Well, this is it. It's been a long time coming. This story is over a year old. It's been months since my last post, and now it's over. 66 pages, 33,261 words on MS Word. I don't know if anyone is still with me, but if you are, thanks.

"Maria, I've been looking for you. I haven't seen you in a while."

Maria checked her watch. "You haven't seen me for half an hour, Mama."

Mrs. Montoya pursed her lips. "Where have you been?"

"In the gym."

Mrs. Montoya seemed mostly satisfied. "Dinner's at 7."

Maria watched her mother's retreating back, waiting until it had turned the corner before she bolted for her room. If possible, finally seeing Benvolio had only made her want him more, but instead of letting lethargy set in, she became restless. She couldn't sit still; she wanted to be with him. And, she admitted to herself, she had missed the sex.

Twenty-three and a half hours now remained until their next meeting, and she figured that if she wasn't going to do anything productive until then, she might as well go prepared. A rummage produced a pen and paper, and she doodled as she thought.

Benvolio was antsy. It was a full five minutes before the time they had scheduled to meet, and he was already worried that she wouldn't come. The room service food he had ordered was perfectly arranged on the table. Had they not previously agreed that it was within Benvolio's best interests to lay low, he would have been waiting for her outside the gate.

He glanced at the clock again, certain that another five minutes had gone by, but no, only one minute. He was still unbearably disappointed that they could only steal a quarter of an hour together, but that made painfully good sense as well.

Finally, the door clicked as the electronic lock engaged from the other side. Benvolio rose to greet Maria at the door. Today, none of the original awkwardness remained. They immediately caught each other up in hugs, not petting, just feeling the warmth and heartbeat from the other person. They could have gladly rested in this position for the full fifteen minutes, but they grudgingly broke apart.

"I ordered lunch," said Benvolio as he guided her towards the table. Maria sat, grinning hugely. She picked at the food, never taking her eyes off him.

Benvolio was the first to break the silence. "So, Maria, what have you been doing?" However, the question wasn't offhand. His eyes were earnest.

Maria laid down her fork. "Not much. I've been waiting for you, I guess."

"You weren't injured, though?"

"No. Well… I had a broken rib."

No. The one thing he had taken comfort in was the assumption that Maria had been unharmed. The old guilt resurfaced and he once again felt awkward. "I'm sorry," he muttered, tragically understating the depth of his remorse.

Maria's eyes widened. Wrong move. "No, Benvolio, no, it's fine! I'm fine! Look…" She knelt down next to him and tilted his chin towards her. "It wasn't your fault!" Benvolio still looked insecure. Maria sighed. She pulled his face in for a kiss, one he didn't return very heartily. Casting about for something to break the tension, she pulled out the piece of paper she had doodled on earlier. "Listen, I was thinking earlier today. We should make some sort of plan."

Benvolio took the offered page, looked at it, and began to laugh.

"What is it?" Maria tried to act offended, but was relieved to see him smile.

"You made a Pro and Con list?" Benvolio's laughing subsided as he shook his head incredulously.

"Listen, you, I had to do something to pass the time."

"No, no. It's good. Hang on…"

In Maria's thinking, there were two options. One would be to run away, to escape their family's poisonous methods.

"Like elopement?"

Awkward. "Well, I wasn't thinking specifically of that. If I run away I want a partner."

Benvolio held her gaze. "Ok…"

"Well, don't you?"

"I already ran away. Whether I have a partner or not is not up to me."

Maria smiled, and then sighed. "But then we could always just sit."

Benvolio didn't take his eyes off the list. "Didn't think you would say that."

"Well, neither did I." She stood and started pacing, looking at her hands. "The fact is, as much as I hate what my family does, I still love them."

Benvolio shifted uncomfortably. "Mare, I glotta be honest with you, I can't say the same. Two of my best friends got killed because of this petty fight. Killed, Maria. I can't sit."

Maria sat heavily onto the armchair and rested her forehead onto her steepled hands.

"And in all honesty, if I'm not with my family, I want to be with you."

"I… I guess we could always sneak…"

"Screw sneaking!" Benvolio had upturned his chair as he jumped to his feet. "I can't do that! You know I can't!" He knelt, gazing at her, but she refused to look him in the eye. He could see that she was crying. "What is it?"

"Nothing." She sighed. "I'm sorry. It's obviously not nothing. I guess I'm just disappointed in myself."

"Why?"

Maria was whispering. "I thought I was ready to leave, but it doesn't feel right."

"Doesn't it? Maria, I understand you more than your parents can."

"Benvolio, don't kid yourself!" The force of her words blasted Benvolio backward, and Maria stood. "My life was perfectly fine before you took it upon yourself to disillusion me!"

Benvolio was stunned; he had no idea what to say. He stumbled into the bathroom shaking; feeling like his entire world had been upended. He wasn't sure how long he stood leaning on the counter, but when he finally gathered enough courage to walk back into the room, it was empty. Maria had left.

In the end, Benvolio found that he could live without Maria. He obtained a permit to work in England, and was now sharing a dank flat in London with two other guys. It was interesting, being one of a threesome again, but he was left to himself quite a lot. His job in a coffee shop combined with the London club scene kept him busy enough. He and Maria still corresponded through letters, but they hadn't seen or spoken to one another since she had walked out of his hotel room one month ago. The letters were distant, friendly, and formal, but Benvolio practically lived for writing and receiving them.

Maria, too, had escaped from her surroundings, to a degree. Unbeknownst to her parents, she had registered herself for a volunteer teaching placement in Ghana for one month. After a few persuasion tactics that could have been construed as blackmail were needed for them to let her go, but in the end she'd been able to pack and fly with little parental resistance. She was happy, living with a family in this small rural village, teaching English grammar and basic French to the children. She found herself gaining weight from their heavy starch diet, and was surprised to realize that she didn't care. She and the other volunteers met every night and often travelled around the country on the weekends. Secretly, she extended her visa and changed her flight, but she still wasn't sure when she would tell her parents that she was staying for another full month.

She wasn't sure about Benvolio. She liked getting letters from him, and she enjoyed writing hers, but she didn't feel forlorn without him. She barely remembered how deeply she had felt for him.

For a while now, they had been discussing a friendly reunion between them in the letters, but she wasn't sure she wanted it to go farther than friendly. She wasn't sure he wanted it, either. He was a great person, and that couldn't be denied, but the emotional tension between them frightened her.

Really, Benvolio and Maria had turned to each other out of desperation. They had used each other as tools to better their situation: Benvolio had escaped his poisonous family, while Maria had loosened her parent's grip on her. They could be great friends, but every day they both secretly thanked God that they had been torn apart before they became a reprisal of Romeo and Juliet.

Here we end the story; not with sadness,

Not with terror, not with joy and gladness.

Here is a story of avoided woe,

That of Maria and Benvolio.

Ciao, tutti.

Curlz