Finding June

  “Okay, you need to run out while it’s dark and lay on that box . . . I mean, tomb, in the middle of the stage. You’ve read it right? Don’t wake up until he kills himself,” Xani instructed in a hushed but panicked voice. I would almost think she was more nervous than I was about this.

  “Xani, I honestly can’t tell you how much this means to me,” I said, pulling her into a quick hug.

  “Yeah, yeah. Go get him!” she said, giving me a thumbs-up and pushing me out onto the darkened stage.

  This was it.

  I half walked and half ran to the "tomb" in the middle of the stage, and then climbed up onto it. I lay down so that my hair covered my face for the most part, hoping no one would notice that Juliet was suddenly a different person—at least, not until it was absolutely unavoidable.

  Through my closed eyelids, I could see the lights turn up on the stage and hear the familiar sound of someone’s microphone being turned on from the tech booth behind the audience. A pair of footsteps echoed on the stage and I wondered why there were two people walking on. Maybe someone had seen me trade places with Xani and they were coming to drag me off the stage, thinking I was some spotlight-obsessed teenager.

  As the two figures spoke, I realized it was supposed to be Paris and his servant, coming to pay their respects to Juliet. I had completely forgotten how long this last scene actually was. I would have to wait for Paris and the servant to hide, then for Romeo (Joseph) and Balthasar to enter. Then Balthasar would leave and Romeo would kill Paris. I’d just have to hope that I could contain my nerves for that long, because the more I thought about it, the more I realized how painfully long this wait was going to be when all I wanted to do was tell Joseph how I felt right then and there.

  I tried not to listen to the lines being spoken and focused on exactly what I would say. I couldn’t ruin the play for everyone just because I had been an idiot, but I needed to be able to get my point across as well. It would be tricky, and I’m sure my words wouldn’t be Shakespearean, but the audience would forgive me. Most of them probably wouldn’t even know the difference.

  I lay there silently, trying to ignore the deafening beating of my own heart as Romeo killed Paris and brought him to lie near my tomb. I could hear myself breathing loudly but tried desperately to tune it out and just concentrate on what I would say—which I still had absolutely no ideas for, by the way.

  I felt Joseph sit on the box next to me and heard him recite his lines loud and clear. It was almost odd to have him so close to me now, after not having seen him in a while. My arm tingled where his hand rested on it, and suddenly I knew exactly how Joseph had felt being around me all this time. I was a little giddy to have finally realized how I felt about him. Now that I knew I loved him, it made the stakes that much higher. If I didn’t get this right, I could completely ruin my only chance of getting him back.

  Joseph shifted his weight next to me and I could only guess what that meant. He was turning to kiss me.

  “Eyes, look your last. Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, O you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss. A dateless bargain to engrossing death,” he recited, his hand moving the hair from my face.

  I have to admit, at that moment I would have given anything to open my eyes and see the look on Joseph’s face. I could feel his whole body tense up, his hand freezing on my cheek and his breath catching in his throat. It took all of my willpower to not smile or laugh. Even though I knew the situation was extremely delicate, the circumstance itself was pretty amusing. Even in my panicked state, the humor was not lost on me.

  After an uncomfortable moment of complete and utter silence, I began to worry that he wouldn’t kiss me. Maybe he’d just storm off the stage and my only chance to talk to him would have failed. I heard someone in the audience cough, probably just assuming that Joseph was nervous to kiss a girl onstage.

  Finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting for him to decide if he was going to play along or bolt, I felt him lean down toward me. I thought he might whisper some angry remark, but then I remembered he had a microphone taped to his cheek. He pressed his lips against mine very briefly before pulling away. It definitely didn’t feel like the time we had kissed while rehearsing our scene together. This was a forced kiss.

  My throat tightened at the fact that the first half of my grand gesture apparently hadn’t been well received, but I was hardly counting on him to forgive me just because I crashed his play. The second half of my plan was the real bid for his affection.

