Resurrection of Hope: Chapter Four
Title: Resurrection of Hope
Author: cherimorton
Disclaimer: Maybe if I ask real nice I can have him plz?
A/N: I've been making the type small so I can post the parts right... sorry if it's hard to read...
Soon after waking, Ville told the girls goodbye and moved toward the door. He was stopped suddenly by a shock to his system that he was soon to discover as Charli’s hand. “Wait, I’ll walk you. I’m gonna go down and smoke anyway,” she said, grabbing her cigarettes and some random flip flops. Ville waited at the door, holding it open for her when she exited. “Mind if I join you?” he asked her. Smiling wide, she said, “Please. I enjoy your company.”
Out on the sidewalk, again in the cool early morning air, they lit their cigarettes and Charli perched again on the window sill as Ville leaned against it. They were quiet for a minute, then Ville asked, “Not that it’s any of my business, but you’re not wanted for murder somewhere are you?”
She stared at him for a long minute, then finally taking a long inhale from the cigarette, said, “Not quite… although it wasn’t a crazy impossibility a year ago. It really is a long story, and I’m kind of tired, so please, don’t ask anymore. Please?” she begged with her midnight eyes. There was no way he could tell her no when she looked so breakable, but it did surprise him that she could have something so sinister in her past. He just nodded his head, and they returned to the quiet singing of the night birds. She extinguished her cigarette and hopped lithely off the tall windowsill, throwing her cigarette in the disposal in the process. “I’m sorry, Ville, it’s just… still very fresh…” and she turned and hurried up to the elevator before Ville could reach for her, but not before he saw the tears in her eyes.
A soft knocking at his door stirred Ville from his reading, and he crossly hoped it wasn’t Mige coming to drag him out for the day. Since he had wanted to spend the day with Charli and he was obviously not getting his wish, he didn’t want to do anything. He answered the door in just his pajama pants, sure that it was anyone besides who was standing on the other side of the door: Charli and Amy. Amy gaped at Ville’s naked torso, but Charli grinned as if that were the proof she needed to be able to say, “Breakfast. You need some. I’ll give you five minutes, and whether you have pants or a shirt on, I’m dragging you out,” as she breezed in the door. “How is it that the lesbian gets frozen on the spot when he’s not wearing a shirt, but it has no effect on you?” Amy said, stepping inside the door.
Charli looked at Ville and said, “He’s too skinny,” with a look on her face mirroring the reasoning in her mind.
“I can’t help that. You saw me eat last night…” Ville said, suddenly conscious of himself and reaching for the nearest shirt.
“Yeah, you eat, but you have a naturally high metabolism that is supposed to keep you warm in the winter, so you just don’t eat enough,” she said.
Ville grabbed some close pants and retreated into the bathroom. He heard Amy say from the window, “His view is better.” Then Charli: “Yeah… his bed’s better too,” and almost had a heart attack knowing that she was so close to where he slept at night. He hurriedly wrenched the door open to a surprised pair of girls. With a laugh, Amy said, “Hungry?” Ville blushed and mumbled, “Yeah,” and the three of them set about finding a decent breakfast.
They decided on a small, out of the way diner about six blocks from the hotel. Sitting down, Amy said, “We should have gotten a car. That way we can go further than the mile radius around the hotel.” Charli laughed and said, “Yeah, well, if you would actually assist me on my shoots, you’d have seen more by now.” They ordered coffee and eggs, with Amy being the only one to order breakfast meat, in the form of the “Death to Chickens” burrito, which was eggs and chicken with melted cheese in a burrito. Ville wrinkled his nose and said, “Ew. That even sounds gross.”
“You never know till you try it. Think outside of the box,” Amy said giggling.
“Sweetheart, I live outside the box. Which is how I’ve survived off of vegetables for so long,” giving her a lopsided grin and making Charli laugh.
It was something he adored: Charli’s laugh. The sound itself was like delicate silver wind chimes, but the action of her laugh lit her entire face and brought sparkles to her dark eyes, and its energy seemed to reach Ville and make him laugh too. He couldn’t remember when he’d had so much fun just doing nothing. His life had just been this pit of blackness, and occasionally he’d get a dim candle, or when Bam was around a halogen street lamp, but for the most part, he craved something. He just couldn’t put his finger on what it was. He got along fine with everyone, he laughed and joked around, he did business when business had to be done, he sang his heart out, he put his desires on paper, whether it was notebook paper or blank white sketch paper, but he never felt full; he needed something else.
He was finding that need answered in Charli.
