Scream Me a Dream

Elizabeth Toivonen exited the black town car with the help of her driver Nathan, who held out his hand to help her out of the car.

“I’ll be back in half an hour to pick you up Mrs. Toivonen.” Nathan said politely with a bow of his head, closing the back door with a small smile.

“That’s fine Nathan.” Elizabeth said with a wave of her hand before entering the hair salon in which she had a standing weekly appointment.

“Mrs. Toivonen!” Inka Takala, Soya’s childhood friend, said with a smile. “We’re all ready for you, if you want to follow me.”

Elizabeth nodded following the red head to the chair, where one of the girls took Elizabeth’s purse and coat with a kind smile before allowing her to sit down.

“How have you been?” Inka said with a smile.

“You know I hate small talk Inka.” Elizabeth said with a roll of her eyes as she watched herself in the mirror and Inka moved around the chair to get the apron to drape on Elizabeth.

“Ah, but then how do we start a conversation?” Inka said with a grin, trying not to let her nerves show as she talked to Elizabeth. Of all her customers, she despised working on Elizabeth Toivonen’s hair the most, spending most of the time wishing she’d followed Elli’s lead and stayed at the damn dance studio. For the most part, she talked to the women like she would any other customer, making small talk; the only difference was that Elizabeth tended to be quite monosyllabic when it came to answers, and only opened her mouth when she had a complaint.

“You find something worthwhile to talk about Inka, but I’m fine, thank you for asking.”

“Have you talked to Soya lately?” Inka asked, draping the apron over Elizabeth and gently securing it at the back of her neck.

“No, should I have?” Elizabeth asked with a regal lift of her eyebrow.

Inka kept the smile on her face, even though her heart broke for her friend. “I just figured you may have talked to your daughter, is all; we miss her around here.” Inka said carefully, knowing that Soya was keeping her stay in Helsinki quiet from her mother.

“Yes, well then you’ll just have to visit her in New York.” Elizabeth said eyeing her, “Do you have anything to read Inka?”

Inka nodded and turned towards the receptionist, motioning to bring Elizabeth a magazine, before turning back to Elizabeth’s hair. “Just a trim today?”

“Of course.” Elizabeth said, as the receptionist brought over a magazine, smiling at Elizabeth as she held it out.

“Is Oho! okay?” the girl asked, causing Elizabeth to roll her eyes.

“Don’t you have anything that isn’t…?”

Inka frowned as Elizabeth trailed off, looking down at the woman she saw, staring at the cover of the magazine. “Oh shit.” Inka said with wide eyes as she saw Soya’s smiling face on the cover with Ville Valo, in what was obviously Helsinki.

“I’ll reschedule my appointment.” Elizabeth said tersely, ripping the apron off her neck and grabbing the magazine from the receptionist’s fingers.

“Of course.” Inka said quickly with a sharp nod of her head watching as Elizabeth took the jacket and purse from one of the other hairdressers and stalked out of the salon. “Someone better get me my cell phone and fast.” Inka said, looking at her receptionist who scurried over to Inka’s office to grab the device, only to come back with the dead phone.

“Call Elli.” Inka said cursing inwardly at not charging her phone before having left home, and for not memorizing Soya’s number. She had to warn Soya, and she just hoped Elli was on break and not teaching.

Elizabeth felt the muscles in her jaw tighten as she called Nathan to pick her up, luckily the driver hadn’t gone far and was back in front of the salon in five minutes.

“Is everything all right, Mrs. Toivonen?”

“Fine.” Elizabeth said tersely. “Take me home.”

“All right.” Nathan nodded, closing the door behind her. Elizabeth unfolded the magazine in her lap once Nathan had started the drive toward Sipoo and couldn’t help her hands from shaking as she looked at her daughter’s face walking around Helsinki with the Valo boy. Grabbing her phone she dialed Soya’s number, shaking her head, furious that Soya would blatantly go against their wishes and come to Helsinki.

“Hello.” Soya answered her phone, and Elizabeth could hear the smile in her voice.

“What are you doing in Helsinki?” Elizabeth demanded.

“Mamma.” Soya whispered, though Elizabeth could hear a male voice say something in the background.

“Why are you in Helsinki and what are you doing with the Valo boy?” Elizabeth demanded looking down at the magazine cover again, shaking her head as she saw the boy’s arms wrapped around her daughter.

“How did you…”

“It doesn’t matter how I found out Soya. What in the world are you doing here after we told you not to come home?”

“But…”

“You’re getting on a plane back to New York Soya.”

“I am not!” Soya said quickly.

“Of course you are.” Elizabeth said, with a final tone in her voice. “You’ll come to dinner at the house first of course, as it’s only proper, but you will pack your bags and go back to New York first thing in the morning Soya.”

