Romeo and Julie - Chapter 4.

Disclaimer - As always, I don't own the Ducks, I do, however, own Meredith, and also the character of Rebecca, Julie's roommate. She is mine also.

Feedback - Go ahead. I enjoy it. I love hearing what you think of my work. And I get the impression that you like it so far.

Notes - Ok, I want to start by saying, "Wow, 10 pages!" this chapter is the longest one so far, and I have to say that I am rather proud of myself. It took a little longer than I had expected, because I hit a wall and gave up, but then, I came back to it today, and I am happy with the end result. Well, at least, happier then what I was with the drafts. There is a lot in this chapter that I love, and also, this chapter there is the (drum roll) Kiss. Yes that's right, I was going to have another "oh, so close" moment, but I knew that one of you would track me down and kill me. Enjoy.

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"Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo" Meredith called. The class all looked at her as she stood from where she was sitting behind the desk. She looked at her watch, then at the door, then back to her watch. The start of practice was running a little behind schedule. "No, really, if any one knows where for art thou Romeo, tell me now."

She glanced at each of the teenagers before her. None of them moved. Meredith had entered her classroom for the afternoon practice to see the all but one of her students there. Dean was no where to be seen.

"Fulton…" Meredith turned to the absent boys friend and roommate. If any one knew where he was it would have to be him. "Are you sure you don't know where he is?"

Fulton shrugged "I am his friend, not his mother…" he replied. "But then again, that is a bad comparison, his mother doesn't know what he gets up to half the time…"

"Thank god" Meredith mumbled to herself. "Wouldn't want to give the poor woman a heart attack…All right, who had their last class with Dean?"

"I did" Luis announced. "We had physical education together. He said he was going to go to his locker and then come straight here"

"Maybe he got distracted by something shiny" Russ suggested. Averman chuckled.

Meredith ignored Russ and went on. "Is it possible that between the gym, his locker and here he could have gotten in enough trouble to get him put on an immediate detention?" she asked, a few people looked at her as though she had four heads "What am I saying? This is Dean Portman we are talking about, you could get himself into trouble anywhere…"

"Ok, we really do have to get working on this. I was hoping to move onto the kiss this afternoon, but I guess, as they say in the business, the show must go on, and that means with or without our Romeo. Lets move on. Connie and Julie, would you run through the conversation between Juliet and the Nurse."

Julie stood and made her way to the performance space with Connie, preparing to read through the scene that Meredith had specified. She wondered briefly where Dean was, and whether or not he would make it to the practice at all.

She could not help but feel a slight blow to her ego. Dean knew that they would be practicing the kissing scene at this practice, and still he managed to find something else to occupy his time, either that or he had gotten in trouble. But either way, he had found something more important to do with his time then to come here and practice the play with her.

Julie glanced once more at the door, and then shrugged. Who cared, she decided. There would be plenty of time for them to move onto the kissing scene. If it didn't happen today, then it would happen tomorrow, who cared.

But no matter how much Julie reminded herself that it was not the end of the world if Dean was a no show to practice, she could not stop herself from looking to the door every time Meredith had interrupted them. And she scanned the class to see if he had slipped in silently and sat down. He never had.

The end of the practice came, and there was still no Portman.

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Julie tapped her pen against her note book and tried to make not to make it obvious that her mind was in fact not on her homework, she couldn't seem to get into it all tonight, but she could not place her finger on a reason why. Connie was sitting on her roommate's bed, studying from her physics textbook. They had hardly spoken to each other since the practice, but they had eaten in the presence of the rest of the team before coming upstairs to study. The two girls knew each other so well, it was almost a routine that they studied together.

Julie had managed to forget the fact that Dean had not come to practice until she had sat down to eat and realised that he wasn't even at diner. That worried her, if there was one thing that Dean Portman was notorious for, it was being punctual to diner. He was late everywhere else he went, but always on time for food.

"So…" Connie began. Julie, thankful for the distraction from her tedious work, turned to her, half expecting her friend to ask something about the work that they had started in class. "Where did you and Portman disappear to at lunch today?"

