Author’s Note – For the information of the readers there is another story almost exactly the same as this  one on . I did not copy them… That story is under Aira’s profile, and is SLASH. If you wish to view that story go to story is titled ‘Happy Valentines, Eiri.’

Disclaimer – There is no novelist called ‘Ryan Parker’ or bands by the names of ‘X-trication’ or ‘Eye Candi’. Please don’t go looking for a ‘gun toting manager’ at Jive Records, you wont find one. If there is a book called ‘Precious’ or a song called ‘One for You’ we don’t know of them. And finally, neither of us work at Jive Records or know any of the people there, we simply picked a record company for this fic. And now…. We will let you get on with your reading.

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An Original Story by Aira and Marcya.

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            Ryan woke up to the warmth of the sun on his skin and the cold, suffocating, silence in their room. His eyes fluttered open and for a few long moments they watched, unblinking, the ceiling above him as he wondered about the many things he had to do and wanted to do for later on. When he blinked away, he found himself staring at the empty space beside him. Many thoughts passed through his mind, none of which stayed long enough for him to pin down and identify, before a tiny smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Rising up and combing though his hair with a hand leisurely, he noted with one final glance to the empty space on their bed that his lover had gotten up earlier than he did, which was rare, and was now at work most probably. He got up and stifled a yawn before giving the calendar on the drawer beside his side of the bed a quick glance. February 14, 2002 – it was Valentines Day, not that he didn’t know that already. He knew the moment he woke up, had been thinking about it before going to sleep last night and he had things planned for today.

He made a mental note to call Adrianne at work later, on her mobile phone, but remembered the moment he stepped into the bathroom and his bare feet came into contact with the smooth, cold tiles that Adrianne couldn’t have gone to work with it. The thing was broken, sitting in his desk’s second drawer, waiting to be picked up and taken to the nearest repair shop a couple of blocks away. And it looked like the thing would remain in his drawer until it fell, literally, into pieces because he could never seem remember to take it the damned thing out and take it to the repair shop to be fixed. He shrugged and scrapped the mental note and the idea of calling Adrianne altogether. He could call Adrianne at JR but he knew he wouldn’t get much out of it since his red-haired ditz had an equally idiotic, not to mention — sadistic, manager who seemed to have a fetish for guns. Knowing Adrianne, she would discard whatever she was doing at the moment just to talk to her ‘baby’ and Ryan didn’t really want to risk getting Adrianne shot by their gun-toting manager.

When he stepped into the shower, he had a sinking feeling that he was forgetting something but once the warm water was running down and warming his cold and tired body, he ignored it, closed his eyes and decided that whatever it was it would have to wait. He had more important things to do.

~oOo~

Ryan wore the infamous wine-red shirt, black coat and trousers combination today. When he got out of the shower and stood in front of his wardrobe, something nagged at him to pick Adrianne’s favorites, no questions asked. The wine-red shirt was a gift from the ditz for his last birthday – he was twenty-four years old and counting – and the ditz loved it to pieces. He figured Adrianne would love to see him in it for the first time ever since she succeeded in getting him to try it on his birthday. He could almost picture it; Adrianne staring at him adoringly with that distant look on her eyes that told him Adrianne was definitely thinking about him, amongst other things, like the bed, for example.

His lips curved into a smirk when he incorporated the words ‘Adrianne’ and ‘Bed’ together and he licked his lips when his mind wandered off from the innocent norm. Before his mind could add more to the words ‘Adrianne’ and ‘Bed’ though, he was jolted back to reality by the sound of loud chattering and giggling behind him. He shot the group of high school girl girls behind him a glare and was thankful for the sunglasses he always wore whenever he was outside before turning his attention back to the assortment of chocolates on the shelf before him. What would Adrianne like best? He wondered and after a few more long minutes of not-so-deep thinking, he discreetly took one box of every kind on the shelf and made a beeline for the counter, hoping nobody noticed him. So it was fact that he didn’t know what kind of chocolate Adrianne liked best and Pocky couldn’t really count as a ‘chocolate’ so he did the next best thing. Afterall, what were the chances of him going wrong if he had every single kind of chocolate on the shelf?

