Chapter 7: Sanctify

The rest of the day was spent recollecting themselves and getting ready for Valentine's Day activities. Theodore and Eleanor were prepared to go out that night, Jeanette and Simon we're going to stay in that night. Alvin and Brittney on the other hand weren't doing anything. Alvin went to stay at the house for the night so Simon and Brittney would have that apartment alone for the night. Mary, Brittney's other roommate, had gone off back home to be with her boyfriend. Brittney was alone at the house talking to Alvin on the internet. Their camera wasn't working, so skype was out of the question. Instead, they turned to Aim, something neither of them had used in quite a while.

"I think we should go do something tonight. You guys may have already gone on an adventure today, but I've been stuck at home the entire time."

"I understand that, but I'm so tired from this whole thing that I just want to stay here tonight. Please, don't suggest drinking either. I just can't handle that right now."

"I assumed so; anyway, drink on Valentine's Day just seems really depressing. Who goes out to the bar on Valentine's Day?"

He laughed, "I feel the same way. I guess we can just hang out. Do you want to come over? We can listen to music or something."

"That sounds like a good idea. I'll be over soon."

"I can come pick you up in my brand new Daewoo Lanos."

She laughed, "I forgot that you bought that car last night. Thanks, I'll see you in a bit."

Alvin ran out of the house and climbed into his car. The drive over to her house was fast; the car never had a chance to warm up. The Daewoo wasn't a bad car; it just needed a little work. She walked up to her apartment; it was a few flights up. He knocked on the door, Brittney answered.

"Hey come on in," She turned around and he followed.

"I like the small changes; it opens up the room in a big way."

"I agree, it has a lot more room," She sat down on the couch and he followed, "What do you want to listen to?"

"Oh I've been on a real Beirut tear recently. Do you have The Flying Club Cup album?"

"Yeah, I just got it back from Ellie a few days ago. It's a really good album; I love the song Nantes."

"As do I,"

She looked at him and said jokingly, "We dream to die?"

"We dream tonight," Alvin laughed, "Elephant Gun, not on the album, but a good song none the less."

They sat in the soft light of the room and listened to music, reminisced about shows they had gone to together, laughed about old stories, and talked about their friends. They both had so much in common; their music tastes were very similar. They listened to full albums and burned incense. The night was getting later and later, but time was nothing.

"It's gotten late," Alvin said as he got up, "I have to fraternity things in the morning, so I really should be leaving."

She got up after him, "Yeah I have things to do also," he got to the door and turned around.

"I'll see you around, Brittney," he leaned in and hugged her.

"Yeah, of course. We can never seem to be rid of each other at least."

"Yeah," he walked out of the door and she walked back to the couch. She laid down and turned on another record. She thought to herself, At least tonight wasn't a total bust.

Simon and Jeanette were locked in a lover's embrace that they hadn't had for a while. Between their work and Alvin's constant presence, they were at a loss for alone time. Exploring and delving into each other's passion, it was a time for the two of them. It was a time they would soon forget.

"I've missed you quite a bit, Jeanette. I'm sorry I haven't been around lately. I've been so overworked-" she interrupted him with a kiss. They weren't accustomed to this; usually they were both so reserved when they were together. The passion that had been building up between them erupted. His heart began to beat for the first time.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'll wait for you. I'll always wait for you."

"I don't know what I've done to deserve someone like you. I feel so useless when it comes to you. I constantly fail you but you're always so forgiving. Why Jeanette? You could get some guy that deserves you so much more than I do."

"It's because I love you and I know what you're going through for our futures."

"It's not good enough, I should be doing more."

"You don't always have to do more. I like us, I like what we do together and I like where we are."

"Thank you so much. I love you too."

She was taken aback by this. She wasn't used to Simon showing his real emotions. He was logical, driven and prepared. He wasn't the type to allow his emotions out. He's never said it before, but she always thought he felt that emotions were distracting. He would never say that before.

"I think that you should follow me," she led him back to his room, "I want to show you that you do deserve me."

He laughed as she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the farthest room back in the apartment. The swirling darkness spiraled in as they approached their destination. They arrived in the moon filled room, and got lost in time.

Eleanor and Theodore were enjoying the finer things in life of the first time in a while. Theodore had gone all out and made reservations at Le Bec Fin. The cost of this alone was completely staggering, but he spared no expense in treating her. She who had been a constant source of inspiration in his life, deserved to be treated well. He wanted to provide her with the night of a life time; he felt a small box in his pocket and looked into her eyes.

"Ellie, it's so wonderful to be with you tonight," Theodore poured a glass of wine for the both of them, "especially after the craziness that was today. A night to never remember, right?" he was rambling.

She laughed, "It certainly was; I wondered what all happened last night."

"I'm not sure I really want to know. Actually, all I want to know was what we were wearing as we went in between out apartment and Alvin's. Were we running around naked?"

