This week was horrible. School is ridiculous and I would think of something witty to say, but it can't be bothered now. Just know that this is the longest piece I've written so far to make up for my lack of …everything. Prompt was, as dictated by my Jew Wifey, chiropractor. This chapter is dedicated to her, DerekRiffchynsAssistant, for her encouragements, Jag Lady for reviewing and of course, Andy Samberg for being extra hilarious. I love you all.

Ryan shifted in his seat for the tenth time in the past five minutes. His back was killing him and he was all too ready to blame Valera's oddly shaped "mod" couch. Who the hell has a couch shaped like a kidney? Ryan looked over at his girlfriend whose eyes were glazed with focus as she stared at the TV screen. They were watching Amelie for the fifth time since the two of them started dating. As much as Ryan had groaned and rolled his eyes when his girlfriend showed up at his door, French film in hand, he actually really liked the movie, though he would never admit it. The movie's heroine was currently stealing her father's garden gnome, one of his favorite parts of the movie, but he couldn't muster the same attentiveness his couch-mate was exhibiting. His shoulders and spine felt like they had been bashed in with steel toed boots and in an attempt to allay the throbbing, he shifted again, groaning. Valera grabbed his knee, eyes still fixed on the movie.
"Stop it, you're distracting me." She said, her long fingers still wrapped around the curvature of his knee.

"My back hurts!" he pouted.

"I don't care. We're watching Amelie and you're being disruptive." She still couldn't manage to tear her eyes away from the screen

He jerked his limb from her grasp and tucked himself further into the corner from the couch. Ryan knew it was childish and he was being unreasonable but the pain that was chewing as his muscles was making him irrational and he didn't care. "I could be dying and all you want to do is watch some movie about a French girl who can't keep her nose out of other people's business."

Suddenly, the movie paused; Amelie's mouth open and eyes closed, obviously in the midst of a sentence, stretched across the screen. Valera's head snapped in his direction and her eyes were wide with indignation and frustration. "You're not dying, Ryan. You're just being a baby about your back pain."

"It really hurts!"

"You want some Advil?"

"No."
"Then don't be such a girl about it, okay?"

"I'm not!" Ryan stood up, hoping that maybe if he walked to the kitchen, the kink would work itself out. A huge twinge of pain that Ryan likened to giving birth shot through his body and he doubled over, swearing. "Motherfu-"

"Ohmygod! Are you okay?" Valera panicked, interrupting his sailor talk.

Flopping back on the couch, realizing that maybe a walk to the kitchen would probably kill him, he nodded.

"Jesus Christ, Ryan! Why the hell didn't you tell me it was that bad?" The lab tech said, moving closer to the hunched over man on the couch.

"I did."
"I thought you were just being overdramatic." She said, gently stroking his arm, brow furrowed with worry. "Maybe you should go see a chiropractor or something."

"Clearly, I wasn't. It hurts really badly, Max, I'm serious." Ryan winced again to prove his point.
"What'd you do to it?"

"No clue. Maybe I slept on it funny…"
"Probably. Your bed is like sleeping on a slab of cement. I'm surprised you even have a spine left, Wolfe." Valera stated.

"Maybe it's just your ridiculous couch." Ryan mumbled that, knowing well enough that if she heard him, more than his back would hurt.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that because I know how much pain you're in." Suddenly Valera disappeared from beside him. Worried that he might have upset her more than she let on, Ryan closed his eyes and sighed. He was definitely in no shape to be chasing after one very quick lab tech with hurt feelings.

Valera worked her fingers into his shoulder blades, perched carefully on the back of her neon sofa, legs on either side of her injured, cantankerous boyfriend. This action caught Ryan by surprise because he jumped and she had to stop for a minute to regain her balance so she wouldn't be sent tumbling backward over the couch and have her own injuries to deal with. She grinned to herself as Ryan groaned. Clearly, that foray into pursuing massage therapy as a career was paying off. His stiff muscles loosened as her hands set to work, freeing his shoulders, neck and middle back of painfully tight knots.

"Stressed out?" Valera puffed, her thumbs grinding into a particularly difficult spot near the base of his neck.

"If I say yes, will you do this more often?" Ryan wanted to grin so much, it was painful, but he was worried that if he did, his girlfriend might abandon her post as his personal masseuse and that wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

"I might choke you."

"You wouldn't." Ryan stated cockily. "You lovvvveeeee meeeee." He had suddenly transformed into a fifth grader with the way his voice became sing-song and the way he dragged out his words.

"Keep talking like that and I might not." Valera had all pretense of sounding tough and callous, but ran her fingers lightly across his neck to show she was kidding and Ryan settled into her and laughed in response.
"…I love you, y'know." He mumbled, staring at her in the reflection of the television screen, watching closely for her response. Suddenly it was as if the Ryan Valera had come to know in recent years, the cocky, sarcastic Ryan disappeared and the self-conscious, shy sweater vest wearing Ryan reappeared and was now handing her his heart. She noted how he fidgeted and …winced? after he said it. She smiled to herself. She'd known for a while that she loved Ryan quite possibly even more than she loved her Louboutins, but had become increasingly more aware that she probably loved him more than she loved anyone else. Still, she wasn't prepared for his sudden confession and wasn't quite sure how to adequately respond without sounding too ecstatic. Valera's mind raced for a response and she tersely gripped his shoulders. Before she could stop herself, the first thing that came to mind tumbled out.