Julie dropped her pen. That was not the question that she had been expecting. "Me and Portman? Oh, we just went for a walk, He wanted us to…he needs help with understanding the play, and I have been talking him through it"

"Oh, see, I knew there would be a simple explanation to it all…" Connie smiled, accepting her friends casual reply and turned back to her book. Julie sighed, turned back to her homework (with every intention of just pretending to do it) and picked up her can of soda that she had been drinking.

Connie spoke again. "Fulton and Adam seemed to think that the two of you went to make out or something…"

Julie choked on the drink, coughing a little and spluttering it across her desk. Connie stood, grabbing a handful of tissues from the box on the bed side table to help clear up the mess.

"I told them that it was insane, of course…unless there is something you are yet to tell me" Connie said, digging for information. Julie knew what she was trying to do, and had to admit that Connie was knew what she was doing when it came to gentle interrogation.

Julie had not intended on telling anyone that Dean had asked if they could practice kissing. For some reason, what a duck told another duck in confidence was always all over the team by the end of the day. Who would have guessed that male hockey players could gossip better then most girls did? Adam and Charlie where the worst, but that was not the point. The point was, Julie wanted to keep the proposition of kissing practices to herself, and she had the feeling that Dean didn't want anyone to know either.

But then there was Connie. Her powers of interrogation, plus the fact that she could pull the best friend card at any point made it almost impossible for Julie to hide anything from her. Connie would either talk it out of her, or, she would chuck a tantrum when it eventually got out, and she realised that she had been the last to know.

Julie decided it would just be easier to tell her the truth.

"Ok, so we were going to kiss…" Julie admitted. Connie giggled and collapsed back onto the bed, smiling widely.

"I knew it!"

"Wait, I thought you said that it was Fulton and Banksie had this opinion?" Julie asked, amazed. Connie smiled an evil smile, and then shrugged at her friend.

"Just because I didn't say it doesn't mean I wasn't thinking it" Connie replied. Julie rolled her eyes. "So, tell me everything. What did he do? What did he say? Is he a good kisser? Where did he put his hands? Did he use tongue?"

The warning siren in Julie's mind went off, but before she could do anything, the transformation was over. Cool hockey player Connie was no longer sitting before her and in her place was the giggly, girly best friend Connie. This was the Connie who liked chick flicks, who painted her nails, who discussed boys and giggled like a brainless bimbo. Girly Connie didn't make an appearance often, but when ever she did, Julie always left the conversation with a headache.

"Connie" Julie held up her hand in a vain attempt to stop her before she became a giggling shell of her former self. "I said we were going to kiss, not that we did…"

"What happened?" Connie asked, perching herself at the end of the bed, the closest she could possibly sit to Julie without crowding her.

"Mr Freders ninth grade human reproductive sciences class walked in." Julie replied, and then rolled her eyes. Connie laughed. "And I was in no way going to give them anything to fuel their annoying sex discussions with."

Connie was still laughing at her. Julie shook her head, picked up her pen and turned back to her homework. Maybe if she looked like she was getting some work done, then Connie would leave her be, and stop with the questions. She really didn't want to talk about it with her. And besides, she already had the bad feeling that Connie would tell the first Duck she saw, and the team would know before breakfast.

"But he wanted to kiss you, so that is pretty cool…"

"He only suggested that we kiss so that when we had to do it in class Fulton and Adam and Charlie wouldn't feel the need to make stupid comments" Julie explained. Connie nodded, and it was obvious to Julie that her friend did not believe that. Julie shrugged, let Connie believe what she wanted to believe, she had told the truth, and that was all that mattered.

"So, why didn't you kiss him, I mean, you had all lunch to do it. And the spark was there, I saw you in class…" Connie continued. Julie sighed, closed her books and threw her pen aside. Her plan had failed, so now it was time to talk. Even if she didn't want to.

"We always seem to get interrupted, and then when we do have enough time, we cant seem to get past the fact that we are friends." Julie told her. Connie looked like she was thinking before moving onto the next question. Julie anticipated and prepared for the inevitable explosion.

"He tried to kiss you before?" She exclaimed when the thought finally caught up with her. "When? Where? What happened? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Calm down, Last night when we were practicing…It is no big deal" Julie dismissed, standing and crossing the room to sit on her roommates bed. Her roommate, Rebecca, was probably off with her boyfriend and would not be back till after curfew.

