The late afternoon sunlight shines in waves through the glass of the front room windows, leaving long shadows on the carpet. They lie slumped on a couch, draped across each other, melding into the touch of the other. Darry runs his fingers through her hair, running his nails across her scalp. She lies with her head on his lap, facing the setting sun, eyes almost clouded over with the sleepiness that arises when sunning yourself in the rays of the setting sun, having your scalp massaged and laying together with the one you love.
It's the touch of Darry's palm to her cheek that prompts her to angle her head towards him. He smiles down at her and leans to connect their lips. She smiles into the kiss and places her palm on his cheek, rubbing the side of his face affectionately.
When she turns her head back to the sun he lets out a small groan of disappointment, and moves himself so he is lying parallel to her, back pressed against the couch as she slides perfectly into his embrace. He fits his neck into the crook of hers and looks out at the sky along with her.
"It's so beautiful," she whispers, taking his fingers into her palm before pressing them gently to her lips.
"Hmm," Darry breathes in agreement, pressing his own lips to her neck. She turns her head back to face him.
"Do you have to go?" she asks quietly, touching his nose with a finger.
Darry sighs and sits up on the couch, pulling her with him.
"I have to Ali," he explains, seating her beside him as the sun slips behind a building. "I haven't seen my parents in ages."
Alice scrunches up her nose in an attempt to not cry. It strikes a chord with her that he hasn't asked her to come with. She'd like to meet his parents, and she has for a while, though he's never offered to take her with him when he visits. And that hurts, especially since, according to him, she's his world, his everything, what he would die without.
He notices her indignant silence and sighs exasperatedly.
"Look, I've told you why I haven't taken you to meet them yet," he whines, pulling her onto his lap playfully. "It's not the right time, but it will be soon."
Alice rolls her eyes and tries not to giggle as Darry pinches her sides.
"Don't," she moans, swatting his hands away. "I'm angry at you."
Darry stops trying to tickle her and looks into her eyes seriously.
"Ok, how about I promise you this? After this time everything will be set and I can take you to meet my parents next month,"
"Everything will be set for what?" she asks, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning close enough so their noses touch.
"Well I was hoping to ask my mom for the ring her dad gave her mom when he proposed when I see them this time," Darry explains casually.
Alice's heart stops beating then starts again, at three times the speed it was going at before.
"A ring?" she asks in what she hopes is a nonchalant tone. "What do you need a ring for?"
Darry smiles at her, leaning his forehead against hers.
"To propose silly," he replies, flicking her forearm.
"To who exactly?" she asks, her stomach in her mouth as her heartbeat gets faster and faster.
Darry gives her a sarcastic look.
"Who do you think? You of course!" he exclaims, momentarily shocked at her supposed naivety before realising his mistake when Alice fixes him with a killer withering look.
"Jesus Christ Darry you are the least subtle person I know," she says exasperatedly, before grinning widely.
"I do try," Darry replies sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. Alice whacks him on the arm.
"Where was the restaurant, the getting down on one knee, the romance?!" she shouts, hitting him with each syllable. He winces and grabs her wrists to stop the barrage of slaps.
"Ouch! I'm sorry! I didn't realise you wanted that kind of stuff!" Darry claims defensively, shaking her wrists. He slides off the couch and gets down on one knee. Alice rolls her eyes.
"Darry it doesn't count now that I've told you off for it!"
Darry shushes her and mimes pulling out a ring from his pocket.
"Alison Marie Richardson," he pronounces regally, taking her hand in his. "Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"
Alice hesitates just to watch Darry squirm for a little while, wobbling on his one knee.
"Of course I will you moron!" she finally answers, wrapping her arms around his neck. Darry stands and lifts her off her feet, kissing her as the final rays of sun disappear behind the buildings.
Alice deepens the kiss as Darry places her feet back on the ground, leaning in towards him. Darry seems taken aback and pulls away.
"If I'd have known that romance gets you going we'd have gone on a whole lot more romantic dinners over the years," he says cheekily, running his hands over her arms. Alice shakes her head exasperatedly, but reconnects their lips anyway.
She runs a hand up his shirt and runs her fingers along the tattoo on his stomach. He mimics her actions, sliding his own calloused fingers along the identical tattoo that adorns her navel.
"Second best decision ever," he murmurs as he pulls his shirt off over his head.
"First being?" she asks as his gentle hands grasp the bottom of her shirt.
"Take a guess," he whispers as he lifts her shirt off, kissing her again. "Hint: it's asking you to marry me," he says in a mock whisper that makes her laugh.
"I dunno, I think the tattoos were a life-changing decision," Alice replies as his fingers once again trace the outline of the ink black rose on her belly, before he kneels down and presses his lips against it.
She entwines her fingers into his hair, and it is as the first stars start to come out that they lay down on the couch, identical tattoos pressed together.
