Scream Me a Dream

“Take care of my baby.” Inka said, running her hand over the hood of the car.

“Take care of mine.” Soya said looking over at the silver Audi she had rented. “I’ll call you later tonight to return it.” Soya assured.

“Take pictures for me.” Inka laughed. “I beg of you.”

Soya giggled and nodded as she placed her purse on the passenger seat, scrounging around for her cell phone. “I promise you pictures.”

“All right. Well, give me a call when you want to pick up your car, and the things inside of it.”

Soya nodded. “I will. Thank you Inka.”

“Ah, it’s not a problem and remember to call Soya, I don’t want to find out you’ve left again without a goodbye.”

“Promise, we’ll all get together again, I’ll even drag Ville along this time around.”

“Wonderful!” Inka smiled before patting the top of the car. “Go on, call him, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye Inka.” Soya said, dialing Ville’s number as she looked around the tiny car, making sure she knew where everything was.

“Hey you!” Ville greeted as he answered the phone.

“Hey, are you still at your tower?”

“I am.” Ville answered. “Where are you?”

“I’m leaving my flat now; I just wanted to make sure you were there before I headed in that direction.” Soya said started the car. “I’ll be there in, I don’t know, twenty minutes?”

“All right. Just warning you, I have no food here, so we may need to go out to eat tonight or go out and buy groceries.”

Soya bit her lip to keep in her laugh as she fiddled with the GPS, making sure she still knew her way around Helsinki, with either option Ville would have to get into the car. “I’m fine with either, we can decide once I get there. I had a big lunch with the girls so I’m full right now, do you want me to stop and get you anything?”

“No I’m fine for now, I can wait until dinner.”

“All right, then, I’ll see you in a few minutes then.”

“All right.” Ville said. Soya hung up the phone, still fiddling with Inka’s GPS and finally finding the option in which she could enter the address.

She was about to enter in Ville’s address before she bit her lip, curiosity getting the best of her. Looking around her surroundings as if someone was going to pop in as she was typing, she entered, ‘Ville Valo’s House’ into the GPS, only to laugh at herself when she pressed enter.

Sure enough, there was no burgundy ‘666’ or a Heartagram to lead the way to Ville’s house, instead there was an error message telling her the address she put in wasn’t valid.

“We will not be telling Ville about that one.” Soya muttered as she put in his address and started to pull away from the curb. Twenty minutes later she pulled up to the tower, that even she had admired once or twice in her childhood, amazed that one of her best friends and now boyfriend actually lived in it.

Putting the car in park she was about to get out when her phone started chirping from its spot in the cup holder, grabbing it as she got out she answered, assuming it was Ville, wondering where she was.

“Calm down Ville, I just pulled in. I’ll be at the door in a minute.”

“Soya?”

Soya paused on her trek to the door as her father’s voice filled her ears. “Papa.”

“Hello pikku tanssija.”

“I…”

“I’m assuming you’re home now.” He said kindly, not at all the accusing tone she was used to expecting.

“I…yes, I am.” Soya nodded, biting her lip as she continued on her way to Ville’s door. She couldn’t remember if she ever told her father the exact date she was coming home.

“Wonderful! Linde told me you were coming in the seventh; I just wasn’t sure when you would be leaving Pori.”

Soya came to a stop at Ville’s door, catching sight of the yellow sign on the wood announcing that he wanted to be alone and the thank you underneath. “You knew I was in Pori? Linde told you I was in Pori?”

“Back when I went to go look at the flat,” Jonah said dismissively. “I didn’t want to call though; I wanted to give you some time to get settled, if you were even back in Helsinki.”

“I’m here.” Soya said quickly. “I...um, we got in yesterday afternoon from Pori. I’ve been running errands all day though. I should have called, I’m sorry.”

“No! No! No apologies necessary Soya, I knew you’d be busy, but I would like to see you if that’s all right? Are you busy tonight?”

Soya was about to respond when the door swung open reveling a smirking Ville. “I thought I heard your voice out here,” he looked at the sign on the door and rolled his eyes. “The sign isn’t applicable to you, you could have knocked.” He teased, only then noticing she was on the phone. “Oh!” he moved aside letting her in, before closing the door behind her.

“I can hear you’re busy.” Jonah said with a small chuckle.

