So, we've reached the end of another story. I'm not as happy with this story as I am with the other two, but I guess I can go back and edit.
Big thank you to my reviewers, Dawnstar94, Oreoskidz, iluvshinjimina, Zelda12343, Harley, Emy and Edssessed374. I really appreciate it, it really does help me write.
And yes, I am writing a sequel to ALYN, although I don't know when I will be ready to post the first chapter. I have the Easter holidays coming up soon, so hopefully around about then. I also have a deviantart page, there's a link on my account to that. I post updates about the writing process and pictures of the characters there. If anyone wants to add me on Facebook, private message me. I'm probably going to make a group for the Child Swap series on there anyway, so keep your eyes peeled.
Enough said! Enjoy the last chapter of WL? I hope you like the little twist about Angelo at the end. Also, Vaslav Nijinsky was a famous ballet dancer, and I think he's the sort of person Gabriel would admire. What some of the characters do and say in this chapter will also be included in the next installment, The Students Of Venice.
Tybalt and Rosaline were out of the way for the summer. That was all the prompting Romeo and Juliet needed. They ran giggling into a small booth in the corner of a quiet cafe, keeping their heads down.
"I feel so naughty" Juliet giggled "This is like a love story!"
"I couldn't ask for a better girl, or a better love story" sighed Romeo "I read poems about this all the time. And now it's my turn"
"This is so much better than anything that ever happened in Twilight!" Juliet eagerly responded.
"Oh my God, my cousin Beatrix is absolutely obsessed with Twilight. You can't get her to shut up about it. And so my cousin, Benvolio, who's her younger twin brother, threw it out the window!"
"Good for Benvolio! He's the one with the braces and specs, right?"
"Yep, that's him"
"Do you all get on?" asked Juliet.
"Yes, we do. Besides the whole Twilight obsession. Me and Benvolio are more like brothers than cousins. His mum died of cancer when he was ten, so my parents helped out my uncle a lot and so I saw him loads and stuff. I'm not so close to Beatrix, but we can get on. What about your family?"
"We have our moments" Juliet rolled her eyes "I'm probably the most popular in my family as I get on with everyone, but there's one of my cousins who I cannot stand. You've met Rosaline, haven't you? She's a complete slut"
It was like a jolt to reality to Romeo "Sure. I've met Rosaline. Trying to put it about, as usual"
"Yeah, that's her. She keeps her fingers in the pockets of all the young rich men of Verona. She's dating my other cousin Tybalt, and just literally controls him. She makes him have a bath even if he doesn't want to. Fair play, Tybalt stinks of unwashed boy most the time, but really? Hermia drew a picture of her holding him on a dog leash"
Romeo snorted.
"They're only together because Tybalt likes Rosaline's jugs and she likes his wallet. Anyway, enough about them. Let's talk about us. What's your favourite pastime?"
"I like writing poems" said Romeo "I read lots of love poetry and I write my own. I think it's romantic"
Juliet's insides melted into a puddle of chocolate "That's so...that's so sweet! Aw! That's adorable. It's so cute to see a guy so in touch with his feelings. I mean, the only other guys I know are people like Paris, who just cares about money and social status"
"Money can't buy love" Romeo shook his head.
"True. Unless you're Rosaline. I should introduce them to each other someday. She'd dump Tybalt in a wink if he was interested in her, and it would get him off my back"
"Why, does he follow you about?"
"No, he just sucks up to me. He says crap about how esteemed my family is, and how great his family is, he just, urgh, he's a pest. And my parents like him, too! Hermia says she'll get rid of him for me, but I don't want her to do anything too rash and get into trouble"
"You two seem really close" said Romeo.
"We are. She was born two weeks after me so we're like twins really. You know her back story, don't you?"
"Yeah, Mercutio told me. That's sad"
"I know. I wish my mum would be nicer to her. It's not her fault my dad had an affair. At least he owned up to it and gave Hermia a life instead of being shoved in foster homes for the rest of her life. I never understood why my mum was so mean to her during my childhood until Tybalt told me she wasn't my real sister"
"What happened?"
Juliet's eyes darted around, and then she bent over to whisper one of the biggest secrets held by the Capulet family.
