Won't You Die Tonight For Love

I brushed through my shiny, pin-straight hair one more time, taking in my appearance in front of the mirror. I was wearing an elegantly fitting red and black vertically striped corset with a long black skirt and elbow-length silk black gloves. I felt like I was one of the fairytales children are told when they’re in bed, ready for another night of rejuvenating sleep. Bam’s party had started to kick off only a few minutes prior; I could already hear many laughs from downstairs.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and a voice saying, “May I come in?” From the accent it could only have been Jarno. I gave him the okay and when he came in I was slightly surprised. He was wearing a dress-coat over his all too well known black Isäntä shirt. His jeans weren’t faded and old, but were dark denim to tie it all together.

“Jarno!” I said with shock. He flashed a handsome, but arrogant, grin. “I’m surprised you know how to dress yourself so properly.”

“Oh, how you’ll be surprised,” he replied with a smirk, which left me puzzled. He held out his arm and I slipped mine around out, and then we were off. He led me downstairs where I was even more thoroughly surprised. Not by the plentiful amount of guests, but by the way they were all dressed. I was worried I would be overdressed but now seeing these guests, I suppose I wasn’t that far off. Many of the female guests were wearing dresses of all colors and styles, from short blue dresses to longer black dresses. I didn’t know Bam had it in him to throw such an impressive party, and only for the arrival of Ville. I would be lying if I said I weren’t anxious to finally meet him.

Immediately I saw Bam, though I don’t suppose anyone could miss him. He had on a top hat and had a black cane with a golden, circular handle. I expected it by now. From beside him, Dunn spotted us and waved us over. Jarno and I made our way through the crowd, tightly squeezing between guests at times. As we were almost halfway there, a man almost spilled his drink on Jarno, causing him to curse loudly at the man’s stupidity.

“Ah, Juliet, how lovely we are looking tonight,” Dunn greeted with a sly look in his eyes. I giggled, doing a slight curtsy. Bam only realized we were here but wasted no time in diving right into conversation.

“I bet you were surprised when you saw how fancy-schmancy everyone was. When I invited them, I specifically said to dress fancy. I figured you’d appreciate a bit of class for once... but be grateful, this is the last time you’ll see it,” he said with a wink. I laughed and rolled my eyes, though a feeling told me to believe that, whether he was joking or not. Bam’s eyes focused on something behind me and suddenly he was smiling brightly. “Hey, Ville! Over here!”

My eyes widened; this would finally be the moment when I got to meet this Ville Valo. I turned casually, keeping my composure, and immediately saw him. From the pictures and videos I’ve seen, he was a very handsome man, but seeing him in person was a whole new level. His light brown, slightly curled hair was partially hidden underneath a black beanie, but it was his eyes – brilliant and emerald – that grabbed my attention. He was wearing a black tux coat, like Jarno, though over a medium-gray plain tee-shirt. His long, thin legs were covered with black denim jeans to match the top. Suddenly realizing that my mouth was slightly ajar, I closed it and snapped myself back to reality. He was here.

“Hey, Bam, how are you?” he asked with a cheerfulness in his voice, giving Bam a friendly hug.

“Ready to get fucking drunk!” Bam cheered, gaining many laughs and enthusiastic agreements. Ville turned to me and bowed and took my hand, placing a light kiss upon it. I felt my ears grow hot and for the second time that night, I curtsied.

“Hello, darling, it’s nice to finally meet you. Judging by your astounding beauty that Bam has told me so much about, you must be Juliet,” he said with a whole new tone of voice: gentle and smooth. My face must have matched the bright red on my corset by now.

“It’s very nice to meet you too, Ville,” I replied with a smile. Just as he was opening his mouth to say something else, Jarno cut off.

“Moro, Ville! Mitä kuuluu, pitkästä aikaa!” he said in their native tongue, Finnish. My ears especially pricked when I heard this. I had yet to tell Jarno that Finnish was also my native language. It may have been eavesdropping to some degree, but it’s not like I couldn’t not understand, anyway.

“Moi, Jarno! Joo, siitä on aika kauan. Ihan hyvää kuuluu, mitä nyt oon sama onneton mulkku kun yleensäkin,” Ville replied with a light chuckle. I almost let out a small giggle myself. Ville calling himself a miserable prick seemed so far from the truth with him standing here. His eyes were illuminated and he was smiling like there was a right reason to.

“No, huolesi ovat ohitse...” he trailed. What reason would Ville have to not be so miserable? I partially leaned in as if what Jarno would say would be whispered like the greatest secret.

Ville didn’t understand what Jarno was implying either, as he uttered a quick ‘huh’? Jarno bit his bottom lip and a sly look glazed his eyes.

