A/N: Contrary to the title of the piece, this isn't angsty! I felt like doing a light/funny/fluffy piece in honor of Valentine's Day. The last few one-shots that I've done have been a bit on the darker/sadder side and the last piece I wrote for Valentine's Day last year was angsty so I figured that I'd treat you to something a bit more playful :) It's short and sweet so I hope you guys like it! Oh, and of course, Happy Valentine's Day!
I am in misery
There ain't nobody who can comfort me
Why won't you answer me?
The silence is slowly killing me
Girl, you really got me bad
You really got me bad
I'm gonna get you back
Gonna get you back…
"Misery" – Maroon 5
Misery
Ok, so he screwed up and he knows it.
And most importantly, he's gonna fix it.
It's just hard to fix the situation when she won't let him.
For the first time in like forever, Johnny Zacchara loves his life. They've had a routine going ever since she moved in six months ago. They work out every morning, him on the treadmill and her doing yoga (Maxie started her on it and she actually kinda likes it), and talk over coffee and breakfast before she has to run out the door for work. He usually gets home earlier than she does so he makes dinner, which he's surprisingly getting better at. Spinelli gave him that Everyday Easy Italian cookbook as a joke housewarming gift but little does the computer geek know that he makes a seafood risotto that guarantees that he'll get laid that night.
There's no way that he's giving all of that up without a fight.
"Lulu, come on… open the door."
He doesn't have his key since when she kicked him out three days ago, he didn't have time to grab them as she was hurling her burgundy Louboutins at him. And by the way, he only knows that they're Louboutins because he was the one who bought them and they cost him a freaking fortune. He's knocking on the door with one hand and carrying the largest bouquet of red roses that he's ever seen in the other. He will admit that his timing was a little bit off. With fashion week in full swing and Maxie in Manhattan, accompanying Kate to the shows, Lulu has been extremely stressed with holding down the fort at Crimson. But she has to forgive him.
It's Valentine's Day after all and even though she'd never admit it, he knows that she's kind of a sucker for the holiday.
His heart momentarily lifts when he hears footsteps drawing closer on the other side of the door. The lock clicks and the door swings open. He has to stop himself from laughing because she just looks so freaking cute when she's mad at him. She's wearing one of his t-shirts over a pair of black leggings and in her hand is a glass of red wine. She knows how much he likes her in leggings, which makes him think that she knew that he was going to stop by. She looks down at the enormous bouquet in his hand and chuckles.
"Are there any roses left in Port Charles?" she snorts, more amused than annoyed.
"If I buy every single flower in town, will you let me in?" he asks, handing her the bouquet.
She eyes the flowers and takes them quickly and now it's Johnny's turn to chuckle. He knows her too well. She steps aside, letting him inside their apartment, and goes to put the flowers in the vase that Lucky had sent from Ireland for her birthday. She sets the flowers on the coffee table and rounds back on him.
"You look like crap. I thought that the beds at the MetroCourt are supposed to be top of the line." Lulu says.
"I've been crashing at Spinelli's new place… on his couch, actually. I figured that you'd want me to suffer instead of shacking up at the best hotel in town…" he replies.
She seems surprised but she quickly resumes her pouting but he knows that her façade is cracking. She's got his t-shirt on, his favorite one for crying out loud. He's almost halfway there.
"Good, I'm glad that you've been suffering. It's what you deserve." she snaps.
"How many times do I have to say that I'm sorry?" he asks.
"It doesn't matter how many times you say sorry… I'm still not forgiving you." she says, folding her arms across her chest.
She walks into their kitchen and he follows. She's not running away from him. He won't let her. He loves her too much to let her give up on the greatest thing that's happened to either of them. It took them awhile to get back to this point, to be in love again, but they did it. He got over his obsessive sense of deprecation and pushing her away for being too good for him and she got over her trust issues and accepted that she had found the one man who loved her and only her.
"Don't you think you're taking this a little bit too far?" he asks.
"Absolutely not!" she shrieks.
"You are unbelievable… you get angry at me for proposing to you?" he cries.
"During sex! You proposed to me while we were having sex, Johnny!" she screams.
Ok, so it wasn't his finest hour. He knew that he was supposed to do it with the flowers and the string quartet, maybe even flying off to Manhattan and proposing on the top of the Empire State Building or whatever tired cliché it is that ensures that a girl will say yes. But she practically mauled him when she came home that night and that, mixed in with the amazing new lingerie (from Crimson's Romance and Valentine's Day themed issue) that she was wearing, might have contributed to it just spilling out like that.
"I know and I'm sorry! It wasn't supposed to happen like that…" he apologizes and she shakes her head.
"And the worst thing about this is that you probably didn't even mean it!" she cries.
"Of course I meant it!" he shouts.
She looks up at him, genuinely surprised, and he shakes his head in disbelief. How could she even think that he didn't want to marry her? He's known that he's wanted to marry her since they were practically kids, joyriding in his Mustang, running from the police and fighting off every single one of their family members who told them to stay away from each other. He puts his hands on her shoulders, a gesture that she surprisingly allows him to do, and stares straight into those big eyes of hers.
"I know that my timing sucked… but I love you, Lulu… and I do want to marry you… and you know that." he says.
A small flicker of a smile passes over her lips and she stands on her toes in order to kiss him. He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her in closer, letting her body meld against his. This woman drives him crazy sometimes but he loves her, god help him.
"Just so we're clear, we're not engaged… not until you're down on one knee and you have a ring for me." Lulu says, against his lips.
"Well, in all fairness, I was on both knees when I last proposed." Johnny whispers.
"And I'm still mad at you." she manages to add, in between kisses, and he laughs because if she's really mad at him, she's not doing a good job of showing it.
"Well, there's this really great thing called make-up sex and if I remember correctly, we're really good at it." he says.
He hoists her petite frame up into his arms and she wraps her legs around him, giggling as they both fumble in the general direction of their bedroom, slamming the door behind them. Ten days later, Johnny Zacchara decorates the apartment with over a hundred pink roses, cooks his famous seafood risotto, and gets down on one knee and proposes to Lulu Spencer with a three carat diamond engagement ring.
They're planning a June wedding.