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, gets mad, shoots… Broken glass all over the place… But Ben just doesn't know who he is actually protecting in his arms. Who is this dazzling beauty with a defiant personality?
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.
Previously in Ben in Love…
"What other option do I have but taking you home with me tonight?" Ben seems to hesitate a bit, but he goes on. "I'm… afraid of… what I could do to you." He turns crimson.
"It's not the first time we spend a night together." She whispers after some seconds of hesitation and after turning crimson.
"But it's the first time we do so after we know how we feel about each other."
They blush in silence for what it seems to be an eternity. Her half-parted soft rosy lips look inviting and they make him swallow hard. She doesn't realize how hard it is for him to restrain himself from getting hold of her and do as he pleases. Desire would make a monster of him right now if he let it flow. The pressure within his chest and pants is way too much. Megan stares at the floor and the walls for some seconds, until she decides to be brave enough to look directly at him. She knows beforehand that this is going to be fatal for her… and it is indeed, because desire, silent but ruthless, takes the lead and commands her to devour his well-built chest and arms, his thick neck and his hard, masculine jawline with her eyes. When Ben notices she's staring at him like that, he's about to burst – seeing that she lusts after him as much as he lusts after her breaks all boundaries. They remain silent until Ben opens his mouth to say something. Anything.
"Megan," He whispers sexily to her as he closes his eyes shut. "I'm gonna leave now. You should get some rest."
"Wait…" Megan panics. "Where are you going?"
"Where I cannot harm you." He says as he steals one last glimpse of her and leaves.
After he's closed and locked the door, Megan sighs and her blushing becomes wilder.
"You'd never hurt me, Ben." She whispers to herself as she bites her lower lip. "I'd gladly let you do anything to me. Anything…"
Chapter 10:
Rainy night. Roaring thunders can be heard outside the Capulet Mansion. We see a couple of tall windows being washed by the heavy rain, blurring the colourful, distant city lights.
Fulgencio is not sleeping right now. He's stark raving mad right now because Tybalt is has been murdered by Romeo and Captain Prince did not listen to any of his words about the matter. He's still wet due to the heavy rain he had to endure while trying to talk his sense into Captain Prince in the middle of the Church square a few minutes ago.
"Aaaarrrgggghhh…!" He exclaims as he paces up and down the huge parlour.
He gets a glimpse of several bouquets of fresh black roses which have been put in several expensive, tall, black and white vases at the bottom of the stairs to honour his fallen nephew. Gloria had put them there, beautifully arranged, perfect and radiant like a moon eclipse. She can be heard from the parlour as she weeps and moans the dead youth's name.
"Damn this bloody woman!" He roars.
He shoots a menacing glare to those silky black roses and smashes several bouquets and vases onto the floor with badly-contained anger. Gloria shuts up but she doesn't appear to check what's going on. Fulgencio seems to resent something else besides Tybalt's death…
His personal butler appears out of nowhere and quietly and quite neutrally speaks thus:
"Would you care for a glass of Scotch, m'lord?"
"Sure…" Fulgencio whispers with anger.
"Right away, m'lord."
Like a shadow, the butler disappears swiftly and noiselessly. Fulgencio paces up and down again, not knowing what to do with himself.
Out of the blue, the doorbell rings. Paris enters the parlour and surprises Fulgencio in the midst of this unstoppable thirst for displaying his rage. He looks neatly attired and as handsome as ever, but slightly wet due to the rainy weather outside, which gives him an unexpected air of wilderness.
"I've just heard the news of the bloody deed…" Paris says expressing mild woe and sorrow. His disheveled hair indicates he's been in a hurry to come here (apart from the moist of the rain, of course).
"Yes, my friend, certainly a bloody deed… an unpunished bloody deed!" Fulgencio stresses with disdain.
"Unpunished? Is that so?" Paris asks wondering about Fulgencio's angry words. "I know Romeo slayed Tybalt and now he's dead. Isn't Romeo in jail? What happened exactly?"
"Rome slayed Tybalt and fled like the cowards he is," Now Fulgencio's voice seems darker and grave like an underwater monster. "… but Captain Prince refuses to honour Justice by banishing Romeo instead of sentencing him to die."
Silence falls.
"An eye for an eye… I swear Romeo will pay for this! And that fool cousin of his, Ben… He's taken Megan from my control!" Fulgencio roars like before. "They're going to pay for this! If Captain Prince won't do anything, I'll see to it myself, if I must!"
"Did you try to convince him?"
"Aye, I did my best,…" Fulgencio adds fiercefully. "… but he just yelled at me as if I was a child!"
"I do not want to bother you, my friend, by talking about such dark matters. In fact,…" Paris tries to change the topic of this conversation. "I'm here to give consolation to my dear Juliet, should she need a shoulder to cry on. I'm sure that the loss of a cousin might have left her in a mourning state… and I'd be glad to…"
"Not tonight, my friend." Fulgencio seems calmer now. The sight of his queer, silent butler holding a huge glass of Scotch might have helped in this sudden change of mood. Paris looks mildly defeated and mildly bites his lower lip once. "Don't be so impatient! Easy, my friend… You'll soon be married to her…" Fulgencio gets his glass from the butler's hands and stares at the brownish-gold liquid. "… and then you'll be able to give her all the… consolation… she needs."
