[chapter four: forever]
[chapter written: july 21, 2004]
Months had passed. The show had opened, to great success. It was both critically acclaimed and beloved by audiences. Mush and I had become inseparable, both of us more serious about each other than I had ever been with any of my past boyfriends.
We were back in Mush's living room, with his favorite mix CD playing. "This song always reminds me of you," he said, as we slow-danced together. We really made quite a sight; two young men, shirtless, twirling together in a ritzy New York City apartment. He began singing to me while I grinned at his gorgeous voice. "Whenever I'm weary from the battles that rage in my head, you make sense of madness when my sanity hangs by a thread. I lose my way, but still you seem to understand."
I joined in. "Now and forever, I will be your man." He laid his head against my bare chest as we continued singing to each other. "Sometimes I just hold you, too caught up in you to see: I'm holding a fortune that heaven has given to me. I'll try to show you each and every way I can; now and forever, I will be your man." Turning slowly to the beat, I smiled down at the familiar sight of his curls, loving the rumble of his voice against my chest. "Now I can rest my worries and always be sure that I won't be alone anymore. If I'd only known you were here all the time, all this time..." In the musical interlude, I stole a kiss from him. "Until the day the ocean doesn't touch the sand, now and forever, I will be your man," he sang, looking into my eyes. I finished the song. "Now and forever, I will be your man," I promised him, then leaned in for another kiss. We were still revolving on the spot, and in that moment, I felt closer to him than ever before. I made a mental note to thank God that Richard Marx had recorded "Now And Forever."
The room's only lighting, from dozens of candles, flickered across our bodies, catching in Mush's eyes and making them prisms of beautiful light. "I love you so much," he whispered.
I looked deep into his eyes and knew that he was telling the truth. We had made a promise to each other, back in the beginning of our relationship, that we would never say those words without absolutely meaning them. Therefore, though I had felt happiness and security and trust when around him, and I assumed he felt the same about me, we had never uttered the words. They had never crossed our lips after a full night of making out, or after a particularly good performance in that night's show. We had both had relationships that had thrown the word around mindlessly, and we believed that those three words were too sacred for that.
I kissed his cheek. "I love you, too. With all my heart."
That beautiful grin creased his face, and his arm tightened around my torso, our two clasped hands were squeezed together even more than before. "Kiss me," he whispered. I obliged, tasting the now-familiar mix of coffee and Luden's cherry throat lozenges that embodied Mush to me.
He was still grinning when the kiss finally broke, and I could feel a similar one refusing to be vanquished from my own face. "I just found out tonight that I've never been in love with anyone else before," he whispered to me. "Because I have never, ever felt this happy or relieved or beautiful before."
"You've always been beautiful," I chastised, though I knew exactly what he meant; my eyes remained locked on his. "The most beautiful man I have ever seen, in fact."
He ducked his head slightly. "If you believe that, then you aren't giving yourself enough credit, as you are much more of a beauty than I could ever hope to be," he answered.
"We should really just call a stalemate on this argument," I said with a bit of a laugh. "We only get into this at least twice a night."
He answered by tugging me into the bedroom and pushing me onto the bed. He climbed on top of me practically before I had time to realize what was going on, and kissed my lips firmly.
After a few minutes, he hovered above my face, his silhouette marked only by the street lamps outside his window. "I love you," he said, as if tasting the words again to make sure they hadn't gone sour in the few minutes since they'd last been spoken.
I leaned up, clasping my hands on the back of his neck, and pulling his face back down to mine. "I love you too," I told him, caressing and massaging his neck. "Now and forever."
His familiar weight on me was comforting, and we kissed for a little while longer before falling asleep in each other's arms.
][
The next morning, I went down the street and bought Mush a bouquet of red roses. By the time that night's performance was over, the blossoms had opened beautifully, and I knocked lightly on his dressing room door moments after I had redressed in street clothes.
When he opened the door, he was holding a matching bouquet of crimson roses. We laughed at each other, exchanging them, as well as a sweet kiss that developed into a slightly more serious kiss. When Bumlets, who had indeed made the line, saw this while walking by us, he let loose with a loud catcall that forced Mush and I to go into his dressing room and lock the door behind us.
"You were spectacular tonight," he told me.
I laughed. "Yeah, right. I couldn't even pretend to be into that girl that I'm supposed to be married to, especially not when you were onstage with me." Wanting to be the first to say the words this time, I added, "I love you."
He grinned again. "God, it was so hard to act like I was sad in scene four," he said. "All I wanted to do was stop the production and announce to the audience that I was in love. ...Is that a normal reaction?"
I didn't answer, just kissed him again. Our bouquets of roses were sitting side-by-side, and utterly forgotten, on his dressing-room table.
"You know, we gotta go say hi to the fans," he suddenly remembered, after another ten minutes. "Shit, I'm still in my costume."
I teasingly pulled his shirt off, then followed it with his pants. "Let me dress you," I said. With as much precision as possible, I dressed him in a light blue collared shirt, and a pair of tight khakis. They were my favorite pants of his, because they completely enhanced his ass.
His eyes were clouded with lust when I finished buttoning his fly. "You are so unfairly hot," he moaned, as I laughed and unlocked his dressing room door.
"Our flowers," I reminded him, picking up his bouquet for me.
He scooped up his too. "These will brighten up the apartment." He suddenly frowned. "You know, it's so drab when you're not there."
I kissed his nose. "You're too adorable," I laughed. "Now, hurry up, I wanna go make out in your apartment."
