Dog Days Are Over|Roger UNFINISHED

[tuna]

Juliet was so happy to get out of the SATs she had run out of the building as fast as possible, losing one of her shoes along the way. She went back for it, getting knocked over by all the students that were also on their way out. Picking herself and her book bag back up, she looked around for one of the attendants that were supposed to meet her with a limousine. However, one was no where to be had, and she giggled softly as she realized someone was late. She made the quick decision to take advantage of it and ran down the street to the bus stop.

She caught the first one to Central Park, sitting next to a smelly old man, whom she smiled at warmly, giving him her sandwich she had ignored at lunch. She got off at her stop, waving warmly to the man as she stepped off the buss and into the warm air. She immediately went to a grassy area and took of her shoes, hiding them and her pack in some bushes. Suddenly, she heard a few chords being plucked on a guitar. The tune was trying her to it, and she twirled around in a circle, her beautiful short, cerulean silk dress dancing about her slender frame. She smiled softly at the man playing the tune, giving him a small curtsy.

[ROGER DAVIS]

It hadn't been a very eventful day. There had been a good 15 minutes where Roger had sang for an older man and his wife. It had been their anniversary, they had told him. They had given him ten bucks and told him that he was a sweetheart, but he really needed to get inside. The weather had forcasted rain. Then, they had walked away, and Roger was left alone, but ten dollars richer.

Then, in the middle of a random song, a girl seemingly floated into his vision, swaying and dancing along to his singing. It didn't matter, at the moment, if she didn't drop a dime; he wasn't about to stop a girl from dancing, more so when she looked like the thin girl that swayed in front of him. He finished, and felt a smirk cross his face. "Y'know, I've never gotten that much of a response before outside of, you know, a club venue."

[tuna]

Juliet giggled softly, as he commented on her spontaneous dancing, she said to him softly,"Sometimes it's nice to just dance..." She reached into a hidden pocket in her dress and pulled out a soft pink wallet. She naively pulled out a one hundred dollar bill and handed it to him, putting the wallet back. "An artist should always be payed for his work, just like anyone else," she whispered to him, as though it was their little secret.

She took a seat beside him and flopped down in the grass, looking up at the dark sky, hoping it would rain. Her mother would have her head for not only breaking the rules, but being out in the rain and the thought made her giggle to herself. She sat back up and extended her hands, gently asking without any ounce force, "Do you mind if I play a tune?"

[ROGER DAVIS]

He couldn't disagree with the young girl's statement. Sometimes it was nice just to dance and let loose. It had been a long time since he had done that, before Mimi had came into his life it had seemed like an eternity. When she pressed a bill into his hands, Roger shook his head slightly. "Nah, it's cool, y'don't gotta--" Though, as he unfolded his hand to look at the bill, his eyes widened. "I-I can't--I can't take this." She leaned and whispered to him, and he felt himself smile slightly.

"Thanks. Really."

Watching as she sat, Roger arched an eyebrow when the girl asked if she could play. "Sure." Roger said, looping the guitar strap from off his shoulder to hand her the guitar.

"Y'don't look like a girl who...plays." Immediatly, then, he realised his words could have been taken the wrong way. "Look, I didn't mean hat. I just meant--" he paused, and let a sigh escape his lips as he shook his head.

"Sorry. Yeah. Sure. Rock out."

[tuna]

Juliet giggled softly, wrapping the guitar strap around her small frame as he tried desperately to explain himself, "I know I don't. But if you spent as much time locked up in Capulet Manor as I do, you too would have picked up over 5 different instruments." She smiled softly at him, closing her big eyes as she strummed a familiar C chord. She hummed the same note for a second, letting it resonate within her. It had been a while since she'd had any kind of audience, and performing in front of people had always made her nervous.

She began a slow tune, strumming the chords with sure fingers and plucking the occasional string. Then she opened her mouth and began to sing softly. Her voice filled with conviction and a softness that seemed to surround her every being, "I remember it well,
The first time that I saw
Your head 'round the door,
'Cause mine stopped working.
I remember it well
There was wet in your hair
You were stood in the stair
And time stopped moving."

"Want you here tonight,
Want you here,
'cause I can't believe what I found.
Want you here tonight,
Want you here,
Nothing is taking me down."