He sips from the glass and smiles malevolently.
In the meantime, Juliet has been listening to everything from a nearby corridor. She's weeping silently. Then, she slowly closes her eyelids and flees to her own room.
The same stormy night. At Father Lawrence's home.
Father Lawrence is helping Romeo to arrange some stuff before he sends him to Mantua, where he can safely hide from the Capulets. He seems to enjoy devising master plans to help these two lovers, although he definitely does not enjoy the current situation, of course.
"Flee to Mantua, my son." Father Lawrence tells Romeo. "Should the current state of affairs improve, I'll send for you. Don't worry."
Romeo thanks him and flees, as told.
"Be patient, my son." Father Lawrence talks to himself once Romeo's gone. He's in front of an illuminated sculpture of the Virgin Mary. He stares deeply into her stone eyes and goes on speaking: "Megan and Ben still need my help, too… Now that both the Capulets and the Montagues have seen them together during the questioning, they must be in real trouble. Megan told me that Captain Prince might be willing to help… I need to talk to him in private and think of something…"
He sighs.
The same stormy night. At the police station, Captain Prince's private office. Father Lawrence is there to speak to him. He seems nervous.
"But you must understand: this is the only chance at peace in this city!" Father Lawrence tries to convince Captain Prince with vehemence and hope in his dear, old eyes. "Both couples may become the blossoming undertakings of peace and understanding in Verona! They are in trouble and we should help them! It's our only chance…"
"I said no and I'm resolute." Captain Prince says sadly.
"Why is that so? Have you lost your faith?"
"I have second thoughts, that's all." Captain Prince does indeed seem to think differently about the matter, which makes Father Lawrence frown.
"Illuminate me then, Captain. What are these second thoughts? I can see nothing but pure hopelessness in your face, but I can sense no true reason behind it."
"Megan seems to be a good girl, but…" Captain Prince proceeds. He sighs once. "… during the questioning after Tybalt's death, there's a totally different aftermath."
"Really?" Father Lawrence can hardly believe his words. "I don't really think…"
"Father, I must warn you that both families have already bribed or threatened all the clergy… not only in Verona, but also in other surrounding cities. And you've been considered a public threat to the institution you represent due to your recent acts and affiliations. I'm awfully sorry…"
"Wait… What?"
"You've been made redundant. I'm sorry that's me who breaks the news like this, but I thought it was best if you knew it from me. I've been told the news right after the questioning. You were the only friar who could marry these couples, but now you can't. They know how to play their cards, don't they? Do you see why now things have changed?"
"We'll find a way, Captain Prince."
"You should go into hiding… and we should never speak again. Because I'm supposed to chase and interrogate you due to recent reports which deem you guilty of several dirty deeds I'm not willing to discuss right now… I'm sure it's a scam or something, but I have to deal with the whole investigation process. It's the law. It's best if you're not around and banish for some time, my friend."
Father Lawrence can hardly believe him.
"Besides, although I promised Megan that I'd help her and give her shelter, I can't." Captain Prince adds mournfully. "This is…"
"Why? Is there another scam of this sort about her?!" Father Lawrence seems both worried and appalled by the current situation.
"It may be the case, yes." His voice darkens. "Both families want her dead or imprisoned for life. The Montagues hate her for obvious reasons. The Capulets have already threatened financial and labour chaos in the city if their demands are not met. They have already bribed half of my crew… I'm quite powerless. Thus, I can't protect her. They also want Ben dead or locked into a prison cell for the rest of his life. They want to make him pay for Tybalt's death instead of Romeo… Tell me, Father, how on Earth can I help them? I'm hopeless because there's absolutely no hope left."
He smashes is right fist onto his office desk with too much anger and shuts up.
"The current state of affairs looks bleak…" Father Lawrence concludes.
"Quite bleak indeed."
The same stormy night. A few hours later in Ben's private quarters, where Megan is staying for the night.
Megan cannot sleep at all. She is restlessly lying on Ben's bed, wondering where the hell he is now. She had hoped he'd stay with her tonight… The rain washes the windows as if tomorrow would never come. Roaring thunder can be heard in the distance.
She sighs hopelessly as she plays with the ring he'd given her when he proposed to her and then she decides to get up because she's fed up with waiting and not sleeping. As she does so, she accidentally gets a glimpse of the garden down below the window of this bedroom. It's the most beautiful garden she's ever seen. It's not huge, but it's well taken care of. Vines and ivies grow in a never-ending spiral of life throughout the whole garden. Despite the rain and the thunders in the night air, it looks inviting like the perfume of a red rose in full bloom. And taking shelter under a marble-like veranda, there is a sad angel waiting for dawn to come…
"Ben…" Megan whispers in awe. She comes closer to the window and sighs as she puts both her hands on the glass and stares at him. "Have you been there all this time?"
She stares at him for some seconds, completely in silence. Suddenly, she smiles and whispers lovingly:
"Don't worry, Ben. I won't make you wait much longer…"
In the next chapter,
Megan and Ben share some precious minutes together while their world falls apart. :)
Stay tuned!