A Valentine Duet

by Summer Graystone

  “So, who wrote the song?” Addy asked Tom.

  “We did, the both of us.”

  “Really? You two wrote a love song together. And which of you was responsible for the…”

  “Kiss me until the moon covers the sun and the only thing shining is our love line?” Elena finished for her. “Tom did that.”

  “Tom did?” Addy exclaimed with an exaggerated look of shock on her face, delighting her audience.

  “Come on, Elena, you’ve gotta take credit for it, too. Actually, Elena came up with the line. But what she said was hold my hands until the moon covers the sun. And I thought to myself, if the moon is covering the sun I don’t want to just be holding hands. I want to be doing something more, you know?” he said with a waggle of his eyebrow to the audience. “Then after she shot down two of my suggestions, we finally settled on just kissing.”

  “We’ll visit that kissing scenario again. But for now I’ve got a question and this one is for Elena. I know that this will probably be the thousandth time you are being asked this question, and you probably already have a thousand and one answers to it. Still I gotta ask, are you two in a relationship?”

  Elena first smiled on hearing this questions. She and Samantha had worked on her answer the day before, and she felt confident as she answered. “Well Addy, romance is a funny thing isn’t it? I like to think that there was a part of our hearts that came together in writing those words. I know my heart was definitely involved when I wrote my lines. But then I am a romantic at heart so I guess it was a lot easier for me than it was for Tom. In the end, it doesn’t matter who you are right now. If you are in a relationship right now or not. If you think yourself cynical or romantic. At the end of the day I believe there is a part of our hearts, all of us, that says the same thing no matter who we are. I guess Tom and I just happened to put that part of our hearts down on paper. Two hearts working as one in a way. Is that a relationship or is it not, well I think you can figure out the rest on your own.” She ended with a small smile as she leaned back on her chair.

  The crowd was quiet for a few seconds, then they erupted into loud cheers and applause as they shouted at her answer.

  “Well, the crowd seemed to like that answer. So I am going to accept it,” Addy said as she stood up and joined in the applause. “And now ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Tom and Elena, here to perform their new single, ‘When Love Shines’ on The Addy Show.”

  Elena and Tom stood up from their seats and went to the small area that had been sectioned off for the performance. A live band was already seated, and as Elena and Tom picked up the mic the sound of the violins that began the song began to sound behind them. Looking into each other’s eyes, they sang the words of the song, the crown joining along as the people swayed to the music.

  Then on the last note, as they both said the words, the hall went dark and suddenly a sun covered moon dropped from the ceiling above the stage. Screams of delight fill the air as the audience goes ballistic. Chants of kiss, kiss, kiss began to sound as the two of them are highlighted by a single spotlight. Laughing as he held her hand, Tom shrugged and before Elena could wrap her head around what it was he wanted to do, he hurled her body over to his and captured her lips with a kiss.

  It was soft, no tongue. It was just for show; that was what she told herself. It was Tom’s lips on hers, she reminded herself. It was pleasure like she had never felt before and that was something she couldn’t deny. Her legs went weak at the knees, her weight solely supported by his hand around her waist. The screams of the people around her was muted by the sound of blood rushing in her ears. His lips sucked delicately at hers, and she made a low humming sound in her throat as a result. Then he lifted his head and it was like someone flipped a switch in Elena as all other sensations came back to her. The deafening applause of the crowd, the gentle breeze of the air conditioners that blew air across the stage. It probably didn’t last for more than a few seconds, yet it felt like an eternity to Elena. And even that was not enough. As Tom waved to the crowd, she remembered to smile along and wave back too. Even managing to put a cocky grin on her face, when all she wanted to do was grab him by his shirt and kiss him again just to make sure she had not imagined what just happened. Finally they were walking off the stage, through the entrance by the stage and going backstage. As soon as they were out of sight of the fans, Elena removed her hands from the crook of Tom’s arm and made a beeline for her dressing room. Her goal was to put as much distance between her and Tom before she ended up doing something she would regret. Like kiss him….again.

  Chapter 5

  Elena reclined on the couch in her tour bus with a bowl of ice cream between her legs. The Bachelorette was playing on the small screen in front of her and she was so caught up in the show she did not notice the door being opened.

  “Cute,” she heard someone say and gasped as she looked up to see Tom standing in front of her. She jumped up from the couch and barely caught the bowl in her lap in time to stop ice cream from spilling on the old t-shirt she wore.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, more pissed that he had caught her not looking her best than any other thing. But if her indignation scared him in any way, he did not show it a bit.

  “Come on Elena, you can’t tell me you are not happy to see me.”

  “Actually, that is the exact thought that is going through my head right now.”

  “You know, one of these days, we are going to have to sit down and talk about the real reason you hate me so much.”

  “Oh, we don’t need to sit down for that. I’ll tell you right now. You are an egotistical, male chauvinistic pig who stole my assistant from me.” He seemed to stare at her with an amused smile. Then he moved towards her and leaned in just enough that Elena could feel his breath on her face. “I’ve wondered what it would feel like to grab you in the middle of one of your rants and kiss you, just slide my hands into your hair and kiss all that anger away.”

