A Chance Encounter
Title: A Chance Encounter
Rating: NC-17, not at the beginning, but it gets there
Pairing: Ville and Meg (You don't know her yet, but read on and you will)
Genre: Drama/Romance
Disclaimer: I own Meg, Alice, Christina, and Sandi as they are all of my own creation. As for everyone else, don't know and don't own. And I'm willing to bet this never really happened.
Chapter 1-24
After my return from New York, life was rushed and the days between our conversations seemed to grow. It wasn’t for lack of trying though - between conference calls, meetings with my new editor and dealing with wrapping up my soon to be former job I had managed to miss just about every call Ville had made in the past week. Over the few weeks that I’d been home, Ville and I had started up a now thriving game of phone tag. Dragging myself from the familiar gray building which housed my now former employer, I flipped my phone open to see that all too familiar message - 1 missed call. With the push of a few buttons I was transferred to that magically recorded voice.
“Hello love, I’m here at Rock am Ring today and you’re not. . .can you remind me why that is? Oh yeah, you’re it sweetheart.” I couldn’t help but smile as I slid behind the steering wheel of my car. Calculating the time difference between here and Germany, I quickly determined that there’d be no getting a hold of him - but I couldn’t stand being it for long. A push of a button and a few rings later I felt the familiar grin come over me as I sat in my car listening to Ville’s outgoing message. Back in New York I had asked him exactly what he was saying on there, since he was speaking in his native tongue. Ville had turned to me, very seriously, and said “I’m saying ‘You’ve reached my pocket, I’m not here right now, but you can leave a message for my pecker’” The comforting memory of our time together was shattered by the sharp beep coming from the phone, reminding me that I was still it in out little game.
“Well I hope you, and your pecker, are having fun in Germany. I’ll see you in about 8 days, but I hope I actually get a chance to talk to you before then. . .you’re it.” Flipping the phone closed I threw it in my purse, turned the key in the ignition and quickly maneuvered my way onto the interstate. Twenty minutes of bumper to bumper traffic later, and still only half way home, I spotted a familiar exit and abandoned my grueling drive for the time being. Not five minutes later I stretched my legs as I stepped from my car and took in the quaint little coffee shop Alice and I had frequented in our slightly younger years. Taking a leisurely step over the threshold, my nose was greeted by that almost forgotten scent of local coffee and freshly baked bagels. Paintings and photographs done my local artists lined the walls of the comfortably small sitting area, while each of the small tables was decorated with a single yellow daisy in a mason jar.
“What can I get for you today?” inquired a pleasant and eager sounding young lady behind the counter.
“How about a 16 oz iced mocha and one of your wheat bagels.” After getting my coffee and bagel and grabbing a local paper I took a seat at one of the rickety looking tables and began my journey through the world news section of the paper. My coffee almost gone, bagel long since finished, I found myself coming to the end of the local news section; turning to the back page I began to think about going soon ‘as soon as I finish this article’ I thought..
“Meg?” that almost long forgotten voice rang out over the sound of me taking my last, loud sip of coffee. My eyes froze on the page, willing my gaze away from the voice, hoping that not acknowledging it would make it go away, “Is that you?” A large dry gulp went down my throat so slowly I swear I could feel the air falling down into my stomach. My head rose from the contrasting blacks and grays of the paper to find him standing there - right there next to me. His eyes were older, but still the same shade of brown and while his hair had grown and he now had a full blow beard, I knew it was him: baggy jeans, clean DC shoes, and a white t-shirt, standing a few inches shy of Ville height.
“Hello Alex.” I tried to sound confident, nonchalant even, as the image of him walking away from me that afternoon, leaving me to my pain, replayed itself over and over in my mind. Sitting there, stunned into silence, I watched as he took the empty seat at my table; ‘he’s sitting with me like nothing ever happened’ I thought as I involuntarily furrowed my eyebrows.
“I knew our paths would cross again someday.” the grin I had once loved, treasured, appeared on his face, only causing a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Alex leaned closer, resting elbows on the table and placing his rough looking hands on his cheeks. My back straightened, throwing me into almost perfect posture as a familiar sent came from him. “How have you been?” My eyes looked straight into his as I figured out the smell.
“Have you been drinking?” Again the smell of cheap whiskey assaulted me as he let out a little laugh.