“Juliet on täällä, valmiina tyydyttämään kaikki sun tarpeet,” he said with a wink and a nudge. Ville laughed, though to mask the awkward place he was now in. He glanced over at me so I decided that in order to save the situation for all of us, I would have to play dumb for now.

“I heard my name. What are you guys saying?” I inquired, giving both men a suspicious look out of the corner of my eye. It was for nothing, though. Jarno just childishly replied with nothing and decided he wanted to dance.

I was partially disappointed for not being able to talk with Ville more, but Jarno was dancing like such an idiot I couldn’t help but merely stand there laughing. My right hand was glued to my mouth as I tried to contain my laughter as Jarno slipped, slid, and a lot more things that would be embarrassing just to describe. Oh, what a fun night this would be...

~. ~. ~. ~ VILLE’S POV ~. ~. ~. ~

I watched Juliet laugh as Jarno danced with such... skill. Her smile made my heart pound in its chest, her laughter made my stomach flutter. I had only known her for not 10 minutes but I already felt so attracted to her. I almost wanted to slap myself out of it. Never had I felt so strongly about someone so quickly. What about Juliet was so different than any other woman? I tried to formulate a logical answer for this question, but my mind just couldn’t come up with anything.

Later I would certainly get my chance to really talk to her, and when I did, a part of me hoped it would clear my head of this elementary school crush. But then again, part of me didn’t want it to go away.

~. ~. ~. ~ JULIET’S POV ~. ~. ~. ~

Having left Jarno to talk with a random fan on the dancefloor, I took off in search for someone to befriend. I hadn’t seen Bam or anyone else I know since I went with Jarno to dance and I was beginning to think the party swallowed them up.

As I was getting too hot anyway, I stepped out back and saw quite a different party happening outside. There was screaming and skating, laughing and general mayhem. Suddenly, I heard a deep and recognizable voice from beside me saying, “You’re Juliet, right?” I turned towards the voice and saw none other than Jyrki 69. I smiled and said I was.

“Hello, darling. I’m Jyrki, and this fine fellow is Jonne Aaron,” he said with a grin. I shook both of their hands, introducing myself as I did.

“He’s told us so much about you already,” Jonne said with a shy smile. I cocked my head and awkwardly smiled; Bam has seemed to have told a lot of people all about me. I felt so bad for not knowing half the people who knew me.

“Really? What has he said?” I asked curiously.

According to Jonne, who smiled shyly the whole time, I was beautiful, smart, one hell of a skater, lovable, and gave really good hugs... I really didn’t know what to think of it all. Never before had I thought so nicely even about myself, but here Bam is spreading the good word about my apparent great features. I blushed and thanked him for the kind words anyway. The three of us went on to discuss parties, Bam, and how we were all doing.

After almost two more hours of laughing and talking with many people, I was ready to find Bam and excuse myself to my room for the night. There had been a few instances when others had dropped by, like Jimmy Pop, Johnny Knoxville, and even Steve-O, all of which were drunk. By the time Steve-O had stopped by, Jyrki had to unfortunately excuse himself to find Jussi as they would be heading back to their hotel soon. Now, it was just me and Jonne alone, sitting on the railing and looking out to the party-goers in the back field.

“I should go see if Bam is back at the Pirate Bar,” I mumbled, leaning my head on Jonne’s shoulder sleepily.

“I’ll take you back in,” he replied. Of course, I had a few beers, but I wasn’t drunk. I was only a little dizzy. Still, Jonne insisted he escort me lest anything unwanted happen, like tripping over someone or someone tripping over me. The two of us then went back in, Jonne leading me with his soft hand in mine.

We found Bam, Novak, Jukka, and Jarppi all around the pirate bar, splashing beer over each other and laughing like the group of morons they were. Jonne and I stood in front of the boys for at least a minute, just watching with smiles as they were laughing and joking. Finally I coughed, gaining the attention of all four.

“Oh, hello, my good lady,” Bam said with a faint smell of alcohol coming from his breath. “We have found a new beau, yes?” I looked down at Jonne’s and my hand, still interlocked, and we both quickly separated.

“No. He was just taking me back inside. Though from the looks of it, I’m not the one who needs hand holding,” I told him with a smirk, raising an eyebrow to top the aimed message. Bam rolled his eyes and leaned back against the bar.

“I’ll have you know I am perfectly sober, Miss Juliet,” he told me with a matter-of-fact tone of voice. “In fact, I was just beginning to get another beer. Excuse me...” but as he stood and began to walk past me, he started to wobble. In what seemed like slow motion, he fell towards me, reaching for me to latch onto to prevent the almost inevitable fall. But as soon as he was about to grab at my dress, two firm hands caught him, followed by a sigh. I turned my head to see Ville, looking right into my eyes, our faces only mere inches apart.

