Stuck on the puzzle

Phoebe's perspective

"Miss Phillis? Mister Turner? 30 seconds." A lady at Ellen's tells us.

Now that summer's here, I started having interviews more often. I am in the public eye more and more now. And it's hard for me. I've never been used to fame. It's tiring and sometimes pointless, fake and unsatisfactory. But I'll have to admit, Alex has been so patient with me. So patient, every single moment.

We're attending Ellen's show tonight and Alex is highly nervous. He is chewing his pepper mint gum angrily and he drags his fingers through his gelled hair every 10 seconds. I know he looks really cool and chill during interviews, taking his time in answering, stumbling over his words, chewing his gum, wearing his sunglasses. In fact, he is very very nervous. And that's his way of hiding it.

"I should've got a haircut." He says, baffling his hair. When I met him, his hair would be permanently styled in a quiff or gelled on his head, cut in this V-form on his forehead. Now, the V-form is still noticeable, but his hair is longer, two centimeters beneath his ears. Such a long time has passed. The 'young man' I fell in love with is no longer here. He was replaced by a man. A man who takes care of me, understands me and loves me. A man I still find lost pieces of, a man I still love and blush to.

I think that love is the only gift that everyone deserves. Even though we'd have everything, what would we be without the significant other? Just some millionaire on an expensive island, watching a wonderful sunset all alone and thinking: 'Wow, it looked just like in the pamphlet.' We'd only be lonely to realize that we're reserved to dying in a flat, in the outskirts. Of your soul.

"Al, you look great. I like your hair like that. Don't worry, alright? You'll do great." I take his sweaty hand in mine and squeeze it. I look at his thick veins prominent through his skin and trace them with my fingers. He looks at his hand as I do so.

"Does it hurt?" I ask.

"Of course it doesn't... You're just touching them." He looks away from me, blinking quickly, trying to shove away some thought.

But that's of course not what I meant. Does it hurt when you remember that I traced your veins before falling asleep the night I had that crisis, a couple of years ago? Does it hurt, remembering that I said I can't imagine your hands without the callouses and the prominent veins? Does it hurt, Alex, remembering that I said you are the only one I can't imagine different things about? Does it hurt, or does it make you happy? Happy because I even love the not so lovable parts of you?

"... I am sure you have been expecting them at my show, so I invite the hottie Alex Turner and his wonderful conquest Phoebe Phillis!" Ellen's voice echoes. I squeeze Alex's hand once more and he squeezes mine back and we start walking in a rapid pace.

When we come in the studio, the audience gets on their feet and applauses wildly. Alex entered in the I-am-acting-cool-to-hide-my-nervosity mode and hugged Ellen and greeted her and then waited till I did the same. We sat on the couch and Alex fumbled a bit till he found a position. I crossed my legs and put on a faint smile. I felt Alex's right hand sneak around my waist and so I took a quick glance at him. He looked at me, his black eyes shiny in the light and smiled his real smile, a smile so rare and precious, I almost wanted to trap it in a photograph and keep it under my pillow.

"Umm, how to start... You are my year's cutest couple, too." Ellen says, referring to Vanity fair's decision.

Alex smiles cheekily and doesn't reply immediately:

"Ye know... We can't deny it."

Everyone starts laughing and giggling, I just roll my eyes and smile.

"Holly Goodness gracious, I need to calm down, you're my idols... Ok, so. I was planning on you answering some questions from the fans from Twitter in the first part, what do you think?"

"Yeah, sure, let's get started." I say and Alex nods.

"Question for Phoebe: What made you accept being Alex's girl friend even if you two hadn't seen in 7 months?" Ellen says, making me flinch.

"Wow, whoever asked it, that's a good one. Well, umm, of course, nothing in particular. I was 16 and obviously I wasn't thinking about nothing else but school, friends and books so when Alex showed up into my life it was like Bam! There are other wonderful things you can be interested in on this planet! Like love! So obviously he made me fall for him, with little things I keep in my heart and even though I denied loving Alex all those 7 months, when I saw him there, on that stage, having the courage to confess his feelings for me in front of so many people, after such a long time of me being a bitch by not talking to him, I melted. Because I knew he really would do anything for me because he loves me." I smile, a big smile and Alex's puts his hand around my shoulders and brings me closed to him, hugging me and giving me a kiss on the forehead.

"God damn it, you are so cute." Ellen says as we break away. Everyone applauses. "God, I can't even... That's so beautiful. Ok, let's go on. Alex, have you ever thought of you and Phoebe having children? Don't blame me, that's a fan question!"

Alex laughs and then says:

"I think I've thought about that more times than I've thought about buying hair gel." Alex says, chewing his gum.

"But, first, you have to get married."

"Oh yeah, yeah."

-----------------

Alex's perspective, 3 years later~

"Hey baby girl... Hey baby boy... Daddy loves you..." I whisper, taking our newborns in my arms, carefully bringing them closer to my chest. Twins. Boy and girl. They are literally 30 minutes old. And I have been a father for 30 minutes. Phoebe a mother for 9 months and 30 minutes. We'd always laugh about this during her pregnancy. A risky one, but now... Here we are. Being parents. Being married. Being everything.

"Do you want to see mommy? Let me take you to mommy..." I say in a low voice as the little ones giggle and smile awkwardly.

Phoebe takes the girl in one arm and then takes the boy in the other one. She starts crying as her fingertips brush their little hair and their rosy cheeks. I put my arm around her shoulders and stick my face to hers and kiss her. We made it. And I smile every time I remember how we started. Strangers. On a rainy day. In a café. We are holding our babies now. Years later, we will laugh on our cosy couch with them and the boys and their families about how we used to play in a garage. Years later, we will smile faintly at how we grew strong together, Phoebe and I. Years later, our children will meet their first loves. Even more years later, our baby girl will grow up and get married. Our baby boy will take care of his special woman. Phoebe and I will be grandparents, eventually. And we're going to be so happy. And we're going to be so happy and in tears... And we won't be stuck on any puzzle. By then, we would have found all the pieces, both dark and bright, and we would have completed the scenery. All of it, together.