Once he was in the car and the plastic-bag-full of chocolates were seated on the front-seat beside him, he considered calling Adrianne, to ask what kind of chocolates and what brand she liked best, for awhile. He slipped his car keys into the ignition and then decided that, just to be on the safe side, he would visit the nearby 7-eleven on his way home just to pick up a good few (ten to twenty) boxes of Pocky. It would be to appease his Adri, just in case, his red-haired ditz didn’t like the chocolates he bought.

One problem resolved, he began driving to the nearest Supermarket a happy man with a mental list of what to buy already in mind. As much as he detested going to ‘fangirl-infested zones’, much less a Supermarket, he knew he had things he had to get and he didn’t really want to ask his brother-in-law for those. Who knew what Valentines did to his brother-in-law’s mind? It would be like walking into the jaws of a lion.

His eyes caught the glimpse of the huge billboard hanging on one of the buildings while he was waiting for the green light at one of the intersections. It had the whole of ‘X-trication’ on it, minus Tomas who was missing for some reason, and the words “Valentines Concert! 2002. 2.14” in red. He thought of Adrianne and ‘Eye Candi’, wondering if they were going to be part of the concert, or not. If so, then he would have to ready himself for an hour or two worth of ear-torturing music. Adrianne’s music wasn’t bad, it was one of the things he’d learnt to like in the course of their relationship, it was the decibel at which it was played in that bothered him and made his poor eardrums scream for salvation whenever he was forced into one of their concerts. Forced, meaning; not so innocently tricked and ‘bribed’ to going.

When the light turned green and he began driving away, the sinking feeling returned, this time stronger. He was forgetting something, something important. He shook his head and shrugged the thought out of his mind again.

It could wait. It couldn’t be more important that his Adri.

~oOo~

He ignored the curious and admiring glances the women, married and single alike, were continuously giving him and pretended to be completely oblivious to the attention they were giving him as he walked across the aisle, looking to his left and right, in search of the right brand of wine. The basket he carried in the crook of his arm was filled with items for the candlelit dinner he had planned for the two of them tonight and he was just missing one thing and that was the wine.

As his hands closed in around the neck of a bottle, he stopped as remembered how he’d never really done something like this before. It had always been him taking Adrianne to this restaurant, or that restaurant or Adrianne making futile attempts to cook for him. He smirked and reasoned to that tiny little voice in his mind that was telling him he could screw up so bad and ruin the occasion that there was a first time for everything and that he wasn’t as much a disaster in the kitchen as Adrianne was. The voice stopped nagging at his mind and he marched towards the counters victorious. He could cook, unlike a certain red-haired pop idol.

He pushed the sunglasses perched on the nose of bridge up and quickly wiped the smile of satisfaction on his lips when he noticed the way a couple of young women across the aisle were looking at him strangely. Taking that as his cue, he walked brusquely towards the nearest counter and was glad there weren’t any lines. He watched the cashier go through his purchased items, checking the items himself and running through his mental list over and over again just in case he was forgetting something. And indeed, he did feel like he was forgetting something, something really important.

The cashier handed his card with a bow before tending to the next customer in line. He walked away, the card in hand, rubbing his thumb on the punched in numbers on it as he tried to think about what he was missing. When he couldn’t for the life of him put a finger on it, he shrugged and headed for his car outside the Supermarket. It could wait, definitely. He had things to do and one more stop to go to before he headed back home.

~oOo~

Despite the fact that today his latest novel, “Precious”, was being released, his favorite bookstore, which was also the biggest in the area, was still fairly empty and for that Ryan was glad. The fact that he insisted his latest novel be released on Valentines Day, despite it being a weekday, was reason to this. And even though he knew there was still a whole day, not quite literally, before his faithful fans flocked to the bookshops for his latest creation he still hurried to the counter to pick up the book he reserved.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Mr. Parker , what are you going to do with the book?” The owner of the shop asked him as he handed him the book. He had the book wrapped nicely in glossy orange wrapping paper, which he knew Adrianne would love, and a small red card to come along with it. Quietly, he eyed the package before offering the older man a mysterious smile.

“It’s Valentines.” Ryan told the man quietly, knowing those two words answered everything. The man’s eyebrows furrowed and he stared at him confusedly for a few long moments before smiling and telling him he had better go back to his office on the second floor.

Ryan walked away, Adrianne’s present tucked in one arm. Once Ryan was outside the bookstore, the sinking feeling hit him again coupled with an unidentifiable sense of loss he couldn’t understand.