  Elena’s lips parted as her breath left her in a soft whoosh. She reminded herself that she should be angry at what he just said, was angry at what he said. But at that very moment, she wondered really what that would feel like. Then she saw the taunting look in his eyes and instantly regretted letting her guard down like that. She dropped down on the couch and picked up her phone.

  “I don’t have time for your nonsense, Tom,” she said, as the pad of her fingers toyed with the screen of her phone and she pretended she was no longer interested in him. “What do you want?”

  “Me? Nothing. Just wondering on which side it is I am going to be staying.” He looked at her as he spoke, then laughed out loud when the meaning of what he was saying dawned on her.

  Elena knew Tom was joking, he definitely had to be joking. Because there was no way in hell she was ever going to share a bus with him, not for any reason. Besides, he had his own tour bus, so why was she even getting herself worried over nothing?

  “Go away, Tom. I’m really not in the mood to start playing games with you right now,” she said as she grabbed her earphones from the table and stuck them in her ears. She was connecting them to the phone when she heard him answer her.

  “I’m serious, Elena. My bus broke down and I am to join you for the time being, pending the time they take to fix it.”

  Elena sat up and looked at him for a few seconds, noting the seriousness in his eyes. After judging that he was not kidding, she jumped off of the couch.

  “No, nope, nada. No way in hell that is happening.” She began to pace inside the bus. “How long do they need to fix it? Tell them we’ll wait.”

  “Come on, Elena, that’s just plain stupid. We’ll be on our way so we don’t miss the next gig. They’ll repair it as fast as they can and once they are done, I’ll get out of your hair.” For once, he was trying to be reasonable and Elena hated that she could not reason right along with him. But there was no way she could stand being confined in the bus with him.

  “Where is Samantha? I want
to talk to her right now,” Elena demanded, walking to the sectioned off space of the bus that served as her sleeping area and grabbing her jacket. She moved towards the exit, bypassing and ignoring Tom as she did, noting that he didn’t seem fazed by her insistence on not traveling with him. Which meant that the problem with his bus was serious enough that he knew that the only available option would still be him riding in her bus.

  She had barely put one foot down from the bus when she saw Addy chatting with Charlie, her bus driver.

  “Addy, Addy,” she called out. “What the hell is Tom talking about, joining my tour bus?”

  “Come on, Elena. It’s just going to be for a couple of days, two, three at the most and I promise you that Tom will behave the entire time that he is there,” Addy spoke gently, and Elena was reminded of one more reason why she had been really mad when Tom poached her. She knew exactly what to say and how to say it. Like now, she was talking gently because she knew Elena would also be forced to react gently.

  “Come on, Addy. You know how I feel about Tom. So you know there is no way in hell I am letting him ride along in my tour bus. If he wants, he can hang from the side of it. But not inside.”

  As they talked, the door of the bus slid open and Tom walked out, holding her bowl of ice cream in his hand and licking the spoon. Elena looked at the bowl, then up at him. Then she looked at the bowl and at Addy’s face. “That’s my ice cream,” she said, staring at him as if she wanted to believe he had made a mistake.

  “Yeah, I know.” He leaned against the bus and crossed his leg. The perfect picture of a man without a care or worry. “You left it in the living room and it was melting, so I thought I’d rescue it for you.”

  “By eating it?” Elena asked, looking at him with eyes she wished could shoot daggers.

  “Yes, how else could I have rescued it?”

  “I don’t know, put it in the fridge.” Elena crossed her hands around her waist, noting the way Tom’s eyes dropped to her chest and back up again, though not fast enough to be polite.

  He shrugged and curved his lips in a smile that was more sensual than humor-filled. “Where is the fun in that?” He dipped the spoon in the bowl and then lifted it to his mouth. Teasing her as he licked the ice cream and then wrapped his whole mouth around the spoon.

  Elena opened her mouth to scream, then gritted her teeth instead as she closed her eyes and counted down from ten. Then she opened her eyes and looked to Addy. “I can’t do this, I swear I can’t. I’m calling Aaron right now. I bet my contract says I get a tour bus of my own.”

  Addy gave Tom a warning look and then went forward to place an arm around Elena. “Don’t mind Tom, he’s just being a dick. And by now, I should think you should know better than to let him get to you.”

  “Hey, I don’t think calling me names is covered in the money I pay you every month. And if it is, I always knew I was paying you too much.”

  Addy ignored him and took Elena’s hand. She led her back into the bus and sat her down in the dining section. “Yes, your contract states that you get a tour bus. I helped draft the contract, remember? But this is not about a contract, just me needing you to help my client out. Granted, he is my douchebag, asshole client.”

  Elena couldn’t help but smile at that. Tom took a seat at the table and scowled at Addy, before turning to Elena.

  “Okay, I accept I can be a little bit of an ass…”

  “A little?” Elena scoffed and Tom raised an eyebrow at her.

  “All I’m saying is that I am going to behave myself.” He finished, then nodded his head and gave Addy a look that had Elena growing suspicious.

  “You told him to say that, didn’t you?” she demanded and was not surprised when the publicist just shrugged and nodded her head.