  “Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide. Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark. Here's to my love,” he said, jumping right back into character after his little moment of shock.

  “O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”

  I felt his body lurch forward violently before falling sideways so that he was laying right next to me, blocking my view of the audience.

  I opened one eye cautiously only to find Joseph facing me, both of his eyes wide open and looking like I’d better have a good explanation for my presence. I stared at him silently for a moment, hoping I could somehow convey in a single look how sorry I was. We lay there for a moment, staring at each other until Joseph motioned upwards with his eyes. I gave him a puzzled look and mouthed a silent “What?”

  “Get up and finish the play,” he whispered between gritted teeth.

  “Oh, right!” I said. I wasn’t sure how they had rehearsed this whole scene, but I wasn’t exactly going by the book (or play, I guess) anyway, so I sat up on the tomb and looked down at Joseph. I could hear a wave of whispers sweep through the room. Apparently I didn’t look as much like Xani as I had hoped.

  I could see my friend Jared standing off to the side of the stage, frozen mid-stride. Apparently I had also forgotten that the friar was supposed to come in and talk for forever. He looked at me in shock and then slowly backed off the stage, causing the audience to laugh. I’d have to remember to apologize for stepping on his scene. Well . . . if I was really thinking about it, I’d have to apologize to a lot of people for a lot of things after this was all said and done. But that would have to wait until I had gotten the most important apology off of my chest.

  Trying to channel my inner Shakespeare (which was definitely not easy), I looked down at Joseph and placed my hand on his cheek, turning his face so that it was pointed up at me.

  “Oh Romeo,” I began, wishing I had read more Shakespeare so I’d at least have some idea of how I should word this. Gran may have thought I had all of Shakespeare's works memorized, but trying to translate your own muddled thoughts into a work of art was a whole new ballgame. “How tangled our lives have become. We confess our love with our lips and with our hearts, yet neither is heard nor appreciated until it is too late.” Saying these pseudo-Shakespearian lines felt like the cheesiest thing I had ever done. But Candice was right—Joseph had put himself out there for me, so if I had to look like an idiot to show him how sorry I was, I would do it.

  “You brought your love to me and I brought you to a tomb. I reflect and wish I had admitted to myself and to you, that my affections matched yours from the very first moment. But I was naïve and . . . ” What was a Shakespearian word for "an idiot"? Gosh, this was a lot harder than I had thought it would be. There was a long silence while I tried to think of a good way to put what I really wanted to say in the context of the play. I wanted to tell him how sorry I was, how I hadn’t meant to be a jerk, how I wished I had gone to Homecoming with him rather than being with Lukas.

  Unable to think of any possible way to fit all of that into the storyline of Romeo and Juliet, I looked down at Joseph. His eyes were closed but his face was bright red. I couldn’t tell if he was embarrassed for me, angry, or just burning up under these stage lights. Leaning down toward him slightly, I smiled. It may have not been the most eloquent apology, but he had definitely heard it.

  “I’m sorry,” I said finally, my words echoing around
the auditorium. My hair covered our faces as I leaned over him and brought my lips to his. Now, I may not be a Shakespeare expert, but I was pretty sure dead Romeo was not supposed to kiss Juliet back. Joseph grabbed my hand, hidden behind him and kissed me back with full force. His kiss was like falling into a pile of laundry fresh out of the dryer. It was warm and comfortable and made me feel like I was home.

  I had to physically pull myself away from Joseph to finish the play off, though I did see the way he was smirking with his eyes closed, his shaggy dark brown hair falling across his forehead, as I turned to face the audience once more.

  I couldn’t remember exactly what Juliet was supposed to say next . . . something about a happy dagger, which seemed a little odd. So I improvised.

