Chapter 5

One is the Loneliest Number

Every day for the past three weeks, I've had nothing to do but sit around my cozy little home and think about life. Every time I do that, I end up constantly reminding myself of how alone I am. Alone. It's a great big world out there, and I'm sure there are at least a few companions out there with whom I could share my life. A few buddies. Maybe even true love. But it all seems like a fairy tale to me. You'd think someone graced with a name like Romeo would have better luck with girls, but no.

I moved into my new place about three weeks ago, and I've had to get used to a few of the quirks of the place. My bedroom very closely resembles a pigpen. My neighbor doesn't know how to quit squawking at obscenely late hours. I'm eating food fit for earthworms, and then only really poor, desperate earthworms. And I'm alone. I hate being alone.

I've always been alone. I used to live up in the cold, cold north. There, I had plenty of worries that regularly distracted me from my lonesome state, so I got on okay, but every once in a while my lack of companionship would hit me over the head like an overweight Moogle jumping on an unsuspecting grasshopper. I needed someone to be there for me. Anyone. I needed help.

Things got a little better when I met some new friends. Sure, they weren't around much, and romance was still an impossible dream even with them around, but Cloud and Yuffie were better company than miles upon miles of snow and ice punctuated by the occasional snow wolf and a few ill-tempered rabbits. They would smile a lot, and the up-tempo conversation (Yuffie's specialty) was good for both my spirits and my optimism. The two had a sort of chemistry that made me think love was real and out there for the finding. They helped me view being with someone as a possible reality, even for me. They made life better just by being there and being themselves.

They also helped me move.

I think the bad company and worse weather up north were getting me stuck in a rut. I had begun to look at life as something static. Unchanging. A little bland. I figured I'd always be alone. My new home has turned my perspective on its head, both because the surroundings are better and because they are different. That hope thing I mentioned is more than just a television show set in Chicago now.

But with hope comes disappointment. As much as I enjoyed my visitors, Cloud and Yuffie eventually stopped coming regularly, and I still haven't made friends with my neighbors. They're a boorish lot, the like of which I could never see myself tolerating for any extended period of close contact. I thought things would be better by now, but they only got worse, and the taste of heaven I encountered in my glass of hope turned out to be soured by a stodgy old ingredient called reality. I've seen other people (not just snow rabbits) happy, and I don't have that happiness for myself. I am, you might say, frustrated.

Why am I telling you all of this? Why should you care? It's all because I want you to learn a lesson about hope. No matter how glum I might have become, my longing for something better and my firm belief that I would get what I was longing for were not in vain. See, Cloud and Yuffie came back yesterday, and they brought along someone new.

Juliet. Ah, the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. Juliet. We were only formally introduced last night, but already, I think I'm in love with her. My first impression of her was that she was some sort of angel, albeit an angel dressed entirely in pink. Her voice was like that of a nightingale serenading the most peaceful sort of running stream you've ever seen. Her eyes were dark. Quite dark. You'd think I would have noticed more than that about them, given how long I spent staring at them, but I'm afraid that's all I can say at the moment. I'm still stunned whenever I think of her, which is pretty much always. Her face haunted me all last night, and it is still with me now. How much longer until I can see her again?

Yuffie assures me that Juliet at I will get on famously. We're a perfect pair. Her journey away, it turns out, was nothing more than an attempt so find someone to set me up with. Imagine that. Here I thought I was being abandoned, and my friends were only looking out for my happiness. I deserve the proverbial kick in the pants for doubting them.

Will the same spark of passion I see in Cloud and Yuffie ignite between me, Romeo, and my beloved Juliet? I have no doubt whatsoever that it will. It's just a matter of time. I just need to see her again. I must express my love to her. Everything I've ever wanted, from when I was born to when I was a bachelor in the frozen north to my solitary (but noisy) confinement in my new apartment, is within my reach. I just need to tell Juliet. Oh, how happy we will be together!

Together is one of those things that has always been the territory of others. Now it will describe me. Me and Juliet.

I must go see her. Now. She's just two doors over. Maybe I can shout my confession of love over to her.

But I don't need to. Yuffie is here now, and she seems intent on getting the two of us together at this very moment. I should remember to thank her later, both for her inspiration and for her action in filling the void in my life. With Juliet. We're now in front of her door. Yuffie is the one to open it. Juliet, my sweet, my forever, hear me! Hear what I've been waiting to say to you since before I even knew we'd meet! Listen to me pout out my heart!

"Waaaaaaark!"

xxx

Cloud crossed out item #2 on the list: "Breed a polka dotted chocobo by mating a 'Wonderful' chocobo with a pink chocobo, using a Zeio nut." On to the next problem!