I do not own these characters. I am not collecting monetary profit from this story. Say Anything... belongs to Cameron Crowe. I do not own the rirights to this story. Any lines taken from the movie belong to Cameron Crowe.

Chapter 1

In The Apartment

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Ugh!" Lloyd moaned as he rolled over and looked at the time. "5:45." he whispered to himself and threw his head back on his pillow exasperated. The moon shown clearly through the window of the apartment. He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, when he felt Diane's hand rub his shoulder.

"Lloyd, turn it off! I want to sleep." she moaned.

"Oh, sorry honey." Lloyd replied. With one swift movement he lifted his fist and punched down on the off button on the top of the alarm clock. It was quiet now. He turned on the lamp and rolled over to face Diane. Her eyes were closed, ignoring the light. Her right ear was using her arm as a pillow, covers at her waist. She breathed deeply. Lloyd propped his head up on his hand and looked at her. A contented smile came to his face. He loved her like this. To Lloyd, her messed hair and relaxed, sleepy face made Diane even desirable at 5:45 in the morning! He couldn't believe that he was in London with the woman he loved. Just two months ago, he hadn't given much thought to what he'd do with his life. His mind drifted back to the day that they had left for London, and the conversation he had had with Diane's father.

"Your not a permanent part of her life. You're a distraction." her father had said coolly. Lloyd had simply replied, " I'm the distraction that's going with her to England, sir. What I want to do with my life- what I want to do for a living- is to be with your daughter. I'm good at it." A chuckle came to him and Lloyd leaned over to kiss Diane on the cheek. He placed a stray hair, balancing on her forehead, and set it behind Diane's ear. He rubbed her cheek to gently wake her. Diane o opened her eyes slowly and gave him a smile, not saying a word.

Moments past as they lost themselves in each other. Diane chuckled after awhile. "Honey, your rubbing my cheek raw!" she said with a smile. She grabbed Lloyd and brought his finger to her lips, softly and slowly kissing them. Her eyes were getting heavy with sleep once more. "You should get up." said the now drowsy eighteen year old.

"I know, I'll get up in a minute." he replied, his eyes smiling. He waited until her eyes had closed entirely before he moved.

Lloyd was in the bathroom brushing his teeth and getting ready for his day. Rushing from the bathroom, he found his boxing shorts on the floor by the walk-in closet. He put them on quickly. Lloyd spotted his gloves he slicked his fingers through his inky black hair. Lloyd put on a dirty white shirt and ran over to the far window to grab his duffle bag. He also got some extra sweats for after training, and threw everything into the bag.

He thought of Diane and glanced over his shoulder to find her still sleeping peacefully. A slight, pinged anger came over Lloyd as he thought of Diane's father. Her father had stolen money from the nursing home that he and Diane worked at a couple months ago to pay for her college and give Diane a cushy life. Lloyd was proud of her for not taking the money when her father went to prison. How could he do this to his own daughter? Lloyd thought.

The two of them had been living in a cheap, ant infested apartment. Lloyd hadn't been able to find a job yet and Diane was working at a local diner while going to London Metropolitan University ten minutes away. They were just sleeping on the box spring and mattress, because they couldn't afford a frame for the mattress. Lloyd's kick-boxing matches, though few and far between, seemed to be the only thing that was keeping them stable. They meant money, not much, but money nonetheless. Their financial troubles had become a nervous topic for Diane lately.

Throwing his duffle over his shoulder he went over to grab his tan trench coat off the dresser by the bedroom door. He opened up the door and unloaded everything in the hallway. Lloyd walked back over to the bed and bent down to kiss Diane goodbye. She opened her eyes. "I love you." she moaned.

"Love you too." he whispered. Lloyd kissed Diane's forehead and pulled the comforter up to her shoulders. Diane snuggled down into it and gave Lloyd a sleepy smile.

"What should I dream about?" she asked with a half smile.

"Hmm… that's an interesting question." he thought for a moment, laughing at the unexpected comment. "Dream about… our first time. Remember? Down at the cove, in the car?"

