Val yawned and opened her eyes, rolling sleepily over onto
Tyler.
"Ouch," he mumbled, eyes still closed, sure that his pillow
had started attacking him and that was all. Nothing important or anything.
"Wake up," Val told him. That got his attention. He took his
head out from its position buried in the pillow and shook the crick in his
neck, opening his eyes.
"Morning, Val," he said. "What time is it?"
Her blue eyes flew to the clock.
"9:04," she told him. Tyler sat up. "Why? What's wrong?"
"My flight leaves at 10:46," Tyler moaned, "and I'm not packed
yet. Great."
"You know, if you miss it, you could always stay here longer,"
pointed out Val. "I wouldn't mind."
"I'd love to," Tyler said. Val's eyes lit up. "But I can't."
The light dimmed.
"Oh. Okay."
Val pushed the blanket away and got out of bed, feeling cold
even though the flat was warm and she was dressed in flannel pants and a
T-shirt. She went over to the counter and sat on the stool, spinning left, then
right, then left, then left right left right left…
She stopped.
Tyler sensed something was drastically wrong and he climbed
out of the bed, too, padding over and sitting down on the stool next to hers.
"What's wrong?" he asked, her words of before falling onto his
tongue and echoing. Melissa had probably gone to stay with a friend or Hank
once she had seen Val and Tyler leave the party, and he was glad. Even though
Melissa didn't usually butt in too much, alone was the best way to talk.
"Nothing."
"What's wrong?" he asked again, concerned.
"I don't want you to leave," said Val in a very small voice.
"I want you to stay. And I want you to be here. I want to be able to kiss you.
And… I'm being selfish, but I don't care, 'cause I love you. And I don't want
you to go." Val bit her lip for his answer.
"I really want to stay here, Val," Tyler said helplessly.
Val's hopes shattered on sharp rocks again. "But I can't. I can't. I promise
I'll be back soon, though. I swear. Just give me a little time to think and you
a little time to think and we can come back and share our thoughts and then we
can decide what to do."
Val spun her stool away from him, then back towards him after
a moment's thought.
"Fine. I'll wait for you to think. I'll wait for me to think.
I'll wait for you to come back and then I'll wait for you to leave again. If
you leave once, you'll leave again, and again, and again. But I promise I'll
wait, okay? I will." She hopped off the stool. "You'd better go get packed."
It was painfully obvious she was upset. Painfully obvious, but
there was nothing Tyler could do right now. He tried to smile at her, then went
to obey her request and pack.
*
Val came out of her room
half an hour later, still dressed in her pajamas. She wasn't about to say that
goodbye was forever and that he wouldn't come back, because then it might come
true. She wasn't going to say that they shouldn't have listened to reality,
because she was the one who had closed her eyes and jumped from the cliff. And
she wasn't going to ask him to stay, because third time wasn't always a charm.
She was just going to say goodbye. Nothing else. Just goodbye.
It turned out to be more than that, though, when she wrapped
her arms around him and cried into his shirt, his hand stroking her hair
reassuringly, his chin resting on her head, trapping her in an embrace.
It was especially more than that when she kissed him, because
Val could never keep any feeling from Tyler when they were kissing, and he knew
everything—everything tiny, immediate thing—she was thinking for a split second
before she pulled away.
"You're going to miss your flight," she pointed out, trying to
stop the tears from spilling down her cheeks, following in the tracks the
others had mapped out and inventing their own routes. He was going. He was
going to come back, but he was going and that was the main part that had her
upset.
"Yeah." Tyler picked up his suitcase. "I'm sorry."
"No, it's fine," said Val, trying to be cheerful—though that
was hard when her insides were being ripped out.
"It was great, seeing you again and all."
"Goodbye, Tyler." Tears threatened for a minute at the corner
of her eye, then carried out the threat by rolling down her cheek. She had been
so good at hiding her feelings before Tyler came. So very good.
He hesitated.
"Goodbye isn't forever, Val," he told her. "I'll be back. I
promise."
"Yeah," Val said. "Yeah, I know."
Tyler hesitated again, then opened the door.
"See you."
The door closed behind him. Val listened to his footsteps
carry him towards the elevator. She listened to the elevator beep. She listened
to the doors close. And then she listened to the silence.
Painful silence.
She broke down entirely, collapsing on the sofa and sobbing
into her hands. He was gone. Really gone. Sure, he would come back—he had
promised. But how was she supposed to live without him in the meantime?
