Somewhere Over the Rainbow

VII

"That's awfully rude of you to say! If there's talent in your family, it should come to some use!" Cordelia tries to make him understand.

She may dislike Romeo, but she honestly cannot stand such levels of disrespect. His rising fame is not something that startles Cordelia. She knows he has talent and has potential of making it massively big in the singing industry, a path he is currently working towards. However, just because fame can be spiraled into him does not mean that Cordelia will stand for immoral and disrespectful people. She won't push away her better judgement just so she can know 'someone famous'. Cordelia knows to do better than that and always stand for what is right.

"Yeah, whatever," Romeo says, rolling his eyes playfully. He understands what she is saying and feels guilty for the way he acted towards his parents earlier on. However, it is not in Romeo's character to loudly admit such things. He lets guilt build up inside of him and does not wish to do anything to solve it. Romeo may not realise it, but he does not apologise because he doesn't want to deal with such guilts vocally and doesn't want to feel any less than the person he hurt.

"Fuck you," Cordelia hisses, jabbing a finger against his chest. "Now, play some Harry Styles because that suit is giving me the vibes and later. I'll save knocking some sense into you for later."

"Do you mean, 'fucking some sense into me', Corey?" Romeo smirks, leaning forward.

Cordelia snarls, curling a finger into his dark blue dress pants and circling it around his torso before pulling it out. "Keep calling me that, and the only 'fucking' I'll be doing is fucking you up."

"I love you," Romeo sings, leaning forward. He awaits a kiss, completely forgetting that they're surrounded by people.

Cordelia raises an eyebrow, "You're confessing your love? Because if you love me, I'm sorry, but we're going to have to end this deal between us."

"Fuck you," Romeo retorts, obviously not meaning what he previously said.

"Aw, I love you, too," Cordelia returns. She looks around, glad to see that no one is looking their way, for the first time in a long while. Quickly, she leans up and licks his lips, then giving him a lighting-fast kiss on the lips before pulling away and checking again to see if there are any wondering eyes. Thankfully, there isn't anyone.

"You can't just do that!"

"I can do whatever the fuck I want to, including you."

"Meet you upstairs in an hour?"

Cordelia grips his blazer's collar, demanding, "Only if you be my Harry Styles."

Romeo laughs, winking at her, then going to grab his guitar and Cordelia begins to walk away.

Taking a deep breath and pushing all the anger he previously felt away, Romeo steps behind the microphone, a place of comfort and familiarity to him, as well as a dream.

"Uh, hey guys!" Romeo hesitates to say. Darting his esy around the room, he sees people beginning to look at him. In the next second, there are a series of applauds and encouraging words from the audience, excited to see the rising star perform. Romeo grins, appreciating the love. "Okay, so I'm off to a great start, I suppose. So, I hope you've had enough drinks to make my music sound okay-ish to you!"

He earns laughter for that silly joke but also a disapproving call from his fuck-buddy, Cordelia, yelling, "I hope so!" When he looks over to her to glare, her parents are already quietly telling her to point down. When Cordelia realised that Romeo is watching her being shunned, she discreetly flips him the bird.

"Anyway, were gonna start off a tune familiar to the oldies but a song of our generation," Romeo quickly explains, adjusting the guitar in his hold.