It's interesting how every couple is different about appreciating the love they've been lucky enough to find. Most couples seem to only seem to go out of their way to remind their significant other of their affections every time the relationship has reached another month. However, there are also the few grateful people in this world that treat each new day that they remain with their sweetheart as something to treasure. Since they do not know how long the relationship will last, they make sure to be appreciative of each passing second. Kenneth Parcell would like to believe he was one of those people.
Kenneth had never had the best of luck. Though he hardly seemed to take notice, the vast majority of his life was just one misfortune after the other. Yet, he still faced his life with a wide grin spread across his face as the flames of optimism burned inside him, not once fading. Still, nobody that knew him had ever expected him to end up as the network president one day. Even less people expected to one day see with Cerie Xerox on his arm.
While Cerie was only a secretary for one of the lower rated network shows, everybody knew her. They may not have known her name, but they would know her when they spotted her walking nonchalantly down the hall, her long blonde hair shimmering like the sun, her eyes piercing the very core of everyone that looked into them. Much like Kenneth, she hardly noticed what happened around her and the way everyone noticed her. She just went about her day.
Both Kenneth and Cerie were highly misunderstood and underestimated. And one way or another, they realized this and a connection was made. Most people instantly assumed that Cerie, after getting divorced from her rich husband Aris, was only dating Kenneth because he was named the new president of NBC. This was in fact false, for Cerie's values had certainly changed after a loveless marriage that was only for money had failed. Not that either of them cared (or noticed) what other people thought. Neither of them had ever felt so understood by another person.
Kenneth was always the kind of person who would always go the extra mile to make someone happy, whether or not it benefited him in any way. However, now that he had Cerie, he felt he needed to do even more. Not only to frequently buy her gifts and take her out to dinner, since that's what her relationship with Aris was like. He needed to go to sleep every night knowing that he had done all that he could that day to make Cerie feel loved and appreciated. Still, he had no idea what the balance was between being emotionally distant and far too clingy and overbearing. He allowed her to take things at her own pace and he always made sure she was comfortable.
On June 16th, 2013, they had been together for a whole year. He could hardly believe she had stayed with him as long as he did. Nobody had ever been so patient ad understanding with him. He knew he had to make their anniversary an absolutely special one. If one day was special enough to Kenneth, 365 was nothing short of a miracle. A mystery. A beautiful mystery.
The two met outside the NBC building after their shifts. Six o' clock on the dot.
"Hey, cutie." Cerie said, winking at her boyfriend and linking their arms together.
"Hello, darlin'!" Kenneth smiled as she greeted him and took his arm. "My, you look lovely." Boy, did she. She was draped in a black and white floral patterned dress with spaghetti straps and the hem falling down to just above her knees. Her hair was down, and straightened, the light hitting it just so. Not knowing what to expect of the evening, she went for an in-between semi-formal look. Even so, she exuded radiance, as always.
"Thank you." She said, beaming. "Well, lead the way. I have no idea what we're doing or where we're going."
"All right, then! Right this way, sweetie." He said, as he led her down the sidewalk to hail down a taxi. He had been planning this evening for weeks. For once in his life, everything was about to go just as he had wanted it to be, and even more so.
Twenty-five minutes later, they found themselves outside of Kenneth's apartment complex. "We're stopping at your house?" Cerie asked. "Did you forget something?"
"Um, no actually." Kenneth admitted, nervously. "I was actually hopin' to spend the first part of the night at my place. Just for a li'l bit. Then, I'll take you to whatever fancy restaurant you want or anything you'd like to do!" He promised, his face morphing into the wide grin that he was known for.
"Yeah, sure." She agreed. Visits to her boyfriend's apartment were rare, so she didn't mind at all. With work and taking Cerie out on dates, he hardly found time to keep his apartment as clean as he would like it to be for others to come over, especially the one lady he wanted to impress the most. However, sure enough, after he fiddled with his keys and opened the door, Cerie walked in to find the place completely spotless. "So, was there something you wanted to do here?" She asked.
"Well, yes, actually." He stammered. "Um, would ya like anything to drink, Miss Cerie?"
"No, thanks, I'll have something when we go out later." She answered. "What did you have in mind here?"
