The Heaven I Found In Hell

by Ashley Andrews

  "A lot I'm guessing."

  "And how often does Valentine's Day happen?"

  "Once a year," she said with a giggle.

  "Now see, it hurts me to know that your trust in my capabilities and my decisions isn't so high."

  It was Riley's turn to kiss his forehead.

  "How about we forget what I said and make the most of what we have? We only have a couple of days," Riley said, smiling like the Cheshire cat.

  She absolutely couldn't believe what had just happened. He surprised her. She was in his arms. He was where she wanted him to be, beside her. She tried to hide the enthusiasm she felt, but she failed miserably. She was too excited and too happy not to show it. He was embracing her at the moment as he trailed kisses down from her ear to her neck. Amidst a crowd of students, they continued the public display of affection and only stopped when Riley had gotten a hold of his hand and led the way to her apartment. Once they got in, Anthony busied himself by looking at the pictures that stood on the tables and that hung on the walls, while Riley went to her room to change for dinner.

  After an hour of waiting, Anthony finally got to see his girlfriend all made up in a party dress with her long brown hair held up in a bun. His jaw may not have dropped, but he blushed and that alone made Riley smile and then grin. They stood beside each other and hand-in-hand left the apartment to go to the hotel Anthony was staying in. When they arrived at their destination, Anthony helped Riley get out of the limo he rented for the night as the two entered the hotel and stepped into its lobby. The couple headed over to the reception desk as Anthony began speaking to the receptionist. Riley thought she knew everything Anthony had in store for her, but she absolutely had no idea. They weren't going to go to his room nor to eat at a fancy restaurant or go to a bar to listen to some music as they sipped their drinks. Absolutely, not. Anthony didn't want the night to be predictable. He had surprised her from the start and planned on continuing until the end.

  * * *

  Shopping for clothes ended up becoming such a bad idea that Alex, for a moment, didn't feel like spending Valentine's anymore. Her legs were aching and her feet were sore from walking the streets of New York's Upper East Side. She hadn't bought a lot, only a dress for tonight, but it took her more than two hours to find it. It was a short black shimmer-y dress that she had gotten at the nearby Marc Jacobs store. The garment had cost her a thousand or two, but it didn't matter so much, only what Nathan had in store for her did.

  She hailed a cab and when a yellow car had stopped in front of her, she immediately got in and told the driver to take her back to her apartment, the one which was a walk away from her College. The drive there seemed pretty fast, so she took her time to get to her final destination. She felt like sleeping but knew she couldn't. She couldn't wait for Nathan's plans to be put into action, and of course, she didn't want to disappoint her boyfriend by canceling on him. That was too rude to do, and she thought it better to sacrifice a few hours of sleep than to have a moody boyfriend the next morning.

  She opened the door of her apartment and was greeted by red here, red there and red everywhere. Red candles, red flowers, and gifts wrapped in red Japanese paper welcomed her as she stepped onto the carpeted floor of her apartment's living room. The only thing, she thought soon after, that would complete this redness was Nathan stepping out from nowhere dressed in a red tuxedo. Well, that didn't happen. When she finally grasped the reality of everything, she heard water dripping from the bathroom. She opened her mouth, and a long 'ohhhh' resounded from her. Nathan was taking a shower.

  * * *

  "You reserved the whole rooftop of the hotel?" Riley asked when Anthony had uncovered her eyes and she could now see clearly most of the land that made up New Jersey and have a three-hundred-sixty degree view of it.

  "For tonight," he replied with a big smile, which Riley returned.

  Once again, they hugged each other, melting into one another's embrace before they locked eyes and shared a passionate kiss. Anthony's hand traveled from the upper part of Riley's back to the lower portion and settled there while Riley's repeatedly ran through Anthony's hair as a few strands started to cover his eyes. They would pull away and then kiss each other again and this probably lasted for fifteen minutes or so. They finally let go of each other, Anthony being the one who ended the make-out session, and when Riley turned her back, there were more surprises. A table covered in red cloth stood before her and the walk to the table which was only made up of a few feet was covered in rose petals. She immediately squealed like a little girl. This was like a dream, like a movie.

  "Dinner is getting cold," Anthony said, taking Riley's hand as he pulled out her seat for her to sit on.

  Riley comfortably rested against the cushion of her chair as she took the napkin that was decoratively folded and flattened it out before she put it on her lap. She opened her mouth and was about to say something, but she was stopped when she saw Anthony's message.

  Riley,

  I'm not only here to tell you 'I love you,' but I'm also here to protect you and make you happy because as I've said a million times before, 'I love you.' I really do.

  - Anthony

  The message was written on her dinner plate with chocolate and strawberry syrup.

  * * *

  "You're already home?" Nathan shouted when he got out of the shower wrapped only in a towel which hung low on his hips.

  "Yes, duh," Alex countered. "Am I not here?"

  "So, you saw?" Nathan asked in disbelief. "Everything?"