The three of them spent the day acting like silly tourists. They took a bus tour around to all the celebrity homes, Charli pretending to be an incognito paparazzi, and Amy acting occasionally like a lost Brit. Ville couldn’t pretend to be anything; he could barely contain his straight face when Charli or Amy would act out their characters, so he just sat silently. By the end of the tour, the guide had decided he was dumb and mute, and patted him on the head for behaving so graciously. The action had Charli laid out on the sidewalk and Amy doubled over, laughing so hard she cried. “OMG!” Charli said in her best Malibu girl voice, “That’s no dumb mute! It’s Ville Valo!” and Ville turned to see the guide flush a dangerous red before smiling at her gently and said, “Don’t worry, I get that all the time,” before he turned to his badly behaved counter parts and the three of them ran, laughing, trying to escape a growing crowd. Charli eventually gave into Amy’s pleas for a car, and they rented a comfortable convertible and decided to have a picnic with a view of the Hollywood sign. They finished their lunch and went to explore the sign itself. There was hardly space to park for all the people, and looking up at it, Charli said, “It’s kind of anti-climatic, isn’t it?” a little disappointed. Without even photographing it she turned and walked back to the car. Amy stayed, talking to the attendant, and Ville followed Charli. They leaned against the car, smoking a cigarette, and Ville broke their comfortable silence saying, “Yep.”
Charli found this funny and burst into a giggling fit. Laughter being contagious, Ville joined in and a confused Amy walked up to them, questioning Charli with her eyes. “Ville. He just said, ‘Yep.’ And nothing else,” Charli answered, laughter still sparkling in her eyes. Amy didn’t understand, so she just shook her head and got into the driver’s seat, asking, “Ok, madam, where to?” Charli climbed in the front beside her and said with a shrug, “I dunno. What’s there to see in this one horse town?”
Amy decided a nice leisurely drive was in order, so she didn’t exceed 5 miles per hour down the side of the mountain. Ville was struck again with laughter when he turned around and saw the six, no; make that seven, cars in line behind them. Charli turned in her seat and laughed with him, but Amy kept her snail’s pace behind the wheel. “We’re enjoying ourselves, they can’t rush that!” when a car honked nine cars behind them. Charli raised herself from the seat, and turning, did a graceful beauty queen wave, making Ville laugh again. He loved how the sun caught Charli’s hair, making it shimmer. He looked into her eyes and noticed that they were not the midnight blue he was used to, but the sun had turned them into a clear bright sapphire, highlighted by her good humor and laughter. He couldn’t understand how anyone could ever want her to be in pain. If what she was keeping from him serious enough to turn her fair skin to ghost white, and wash the laughter from her beautiful eyes and replace her brilliant smile with the deepest of frowns, Ville wanted it eliminated. He just wished he could know what it was.
They ended up on Rodeo Drive, the shopping Mecca. Amy decided that Charli needed new clothes, and wanted to drag Charli with her, but Charli sincerely disliked shopping, so she handed Amy her credit card and wished her luck.
Ville raised an eyebrow at Charli as Amy turned to leave with Charli’s plastic and they sat on a bench in the sunlight with cups of coffee. “You gave her your credit card?”
Charli shrugged and said, “It can all be returned, and it’s just money. Besides, maybe she will buy something for herself and leave my fashion sense alone.”
“You’re a very trusting person,” Ville commented, eyebrows still raised in a “I wouldn’t have done it” expression.
Expecting at least a giggle, but getting nothing, he looked up from fiddling with his lid to find Charli studying him. “What?” he said, forehead creasing.
Charli shook her head and said, “Nothing,” her voice just above a whisper. Ville could see something was bothering her, but remembering the last time he pushed, kept his mouth shut. He didn’t know how far Charli could be pushed, and he wasn’t ready to test those limits. Instead, he talked about one of his least favorite subjects- himself. He told Charli stories about touring, that he could remember, anyway, and meeting Mige in school. He talked about graduating from complete make up to eyeliner to nothing, and Charli stopped him, saying that was her favorite look- au naturel. She listened with eager attention, lapping up everything he said about himself, especially when he got to the rehab part of his life. “It was hell,” he said, shaking his head at the memory, “Detox is one of the worst things I’ve ever dealt with in my life. I don’t think I’ve ever been in that much pain… have you ever had to go through it?” he asked, trying to flush her out. Charli caught on quickly though, and grinned at him. “Nope, not gonna work, Ville Valo. You finish first. I know there’s still some rehab to talk about, and I also know there’s some life after rehab and you still have alotta talking to do.”
Ville chuckled, wagging his long finger at her. “You… wait,” he said, confused, “You’re going to tell me something?”
Charli looked surprised. “Don’t I usually? When you tell me about you, I take that as a sign that you want me to tell you about me,” she said, pausing to make sure her crazy sentence made sense, “so I do. And it’s usually along the same degree of what you’ve told me. Keep going,” she finished. Ville was stunned. She’d figured out his little game before he decided to play it. And she still planned to play along. That relaxed him and excited him at the same time, and he looked directly into Charli’s eyes, which were filled with amusement and encouragement. So he started talking again, until he finished with his conversation with Mige the week before about Ville not leaving his hotel room. With wide eyes, Charli said “Wow. That’s some life…” with a smile playing on her lips.