He made a face at me. "You were never this demanding before I said I loved you," he pouted.
Stealing him to the side of a hallway leading to the stage door, I pressed him firmly against the wall and kissed him with every ounce of my soul.
He shook his head once I was done. "You're allowed to be demanding. I've decided."
I took his hand that wasn't clutching his roses, and we exited out the door. He was asked for more autographs than I was, but I was slowly becoming more and more recognized for my talent, too.
He had finally gotten around to everyone, and then he grabbed my hand again. "Goodnight, everyone," he called, waving his roses in farewell. We headed down the sidewalk, disappearing from view.
As we left, I heard some girl sigh, "They are the cutest couple in the world." It brought a large smile to my face.
When we reached his apartment, we began our furious kissing again, punctuated with making sure the other knew just how much he loved him. After about an hour, he flopped on his side. "You know, this apartment is getting awfully pricey for just little old me," he said forlornly.
Thinking of Lloyd, I said, "You should get a roommate, then."
"No shit, Sherlock," he grinned, rolling his eyes. "So whaddya say?"
"Me?" I squeaked. He erupted into laughter at my pubescent squeal. "You want me to... move in?
He grinned. "Blink, you stay here almost every night anyway. C'mon, I know you love this apartment. Not to mention me," he added as an afterthought. "And I love you, and I hate it on those nights when you do go home. It's too lonely here. I miss your warmth, your kisses."
I grinned. "You really want me?"
"I've wanted you for the longest time," he answered, kissing me deeply. "Whaddya say?"
"Promise you won't start collecting stuffed llamas?" I countered, only half joking.
"Scout's honor," he whispered, his thumb tracing my facial features. I kissed it when it reached my mouth.
"Not only will I live with you, but I'll never leave you," I said, my hands tangling in those fantastic curls of his. "I fear you're stuck with me forever, Mush."
"Forever's not long enough to love you fully the way you deserve," he told me. "But I'll sure as hell try."
As we kissed again, I knew he was telling the truth. What had started out a sweet little crush on a celebrity had resulted in my finding my soulmate. I had never been so happy in my life.
[i'll take my chances, i forgot how nice romance is
i haven't been there for the longest time]
[billy joel]
[the end!]
[shoutouts!
The Second Batgirl ][ I take it back... ::worrisome blink for her own sanity:: Uhh, no smut... uhh... XD I'm glad I finished something too! Thanks for reading, hun, and sticking with my story! huggles!
Dreamless-Mermaid ][ Haha, innocent!slash is the cutest slash. Hehe! There are actually a lot of stories with the same amount of slash as what I have in mine, especially since FFN isn't into the whole NC-17 thing. ;) LOL! Hehe, thanks for being such a faithful reader, you're rocking my socks off. :)
geometrygal ][ I met Jai after the evening performance on July 10, 2004... haha, two weeks ago Saturday. It was beautiful. (Do you have lj, m'dear? If so, friend me, I'm irontears) Now I feel sorrow thinking that I may never see Jai in the role again, but it makes me SO HAPPY that I actually got to see it once. Aww, hahaha. Yes, cute little bitchy Specs has been perfected, I believe. He's too cute, haha. Aww, you just made me miss abt!specs a LOT. ::pout!:: Ya know, I'm not sure where the llamas came from, other than the fact that llamas has double-l's, like Lloyd does. ::shrug:: And seriously, who wouldn't love a little massaging!mush action?! I always cry at Homeward Bound. It doesn't matter how many times I've seen it, and the fact that I know that Shadow comes home... there's always that minute when you're just not sure that he'll make it this time! And WOW do I love Dirty Dancing. Don't let TSB hear you praising Havana Nights though, she hated it. LOL! I think Bobby's the youngest Brady, so you liked Peter? Maybe? Haha, I'm not up on my Bradys like I should be... YAY FOR BMW! Did you hear the first season is coming out on DVD soon?? I say YAY TO THAT! I totally grew up on that show... The Fraggle Rock theme ringtone is from my brother, as it's his ringtone right now. Hahaha! ::more huggles and snuggles to geom, and joins in the humming of "Time Of My Life"!!:: Loves, darling!
ershey ][ Aww! You are too ubercute. And of course Blink knows that 2-6-4-3-5 is A-N-G-E-L, because otherwise I would hurt him. And poor Lloyd... he is now sans roomie. Hahaha! And thank you for reading, mmm-kay? ...yaysouthparkokayshuttingupnow.
Queen Kez The Wicked ][ Just wait, Kez, last night I wrote a one-shot in which I killed off two people within one and a half pages. Bwahaha. I felt too pure after this damn story, so I had to kill SOMEONE. You know me. You can be Lloyd's new roomie if you like. hands you your FLUFF FOR ALL on a silver platter See, I can do it! I can leave everyone happy! ::wins!:: Thank you for reading, my little Keeze darling, you make me so happy.
Aura ][ Yes, I want that combo lock. Sigh. Dude, I have three guys lined up who are willing to move to NYC with me for a few months so that we can meet the Fab 5. And they're actually straight. Astounding, I know! And I've loved all the other Angels I've seen, too, but no one - not even my Andy Senor - is as good as my lovely Jai. And lavender is the best color in the WORLD on him. Gah. Sex. He ::is:: sex. ...Why is this shoutout all about Jai and Rent? ::giggle::
Twitch ][ Love to the Blush-ness, and love to the Twitchster too!
[big thank you to everyone who's been reading. ]