“You always were really smart Meg.” a slightly cynical tone behind his words ‘I wonder what happened to him? This wasn’t the Alex I’d known, the Alex I was supposed to marry, this wasn’t even the Alex that left’ I thought as I watched him ponder his next statement. “We should go out again sometime.”
“Excuse me?” a shocked, uncomfortable laugh rising from my deathly dry throat. “I don’t think so”
“Why not honey?” his voice was attempting to be smooth, but was coming out as coarse as his breath.
“I’m in a relationship, besides I don’t. . .”
“Oh come on Meg, you don’t have to lie to me.” Squinting my eyes I shook my head, not sure what I was supposedly lying about. “We both know that no man is going to have a serious relationship with you after what happened,” my eyes widened, looking around to see if anyone was listening, “you’re used goods honey, you might be his little whore for a little while, but he’s never gonna take you home to mom and dad.” Drunk or not, Alex’s words struck something in me; my eyes were glued on his, as I willed the tears back, refusing to cry for him. Shrouded in silence I stood and headed for my car, leaving Alex sitting alone at the table. My tires kicked up a large cloud of dust as I sped out of the gravel parking lot, trying again to run away from my past. Still holding tears at bay, Alex’s words echoed through my vacant feeling head. ‘what if he’s right, what happens when Ville gets tired of having me?’ cars were whizzing by, my eyes trying to stay focused on the road. ‘Sure he’d introduced me to his friends, but he also told them everything about me, maybe this whole thing was just a pity relationship’ my head shook vigorously, attempting to break the long train of thoughts Alex’s statement had led me on. So I drove, almost in tears, never once being able to stop that run away train of what if’s in my mind. A few blocks from my house, I was at the familiar and rarely used four way stop when my phone range.
“Hello?” my voice cracking, a fracture in the dam holding my emotions in place.
“Ello sweetheart.” The soft sound of his voice crushed me. Leaning forward, resting my head on the steering wheel, I sobbed for the first time and finally let my tears begin. “Meg? What’s wrong?” My body shuddered from the force of the tears escaping my eyes ‘how could I think those things about him? Why was I still thinking them?’ “Sweetheart, what happened?” that soothing, warm voice pleaded again for an answer.
“Nothing. . .Ville. . .nothing.” I managed between loud gasping sobs.
“Don’t lie to me Meg, what happened?” The heartbroken concern in his voice sent a chill down my spine, just as his touch would have, had he been with me.
“I can’t do this right now Ville.” I closed the phone and for the first time in a long time, prayed he wouldn’t call back right away. I made it home, through my watery vision, and just as I was unlocking my front door the phone rang again.
“Hello?” a sharp sniff punctuated by a sob that followed.
“Meg?” Alice’s voice tripped through my head “What’s wrong? What happened? Are you ok?” Closing the front door behind me, I turned the lock and make the short walk into the living room, where I flung myself onto the couch.
“Alex. . .I. . .he. . .”
“I’m coming over.” I heard Alice slam the door going into her garage followed shortly by the deep hum of her car’s engine turning over. “You sit right where you are, I’ll be right there.” Our called ended and I curled up on the couch, squeezing my eyes as tight as I could in hopes of quieting Alex’s half drunk voice; however, closing my eyes only seemed to make Alex’s taunting words louder. An hour later I was still laying on the couch, my head resting on Alice’s shoulder as she stroked my hair, still trying to quiet my tears.
“Why would you let that asshole get to you like this?” she asked rather absentmindedly. Wiping my now sore eyes with the back of my hand I turned to look at Alice’s face.
“Because those are all things I’ve thought, but I jut kept pushing them to the back of my mind.” Letting my eyes fall closed I slowly started rubbing my temples in a futile attempt to make my head stop pounding. “I mean what if this is just a little fling to him. . .what if I am just his little. . .whore.”
“Is that really what you think Meg?”
“I don’t know what to think, but what. . .”
“Come on Meg, you’re not a whore, you never were and what happened to you doesn’t make you one either.” I looked back to Alice’s eyes, studying her seriousness. I knew she was right, but something inside me was afraid to get my hopes up. It felt as if all my fears about this relationship had finally boiled to the top, and I couldn’t do anything, except let them paralyze me.
“Ville says he loves me, but I. . .what if he. . .”