Without thinking, Ville reached out for Charli’s face, grazing it gently while looking into her eyes. He saw light, and joy, and wisdom, and the smallest bit of fear, he thought. He wanted to lift the fear out of her and throw it away; he never wanted to see fear in those eyes again. Softly, he said, “I’m kind of tired of talking now. Your turn,” with her soft skin still cupped in his hand.
“HEY! Charli!” Amy called across the street. DAMMIT! Ville thought. Right up until that point, he adored Amy, but right now all he wanted was for a random NFL player come tackle her just to make her not be there at that particular moment. Charli giggled shyly and pulled out of Ville’s grasp, turning to her friend who was hindered by an obscene amount of shopping bags. Charli gasped and exclaimed, “How… where… when am I going to have the time to wear all this crap?”
Amy laughed and said, “It’s not all for you, greedy woman! I got some things for me, and I found two really awesome shirts for Ville. Relief washed over Charli’s face and it made Ville laugh.
“And guess what else?” Amy said excitedly.
Charli just gave her a wary glance that said “What?” for her.
“I kept it all under $2000!”
Ville predicted Charli would be upset, but relief washed over her face again, and she laughed. “Oh, praise Ozzy! I thought I was going to be paying for your vacation longer than I would be for college!”
Ville chuckled at her use of Ozzy’s name, and then asked Charli if she did, in fact, go to college.
“Yeah!” she said, climbing back in the car, “It was the best year and a half of my life!” Ville laughed and said, “Don’t your degree programs usually last four years here?” Charli shrugged her shoulders and said, “Well, when I say the best year and a half of my life, I meant the absolute best. Not so awesome for my grade point average,” she said, blushing.
“You got kicked out?” Ville asked her, incredulous.
Amy jumped in, laughing, and said, “Oh, yeah, did she ever! It was and still is the best blaze of glory I’ve ever heard of!”
Charli laughed and said, “I wasn’t always so tame,” as she looked at Ville, “If you think putting on that tour guide was bad, you haven’t heard the half of it.”
They arrived back to their hotel around dusk, with Amy insisting Ville come to their room and get his shirts, then he was instructed to go back to his room and get “prettied up” by Charli and Amy, because they wanted to go out to a nice restaurant and as he was the only gentleman they’d come across since being in LA, he was going to have to escort them. “Ooh, that makes me feel a little dirty,” Ville said, laughing his way out their room.
When he got out of the shower, Ville heard his phone ring and went to it, sitting next to the bed. He noted it was his friend Lauri, and answered. “Hi Lauri, how’s it going?” he asked.
“Pretty good; how’s things in LA?” Lauri asked.
Ville considered this for a second and said, “They couldn’t be any better,” smiling to himself. “Hm. You sound really good. Who’s gotten into you?” his friend asked. Ville rolled his eyes, and said, “Nothing like that, Lauri. I’ve just…” he said, trailing off. Lauri picked up the slack and said, “You’ve just met someone. Who is she?” Lauri prodded.
“Her name is Charlotte Tyson,” Ville started with a smile, “She’s a very gifted American photographer. I met her here in the hotel.”
“Maybe I need to come stay in your hotel then, cause mine’s got nothing,” Lauri said, only half serious.
“Oh, yeah, that reminds me… I’m supposed to be getting dressed for dinner. Would you like to join us? Meet Charli and Amy?” Ville offered.
“Two chicks? Hell yeah, I’m down. Where are we going and where do I need to meet you?”
Ville gave him the details, telling him where they were going, and telling him to just come to the hotel when he was ready and gave him his room number. “See you then!” Lauri said.
Ville hung up the phone and went to call Charli to tell her that he’d invited Lauri when he realized that he didn’t have Charli’s phone number. He walked down the hall and rapped on their door. “What!?” came Amy from the other side of the door. “Can I come in? I feel… exposed out here,” he said, avoiding the curious glances from other guests in the hall. Amy flung the door open and gasped. Ville looked down and remembered he’d forgotten a shirt, wearing only the pinstripe pants he’d planned for, making Amy drool for the second time (that he knew of, anyway) and laughing lightly at her. “Listen, my friend Lauri called and I invited him along tonight, if that’s ok?” he said to Amy, looking around for Charli. “Yeah, that’s fine… is she cute?” Amy asked. Ville chuckled again and said, “Well, he’s not really my type, but…” trying to suppress his grin. Deflated, Amy said, “Damn. Well, being straight for one night never killed anybody, right?” she said. Ville chuckled again, still curious about Charli’s whereabouts. “You can’t see her. She’s not ready and not allowed to come out till she is. So she’s concentrating. Go back to your room and finish getting dressed before I come all over myself, please?” Amy said, shoving Ville out the door. “We’ll come get you when we’re ready, k?”