“Just visiting an old friend.” Soya said biting her lip as she looked around the tower, Ville standing next to her shifting on his feet nervously. “I promised him dinner.”

“Well, bring him along!” Jonah laughed.

“Oh, no, papa, I’m sure I can get out of dinner with him and go meet you at a restaurant.” She said quickly looking over at Ville who was watching her curiously. She didn’t want to pull Ville into a dinner that might end up disastrous, she was still wary of her father, even if he had been pleasant to talk to him in recent months.

“No, no, I insist you bring him along. It is Ville isn’t it? The boy you met at the music store?”

“Yes,” Soya nodded. “It is.”

“Well bring him along Soya. He’ll be able to meet Aida, she’s quite excited to see you, she’s been planning out her wardrobe since I told her you were back home.”

“Oh,” Soya groaned, biting her lip as she thought of the sister she missed dearly. “Papa, what about mamma? Won’t she be suspicious when you go to dinner with Aida yet not her?”

“Ah, the other reason I wanted to meet tonight; your mother’s out of town, some benefit or another, she comes back in two days but I’ve promised Aida a day trip tomorrow to the Helsinki Zoo.”

“I…” she looked up at Ville. “Let me ask, papa.”

“All right.” Jonah agreed.

Soya pulled the phone down, covering the speaker, ready to ask only for Ville to roll his eyes. “Soya it’s fine, we’ll go.”

“Are you sure?” Soya asked, “I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”

“I want to.” Ville nodded, giving her a reassuring smile. “It’s fine.”

“All right.” Soya nodded, putting the phone back up to her ear. “All right papa, we’ll be there. Where do you want to meet?”

“Well, I suppose we could meet here at the house, have Niina cook us something if that’s all right? Can you imagine, an ex-politician, a ballerina and a rock star all going out to dinner and sitting at the same table? That would make headlines in the morning.” Jonah chuckled, causing Soya to blink, had her father just made a joke? “Is that all right?”

“That’s perfectly fine papa.” Soya said, making a note to go home and change, she looked over at Ville’s jeans and band tee, and to find something dressier for Ville to wear.

“And don’t bother dressing up Soya, it’ll only be us and as I’m looking at Aida’s choices, she’ll most likely be dressed up in her ballerina garb so she can show you what she’s learned at those dance lessons.”

Soya frowned but nodded. “All right.”

“Now, it’s nearing four. I say six should be fine, is that all right?”

“Six is perfect.” Soya said quickly. “I’ll be at the house at six.”

“All right, I’ll see you then.” Jonah said with a quiet chuckle before he hung up.

Soya blinked as she hung up the phone, sticking it back in her purse absently. “Why do you have so many owls?”

Ville laughed, as he looked around the room catching sight of the taxidermy owls he had placed everywhere. “I like them. Are you all right? You seem shaken by the conversation.”

“Lately every conversation with my father that doesn’t end with ‘Soya you’re such a disappointment’ shocks me. I’m sure if the conversation was with my mother and I actually got off the phone without feeling like such a failure I would have an aneurism.”

“Soya.” Ville sighed, trying to shake her of her mood.

“No, no, no pity. I hate pity.” Soya said smiling at him brightly, though Ville could tell that the smile was a bit forced due to the tenseness in her eyes. “Show me around, I want to see your tower.”

Ville grinned, wrapping an arm around her waist as he brought her further into his home. “Let’s start with my bathroom; did you know I read the bible nearly every day?” Sure enough the teasing coaxed the laughter from Soya he’d been wanting.

An hour later, once Soya had examined every inch of his home, including his master bedroom which he’d converted into his studio, they found themselves in his bedroom, Soya sitting cross legged on his Knight Rider comforter as he searched for something appropriate to wear to dinner with Soya’s father.

Soya bit her lip as she picked at the comforter, looking at Ville when he showed her a long sleeved black button down shirt. “Is this all right?”

“I think it’s fine, Ville.” Soya assured.

“Something is bothering you” Ville said throwing the shirt on the bed before kneeling next to her. “What is it?”

Soya shrugged. “Just thinking.”

“Obviously pretty hard about something, what is it? Come on, share with the class.” Ville pushed with a laugh, moving in front of her, causing her to lean back on the bed as he caged her body with his arms.

Soya sighed as she lifted her hand and ran her thumb over his bottom lip. “I don’t want to introduce you to my father as my friend.”