"I remember." Diane slurred, content with his choice. Lloyd leaned over the bed to turn off the lamp.

"Gotta go." Lloyd said slowly. Diane said nothing. She sighed closing her eyes to sleep once more. Lloyd stood up straight and walked out of the room, looking back at her for a moment and then closing the door gently behind him. He ran down the stairs, duffle bag and coat in hand.

Diane rolled over after Lloyd left and reset the alarm clock, then fell back to sleep. When the alarm clock went off once more at eight-thirty, Diane moaned, threw the covers off, and shifted so that her feet hit the cold wood floor. A pale gray light came the window now. Hurrying to the bathroom to get out of the cold, she turned the shower on high, undressed and got into the tub. Minutes later the bathroom was filled with steam. Diane snatched the white cotton towel off the rack on the door and wrapped herself in it. She stepped in front of the mirror and rubbed the fog off so that she could see herself.

She could hear Lloyd climbing the stairs. He was whistling. Diane opened the bathroom door to greet him. There was Lloyd at the doorway to the bedroom, arms above his head, beating out a rhythm with his fingertips on the doorpost and a half-cocked smile on his face. "Hi honey. How was training?" Diane asked with a toothbrush in her mouth. Lloyd entered the room and took off his trench coat and put down his duffle bag by the closet.

"Good." he replied. Diane stepped out of the bathroom quickly and grabbed some old jeans and a lime green t-shirt out of the closet. She went back to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. A moment later there was a knock on the door. "What do you want to do when you get home tonight?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm really behind in my World Civ. Class and I need to do some studying. Professor Evans really didn't like my last paper on Chinese immigrants in America and I need to get a good start on this next one." Diane stood to button her pants around her waist, but it took a minute because they didn't fit her quite right. After a moment she got them buttoned and her stomach shifted. She suddenly felt queasy and had to sit back on the toilet. That's strange, she thought. Diane made a mental note to not eat anything heavy today.

"Oh.'' Lloyd said on the other side of the door, a bit disgruntled. Diane opened the door moments later. Lloyd gave her a quick, light, clean kiss and then disconnected. She smiled gently a moment and stepped past him to sit on the bed and put on her shoes. "What?…What's the matter Diane?" Lloyd asked, confused at her gestures.

"Nothing babe, I'm just a bit queasy, that's all." Diane replied, head down clenching her stomach. Lloyd scrunched his eye-brows together at the bridge of his nose. After a moment, Lloyd went to the bathroom and came back with a spoonful of Pepto-Bismol and a plastic cup full of water.

"Your gonna need this." he said concerned.

"No, it's fine. I don't need it." she protested. She put her hand up to the medicine to push it away.

"You'll thank me later, love. Take it." Lloyd replied, handing her the spoon. With no further protest, Diane swallowed the pink, chalky mess quickly and then choked down the glass of water to wash out the taste. She was VERY glad he had thought of that. Sitting there for a minute, it hit Diane just how lucky she was to have Lloyd. She smiled up at him endearingly and admired him. THIS was why she had fallen in love with him.

"I plan to look for a job right after I get out of the shower." Lloyd said.

"Well…we need the money Lloyd." Diane replied worriedly. Lloyd could hear the concern overpowering Diane's voice. He knelt down by the bed and placed his arms loosely at her waist. Lloyd stared into her eyes.

"Diane, I'll take care of you. I promise. In two weeks I will have a job." Lloyd said endearingly. Diane nodded slowly, acknowledging what he had said.

"Love you, Diane." They exchanged a soft hug. Diane looked at her watch.

"Oh, man! I'm late. I have to go." She rose to her feet and snatched her leather jacket that was hanging off of Lloyd's boom box. Diane turned and was met with another light kiss goodbye from Lloyd. She ran out the door and Lloyd heard her rushing down the stairs. Lloyd walked into the hallway.

"I'll see you tonight, babe." Lloyd hollered down the stairs.

"YOU TOO!"

The front door slammed shut and Diane was gone. Lloyd turned to go empty his duffle bag still sitting by the closet.