"No big deal!"

"Connie, breathe, relax. Ok, all you need to know is that I have not kissed yet" Julie sighed. "And I will tell you all about it when it happens"

"Promise?"

"Promise" Julie told her heavily. Why did it suddenly feel like she had just made a deal with the devil?

The two sat in silence. Happiness washed over Julie as she watched her friend slowly morph back into the cool, casual, non-insane version of herself.

"Were you disappointed that he didn't come to practice this afternoon?" Connie asked after a few minutes. Julie sighed, honestly wondering how to reply to that. In the first few minutes that she had realised that he was a no show, a lot of different emotions had run through her, but as far as she could tell, none of them were disappointment. Anger, hurt, confusion, all in miniscule measures, but no disappointment.

"I don't know" Julie replied. "like I said before. It is no big deal. So he didn't show up, who cares. You are acting like he left me at the alter or something…"

"But you were going to kiss today?" Connie replied, as though it was the point of her whole argument. Julie suddenly realised that it was the point of Connie's whole argument. And probably the argument of every single duck on the team. Were they all so desperate to see her and Portman kiss? Didn't they realise it was no big deal?

"So, then we will kiss tomorrow or the day after, who cares. It is no big thing to me." Julie replied, collapsing back on to the bed. She heard Connie sigh, but decided to ignore it.

"I think that you and Portman should date" Connie stated, as though it was a simplistic and foolproof theory. Julie sat up quickly, trying to decide if her friend was being serious or not. But the look on her face was one of complete seriousness.

"What"

"I said you and Portman should date. You would make a great couple."

"We would make a bad couple" Julie replied. "It would never work between him and me. I mean, Have you ever tried having a serious conversation with him. If he is not grunting and bashing into things, he is making seriously annoying jokes and or stupid little comments, with the intention of getting on your nerves…He annoys me." Julie replied. She had no idea that she felt that way about Dean, but as soon as she had opened her mouth, the words began to flood out.

She was not sure if the somewhat hurtful things she had said were just a knee jerk reaction to Connie saying that they should date, but either way, she felt horrible. Dean wasn't as bad as she had said he was. And he was a friend, even if he did get on her nerves sometimes.

"So, he is the opposite of you. Opposites attract…" Connie replied.

Julie sighed, and decided to try the next excuse. Her golden rule. "I don't date hockey players."

It was true, after a disastrously boring three week relationship with Scooter after the JV/Varsity game, she had decided that she would never again date a hockey player, no exceptions. Two people with strong opinions on the same thing would always end in fights. The fight that had ended her relationship with Scooter was one on which team had the better defensive line.

"That is a stupid rule, just because of what happened with Scooter…" Connie began.

"Connie, why are you trying to marry me off all of a sudden?" Julie exclaimed. "I am cool with being single. I have my dating hockey player rule for a reason. I don't want to date Dean, not only because he is not my type, but also because he is a close friend of mine, has been for years, and probably will be for a very long time…"

"The lady doth…"

"Connie, if you finish that sentence with 'protest to much' I sware I will bash you to death with my hockey stick." Julie growled menacingly. Another warning siren went off in her head, but before Julie could do anything to stop it, she had gone from casual smile about it all Julie, to bitch Julie. She hated when she got this way, she got angry, crabby, and people didn't really like her when she was irritated. Julie didn't like herself when she was irritate.

"And on that note" Connie smiled. She realised that she was annoying her friend, and decided it was time for her to go home, leave Julie to simmer in peace. Julie didn't get bitchy often, but when she did, it was time to take cover. She would always be nice by the next day, and would find a way to apologise. "See you tomorrow"

Julie watched as Connie threw her books into her bag, and could not help but smile. With Connie gone, maybe, just maybe, she could find the concentration that had left her hours before. Maybe she could get a little homework done after all. "Bye Connie" she waved absently before opening her books again. She dimly realised that her door had been closed, but other then that, she was back into the pattern of her work. It was sinking in, and she as understanding it, getting questions right.

There was a knock on the door only minutes later. Julie dropped her pen heavily. "Connie…" Julie called, standing to answer the door "If you are here to gossip about Dean again, I am going to have to tell you to…"

After opening the door, Julie couldn't stop the blush that rose on her cheeks. There was Dean, standing in the hallway, leaning casually against the doorframe and looking confused.

