway. I looked out onto the dance floor and, for the second time, I saw the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her features were intoxicating. She had shoulder-length dark brown hair and she was no taller than five feet two inches tall. She was wearing a little white gown that made her look like an angel. It was laced and she danced in a way that drew me in.
Mercutio and Ben both saw me staring at her. “There Romeo goes again, getting tripped up by a woman,” Benvolio said as he followed my eyes to the dance floor where she was dancing alone.
“Who is that?” I asked.
“You know her, Romeo. We all had middle school together when we lived closer to the Upper East Side.”
“I have no idea who she is,” I sai S+0"ere d.
Mercutio looked her over and agreed with Benvolio. “She has slimmed down a bit and got rid of the braces. It also looks like she’s growing her hair longer than I remember. That is Juliet Capulet.”
“She’s a Capulet?” I asked, as disappointed as I ever asked a statement in my entire life.
“Not only is she a Capulet, she is the daughter of the head Capulet himself,” Benvolio said.
“The head honcho?” I asked.
“Yup,” Mercutio laughed.
“Man, your luck is off. Wasn’t it Rosaline a few months back? She was a Capulet,” Mercutio laughed. “I think you just have a thing for blood suckers.”
“Well, in the get-up he’s in,” Benvolio added. “She is right up his alley.”
I looked at Benvolio who was still in his high heels and miniskirt and shook my head in pure disappointment.
“If I were you, I’d back off on this one, Romeo,” Mercutio said. “You have no chance. Her dad will kill you himself.”
I could not break my gaze from her. Then Mercutio grabbed my face because he knew better than anyone when I was smitten. He knew I was in some major trouble. “Look at me, Romeo. It isn’t going to be worth the trouble.”
“I don’t care,” I said.
“He doesn’t care!” Ben laughed. “Then by all means, go make your move, big boy.”
St>“With a woman like that,” I said to my friends, “it is worth a shot. I may never get another chance.”
“Damn! Lover Boy has officially lost it,” Mercutio laughed.
The music continued to play and then the music went from a faster upbeat song to a beautiful slower-paced one. It was a slow, methodical beautiful rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” played by a man singing very soulfully and only playing an acoustic guitar for accompaniment.
I stared at Juliet and held my breath. This was my moment. My nerves were rattling. I needed to approach her. I needed to speak with her. She moved her way off the dance floor alone and in my direction. I was pretty sure that she hadn’t seen me yet because our eyes hadn’t met. Like a zombie, I walked in her direction. She was more toward the first-baseman side of the infield.
As the music played, I walked toward her. Before I knew it, I found myself face-to-face with this young woman. She looked up at me and our eyes locked in once again.
She stared at me as if she knew me. I confidently looked into her eyes, and I knew for a fact that I had never met her. So, I said, “Apparently, we had junior high together.”
“Things were different back then,” she said.
“I know. I wasn’t that aware of girls.”
She looked at me and smiled. “Has that changed?” she asked.
I laughed. “Yes, it has.” I looked at Juliet Capulet and was just taken in by her beauty. She looked like a porcelain doll, with fragile beauty, but the confidence in her eyes told me that she could take care of herself. She stared at me endlessly, and I wondered what she saw.
“What do you see?” I asked, not even realizing I had asked the question.
Juliet looked at me and her eyes sparkled. “I see a beautiful man.” That answer surprised me. I had never been called beautiful before, but the way she said it, I understood what she meant by it.
“What do you see?” she asked.
“I see the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on. But that is not all that I see,” I said.
She looked at me and curiously asked, “What else do you see?”
“I can see the rivers run deep within you.”
“As they do with you,” she replied. We stood there staring at each other for what seem like minutes when the silence was broken by her saying, “I like this song,” she said softly, leaning in toward me. Our bodies were slowly being drawn closer and closer until we were inches apart, face to face.
“It is now my favorite song,” I said.
“Why is that?”
“It was playing when you finally looked saw me.”
“This is not the first time I have seen you,” Juliet looked at me with a bit of mischief in her eye.
“It’s not?” I asked.
“No. Last week I was walking near Bowling Green and I saw you working.”
“At the butcher shop? Why didn’t you come in?”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“Afraid you wouldn’t want to see me,” she said honestly.
“How could I not want to see you? The second I was aware of you on the subway, I was smitten.” I reached out my hands and I held her hands as our arms hung by our side. “Now, I can feel you.”
“I feel you, too,” she said. “I am Juliet.”
“I know,” I said. “I am Romeo.”
“I know.”
We continued to stare. My heart was outside my skin. This beautiful, young woman had me completely exposed S"+0n>
. My heart was completely full.
“Is this real?” I asked.
“I hope so.” She let go of my hand and pinched my arm. “Did you feel that?” she asked.
“Yes, I did.”
“Then this is very real.” She then reached back down and entwined my fingers with hers.
I stared at Juliet and words just came over me and I said them out loud, “I can see you because I adore you.”