“Alright, alright…” Ville said and walked back to his room.
Lauri showed up 45 minutes later, looking almost as close to a Finnish God as Ville did (even on his worse days). Ville let him in and they sat down, lighting cigarettes. “So tell me about this Charlotte. She’s had a good effect on you; I can see it already.”
Ville felt a huge smile spread through his body and end on his mouth. “She’s… wonderful. I have so much fun with her. She’s bright and funny and… amazing. I’ve not known her a week yet, but what I do know about her, I adore. She has this… light around her. She glows. I guess happiness is contagious; she’s a naturally happy person, and it shows. She’s laid back and creative…”
“And you’re in love with her.”
Ville looked at Lauri, surprised that he’d said that. “What?” he said, slightly off- centered.
Lauri laughed and said again, “You’re in love with her. Ville, have you seen yourself lately? You won’t come out of your room, not even to hang out with Bam. You’ve been grumpy, and when you’re not grumpy, you’re tired. But this Ville I see right here, this Ville is like the one I met 12 years ago. Before the major fame, and the depression, and the heartbreak. You’re in love.”
Ville was speechless. Could he be in love with Charli? He didn’t even know her well. Then again, he’d been known to fall in love too fast and land very hard, face down, on the cement. But he always knew when he was in love. It never snuck up on him, and it certainly had never been pointed out to him, not by his closest friends, and not by someone he didn’t have much contact with, like Lauri. He sat there, in his chair, stunned. Then, a light knock at his door announced Charli and Amy’s arrival. He crossed the room to the door and opened it, still staring with his mouth open at Lauri. Laurie smirked at him and nodded to the open door. “Hi, Ville.” Charli said shyly. He turned to her, and the wind was knocked out of him. She looked beautiful. Like the Goddess that belonged at that particular Finnish God’s side. Her dark, almost crimson hair shone in the hall lights, waving itself down her back, her fair skin glowing bright, her blue corset dress clinging to her curves, the silver threads highlighting the silver sparks in her dark eyes, her lean legs muscular in the silver high heels that Amy’d bought just that afternoon. Her scent surrounded him, her voice anchoring him as his body seemed to melt away around him.
He forced himself to speak, seeing her eyes twinkle. The best he could come up with was, “Hi” before his breath left him again and he thought he was going to have an asthma attack. Forcing concentration so he didn’t hyperventilate, he broke his stare and turned back to Lauri, who’d already introduced himself to the also alluring Amy. “Charli, this is my friend Lauri. Amy told you he’d be joining us tonight, didn’t she?” Ville finally managed a full sentence. Charli smiled “Yes” as she couldn’t seem to find her voice, either. She seemed to be taking him in as well; his satin curls brushing his pale skin, over his jaw line, hair parted perfectly showing his deep jade eyes; the red satin shirt Amy bought for him lay lightly on his thin frame, hugging him just right under his black pinstripe jacket which met his matching pants at his small hips, making a graceful line down his long legs and her eyes came to a stop at the leather boots decorated with a heavy silver chain. She didn’t even glance in Lauri’s direction until the foursome left the hotel and climbed into the limo Amy ordered. “You really did want to go all out, didn’t you Amy?” Ville asked her. “Yeah. I wanted to feel like a million bucks!” she said impishly.
“Well, you look like a million bucks,” Lauri said, flattering her. Ville leaned back in his seat, next to Charli and whispered quietly, “Beautiful doesn’t do you justice, rakaas. You look…bewitching.” Charli blushed and looked at him, saying, “Thank you. You look like a God,” just as quietly. “Well, then, we are a match made in heaven, are we not?” Ville said, and gently took her hand and kissed it softly. “Or Birmingham,” she said, somewhat breathlessly. Ville had to laugh, her humor never seeming to leave her.
The conversation flowed easily; they all had stories to tell, and each was interesting and facilitated interested questions, each topic leading into another effortlessly. They laughed, joked, and shared plenty about themselves. Ville learned that Amy had become a lesbian after an ex was caught cheating, and Amy, being Amy, just simply climbed into bed with the two adulterers and enjoyed herself immensely, so she never went back to men... she said they tended to be too rough for her taste, with a wrinkle of her small nose. Lauri laughed at the story, informing Amy she needed new direction.
Ville felt more content than he'd ever felt. His world was whole, complete, with an angel at his side.
He didn't know that his complete world would shatter in a matter of minutes.
Comments make me excessively happy!!
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three