"Connie was gossiping about me?" He asked, a fake look of hurt on his face. Julie sighed and stepped back, allowing him into the room.

One thing that had always confused Julie about this school was that there were no rules about boys and girls being in rooms together before curfew. There were the obvious rules that a boy and a girl could not be alone together in a room after curfew, but in the whole Eden Hall rule book, there was no rule that said that boys and girls could not hang out alone together with the door shut before curfew. Many of the boys on the team, especially Luis, enjoyed the flexibility of this rule, or, the lack of it.

As Dean passed her and entered the room, he realised that he had never been in her dorm room before. Inside however, was very much as he had expected it to be. It was actually much like his and Fulton's. Neither Julie or her roommate, Rebecca, were really girly, so their walls were covered with hockey and music posters. Random junk cluttered the desktops. It looked lived in, and so Dean felt immediately comfortable.

"Connie wasn't gossiping about you…" Julie replied, hoping to find a way to explain what had happened without embarrassing anyone. "She was just being Connie."

"You mean she dragged herself away from Guy long enough to actually be her own person?" Dean asked, sitting on Rebecca's, still taking in the room. Julie laughed and sat across from him on her own bed.

"What, you mean, you don't know the newest part of the saga?" Julie smiled, Dean shook his head. "They are on break up 27...or maybe 28"

"You have got to be kidding me" He chuckled. "Those two will either end up getting married and having a million miniature Guys, or one of them will murder the other, it is insanity"

Julie laughed. "God, I hope not, one Guy is enough"

Dean laughed and took another long look around the room, and then his gaze fell on something in the corner. Standing, he picked up Rebecca's guitar.

"Yours?"

"Becks" Julie replied, referring to Rebecca, her roommate. "You play?" She asked. It was something she had never expected of Portman. She knew that he enjoyed music, and that he liked to play it loud, but she had never thought to ask if he actually knew how to play.

"I know a few cords." he replied, positioning his fingers on the strings. Julie laughed.

"More then some musicians know" she told him. Dean laughed to himself and began to strum the guitar. Julie soon realised that he was playing the chorus of some song, a song that she recognised the tune of. It was more then likely some song that she had heard blaring through the door of Dean and Fulton's room once, but it sounded so much better with just an acoustic guitar. It was a really nice song, she decided.

"What, you are not going to sing for me?" she asked him. Dean looked up and smiled.

"I could if you want to" he smiled, continuing to play. Julie laughed and stretched out on her own bed, once again, her homework was forgotten. It was getting close to curfew anyway, so it was about time that she packed it up for the night.

"Not that I am not enjoying watching you prove yourself musically, can I ask if you had a reason for coming here?"

He returned the guitar to where he found it. "I wanted to apologise for not showing to practice."

"You mean, you were not at practice?" She asked sarcastically. "Then who was I making out with all afternoon?"

"Very funny Jules." he smiled. "I just wanted to tell you that I was in detention and I couldn't get out of it, Mr Walsh thought that I had damaged the locker next to mine, which of course is a load of bull. I would have been there I if could have, you know that."

"Hey, don't apologise to me, apologise to Meredith I guess." Julie shrugged. She had no idea why people were thinking that him not coming to practice would have an effect on her. But she did admit it made her feel a little better now that she knew that it was not his choice not to be there.

"So what did I miss?" he asked. Julie shrugged.

"Not much…" she smiled. She felt like telling him that the only thing that he had missed was another opportunity to kiss her, but she let it slide. "We just worked around you."

"You worked around me!" He asked, the fake hurt look back on his face. "You mean you did not sit around and cry that I was not there?"

"Goldberg might of, but then again, he is a little odd" Julie shrugged casually. "Just consider yourself lucky that we didn't replace you…"

"Replace me? Ha, good one Jules" Dean grinned. "Why do you think that Meredith didn't appoint some one as understudy?"

"Ran out of students?" she asked innocently.

"Because Dean Portman can no be replaced!" Dean joked, smiling. "Dean Portman is…"

"Referring to himself in the third person" she sat up, a smile on her face also. "Rather scary. And he is completely replaceable."