"Wolfe, are you high?" she couldn't help it and the lab tech's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates after she realized what she said.

"What?" Ryan was confused and twisted, albeit painfully, to look at his suddenly mute masseuse. "Why the hell would you ask that?"

"You… you just said you loved me…and you're not drunk or dying so you must be high." The sometimes blonde, sometimes brunette was fumbling uselessly.
"So I have to be high?"

"Yes." She nodded. "You just don't say things like that out of nowhere." She pushed his head back to a forward position and continued to knead her fingers into his shoulders. "Now press play, I wanna watch the rest of this movie."

"Not like you haven't seen it before…" Ryan begrudgingly grumbled as he found the remote and pressed play, eyes to the screen as Amelie sprung back into action and finished her sentence. He was thankful that Valera wanted to watch the movie and not discuss why he announced that he was in love with her. Why the fuck did I say that? Good going, Wolfe! You told your girlfriend you loved her and she thought you were high! He had never been more grateful for the focus required to watch a subtitled film. He definitely didn't want Valera to see him panic like this, particularly when he felt her hands leave his shoulders and settle at his sides.

Maxine Valera knew that even though her boyfriend lacked any sort of tact when it came to his feelings and attractive women. Seeing him in his boyish, puppy-like state, the one he was constantly in when he first started at the lab, she knew what he said was true, but that didn't make it any easier to handle on her part. Deep down, she'd been hoping to hear those three little words, but not like this. She imagined a dozen roses, candle light and dinner, not a French movie, some Red Vines and a massive backache. But he meant it when he said it. She clearly recalled in minute detail the way his eyes scanned hers in the glared reflection and Valera could immediately imagine what they would have looked like up close in high definition. His hazel eyes would have focused in on an awkward, uncomfortable but most definitely endearing stare, the way they do when he's nervous. Their gold flecks would be sparkling and dancing, hoping for her approval. Approval she didn't even offer. Valera winced and was extremely grateful that Amelie required one to focus intently on the plot, as her dejected boyfriend was currently doing.

She sat staring at the screen, still perched on the back of the couch with Ryan sitting stiffly between her legs, taking extreme care not to touch her. Still upset with herself, Valera gently stroked his back with her fingertips, feeling how tense his back was again. It was now or never.

"Babe?" she could smell his subtle scent of aftershave, soap and clean linen.

"Hm?" he turned toward her ever so slightly, cocking one eyebrow.

Now or never. "About earlier…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insinuate…"
"I know you didn't."

"I actually wanted to say, that, uh, I…"

Ryan turned himself completely toward her. During their complete and utter silence, he had managed to calm down and re-center himself, though he was still nervous about his girlfriend's response. He smiled slightly at her stumbling, his eyes locking with her nervous ones.

See! Look, you can see it in his eyes! She certainly could. His adoration was obvious to her and that helped still the butterflies in her stomach. Calm down. He won't care if you sound stupid.

"I just wanted to say that…Iloveyoutoo." Valera forced the last part out in one breath, rushing through her words. "I mean it, too and I'm not saying it just because you said it or anything. I just didn't imagine that you'd say that now. I always dreamed that you'd say it over dinner with candles and roses and I know that's being ridiculous and everything, but I just didn't think you'd say it now."

"Oh." Ryan tried hard to process what she just said. "But I meant it." He said slowly, not sure of what else to say.
"I know you did and that's why I don't care that you said it now. I know you mean it, Ryan. I know."

"Good." He leaned forward and kissed her, cupping her cheek gently with his hand. His girlfriend giggled and rested her hand on the back of his neck. Ryan pecked her on the forehead after pulling away and turned around.
"Forgive me for being stupid?" Valera massaged his shoulders again as his body leaned into hers.

"Of course, but there are conditions." He nodded resolutely.

"Oh?" she said as worked her thumbs into a knot.

"Yeah. First, I'm the only one who gets to ramble like an idiot. Second, you do this more often." He gestured as best he could to indicate he meant the massage. "And finally, we have to watch a different movie, preferably one that's not in French."

"But I like this movie!" Valera pouted.

"I know. We've seen it so much, I can recite it for you if you want." He said simply as the credits rolled across the screen.

"Fine" she acquiesced. As Ryan stopped the movie and got up to put it back in its case, a tic she had wryly picked up on after their third movie night, she slid down the back of the couch to sit on the cushion. Groaning to herself as she noticed that the movie War Games started. "Not this!"

"Yes. This. It's a classic." He defended.

"Says who?" she whined, scooting over to make space for him.

"Me and just about every other geek I've ever known." He said as he sat down beside her, offering half of a Red Vine to her.

Valera accepted the metaphorical olive branch and thoughtful chewed on one end before turning to him. "You're not going to propose to me during this movie, right?"