Rome & Julie

Chapter 9

The next couple of weeks, the beginning of December came and passed.  I hated the cold weather, so sitting inside all day, studying, and watching movies essentially was my entire schedule outside sleep.  I also enjoyed reading Romeo and Juliet by the window, whilst sipping some of Maggie’s homemade hot chocolate.  It snowed pretty often, so I didn’t see Rome, on account of the roads being too bad for travel.  The county’s schools were closed, so I saw many kids playing with each other outside on their snow frosted lawns, building snowmen, and tackling each other into the soft snow piles.

With that rate, I thought December was going to be rather uneventful when half the month passed and nothing exciting happened, but then again, don’t I always speak too soon?

I woke up in the middle of the night to Maggie’s screaming.  She was yelling Robert’s name over and over, causing me to shoot out of the bed, and run into their room to see what the problem was.  Maggie was then on the phone, calling 911, saying that her husband was having a heart attack.  I could hear the desperation in her voice, and how afraid she was the she was about to lose her significant other.

Even though I didn’t know Robert that well, he was still important to me, so I couldn’t stop the tears that started to fill my eyes.  I heard Robert coughing and occasionally vomiting, but I could not see anything through the darkness of the room.  Robert was saying something in a heart wrenchingly weak voice, about Maggie not calling the hospital, and that he was okay, even though obviously he wasn’t.

Soon, the ambulance came, picked up Robert, and Maggie and I rushed behind the ambulance in her car.  Maggie was crying the whole time, and I was containing my sadness to be strong for her.  At the hospital, Maggie had to leave me to fill out some papers, and I realized didn’t really want to be alone.  My mind was working in overdrive.  I took my phone out of the pocket of my sweatpants, which I’d instinctively grabbed before leaving the house.  The clock on my phone read 3:23.

Without hesitation, I dialed speed dial number 2.  It rang five times before a sleepy voice answered.

“Hello?” 

“Rome?”  I said, realizing how obvious it was that I had been crying just by my voice.  It cracked, sounded weak, and was rough like a cat’s tongue.

“Julie?  Are you all right?  Is everything okay?”  Rome’s previously tired voice was suddenly alert, and in the background I could already hear him getting out of his bed.

“I’m fine.  It’s not me… it’s Robert.  He had a heart attack.  We’re at the hospital, and Maggie’s not here with me, and I don’t really want to be alone right now, so—”

“I’ll be there in five minutes,” Rome said.  I smiled a little, thanked him, and then hung up.  I couldn’t imagine why this would happen to Robert.  He was like a father to me.  He was the only father that I’d ever known, and even though we weren’t best friends and we didn’t talk often, I knew he cared about me, and would give his life for me. 

In less than five minutes, Rome came from around the corner of the sickeningly white wall of the hospital.  I immediately noticed he was dressed in jeans and a button up shirt, and the skidding thought that he looked amazing flittered through my mind.

“Julie…,” Rome started, and as he neared, I stood up.  For some reason, just the sight of Rome, at 3:30 in the morning and rushing towards me, started to make me cry harder.  Rome gathered me in his arms and held on tight, and my arms immediately wrapped around his neck.  His presence alone was already making my pounding heart calm to an appropriate level.  “I’m sure he’ll be okay,” Rome whispered in my hair.  I swallowed hard, taking a few calming breaths, breathing in that undeniable scent of Rome.