The house was silent except for the music that played from the stereo. He had no idea how long they had been dancing. Seconds. Minutes. Hours. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that he was holding her. That he could feel her hair softly caressing his cheek. That he could feel how right and natural her hand felt in his. He wanted to stay like this forever. But he knew they couldn't. It was getting late and they both needed their rest. But for some reason he wasn't tired. He wanted nothing more than to stay up with her. Talking. Dancing. Laughing. This was the first evening in a long time that he felt comfortable with her. Where he felt like they were finally overcoming the last few tense months. But something was eating away at him. Something that he had said earlier in the evening. It had been a joke. A lame, nervous joke to cover up his true feelings. As soon as the words had left his mouth he wished he could have taken them back. But he hadn't. He had chickened out, and ever since he had wanted to tell her the truth. His real feelings. He wanted to, no he needed to tell her tonight before he lost his nerve. He knew that if he waited until tomorrow or the next day he would lose his nerve. She deserved to know the truth. After everything he had put her through the past few months she deserved nothing less.
He had to find a way for her to stay up with him and after a few moments the perfect idea hit him. He knew that she would never be able to resist.
"Angela?"
"Yeah?" she said softly.
"I was just wondering if you would like to stay up with me and have some tea and cookies. I made your favorites this morning."
"Chocolate chip with walnuts?" she asked looking at him and smiling.
"Would I make anything else for my Boss?"
"Well, if you know what's good for you, you won't." she teased him.
"Yes, Ma'am." he said wryly. "So what do you say?"
"Well actually I am tired."
"Please?" he pleaded.
She looked in his eyes. He was looking at her so intently. It was as if she said no his heart would be broken. This was obviously important to him.
"Okay." she said softly. "But I'm going to change into some pajamas first."
"Okay. I'll do the same. How about we meet down here in ten minutes?"
"Sounds good." she smiled at him and slipped her hand out of his.
He watched her walk up the stairs before turning to go into the kitchen. He filled the tea kettle, put it on the stove, and hurried upstairs to change as well.
He changed out of his suit into a pair of Ridgemont sweats and a white T-shirt. He hurried back downstairs and went into the kitchen just as the tea kettle was about to go off. He fixed their tea and put the cookies on plate and carried them into the living room.
"Okay here I am."
He turned at the sound of her voice. For a moment he forgot where he was. What he was doing. All he noticed was her. How does she do it he wondered? How does she go from wearing a black cocktail dress to a pair of pink cotton pajamas and her bunny slippers and still come off looking amazing? Her face was freshly washed, her hair up in a messy haphazard bun with a few tendrils that cascaded down like a waterfall. She looked beautiful.
"So am I going to be able to eat some cookies or are you going to stare at me all night?" she teased.
"What?" he asked still a little mesmerized.
"Tony! Are you all right?" she asked waving her hand in front of his face.
"Oh yeah. I'm fine." he assured her. "You look beautiful."
"Oh sure." she giggled sitting down on the couch. "No makeup, my hair is up in this messy bun, and I'm wearing this old pair of pajamas. Yes, I am really..."
"Beautiful." he finished for her sitting down next to her.
She smiled shyly at him. It had been so long since she had felt comfortable with him. The last few months had been so tumultuous that she was afraid they would never get through it. But they had. Things were still a little awkward but they were getting a little easier as each day went by.
"So shall we?" he asked gesturing at the tea and cookies.
"We shall" she grinned grabbing a few of the cookies.
"Hey, leave some for me!" he teased her.
She grinned back at him as he grabbed a few cookies for himself.
They ate in silence for a while. Each preoccupied with their own thoughts. She couldn't help wondering why he had wanted them to stay up, while he on the other hand was wondering how to tell her what was on his mind and in his heart. After the cookies had been reduced to crumbs and their tea cups emptied he decided it was now or never.
"Ummm Angela, there is a reason why I asked you to stay up with me."
"I thought so. " she smiled leaning back against the arm of the couch her knees pulled up against her chest. "So, what's up?"
"I uh, there's something I need to say to you." he said nervously.
"Okay. But Tony why are you so nervous?" she asked perplexed. "It's just me."
He didn't say anything for a few minutes, his eyes were glued to the floor.
"Tony? You're scaring me. Is something wrong?"
He turned to look at her. She looked so sweet, so vulnerable. He hated the fact that he was going to dredge up something so painful.
"Yeah, there is." he said quietly.
She felt her stomach flutter with butterflies. Whatever he had to say was obviously serious.
"So, what is it?"
"It's about what I said earlier tonight."
She went over the night in her mind. It had been one amazing and strange night. They had gone to the closing of the Starlight Ballroom with different people who had somehow ended up together. But neither She or Tony had minded because they had been enthralled by another couple who told them the story about how they had met forty-six years ago in the very same place that was now closing.
"Tony," she said confused. "What are you talking about?"
"It was when you asked me if I had been happy the last seven years."
"Oh, so what about it?"
"I lied. Or to be more accurate I joked my out of it."
"So you haven't been happy?" she asked her voice and face mixtures of surprise and sadness.
"Oh no, no, no. I have been happy." he hastened to assure her. "But, what I said when you asked me is what has been bothering me."
"Oh, you mean the part about you losing your hair." she smiled. "But, I thought that was a hard time for you."
"Oh it was. Especially with all of Mona's lame hair jokes." he growled. "But uh as I said when you asked me I joked my way out of it when I should have just been honest with you."
"So what did you want to say?"
Swallowing hard he looked at the floor again. She waited. This was obviously difficult for him.
"Angela?" he said quietly taking his gaze off the floor and looking her in the eyes.
"Yeah?"
"There was a time a short time ago that I wasn't happy. In fact I was miserable."
She knew what time he was referring to. She had felt the same way and although she did feel a little better now that it was over she still had lingering feelings of sadness and heartache.
"Tony, I.."
"No please let me finish."
She nodded her head and he continued. "I never should have made that crack about my hair. The truth is when we were *broadening our horizons* He cleared his throat. "I was miserable because I missed you. I missed us. And I know it was all my fault that we were in the situation we were. If I hadn't...Well if I hadn't made the dumbest mistake of my life there wouldn't have been those months of awkwardness. I just want, I just need you to know how sorry I am. For everything."
He looked down at the floor again and waited for her to say something. He knew what he had done had been wrong and all he wanted now was for the two of them to get back what they had before.
"Tony?" He felt her hand on his.
He looked up and into her eyes. Those beautiful, chocolate colored eyes that reminded him of chocolate chip cookies. The same eyes that he dreamt about. Awake and asleep.
"What?"
"I forgive you." she smiled.
Those words. Those three words that he had been longing to hear. He felt like he had just won the world series. No this was better. She was better than the world series. She was his Angela. His ad exec, chocolate chip cookies with walnuts eating, movie partner, dancing partner, best friend in the whole world Angela.
"Thank you Angela." he smiled at her.
She hesitated for a moment and then leaned forward softly kissing his cheek. "I'm going to go to bed now." she smiled. "Night Tony."
"Night Angela." he smiled back at her and watched her walk up the stairs.
He gathered up the tray and went into the kitchen and put it in the sink. After a quick run through he went back upstairs and slipped into bed. As he drifted off he smiled knowing that he would see her beautiful brown eyes in his dreams.