When Alice wakes up the next morning Darry is still there. Fast asleep on the couch with an arm draped over her waist. Her hair is a mess and lies in long strands across hers and Darry's shoulders, though he doesn't seem to mind, breathing in the scent of the hair she washed two nights before deeply as he sleeps.
She stretches as the early morning sun brings a bit of light into the room then rolls over to face Darry, watching his peaceful face as he breathes in and out rhythmically. The strong muscles in his arm clench as he wraps an arm around her, pulling her closer to him, and she closes her eyes and leans into his chest, knowing she'll be happy waking up every morning to his face.
The phone rings once, twice, before Alice answers.
"Hello?"
"Alice?"
"Trish? Hi, is Darry with you?"
There is a pause, and Alice knows Trish has moved the receiver away from her mouth.
"Trish? What's going on?"
"Listen Alice I'm at Bob's, can you meet me there in 5 minutes please?"
"Sure Trish, is everything ok?"
Another pause, another silence.
"Just come please."
There's a click and Alice replaces the phone, and runs a hand through her hair. Darry had only been gone five days; he'd said he'd call when they arrived at their parents, though he should have arrived yesterday afternoon and was yet to call, so she was confused as to why Trish was here. It would have taken her at least a day to get back here.
In any case, the best way to get answers was to meet Trish, so Alice slid one of Darry's hoodies over her head and left her apartment silently.
Alice smiles at Trish as she enters the diner, sitting opposite her at the table.
"Hey Trish," she greeted her brightly, placing her bag on the table. Trish doesn't look up from the cold coffee that is sitting in front of her on the table.
"What's going on? I thought you guys were going to see your parents," Alice asked, smiling hesitantly, paranoia gripping her nerves like a vice.
Trish finally looks up at Alice with wide eyes.
"Alice," she begins quietly, hands gripping the mug. "I have bad news."
Alice doesn't say anything. She doesn't say it but her first thought is that Darry's parents have said no to giving him the ring and their good wishes, but that wouldn't explain why Trish is back, looking like she's seen something horrible.
"What's happened, where's Darry?" Alice demands, panic rising in her like bile.
Trish takes a sip of the cold coffee, and Alice notices her hands shaking. As she places the mug back down on the linoleum table Trish glances around, nervous in this environment, as though in the last 5 days she'd seen something awful.
"Darry's gone," Trish says finally, tears immediately springing to her eyes, and she presses a knuckle to her cheekbone to stop them from falling.
A chill runs down Alice's spine.
"Gone where?" she asks before laughing nervously. "This is a joke isn't it? He's gonna jump out any second right?" she reasons, nails digging into the edge of the table.
Trish looks to the side.
"He's gone. He was taken." She says simply, glancing down at her wrist to check the time.
"Taken? What the fuck does that mean Trish? Taken where? By who? Why?" Alice demands, voice rising to the point that some people start to look in their direction. Trish places a reassuring hand on Alice's, now both of them are shaking.
"It's a long story," Trish says wearily, rubbing at the area under her eyes where visible dark circles lie like bruises.
"I've got time." Alice insists darkly, sticking her nails into the palms of her hands to stop herself from screaming.
Trish pauses, as though choosing her words incredibly carefully.
"He was taken by the most evil being I've ever heard of, and I don't know where or why," she explains quietly, looking up at the cloudy skies that loom outside, weighing down on the diner like a wet blanket. "All I know is that I tried but couldn't save him." She finishes softly, a tear falling down her cheek.
Alice stares at the table top, taking in all the details of the surface, from the crude apple pattern to the stains left by past patrons as a way of blocking out what Trish has told her.
"He was getting a ring," she whispers, more to herself than anyone else. "He was going to ask your parents for a ring so he could propose to me properly."
Trish nods silently, and without another word she stands and pays for her coffee, leaving Alice sitting at the table, head down, arms limp at her sides.
Somehow she gets home late in the afternoon, still too shocked to operate properly. She sits herself down on the couch in the front room and brings her knees up to her chin, wrapping her arms around them.
It's the underwear that does it. Lying under a chair across from her are the pink boxers Darry had been wearing 5 nights earlier, dyed from a college prank. The sight of them, something so intimately Darry, is what breaks her. The tears leak out at first, eventually flowing without end, her silence turns to whines which turn to howls. She lays herself down on the couch, watching the sun set as she had with him only days earlier, though it's not the same.
It's as if the world knows of her grief, of her loss, and the clouds that stretch across the sky, the rain that begins to fall, the wind that begins to whistle all sympathise, giving her noise and dark and cold to block out the world from the sounds of her broken heart.
Hi, thanks for reading, I wrote this because I love to invent OCs who are the motivation behind the actions of characters in movies. (Don't judge meeee) and I couldn't help but think that Darry needed a love interest to add meaning behind a couple of actions. Um, if you want a song to listen to while reading I suggest either Blue Jeans ( watch?v=JRWox-i6aAk) or Born to Die ( watch?v=Bag1gUxuU0g) both by the incredible Lana Del Rey simply because I was listening to them while writing.
