Hold My Heart

Vic paused outside of the door to Aria’s study. The door was shut, and he could hear faint strains of music filtering through the door. It was a lot softer than her usual stuff, and Vic frowned, wondering what she was writing. She never let him read anything she was working on until it was done, just the way he was with his music. He knocked softly on the door and the music became quieter, and Aria called the door was open and he could come in. He pushed the door open and Aria spun around in the chair to glance at him before swiveling back to face the window.
“Why does it seem like you are a little bit angry with me?” Vic asked, coming into the office and gently closing the door behind him.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Aria replied, still looking out the window. “It’s not like you just got back and I was hoping to spend more than a night with you before you got whisked back into the music world.” She looked at him them, her light blue eyes meeting his brown ones. “I really missed you, and I was hoping for some time with you.”
Vic let out a sigh and sat down on the edge of the desk, mulling over the words he could say.
“I understand.” He finally sighed. “Believe me, I didn’t want to get out of bed and work on anything today, I just wanted to lay in bed with you all day; but right now, I do have a little bit of work to do.”
“I know, and you’ll always put work before me, I get it. I’ve just been really lonely lately, and I was happy to be with you.”
“I was happy to be with you again, and I still am. To prove it, I told the boys to take a day off tomorrow, stay home and chill. We’ll put our phones in the basement and ignore them and we’ll stay in bed all day, only getting up to eat.”
“And use the bathroom.” Aria added on, a smile on her face again, the clouds in her eyes fading. Vic laughed and pulled her out of the chair and in between his legs, catching her face between his hands.
“And to use the bathroom.” He said, kissing her nose softly. Aria pulled away slowly and Vic got off the desk, wrapping her back in his arms, rocking her from side to side.
“Are the guys still here?” She asked after a few moments when she heard the TV on downstairs. Vic nodded against the top of her head and Aria shook her head.
“You want them to leave?”
“No! I was just wondering how many I was cooking for.” Aria answered as Vic began to walk backwards to the door, still holding her.
“Should we try walking down the stairs like this?” He asked as they reached the stairs. Aria shook her head as Vic took another step, his foot falling off the edge and he grabbed onto her, pulling himself back up. Aria let him go, and hopped on his back. Vic caught her under her knees easily and began jumping down the stairs.
“What are you doing?” Mike asked as they came downstairs, Vic starting to spin Aria around as he walked.
“He’s trying to make her hurl obviously.” Jaime said, sitting up from the sprawl her had got himself into.
“What do you want to eat? Let me down please.” Aria said, and Vic unceremoniously dropped her. Aria landed with a thud and started laughing as they all looked at her with concern.
“She’s fine, it wasn’t a far drop.” Mike said, laughing and helping her up.
“Can we have stuffed chicken? That sounds amazing.” Jaime said, peering over the couch at all of them.
“Jaime, that takes hours.” Aria replied, leaning on Vic’s back. “Think of something else.” Jaime fell silent then, biting on his lip and looking off to the side, lost in thought.
“How about some pasta?” Tony suggested after a few minutes of everyone waiting for Jaime to say something, or waiting for something to hit them.
“You know, pasta sounds good. Chop some peppers into that bitch, some other vegetables, and mmm heaven.” Mike chimed it, pulling Aria off and carrying her into the kitchen by her armpits. “Cook chica!” Vic sighed, and hopped over the back of the couch to sit next to Jaime as Tony walked into the kitchen as Mike walked back out.
“Want some help?” He asked as Aria turned around with a pot of boiling water. She shrugged in response, setting the pot down and flicking on the stove.
“Sure, not too much to do though, but help would be great.” She said with a smile. “The cutting board is over there, and the knives are next to the…sink.” She trailed off when Tony was already at the cutting board with a knife, looking around for the vegetables to use.
“Fridge?” He asked. She nodded and then pointed to the wall, where there was a net full of fruit and vegetables hanging.
