Rosemary and Juliet

Denial

Juliet

"Kaitlyn," Juliet said suddenly, turning to her friend. They had been hanging out in Kaitlyn's basement, and Juliet knew it was time. She had to tell someone, and that someone should be her. "I'm gay."

"I know," Kaitlyn answered, not even batting an eye.

"What do you mean, you know?" Juliet asked, surprised, and a little concerned.

"I've known since you were eight," Kaitlyn laughed. "We would talk about boys and you'd just be like, 'no'. It really wasn't that difficult."

Juliet rolled her eyes. Sure, she had thought about it alone when she was bored, but it hadn't been until recent that she took it seriously. And so far, no one was the least bit surprised about it. "Kaitlyn, please, be serious for a second. I'm so confused. I like this girl, but it makes me feel sick to even think about it. The worst part? I know that she likes me, but she's never told me, so I can't just act on this. It's not that simple, you know?"

Her older friend sighed. "If you know that you like her, and she likes you, then what's stopping you?"

"Her boyfriend, who, unrelated, I hate."

"Unrelated, huh? Okay. So because of him, you think that there's nothing you can do, right?"

"Exactly."

"If you just told Rosemary that you were in love with her, don't you figure she would leave him for you?" she pointed out.

Juliet stared blankly. She'd never mentioned Rosey, and she certainly had said nothing of love. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Juliet, please, don't insult me. She's pretty much all you ever talk about, and the only person outside of our friend group that you hang out with, besides that Alexis girl. And the time I saw you two together, she could have been doing anything, paying attention to anything, but no matter what we were all doing, her eyes were on you. Doctor Who episode? She was looking at your reactions. Marching band was playing on the field? She was making sure that she was sitting right beside you."

"So what?"  

"So what? So she loves you is what. You know that she has a crush on you, but I know that she's in love with you, and probably has been for a long time. Are you really going to let David stand in your way? Because I'm pretty sure that their relationship is a joke by now anyways. You've said it yourself, it's all a massive game."

Juliet sighed, burying her face in her hands. "I want to tell her, okay? But what if you're wrong? What if her relationship is more important to her than me? What if this game she's playing is more interesting than us being together?"

"Then you need to find someone who's going to respect you. If Rosemary can't see that you two should be together, then you need to move on real fast."

Juliet knew that she was right, but she also knew that would be a hell of a lot easier said than done.

****

"But really, how could you tell?" Juliet's mom asked Kaitlyn for probably the millionth time. Since coming out to both of them, they seemed to enjoy comparing notes on how the other had kind of figured out that Juliet was all of the gay.

"I don't know, Ms. Capulet," she answered. "I could just tell, ever since she was eight, that she was gay."

"Honestly, I thought it was going to be Ryan," her mom admitted. "But it had to be one of them, right? I guess it isn't that shocking. You do really like bow ties and suspenders." Mom, what?