Juliet looked at me and smiled and then something seemed to come over her and she answered my statement, “I can fantasize about you because I know you,” she replied.
“I can feel you because I dream about you,” I said immediately.
Then she said, “I can live for you because…”
Then we both said at the exact same time, “I always have loved you.”
“I believe you,” Juliet said, staring into my eyes.
“I believe you, too,” I said. Joy surged through me like a grand epiphany. It was all making sense now. Everything I had felt and seen now made perfect sense. It was all for her. Everything I had ever lived, thought, or done, it was all for this love.
“What is happening?” Juliet asked.
“We found each other,” I said
“I knew you’d be here,” Juliet continued.
“So did I.”
“How could you?” she asked. “You have never met me.”
“I had seen you on the subway and I knew there was something between us. Even before, I saw you. I felt you. I knew you existed, I just hadn’t put my finger on exactly what it was.”
“You have always been with me,” Juliet said completing my thought.
I smiled, “And you, with me.” I let go of her hands and put them around her shoulders and brought her body close to mine as the music continued to play. This was destiny and I knew to my very core that this is what I had dreamt about. This is where my heart is. My heart knew she was close. My soul knew it was preparing to find its mate. My subconscious was preparing me
for her…to have this moment. We both stopped dancing and I held her tight.
Juliet leaned back and looked me in the eye and said, “This will be hard.”
“The hardest and most difficult thing in our lives,” I added.
“Why don’t I care?” Juliet laughed.
“I feel the same way,” I said. “A Montague and Capulet here in this place, holding each other. Wait...you know I’m a Montague, right?”
“Of course I do. That has never mattered to me.”
“I never want to leave you.” I leaned in and our lips were inches apart. I could feel her sweet breath on my lips. We continued to stare and like a magnet our lips touched and held together, one warm flesh. As they did so, an electricity of all the lights in Times Square electrified my senses. We slowly kissed one another and jolts of joy zapped through me. It was a very slow, methodical kiss, as if each time our lips touched, it was a rediscovery. We kissed without a worry in the world.
Although the joy and magic I had in my heart had overwhelmed my common sense, the sight of a werewolf and a vampire in a romantic lip lock did not go unnoticed.
“How dare you!” I looked up and a very large man with gray hair was staring at me. It was Capulet himself. Her father. “Remove yourself from my daughter’s presence.”
I let go of Juliet, and as I did so, I felt a horrible low, a terrible fall from grace and a stunning blow to the heart, as if I was disconnected from my very truth.
Capulet grabbed Juliet’s hand and rushed her to the front of the infield toward home base. Before I knew it, Tybalt was on the scene. Not only was he on the scene, he was madder than Capulet himself. Tybalt was Juliet’s cousin.
Tybalt rushed to me and pushed me to the ground. I fell on my butt and slid. I didn’t even care. I didn’t even get angry. I got up and looked him in the eye and nodded my head.
Just like our kiss didn’t go unseen by the Capulets, Tybalt’s push didn’t go unseen in regard to my friends. Within seconds, there was a face-off. And what was once a nice friendly party had now turned into a typical Montague and Capulet face off.
“It’s okay,” I said to everyone. “I just slipped.”
“You didn’t slip. You dog, I pushed you. Juliet is here to see the host of our party. Not some chew-toy loving canine.”
Paris! Juliet was here to see Paris? “Everything is all right. I made a mistake. Let’s not ruin Paris’s party.”
Tybalt stared me down and I just gave him a look as if to say, re t Sto p> Everything is okay.’ It didn’t seem okay as far as he was concerned. But nonetheless, he turned and left the scene. I was glad I didn’t have to get into it any further.
Eventually, everyone made their way back to their own side of the outfield. The party continued as if there was an imaginary line separat
ing the two families.
In the distance, I saw Juliet leave the stadium through gate 4. That was my cue. I needed to see where she was going.
Chapter Nine
Unlike our grizzly group of misfits, the Capulet elites didn’t take the subway route. On the contrary, they had a series of white stretch limousines waiting for them outside. I guess if you’re going to roll in, then you got to roll in hard. Other than prominent Yankees, no one would dare bring such pretentious vehicles to this side of town. Don’t get me wrong. The Bronx was as good a place as any. But for the Capulets, it must have irked them to have to come to this bad part of town.
I grabbed a taxi and had the taxi driver follow the limousines. I had gotten paid the day before, and I didn’t care about money at this point. I needed to see where she lived.
I followed the caravan of limousines to the Upper East Side. About twenty years ago, whole sections were completely remodeled and a beautiful custom home community was put in. This was no doubt where the Capulets lived. I paid the taxi driver at the front gate because I knew he wouldn’t be let into the community without clearance.
I turned into my werewolf form and scaled the wall and climbed over the very tall gate. I landed on the other side and saw the limousines clumped up at the gate, trying to get onto the community. I ran over to the last limousine, the one in which I knew Juliet was riding. I quickly slid to the side of the limousine. My white and gray coat blended in with the limousine color scheme. I held on as the limousine made a right at the first street and prepared to park in a driveway.
