Benvolio came to find me, news of Capulets attacking in the town's square, he sat beside me under the sycamore tree facing the meadows outlying the city of Verona.
"Rose, your mother and father were calling for you," he said.
"Let them wonder where I am, I'll come back soon enough," I say sighing, mother and father always needing to know where I was, I simply needed a break from it all.
The life of being a Montague, a noble family, is tough when you are a girl especially in this city with the taunts of men suiting you each and every day.
It was overbearing.
"I told them you looked as though you needed to be alone, they were not pleased," Benvolio said, laying his brown head against the sycamore trunk.
"They are never pleased, I am pursued by dozens of men each day and none of them meet my expectations, Father and Mother want me to marry off," I groaned, placing my head in my hand gazing at a praying mantis crawling over the leaves I had picked along the way.
"How- of the variety of the men that have come to court have there been not a single one to match your interests?" He inquired.
"It's a funny thing really there Benvolio, none of them appeal to me, there is not a single ounce of attraction pulling me towards any one of the men," I say honestly.
"Is there someone else occupying your mind, a man of certain expectations that is preventing you from easing the discomfort of your parents who only want the best for you?"
"Are they truly only hoping for the best for me? This autumn's eve I will be at the age where I am most desired, yet they want me to choose before then," I growled, but I wasn't mad at Benvolio for questioning, but instead of my mother and father for pushing.
"Rose, that is not the question I asked," He said exasperatedly.
I had a habit of sidestepping the questions I didn't want to answer, instead I would find the question I'd rather answer and simply give the response to that one.
Of course it wasn't necessarily a problem, at least not the real reason I am not attracted to any of the numerous men my Mother and Father had been attempting to set me up with.
"I know," Is all I said despite the racing thoughts inside of my head.
"Then what is the answer to the question I asked Rose?"
"Benvolio, have you ever had such an emotion for another but you knew it was forbidden?" I ask him in return.
"Not exactly, no."
"Well, it's sort of like that, I do not feel any romantic attraction towards a man," I draw on.
"What are you implying Rose? Is this what I am thinking of?" He sits up with brown eyes watching my own.
"Yes it is," I nod.
"You...you fall for women as well as any man?" He asked me, it wasn't condescending or disgusted, but instead a more worried tone.
"Is that really so bad?" I ask honestly.
"No...I don't think so, instead I think that its just uncommon and unusual for everyone to accept, you know your mother and father would have a fit if they found out," he said.
"No, they'd exile me out of my own home town if they found out," I correct.
"And this troubles you because you are being forced to choose a man that you truly do not want to be with yet you yearn for the opposite sex?" He says, it was as if he was questioning it himself.
"I would rather not live a lie of being married to a man whom I will never love, if it were a perfect society I'd find the love of my life, it would be the women falling at my feet instead of the men," I wonder aloud.
"I will not tell anyone of this, but you must figure it out, whether you die a spinster-or choose to live the lie that your parents want you to…"
"Come lets venture into the city my dear Rose," He says standing up offering me his hand, if it had been any other man I'd simply brush him off but Benvolio was my cousin and a close friend.
He helps me up, when I am standing I brush off my skirt a simple blue cotton fitted to a long sleeved top of the same color.
"That is incredibly bare my cousin," Benvolio tuts his tongue.
"I was not trying to get my good dresses dirty by sitting in the meadow, if you do not remember I left as soon as dawn had arrived," I say, looping my arm through his outstretched arm.
"You know you must be careful, if you do not want people to believe you are just a simply commoner," he chuckled as we stepped onto the cobblestone lining the fair streets of Verona.
"Benvolio, I do not care whether they believe I am a commoner or a noble, if I myself know what I am it does not matter what they think of me," I laughed back just as tauntingly as he had.
"A true point you make," Benvolio says to me, which is a win in my own story he never agrees so easily.
In the distance stood a serving man gazing at a long piece of parchment paper, his fingers traced the paper with confusion.
When we neared, his head lifted spotting Benvolio and I, he immediately began to walk closer to the two of us.
"Excuse me good sir and ma'am," He said stopping in front of us.
"Do either of you know how to read?" He asks us with genuine curiosity.
I nodded.
"Yes I do," I say smiling. "Do you need help with something?"
"Yes, could you please read this out loud to me?
I nodded, taking the piece of long parchment from him where embedded in the paper read a list of names.
"Signior and his family, County Anselme and his sisters, the lady widow of Vitruvio, Signior Placentio and his nieces, Mercutio and his brother Valentine, Uncle Capulet and his family, Rosaline and Livia, Signior Valentio and his cousin Tybalt, Lucio and Helena." I read out to the serving man.
"Such a long list of guests? Where might they be going?" I inquired the man.
"For supper at my masters house," he said simply.
"Who is your Master dear boy?" I asked.
"The great and rich Capulet, and if you are not of the House of Montague I am personally inviting you to come and drink and be merry as a reward for helping me so dearly," the serving boy said. "But for now I wish you farewell!"
"And you as well!" I call as he hurried along the streets, his linen clothing simple but elegant in the sense he was carrying out the messages of Lord Capulet.
After he was gone Benvolio and I continued our walk down the street.
"You should go to that party Rose," He said out of nowhere.
"Don't be ridiculous, did you not hear him-if you are not of the house of Montague, and I tell you all though you already know- I am," I say laughing at the absurdity of his suggestion. "I would not be welcomed there."
"You could find a distraction, for your sadness is evident although you may deny it you are saddened with the prospect of your Mother and Father begging you to find a lover, and perhaps you can find someone to meet your expectations," He continues to explain.
I scoffed. His suggestion was becoming more and more preposterous by the minute.
"And how exactly would I even come upon that subject Benvolio? I'd be sooner thrown into the streets for the dogs rather than find someone who...meets my expectations," I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt.
"But the possibilities are endless my dear Rose, it could happen maybe you wouldn't be the one to bring such a conversation into question," he said laughing.
"Fine, fine, my cousin, but if this goes wrong I will place the blame on you, do not be mistaken for that," I sighed. "I'll go and drink wine and dance and be merry and perhaps you are right I might find someone who meets my expectations."