"I doubt it; there's no way that we could have been. Someone would have seen us, or we would have been arrested."

"We may have changed or something at our place, put on something else and gone to Alvin's. At Alvin's, we got completely naked again," He laughed at the thought of this.

"At least we were decent enough to cover ourselves up!" They both had a laugh as the waiter arrived with the first course. The meal was in three exquisite courses; they both could appreciate the intricacy of the meal. The flavor playing with them, teasing them, reminding them of everything they loved.

The night was perfect. A light snow was falling but it wasn't cold. The breeze was light, the air smelled of love, perfection, adoration, everything that reminded them of why they were there together. They talked and made small talk with the couples around them. They got invited to tables, had drinks with strangers, posed for pictures, and ate their meal. It was the most expensive meal either of them had ever eaten, but neither of them cared. Time was nothing, money was no object. The weight in Theodore's pocket got more pressing. It got heavier as time passed; his heart was beating faster thinking of it. When he touched it, his thoughts wandered and he remembered everything that was beautiful in the world. Everything that he strived for, would die for, would kill for, would have given everything for, they all danced in his memory. Then, he would look to her, the woman that completed him. Her beauty captivated him; she wore a draped seafoam green dress with white trim. She whitewashed all of his surroundings. The soft music, the perfect lighting, the other revelers, all things of beauty was eclipsed by her. He was hypnotized and focused at the same time.

"You're staring Teddy," she laughed and grabbed his hand that was situated on the table. The hand that held the heaviest object he had ever held before.

"You're beauty was distracting me," Theodore said, as he looked down to her hand on his. She was still able to make him dizzy with the most simple of touches, "Not just now, all the time. I always wonder why you chose me."

"I chose you because of things like that; you make me feel more than I've ever felt before in my life. Everything you do, the person you are, it makes me want to be a better person because of it. I couldn't imagine a life without you Theodore, I wouldn't have comfort or direction or love."

"I couldn't imagine a life without you either. I want to be perfectly complete with you Eleanor," he took his hand from hers revealing a ring, "Will you marry me?"

He looked at the ring he had revealed and started to tear up, "Yes, of course yes. A thousand times, yes!" He put the ring on her finger, which was a tad loose. She got up and rushed to him and their lips met. The restaurant was roaring with the cheers from waiters, customers and just about everyone around them. Their passion burned with the fire of millions of past experiences.

"You know how cliché you are? Valentine's Day at a fancy restaurant? You're lucky I love you so much." She buried herself in his chest.

"I know, I know."

It was getting closer to midterms; the end of February brought more snow and a decent amount of stress. Simon and Jeanette had been ghosts in their respective apartments. They spent their days and nights studying and performing and experiment that none of them could understand. Something with lasers; that's about as far as it went. Eleanor, a psychology major, couldn't even keep up with terminology. Again, the apartment was abandoned; with Simon gone, Alvin had secluded himself to study most of the time. He was helping around the fraternity house and setting up more rush events, his time was monopolized there and it usually caused him to spend nights crashed out on someone's floor in the house. Theodore had been doing well, his midterms were all essays that he worked on gradually. Between his new job as a student assistant for an English 101 class, and preparing for their summer wedding, he didn't find much time for music. It had left his mind almost completely. Him and Eleanor spent a good portion of their time with Brittney, who helped them find the appropriate people for the wedding. The photographer, florist, catering service, all these things Brittney found.

"Brittney," Eleanor said to Brittney. She, Brittney and Theodore were in their apartment planning the details about the band playing, "I'm not going to get a Journey cover band to play at my wedding."

"Oh come on, it will be awesome."

"Brittney, you are more than welcome to do that at your wedding, but there's no way it's happening here," They were sitting across the tables but it seemed like their faces were so close they could be touching. Theodore just observed quietly as he made dinner and read a text from his most recent essay. He spent most of these nights not trying to fight with them. Until that point, he agreed well enough with Eleanor, so there was no real reason for him to get involved. He just sat back and watched.

Eleanor looked at him, "Theo, do you want a Journey cover band?"

He laughed, "No that seems really lame. I'm not exactly sure what I want. I doubt any of the bands I want to play will be available or willing to play a wedding," Eleanor and Brittney didn't hear anything past his first sentence. They just continued to argue regardless of what he sighed. He just laughed and continued to cook.

"Ellie, if you aren't going to use my advice, I'm just not going to help you."

"Whatever Brittney, I'm not doing the damn Journey cover band."

Brittney stormed out and Eleanor looked stressed at Theodore.

"What's wrong Ellie?"

"Oh it's just so much to be doing. Jeanette has been gone so it's just me and Brittney working on it. She's just so hard to work with at times."

"Well, if you want help, you know I would be more than happy to help. I guess it's my wedding too, right?"

"You really want to help?"

"Want is a strong word. What I want is to see you happy. I'll help you with this in order to do it."