"I was always told she was my mum's daughter as well, but then we got older, and Rosaline wised up on the maths. She told Tybalt, who then asked his mum. His mum lets him get away with murder, and so she told him. Then Tybalt told me and the rest of my cousins about who she really was. My dad overheard him telling all his friends and telling them to call her 'the bastard,' and was furious at him. People have pretty much wised up about it now, but it's not something we talk about it. Don't repeat it, whatever you do. Hermia doesn't even know her mum's name, so Rosaline said she was going to look it up on the internet and tell her for her birthday in revenge for the DVD thing and for Hermia stealing her boyfriend. Please excuse the dysfunctions of my family"
"That's ok" said Romeo "If I told you some of the stuff about my family, your hair would turn white. My Aunty Isabella is thinking about becoming a nun, Beatrix is a Twilight obsessed freak, and my Uncle Anthony is a two-faced racist who hates Jews for no reason"
"Well, that's a bit mean" Juliet shuddered "Never mind. How did we get onto these morbid conversations?"
"I don't know, I just feel like I can talk to you"
"Me too" smiled Juliet.
The waitress came over, and so they both ordered milkshakes.
"Do you like strawberry?" asked Romeo.
"I love strawberry! I bet you're a chocolate sort of guy, though"
"How did you know?"
"I can just tell" replied Juliet "Perhaps we can share"
They both glanced around at the room again. No one had paid them any heed. They were under the radar.
"It's so quiet without Tybalt. I mean, there have been no fights, and Hermia seems happier" said Juliet.
"That's because he bullies her, isn't it?" said Romeo.
"No. They're both to blame. She winds him up, he reacts. Well, he over-reacts. And he gets mad when she calls Rosaline names. Rosaline has it coming, anyway. She brings out the worst in Tybalt. Whenever they're together, it's a 'get Hermia' mission. Tybalt's not so bad when he's on his own"
"Really?"
"Yeah! He's like my big brother. I know you've only ever seen the worst of him because of the feud, but once you get to know him, he's really loyal and good to have on your side. He's mean to anyone I don't like, and he has a great sense of humour"
"Tybalt has a sense of humour? I should tell Mercutio, it might make him faint"
Juliet snorted, and then their milkshakes were placed in front of them. They both leant over, to suck their straws.
"Nice?" asked Romeo.
"My favourite. Let me taste yours"
"My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard!" sang Romeo, sliding his across the table. Juliet sucked the straw.
"Very nice! You try mine"
"Mmm. It's so sweet" said Romeo. They swapped back their milkshakes, and then glanced around the room. Still, no one had paid them any heed, and so they continued talking again.
"So, why do you and Mercutio call each other such daft names? You know, Wooshy-wo, Woo woo, Hermy-wa, and Bennykins? I mean, how does Bennykins even fit?"
Romeo just laughed indulgently "We just do! That's just us, I mean, we're crazy. We love messing around. Mercutio invented them because he found out my mum still packed my lunch for me when I was thirteen, and so he called me 'wittle Womey-wo,' but then it just became Woo woo. Then of course, Hermia needed a nickname, Benvolio needed a nickname, and then me and Benvolio ganged up on him and called him Wooshy-wo"
"Yes, but how does Bennykins fit?"
"I think Wen-wolly-wo sounds pretty stupid, don't you? So he gets to be the odd one out"
"What would I be, Wooly-wet?"
"Probably. I would have to gain the nick-naming permission from Wooshy-wo himself"
"Can't we just ask Hermy-wa?"
"Afraid not. Mercutio's boss. Well. He likes to think he is"
"Of course, of course" smiled Juliet.
Romeo snorted. His glowing opinion of Rosaline had faded, and now he saw what his crush on her really was – a silly teenage crush. She was an unattainable icy cold queen bee, and he'd just wasted time pining for her. He was no better than Beatrix obsessing over Twilight!
Instead, the best thing to do was to look for and appreciate the genuine girls. Romeo smiled at the one in front of him. She was lovely. She was different to all the other girls he'd fancied or tried to date. They hadn't stopped talking in the time they'd been together, and they'd found out heaps about each other. And it was weird looking at the feud from another point of view. As far as Romeo had been concerned, Tybalt was a violent thug who hated everyone. He didn't realise that he meant something to someone.
For the first time in his life, he wished for the feud to end.
"I'm bored" whined Gabriel.
Angelo just rolled his eyes "Whatever, Gabriel. Hey, I know, why don't you go out with your friends? Oh, wait, you can't. You don't have any"
"Well, you don't seem to have any either, so I guess I must take after my daddy then" Gabriel snipped back.
Angelo ignored his son, and checked his phone. Yesterday afternoon, Rosaline had texted him to say she and Tybalt had landed safely. This morning, she sent an angry text after realising that Tybalt's grandparents lived on a farm. With animals. And their...excrement.