“Jesus Meg,” Alice stood up abruptly, pushing me to the other side of the couch as she did. “he does love you, can’t you see that, everyone else can. He wants you to go to Finland next week for fucks sake, Alex said no guy would ever take you home, well what do you think Ville’s doing?” her face reddened slightly as her arms flew over her chest coming to rest in a crossed position over her now rather obvious tummy. I sat there, unable to move, unable to think straight.
“When did you start thinking Ville loved me,” my voice sounding almost resentful of her sudden change of heart “last I heard to still didn’t trust him.” Her eyes wandered nervously over the coffee tale between the two of us as I let her little speech roll through my mind again. My eyes met hers in a confused gaze as I found something completely out of place in what she had said, “How did you know I was going to Finland?” With a little sigh she took her place next to me again and took my hands in hers.
“Ville called tonight, told Brian something was wrong and Brian put me on the phone with him.” the image of Alice actually having conversation with Ville was something that I couldn’t quite see, but I bit my bottom lip and listened. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone so upset in my whole life Meg.” Her eyes found mine, as if to stress the point “He was frantic with the idea that something horrible had happened to you.” A wave of guilt passed over me; guilt for making Ville worry so much, but more than that, guilt for thinking all the things I had. I knew he loved me, and it was at that moment I let my past go. Sitting in my living room, watching Alice study my eyes, I realized that my past was holding me back, and if I ever really wanted to be loved, or to love, then I needed to leave the past where it belonged.
“I’m sorry about everything Alice.” her eyes were misted with confusion before melting into a quick understanding.
“I’m sorry I made you choose between Ville and me.” she replied just above a whisper. That was the night the friendship between Alice and myself recovered. We sat on the couch talking about things we’d missed out on, I told her about New York and she told me everything she could about the baby. Hours passed that way until it was almost midnight.
“I should probably go call Ville pretty soon, put his mind at ease about everything. If you want to can stay in the extra room tonight.” Alice simply nodded and made her way up the stairs to her room for the night. After a brief moment of thought I pulled my phone from the purse that had been sitting on the coffee table and pressed the required buttons.
“Hello?” a sleepy, almost grumpy Finnish voice came from across the Atlantic.
“I love you Ville.” was my first response.
Rating: NC-17, not at the beginning, but it gets there
Pairing: Ville and Meg (You don't know her yet, but read on and you will)
Genre: Drama/Romance
Disclaimer: I own Meg, Alice, Christina, and Sandi as they are all of my own creation. As for everyone else, don't know and don't own. And I'm willing to bet this never really happened.
Chapter 1-24
After my return from New York, life was rushed and the days between our conversations seemed to grow. It wasn’t for lack of trying though - between conference calls, meetings with my new editor and dealing with wrapping up my soon to be former job I had managed to miss just about every call Ville had made in the past week. Over the few weeks that I’d been home, Ville and I had started up a now thriving game of phone tag. Dragging myself from the familiar gray building which housed my now former employer, I flipped my phone open to see that all too familiar message - 1 missed call. With the push of a few buttons I was transferred to that magically recorded voice.
“Hello love, I’m here at Rock am Ring today and you’re not. . .can you remind me why that is? Oh yeah, you’re it sweetheart.” I couldn’t help but smile as I slid behind the steering wheel of my car. Calculating the time difference between here and Germany, I quickly determined that there’d be no getting a hold of him - but I couldn’t stand being it for long. A push of a button and a few rings later I felt the familiar grin come over me as I sat in my car listening to Ville’s outgoing message. Back in New York I had asked him exactly what he was saying on there, since he was speaking in his native tongue. Ville had turned to me, very seriously, and said “I’m saying ‘You’ve reached my pocket, I’m not here right now, but you can leave a message for my pecker’” The comforting memory of our time together was shattered by the sharp beep coming from the phone, reminding me that I was still it in out little game.
“Well I hope you, and your pecker, are having fun in Germany. I’ll see you in about 8 days, but I hope I actually get a chance to talk to you before then. . .you’re it.” Flipping the phone closed I threw it in my purse, turned the key in the ignition and quickly maneuvered my way onto the interstate. Twenty minutes of bumper to bumper traffic later, and still only half way home, I spotted a familiar exit and abandoned my grueling drive for the time being. Not five minutes later I stretched my legs as I stepped from my car and took in the quaint little coffee shop Alice and I had frequented in our slightly younger years. Taking a leisurely step over the threshold, my nose was greeted by that almost forgotten scent of local coffee and freshly baked bagels. Paintings and photographs done my local artists lined the walls of the comfortably small sitting area, while each of the small tables was decorated with a single yellow daisy in a mason jar.