“You can’t tell me-”

“Of course I can tell you what to do Soya.” Elizabeth said cutting her daughter off. “We told you to stay in New York with the rest of the company or go visit with Josef’s family, coming home was not in those options.”

“I made it an option.”

“Did you think that maybe coming home wasn’t in your best interest?” Elizabeth asked with a shake of her head.

“How is my not coming home in my best interest!” Soya cried. “I haven’t been back in nearly eight years Mamma!”

“I don’t care how long it’s been Soya!” Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m wiping my hands clean of the matter, you’ll come to dinner tonight and I’ll let your father deal with this.”

“But papa-”

“No, your father will decide what to do with you Soya. I can’t believe you would disrespect us like this.”

“Disrespect!” Soya said, her voice filled with shock. “Mamma, papa told me-”

“To stay in New York. Tonight at seven, Soya; we’ll see what your father has to say about this.” Elizabeth said, before hanging up her phone and throwing the gossip magazine on the floor of the ground away from her. Furious was an understatement of what she was feeling, Elizabeth thought with a shake of her head as she stared out the window on her way to Sipoo.

XxxxxxX

“Hey.” Ville said saying on Soya’s back as she hid her face in the mattress. “Come on.”

“Can’t I just stay here?” Soya muttered.

“Then who will feed me?” Ville teased, prying her fingers open from the death grip she had on her phone. Flipping it open, he turned the device off, before moving off her for a minute to grab his own phone and turn it off. “We’re starting our cell phone free day Soya.” He said climbing back on top of her. “Come on, cheer up.”

“Cheer up?!” She asked in disbelief, turning her head to stare at him.

“Ah, got your pretty grey eyes on me, that’s a start.” He teased, leaning down and kissing her lightly. “Come on, turn around.”

Soya groaned and rolled onto her back, Ville hovering above her. “She wouldn’t even let me talk.”

“Don’t worry about it right now.” Ville murmured, kissing her forehead.

“When should I worry about it?” Soya asked, turning her head away from him as he brushed his lips against her cheek.

“Later.” Ville said, his hands moving her shirt up, only to look down. “You slept in your underwear?”

Soya laughed. “I did, you blasted the heater all night, it got really warm in here.”

“I can make it warmer.” Ville hedged wiggling his eyebrows.

“I bet you can.” Soya laughed, leaning up and kissing him. “But I thought you were hungry.”

“It can wait.” Ville smirked.

“Mmm, it can.” She agreed, her hand laying flat on his bare chest, before pushing lightly so he was sitting up, “But now you’ve got me hungry.” She teased before climbing off the bed and pulling her shirt down to cover her bottom.

Ville frowned at her, noticing the logo of the shirt. “Soya, is that my Black Sabbath shirt?”

“Maybe.” Soya said sticking out her tongue, before rushing out of the room.

“You have to stop stealing my shirts woman!” Ville yelled after her as he got out of the bed and chased her. Wrapping his arms around her waist once he reached the bottom step and kissing the side of her neck. “You’re going to leave me without clothes to wear.” he chuckled.

“But I like your shirts.” Soya grinned, turning her head to capture his lips. “A lot.”

“Why though?” Ville asked moving away from her to let her get into the kitchen as she searched for something to make them.

“They smell like you.” Soya said simply, causing Ville to lean in and sniff the fabric at her shoulder.

“And you like that?” He said, not smelling anything on the fabric but cigarettes and the soap he used.

“Very much so.” She laughed, “Toast Ville.”

“Fine.” Ville sighed, moving to pull his toaster out of the cupboard he kept it in.

“Thank you by the way.”

“For what?” He asked with a frown as he grabbed the loaf of bread from the cabinet.

“For distracting me.”

Ville chuckled. “Doesn’t look like it’s working anymore, though.”

“It is.” Soya said with a light smile. “It really is. I’m not going to worry about this.” She said with a shake of her head as she walked over the refrigerator and rummaged through the shelves.

“Really?” Ville asked leaning against the counter, not being able to stop his eyes from wandering down her form as the shirt rode up, showing the blue boy shorts she was wearing. He smirked; with all the dancing she did, Soya had the finest ass his eyes had ever laid eyes on.

“What was that?” Soya asked with a raised eyebrow as she turned to look at him.

“What?” Ville blinked; no way had he actually said that out loud.

Soya blushed. “Do I need to start wearing pants around you?”

“Oh God, did I really say that out loud?” Ville asked, feeling his own cheeks heat.

Soya laughed as she handed him the bowl of fruit she’d taken out of the refrigerator. “I’m flattered really, that my bottom is the nicest you’ve seen. Really, I’m flattered.”

“I really didn’t mean to say it out loud.” Ville assured causing Soya to lean up and kiss him.

“Shut up for a minute.” She said against his lips. “Really, that is the nicest compliment that someone’s ever given me, I’ve never thought my bottom was something to look at, so thank you.”