"Thank you Teddy. Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Please, how difficult could it be? Have you decided on a location yet?"

"No, you can start on that," She grabbed a pile of different travel magazines, "I've decided different areas I want already so you can make the final choice and I'll be happy with it."

He leafted through the twenty different magazines, "These are your final choices?"

"Yeah, just get me a final choice and we'll do it,"

He sighed and started to look through the first magazine and to finish cooking dinner. He flipped, turned pages, and searched but he wasn't getting anywhere.

"Ellie, this all seems to be far out of our price range."

"My mom is paying for it; she said that all of these places are fine."

"How is she planning on paying for it? Mrs. Miller has had a job in forever."

"She retired and we still have a lot of money saved away in marriage funds from our touring days."

"Oh ok," he started to serve dinner, "we'll be happy to pay for half of it or more if needed you know."

"I know, but we've been putting money away for our weddings for a long time now," she came to the dinner table and sat with him, "it will be alright, we've got more than 50,000 dollars saved away."

"If we both pay for it, some of that money can be used to buy a house or buy you a car. Either way, we're still making a decent amount of money from album sales and name rights. We should really go half on this thing."

"It doesn't matter where it comes from, but if you have the money to go half, you'll have the money to buy us a house or car or something."

"That's true, I just feel bad if we don't help out."

"And I'll feel bad when you buy the house! Regardless, we're feeling bad so let's just feel bad together."

"I can do that," he took their plates, "I have to go write my paper now; I'll make a decision sometime."

He started to type away in their room, and she walked in.

"Teddy, I'm sorry if I've been acting a little crazy."

"Oh no, you haven't been. I was just being stubborn; you're right. Our money will all be in the same place soon so it doesn't matter what order we spend it in."

She walked over and laid on the bed, "It's just that, I want everything to be perfect, and I know you can help, but I have this vision of the wedding that I want."

He turned around, "You remember when we went to Switzerland?"

"Yeah," she laughed, "we climbed and mountain and then played a show at the top. We were such a wreck, but it made some really good buzz."

"Do you want to go back for the wedding?"

She thought about it for a second and smiled, "That is an amazing idea!" she got up and grabbed her laptop, "I'll look up prices and everything right now! Ahhhh, I'm so excited."

He smiled and turned back to his work.

Jeanette was sitting in her lab alone late the next day; performing an experiment she needed data from for her midterm. It was arduous and she had been working on it for 6 hours straight, aside from two bathroom breaks. She put on her music and started to zone out. Her apparatus started to glow red with heat.

"Jeanette, watch your temperature," a mysterious voice called from the hallway. She didn't hear it, "you're going to get it broken if you keep it that temperature for too long," he turned it down, "hey, are you all there?"

His name was Lucas and he was a senior physics major. They had never worked together before but she had seen him around before. He had well kept blonde hair and Buddy Holly glasses, "Thanks Lucas, I'm not really all here right now."

"I can see that, are you working on your midterm?"

"Yeah it's not giving me the results I'd like. I think I'm going to have to scrap it and start over," She poured over her lab notebook for the reason for her results.

"Do you mind if I look at you experimental design?" She handed it over to him and he looked at the apparatus, "I have an idea, hand me some water and a lens, "She did it, and he inverted the apparatus, "The problem is the focus of the laser is off and it needs to be diluted. This isn't going to be exact; you'll have to get the correct equipment for exact results, but for now this will work," he poured the water on the lens, "put in through here and check out the results after five minutes and it should be much closer."

"How did you think of that?"

"The absorbtion properties of this metal are a bit weird; they work better over an area rather than at high concentrations. Diluting it actually makes it stronger."

He's brilliant, Simon had never even thought of that, She thought as they sat there, waiting for the new results, I didn't think anyone could keep up with Simon when it came to ocular physics but I guess Lucas can. He's smarter than he seems.

"Look, it's much closer now," he walked to a cabinet and pulled a machine out of it, "This is able to refract lasers and make fields rather than beams, try this next time," she did, and it was working perfectly.

"Thank you so much Lucas, I wouldn't have ever thought about it like that."

"Knowing random chemical properties is the advantage double majoring gives me. Don't worry about, it was just recently discovered," she grabbed her notebook and took down all of the results.

"I haven't seen it yet, who discovered it?"

"It hasn't been published it yet; I did a few weeks ago with Dr. Lemure. It will be in some texts next year though."

"That's amazing; I can't believe something got discovered here by anyone besides Simon!"

He laughed, "Although he's a young upstart, there are still those of us who can perform just as well as him," she got the rest of her information and turned off her machines, "You got everything?"

"I did, thanks to you," she blushed slightly, enough for him to notice at least.

"Now that you're done, I think you deserve a little break. I was about to get coffee, want to come with?"

She was surprised; It's just coffee, nothing more. Just a shared drink between colleagues. If it's just that, then why can't I help but be nervous?

"Sure, why not?"