Ben in Love
Summary:
A subplot to Romeo + Juliet's Luhrman's movie. It doesn't alter the original trail of events. Ben's love story: he meets a hot girl at the gas station; Tybalt sees them, shoots… Broken glass all over the place… But Ben just doesn't know who he is actually protecting in his arms.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Romeo + Juliet, its characters, the plot, etc. nor the music I have also added to give this story a more up-to-date tinge. No profit is made out of the writing of this story.
Chapter 1:
The gas station. Broad daylight.
A yellow convertible parks there to fill in the tank making a lot of noise. The driver, Benvolio Montague, nicknamed Ben, stands up and leaves his two companions alone in the car, yelling like children. Ben just shakes his head and enters the gas station shop.
Once he crosses the glass automatic doors, a beautiful sight strikes him. Long dark brown hair. Nice curvy vase-like shape. Cool deep red T-shirt with the white frame of an eagle with its wings spread on it. Very suggestive and hot neckline. Slightly-ragged light blue jeans. Deep brown ankle boots. A dark red thin scarf. Dark brown riding gloves without the tips to cover her fingers… She's a deary apparition, but she's no ghost.
Ben smiles like a fool. She hasn't seen him, she's busy reading the covers of some magazines. He hesitates but decides to come closer to her and try to chat with her.
"I'm not sure you'd like to read this kind of stuff." Ben tells her when he realizes she's looking at some stupid gossip magazines. Famous guys pose half-naked in the cover.
"Huh? I'm not sure anyone buys them to read them anyway…" She answers amused.
They both giggle.
The girl gets the chance that the slightly awkward silence which follows gives her to stare at Ben's god-like physique: he's tall, well-built, and slightly tanned; his hair is very short and dark blond; his eyes, bluer than the ocean; and he's wearing dark blue jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, half-way undone, which reveals he's wearing a gun beneath this extremely colourful piece of clothing. Naturally, the gun issue goes absolutely unnoticed because this well-built chest of his is second to no one in any lady's eyes.
Right before her judgment goes hazy because of that, he opens his mouth again to speak.
"I think I've… No, this cannot be true. Impossible."
"What?" She asks curious.
"It's just that I think I've heard your voice before. It rings a bell… But we've never met, haven't we?" He says staring directly into her eyes.
"No, we've never…" She says looking away, letting out a small gasp and trying to hide the fact that she's clenching her teeth a bit. "… met before. So no. I think you might be mistaken."
"What's your na-…?" He asks politely, but his utterance is cut by a wild look of surprise and fear on her face.
"Look out!" She shouts.
Ben turns around immediately. His eyes open up in amazement when he sees Tybalt right outside the shop aiming at them, at him. Tybalt's face is full of anger when he's at his worst. Ben has seen this expression before. He knows it's no good.
Tybalt shoots thrice with his two guns, one per hand. The glass doors break into a million pieces, which scatter all over the shop. The same bullets strike the glass doors of the fridges right behind the girl and Ben. Thousands of glass bits fall on both of them as Ben tries to shield her with his own body onto the floor. Luckily, Tybalt has missed both of them. She loses her deep red scarf, but no one notices.
Silence. Ben and the girl remain breathing heavily, him on top of her. They both blush a bit, but, realizing there is no time for that, Ben tries to focus on Tybalt, who is now aiming at him. Ben swallows hard.
"You! Get up right now!" Tybalt commands.
Ben does as told.
"Your hands up where I can see them." Tybalt adds, still aiming at him.
Ben, again, does as told.
"Good." Tybalt says with an evil grin on his face. "Now, you. Up."
Ben is bewildered. Tybalt is referring to her and it seems as if she perfectly knows what to do: she stands up with her hands up as well, but with a defiant grin on her face. Ben thinks she looks brave and wild like a bull in a fight.
"Now, do me a favour and walk slowly out of the store." Tybalt says aiming at both of them with his two guns.
They do. Side by side. When they're both outside, the Montague boys and the Capulet boys are aiming at each other.
"Tell me what the hell you are doing here." Tybalt finally adds.
"Why? Can't I just fill in the tank like anybody else?" Ben defiantly asks back.
"Shut up. I'm not talking to you." Tybalt tells him angry like hell.
Ben is taken aback. The girl's voice then fills the air.
"It's not your bloody business." She answers defiantly with her never-fading grin, as if being aimed at was simply not enough to drop her smile.
"You don't have to answer like that, luv." Tybalt tells her with a husky voice, pretending he's sexier than he actually is.
"And you don't have to aim at me like that… 'luv'." She mimics his tone of voice, mocking him, rather.
Tybalt is about to say something, but he clearly bites his lip, clenches his teeth and refrains from saying what he really thinks. Then, he turns to Ben.
"Well, well, well,…" Tybalt says in a cheeky attitude. "Who do we have here? Do you think you own the premises? Do you think you can defy me?"
"I just want to keep the peace, that's all, so if you…" Ben calmly tries to tell him.
"Peace? Peace?" Tybalt asks pretending to be surprised. "I hate the word, as I hate all Montagues… and thee."
"Are you a Montague?!" The girl suddenly whispers to him, amazed the piece of news.
"Yes, luv." Tybalt answers for him with the same cheeky attitude. "He's a Montague. Ben Montague."
Ben is still bewildered by the way he treats her with such confidence, even though he's aiming at her with his gun. He can't help but wonder how he knows her.
"Tybalt, Prince of Cats," Ben says politely. "… let her go. She's nothing to you. So, please let her leave. Then, we'll settle the matters between us."
"Don't you ever say she's nothing to me. You don't know me." Tybalt gets angry. "And don't try to play the part of the gentleman. She's not even remotely impressed by that." He adds glimpsing at her for a second.
She just shakes her head in disbelief and sighs mildly.
"If you want, you may go, luv." Tybalt suddenly feels generous. "But don't you ever try to do that again."
"That sounds a bit too much like part of our daily routine to sound threatening at all." She answers with pride.
"You know perfectly what I mean." He whispers threateningly at her.
She just shuts up, gets slightly paler than before, jumps on her deep red motorbike (which was parked not very far from the door of the store) and rides away.
Ben sighs without being heard as he stares at her beauty while she's leaving the gas station. Tybalt has also been staring at her. It seems as if time had stopped for them…
In spite of that, Ben gets the chance to get his gun and aim at Tybalt. They start a fight at the gas station. They shoot at each other, spill gas on the floor, run away with their respective cars – except for Ben and Tybalt, who perform an amazing chase on foot in the midst of a traffic jam, shooting included. The police forces, led by Captain Prince, have to intervene to stop them.
They both get arrested. Everything is recorded and transmitted on TV.
She sees all the shooting from home and frowns.
Hi there!
I'm Denim Jean and this is a special story I've been thinking of writing for some time now… basically 'cos I fell in love with Ben when I saw the movie some time ago! Oh, dear… I hope you enjoy it! ;)
In the next chapter, you'll meet our dazzling Romeo, you'll get to know more details about why Ben seems to recall her voice from somewhere… and a clue about her name.
Stay tuned! :)
Read & review!
Luv,
Denim Jean