  “Well . . . I have checked my Romeo’s lips thoroughly for poison and can attest that none remains,” I said with a shrug. I could hear a few giggles throughout the audience at this statement. “So now with a dagger, I’ll loose these mortal chains.” All right, all right, I know that’s not what she says. But I figured maybe Mr. Carroll wouldn’t kill me after this was all done if I at least made it rhyme.

  Pulling the prop dagger from Joseph’s belt, I raised it high in the air and plunged it deep into the folds of my dress. I made a pained face for a moment and then let myself die, laying my head on Joseph’s chest and entwining my fingers with his. The audience actually applauded, which I found a bit surprising A) because I had just killed myself over a boy, and B) because I had just completely butchered one of the most famous plays in history. But beggars can’t be choosers, and it looked like I had accomplished my goal, so I smiled against Joseph’s chest and listened to his heart beat for the rest of the scene. It felt like the dénouement took forever, since all I wanted to do was talk to Joseph.

  When the lights dimmed on stage, Joseph and I ran off to the wings while everyone else went on to take their bows. The crowd's applause echoed all through the auditorium. I did notice in my frazzled state that Xani had changed back into one of her previous costumes and was now heading out to take her bow. Joseph stood in front of me, his face flushed.

  “You need to get out there and bow,” I said urgently.

  “Did you mean what you said?” he asked, ignoring me.

  “I did. Every word . . . well, more than every word actually, because I wasn’t clever enough to fit everything I wanted to say into the story . . . sorry,” I said sheepishly.

  “I can’t believe you hijacked our play just to talk to me,” he laughed, admiration showing on his face. Candice was right—sacrificing my pride for him really had showed him how much I cared.

  “It was the only way to get you to listen,” I answered with a shrug.

  “Well, I heard you. Loud and clear.”

  “Not quite. I didn’t get to tell you that I love you. Completely and unconditionally and really quite stupidly. I’ve tried to ignore it all this time, but that doesn’t make it any less true. I love you, Joseph Cleveland,” I said earnestly, feeling all of my stress lift from me with that simple admission. “I love you like those idiots in romantic comedies who make all sorts of bad choices because they’re so blinded by their love. I love you more than any silent film I’ve ever seen, or any piece of old-fashioned clothing. I love you more than acting. And I certainly love you more than I could ever love some immature, disgusting, snobby A-lister.”

  I beamed at Joseph and my eyes actually teared up, which was embarrassing. “It almost hurts how much I love you.”

  Joseph gave me the happiest smile I think I had ever seen on his face. He opened his mouth a few times to say something, but couldn’t quite seem to ever get the words out. So instead of trying to match my ridiculously ineloquent ramblings about how much I loved him, he brought me close to him and gave me a proper, unrestrained and completely amazing kiss. He held me tightly, one hand on my waist and the other tangled in my hair as he kissed me deeply. He only pulled away once in the darkened wings of the applause-filled backstage to whisper his response.

  “I love you too, June Laurie.”

  THE END

  Sneak peek at the first chapter of the sequel!

  Chasing June

  Chapter 1

  A rusty old Volkswagen Bus can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Okay . . . so maybe that’s not true, and saying so might just a bit overly dramatic. To most people, a VW Bus probably means, "hey, that person can’t afford a car with more paint on it than rust." But to me, standing on the front lawn of the house I grew up in, it meant freedom. Or at least, it meant I was starting a new and scary chapter in my life.

  It had been more than two years since I had first landed that life-changing role on Forensic Faculty and launched myself into the world of some of the sleaziest Hollywood people and some of the most wonderful Hollywood people. I’d been kept on the show for more than my original four episodes. Apparently the focus group liked the dynamic that Imogen Gentry brought to the show, so I stayed on throughout my junior and senior years of high school. That meant I became known to everyone in my school as, "That one girl on Forensic Faculty."