She
must have stayed like that for twenty minutes, but it felt like hours upon
hours upon endless, endless hours before the door opened. Melissa, Val thought
blurrily.
Val was
sobbing too hard to say hello, sobbing too hard to realize it probably wasn't
Melissa after all when the expected phrase "what's wrong?" didn't ring out,
sobbing too hard to think when someone sat down next to her.
"Hey,
gorgeous."
Val
opened her eyes. Tyler was in front of her. She closed them.
"You're
not here," she informed him. "You went on that plane and you're going to go
away for a long time and then you might come back and then we might be able to
live happily ever after. So go get on your plane and leave." Val started her
rocking, soothing rhythm, back and forth and back and forth and back… forth…
"The
plane probably left," he said. "I got to the airport and I looked at the plane
and I realized there was no reason to leave the best thing that ever happened
to me. You." He watched her stop rocking and open her tear-streaked eyes again.
"But
you said you were going to leave," said Val uncomprehendingly. "You said."
"I
promised I'd come back, though," Tyler reminded her. "And I came back. I don't
break promises."
"You've
broken three," sniffled Val, "and I didn't want you to break another." She
started crying again.
"What
three?" Tyler asked. "Which three did I break?"
"One,"
began Val, counting on her fingers, "in high school. You promised we'd be
together forever. Two, you said you'd get rid of all the maybes. You didn't,
Tyler. Not yet, or else I wouldn't have been so hurt when you left. Three…
three… you said you wouldn't break my heart again, Tyler, and damn it! Look
where I am now!"
"On the
couch," volunteered Tyler, lightening the mood. Val laughed.
"No."
"You're
not on the couch?" he asked.
"I am,
but that's not the point!" Val folded her arms and huffed, trying to sound
annoyed, but her lips were smiling, and Tyler noticed.
"You're
smiling," he informed her. Val clamped a hand over her mouth.
"No,
I'm not," she said, voice muffled by her fingers.
"Oh,
yes you are." Tyler leaned over and tried to kiss her through her hand, prying
her fingers off her mouth.
"No,
I'm not!" insisted Val, laughing. "I swear."
"You
know, it's very difficult to kiss you when you're laughing," Tyler said,
pushing the laughing Val over onto her back and stopping her laughter with a
kiss. Val reacted automatically to the kiss, winding her arms around his neck.
"I'm
sorry I broke all those promises," he said somewhere between kissing her mouth
and her neck.
"It's
okay," Val sighed, finding his mouth again. "It's okay now."
Of
course, Melissa chose just that moment to actually walk in with plastic bags in
her hands.
"Okay,
I'll be leaving now," she said, opening the door and turning around in the same
movement as her gray eyes landed on the couple. Tyler jumped away from Val as
she bolted up.
"It's
fine, Mel," Val assured Melissa.
"I just
wanted to put the groceries on the table," Melissa said, placing the bags on
the counter. "And I'll be going now."
The
door closed behind her.
"So,"
Tyler said conversationally. "Do you want to go out on our first date with each
other in five years?"
"What
makes you think it's not my first date at all in five years?" questioned Val.
"Because
you're the most beautiful person I've ever seen." Tyler reached out and touched
her cheek. "You get thousands of offers, don't you?"
"What makes you think I accept any of the
offers?" Val asked, tears glistening in her eyes.
Tyler
answered by kissing her again, long and thoroughly, searching and listening and
letting her break free of the restraints of maybes to fly away into the sunset.
"I
never said you did," he said. Val smiled and kissed him through her tears.
*
"Where are we going?" Val inquired, following Tyler onto the
sidewalk in front of the apartment building. Tyler smiled, intertwining her
fingers with his and shrugging.
"It's a
surprise," he said. Val narrowed her eyes, turning towards him more.
"A surprise,
huh?" He nodded and she placed her fingers gently on the back of his neck,
sliding her hands to his back as she scooted closer and kissed him. Hard.
"Okay, then I'll convince you to tell me," she said before her voice was cut
off by his mouth.
Feeling his
smile under her lips, Val pulled back. "You knew I was going to do that, didn't
you?" she asked.
"I'll fake
surprise if you want," offered Tyler.
"You're an
idiot," she informed him, bringing her head to rest in the space between his
chest and chin.
"We're going
to Le Marché du Poisson," Tyler told her. "You're a devil, you know that?"