Kenneth hesitated for a second, then spoke. "Actually, would ya like to sit on the couch?"
"Um, okay." She said, walking through the entry to the living room and sitting on Kenneth's old but comfy couch. She had to smile to herself at the fact that, even after a year, she still sometimes inadvertently made Kenneth nervous. He had eased his way into being comfortable and relaxed overall in the relationship, but there were still times where he would get flustered. Cerie couldn't help but find it adorable.
Kenneth sat down next to her, a rather old looking boom box resting on the end table in front of them. He didn't really know how to begin this. "So, um, Miss Cerie, I've been plannin' this for a while, but was always a bit too nervous to." He started. "We've been together for a year now, and believe me, it's been the most wonderful year of my life! And I've got plenty of years on me…" He trailed off. "Anyway, one thing I'm awful sorry about is that I've never really been able to express how I really feel about you. You're just so pretty and fascinatin' and your smile is just about the most lovely thing I ever laid eyes on." He cleared his throat, his face a bright shade of crimson. "And a few weeks ago, I happened to stumble upon this song by an Australian Christian fellow that said everything I would want to say to you." He went to gently take her hands with his, feeling a bit more relaxed. "So, here ya go." He said, removing one hand to press the 'Play' button on the boom box, then went back to holding her hands. And then, to Cerie's surprise, Kenneth started singing.
"How Cerie sparkled as the summer lit her hair. We lived our dream, just a boy and just a girl.
She'd once loved someone but all that lingered was despair, and so we reigned as broken rulers of the world."
She listened intently as he sang. She had heard him sing before, but just during silly events such as Leap Day or Christmas parties in the writers' room. This was different, though. She could tell, because his voice was kind of shaky, but it was cute. He was definitely right, two verses in, and the song was already incredibly fitting to their relationship. Not only did their romance blossom in the summer of the year before, but both of them had recently gone through a good deal of heartbreak at the time. She had just gotten divorced from Aris, and Hazel had ended things with Kenneth. They ended up finding just what they needed in each other. She watched him as he continued to sing, nervously grinning his way through the song.
"I saw her eyes once when she agreed for a single day not to hide behind a wall of her design.
They shone like diamonds and they gave her heart away. A soul so beautiful but so far away from mine."
She was brought back to a dark time in her life. A time where sometimes it was far too difficult to always act like she wasn't affected by the divorce. It was too much to handle all at once. One day she was married, and the next she was not. She found herself one day silently crying at her desk while the writers were goofing off. None of them noticed, and she didn't expect them to. Nobody ever considered that she actually had emotions, thoughts, and feelings, just like any other human being. She was more than just a Barbie doll. She had a heart and a soul that nobody had ever acknowledged.
That is, not until Kenneth strolled in the room.
As usual, the writers didn't even notice he had come in. Kenneth had been on his way up to get everybody's dinner orders, but he faltered when he noticed Cerie at her desk with her head down, locks of her golden hair falling in front of her face.
"Miss Cerie?" He whispered after approaching her at her desk.
"Wha-?" She said quietly, quickly lifting her head up and nonchalantly wiping her tear-stained face.
"Are you all right?" He asked, concerned.
"Oh, I'm fine." She said. "Is there something you needed to drop off or something?" She asked, trying to change the subject.
"Well, I came here to jot down all the dinner orders before I headed out." He said. He frowned, then his head perked up. "Hang on one second, Miss."
She watched him walk into Liz's office, only to return to the room a moment later to get the writers' attention long enough to take their orders. He then hurried back to Cerie's desk.
"You don't need to worry about me, I'm not hungry." She said before Kenneth had the chance to speak.
"Well, are ya busy? 'Cause I was wondering if you'd like to come along with me." He said, smiling.
Those few words started it all. Of course, she hesitated at first, wanting to just be left alone, but she had to face facts. The only thing worse than crying your heart out is crying your heart out in a room full of people that don't at all notice that you're crying. It was one of those times where she didn't want anyone to see her cry, but the fact that no one had noticed made her feel even more lonely. Yet, not only had Kenneth noticed immediately, but he went the extra mile to make sure she didn't feel lonely. He could tell she needed someone by her side. It didn't necessarily have to be a boyfriend, but someone, and he wanted to be that someone for her. It was the first time anybody had ever wanted that for her.