  It wasn’t bad, though. Joseph helped to get me through the wrath of the online Forensic Faculty fandom, which was full of girls who hated me simply because my character was Lukas Leighton’s love interest. I hadn’t realized, going into the show, just how crazy people would get about a fictional character. What Imogen did on each episode the night before would greatly impact how people at school treated me the next day, which meant Joseph and I kept our group of friends limited. At school it was me, Joseph, and Xani, (who, even though she could admit I belonged with Joseph, wouldn’t stop herself from shamelessly flirting with him every chance she got). Outside of school, I turned to Ryan, Benjamin, and Candice.

  Putting aside the reflection for the moment, I looked around my front lawn at my small but perfect group of friends and family. They had come to see me and Joseph off for our big departure to college in Utah, and I couldn’t help but smile at what I saw. Ryan, Benjamin, and Candice stood in a small circle looking at Benjamin’s phone and laughing about something. Joseph and my Dad, who had come home from his constant work-related traveling for this farewell, struggled to shove one of my bags into the back of the VW Bus. Gran stood and talked with Joseph’s parents, looking misty-eyed and sentimental. I wondered if Gran would start taking acting jobs again now that she didn’t have my budding career to focus on.

  After a few episodes of Forensic Faculty aired, I had started getting offers for other parts. Most of them were smaller TV roles, although a few were small parts in big movies. As much as I had wanted to break even further into the acting world, (Gran was practically salivating over the roles I was being offered) there were always reasons I couldn’t do it. It seemed like every role I was offered had something questionable in it. I hadn’t realized that having such high moral standards was going to hurt my acting career so much. Each time, I gracefully turned down the parts I was offered, beginning to feel like the only roles that would be free of "questionable content"’ would be kids movies where I did a voice-over for a talking animal.

  All right. That’s a bit extreme.

  But I was honestly kind of grateful I couldn’t find any clean roles in Hollywood, because it made the decision to go to college much easier. When Joseph and I got our acceptance letters to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, there wasn’t a question in my mind that I was doing the right thing. Besides, maybe once I had graduated, I wouldn’t keep getting offered parts in dirty teen comedies and could instead act in dramas or romantic comedies. At least, that was what I told myself to make me feel better about leaving Hollywood right as my career was starting to take off.

  Gran swore I’d probably never be able to get my foot back in the door if I left for school, but I told her I’d be okay with that, since the only door open at the moment was the kind you’d find behind the red curtain at video rental stores.

  “New Girl, come here,” Benjamin said,
pulling me from my reverie and still using my old nickname even though we’d been friends for more than two years now. I smiled at the three of them and walked over to see some video of a cat holding onto a ceiling fan . . . at least, that’s what it looked like from where I stood.

  “Thank you for that,” I said sarcastically, shaking my head at them.

  “You’re lucky you’re leaving. That’s the third time today he’s made me watch that stupid video,” Candice stated dryly.

  “I’ll miss you too,” I said with a big cheesy smile, pulling her into a tight hug, which she didn’t reciprocate at all. It was like hugging a two-by-four, although the plank of wood might have been more affectionate.

  “Personal space bubble,” was all she said, making me hug her tighter for a moment before releasing her.

  Candice was really my only girlfriend. Xani didn’t count as a girlfriend because she only hung around to get to Joseph. Candice, on the other hand, was an actual friend. We rarely hung out without Joseph, Ryan, and Benjamin, but it was nice to feel like even though I was going away to school and leaving the show, I’d still be their friend. It made leaving less difficult when I knew I had something worthwhile to come back to. And of course, Joseph felt blessed to be able to hang out with Ryan and Benjamin, who played his favorite characters on Forensic Faculty.

  “If you get bored with the whole school thing, make sure you come back. We’ll get Bates to bring you back on the show,” Ryan said, his deep blue eyes crinkling at the edges as he smiled. He was sporting a bit of a five o’clock shadow these days, making him look much more "leading man" than the "witty sidekick" his clean-shaven baby face had made him. Even though he was still on the show, he had been picking up more and more roles lately, finally getting the recognition he deserved.