"No, I am not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"No, I am not!" Dean stood.

"Yes, you so are!" Julie added, standing.

"I am not!" Dean pushed Julie's shoulder playfully.

"Are to!" Julie pushed him back.

"No!" He smiled and pushed her other shoulder.

"Yes!" Julie reached out to push him again, but was stopped when Dean gabbed her hand. She struggled against his grip for a second, before he tugged her arm gently, and she fell forward into his chest.

He gripped her waist carefully as he caught her, and Julie looked up into his eyes. The laughter that was between them only seconds earlier had evaporated, and Julie nervously ran her hands up his strong arms to rest on his hard biceps. His gaze locked with hers, and slowly, he lowered his mouth to hers.

Success, Julie smiled as she adjusted her mouth under his just a little. The kiss was soft, and completely innocent, but that didn't mean that she was not enjoying it.

Dean pulled away, and Julie opened her eyes to look deep into his. His eyes were a nice colour, she had never noticed them before, and the looked at her with this unusual emotion that she could not place. Julie looked away, his gaze suddenly to intense. She wanted to say something, anything, but all her mind was allowing her to think was "Damn"

And suddenly, she felt Dean's thumb against her cheek, tilting her face in his hand so that he could kiss her again. This time, when his lips parted, Julie went with it. She let him kiss her, and she had to admit, the boy knew what he was doing. She knees felt like jelly, and she was so glad that she was still holding his arms, his arms still wrapped around her.

Some where in the back of her mind, Dean's words floated to the surface. 'First kisses are always bad…' and mentally she called him a liar. Because this was pretty damn perfect.

He deepened the kiss. Julie tightened her grip on him, and stood on her toes a little, just to close the gap that their different heights created. She kissed him back with the same intensity that he was showing her. His hands worked up her back, she could feel the heat of them through her thin shirt.

She felt him cupping her cheek again, and he pulled away slowly. Julie kept her eyes shut for a few moments, scared that if she opened them she would not be standing in his arms, but in fact standing all alone after imagining the whole thing.

But she opened her eyes, and was not alone. Dean was still there, holding her to his chest gently. She smiled to herself.

"See, I told you kissing me would be the best experience of your life…" Dean mumbled. Julie pulled away, smiled and slapped his arm. He grinned at her. "Now, now, no need to get violent…unless you want me to stop you again?"

Julie thought for a second. She had to options, and he mind was screaming at her to take the one that would lead to them kissing again. But Dean had not given her enough time to reply, because suddenly, his lips were on hers again.

Her arms wound around his neck and the kiss soon got as good as the last one. Julie could not believe that this was happening, to her, of all people, but she realised that if Dean kissed every girl the way he was kissing her, then it was no mystery as to why he was so popular with the female population of Eden Hall.

Suddenly, and without warning, the door to the dorm room burst open. Rebecca Roman, Julie's roommate, saw what was happening and then stepped out, closing the door behind her quickly. But it was enough to break what ever had been between Dean and Julie.

"Julie, I am so sorry" Rebecca called through the door. Julie giggled a little, untangled herself from Deans arms, and then crossed to open the door and let her friend in. "I didn't think that you would be in here with anybody…not that you wouldn't be here with anyone…" Rebecca stammered. "Umm, hi" she offered to Dean. He smiled at her.

"Dean and I were just practicing for a play…" Julie began. She could not believe this was happening. In the mirror on the other side of the room, she caught a look of herself. Her cheeks were pinkish, either from the kiss, or from the fact that Rebecca had walked in.

"Practicing for a play? Is that what it is called?" Rebecca smiled, and Julie felt as though she was blushing more. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. If you guys want a little bit more time, I can go for a walk until curfew…"

"No, it is alright Rebecca. It is getting late. I should get going…" Dean replied. "I will talk to you tomorrow Jules…" he paused and then kissed her cheek quickly. Julie smiled and moved with him to the door. They said another quick goodbye, and Julie closed the door, collapsing against it.

One thing was for sure, they were going to be a convincing Romeo and Juliet.

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So do you like it? Was the kiss (or should I say Kisses) ok. Don't worry, this story is no where near finished.