Right Here in My Arms

“Dad?” I questioned, quickly, looking over at him.

My dad looked back at me, “There she is.”

I smiled and walked over to him, “Hey... What’s going on?”

“Did you have fun with Terry?”

I nodded, “Yeah, it was pretty cool. I learned a lot over there.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear,” he replied.

I looked across the table that was in front of me and then back to my dad, “What’s going on?”

“Mr. Valo stopped by to discuss some things,” he mentioned.

“Hello, Rowan. It’s good to see you again,” Ville’s deep voice spoke up.

I smiled at him, “You too.”

“Well, unfortunately, I will not be joining the label,” he mentioned.

I nodded at him, slightly disappointed that he had to remind me that he wasn’t joining, “Yeah, so I heard. Why’s that, Mr. Valo?”

“Ville,” he corrected first before clearing his throat and mumbling, “And, eh, you know.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that,” I replied and smiled, “Sorry we couldn’t convince you to join label.

He grinned, “Its okay.”

I was slightly confused as to why Ville was really here. I wouldn’t think he came by to discuss stuff about the label if he already declined. Maybe he needed more answers that my dad could answer and I couldn’t so he could fully make up his mind, but something definitely seemed super fishy about all of this even if it was that. I didn’t know, but it all seemed really weird. “What’d you need me for?” I asked.

“Huh?” my father looked at me slightly confused, “Oh! I need you to help with finding some talents.”

I nodded, “Alright, let me know what stuff we’re looking for and... How... Then I definitely can.”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll be right back,” my father said and then exited the room.

I looked over at Ville and smiled, “So.”

“Rowan,” he spoke.

“Ville,” I said, raising a brow

He chuckled and then smiled at me again, “Do you want to go to dinner with me tonight?”

I raised a brow at him again and slightly turned my head, “Hm.” I thought about it for a little while and looked around the room trying to decide. “Maybe,” I shrugged. I knew that I didn’t have anything planned for tonight, unless my dad wanted to go out and do something, but I didn’t know if I wanted to agree to go.

He laughed, “Maybe? Oh, come on, Rowan. Go out to dinner with me tonight.”

“Maybe. It’s short notice, to be honest. I mean, it’s already almost four thirty and I don’t exactly know if I’ve got things planned tonight,” I mentioned, “Plus we just had lunch yesterday.”

“So?” he mumbled. He looked at me with pleading eyes and his bottom lip began to form a pout.

I sighed and shook my head, knowing that this would go on for a while and he wouldn’t give up. “Alright, alright. I’ll go,” I mentioned.

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After I had agreed to go to dinner with Ville, we figured out a time for him to pick me up and then he left. I worked a few more hours before we decided it was time to leave. We called and cab and once it arrive we left and headed home.

“So,” I started, “I’m going to dinner with Mr. Valo tonight.”

“Is it a date?” My father questioned, curious.

I shook my head, “No, It’s just as friends.”

He nodded and smiled, “Good. I’m glad you’ll be getting out of the house for a little while, other than work. You need it.”

I chuckled and nodded, “Yeah, I do. I’ve been cooped up in the house for a while now.”

“For far too long. You really need to get out into Finland. This is a really beautiful place, Rowan,” he mentioned.

I sighed and nodded, “I know, I know. Uhm, the drummer of the band I went and recorded with Terry today, Ensio, said he’d help me explore around Finland if I wanted.” It sounded like a good idea to me, he seemed like a nice guy and he knew Finland pretty well. “That reminds me, they asked me to go back tomorrow and watch them again, so I was curious if that’d be alright with you,” I said, looking over at him.

“I don’t care. If you want to go back over there, then you are more than welcome, honey. I don’t have such a busy schedule tomorrow, so yeah. Let me know when you leave the house and when you leave there,” he told me.

I nodded, “I will. I always do.”

We arrived at the house and went inside. I knew Ville was going to come pick me up in a little while, so I decided to take a quick shower and change into some new clothes. After I did those things, I applied some makeup and then searched my room for my phone, luckily finding my brick of a phone under my bed. I slowly turned around as the extremely loud doorbell rang. I slipped my phone into my pocket and then walked out into the living room. “I thought you said two hours,” I said, smirking at Ville, who stood in the living room with my father. “A little late again, aren’t we?” I teased and smiled at him.

Ville raised a brow before looking down to the watch on his wrist and then back up at me. “Um, no... That was an hour and a half, Rowan,” he mentioned, “If anything, I’m early.”

I wiped the smile off my face before I looked over at the clock on the oven in the kitchen. “Oh,” I mumbled and looked back at Ville, “My bad. I’m sorry.”

He chuckled and shook his head, “It’s alright. You ready to leave?”

I noticed that smiled that was on his face and nodded. It sort of put my in a trance, but I immediately replied, “Yes.” I walked over to my dad and gave him a quick hug and told him I’d be home soon before I followed Ville outside and to the cab.