"I don't think
that worked the way it was supposed to," said Val, separating.
"The role
wasn't meant for you," he said. "You're more of an innocent type."
"EXCUSE ME?"
asked Val. "I took kickboxing in sophomore year."
"Okay, maybe
not that innocent," complied Tyler. "Come on, let's go before our reservations
are canceled and I'm beaten to a pulp by your fists and feet while you
demonstrate your kickboxing skills."
Val grinned.
"Good idea."
*
"You know, I
never took kickboxing," confessed Val on the edge of her seat in the quaint
restaurant. Their food was eaten and pushed to the side.
"I know."
"I know you
know… or I think I thought I know you know… wait. That didn't make sense."
Tyler didn't
answer, his eyes flickering towards his watch. Val's heart dropped as her
stomach plummeted.
"You lied,"
she whispered. He looked up, startled.
"What?"
"You said you
loved me," Val reminded him, "and I saw you look at your watch. You shouldn't
care about time if you love me!" This was just great. She had trusted Tyler
not to break her heart again. She was sure he loved her. And now he was
looking at his watch!
"I don't care
about time," Tyler assured her. "I was just making sure I got the moment
right."
"What moment
right?"
"Yesterday I
kissed you at exactly 8:17," he told her.
"What, were
you keeping track? The first or second time?" Val was puzzled. What did the
timing have to do with anything?
"The first
time… and I might have looked at my watch right after," admitted Tyler
sheepishly. Val leaned over to look at his watch. 8:16:23. 37 seconds left.
"So 37—well,
36 seconds now—seconds left. So what?"
"I came up
with a solution to our problem," said Tyler. "I know it's kind of fast and I
don't want to pressure you and if you say no I completely understand and if you
say yes then we can wait as long as you want before—" Val cut him off gently.
16 seconds left.
"Tell me what
it is," she requested slowly. 12 seconds. 11 seconds. Tyler swallowed and got
off his chair, kneeling in front of her. 9 seconds. 8 seconds.
"You are the
most gorgeous, wonderful, beautiful, amazing, intelligent person I have ever
met," he said, reaching into his pocket. 5 seconds. "And I would be thrilled to
never have to leave you and stay by your side for the rest of our lives and get
rid of all the maybes…" 2 seconds. Val had a feeling what was coming next, right
on time… Tyler pulled a black velvet box from his pocket and flipped it open.
"Valerie
Lanier, would you marry me?"
Her universe
stopped, right then and there. She knew exactly what she wanted to do, but was
it really going to be that easy?
No one said
life was easy, she reminded herself, and that made her decision
for her. Reality was going to tell her it wasn't practical, but for once, to
hell with reality.
"Yes," she
whispered. Tyler stared at her, like he couldn't believe she had actually
accepted. "I'll marry you."
There wasn't
really anything to do except kiss her, so he did just that, in the middle of
the restaurant while he slid the ring onto her finger. "I love you so much," he
mumbled. Somehow she understood through the tears rolling down her cheeks and
her mouth that was muffling his words slightly, and somehow she answered him.
"I love you,
too."
Breaking lip contact, Val looked around and
realized everyone at the surrounding tables was looking at them with smiles.
"I think we're
going to be in the paper tomorrow," commented Val, glancing at a man who was
clicking his camera insistently, recognizing Tyler.
"Who cares?"
Tyler returned, handing his credit card to the waiter as he sat in his chair
again. "I love you. I will always love you. I promise."
Val smiled,
looking at the ring—a slender gold band with a diamond lily in the center. She
took it off and read the engraving that she knew would be there: I Love You.
Simple and sweet…
"It's
absolutely amazing," she told him, kissing him again with no regard to a low
whistle from a teenage boy somewhere in the crowd. "Just like you."
"Monsieur
Connell," the waiter interrupted in a French accent, handing back the credit
card.
"Est-ce que tu
as un rose pour ma fiancée?" asked Tyler in French.
"Mais oui,
bien sûr." The waiter broke into a smile and walked away in pursuit of Tyler's
request.
"I thought you
took Latin," Val said with a small frown.
"I took French
for three years in college."
"There's so
much I've missed," Val told him. "There's so much we need to catch up on."
"But we have
all the time in the world," Tyler reminded her.
"Let's go,"
Val said suddenly, rising. "I want to show you something."
She pulled
Tyler out of the restaurant with a kiss.
