Tonight

Ville knew he’d only be lonely if he returned back home for long, because that was what always happened. He’d be thinking it great at first as the familiar places calmed him and the cold air refreshed him, but there was something in all of that that made him feel unsettled. He had all of this, and yet nobody to share it with. This was only made more obvious as his friends were off enjoying their time on holidays with loved ones and he was left alone in the pubs until the early hours of the morning, cursing himself as he spent all his cash on booze and left nothing for the taxi home.

Weeks must have passed as Ville got himself drunk, got himself home, and found his bed to crawl into until it was time to do it all over again. This was getting boring though, he realised, and it didn’t give him nearly the same buzz as it used to. He woke up alone. He always woke up alone.

It was about this time that he started seeing her about, with her long brown hair and pretty eyes, either blue or emerald in colour, but he was never close enough to her to tell. He’d seen her enter the store as he left one time, and found himself caught up in the plastic strips hanging down. He blushed and quickly walked away, praying that nobody had seen him trip over himself as he had.

He saw her again the following week and though a little hung over and still quite wet from the rain he’d walked in to get there, he thought he’d give it a go. He grabbed a few of the things he’d had on his list before rushing to stand in line behind her, and only then frowning as he realised what he’d picked up. He placed the chocolate, tissues, and a choice selection of red wine down on the register belt and tried not to freak out as she saw this, and turned around to catch a glimpse of the strange shopper.

“Ville Valo,” she said then, as if only under her breath, and Ville sighed in relief as she knew who he was. He found himself feeling quite smug as he wondered if she’d seen him perform before, or if she’d brought any of his albums, or how many of his posters she had up on her bedroom walls.

“Hello miss,” he greeted her, grinning from ear to ear, but his expression was soon wiped clear as she laughed at him.

“Is it really you?” He nodded, still a little confused by her reaction. “You used to swim in my backyard, in your underwear no less. I haven’t seen you since high school.” He felt like disappearing as she said this, because it was then that he recalled exactly who she was.

“Skye?” She nodded and giggled, before tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. She’d grown since high school, Ville noted, taking in her obvious figure and how it curved in all the right places. It had when they were younger, too, and he hadn’t been the only one to notice this. He remembered how she used to be with the boys, and how that made her very unpopular as they all got older. She stayed away from those that called her pretty and asked her to the dance, as he had once, and no one really knew why. He felt uneasy now as he stood again with his heart on his sleeve, and felt she was only going to hurt him once more.

“How have you been, Ville? What have you been doing since high school?” she asked, and she seemed quite interested in his response.

“I’ve been doing this thing with a band. Some people find that stupid but I mean, it pays the bills.” She nodded, paying the cashier in between his talking. “And what about you?”

Ville listened as she talked of her mother and of how she’d been ill recently, then of how teaching at a school had been the best thing for her. She told him of a few of the children she taught and he found himself smiling at her obvious passion for it, catching himself as he realised she’d stopped talking and he was standing there still smiling like an idiot, his shopping bags getting heavier as each moment passed.

“Do you still live local?” he asked, hoping she hadn’t heard that as him inviting himself over but wishing it’d give her the idea.

“Yeah, same place that you and the rest used to crash at on the weekends by the pond there.” Ville could remember that place very well. Skye’s parents seemed to hardly be around and so her place had been a place for them all to get together and have a swim in the summer, before falling asleep under the stars as the conversation dyed down in the evening and the swimming had them all exhausted. They must have been about 14 then, as she wasn’t as social towards their later school years.

“Well uhh, it was lovely to see you again.”

“You should come around. You know, for old times’ sake,” she suggested as she walked off down the road.

“Tonight?” he called out after her, but her only response was a wave and a very wide smile.

***

“You were a strange kid, you know,” Ville said as he swirled the contents in his wineglass around, letting his eyes drift over the mass of water lapping at their feet. He felt a lot more comfortable now that there was alcohol coursing through his veins and she seemed more comfortable, too.

“I was a shy kid, Ville. I didn’t have the words for things.” He looked across at her then, and things started to make more sense. “I didn’t know what to say when a boy called me pretty. I didn’t know how to act when someone asked me to the dance.”

“You could have just said that,” Ville said softly, trying not to remember how it’d made him feel as she rejected his advances time and time again with no good reason.

“I’m sorry. I mean, there was nothing wrong with you. I actually rather fancied you but I… don’t know.” Ville smiled at this, feeling somewhat better about the situation now. He felt he understood her as she was back then, and all the hurt he’d felt over her faded into nothing.

“Well I was never shy, so I guess that’s why I never understood.” They were sitting rather close and Ville was suddenly very aware of her thigh as it rested against his and of her hand as it lay in the grass just beside his own. He let his fingers run across hers as they sat and his eyes found her eyes, blue after all, and then her lips, until they shut and he moved forward until he felt her lips press softly against his own. Her hand rested on his cheek as he moved a little closer, kissed a little deeper, before he pulled away to see the look of bliss spread across her face.

Ville finished off the contents of his wineglass, taking another look out at the pond before them. It was a lot bigger than he remembered. It was heading into winter now, he knew, but he figured that he’d warm up after a while, and so he stood up and began to pull his jumper up and over his head.

“What are you doing?” Skye asked, with a hint of a giggle in her voice. “It’s very cold.”

“I can’t sit here and not take advantage of the beautiful water now, can I?” He continued to strip to his underwear, and then he took those off, too.

“Ville!” She was definitely giggling now. He could hear her as he waded into the water, too stubborn to regret his compulsive actions even as his skin began to show goose bumps under the moonlight. He was sure she didn’t mind as he turned to her once he was in the water, and saw that her eyes were still fixed on him. “Ville, you’ve been drinking.”

“I’m hardly drunk, love,” he replied, not sure if he was lying or not, before dipping his head beneath the water to wet his hair. “I’ll turn for you, but you better not make me have to come get you.” He winked at her, and took note of the blush that crept onto her face. Several moments passed as he stood there in the water watching the reflection of the moon and not hearing anything from her direction. He thought of all the time that had been wasted for them, if only he'd understood that she'd been shy and helped her along a little bit more as a kid. “Come on Skye, it’s not that cold!” he teased, and a pair of hands came down over his eyes.

“It’s freezing,” she replied in a whisper as he turned, a brilliant smile spread across his face in the dark.

“I’ll warm you up.”

“You better.”