Love Feels Right in the Heart

He was the quarterback. She was the head cheerleader. It seemed only natural they dated each other. Saturdays after the games, they ended up kissing in his car. She was experienced, and he enjoyed the way she led him through making out over-the-clothes. Stuck in the front seats with the gear stick between them, the encounters were tame and held no deeper consequences. Titus and Gladys didn’t talk about being a couple, or much at all for that matter.

Their romance was the talk of the schoolyard, but Titus felt strange to be in the center of the spotlight. Before dating Gladys, he was known for his stints in Juvenile Hall and for being a good football player. His academic grades were in the middle of the pack with a solid B average.

In his chemistry class, Titus sat next to Juliet. She was quiet and studious. She was neither particularly friendly nor hostile towards Titus, but it was clear that she thought his abilities in chemistry were a fluke given his success in sports. Since he ran with the jocks, Juliet considered her and Titus as being part of different worlds.

Titus, however, had learned one thing from Gladys. She had pulled him out of childhood and into being a teenager with the activities in his car. He wanted to have a real girlfriend. One he would be proud to introduce to his Ma. Breaking up with Gladys was the easy part. Getting Juliet to talk to him outside of class was impossible.

Over dinner, he asked his Ma, “How do I start a conversation with a girl, Ma?”

“Oh, because you want to talk to her now?” Ma asked back with a smirk.

“What do you mean?”

Ma chuckled. “Titus, I can see the lipstick on your shirt collars.”

“Oh, that was only Gladys.” Titus made a dismissive gesture. He wrinkled his forehead. “I want to talk to Juliet. She’s in my chemistry class. She sits next to me, but she always runs out at the end of the period before I even gather my books.”

Ma raised her eyebrows. She said with a stern voice, “Don’t you become one of those guys who changes girlfriends every other week.”

“I’m not. That thing with Gladys wasn’t serious. She already has a new boyfriend. I was just a piece of candy to her.”

“And what makes that Juliet girl different?”

Titus smiled, smitten just thinking of her. Talking about her with Ma made it almost as if she was in the room with him. “She is smart and serious. She always has an answer and an opinion that she can back up with facts. She’s got straight A’s in all subjects.”

“How about you invite her for dinner? I would like to meet her. Give her our phone number and ask her parents to call me for confirmation. You can go pick her up so her folks see you.”

The next day at school, Titus waited outside of the chemistry lab until Juliet arrived. He stepped in her way. “Juliet, have you got a minute?”

She stopped in her tracks and asked him snippy, “For what?”

He held out the piece of paper he had prepared with his number on it. He was deep red in the face. “My Ma said I can invite you to dinner to our house if your parents agree with it.”

“What? Why would I have dinner at your house? If you need help with studying ask the librarian to give you some good books.” She pushed past him and went to their table. She put her book on the table and opened it on the page indicated on the board.

Titus sat down next to her. He felt like a fool. What did he do wrong? Why had it been so easy to end up in his car with Gladys, but Juliet wouldn’t even accept an invitation for dinner? Today, he paid attention, and when Juliet packed her book away, he put his away. As she got up to leave the class, he walked with her.

“Titus, what kind of stunt is this?” she asked annoyed.

“Please, just take my number and have your parents call Ma. Please.” Titus pleaded.

“OK, whatever.”

When Titus arrived at home, Ma greeted him with a wide smile. She hugged her overgrown baby. “Juliet’s father is bringing her here.”

Titus ran to his room and stuffed all his laundry in the hamper. He tried to make it appear clean, or at least not too messy. Ma, Titus, and the seven foster children who were staying with them, greeted Juliet and her father.

“How come your Ma is that dark and you are blond?” Juliet asked Titus in his room.

“I’m adopted.”

Juliet looked around in his room. Titus watched her, hoping there was nothing in his room that would offend her. She sat down on his twin bed, the only place to sit in his room, and said, “Well, I would have never thought that you have a real personality behind the jock façade.”

“I’m not a jock. I am just good at sports.”

For the first time since he knew her, she smiled a truly open smile and asked without her usual snippiness, “So why me, Titus? Why did you ask me to come to your home and meet you as nobody else has ever seen you? Nobody at school knows that you are adopted, or that your Ma is black.”

“You’re not shallow. You know a lot of things, and not just academic stuff. You think about the world we live in. I like being near you.” Titus bit his lips, took a deep breath and went on, “And I think you are hands down the cutest girl at school.”

Now it was Juliet’s turn to blush. She didn’t expect this. Emboldened, he asked, “You wanna try the dating thing with me?”

She said, “Yes.”



1000 words



Written for

ID: 1698337   (Rated: NPL) Sr Mod WDC 10th Birthday Contest  One character, ten prompts, 10 daily prizes and a HUGE grand prize! by Diane

Character's crush/first love