REVIEW!
Watch the age grow tall…
There is only a brief pause, however, before the love sets in.
Not my own, that onstage.
I stare as the brilliantly outfitted players take the stage, each holding a golden candle, the entire stage shining with the light. Every costume is beautiful. However, far more interesting is the acting. Each one clearly understand what is going on. The actor who plays Romeo, however, is far outshone. Carlisle hisses a line into my ear.
"O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."
I smile at this. Could he truly find me beautiful? Is he just showing off his knowledge of the Shakespeare… it doesn't seem like him. Not at all. The only other option that presents itself is that he truly wants to pursue me, to make me want him as I deeply do.
I reply, after a few moments, with Juliet's line, hoping to show my feeling in a way that doesn't seem too obvious. When the two meet, his hand holding hers, beautifully and romantically posed with Juliet's dress shining the same gold as the light, she speaks, and so do I.
"Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss… Carlisle." The last word is, obviously, my own addition. As I speak, I squeeze the twined fingers. Carlisle smiles at me and lifts the hand he holds to his face. Gently, his ice cold lips press against my skin for the briefest of instants. They are very soft and smooth.
"But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off," the actor states in the next scene, staring up a balcony upon the girl he loves.
I turn orange at this. Truly, I can feel the blood in my face rushing. Could he be thinking about… about that? I am physically pure, as inexperienced as Juliet, and I know Carlisle is a grown man.
"Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek," both men whisper. Carlisle gently strokes my cheek.
I am wrong to doubt. There are things more important than that… and the way Carlisle feels for me is, I think, one of them.
I say the next line too. "It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
He grins a blushing grin. Ah, the joys of Shakespearean sex jokes. I am glad I can make him smile, even though it is most unlike me to make such references.
We do not speak for a while, enjoying instead the bantering action and joyful words. Each and every story entwines- that is what makes this wonderful. The characters are kind, sweet, clever. The dialogue is so witty and sweet and… very much Carlisle. Everything about this reminds me of him.
It makes me anxious. I am rather afraid, as the wedding onstage approaches, that I will do something rash, like throw myself at him in this crowded place. It is terrifying, but the curtain gets down safely. Intermission. The audience flees. Neither Carlisle nor I moves. Instead, we sit softly in our seats. He turns to me as the last person leaves.
Falling looms…
REVIEW!