"You're just too good to be true, I can't take my eyes off you. You'd be like heaven to touch, I wanna hold you so much."

I could barely keep my eyes open, I had never been so angry in my life. Did Roman really expect no reaction from me when he practically said there was no point for us? My thoughts were going faster than I could even process and the ringing in my ears kept getting louder and louder. I almost missed my cue line until a freshman bumped me from the back. I recognized her as Sarah, a relatively quiet girl.

"You okay?" she asked. "You're about to go on."

"Yeah, I'm fine." I shook out the excess energy building up and sighed. "On with the show, or whatever the hell the saying is," I said as I stepped out onto the stage, changing my stance. Roman looked at me with silent pleading eyes but I studiously ignored him and focused on the deliverance of my lines. It was easy considering my built-up spite.

The first act passed agonizingly slow. Each moment on stage took an eternity and each forced touch from Roman killed me. He always held on a second longer than he was meant to and I could feel my body burning to accept it. But I yanked away and began my persona of snark and sarcasm anew. I couldn't focus on my soulmate standing on the opposite side of the stage. If I wanted to, I would worry about him later, but this wasn't the time.

Roman almost ran to me as soon as the first act concluded but I slipped away and locked the door to the dressing room. He knocked on the door and I closed my eyes as I leaned my back on it.

"Virgil, love. Please say something. Anything." I could hear Roman on the other side, forced strength in his voice. Every time the sounds echoed in my head I could feel a piece of my mind chip away. "Just tell me you're okay." I remained silent. 10 minutes until the second act. I could wait this out.

There was quiet for a while until about 2 minutes later, the knocking started up again. "Leave me alone, Roman!" I yelled back.

"Um, it's Christine." I recognized the stage manager's voice. "There are some people from the audience asking to see you. They're not really meant to be back here but they were quite insistent. So can you just see them? You have the time." I facepalmed and unlocked the door.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I stepped out of the door and ignored Roman sitting nearby, opting to follow Christine to the door linking to the main school hallway. I had expected Dee and Remus but I hadn't counted on Patton's and Logan's presence. Patton ran to me immediately and wrapped me in another of his bone-crushing hugs.

"Kiddo, what happened?" Patton looked me in the eyes and then looked all over me, maybe looking for physical wounds? "Something's definitely wrong with you and Roman. We asked to see him too and he wouldn't do it. He always comes to see us during his intermission."

"Nothing much. I broke up with my soulmate is all." And the moment I admitted it, I broke down sobbing into Patton's arms. I forgot about the pretense of indifference and let myself come apart. Dee ran up to me and held me up from the back and whispered soft reassurances to me. Logan and Remus stood back, looking ready to commit bloody murder. They surged forward together and moved me back onto a stool. They all waited as I tried to compose myself.

"Tell us the whole story when you're ready," Logan said to me after whispering back to Remus, who ran off quickly. I took a few more deep breaths. I recounted each painful detail. Patton and Dee looked sympathetic while Logan looked enraged. "I'm going to kill that idiot." He mumbled as Remus came back and handed him my small palette and eyeshadow brush.

"What are you doing?" I asked when Logan opened the palette and inspected the shadows.

"In your distress, your makeup has come off. I'm reapplying it for you in the ... 5 minutes we have left until you have to be back on stage. You relax, I can handle this at least." He pushed my chin and softly moved the brush under my eye.

"You know how to do makeup?" Dee asked and Patton shot him a sidelong glance. "Right, sorry, not the time."

A few moments later, Logan finished and moved back. Remus extended his hand to pull me up. "I know he already has, but he's going to regret saying that to you," he growled with an unspoken threat. "If you don't want to go out there, I get it."

"No, I can do this. I'm not falling apart this easily." I raked my fingers through my hair and sighed. "I got this."

"We believe in you, kiddo." Patton smiled and walked farther backstage with Logan, presumably to find Roman. Remus and Dee waited until they had left to turn back to me.

"Virgil, do you really love him?" Dee asked with a hand on my shoulder. It was a loaded question. Sure, we had ended many conversations with a simple 'love you' and called it quits. But the simple adding of 'I' to the beginning of that made it seem more... important and finite.

"Yeah. I really do." I nodded and Dee just let go of my shoulder.

"Then I hope it works out." he said, grabbing Remus's hand and walking out the backstage door.

I knew the way Dee worked and what he wanted in that moment. He wanted me to go and find Roman and forget this all happened. And just maybe it was working. I hadn't really given him a chance to explain. But before I could even move, Christine reappeared and pulled me back again. "What is with you guys tonight? C'mon, 30 seconds!" she shoved me into the appropriate wing and went back the other way. Maybe this could be resolved.
__ __

The second act felt slightly better with some alleviated tension. I was still angry and hurt but I allowed Roman to lift me by my waist and put me on top of a table. He tried to smile at me and I didn't make him wither under my stare. Roman hadn't looked so glad since I started to date him. But we were quickly approaching the ugly confrontation scene, one that closely mimicked our own fight. I had an uneasy feeling that new wounds were about to be torn open.