“What can I get for you today?” inquired a pleasant and eager sounding young lady behind the counter.
“How about a 16 oz iced mocha and one of your wheat bagels.” After getting my coffee and bagel and grabbing a local paper I took a seat at one of the rickety looking tables and began my journey through the world news section of the paper. My coffee almost gone, bagel long since finished, I found myself coming to the end of the local news section; turning to the back page I began to think about going soon ‘as soon as I finish this article’ I thought..
“Meg?” that almost long forgotten voice rang out over the sound of me taking my last, loud sip of coffee. My eyes froze on the page, willing my gaze away from the voice, hoping that not acknowledging it would make it go away, “Is that you?” A large dry gulp went down my throat so slowly I swear I could feel the air falling down into my stomach. My head rose from the contrasting blacks and grays of the paper to find him standing there - right there next to me. His eyes were older, but still the same shade of brown and while his hair had grown and he now had a full blow beard, I knew it was him: baggy jeans, clean DC shoes, and a white t-shirt, standing a few inches shy of Ville height.
“Hello Alex.” I tried to sound confident, nonchalant even, as the image of him walking away from me that afternoon, leaving me to my pain, replayed itself over and over in my mind. Sitting there, stunned into silence, I watched as he took the empty seat at my table; ‘he’s sitting with me like nothing ever happened’ I thought as I involuntarily furrowed my eyebrows.
“I knew our paths would cross again someday.” the grin I had once loved, treasured, appeared on his face, only causing a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Alex leaned closer, resting elbows on the table and placing his rough looking hands on his cheeks. My back straightened, throwing me into almost perfect posture as a familiar sent came from him. “How have you been?” My eyes looked straight into his as I figured out the smell.
“Have you been drinking?” Again the smell of cheap whiskey assaulted me as he let out a little laugh.
“You always were really smart Meg.” a slightly cynical tone behind his words ‘I wonder what happened to him? This wasn’t the Alex I’d known, the Alex I was supposed to marry, this wasn’t even the Alex that left’ I thought as I watched him ponder his next statement. “We should go out again sometime.”
“Excuse me?” a shocked, uncomfortable laugh rising from my deathly dry throat. “I don’t think so”
“Why not honey?” his voice was attempting to be smooth, but was coming out as coarse as his breath.
“I’m in a relationship, besides I don’t. . .”
“Oh come on Meg, you don’t have to lie to me.” Squinting my eyes I shook my head, not sure what I was supposedly lying about. “We both know that no man is going to have a serious relationship with you after what happened,” my eyes widened, looking around to see if anyone was listening, “you’re used goods honey, you might be his little whore for a little while, but he’s never gonna take you home to mom and dad.” Drunk or not, Alex’s words struck something in me; my eyes were glued on his, as I willed the tears back, refusing to cry for him. Shrouded in silence I stood and headed for my car, leaving Alex sitting alone at the table. My tires kicked up a large cloud of dust as I sped out of the gravel parking lot, trying again to run away from my past. Still holding tears at bay, Alex’s words echoed through my vacant feeling head. ‘what if he’s right, what happens when Ville gets tired of having me?’ cars were whizzing by, my eyes trying to stay focused on the road. ‘Sure he’d introduced me to his friends, but he also told them everything about me, maybe this whole thing was just a pity relationship’ my head shook vigorously, attempting to break the long train of thoughts Alex’s statement had led me on. So I drove, almost in tears, never once being able to stop that run away train of what if’s in my mind. A few blocks from my house, I was at the familiar and rarely used four way stop when my phone range.
“Hello?” my voice cracking, a fracture in the dam holding my emotions in place.
“Ello sweetheart.” The soft sound of his voice crushed me. Leaning forward, resting my head on the steering wheel, I sobbed for the first time and finally let my tears begin. “Meg? What’s wrong?” My body shuddered from the force of the tears escaping my eyes ‘how could I think those things about him? Why was I still thinking them?’ “Sweetheart, what happened?” that soothing, warm voice pleaded again for an answer.