I jumped off the limousine before anyone could see me. I hid behind a bush and watched as they entered a large black house. The house was huge. I watched as Juliet exited her limousine and made her way into the house. Servants opened the door and greeted them like trained seals. Although my stomach turned by the elitism in the air, nothing could distract the yearning I had for the woman strolling up her walkway to the front of her luxurious house.
I decided to turn back into my human form so that I was a smaller frame and would be less likely to be spotted out here. I watched through the windows as I followed her walk through her house. Her room was on the top floor of four-story house. She had a terrace that swung out from her room. It was the only one on the east side of the house. It actually was a good thing as it would make it easier for me to scale the wall to talk to her. Talk to her? What was I doing? I wasn’t thinking clearly.
I hid for about 15 minutes until I could hear the house’s residence settle down for the night. Once I felt that was safe, I turned from human to wolf and I scaled the wall. I got to the bottom of the balcony and stood still. Something dawned on me. How was I just going to appear to her? What if she freaked out when she saw me to the point she screamed and woke up the whole house? I couldn’t just pop up on her balcony out of nowhere. I think I’d give her a heart attack if I did.
So I waited. I waited and waited, trying to think of a practical way to get her attention without risking her being so shocked that she wouldn’t forgive me.
Five minutes become ten minutes. Ten minutes became 20 minutes. And just when I was about to hit the 40-minute mark, I decided it was too much of a calculated risk and I needed to think of another idea.
As I was getting ready to leap down, I heard the back door open onto the balcony. Then I heard someone walk through the door. Footsteps. Feminine footsteps. I was directly under the balcony, facing the moon. Someone was right above me, also staring at the moon.
“What a beautiful moon!” It was a woman’s voice. I was certain it was Juliet’s voice. Then the woman sighed loud enough for me to hear, and I was absolutely certain it was Juliet. Then Juliet said something that nearly made me fall off the side of the house. She said, “Romeo, Romeo, where are you on this night?”
And without thinking, I turned from wolf to human and answered her from under the balcony. “I am here!” I called out, holding onto the beam just underneath the balcony with both my hands.
Juliet yelped. “Who’s there?”
“Don’t be afraid,” I said. I was having a hard time hanging on, so I turned back to wolf and tried to get a better grip.
“Romeo, is that you?”
I couldn’t answer because I was still a werewolf. So I turned to human and gripped the beam again and said, “Yes, it is I. Romeo.” As I said my name, my right hand slipped and I was hanging by one arm. I quickly turned back to werewolf to get my balance.
“What is going on down there?”
Again I couldn’t answer because I was a friggin’ werewolf at that moment. The timing of our conversation was a comedy of errors. I tried my hardest to get a strong hold until I was confident that I could turn back to human without falling on my head. “I’m sorry. I’m having issues.”
“Are you a ghost? Why haven’t you revealed yourself to me?”
“I am afraid to frighten you,” I said hanging [ saont si on the beam with both hands.
“You will not frighten me.”
“I might. You see, Juliet, I will need to turn to my werewolf form to be able to swing across. I don’t want to startle you.”
“You will not startle me. I have
never seen one up close, but I am sure you will not startle me.”
That’s all I needed to hear. I turned to my wolf form and climbed across and hopped onto the balcony.
“Please stay as you are,” Juliet said. “Don’t turn back yet. I want to look at you. I want to touch you.”
I did what I was told, and I stayed as I was, a seven-foot tall werewolf that walked on all fours. My eyes were as yellow as daisies and I had an epic snout. And teeth. Large teeth.
Juliet looked me in the eyes. She was apprehensive to get too close, but she trusted me more as I stood still and looked at her calmly.
I know the appearance of a werewolf is astounding to those who are not werewolves themselves. It can be quite scary if the wolf makes any kind of aggressive movements. My dad used to scare me to death when I was a kid. I could never tell when he was angry because he always looked formidable.
Juliet stared at my face with her big, brown eyes. She was looking deep into them. She paused, and then said, “I can see you. I can see the same person in you as this beast as I do when I see you as a man.”
Juliet was now comfortable she came down to be at eye level with me. Then she did something pretty bold. She reached out with both of her hands and touched my face. She rubbed her fingers along my snout. Then she took it even further with her bravery. She rubbed her fingertips along my teeth, feeling each one individually. Her hands smelled delicious, of rich food and delicate floral perfume. I licked her fingertips and she laughed softly. She even tasted delicious. I op [ize"+0">er She seemed to be most interested in my mouth. I’m sure she was testing me, to see if I would try to gobble her up like Red Riding Hood. The thought amused me and I let my long pink tongue unroll and slurped it across her arm in a friendly way, to her delight. Ah, she was delectable!
“Will you now turn back?” she asked. I took a couple steps back and I turned into my human form. As I did, I fell forward from the angle I was sitting as the werewolf. I stumbled into Juliet and she held me up. Our faces were once again inches apart. I leaned in and slowly kissed her lips.