Peterick//More Than You Bargained For

seven: blushing pilgrims

He looks kinda cute in my clothes.

Stop. I push that thought away. What's wrong with me? Pete Wentz is not a friend. You do not think that way around people who are not your friend.

"Im so sorry about my mom. Are you okay?" I ask Pete after realizing that I've been gazing at him for at least 10 seconds.

"It's okay. As long as she's okay, I'm okay. And that was dumb of me. I probably should've have been sitting right by her head," Pete explains.

"Alright. Shall we begin?"

"Can I ask a question, first?" Pete says.

I nod, slightly confused.

"Are you going to be able to stand me, now we've both admitted that we fucked up freshman year?"

I think about it.

"We don't have to be friends," he says quickly, "but, you know, acquaintances?"
 
Why not? I have nothing to lose here, and I'm tired of constantly being a guarded dick to him.

I would rather be on the good side of Pete all month rather than being up at his throat the entire time.

I shrug. "Yeah, okay."

He nods while smiling, and we both sift through our backpacks to pull out the scripts.

-
Quick A/N
This part might be boring for some of you. I find it interesting because I'm a theatre nerd, but hang in there.
They're breaking down the writing because it's easiest to act out Shakespeare when you know exactly what you're saying rather than a bunch of 1500's gibberish.
Nevertheless, I'll try to make it short.
-

"Should we start with the meaning?" Pete asks as I sit down on the bed with my legs crossed.

I respond, "Yeah, but I'm wondering why it's so short. Only a page? I was expecting the entire scene."

"It's because a good amount of Ms. Smith's classes are joining together to create one big presentation of Shakespeare at the end of the month. All of her juniors and seniors," he explains, "it would be too long of a show if each group had an entire scene to perform."

Shit. I didn't know it was at the end of the month. We have less than four weeks to prepare.

I nod my head.

Pete reads his first line, "'If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this.'"

I start, "So you're saying that my hand is a "shrine," a special place that you don't deserve to touch."

"Yeah, and if you don't want my hand touching yours, I continue to say that I'm ready to make things better with a kiss. 'My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready sand to smooth that rich touch with a tender kiss.' And I refer my lips as blushing pilgrims."

"Uh, yeah." I realize that I've been staring at Pete's lips as he was taking. They look so soft, so appealing, especially when in motion.

I clear my throat to say my line. "'Good pilgrim, you do wrong with your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this, for saints have hands that pilgrims hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmer's kiss.'

"So I tell him- I mean you, that you don't give your hand enough credit. Your grasp on my hand shows polite devotion. I say that pilgrims touch the hands of saints, and holding one palm against the other is like a kiss."

I look up to see Pete gazing at me. "That's- that's really romantic," he says, looking down.

Is he blushing?

I dismiss what I just saw. "Yeah, this play is beautiful. I've read it all the way through, so I know my way around it."

We continue like this, taking turns reading our lines and analyzing them. It goes considerably fast because both of us are quite advanced students.

And the entire time, I continue to find my eyes resting on the other boy's lips, suddenly curious what it would feel like to have mine pressed against his.

-
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PLEASE READ THIS!
I'm not doing another chapter of script analysis, so if y'all want to understand what they're saying in the future, message me and I'll give you the link to the site where they break down what Shakespeare is writing.
It's really easy to understand, like the website just re-types each quote in modern day language.
Trust me, it'll help. Shakespeare is extremely confusing, especially for those who have never encountered his work.

P.S.
If you enjoyed this chapter, drop a "vote" for me!