Wherefore Art Thou Romeo? ✓

eleven

ELEVEN (note: this chapter is ridiculously long so feel free to split it into multiple sittings! no pressure, take your time and I really hope u still enjoy :') I promise I am going to work on making these shorter <3)

winter 2017 / eleven

THE NEXT TIME that Romeo was given the opportunity to spend some real time with Rodney was days later on a frosty Sunday evening.

When he arrived outside, his black, rumbling car was like a camouflaged beast against the black sky, the headlights burning across the road in cones of white like two glowing lighthouse eyes. The ground was covered with a thick crunching blanket of pearly snow and the stars were glinting like little silver arrows, shot into space and through invisible bullseyes.

"Why doesn't he come in and the two of you can have dinner with us?" His mom asked, standing in front of the window by the front door with her arms folded. Her face was drawn into a calculating frown, her eyes darting back and forth between the window and Romeo. "The roads won't be too safe tonight."

"Relax," he insisted, unlocking his phone and calling Rodney. He lifted the phone to his ear. "He's a safe driver. We'll be fine."

Actually, Rodney wasn't a safe driver at all. He went over the speed limit frequently and had bad habits of checking his phone and smoking. A few times, Romeo had watched him direct the steering wheel with his knees, but his mom didn't need to know about that.

"I'd still like him to come inside," she insisted, the sharp glimmer in her verdant green eyes swiftly informing him that she was unimpressed by his desire to leave the house.

"I'm calling him aren't I?" He huffed quietly, barely getting the words out before Rodney answered the call. He turned away from her, hovering near the door and biting the inside of his lip, ignoring the weight of her gaze pressing against his back. "Hello?"

"I sent you a message already," came his low voice, the words impatiently shoving into each other. "I'm here. I'm outside."

"My mom wants you to come in," Romeo declared briskly, one rushed breath of words in the air all at once as if he would be able to think about them less once he couldn't feel them on his tongue anymore.

Introducing people to his mom was never something that worried him because the girls he brought home always wanted her to like them and the boy he brought home always tried to impress her, but it was difficult to imagine Rodney fake smiling and small-talking and politely laughing with innocent intentions. The only time he ever bothered with anything like that was if it was for his own entertainment; if he was making fun of the person he was talking to and seeking to prove that they were shallow or clueless, beneath him in some way. Snapping sardonic remarks, coated with a sweetness that left them sounding light and inoffensive; snide comments that could be disguised as genuine.

Romeo could picture it without having to think too hard. The image of Rodney in a nice suburban house with his shoulders pushed back and his throat elegant and his chin high, his smile dazzling and his eyes warm enough to forgive the bruised, sleepless rings underneath them. The sound of his gentle, mocking laughter- endlessly patronizing- while he charmed a faceless married couple; a father who called him son and a mother who complimented his aristocratic features. The shape that his vicious disdain for them would take behind his teeth; a knife resting on his tongue.

"She wants to say hi," he added, swallowing nervously and glancing at his mom as the silence thickened.

He prayed that Rodney wouldn't try to pull any of that shit on her. She would see right through him, regardless of how pretty or tall or interesting or amiable he might be. He prayed for even an ounce of Rodney's sincerity, even if there was no space for it in the room, even if it was blunt and brusque and sullen. He would rather her be disapproving of Rodney's honesty than offended by his insincerity.