This Must be Fiction

"Mom!" I shouted from the taxi window. She was outside decorating. I hadn't told her that I was coming home for the Holidays. She dropped the plastic Christmas tree that she was holding and ran over to me. I threw some bills at the cab driver and sprinted towards my mom. It had been too long since I'd seen her. Tears were flowing heavily down her face as she embraced me so tightly. I cried too, letting myself be hugged securely from my mother.

"Oh honey.. I've missed you." she said through choked sobs.

"I missed you too." Her warm arms, I decided, were just what I needed to feel good again.

"Come inside! You must be freezing in that little coat!" She tugged my arm and dragged me inside.

My dad and Jason were waiting inside, not expecting me to be arriving. Jason was starting a fire in the hearth, and my dad was reading the newspaper.

"Molly!" Jason shouted as he rushed over to me and greeted me with a bear-hug. My dad did the same, adding a kiss on my forehead.

"What the fuck! You just leave for months!" My brother shouted as he playfully shoved me. We were close in age, he was about two years older, so I knew he understood why I left.

"Yeah.. well..." I shrugged while smiling at him.

Mom made dinner for all of us while we caught up. I told them all about how I had been miraculously discovered while working for an agency. They could barely believe it. My mom dug through the newspaper drawer that we kept in the kitchen, looking for something.

"Ah ha!" She said, whipping out a magazine that I immediately recognized as Cosmo.

"You have it?" I asked, not leading on that this was the magazine that had my interview in it.

She flipped through the pages and opened up to the one that had my tiny picture, along with a few other girls.

"Of course I have it." She laughed.

"Well that's good to know." I said while flipping through the pages.

We spent the night continuing to catch up. It was difficult telling them everything that happened to me without bringing up Ville. I would rather just sit and listen to them talk about what had happened in our town since I had left.

Around midnight, when my family went to sleep, I called Lizzie.

"Hey are you home?" I asked, pulling into her driveway.

"Yeah.. why?" She asked.

"Come outside!" I hung up and waited outside of her door. She ran into me hugged me for
about ten minutes.

"Oh my god!! How dare you come home without warning me first!" she shouted into my ear.

"Hey! Calm down will ya? At least I'm here!"

She got excited again and jumped on me, pushing me onto the ground where we continued to hug until I could barely breath anymore.

"So catch me up on your life." Lizzie said calmly as we sat down in her room. I told her about everything that had happened, dancing around the parts about Ville. She looked too
shocked for words.

"So you're a model? What happened to journalism?"

"Well it's not out of the question but I'm making good money now, so why bother stopping? Besides, it's kind of fun."

"What happened to Ville Valo?"

I spit out the water I was chugging. I had completely forgotten that Lizzie was the only person that knew Ville was traveling with me. Of course she would wonder where he went.

"He um... went back to Finland, I think. We haven't spoken." I said meekly. My face turned three shades of pale and my throat started to close up when I thought about Ville leaving me, yet again.

"Oh honey." She hugged me. "You liked him didn't you?"

I shrugged and nodded at the same time. "You could say that."

"Well what did you expect to happen? He's a world famous rock star... he's got another agenda." Thank god for Lizzie and her honesty. Of course I'd considered the fact that Ville was busy with other women, his job, his other life that only I knew about.

"I know. It's just... We'd grown so close and I thought that I meant something to him. I guess I really didn't..." I trailed off on the brink of crying. I guess I really didn't mean anything to him.
Lizzie did her best to get my mind off of Ville and we ended up talking for hours longer. I went home and immediately fell asleep. It felt nice being in my own bed once again.

XXXXXX

The next day was spent continuing to talk with my family. It was excruciating to try to think of explanations for how I ended up where I did, because everything about the trip included Ville. At the end of the day, I was exhausted, and grateful for when my parents went to sleep. Jason and I were sitting on the porch smoking a cig, chatting like we used to.

"I really missed you. I thought you would have told me you were leaving."

"I'm sorry. I missed you too. But there was no real reason why I left, I just needed to." I inhaled and looked at the glowing tip of the cigarette.

"I know. I understand completely." he roughly put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed me.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I automatically assumed it was Nathan checking up on me. It was weird that he hadn't called already. Jason stood up and threw his cigarette from the porch.

"I'll be there in a minute." I looked up at him from the porch stairs. I dug my phone from my pocket, not recognizing the number. Nathan probably bought a new phone and was testing me to make sure I'd answer his call. He did that often, weird as it is.

"Hello?" I answered, annoyed.

"I'm sorry, were you busy?"

The cigarette fell from between my fingers and onto the snow below. His voice pierced through my soul and struck me right in the heart.

"Ville..." I whispered.

"Hi, love." He said with a smile. I could hear his expression.

"I'm... I'm not busy." I said, picking up the cigarette and inhaling deeply. How did he get my number? Why did I care! Ville was calling me!

"Oh good. I've missed you." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"You have no idea."

"So I was wondering... if you're not busy for New Year's if you'd like to come celebrate with me?"

"Ville.... you haven't called me in over five months. Where have you been?" I asked for an explanation before I considered his request.

"Darling I've been working with my band, traveling from Finland to America... dealing with Bam's bullshit. I know I should have called, and I tried to, but up until yesterday I couldn't even find your phone number. I had to call in some favors to get it." He spoke slowly, enunciating each word so I could hear him clearly. His voice was like music to me.

"I wish you would have called." I said, drilling the point in.

"A phone works two ways." Touche, Ville, touche. "But back to the point, do you want to spend New Years with me?" His accent was more alluring than ever. I could just imagine his Adams apple bobbing as he spoke. I thought about the way his lips were curved into that smirk that made me weak.

"I want to. But I've only got two weeks to spend with my family before I go back to work."

"Take the last three days, come seem me. Bring Lizzie. You'll have fun I promise you." How could I resist that offer?

"Ok. Alright. You've convinced me. Where?" As much as I wanted to see Ville, there was no way I could go to Finland.

"West Chester, Pennsylvania. It's not too far from Buffalo."

"Ok. I guess I'll see you in a few days then." I said, not wanting to end the conversation but I got the feeling that he needed to go.

"Sounds lovely. I can't wait. Call me when you're close to West Chester so I can give you directions."

"Ok."

"See you soon love."

"Bye Ville."

Before getting a chance to think it over anymore, I immediately called Lizzie.

"Hey."

"Hey so I kind of a need a huge favor... but you might like the idea." I said in a rushed tone.

"Ooook, let's hear it." She answered quickly.

"So Ville just called me, and invited to spend New Years with him. I'm not really sure if that
means like a huge party, or like just some people hanging out on New Years, but I don't have a car and he told me to invite you so I'm assuming it would be a good time. Would you want to drive me?" I spilled all the information out, crossing my fingers in anticipation for her result.

"Sure! I've got no plans yet. And besides, Ville's a rock star I'm sure there's going to be some huge party. When do we leave?" I was so glad I had a best friend who was up for anything. Spontaneity was her strong-suit.

"Oh that's great! I think we should probably leave in like a week and a half. It's in West Chester, so like... a couple hours away? I'm not too sure but apparently it's not too far."

"Can't wait! I'll call you tomorrow we should go shopping for party dresses."

"Yes definitely."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I was going to see Ville in a matter of days, I just had to get through the next week without too much anxiety.