“Hello again, darling. I saw you needed a bit of help with this one.” I blushed and looked down, a quick, “yeah” coming from my lips.

“Willa!” Bam squeaked like a child. Ville chuckled, wrapping his arm around Bam's neck and holding onto him.

“Come on, Bam. I think it’s time you went to bed.”

“Nooo...” he whined, but made no effort to stop Ville from carrying him away. I wasn’t sure if this was because he couldn’t or if he knew Ville wouldn’t let him. Either way, I quickly excused myself and followed the two towards the staircase, keeping a hand on Bam’s free shoulder.

“Here, let me help you,” I said quietly, wrapping Bam’s other arm around my neck. Ville and I then slowly but surely made our way upstairs. The effort from the staircase to Bam’s room was child’s play, but it was getting Bam into bed that was the tricky part. First, I let go and Ville turned him and Bam to sit on the bed, but when he let go, Bam fell onto Ville. Then I tried to pull him off, which only resulted in me falling onto the bed with my arm beneath Bam’s back. Finally, Ville helped me get my arm out from underneath Bam and we examined the now passed out man in front of us.

“Thanks for your help, darling,” Ville told me with a smile. He held out his arm and I slipped mine around it. “Where to?”

“I’d like to go to bed, if that’s alright with you,” I replied with a tired smile.

“Of course. I was getting ready to sleep myself.” Remembering that Ville would be sharing my room, I smiled and looked down to my feet as we made our way to our room.

As I changed into my pajamas in the walk-in closet, Ville set up an air mattress on the floor next to my bed. I could hear the pump loudly blowing air into the mattress. I opened the door and poked my head out from the closet. Ville was already in pajama pants. Only with pajama pants. His back was turned towards me and I could see his infamous back tattoo of Poe’s eyes.

“Did that hurt?” I asked, stepping out of the closet and closing the door behind me. Ville seemed to know exactly what I was referring to for he didn’t even appear surprised.

“Not really. I guess I’d just gotten used to the pain, especially after this one,” he replied, holding his left arm up. Only now did he turn around and look at me thoughtfully. “Do you have any tattoos?”

“Yeah. I have this stupid little heart on my wrist that I got with my b—when I was 19.” I held out my right wrist for him to see. His eyebrows raised and he now looked surprised.

“That’s coincidental,” he said with a smirk, holding out his right wrist to reveal the same tattoo. My eyes widened.

“Bam has the same one too! What the hell, is this the ‘in’ tattoo?” Ville laughed, showing off his perfect teeth.

“I guess it is, darling,” he said with a grin.

When we were both in bed and the lights turned off, I stared at the ceiling in frustration. I couldn’t get to sleep now that I was in bed. It was as if the tiredness just left as my head hit my pillow. This resulted in a lot of tossing and turning.

“Are you okay, darling?” Ville asked after what seemed like an eternity.

“Yeah... I just can’t seem to sleep now. I’m sorry if I’m keeping you awake.”

“There’s no need to apologize. Is there anything I could do to help you sleep?” I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to keep myself from blushing. Usually music would help me but I didn’t want to disturb him. “When I was a little boy, my mama and my papa would sing to me...”

“Are you implying that you’ll sing me to sleep?” I asked with a playful but embarrassed tone. I heard Ville sit up and could faintly see his outline facing me.

“Are you implying that you want me to sing you to sleep?”

“Yes,” I whispered. Ville crawled onto the bed and laid down on his side next to me, using his arm as a prop for his head.

“What would you like to hear? I’m your own personal jukebox. My talents range from Elvis to Cradle of Filth, though I wouldn’t suggest something with barbaric screaming and growling.” I laughed, still thinking what I’d like to hear.

“Anything... by you,” I whispered again. I felt the heat in my cheeks rise and I hoped the warmth from my embarrassment wouldn’t radiate towards Ville.

“Of course, darling.”

“But, Ville, I have one last question. Why did you call yourself a miserable prick earlier this evening?” I asked, looking up at him. In the darkness still, I could see his look of surprise. I guess he hadn’t known I could understand him anyway. But after a brief moment of shock, he only chuckled and brushed hair from my face.

“I’m known to be one,” was all he answered. I figured I shouldn’t try to push it any further tonight and readjusted my body to a fetal position, facing Ville. After a few moments of quietness, Ville suddenly sang, “Just one look into your eyes... one look, and I’m crying, ‘cause you’re so beautiful.” And, in the darkness, I fell asleep to the gentle voice singing Beautiful.