In the Arms of Rain (Ville Valo)

17 - Like St. Valentine

The following morning, I woke up in Ville's arms. I guessed we had both nodded off fairly quickly – I, at least, had already been exhausted after the journey, and the conversation we'd had turned out to be equally draining. But in the most amazing way.

Ville had said that he loved me. I still had a lot of doubt in my mind that this whole adventure was going to work, but this was a big step in the right direction.

I wasn't about to blurt out those words just to 'say it back,' though. I wasn't going to say it until I was absolutely, 100% sure not only that I meant it, but that it wasn't going to come back around and bite me hard on the ass. Those words were always a big deal for me, reserved only for those with the potential to become my happily-ever-after, and I had yet to find someone who made me believe in fairy tale endings.

I rolled over in bed and kissed the still sleeping Ville on the nose. He smiled before he opened his eyes.

'Good morning,' he whispered, 'how did you sleep?'

'Like a baby,' I replied, realising that I was smiling so hard my cheeks were already starting to hurt. 'And you?'

'Like an emotionally exhausted old man who just took a 10 hour flight,' he murmured, closing his eyes again and gripping me tightly in his arms. 'I suppose it's time to get up...'

I moaned. 'Really? Can't we stay here all day?'

He laughed. 'At least let me get up to make you a cup of coffee.'

I pulled back out of his bear hug and said, 'well, I won't say no to that.'

As Ville was pottering around the room, putting together the (probably awful) instant coffee provided in the room, I intermittently watched him and closed my eyes. I knew, really, that we couldn't stay in bed all day, and I didn't really want to. Today we were to start preparing to shoot the video. Today, I supposed, they would tell me all about it – the song, the location, the concept.

I was in the middle of a daydream about acting in the video when Ville climbed back into bed, having placed his coffee on the nightstand. He handed me the steaming mug and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I sighed with satisfaction as I took the first sip.

'Our first morning together,' he said, looking at me and grinning.

I grinned back. 'A good start to the whole 'making it all up to me' thing.' 

'So you agree that we are together?' Ville asked, looking a little more serious.

I smirked. 'Depends on how you continue 'making it up to me'.'

In an instant, Ville put his coffee back on the table and went to pounce on me, but not before giving me a second to put mine down, too. When my hands were free of burn hazards, he pinned me down hard on the bed and kissed me intensely, biting my lower lip softly. His hands began to roam my body for the first time - up until now he had insisted on being a gentleman and 'taking it slowly'... but now he was kissing my neck...

It was all looking very, very good until there was a knock at the door, making us both jump and requiring our attention, even if it hadn't totally killed the mood. 

'Ville? Are you in there?' Said Linde's voice.

Ville sighed through gritted teeth, giving me an apologetic look. 'Yes,' he replied, 'I was just waking Nina.'

Linde laughed. 'I won't ask...listen, we need to head downstairs to breakfast and then get moving, so hurry up.'

Ville rolled his eyes, took another sip of coffee and sighed again. 'We're on our way.'

I pouted as he started to climb out of bed, but he pinched my chin, winked at me and said, 'there's always tonight, sweetheart.'

Ville went back to his own room to get dressed, and I threw my hair into a ponytail, pulled on my black jeans and red and white striped t-shirt. I washed my face, brushed my teeth and slipped my feet into a pair of black sandals, all in the space of ten minutes before Ville knocked on my door again.

'Ready, darling?' 

I let him take my hand, we hurried down to breakfast, scarfed down another cup of coffee and some toast, before rushing, all of us together, into the car park where a minibus was waiting for us.

'Where are we going?' I asked in a whisper.

'To the studio, first,' Ville replied, also in a hushed voice, 'so you, and we, can hear the song and discuss ideas a little bit, then we'll head to the venue.'

'What venue?' I asked, grinning again, gripping his arm excitedly.

Ville tapped his nose, indicating a secret. 

We pulled up to the studio, another big, impressive-looking building with a tinted glass front and a shiny chrome reception area. The equally polished lady sitting behind the desk just smiled and nodded at us as the band, led by Mige, filed through into the studio. 

Inside was another man waiting for us. He smiled and offered his hand to shake as we entered, each of us greeting him and sitting down in turn.

'So, the song,' he said, still smiling, apparently quite excited to get down to business. 'Did we all decide on 'Passion's Killing Floor'?' As the band looked at each other and nodded, my heart skipped a beat. I remembered that song from the gig where Ville and I had 'reunited,' so to speak. Well, I remembered all the songs, but hearing that name brought memories, and emotions, flooding back. I was starting to forget everything that had gone so wrong. And by the time the song had been played for us from start to finish, loudly, immersing me, everything else was almost erased from my mind.