Capulet's Celebration

Act 1 Scene 4

      It was not easy convincing Romeo to attend the Capulet's masquerade. Once again, he was in such a sulk, and I was truly afraid he would turn down the slave's invitation. Finally, he agreed to go only in hopes of seeing his precious Rosaline. I do believe, though, that by the end of the night he will think of another's beauty. Romeo is so quick to give his heart to another, that he will surely find another young woman to which he will devote his adoration.
      Before the party, Romeo and I met up with Mercutio and a couple others who had been formally invited. How I got tied up with someone like Mercutio is still a mystery to me, but he is still our best friend and no amount of sexual innuendoes or sarcastic mockery could change that. His consistent disregard for what is expected almost excites me.
      Even on such a night Romeo was still in the foulest of moods, complaining about his heavy heart forbidding him to dance. How foolish he can be sometimes. I swear, he loves so carelessly almost as if any day now he'll fall down dead. Of course, this was exactly the type of thing Mercutio was looking for. In hindsight, I should have seen Mercutio's outburst coming, as he usually cannot control them. All he wanted was to arouse Romeo, to get a reaction out of him, but Romeo would not bow. I swear, they act like children when they are near each other. They acted especially so when, just as we were about to head towards the party, Romeo spoke of a dream forewarning him not to attend. The excuses he comes up with are outrageous. I assume Mercutio shared my views for Romeo's incredulous reasoning since, after hearing Romeo mentioning how he was rethinking the party because of a dream, he immediately jumped into his "dream" of Queen Mab, comparing his completely irrelevant dream to what Romeo sees as a warning. Such an interesting character Mercutio is. His playful ridicule directed towards Romeo soon took a rather...well...dark turn. I sometimes forget that Mercutio is not exactly who he seems to be. None of us are really. His obscure past leaves the reasoning for his mockery and, what comes across as hatred of the idea of love, a mystery. I do wish to help him through whatever nightmare he may have endured, but he seems to hide behind a shell of collectivity and playfulness, allowing no one behind to where he holds an insecurity.
      We eventually left for the masquerade with Romeo in tow and Mercutio slightly on edge, or maybe I was the one on edge with the fear that Mercutio may have an outburst again. We decided that we would not specifically introduce ourselves, Romeo and I, as we did not want to start anything being Montagues and all. I do in fact hate the whole "let's make a huge deal that one person has entered the building by introducing everyone to them" speech made every time someone arrives, so I had no problem with that anyway. I do believe this party will be quite enjoyable.

--Benvolio