“Put whatever you think will taste good in there.” Aria said, pulling out a frying pan and milk to begin the sauce.
“So, how do you like the house? I didn’t get a chance to ask you when we helped you guys move in, or since then.” He grinned over at her. “Been really busy, you know.”
“I know, I know. I like it, I like it a lot. The lake is so nice to swim in, and its so pretty here.” She paused then, looking out the bay window. “I just wish Vic was here more often. I feel like he’s been for only a few days since we moved in.”
She looked down then, smiling sadly at the pan, then turning away from Tony, wiping at her eyes.
“I’m sorry, I just, I get emotional for no good reason.” She said, smiling through her own tears. She rubbed them away. “It’s just really hard for me to deal with him being gone all the time, so early in our marriage.” Tony put a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, when we’re working on the album, he’ll be here until our next tour.” Tony said. “We want to take a little break too for a while, let you guys settle in a bit.”
“Thanks Tony.” She said, turning back to the pot and pouring two boxes of noodles in it. “When you’re done, pour some oil into the frying pan and cook them. I have to run to the bathroom.” Aria then swept out of the room, leaving Tony to cut vegetables.
Soon, the food was done and Aria handed a stack of plates to Vic, then handed forks to Jaime and glasses to Mike. Tony carried the pan of pasta over to the table and they all sat down.
“I’m so excited to eat this; you need to come back on the bus with us.” Mike said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
“I think I should just stay here. Someone’s gotta watch the house.” She said, watching the boys fight over the spoon to dish out the pasta.
When they all managed to serve themselves, everyone sank into their food. Jaime and Mike almost eating the plates the food was on.
“How do you stay so skinny?” Aria asked, watching them, eyebrow raised.
“When you jump around the stage all night, you stay in shape. Plus we work out a ton.” Jaime replied. Tony snorted at this.
“If you count sleeping all day and eating working out.” Tony said. “You occasionally go outside and do activities, but mostly you laze around like the rest of us.”
“Burn.” Vic stated, pointing his fork at Jaime.
They all sat and talked for a few more hours, as the light faded from the sky. Mike looked over out the window and gestured grandly at the boys.
“I hate to say this, but we need to get going, it’s getting latish, and we have to drive back and go see our friends and family.” He stood up, stretching out his long frame. He motioned for Aria to stand up and he hugged her.
“Thanks for cooking for us.” He told her, letting her go and draping himself over Vic’s shoulder. “You stick around her for tonight, go nowhere unless she’s with you.” He ordered, patting him on the cheek. They all said their goodbyes and they headed out the door. Vic shut the door behind them and turned to Aria.
“Go put on something comfortable and come back downstairs?” He asked her as she walked over, linking her arms around his neck.
“Why?” She asked, pecking him on the lips.
“We’re going to watch a movie or something.” He replied. “Do cute little couple things. I’ll make us popcorn, get you some tequila.”
“Why just me? We’re married; you don’t have to get me drunk to sleep with me.” She laughed. He shrugged and slid out of her grasp.
“We’ll both have tequila then, and popcorn. Now go upstairs and change.” He ordered, giving her a swift smack on her butt as she walked by and went upstairs. Vic laughed and went into the kitchen.
Aria came back downstairs just as Vic was walking into the living room, arms laden with a bowl of popcorn and a bottle of tequila and two glasses with limes in them.
“What are we watching?” Aria asked, plopping down on the couch and taking the glasses and bottles from him.
“Something good.” He told her. “Want to watch something deep or something boring, like a romance.” Aria made a face and did a shot of tequila, then sucked on a lime.
“Go for something deep.” She answered as Vic opened up Netflix and flipped through the movie.
“Da Vinci code sound good, or no.” He asked.
“Sounds excellent, I’m going to go grab something to go with this tequila, make it taste better with popcorn.” She said, kissing him before going into the kitchen. Vic smiled and got the movie loading as Aria came back in, carrying a bottle of margarita mix.
