Crushed (17 page)

Chapter 28

Claire

He was staring at me, undressing me
with his eyes and it was making me extremely uncomfortable. Didn't
he know that when he looked at me like that I almost forgot about
what had happened between us and what couldn't happen again between
us again? I cleared my throat and got back to business, hoping it
would snap him out of his bedroom gaze.

"So, the next scene... what should
the setting be?" I dared a glance and luckily he was looking at his
book. He cleared his throat as he leaned over the text and ran a
hand through his hair.

"A party?" His steel blue eyes met
mine. "What do you think?"

I glanced at my copy of the play
and shook my head. "I think its too close to the actual. Maybe we
could make it at a game. Romeo is an opposing football player and
Juliet is the cheerleader who stares at the quarterback on the
opposing team." I glanced at him and he was studying me, as if he
didn't know I was capable of being creative. I raised my eyebrows
when he stared too long. "Well, what do you think?"

He scratched at the back of his
neck and leaned back. "Yeah, that sounds great. Are we decided yet
which scene we are going to act out ourselves?" A scene where I
dressed a man, a scene where I was a cheerleader kissing Neil or a
scene where I'm supposed to be dead and Neil kissed me... these
were not tough choices. I was going to avoid kissing
him.

"The first scene. I'll be Benvolio
and you will be Romeo." He grinned at me and I tried to ignore how
my body was reacting to it. I frowned at him. "What?"

"Afraid to kiss me, Ms. Hughes? You
-know- I don't bite." I felt my cheeks color at the thought of him
biting me. I pushed the thought away, it was his aim to tease me. I
wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"And you -know- I just want to
spare us both heartache." Our relationship would end with college,
it was a dead-end-street.

"So you think I want to kiss
you?"

"I know you want to kiss me. Its
written all over your body." I motioned to his spectacular body
with my pen.

He chuckled. "You're not wrong. Why
don't we do the football game scene?"

I scoffed at him, "I'm not going to
concede to doing that scene just to prove to you that I'm not
afraid to kiss you. The first scene will be the best one to
film."

"I disagree." I glared at him, he
looked so relaxed, so sure of himself sitting across from me. I
jolted when I felt his shoe touch mine and he laughed at
me...again. "Relax, Claire. Jeez. If you want to do the first
scene, that's fine."

I did relax, letting out a sigh,
but tried not to let my relief show beyond that, raising my chin. I
looked back to the computer, "Good." I glanced at him and he was
still smiling at me, rather annoyingly. I needed to set him up with
someone. Someone like me but a girl who could actually leave campus
once college was over. It was my turn to smile, I had a plan.
Finally. His eyebrows raised as he watched the play of emotions run
across my face. "What's wrong,
love
?" Oh how I loved throwing his
pet name back at him.

He studied me for a moment longer
and then chuckled, "Nothing, love. You just looked a little devious
for a moment, as if you might be up to something."

"Hmm, that doesn't sound like
me."

He chuckled again, "Ah, I've known
you, Claire-bear, it does sound exactly like you." He looked at the
time on his phone and then started to pack up his books.

"Where are you going?" I stayed in
my seat, watching him rise, tucking his books under his
arm.

"Going to miss me?" He smirked but
didn't wait for me to respond. "I have evening gym time. Mandatory.
Have a good night, love." I pressed my teeth together hard,
irritated by the L word. I nodded and started to pack my things up
as well.

"You too." I didn't dare another
glance at him and didn't stand up until I heard the distant ding of
the elevator.

Chapter 29

Neil

After practice I checked my phone
and I was greeted by a lovely gem.

Claire: Neil, complete the script
4 the death scene. I'll complete 4 the football game. We need 2
meet up soon 2 film the scene. When r u free?

I decided the best time would be as
soon as possible. The sooner we got together the more time I would
get with her. Because if there was one thing I knew it was that I
was planning on making lots of mistakes. I would remember the
script for the rest of my life for as many times as I'd make us
both say the lines.

Neil: Tomorrow night after the
game?

Claire: K. Meet u at ur room an
hour after.

The game was easily won, I was at
my best, as always. After showering and putting on new clothes I
pulled out my copy of Shakespeare, waiting for Claire to show up. I
looked around my room, trying to find the best angles for the shot.
I pulled out the laptop and set it in the corner opposite the bed
and then frowned as I noted the moon shining through the window
behind the bed. It was going to be hard to shoot a morning scene at
night. As I pulled out my phone to text Claire there was a loud
knock. I went to the door, phone in hand, and opened it. Claire
nodded to me, her I-mean-business face back on. "Hey, I was just
about to text you."

She put two stapled copies several pages thick onto my bed after
pushing past me into my room. "Oh? Why? Trying to get me to do the
kissing scene again?"

I grinned, amused by her attitude.
"No, actually. I realized that the morning scene with Ben and Roman
won't work when it's pitch black outside the window." I pointed and
she followed. She sighed loudly.

"Dammit. Tomorrow morning then."
She didn't even ask me, she just got up and went for the
door.

I stepped in front of her, putting my hand on the door so she
couldn't open it. "Woah, woah. You're here we may as well do
something productive." I stepped in closer to her, I couldn't help
it. It was like my body was magnetically attracted to
hers.