"Sure. Let me just get my bag."
Cerie snapped back to reality as Kenneth started to sing the chorus.
"Oh, she's the kind of girl who could be anybody's future, if only she could find what she deserved.
Cerie, will you think of me when winter comes and forgets who we were?
'Cause she'll always be in my heart and I'll always love her."
As he sang, he never once took her eyes off of her. He knew he wasn't a very good singer and the words weren't his, but they still rang true. Cerie was the kind of girl who could get snatched up by anybody. And though he knew it was none of his business, from what he could tell, Aris did not treat her right. He had always felt that Cerie deserved someone who would do everything they could to make sure she felt loved and happy. She deserved to be treated like a queen, as her beauty and her heart outshone all others. Sometimes he felt like she might deserve someone better than him, but this only drove him to try even harder to always make her feel appreciated.
"She said 'I'm sorry that I can't be what you wanted, but I can't compromise with who I have to be.'
And I glimpsed her spirit and all the ghosts that ever haunted
With so much beauty there amongst all the debris.
I tried to tell her that she was more than she believed,
'Cause words were the only way I knew to make things right.
But they had no meaning, because by words she'd been deceived,
And I realized I'd fought a losing fight."
This triggered more quick flashbacks. Flashbacks to all the times Cerie had let her walls down and bared pieces of her soul to Kenneth. Feelings she vented to him that she had never vented to anyone else before. She was married to Aris for three years and never spoke out about herself this much. It always came unexpectedly, too. The time they were sitting on a bench in front of a fountain in Central Park and she told him that she was afraid to fall in love. The time the two of them had just walked out of a movie theater and Cerie cried the whole walk home, admitting that she had really connected with the main female character, who had two people just like Aris and Kenneth in her life. The time they were laying in her bed, half clothed, at midnight as she let a few tears fall when she revealed that it was hard for her to believe that she was pretty when everybody that had ever told that to her either left or deceived her. And no matter how many times he kissed her that night declaring over and over that she was the most beautiful woman in the world, it was still so hard for her to completely believe him, despite how honest and trustworthy he had proven himself. She hated that she had to make the poor guy work so hard to convince her, but she was a target of many men who had only one thing from her. And once they had gotten it from her, they were gone.
She felt the tears form in her eyes, but she smiled to let him know that they weren't tears of sadness. He continued to sing.
"Oh, she's the kind of girl who could be anybody's future, if only she could find what she deserved.
Cerie, will you think of me when winter comes and forgets who we were?
'Cause she'll always be in my heart and I'll always love her."
The instrumental break played as he took a couple deep breaths, not once taking his eyes off the magnificent woman sitting across from him. He gave her hand a light squeeze, and then continued.
"We were only passers-by, an accidental storyline with traces of the Master's grand design.
But now she means the world to me, and Cerie's silver memory will be with me forever in my mind."
This had always been his favorite line in the song. He truly believed that God had intended on the two meeting and becoming one. Kenneth thanked Him for it every day, it was the greatest gift he could have ever hoped of receiving. No matter what happened as time went on, Cerie would always take up the biggest part of his heart.
"Oh, she's the kind of girl who could be anybody's future, if only she could find what she deserved.
Cerie, will you think of me when winter comes and forgets who we were?
'Cause she'll always be in my heart and I'll always love her."
The song ended, and the two sat in silence for a few seconds, never breaking eye contact with each other. Cerie then removed one of her hands from Kenneth to wipe the tears that were falling from her eyes.
"I'm sorry." She said, chuckling. "I'm not upset, I promise."
Kenneth said nothing, only smiled and brought her in for a warm embrace. She cried into his chest, but for once, she was crying tears of complete and total bliss. "That was beautiful. That was perfect. Thank you." She said, her muffled words barely reaching Kenneth's ears. She pulled away so she could look him in the eyes. He could see that there were still tears forming, but the smile on her face showed how truly grateful she felt at that very moment. He took her hand with one of his, and gently placed the other on her cheek.
"I love you." She said, still tearing up, but smiling bigger than ever.
"I love you too, Cerie."