One-Shot: Silver Linings Playbook Kiss
Tiffany Maxwell walked down the deserted street, ignoring the Christmas lights twinkling around her and focusing on her own tears instead. She just wanted to get away, get away from it all before she allowed herself to be hurt further…..
"HEY!"
Oh no. His voice. Tiffany broke into a light jog, rounding the corner off the sidewalk and into the empty road. Behind her, Pat Solitano came into view, the pace of his jogging catching up with hers. Grabbing her by the arm, he spun her to face him.
"WOULD YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?!" Tiffany screamed, her last defense against further heartbreak even as she began to cry. "PLEASE!"
"Wait a second!" Pat talked over her, pulling an envelope from the pocket of his suit coat. "I have one more letter for you to read, OK?"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH YOU? GIVE IT TO HER YOURSELF!" Tiffany angrily batted the envelope away. By this she meant Nikki, Pat's ex-wife.
"Let me tell you something: you don't have to see me ever again if you just read it! All right?"
Tiffany snatched the envelope, glowering at him. "This is so fucked up….."
Pat refrained from rolling his eyes, by now accustomed to Tiffany's snarky attitude. "Yeah, just read it…."
She unfolded the paper. "Dear Tiffany:…." Her voice stopped dead. He was writing to her? She stared at him with barely masked astonishment. Pat just stood still, waiting for her to continue. "I know you wrote the letter…" She eyed him almost mistrustfully, before holding up the paper between them so she could get a better look. "The only way you could keep me crazy….."
"….. crazy was by doing something crazy yourself," Pat finished for, and echoed along with, her. "Thank you. I love you. I knew it the minute I met you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to catch up. I just got stuck. Pat."
Tiffany stared at him, speechless. Her eyes filled with tears anew and her mouth quivered. Not only had he confessed his love for her, he had completely memorized what he wanted to say! How…..?
"I wrote that a week ago," Pat explained, as if he could read her thoughts.
"You wrote that a week ago?" Tiffany eyed him in disbelief, the distrust now beginning to crumble, yet not quite banished.
"Yes, I did."
"You let me lie to you for a week?"
"I was trying to be romantic," was all Pat could offer as an explanation.
A moment of silence. "You love me?" Tiffany croaked on her tears.
"Yeah. I do."
Another pause. And in that moment, Tiffany decided to take the chance, plunge into the unknown….. and put her deceased husband to rest at last.
"OK."
Tiffany launched herself into Pat's arms and kissed him. She felt him kiss her back almost immediately. With both her arms around his neck, the letter still in her hand lay limp, forgotten, as the couple's lips battled for dominance. They were all alone, but even if they hadn't been, Pat and Tiffany were lost in their own world. The only witnesses to that first magical kiss were the Christmas lights hanging around them, bringing illumination to a new relationship…