“It’s nothing.” He told himself quietly, even though he himself didn’t quite believe it anymore, and got into the car. He started the engine and began driving home in silence. Calmly, he pushed the disturbing thought into the back of his mind and concentrated on getting back home and then getting ready for tonight.

The apartment was dark and empty when he got home. The first thing he did after closing the door behind him was turn the lights on. He half-expected to see Adrianne seated on the wooden floor in front of the television, barefooted and clothed in a simple shorts and tank-top combination, while she watched TV or played videogames when light filled his living room. He wasn’t disappointed though when he found the space in front of the TV empty, knowing Adrianne was probably “hard at work” back at the Jive Records building. His Adri wouldn’t be back until later that afternoon, or night, whichever it was and after depositing most the items he bought in the refrigerator and leaving some on the counter for later when he began cooking, he headed for the study to work.

~oOo~

Ryan had never been really this nice to Adrianne, going as far as cooking and setting up a candlelit dinner just for the two of them instead of going out and he, more than anything, regretted it. Amber eyes watched the empty seat across the table in complete silence as the clock ticked away restlessly, a constant reminder to him that time was slipping away.

And time had always been slipping away from his grasp, though it was only now that he truly noticed it.

The fire from the number of candles he had placed at the center of the table danced and flickered, casting an almost magical light on the small present carefully placed on Adrianne’s plate. Its glossy wrappings shone in the firelight and as Ryan stared at it he felt as if the thing was taunting him just because….

Adrianne wasn’t home yet.

Gingerly, Ryan allowed himself to glance up the clock. He didn’t want to look, to know how long he had been sitting there quietly, smoking, as he waited for his red-haired ditz. And when he read the time he knew just why he didn’t want to.

Ten thirty;It was ten-thirty in the evening and Adrianne wasn’t home yet. At the thought, he almost bolted from his seat, wanting so much to call Adrianne to tell him he had to go home at this instant, no matter what he was doing. Ten thirty was just awfully late for one possessive boyfriend.

There was an unusually loud tick and he checked the clock, frowning when he read the time once more; Ten thirty-one and still no Adrianne.

He had never really written anything directly for Adrianne. ‘One For You’ was for Adrianne but he gave the song to Tomas and since Adrianne had never asked him to write songs for her, he never bothered with it. But now he had, finally, and he couldn’t wait for Adrianne to see the song he had written for her.

Ten thirty-two and still no Adrianne.

He had never dedicated a book to Adrianne and even told his red-haired lover that was one of the things she shouldn’t count on ever happening. Adrianne had been disappointed but was quick to accept it, telling him she didn’t mind at all since she had the real thing; him. Adrianne had told him his actions were like ‘constant dedications’ to her. Ryan smiled, the ditz liked to think she made her stoic lover’s world go round just like he did hers.

Ten thirty-three and still no Adrianne.

And maybe she was right.

Ryan had never said ‘I love you’ to Adrianne directly. They both knew actions spoke louder than words but right now, Ryan was regretting to have never told Adri those three simple words.

Three years. Three years and he had never once told Adrianne those three words clearly, directly, proudly….

Ten thirty-four and still no Adrianne.

He was missing, forgetting something important and when he closed his eyes and rose from his seat, he realized he had never really forgotten it at all. Quietly, he walked over to where the light switch was and turned the lights on before walking back to the dining table and putting the candles off.

Ten thirty-five and still no Adrianne.

He stared at the empty chairs and the table before quietly tilting his head to the clock’s direction. “Ten thirty-six,” he said out loud before turning away and heading towards the leather sofas. He sat himself down and absentmindedly placed his hand on the spot where Adrianne used to sleep in whenever he kicked her out of their room. It almost felt warm under his touch.

He closed his eyes and leaned back before breaking into quiet, bitter laughter when he remembered, once more, why Adrianne wouldn’t make it tonight, no matter how hard he worked to make it special.

“Happy Valentines, Ryan,” he whispered quietly as he stared at the ceiling, before taking a deep drag from his cigarette, closing his eyes and slowly blowing the smoke from his lungs. 

“Happy Valentines, Adrianne.” He said finally after a long period of pregnant silence and he wondered if, somehow, his lover could hear him from where she was. 

Death was an awfully distant place.

End