She stopped for a second, letting out a small cough and a laugh, watching as a young couple walked by and dropped a five dollar bill. She saluted them and continued on, her voice a bit stronger.

"I remember it well,
Taxied out of a storm
To watch you perform,
And my ships were sailing.
I remember it well,
I was stood in your line,
And your mouth,
Your mouth,
Your mouth,
Your mouth...
Want you here tonight,
Want you here,
'Cause I can't believe what I found.
Want you here tonight
Want you here,
'Cause nothing is taking me down
'Cept you, my love.."

She finished and coughed again, as she handed back his guitar, no worse for the wear, and the five dollars. Nonchalantly, she continued with their previous conversation, as though the musical exchange had never happened, "Do you think it's going to rain?"

[ROGER DAVIS]

As she began to pluck and sing, Roger felt his head tilt to the side slightly as he watched her. He glanced only slightly at the couple dropped the five dollar bill, and then back at Juliet, until she finished, handing back his guitar and asking if it was going to rain.

"That was really good." Roger said honestly after a moment, and then turned his head up towards the sky, looking at the growing clouds hovering over New York City. "Dunno. I heard some people say they saw it on the news that it was supposed to. I dunno, though. I don't have a TV."

She handed the five bucks back, and Roger looked down at it for a moment. "Y'wanna get something to drink?"

[tuna]

Juliet smiled, giggling softly as she looked at him with her wide eyes, resting her head upon her palm and her elbow on her knee, "Thank you. I haven't played the guitar in a while. Lately I've been pretty stuck on the violin, but it's hard to play that and sing. I also know the flute, drums, and the saxophone. But I love to sing more than anything else." It was true. Singing had always been her passion. And her parents encouraged it, getting her the best teachers money could buy for any instrument she had interest in. She looked a bit outwardly troubled as he mentioned his lack of a TV. As she looked at him a bit harder, she noticed that he was rather poor-looking, but not un-handsome. In fact, he was a rugged handsome that brought a blush to her cheeks as she looked at him.

She bit her lip as he asked her if she wanted to get something to drink, leaning close to him, mischief in her eyes, "Like a date?" Of course she was joking with him, but that probably wouldn't be readily apparent.

[ROGER DAVIS]

Roger arched an eyebrow as Juliet spoke of all the instruments that she knew how to play. Of course she did, Roger thought. She was rich. Rich people knew how to do everything, and if they didn't, they paid someone to learn how to do it for them. However, something told him that Muffy didn't serenade Benny every night with Mozart on the piano.

Like a date?

It didn't pass him when the blush crossed over his face. It wasn't something that he was new to by any means. Her words were something that hadn't been a first, either. Watching as she leaned, Roger felt his lips twitch into something of a smile as he leaned to her slightly. "Believe me, baby. You don't want to date me." Back before April, when he had been wild and carefree, willing and ready to sleep with anyone that offered, he knew he'd never settle down. Nothing was serious. Then, April had came along and tamed him. But, she had came and stayed and left him with more baggage than he had before. He knew Mimi was rare; she had the patience of a saint. But if the day ever came that Mimi would be gone from his life, he knew he'd be done with the entire thing. Done with love. Done with sex.

Done with life.

"I've got...issues. I'm not dating material. Or even like...casual material."

[tuna]

Juliet giggled softly, positioning herself so that her face was inches from him, her lips barely an inch from his, gazing into his eyes. Lingering there for an uncomfortable second she said, "I was joking." She lingered there again for a second, as though perhaps she hadn't been. But then she stood up, brushing off her expensive dress. As soon as she did it, she cringed. She had noticed the way he had looked at her earlier as she was looking at him. He thought she was a rich brat. She had seen the look before, and it hurt her every single time. If only he'd known all the pain she had gone through herself. Lily. Never being allowed out in public alone. She had also carefully watched the way his eyes changed as he went through his thought processes. There was pain there as well, and a twinge of happiness.

"I think I'd like that drink," she said, offering her hand to him to pull him up. She went over to the bush where she had dropped off her things, pulling out her pair of vegan tan heeled boots and attempting to put them on quickly. She began to fall over in the process. She screamed at first, then laughed. "Sorry, I'm so clumsy," she apologized.