She lifted her chin, her tongue
moistened her lips, as if she thought I was going to kiss her. I
wanted to, but I didn't want to put her guard up. I was pretty sure
she was testing me. "What did you have in mind?" Her voice was low,
sexually charged. I felt my pants growing slightly tighter in
response.

"We should run lines, practice a
little."

I saw her brows furrow in confusion
and then they went up in surprise, "Really?"

I nodded, "Yeah. Makes sense,
doesn't it?"

She nodded too, looking a little
dazed still, "Yeah...it does..."

I grinned at her. She looked like a
deer in headlights, completely caught off guard by the fact that I
wasn't suggesting we neck, though that was an appealing thought. I
grabbed a script off my bed and sat across the room from her. I
didn't need to scare her off with a wandering misguided hand on her
knee.

I cleared my throat, glancing up at
her, she was still staring at me. "Are you going to practice? If
not then you should go, I've got work to do."

She frowned and then rolled her
beautiful eyes and then grabbed the script and held it up so she
could read from it. She cleared her throat, "Hey cuz, what's up?" I
opened my mouth to say my line but a laugh came out
instead.

Her expressive eyebrows raised in
question and between chuckles I spoke, "I'm sorry I just... I can't
imagine you as a dude...I mean could you imagine me being Juliet?"
She huffed and then stared at the script.

"So maybe Roman's cousin is a girl.
Bonnie." I re-read the script as well and shrugged.

"I suppose so. It would probably be
weird that she was busting in on her cousin, though."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe she's just
doing what her aunt asked of her, to keep tabs on her lovesick
son."

"Let's give it a try anyway." She
nodded and gave me a look. I realized it was my line, "What are you
doing here, its late?"

She paused and shook her head. "We
should be practicing using the room like we'll use it during
filming in the morning."

"Alright. Get off my bed then." I
got up and came closer. She quickly jumped up, clearly not trusting
me, or herself, while both of us were on my bed. She ran through
the first line again, acting it out this go around.

"Roman, its like 9am." She grabbed
a pair of jeans from my drawer and threw them at my face. I let
them fall, caught up in the emotional despair Roman was
feeling.

"Sorry, I must've been up all night
licking my wounds. Did my dad come by here?"

She nodded, crossing her arms over
her lovely chest. I tried not to stare, Roman wouldn't do that to
his cousin. "Yeah, what the hell has gotten into you?"

"I got dumped." I grabbed the jeans
and let them fall slowly to the floor.

"Dumped?" Her eyebrows shot up,
surprised.

"Dumped."

"She dumped you?"

"Yes, I love her but she didn't
love me."

"Well that sucks, Roman. Love is
awesome when its working, but when its over it can really suck."
She looked down at her feet and then her script, I wondered if she
was speaking from personal experience.

"What sucks is that love is
supposed to be blind, but it can still make you a punk when it
comes to a girl. So, where should we eat?" I got up out of bed and
then looked around at the imaginary blood that was supposed to be
on the floor.
"Oh shit!
What the hell happened here? No, never mind,
don't tell me. I've got the gist. The fight was about hate but
really about love. Fucking love! Sweet hate! Love that comes out of
nowhere! Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold,
sick and healthy, asleep and awake--it's everything except what its
supposed to be! I love my girl that way but she doesn't love me
back." Claire covered her face with her hands and her shoulders
shook. "Are you laughing at me?"

She looked up at me and shook her
head, "No, Roman, I'm crying."

I frowned, "Why are you
crying?"

"Because you are so
emo."

"Well, this is what love does to
you. Knock that crying off or I'm going to be even more emo. You
know, love is like pollution from a hot girl's sighs. And when that
fog lifts you see the fire burning in her eyes. And if you piss
love off you end up drowning yourself in a bottle. What else is
love, Bonnie? It's a secret madness, it sneaks up on you and tastes
sweet until it chokes you! Bye, Bonnie." I make my way towards the
door, pausing when I hear her reply.

"Wait a second! Let me come with
you. You can't leave after dropping that on me."

"I'm not even really here. I'm
somewhere else."

"Seriously. Who were you
dating?"

"Seriously. Why the hell does it
matter now?"

"Seriously. Quit being an ass and
tell me."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "If I
were dying would you tell me I seriously needed to go to the
lawyer's office and make out my last testament? No, it would only
make me feel worse to know I was about to die. Seriously, Bonnie, I
am in love with a woman. That's all you need to know."

She rolled her eyes, "I already
knew it was a woman."

I scoffed, "Then you were right.
What else do you want to know? She was beautiful."

"Of course she was beautiful, why
the hell else would you have fallen for her so fast?"

"She didn't fall for me. That's
what I've been trying to tell you. She's smart and a virgin. She
doesn't care about my compliments. She won't flirt back with me or
even acknowledge that I'm flirting at all." I felt that tightening
in my chest again, this girl Roman is pining for was very much like
the Claire I knew. I paused briefly and then continued, "It
wouldn't work out for us in the future.."

"She doesn't want to marry and have
kids?"

"Nope. Never. Its a shame that she
won't pass her sweet tits to the next generation. She's sworn off
dating, and marriage. And that's made me depressed beyond belief.
But it feels good to tell someone."

"Roman, you have to let it
go."