Disclaimer: I don't own any of the "In a Hearbeat" characters featured in this story except for the ones I make up.
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who has read my story!! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story also!! Please continue reading!
Chapter 16: "Background Music and Revelations"
Val Lanier sighed as she saw the familiar sign that read:
Tyler Connell had graduated from Michigan State University the week before. His major had been in the Medical field, not surprisingly. He planned to be a pediatrician, mostly because he liked little kids. He had called Val Lanier's house, but her mother had answered and said that she hadn't come home from California yet. She was due back next week. He had asked her not to mention to Val that he'd called. A week ago he had called, so he figured that Val was due back home either today, or any of the few days after. He felt bad that he had been the one who had quit calling. He figured since he quit calling, that she thought he had a girlfriend, and didn't want to tell Val. Quite the contrary, however that wasn't the case. He didn't want to hold her back any. Just as she had said before she left, and he had realized that he wanted the same for her. Now he just hoped and prayed that he wasn't too late for her to be his girlfriend again. He had it all planned out…
Val slowly came up the driveway of her house, and opened the car door slowly. She took a deep breath of the clean, salt-free air, and smiled. She went up to the porch, and put her key into the lock. She opened the door, and called, "Mom? Brooke? I'm home!"
"Hey honey!" her mother called from the kitchen.
Val walked into the kitchen and smelled a sweet aroma. "Hey, Mom." She gave her mom a hug. "Whatcha cooking?"
"Spaghetti," her mother said.
[Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong]
"I'll go get the door," Val said to her mother.
"Okay."
She opened the door. "Are you a Miss Valerie Lanier?" a man in a florist uniform asked her, kind of gruffly.
"Yes."
"These are for you." He handed her yet another bouquet. But this one wasn't of roses. It was a wildflower arrangement. It was very attractive.
"Thank you," Val responded politely. She closed the door before looking for the card. She found it and began to read, hoping against hope that it wasn't another anonymous bouquet. "Sorry I stopped calling you. Let me make it up to you at my house around eight. Love always, Tyler." Val muttered under her breath. Well, I guess that means that he doesn't have a girlfriend if he wants to make it up to me, she thought. I'm going to go.
Mrs. Lanier's famous spaghetti dinner was to die for. Val enjoyed it so much. Between mouthfuls, Val managed to ask, "Where's Brooke?" before shoveling another forkful of spaghetti into her mouth.
"She's on duty late at the EMS station." Brooke had followed in her sister's footsteps and had become an EMT when she was of age, too. She enjoyed it and planned to be a doctor of some sort, just like Val.
"Oh okay." She helped her mother clean the kitchen before heading to her room to change at seven. She didn't want to go to Tyler's looking like this. She rummaged through her suitcases until she found what she was looking for: a light green v-neck tank top with khaki shirt and tan platform slip-on sandals. She had kept her hair short and had curled it like everyone liked. She put some light make-up on and within forty-five minutes was heading out of the house and to her car.
Tyler waited by the front door, fifteen minutes early, hoping against hope that Val was going to show up…
Val drove her silver VW bug down the road to the ritzy area of Kingsport where Tyler lived. She spotted his enormous house almost as soon as she turned the corner down his street. She pulled up in the driveway, and got out of her car slowly. She walked up the front steps to the door and rang the doorbell, waiting for Tyler to open the door for her and invite her in.
Tyler jumped at the sound of the doorbell ringing. She was five minutes early. But maybe it's not her, he thought frantically. Even if it is, I don't want to seem as if I was waiting for her to arrive like I have been. He waited a few seconds until he couldn't stand it anymore and he opened the door. There stood Val Lanier, looking more beautiful than ever. "Val - hi." He stepped out onto the porch to give her a soft kiss on the cheek. "Come with me." He took her hand and pulled a bewildered Val through his house to the living room, where he dropped her hand. He picked up a remote and pushed a button. Val heard slow music begin to play:
"If I were a painter, mixing my colors
How could I ever find the blue of your eyes?