[ROGER DAVIS]

He could feel the hot breath against his lips, and for a moment, a part of him told him to go for it. The little devil on his shoulder, the back of his mind told him to go for it. She was putting herself out there, and he licked his lips before he watched her pull away, whispering that she had been joking. He blinked for a couple seconds, his eyes trailing towatch her stand up. He took her hand, standing up until he saw her stumble. He moved, steadying her with a hand to her upper arm. "It's okay." he told her, and then paused, leaning to her slightly.

"You might have been joking. But I wasn't."

[tuna]

Juliet held onto him as he kept her steady. "Thanks," she said quietly, her laughter dying down, especially when he mentioned he hadn't been joking. Leaning back towards him, into him, she began to whisper to him, as though if anyone else had heard their words, she wouldn't be able to bare it. She wasn't ever supposed to be sadness. Sadness gets you no where.

"Would you like to know why I was locked up in my parent's house? My sister died. Was murdered. Someone thought they could have a good time if they drugged her. She's dead, and I miss her more than anything. She was my best friend. And now she's dead. And I'm paying for it. I'm locked up, not allowed to go anywhere without an attendant or a guard. The only reason I'm able to be here now is because I slipped away. They're so scared something will happen to me, but the truth is, I don't know how to function out here."

She stopped for a second, reaching up to wipe away a single tear that had trailed it's way down her cheek, "We all have baggage. Trust me. I know you think I'm just a rich brat, but I know pain too. I've got issues. But you have to move on. Otherwise you can never let new people, new friends, in. Not truly. You'll always keep those bits that you're holding onto hidden from them."

[ROGER DAVIS]

He'd have been lying if he said that in a sick way, it had been nice to be alone, with just himself. Because if he had been alone...well, he only had himself to look at. And one frown and look of dissapointment was much better to look at than the dozens that he knew his friends would give him.

The first step, they had told him at Life Support, was admitting. Admitting you had a drug problem or admitting that you were dying. Roger had done that step. The second step was acceptance. Roger had accepted (for the most part). The third, was living. Sure, Roger did that sometimes, but sometimes, he still felt horribly afraid. Because sure, living for today and living life to the fullest was good...but it was all going to end. And sooner than he wanted it to.

"Well, princess." Roger said after a moment, the word not meant to be sarcastic or mocking. He let his thumb linger for a moment before his hand dropped. "I never thought you were a rich brat. Rich, yes. I can spot the rich from a mile away. A brat? No. I thought you were...sweet. But some things...some things we have to keep hidden from people." He paused, and then felt his eyes close for a brief moment before he opened them.

"I'm 25. I'm probably not going to reach 30."

[tuna]

Juliet was a bit caught a back when he mentioned that he could spot the rich a mile away. She never tried to be rich in a show off way, and as such, usually wore middle-class clothes. She loved trolling second hand- stores, much to the annoyance of her mother. But she wasn't as naive to think that other people did things the same way as she did. Her mother, for one, would wear the most expensive things she could find, and then throw them away. She never did laundry, and never wore anything more than once. It was such a waste.


She was surprised when he had opened up, even that little bit. It was progress, even if he hadn't noticed it. However, she wasn't going to push her luck, if she pushed him too hard, he would push her away. So she wasn't going to push, she was just going to move on. Juliet smiled softly at him, placing a soft, innocent kiss upon his cheek, "Well then, we better get moving if we want to get that drink."

[ROGER DAVIS]

Her kiss caught him slightly off-guard, making him still slightly, before his hand came up to press aganst the side of her hair for a moment. She pulled back, and Roger watched her silently for a moment before nodding. Partly, he wanted to be that young again. Where the rough and painful hardships of life were simply problems that other people had, not something that he had to deal with. Then, innocence was shattered and life was never the same.

They walked silently, Roger's hands stuffed into his pockets as they walked. "I wish I could be like you, baby, y'know? You're...naive. And not in the bad way." Roger added, just to make sure he didn't offend her in any way. " Y'just have a way of thinking. Always keep that, huh?" he asked, looking over at her. "It's something I wish I could get back. Just even for a second."