Ville snorted. “Really?”

Soya rolled her eyes. “Don’t start listing reasons why it’s so nice; just know that it’s nice to hear. Knife.”

“Going to stab me or something?” Ville teased.

“Cutting the fruit!” Soya laughed, as Ville rummaged through his kitchen drawers producing a knife and handing it to her. “So, what are we going to do with our cell phone free day?” she asked. “And I refuse to stare at my laptop all day, so you better not hide up in your studio. You know what?” She said, pointing the knife at him absently, causing him to raise an eyebrow at the gesture. “I claim it to be a work free day too.”

“Is it a threat?” He asked, eyeing the knife.

“Sorry!” Soya laughed putting the knife down. “So, work free day.”

“All right. Cell phone free, work free, what to do, what to do? Ville asked tapping his chin.

“I’m also putting a restriction on our making out Ville; we can’t spend the day attached to the lips.” Soya said turning back to the apple she’d been cutting.

“I feel a bet coming on.” Ville chuckled. “So, no making out.”

“I didn’t say we wouldn’t!” Soya argued. “Just…you know…”

“In moderation?” Ville asked with a smirk.

“Sure.” Soya grinned.

“All right, then why don’t we see what’s on TV and go from there.”

“Sounds perfect.” Soya said with a smile as the toast popped out of the toaster. She grabbed two bowls, and put in the cut apples, strawberries and peaches Ville had had in the refrigerator. They moved to the living room, Ville grabbing the plate with the toast and utensils before they settled on the couch, Ville grabbing the remote for his television to see what they could watch on their cell phone free day.

They’d spent most of the day on the couch, flipping through the channels until Soya told him to pick a movie. They’d gone through three movies, before he saw that Soya was starting to worry, biting her lip, probably thinking about the dinner she was going to have that night.

“You’ll come back here?” He asked as he watched from the door to the bedroom while she pulled on an ivory cashmere sweater over the blue bra he’d caught a peek of.

Soya nodded. “If that’s all right.”

“I’d prefer if you came back here instead of going and moping at your flat alone.” Ville admitted.

“I’m not going to mope.” Soya said with a frown as she slipped on her classic converse.

“You really shouldn’t worry too much about this dinner Soya,” Ville said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I still feel like I should go with you.”

“And I’ve told you that I think it’s the worst idea you’ve ever had.” She said with a grin, before shaking her head. “I appreciate the sentiment, really, I do. I love that you want to come with me and be my knight in shining armor.” She said getting up from the bed and wrapping her arms around his waist, picking at the Black Sabbath shirt he’d stolen back. “But I think it’d be best if it were just me, my father, my mother and Aida tonight.”

“I’ll go next time?” Ville asked.

Soya snorted, leaning up to kiss his chin. “Sweetheart, after tonight if you want to go in my place, by all means, be my guest.”

Ville sighed. “I really don’t like the idea of you going by yourself.”

“I’ll be fine. And now who’s worrying?” Soya teased, looking up at him. “I’ll come right back after dinner and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“And I can kiss you all better.”

“Oh, I’ll insist.” Soya laughed, leaning up to kiss his pouting lips. “Now I have to go, I have to stop by my flat to change; unfortunately I can’t wear jeans and a shirt to this dinner.”

“Probably would be worth it to see your mother’s face.” Ville muttered.

“But not worth it to hear the lecture.” Soya laughed, patting his chest. “Walk me to my car?”

Ville nodded, following her down the stairs, watching as she grabbed her coat and purse from the couch and walked her out the door towards her car.

“Tell Aida I say hi.” Ville said as he pulled the driver’s door open.

“I will,” Soya said, leaning up to kiss him lightly. “Why are you the one worrying now? Haven’t you been telling me all day that it was going to be okay?”

“And it will be.” Ville nodded. “Go, before I sneak into the car.”

Soya laughed. “I’ll see you later tonight, all right?”

“I know.” He said kissing her temple. “It will be fine.” He assured again.

Soya gave a small nod as she got into the car, starting it and driving the twenty minutes back to her flat. Once there, she checked the time, noting that she had a little less than three hours to get ready. Going into the bathroom, she turned the warm water of her shower on, before stripping off her clothing. Ville had not only claimed it a cell phone free day but also a shower free day, he’d also claimed that in the spirit of things they should keep their pajamas on, so he’d refused to allow her to wear pants the rest of the afternoon.

Shaking her head in amusement as she thought about their morning and the subsequent afternoon, she couldn’t help but smile. They both had so much to do, Ville with his excitement and eagerness about remixing ‘Screamworks’, while Soya worked at her studio making sure the remodeling was being done perfectly.

An afternoon of lounging around in their pajamas, just watching TV and movies, was exactly what the both of them had needed. Even if it meant she had to suffer with not wearing pants to watch Ville move around his tower in only his boxers.