“Oh….all right.” Ville said starting to move away, a bit hurt that she didn’t want her father to know they were still friends.

“No! Ville,” Soya said quickly grabbing his arm and pulling him back to his original location above her. “No, I just meant I don’t think it’s appropriate calling you my friend, given the new status of our relationship.”

Ville frowned. “You mean you want to introduce me as your boyfriend?”

Soya nodded. “I really do.”

Ville nodded slowly. “I have to ask.”

“Ask what?”

“Obviously close friends know we’re together, and your close friends know that the relationship you have with Josef is fake, but what happens when your father finds out?”

Soya shrugged. “We’ll find out, won’t we?” Soya sighed, cupping his cheek before leaning up to kiss him nipping his bottom lip lightly. “I want to live my life Ville, I don’t want to hide behind a relationship that’s obviously not going anywhere and I don’t want to hide the fact that I’m in a relationship with you, when I’m happy. And I am happy right now; I don’t want to ruin that with lies.”

Ville grinned, “I’m glad, now…” he reached over and held the shirt in front of Soya. “Yes or no?”

Soya laughed pushing at his chest, sitting up again and grabbing the shirt from his hands. “Yes,” she laughed. “But roll the sleeves up.” She said, already folding the sleeves.

“But I chose long sleeves because it’ll hide my tattoos.” He said, pushing the sleeves back down causing Soya to frown.

“Since when do you care if your sleeve is showing?” Soya asked.

“I don’t,” Ville admitted. “But I’m meeting your father and he will care that your boyfriend has a tattoo.”

“Yes,” Soya agreed slowly. “He will, but I want him to meet you,” She grabbed his arm and ran her hand over the tattoo that covered it. “All of you Ville, not parts.”

“I’m still wearing the sleeves down.” He said, kissing her lightly. “But thank you.”

“Nothing to thank me for, now go shower.”

Ville laughed. “Why, do I smell?”

“Little bit.” She teased, “And I want to keep snooping around without you hovering. Go on now, we have forty five minutes before we have to leave.”

“Fine.” Ville sighed leaving the room to go shower. Thirty minutes later they were walking out of the tower, Ville making sure he had his keys and wallet in his pocket as they walked towards where Soya parked, only for him to stop and stare at the black Smart Car.

“No.” Ville said quickly, pulling out his cell phone, prepared to call a cab. “I refuse.”

“Ville,” Soya laughed pulling his cell phone out of his hand. “Come on,”

“I refuse to get into that fucking clown car Soya.” Ville said, glaring at it.

Soya bit her lip and sighed. “If you get into the car, I swear I won’t take the pictures I promised Inka, and I’ll tell you what I did on my way over here.”

Ville frowned at her, finally looking away from the car. “What did you do?”

“Ah! I have you intrigued now, don’t I?” she teased, pulling his arm and dragging him closer to the car.

“Maybe.” Ville muttered, turning to look at the car. “Is it worth it?”

“Definitely.”

“And you’re not going to take pictures?” Ville asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Swear it.” Soya laughed.

Ville sighed. “Fine, let’s do this.” He muttered as he opened the door, wincing at the lack of leg room.

“Oh!” Soya said just as Ville was prepared to get in. “Just letting you know, I won’t be able to keep from laughing, so I make no promises in that area.”

“Good to know.” Ville said dryly, before folding himself into the smart car, wincing when his knees banged against the dashboard, causing Soya to snort before closing the door. “The things I do for this woman.” He muttered.

“Comfortable?” she asked slipping into the car easily.

“Teasing was not a part of this arrangement.” Ville said, trying to arrange himself in the seat so he could sit comfortably. “You better start talking.”

Soya laughed as she started the car, driving towards her childhood home in Sipoo roughly half an hour outside of Helsinki. “So you know how I teased you earlier about putting your name into the GPS and getting led to your house?”

“Yeah.” Ville said wincing as his knee made contact with the dashboard again.

“You were right, putting your name into the GPS does not lead me to your house.”

Ville frowned before looking at her in shock. “You put my name into the GPS?”

“Curiosity got the best me!” Soya defended. “I mean, your tower might as well be a landmark with the amount of fans you get visiting.”

“It’s not that many.” Ville muttered, though the grin gave away his amusement. “What did your GPS say?”