“I brought you some beer too.” She told him as she plopped onto the couch and set three cans on the table in front of them, then kicked her feet up and leaning onto his shoulder.
The movie started and they watched it, until Aria began getting restless halfway through and began throwing popcorn at Vic, trying to get it to land anywhere it would stick. Vic turned and glanced down at her, eyebrow raised.
“Can I help you?”
“This movie is boring.” She told him, swinging upright and putting her face close to his. “Let’s go swimming.”
“Aria, it’s almost midnight.” He told her after glancing at her phone, which she had left on the table.
“Even better.” She quirked an eyebrow at him, wriggling closer. “Let’s go skinny dipping.” She whispered, kissing his cheek.
“You’re crazy, we’re not going skinny dipping.” Vic told her. Aria didn’t answer, only swung off the couch and pulled off her shirt, tossing it in his face, and then stood in front of the TV, hands on her hips.
“C’mon.” She said, biting her lip and tossing her face over her shoulder. Vic sighed and let his head fall back onto the back of the couch before getting up and pulling off his shirt, dropping it onto the floor. Aria grinned devishly at him, and then took off running to the back door that led out to the lake.
“Last one there sleeps on the couch!” She exclaimed, then shrugged off her shorts, throwing them off to the side and sprinting.
Vic followed her, tugging off his pants at the door and running after her, almost passing her, but Aria unsnapped her bra and flung it at his face, laughing.
“Cheater!” He exclaimed at Aria hit the dock and tugged off her thong before doing a swan dive into the water.
Vic stopped on the dock, watching as Aria resurfaced, laughing. She spat water at him, treading water up to the dock, gripping the side and looking up at him.
“You can’t skinny dip with underwear on darling.” She told him. “C’mon.” She said, gesturing at the water. Vic shook his head, a smile on his face before he shed his last layer of clothing and cannonballed into the water. As soon as he broke the water top, Aria was next to him.
“Ok, this is pretty nice.” He told her. “Good choice.” Aria snickered and pushed herself onto her back, backstroking away from him. Vic watched her in the darkness, then grabbed her foot as she went by again.
“What?” She asked, curling around him. She rubbed her nose against his and bit the tip of his nose slightly.
“Race me across the lake.” He ordered, sliding his hands down her back and cupping her ass. Aria kissed him, letting her lips linger on his.
“Hm…maybe.” She said, leaning back against his hands and locking her legs around him. “What are we racing for?”
“I sleep on the couch with you if you win, and you sleep in bed with me if I win.” He told her, nibbling at her neck.
“Sounds good, but I have a better idea.” Aria said, arching her hips against him. “Why don’t we go a bit farther out, and just race each other to bed? Whoever loses has to do what the winner wants.”
“That’s a good plan. I hope you’re ready to lose.” Vic replied and let her go, leading her to the middle of the lake. “Ready?” Aria nodded, and then both took off, swimming furiously towards the edge of the lake again. They both reached the shore at the same time, and took off sprinting to the house. Aria knocked into Vic, trying to knock him off his feet a little. Vic countered with a soft push as they both tumbled into the house. Vic grabbed Aria’s wrist and pulled her to a stop as he twisted the lock. He pulled her into a kiss, turning so he was ahead of her, then let her go, taking off to the stairs. Aria pushed past him, jumping over the railing and onto the fifth stair with ease, running up the stairs and diving onto the bed, rolling onto her back and grinning victoriously. Vic stood in the doorway, watching her.
“So you won, what do you want me to do for you?” Vic asked; his voice low. Aria rolled onto her stomach and crawled to the end of the bed and lay down, pillowing her face on her arms and smiling lazily up at him.
“Come here, come and do me.” Aria said, pushing herself up onto her knees and leaning back on her hands. Vic walked to the bed and climbed onto it, pulling her to him and easing her back onto the pillows, kissing her as he pulled the sheet over them.