Laughing at herself as she turned the water off and wrapped a towel around her body, stepping out of the shower carefully as to not slip, before moving to her bedroom and wincing when she saw the clothes that still littered her floor from when she’d been getting ready to go on her date with Ville, along with Ville’s clothes mixed in.

“The boy is a bad influence.” She muttered, with a shake of her head she moved to her nightstand, turning on her iPod and setting it on random only to laugh when Rosalind’s voice rang through her room singing in Spanish.

She turned back around and started rummaging through the clothing to see if there was anything in there she could wear to dinner, only to grin triumphantly when she came out with a black ballet inspired heel.

“All right, what to wear with you?” she said setting the heel on the bed, “And where is your partner?” She shoved more clothes out of the way, only to find the shoe’s pair underneath her bed, shaking her head, reminding herself to make Ville come over and clean the mess he had caused because of his insistence on a date. She sat cross legged on her floor as she looked through the dresses, only to sigh when she didn’t find anything appropriate for dinner with her mother.

Everything that was currently on the floor was low in the neck or tight to her body. Unsurprisingly, dresses that Josef had bought her in hopes she would discover her inner vixen, alas that apparently hadn’t happened until Ville came back into her life. What she needed was something high in collar and that had both sleeves.

Pushing herself up, she looked over at the iPod when she heard Jyrki’s voice mix in with Rosalind. Their duet. Soya thought as she went to her closet; one of Rosalind’s favorite songs to have written, and one of Soya’ to listen to.

About a year after they’d started their relationship, Rosalind had wanted to do a duet with an artist who knew Spanish and an artist who knew English. Jyrki had scraped that idea, claiming he wanted to be the only one to do the song with her and had added in his idea of his singing in English while Rosalind sung in Spanish, it had ended up being a beautiful haunting melody of lost love. Rosalind still refused to tell Soya what had inspired her to write the lyrics, but Soya knew that Jyrki had been the cause of it. Why? Soya still had no idea.

Running her fingers through her clothing, she finally found a cream colored tunic long sleeved dress, which ended just below her thighs with black lace detail at the high neck. “Perfect.” She said putting it on the bed before rummaging through the drawers in her closet for her black diamond crocheted tights. Finally finding all the pieces to her outfit, she went back to her bathroom, stood in front of her mirror and blow dried her hair, knowing that she’d end up leaving it down as her mother preferred it that way, and at times it was just easier to go with her mother’s ways then try to rebel against them.

Soya rolled her eyes as she heard her mother’s voice run through her mind, shaking her head she took a deep breath as she looked at herself in the mirror. She really did wish she’d accepted Ville’s request to go to dinner at her parents’ house with her, but at this point, with her mother’s anger high and the prospect of it getting higher she really didn’t want Ville in the crossfire.

Dubbing her hair dry enough, she went back to her room and dressed, not bothering with makeup, as she didn’t want to fight with herself over putting on the perfect amount to meet her mother’s standards.

“God, dinner with just papa is so much easier.” She muttered, slipping on her heels before grabbing her cream clutch with the lace bow detail on it. Making sure she had her keys, phone and her license she grabbed her black coat with its pile collar that acted as a scarf, before making her way out of her flat and back down the stairs to her car.

The drive to Sipoo was uneventful as she didn’t have Ville this time around to distract her from her nerves; she tapped her finger to the song that was on the radio, not quite listening to the lyrics, but concentrating on the click clack sound her black sapphire ring made every time it hit the steering wheel. She continually found herself worrying her lip, only for Ville’s teasing voice to echo in her mind telling her to leave him something to kiss.

By the time she pulled up in front of her childhood home and parked in front of the garage, her stomach was still a bundle of nerves, but at least she felt a bit better when she reminded herself that dinner only lasted an hour and a half, and that after that she would be spending the rest of the night with Ville. Grabbing her clutch off the seat, she got out of the car and made her way to the front door, knocking lightly, the door opening a minute later her father’s stunned face greeting her.

“Soya.” Jonah said quietly in surprise. “What in the world are you doing here?”

Soya frowned at him. “Mamma didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me…” Jonah blinked at her.

“Mamma found out I was here in Finland, she said she was going to tell you.” Soya shook her head; she couldn’t believe her mother’s childish antics.

“Ah, good,” Elizabeth said as she stood behind her husband. “You’re here.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell him.” Soya said, walking into the house.

Jonah turned to his wife. “What is Soya doing here?”

“Good question, Soya what are you doing here?”

Soya stared at her mother, before looking at her father, who was still staring at Elizabeth with a mixture of confusion and anger. “Well this is going to be an interesting dinner.” Soya muttered as she took off her coat, figuring she might as well get comfortable. She had a feeling this was definitely going to last longer than an hour and a half.