“Nothing. . .Ville. . .nothing.” I managed between loud gasping sobs.
“Don’t lie to me Meg, what happened?” The heartbroken concern in his voice sent a chill down my spine, just as his touch would have, had he been with me.
“I can’t do this right now Ville.” I closed the phone and for the first time in a long time, prayed he wouldn’t call back right away. I made it home, through my watery vision, and just as I was unlocking my front door the phone rang again.
“Hello?” a sharp sniff punctuated by a sob that followed.
“Meg?” Alice’s voice tripped through my head “What’s wrong? What happened? Are you ok?” Closing the front door behind me, I turned the lock and make the short walk into the living room, where I flung myself onto the couch.
“Alex. . .I. . .he. . .”
“I’m coming over.” I heard Alice slam the door going into her garage followed shortly by the deep hum of her car’s engine turning over. “You sit right where you are, I’ll be right there.” Our called ended and I curled up on the couch, squeezing my eyes as tight as I could in hopes of quieting Alex’s half drunk voice; however, closing my eyes only seemed to make Alex’s taunting words louder. An hour later I was still laying on the couch, my head resting on Alice’s shoulder as she stroked my hair, still trying to quiet my tears.
“Why would you let that asshole get to you like this?” she asked rather absentmindedly. Wiping my now sore eyes with the back of my hand I turned to look at Alice’s face.
“Because those are all things I’ve thought, but I jut kept pushing them to the back of my mind.” Letting my eyes fall closed I slowly started rubbing my temples in a futile attempt to make my head stop pounding. “I mean what if this is just a little fling to him. . .what if I am just his little. . .whore.”
“Is that really what you think Meg?”
“I don’t know what to think, but what. . .”
“Come on Meg, you’re not a whore, you never were and what happened to you doesn’t make you one either.” I looked back to Alice’s eyes, studying her seriousness. I knew she was right, but something inside me was afraid to get my hopes up. It felt as if all my fears about this relationship had finally boiled to the top, and I couldn’t do anything, except let them paralyze me.
“Ville says he loves me, but I. . .what if he. . .”
“Jesus Meg,” Alice stood up abruptly, pushing me to the other side of the couch as she did. “he does love you, can’t you see that, everyone else can. He wants you to go to Finland next week for fucks sake, Alex said no guy would ever take you home, well what do you think Ville’s doing?” her face reddened slightly as her arms flew over her chest coming to rest in a crossed position over her now rather obvious tummy. I sat there, unable to move, unable to think straight.
“When did you start thinking Ville loved me,” my voice sounding almost resentful of her sudden change of heart “last I heard to still didn’t trust him.” Her eyes wandered nervously over the coffee tale between the two of us as I let her little speech roll through my mind again. My eyes met hers in a confused gaze as I found something completely out of place in what she had said, “How did you know I was going to Finland?” With a little sigh she took her place next to me again and took my hands in hers.
“Ville called tonight, told Brian something was wrong and Brian put me on the phone with him.” the image of Alice actually having conversation with Ville was something that I couldn’t quite see, but I bit my bottom lip and listened. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone so upset in my whole life Meg.” Her eyes found mine, as if to stress the point “He was frantic with the idea that something horrible had happened to you.” A wave of guilt passed over me; guilt for making Ville worry so much, but more than that, guilt for thinking all the things I had. I knew he loved me, and it was at that moment I let my past go. Sitting in my living room, watching Alice study my eyes, I realized that my past was holding me back, and if I ever really wanted to be loved, or to love, then I needed to leave the past where it belonged.
“I’m sorry about everything Alice.” her eyes were misted with confusion before melting into a quick understanding.
“I’m sorry I made you choose between Ville and me.” she replied just above a whisper. That was the night the friendship between Alice and myself recovered. We sat on the couch talking about things we’d missed out on, I told her about New York and she told me everything she could about the baby. Hours passed that way until it was almost midnight.
“I should probably go call Ville pretty soon, put his mind at ease about everything. If you want to can stay in the extra room tonight.” Alice simply nodded and made her way up the stairs to her room for the night. After a brief moment of thought I pulled my phone from the purse that had been sitting on the coffee table and pressed the required buttons.
“Hello?” a sleepy, almost grumpy Finnish voice came from across the Atlantic.
“I love you Ville.” was my first response.