"Mais—le rose!
Vous oubliez votre rose!" the waiter called after them, holding up a
long-stemmed red rose.
"Je veut leur
rose," volunteered a man next to him. The waiter sighed and handed it to him,
who handed it to his wife.
"Merci."
*
"So now it's
my turn to ask you where we're going," said Tyler. Val smiled and kissed him.
"I want to
show you something." She grabbed his hand and ran across the street when the
light turned green.
"A park?"
Tyler asked dubiously, looking around in the late twilight.
"Wait." Val
pulled him to the middle of the small park, where a fountain that was lit with
red and orange lights, making the water glow. "Look… I wrote it when I first
came. When I was still kind of hopeful. And it lasted for five years. It was
kind of stupid, but…"
Tyler kneeled down
and read the words at the base of the fountain, black ink worn but not
disappeared against stone: T/V Forever.
He sat down,
leaning against the stone, and pulled Val down with him.
"I have
something else for you, but don't think it's because of pity or guilt or
anything, because I think that if we're going to be married it's only fair."
A crumpled
piece of yellow paper came out of his pocket, wrinkled and torn with ten
numbers jotted down in blue ink. Val took it wordlessly and looked at it.
"Is this is
the combination to open your bank account?" she asked, staring at it and then
looking at him, puzzled.
"Yes. The one
in San Francisco, which holds 2.8 million dollars. The rest of my money is in
different banks, but you can have those combos, too, if you want." Tyler looked
at her worriedly for her reaction. She fingered the paper, deciding, then
emptied it into the small pocket in her black dress.
"Thanks," she
said uneasily. "But I don't know if I'll use the money. It might kind of feel
like stealing."
"You're
welcome to use any of it that you want," Tyler reassured her, "but… if you
don't want to, that's fine."
Val switched
from leaning against the fountain to resting her head on Tyler's lap. He gently
stroked her hair.
"Thanks," she
whispered. "For freedom."
"Freedom?" He
was confused.
"It's kind of
an odd feeling," Val confessed, "but I always thought… well, before you came
back, anyway… that engagement and marriage sort of bound you. That you weren't
really free if you were married, that you couldn't spread your wings and fly.
But now, I just feel more liberated than I have in five years, really." She
snuggled into Tyler's stomach and smiled up at him. Tyler bent down until his
face was just a few inches from hers.
"Maybe," Tyler
suggested, "you fooled yourself into thinking that it bound you."
"Maybe," Val
responded, imitating him with a grin, "I fooled myself to keep from thinking
about you."
"Maybe," said
Tyler, "I should kiss you." Val pretended to contemplate the thought, her eyes
bright with laughter. Thank God, Tyler silently said, that Val hasn't
changed too much. He had been scared for a while that she might never get
out of her protective shell he had forced her to build around herself.
"Well, okay,"
Val agreed, trying to sound dubious, but Tyler was already kissing as hard as
possible. Her shoulders jerked up automatically, trying to pull closer.
Breaking for
air a minute or two later, Val spoke. "You think we can get through this?" She
pointed to the ring on her finger to show she meant marriage by 'this'.
"I think we
already have," pointed out Tyler, kissing her again.
And the sun
disappeared over the horizon, but reality was a dream for the couple, and so
they lived on in their own light which would never be extinguished again.
Okay, I admit, the last paragraph sucked, but hey! It's eight in the morning on a Sunday and I woke up two hours ago. Don't blame me. Besides, I'm hyper.
So now that the story's done, I have a small question to
ask: "Do you want an epilogue?" I really am flexible and I'm thinking I won't
write one, but if you guys really want it… it would probably be set three
months from now. Possibly. Sound good? Up to you.
And now that I've worked so hard on this, could you guys
PLEASE review? I'm aiming rather high, for 56 reviews, but that's only 10 more
than I have now! PLEASE? Only ten people? Come on, not that hard. Scarlet182
and Arcadia have thousands of reviews (Okay, so mine is eight chapters shorter
than Arcadia's Second Chances, but hey! It's the principle.), so what do you
say? Please? Pretty please? I'll try to get Gold/Simplicity/Promises/Marquee
out sooner (and then you can see what the last three are!) if you do!
Well, thank you for being such loyal readers and sticking
by me. (*looks around and realizes no one even read the story*) It was great
writing this… and Simplicity should satisfy more of your needs for future fics.
Bye!
~IVY LEAVES