“So, where’re we eating tonight?” I questioned after he told the cab driver, In Finnish, where to go.

He looked at me and smirked, “You’ll see.”

I sighed and nodded, looking out the cab for a little while. The sun had already set and it was sprinkling. I watched the water drops land on the window and kept my focus on that before I turned back to Ville, “Do you drive?”

He shook his head, “No, I don’t.”

“Why?” I questioned, curious.

“It’s easier for me to get around in a cab,” he shrugged.

“Oh, right,” I nodded and fiddled around with my hands for a while. A while passed and we all stayed in silence, not bothering to say anything more to each other. The air felt awkward and I hated that feeling. I hated when there wasn’t anything to say and everything just got weird. It bothered me and I couldn’t stand it.

“We’re here,” Ville broke the silence, finally, as the cab driver pulled up to a restaurant.

I stepped out of the cab as Ville paid the driver and I waited for him, examining the restaurant. It was a cute little place right next to a coffee shop and it wasn’t all that full. It was a tan building with a bright red sign that showed the name of the restaurant. I approached it, whether Ville was behind me or not, and smiled, looking inside the windows at the people inside.

“Hey, wait for me,” Ville complained.

I turned and looked at him with a smile, “C’mon then.”

He walked up to me and set a hand on my back, walking up to the door where he held it open for me. He got us a table and we sat down, beginning to look at the menu that was placed in front of us by the waitress.

I scanned the menu, not exactly looking for anything, but to distract my mind of how nervous I was. Why was I nervous? Why was I feeling like this?

“Are you guys ready to order?” a woman with a thick Finnish accent questioned, coming up to our table.

Ville ordered his easily and then looked at me as he handed the waitress the menu.

I glanced down at the menu and ordered the first thing I saw. I guess it was a good thing that I wasn’t too picky about my food and I would actually eat whatever is was I ordered... What did I order again? I can’t remember.

“So, Rowan,” Ville’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, “Tell me about you.”

“Me?” I asked before shrugging my shoulders, “I’m twenty one years old. I’ve been working with my father since I was about sixteen or seventeen. I first became interested in what he did when I was really young and I’ve always wanted to follow in his footsteps,” I began, “I went to college back in California for a few years and was actually close to graduating from there before we moved. My parents are divorces and my mom lives back in California with my younger brother.”

“Have you ever been out of the states other than now?” he questioned.

I shook my head, “I’ve moved around from state to state all my life. We never moved anywhere else other than in North America.”

I nodded and smiled before taking a look around the restaurant.

Things got quite and we didn’t say anything for awhile. We didn’t even look at each other unless we caught an awkward glance at each other before looking away. It was weird and it was getting uncomfortable. I hated every second about it and I waited for the moment for it to be over.

“Would I have seen you a lot if I had joined the label?” he questioned, looking over at me and giving me a seductive smile that gave me butterflies in my stomach.

I chuckled and shrugged, “I don’t know, you might have. It would’ve depended on where I was. I don’t really work around the recording studio.”

“Oh, I see,” he nodded.

“I probably would’ve stopped by to check in on you guys, for whatever reason, but I’m usually not in the studio,” I replied with a shrug. I had thought about getting more involved in the studio before, but just couldn’t with what I already had going on.

“Maybe you should come and hear some of our stuff when we go into recording,” he raised a brow at me.

I thought about it and shrugged, “Maybe. It depends what’s going on.”

“I’d enjoy it if you did come to see us,” he mentioned.

I smiled at him and looked around, “We’ll see.”

Our food arrived rather quickly and we ate in silence. We’d say a few words to each other, but other than that it was quiet. It began to get on my nerves again and I tried to think of something to say, but I was at a loss. I was never like this and it was weird, I didn’t know what was going on with me.

I set my fork down on my plate and looked across the table at Ville, “I feel like this is a date.”

He raised his eyes to look at me and set his fork down as well, giving me a questioning look.

“I mean... You took my to a rather fancy-ish restaurant, you’re buying me dinner and you’re being extremely sweet about everything. I already told you that I don’t date my father’s clients and I really mean it,” I told him, “This isn’t a date, is it?

He shook his head with smirk and finished what food was in his mouth, “I’m not your father’s client. I declined, remember?”

I chewed on my bottom lip and realized that he wasn’t my father’s client and that this was potentially a date. It made me feel weird and I felt like this whole thing went from a friendly gesture to an extremely uncomfortable thing for me. “Ville,” I pursed my lips.

He smiled innocently at me, “Yes, Rowan?”

I sighed and shook my head, “Never mind.” I looked down to my food. I wondered if he wanted this to be a date but I figured that he didn’t. We had decided this was just a dinner between friends because he was late for lunch and he wanted to make it up to me for that, right?