  “Yeah I did, and I assure you that he is going to keep to his word,” Addy added and then turned to Tom. “And you better, or else I’m not fixing this one.”

  Tom just rolled his eyes and sat low in his chair like a sulking kid and Elena burst into laughter. “How do you do that? Make him scared of you like that?” she asked Addy.

  “Oh, I know where he buried the body, so to speak,” she replied and the two women looked at him with their heads crouched together.

  He glanced at the two of them, and Elena thought he looked a little bit uncomfortable. “You two people should stop that, it’s creepy.”

  “Why?” Elena asked, “You scared of something?”

  “As if,” he muttered and got up to go rifle through her fridge.

  “Don’t worry,” Addy said. “He is scared enough.”

  The two women burst into laughter and Elena soon found herself leaning into Addy. “I’ve missed you,” she said, and sighed when she felt her former publicist’s arms close around her shoulders.

  “I’ve missed you, too.”

  Elena waited for a beat, then asked something she had wanted to know for a long time. “Why did you leave, Addy? I mean, I know Tom must have promised you heaven and earth, but I always felt like I did something to chase you away or something.”

  “Come on Elena, you know that is not true.”

  “Why then, Addy? Why did you leave me?”

  Addy seemed to think about it for a while, then she sighed and looked into Elena’s eyes. “It’s nothing like you think, Elena. It just became too…boring for me. Which you should take as a compliment, because it meant you were so well behaved that I had almost no mess to clean up for you. Working for Tom,” she glanced at him, “it brings its own challenges and I love those challenges.”

  Elena was quiet for a moment, then she softly said, “I can cause trouble too you know, maybe punch a reporter or something.”

  Addy just smiled, and then she hugged Elena and Elena returned the hug. “Just take care of yourself okay, and let me know if this one here causes you any trouble and I’ll straighten him out.”

  “No problem,” Elena replied and looked at Tom, who was pretending not to hear them. “Plus, I’ve got Samantha and I think the both of us can keep him under control.”

  Addy stopped at the door to the bus and turned around to look at Elena. “Yeah, I forgot to tell you that. Samantha is not here, told me to tell you she had to rush ahead and take care of some logistics problems. He’ll meet you there.”

  Elena watched her scamper off after delivering the news and she could do nothing but stare in shock. No Samantha meant that she and Tom were going to be alone in the bus. Alone in the bus for two days with Tom. She looked at him and then at the bus, reminding herself that it was a big bus. A very big bus.

  Then he looked at her and smiled, and Elena’s cheeks heated as the bus suddenly became small. Way too small to contain the both of them and all the energy he seemed to cause in her.

  Chapter 6

  “…and I guess that’s why they call it the blues. Time on my hands could be spent with you…” Elena sang along, nodding her head to the music. And doing her best to ignore the man sitting across from her. Didn’t help that he couldn’t seem to keep still, or figure out exactly what it is he wanted to do. From fiddling with his phone, to playing with his guitar and then he abandoned that activity to rifle through the magazines and catalogs she had scattered on the table. It seemed he did not find her gossip columns really interesting because he abandoned those to pick up his phone again. Then after a few seconds, he stood up and began to pace the length of the bus.

  Elena tried but found it hard to just enjoy her music. She should probably go inside and draw the curtain to her sleeping area. But she did not, instead just lay there and watched him from the corner of her eye. A part of her tried to point out that the only reason why his restlessness bothered her was because of how aware of him she was. His physical presence alone was like a grip she couldn’t escape. Finally, when she could not take it anymore, she sat up and glared at him.

  “Stop doing that.”

  He looked up at her, then around as if there was anyone else in the bus she could have been talki
ng to. “Doing what?” he asked, and then resumed pacing without waiting to hear her answer.

  “That.” Elena waved her hands in his direction, not knowing exactly how to put into words what it was he was doing that was pissing her off.

  “Exactly what is that, Elena? Or are you just trying to boss me around again?”

  “I don’t try to boss you around,” she denied his claim swiftly, then cursed herself for engaging with him. It was the second day on the road and they should be arriving at the next stop on the tour very early the next day. She had managed to avoid talking to him throughout yesterday except for some few unavoidable conversations. She had been hoping she would be that lucky today, but it would seem not. Elena put her earphones back in her ears and then sat back down and pressed the play button on her phone. She was not going to be dragged into having a conversation with him, because she knew where that would lead. Her angry and him smug.

  Then she watched him walk towards her and take a seat on the couch, right beside her. He smiled at her and she frowned back at him, wondering what kind of game he was playing at. She thought of standing up and leaving the couch to him. Then instantly shut down that idea since it would seem like he had succeeded in chasing her away. So she decided in the end to ignore him. But after a while, not even the soft crooning voice of Michael Buble could drown out her reaction to his presence. He just kept looking at her, giving her something of a mocking smile until Elena was forced to remove the earphones in her ears and glare at him.

  “What do you want?”

  He just kept smiling without answering, watching her get even more irritated. Then just as she opened her mouth to say something, he finally replied her. “Nothing, just wondering exactly why you hate me so much.”

  Elena clamped her mouth shut, telling herself there was no way she was going to get into this. In the end, she couldn’t stop herself from giving him a reply.