"How's Rosaline enjoying her summer stay on a farm?" giggled Gabriel. Angelo shared a smile with his son.
"Not much. Tybalt took her out for a ride on a tractor this morning and she screamed the whole way round. They're right out in the countryside, there are barely any shops, nowhere for them to go. Oh, and Tybalt's grandparents can't speak Italian and they keep jabbering away at her in French, and she can't understand a word they're saying even though she took it for GCSE!"
"Oh, poor Rosaline" Gabriel clapped lightly "That's just brilliant. She thought they were going to somewhere romantic, like Paris, and they end up on a farm! It's so movie cliché, but so hilarious!"
"That's enough, or I'll send you to join them!" Angelo lightly threatened.
"I wouldn't mind. I like animals. Remember when I asked for the battery chickens and you said no?"
"You already have a horse"
"But the battery chickens need a home and someone to love them after being tortured like that. Please?"
"No!"
Gabriel sighed defeatedly, and his eyes glanced around the cafe, before settling on a couple. The ginger had long ginger hair, sky blue eyes, and a slender, feminine figure. The boy was tanned, had chocolate brown eyes and hair, and a round, boyish face. Gabriel gaped.
That was Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague. And from the looks of things, they were pretty cosy with each other!
"Angelo!" hissed Gabriel excitedly "Hey, Angelo!"
"What?"
"Look! Look over there! Romeo and Juliet are together!"
"Oh, really? I've seen her sister out with him and his cousins before"
"No, together together! See how cosy they are together. Oh my God, oh my God! They're going to kiss! Oh my God, they just kissed!" Gabriel whispered ecstatically.
"Grow up, Gabriel!" Angelo turned and watched them, before turning back to his son "Reminds me of when I was younger. I fell in love with someone I shouldn't"
"Did you? What was her name?" asked Gabriel uninterestedly.
"Wasn't necessarily a she" muttered Angelo.
Gabriel gaped for the second time that day.
"You...you...you're gay?"
"Bi, you fool, otherwise you wouldn't be here, you idiot. And now leave them alone. Before you even think of doing anything like blackmail, or gossiping to your silly friends, I forbid you from causing trouble for them. Just let them be. They aren't hurting anyone"
"You're not even going to tell Rosaline?" asked Gabriel.
"No. It's not her business. Just let them be. Just them enjoy being in love while they can. They look quite cute together, don't you think?"
Gabriel looked again "Yes. Yes, I suppose they do. Do you think they'll last?"
"No idea" Angelo shrugged "None of my relationships have. But I think they deserve that chance to be together, don't you?"
"Yes" Gabriel nodded. He turned back to Angelo "Tell me about your lost love. What broke you up?"
"My parents and his parents disagreed with same-sex relationships. And my school didn't want their precious prefect to be messing around with another guy. This was before I got out the house and began to live my life the way I wanted. I was a few years older than you, sixteen, what, seventeen? When everyone found out, we ran away together for a weekend. That ended in tears"
"Why? You weren't doing anything wrong. And how did they find out?"
"My older brother Iago ratted on me" Angelo sighed "So we ran off when they told us to break up. We stayed in a B&B for a weekend, but we were caught. So we ran away again a few hours later and made a suicide pact so we could be together forever. We took some pills, and passed out. But then I woke up in hospital. My parents told me he'd died, but I survived"
"I'm sorry" murmured Gabriel.
"You know, I wish I hadn't bowed to pressure from adults and other people during my life. I lost someone I cared about, I screwed up the life of my daughters, you hate me-"
"I wouldn't hate you if you weren't such a hypocrite" protested Gabriel "You call me a sissy for dancing!"
"You're a lucky boy, Gabriel. You're very brave. It's amazing how you don't care about what people think about you. It's a shame you won't put that power to use. You could do anything. You could take a degree in philosophy, or a degree in history, maybe even write a book. You'd be a very good politician, you know"
"Yeah, if I had your job, I'd make it illegal to experiment on animals, change the National Anthem to Bad Romance, change the bible to The Catcher In The Rye, and make Vaslav Nijinsky the patron saint!"
"You weird boy" sighed Angelo "But just think, if somehow Mercutio became Escalus' heir, that would leave him as Prince of Verona, and I can guarantee that at least half of those things will come true!"
"Well, what do you know" Gabriel smiled "I'd also do something really crazy, like, um, make the Montagues swap kids with the Capulets for two weeks!"
"That's a good idea" mused Angelo "I should give it to Escalus sometime..."