The canvas could never
Capture the light of your smile, of your smile
And girl if I were a sculptor, working in marble
I couldn't hope it to be a perfect face
The curve of your body, the feel of your skin,
My hands could never, ever trace
So I'll try and find a melody as beautiful as you…"
As the music began to play, Tyler walked toward Val and put his hands on her waist. Val took the hint and silently put her hands around his neck. They danced in silence and soon heard another slow song begin to play:
"Where's that love, and happiness?
Never seems to stand up baby, when you put it to the test yeah
You say that you're a poet, that your life's a work of art,
But you can't be loved by numbers baby, you gotta play it all by heart
Baby, baby, baby…You making me go crazy and if you call that love
Then love should be a crime.
Honesty bites the dust, every time I hear you sayin' love is never lost, yeah
Did you read it in a book, did you see it in a magazine?
Do you think that I'm some new ex-fool do you think I'm so nieve…
Baby, baby, baby, baby…You making me go crazy, and if you call that love
Then love should be a crime"
Val pulled her face away from Tyler's a moment while another song droned on, and she looked deep into his eyes for the longest time.
"…You I'd fight for you, but how can I fight someone that isn't even there?
I've had the rest of you, now I want the best of you I don't care if that's not fair…
'Cuz I want it all, or nothing at all
There's nowhere left to fall, when you reach the bottom
It's now or never
Is it all, or are we just friends? Is this how it ends with a simple telephone call
You leave me here with nothing at all…
There are times it seems to me, I'm sharing you with memories,
I feel it in my heart but I don't show it, show it,
Then there's times you look at me as though I'm all that you can see,
Those times I don't believe it's right, I know it, know it…"
Val realized that they'd been dancing silently through almost three songs now, and demanded in a voice barely above a whisper, "Tyler what's going on?"
He pulled his head back and put a finger to Val's lips and said, "Sshh, just listen to the music."
Bewildered, she agreed. "Okay."
Another song changed on and Tyler began to sing softly in Val's ear:
"Would I walk through fire just to be with you? Be with you yeah
Would I cross an ocean just to hold you, yeah
Would I give all I had to see you smile, see you smile
Would I walk through Heaven I think twice…
Baby I would, baby I will, baby I'd do that gladly…"
"Tyler, what's all this about?" Val interrupted Tyler's singing.
He looked at her and said, "I felt bad that I stopped calling you while we were at college. The thing is though, is that I remembered what you had told me before you left for college too. You said that you didn't want to stand in my way. After I talked to you a couple times, you sounded so stressed and tired, and almost as though you didn't want to talk to me. I thought back to what you said, and didn't want to stand in your way either." A sad look came over his face.
"Tyler, I sounded exhausted because I was taking three other courses than almost everyone else. It's not that I didn't want to talk to, believe me. I was so disappointed when you stopped calling. I thought maybe you had a girlfriend and didn't want to tell me about it."
"Val, you know that I wouldn't do that to you," Tyler protested. "There's no one else for me in this world, and you know it."
"Baby I would, baby I will,
Baby I'd do that gladly…
Be all you need, do anything
To make you have faith
Baby I could, baby I can
Do anything you ask me
Baby I can, baby I could, baby I would…"
Tyler took his arms off of Val's waist and went down on one knee. "Tyler, what are you doing?" Val asked.
After he knelt down, he took one of Val's hands in his and asked, "Val, I know we've had some rough spots, and we will have rough spots, but we have and always will be able to jump over them," he began, the said, "Val, will you marry me?"
Val looked down at Tyler's face, tremendously surprised at what he was doing. "Yes. Yes I'll marry you!"
Tyler stood up and gave Val a passionate kiss on the lips.
"Tyler, is this the way you make it up to every girl?"
"Nope, only you."
- Okay, I know it's mushy, but I've got more exciting stuff coming up, I promise you. Also, to everyone who's wondering, I am a huge O-Town fan and every song featured in this chapter O-Town sings. Well, hope you enjoyed! I'm working on chapter two for "Behind the Scenes" and "Cry for Help" as well as chapter seventeen for this story. Please review! I'm begging you (I know, isn't that pathetic?) - Chilly Penguin