  "If you're talking about the flowers, the roses and the gifts, then yes, everything."

  Nathan had finally put on a pair of jeans and was slowly moving towards Alex, who was currently leaning on the doorframe of her room. In a matter of seconds, they stood closely in front of each other just staring into each other's eyes. Alex grinned at Nathan while he looked at her in shock. He wanted to surprise her and was planning on popping out of nowhere dressed in red, but instead, it was Alex who had popped out of nowhere. He thought she was going to take longer, but obviously, with her right in front of him at the moment, that wasn't the case.

  "No wonder you wanted me to go shopping and leave this place," she said when Nate didn't reply.

  "Yeah, and now everything's useless," Nathan said, frowning and acting like a child.

  Alex could only smile with the way her boyfriend was currently acting, foolish. She hooked her fingers around the belt loops of Nathan's jeans and pulled him closer to her. She continued smirking at him while he looked away. He wanted to surprise her; he wanted to see her expression; he wanted to see her the moment she stepped foot on her own apartment which he decorated with roses, chocolates, gifts and other red things, but no. It was she who surprised him, saw his expression and saw him walk out of the bathroom after having taken a shower. It had all been turned upside-down.

  "Don't think like that," she said, using one of her hands to be able to move Nathan's head so that now he was facing her. "You still surprised me."

  "But I wasn't even able to get a picture of your reaction!"

  Alex only laughed before she handed Nathan her camera and led him out of her room. She positioned him and told him to stay at the living room while she left the apartment only to come in after a few seconds or so. Opening her mouth extensively and covering it with her hands while her eyes widened in feigned shock, she posed for the camera and retained her posture for twenty seconds or so. When Nathan took a picture of her, he was grinning, and after, he made his way closer to her and gave her a noogie as he messed up her hair.

  "Nice expression," Nathan said, kissing Alex's nose. "I'm glad you're surprised."

  They shared a laugh, one which lasted for half a minute, and after, Nathan, pulling Alex with him, made his way to the couch as she settled against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her as his hands settled on her hips. They turned on the TV and inserted a movie into the DVD player and then snuggled even closer to each other.

  "So, w
hat are we eating?" Alex asked, looking up to kiss the skin beside Nathan's lips.

  "What I cooked."

  Alex slapped his chest while she looked at him in mock-awe. She didn't know if Nathan could cook or not or even if he was being serious or otherwise, but the idea of eating whatever he made didn't frighten nor unnerve her. She didn't know why, but she blamed it on being too happy to care. She just wanted to spend more time with Nathan, Valentine's or not, and she got more than what she wanted, flowers, chocolates, gifts and Nathan himself.

  "Nathan Adams! I am proud!" Alex said laughing as she referred to Nathan's confession of cooking.

  "I know you love me," he answered her with a wink.

  "Uh-huh," she said. "But seriously, what are we eating?"

  "You know me too well, huh?"

  "Of course, love," she said, laughing quietly. "But I actually thought for a while back there that you really cooked, but anyhow, what's for dinner?"

  "I really did actually, but of course, if things don't go so well, I have back-up."

  "And what is that?" she asked, squishing her head closer to Nathan's neck.

  "Pizza," Nathan answered with a smirk. "I'm sorry it's not salad."

  Alex slapped his arm before she opened her mouth to say, "Since you cooked for me, which is a rare occasion, I will pig out."

  "Really, now?"

  Alex hated eating a lot and her system had already gotten used to taking in so little and so, what she was doing was mainly to please Nathan. She wanted him to be happy and to forget about the fact that he wasn't able to surprise her completely since she had come back home before he expected her. The idea of eating oily, greasy and calorie-covered food made her nervous. She tried to shrug it off and look optimistically at what she was about to do. She had at least four years to lose the weight she was going to gain before she had to model again.

  "Yes, I will because I love you too much," she answered him in a sarcastic tone though he knew what she said; she meant it with her whole heart.

  "And I love you too so much, so I will just believe you're going to do what you say you're going to do," he said in reply.

  She looked up at him and met his eyes. They held a certain emotion, and they both knew what it was. Though they were cloudy, his eyes showed something of happiness, of love. I love you. They didn't need to exchange that three-worded sentence at the moment. They’d been doing it for practically more than a year now. Those words…it could be done and said in many different ways.

  * * *

  Ten bouquets all around the apartment.

  One-hundred and twenty beautifully scented roses.

  Eight slices of fattening pizza.

  Two plates of Nathan's special pasta.

  One forgotten DVD due to tease-fests.

  One blanket shared among two people.

  Three gifts for 'I love you'…

  …a necklace with their anniversary date engraved on it…

  … a collage made with pictures of the both of them…

  …and Alex's favorite oversized t-shirt of Nathan's.

  …What a Valentine's Day…

  * * *

  Finish.

  * * *

  MORE

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  OTHER BOOKS BY ASHLEY ANDREWS

  Bleeding Love

  Breaking the Arm, Healing the Heart