“Just that the address I gave wasn’t valid.” Soya muttered, her cheeks rushing with blood. “Like you wouldn’t have done it.”

“I can barely work my cell phone, let alone a GPS, so I know I wouldn’t have done it.” Ville laughed. “Thank you, though it really doesn’t make up for the lack of space.”

“It’s only twenty more minutes to the house.” Soya assured, rubbing the knee that kept hitting the dash.

“Can you please turn this one in?” Ville asked, “I seriously don’t think I’m going to survive driving around with you in this car.”

Soya laughed, biting her lip. “Fine, I have another confession to make.”

“And here I thought you didn’t want to ruin your happiness with lies.” Ville said looking at her through the corner of his eyes.

“Who said I lied?” Soya laughed. “This isn’t the car I rented.”

“It isn’t?” Ville asked. “Then what the fuck I am doing in it?”

Soya shrugged, looking over at him as she laughed. “I just really wanted a good laugh.”

“Horrible!” Ville said shaking his head.

“Oh! You can’t be mad!” Soya laughed, taking his hand in hers.

“Of course I can!” Ville said. “I’m stuffed in this car because you wanted a laugh.”

“Yes.” Soya giggled, “You can’t say that this situation isn’t remotely funny Ville.”

“If we weren’t in the middle of the freeway right now I’d get out of the car.” Ville said crossing his arms over his chest, groaning when his elbow hit the window. “Damnmit I hate this fucking car!”

“Bet you are wishing for my mini cooper right about now.” Soya smirked.

“You know you act all innocent, with your blushing and your own self censoring, but you’re quite evil when you want to be.” Ville grinned, looking over at her.

“I know.” Soya laughed, “I promise we’ll go get my real car after dinner, mostly because Inka wasn’t all too fond of me taking this one in the first place.”

Ville shook his head as he uncrossed his arms carefully, and flicked the radio on, going through the stations. “Well, I hope you got your laugh.”

“I did.” Soya said, grinning at him. “Thank you for playing along.”

“Hmmm.” Ville hummed, rolling his eyes, finally settling on an oldies station, leaving the rest of their car ride in silence. He kept his eyes on Soya, noticing that the closer they reached Sipoo the more anxious she became, drumming her fingers on the wheel and chewing on her bottom lip.

“Kultaseni, stop, I won’t have anything to kiss if you keep eating away at it.” Ville said, finally intervening when he noticed how red her bottom lip was becoming.

“Sorry.” Soya muttered, driving into the isolated city of Sipoo and towards the house she grew up in.

“There’s no need to apologize.” Ville said resting his hand on her upper thigh. “But you need to calm down.”

“I know,” Soya sighed. “I know, I know, I know.” She repeated her voice growing agitated the closer they got to her house. “I just, I want this dinner to go well, I want him to be the same man I’ve been talking to these past few months, but at the same time I don’t want my expectations for this dinner to be high and leave even more deflated than I usually do. I don’t want him to offend you, and I just don’t want Aida to be caught in the cross fire either.”

“You’re expecting the worst Soya; I have a feeling everything is going to go well.”

“But you can’t promise me that.” Soya said turning to him as she pulled up to the gate that caged in her childhood home.

“I never used the word ‘promise’” Ville corrected. “I said I had a feeling. You’ll be fine Soya, just take it one step at a time.”

Soya nodded, rolling down her window and entering the code that had never changed in her entire childhood and teenage years, causing the gates to open in front of them. She drove up the circular driveway, parking in front of the garage doors.

“Ready?” Ville asked squeezing her thigh lightly.

Soya blew out a breath and nodded. “Yes, yes, I think I am.”

Ville chuckled, leaning over and kissing her temple. “Well make sure you’re positive by the time I get out of the car and over to your door all right?”

Soya nodded, sucking her bottom lip between her teeth as Ville unfolded himself from the car and walked over to her side opening the door. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Ville smiled, grabbing her hand as she got out, closing the door and locking the car. They walked over to the double wood doors, Soya knocking on them before gripping Ville’s hand tightly.

“I’m going to be right here, all night, all right?” Ville said, running his thumb over her fingers lightly. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I know.” Soya said, watching as a figure moved closer to the door, through the glass that made up the half of the door. “Just stay close.”

“Promise.” Ville chuckled lowly, though his own nerves were getting the best of him just as the door opened.