"So, you just weren't going to tell me?" I heard Roman speak but the bite behind the words was gone. All that was left was bitter regret. I could tell this was no longer about the play. This was about us.

"Get over yourself, Thomas. The world does not revolve around you and you might have to consider other people for once in your life." I kept my tone soft and conciliatory, trying to make him realize my side of the story. I struggled to not use his name.

"Hypocrite say what? This affects me too and you didn't want to tell me? It's hurtful that you don't trust me." He took a step towards me.

"God, Thomas, you don't get it, do you? I didn't tell you because I love you more than anything in my life!" I closed my eyes as I confessed. At this point, much of the audience had caught on. I really admitted I loved him through scripted lines. When I opened my eyes, his wide eyes made me think he understood. "And I didn't want to lose you. I still don't. But if you really feel like that, maybe this was the right thing to do." I took a step away and held onto myself, raking my nails down my forearms.

"Wait, that's not what I was saying-" Roman tried to counter.

"Well, it's what I was hearing. So take your stupid sword and your quest and leave. Find someone you think is worth it."

"What if I think you're worth it?" I blinked at Roman's added line and I could feel my chest contract.

"What if you're wrong?" I responded before remembering I was supposed to exit stage right. I backstepped and left, taking shallow breaths.
__ __

It was the final scene, the last time Roman and I would interact as these characters that provided an easy facade to hide behind. And then I would really have to face him. What would I say? Would I let him explain, take me back? Or would we truly decide friends was for the best?

"Are you ever going to listen to me, Joan?" Roman stood on the opposite side of the stage, his whole body trembling. Others might have dismissed it as fine acting but I knew better than that.

"I was doing fine. Did you have to come back in here like you didn't break my heart?" I responded, taking a step towards him. He mirrored the movement.

"I wanted to see you again. You know I did." He looked me in the eyes and I almost melted on the spot.

"I also know it never would have been allowed. Just give it up. There are two sides in this world and they were never meant to meet." I spared a glance to Roman's parents in the front row, who were muttering to each other. "We have been doomed since the moment we met. We are not the same, and we never will be."

"Please don't leave me again. Please." Roman moved close enough to hold my hand and caress one side of my face. I shuddered against the touch involuntary.

"I don't want to, R- Thomas." I almost said his name before I remembered where we were. And this was it. The defining moment. Every other kiss had been staged and fake. But Roman lowered his lips to mine and held me close. I could hear soft gasps from the audience, but I didn't care for once.

"Thomas, this isn't allowed. We aren't going to be okay after this." I pulled back from him but he still held my waist.

"We will be. Because we have each other." He kissed me again and that time everyone realized that wasn't planned. The curtain dropped as I took a step back and there was wild applause.

"Roman-" I said but he immediately kissed me again, tightly gripping my waist. My arms went around his neck as my hands clamped into his hair. He slipped his tongue into my mouth and I put up no resistance to him.

He pulled back for a moment. "Virgil, I'm so sor-"

"Sh." I pulled him back to my lips but I had to let him go as the curtains opened for the bows. We cycled through them quickly enough but I couldn't help but see my mother's ecstatic smile and Roman's outraged parents. As soon as we could, we slipped into the audience to find our friends but we were intercepted by two angry heterosexuals.

"How dare you drag our son into your... your sin!" Ruth spat out the words accusingly but the words rolled off my back as Roman squeezed my hand. "We trusted you to be a good Christian boy!"

"I'm sorry, Ruth, was it?" I heard my mother's voice and she had the look on her face. The look on her face that she gets when she's about to decimate someone. "This is my son you're talking to, so I'm going to need you to have some respect. Second of all, these two are soulmates and there's nothing you can do about it." she kept the same composed smile as Roman's parents looked scandalized. "So you can support them or you can forfeit all contact with them. Because I am a supportive mother unlike you and if Roman never wants to be around you again, he just has to say the words."

"And I'm sorry to tell you," Logan approached holding Patton's hand. "But Roman has been aware of his sexuality for years and naturally gravitated to those of the same disposition. It's simply unfair to turn this on Virgil."

Ruth and Patrick gaped but couldn't find the words. They settled for turning on their heels and walking out to their car, instructing Roman to follow when he was ready.

"You scared at all?" Roman whispered to me.

"No."

"Not even a little bit?" he shrugged.

"Never."

"Because you love me?" He kissed my hand.

"Yes."
__ __

And that's the ending folks! I know it's very open-ended but I wanted to leave some stuff for you guys to fill in. But if you really want an epilogue, let me know and I can do that, I do have some ideas. And I wanted to post a little Q & A so ask me questions about myself, my writing process, the story, the characters, or anything else you like! Thanks for coming on this journey with me, I've loved every second of it. Don't despair, the show isn't quite over if you don't want it to be. Take it easy guys gals and non-binary pals. Peace out!