In Pieces

Chapter 2.

Surprises

A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that is how life is - full of surprises. ~ Isaac Bashevis

“Seriously Carmine, this was such a lovely night,” Aiden Barlow cooed. “I can’t believe you actually did all of this,” she motioned down towards her empty plate on the well dressed table, “just for me.”

Carmine Keyes exchanged a large smile back to the dark haired girl sitting on the opposite side of the table. The room was darkened; the only light came from the center of the round table in Carmine’s apartment from the sweet smelling candles.

“I have been promising you a meal for a long time, Aiden. I thought I would treat you for your birthday,” he grinned.

He was feeling proud of himself for planning this special treat that he had sprung on his girlfriend. He couldn’t help but increase the size of his smile as he remembered Aiden's face as she stepped into his apartment, unaware of anything special happening.

It had to be one of the largest smiles Carmine had ever seen on Aiden as her whole face lit up. It was not only a wonderful moment for Aiden to see what her boyfriend had planned for her, but also for Carmine as he could see just how happy he had made his girlfriend.

“I still can’t believe this,” she enthused.

She put her hand in the middle of the table to the side of her, just letting it rest there. Carmine too reached out his hand, clasping Aiden's hand tightly but lovingly. He didn’t want to let go of his first love.

“And the fact that I never really believed you could cook. I was expecting to be served pizza and oven cooked fries,” she laughed.

“Now that stung,” Carmine cried jokingly.

He pulled his hand out of Aiden's to put it over his heart. However, instead of putting it over his left side where his heart is, he put it over his right side.

Aiden soon erupted in laughter. “It would have created a better effect if you had actually put your hand over your heart.” She reached for his hand that was on his chest and moved it to the side, where it was supposed to be. “Or are you a time lord and you just haven’t told me yet?” she joked meanly at her boyfriend, including her favorite TV show, Doctor Who, into the conversation.

Carmine just stared at his girlfriend as she continued to laugh at him. He didn’t say much, he couldn’t say much, but one word managed to escape his lips. “Shit.”

That made Aiden laugh harder than she already was. She had to reach for her stomach as it hurt when she laughed. She even had tears rolling down her cheeks and all Carmine could do was just sit there and watch.

“C'mon now Doctor, I am sure you have some more fun up your sleeve,” Aiden sarcastically joked, still involving Carmine's little screw up.

“Why yes Miss. Barlow, I do indeed have something else planned,” he said in a posh manner.

Aiden just smiled at him, not actually expecting anything more than she had already got. It was already enough for her.

Standing up from the table, Carmine once again took hold of Aiden's hand, leading her out to his balcony. They stood there for a while as nothing happened. And that’s when the second surprise came.

Looking across at the other buildings, Aiden's saw a giant explosion of lights. They shot up into the dark sky above them and burst into colors. They beat the lights of the city they both lived in any day.

Aiden stood silently in awe as the fireworks went off with a bang. They colored the black sky with a palette of different colors like the sky was a blank canvas. It created swirls of purple and pink with flecks of green around it. The blue of the sparks started to fade into the blackness of the sky as more fireworks went off, creating more colors. Carmine knew from Aiden’s silence that she was mesmerized by all of the fireworks that were going off in front of her. He knew that she loved it.

They continued to watch the fireworks until they were all gone and once again, the lights of the New York buildings filled the dark sky.

Hand in hand, the young couple walked back into the apartment. They walked towards the loveseat, plopping themselves down on it next to each other. Carmine leaned towards the TV, picking up a DVD case for both of them to watch and slipped the disk into the slot.

Carmine knew before even asking Aiden what movie she would want to watch. In Love and Death was one of Aiden's all time favorite movie for them to watch together.

They exchanged a few kisses as the movie started to play and they continued through the introduction. Soon enough, they were both more engrossed in the kiss than the movie itself. Before they knew it, the title menu reappeared on the screen, announcing the end of the movie that Aiden and Carmine hadn’t actually watched much of.

Aiden knew then that it was her time to leave before it got too late.

“I can’t believe you would do all this for my birthday Carmine, it really is beautiful,” she thanked him as they walked together to the front door.

Aiden quickly threw on her red coat that stood out from the crowd before opening the door and stepping out. She turned back to face Carmine to see a large grin on his face.

“Well, I am glad you enjoyed yourself as much as I did,” Carmine smiled.

He was feeling rather pleased with himself. All of his hard work of planning this night and the expense of it all had really paid off. He loved seeing his girl happy, and that is what he had done. He had made her happy.

“I love you,” Carmine kissed her lips one last time goodnight.

“I love you too,” she whispered as they kissed, a smirk playing on her face.

With that, she turned back around and walked out of the door. Carmine stepped forward so he could watch her walk to the elevator. They smiled once more at each other as soon as Aiden was in the elevator, just before the two metal doors closed shut.

He quickly saw her smile double in size as she shouted one last thing to him before her image disappeared completely from sight.

If Carmine had only known those three words were going to be the last words he was ever going to hear Aiden say: I love you.