The Themes of Life

Complicated

Eastport, Maine
Saturday - August 15, 2009


It was almost noon when Valerie Silverthorne pulled up the driveway of her family home on Moose Island, her near eleven hour drive from Philadelphia to Eastport finally over. With little more than two hours of sleep keeping her sane, the 5'6" woman wanted nothing more than to get to her room and catch some Zs but considering her birthday was already half over she was intent on making the most of what was left of it.

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The day of Valerie's twenty-first birthday was finally beginning to wind down as her elder siblings escorted her to the island's local bar while their parents and youngest sister returned home after a family outing to the "mainland" (or rather the "Maine-land") that included a family dinner and the purchase of a baby ferret as a birthday present. After ensuring that his sisters' drinks made it to them safely Cole Silverthorne returned to the bar to hang out with his band mates and girlfriend, leaving his sisters to have their "girl time."

"So did you meet anyone interesting?" Kerrie Silverthorne asked as she began sipping on her lime daiquiri, she wasn't a heavy drinker and greatly preferred the frilly, fruity drinks over straight hard liquor and beer.

Valerie gave her elder sister a shrug while playing with her own drink's straw. "I don't know, Ker."

The eldest of the four Silverthorne children gave a scoff. "What do you mean you don't know?! You either met someone interesting or you didn't. So what is it?"

"It's complicated! That's what it is."

"Oh come on! Who'd you meet?" Valerie gave a sigh, and took another sip of her Cape Cod before recounting her brief adventure to and from her first ROH event. Unbeknownst to her she was smiling as she recounted her meeting with a certain someone. "Colby." Kerrie eyed her sister. "So... you like him?"

That sudden question nearly caused the birthday girl to choke on her cocktail. "What?! No way, I just met the guy last night!"

"Okay, fine," Kerrie played along with her sisters denial yet she was clearly getting excited about this. "But you think he's cute right, Val?"

"Well, yes... he's handsome," Valerie couldn't argue that Colby Lopez was good looking, between the time she saw him in the ring and the few minutes she spent talking to him afterwards she had enough time to say that she indeed found the man attractive.

"What does he look like?"

The blue-eyed Silverthorne pursed her lips at her sister's question, thinking about the man she had to describe and figuring out the best way to do it. "Would it be too cliche if I said he was tall, dark, and handsome? Because it's really kinda true... He's tall, maybe taller than Cole, and has long hair... kinda like CM Punk. You remember Punk, right?"

Kerrie rolled her green eyes as she gave a quick snort. "You mean that douche you went on a date with?"

"I did not go on a date with him!" Valerie gave an exasperated sigh before taking an angry sip of her drink. "It was a group thing, he's straight edge and I couldn't drink so we were the designated drivers. You really think that a guy like him would have dated a barely legal girl like me? Doubt it."

Waving her hand dismissively at her sister the eldest Silverthorne took a sip of her own drink before continuing the conversation, "Alright, well long story short I get the picture: you like Colby."

"Do not! Besides, I have my thing with Chris, remember?"

Kerrie scrunched up her face at the mention of the part-time boyfriend, firmly believing that it should be all or nothing in a relationship. No half-assing things. "Right. Chris Hero. Tell me again why you aren't in a serious relationship with him, because I still can't wrap my head around why my little sister isn't in a steady relationship with a guy she's known for a few years and has been on several dates with and sleeps with."

"Kerrie!" Valerie's blue eyes went wide at her sister's final comment. "Shut up, I don't need Cole finding out about that!"

Green eyes rolled at the panic in the birthday girl's voice. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Why aren't you two in an official relationship?"

"I told you," The third Silverthorne gave a sigh. "We decided this because our schedules are too unpredictable. A serious relationship would be too hard to keep up with."

"And you'd rather be fuck buddies ("Kerrie!") than have something serious with the guy?" The eldest Silverthorne asked, her green eyes locking onto her sister's electric blues. "Or any other guy for that matter?"

"Any other guy? Like who? It's not like there are serious people out there jumping at the chance to be with a pro wrestler."

"What about Colby?"

"I told you I just met the guy!"

"So? You could could have said the same thing about Chris at one point. I'm not saying you have to jump into the guy's arms tomorrow, but give someone else a chance. Get to know the guy like you did with Chis and see if it can lead to something better."

"Ker..."

"Just think about it, Val. I want you to be happy with whoever you choose, but I want it to be something serious for you."

"I'm gonna need more drinks if this conversation is gonna keep going."

"I'll get you more. But in the meantime, keep telling me about Colby, Val. What else do you know?" Kerrie was indeed getting too excited about the prospect of her younger sister being into a different fellow wrestler.

"Honestly, Ker, not much. I just know his name and some random little details from our talk last night."

"Like what?"

"Well... I'm thinking he's a Potter fan. He liked my duffle bag and he had a Gryffindor shirt."

"You would find someone who likes it. Do you know what he is?"

"Like race?" Kerrie gave a nod. "To be honest I don’t know. He could be Mexican or something, I mean, his last name is Lopez and he's tan, but in this day and age you never know."

"Do you think he as a girlfriend?"

"Kerrie! Don't make me think about that!"

A toothy grin made it's way onto the green-eyed Silverthorne's face at her sister's words. "So you do like him!"

"Ugh." Another sigh, another sip of Cape Cod... this was going to be a fun night.

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Valerie was laughing as she began to stumble over her own feet on the dance floor and relying on her brother, Cole, to keep her from falling most of the time. But now both Cole and Kerrie were laughing as their sister made the most out of the last hours of her 21st birthday celebration. "I'm so glad we cut her off, mom and dad would kill us if she got wasted."

"You've got that right," Kerrie said, leaving the table she and Cole were leaning against to dance with her sister and Cole's girlfriend.

As Cole watched his sisters and girlfriend dance their hearts out a buzz and ring came from behind him, turning he saw a light coming from his younger sister's small purse. Reaching in he pulled out Valerie's cellphone. After reading the unknown number on the screen he answered knowing full well that unknown numbers could be a work opportunity for his sister, "Hello?"

"Uh, hi," Cole heard a man's voice come from the other end of the line. "I was looking for Valerie, do I have the right number?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold on a sec. Let me get her," Looking out through the bar Cole spotted his sisters at the other end dancing with a couple of the local guys they'd known for years. "Who's calling, by the way?"

"Tell her it's Tyler Bla--" As the man on the other end of the phone answered, the only Silverthorne boy waved over to his sisters, catching Kerrie's attention and gesturing toward her that Valerie had a call. "Actually, tell her it's Colby, from last night's ROH show."

"Alright," Cole nodded to no one in particular as Kerrie got Valerie's attention and pointed her in their brother's direction, in response he gestured that she had a call waiting. "She's on her way over."

"Thanks."

Valerie shimmied her way across the dance floor in order to reach her brother and phone quickly, once in earshot she asked who it was that was calling her at this hour. Handing over his younger sister her phone he replied, "Said it was 'Tyler Colby', from last night's show.'"

Blue eyes grew wide as Valerie felt her face grow hot upon recognizing the name. "Thanks," After moving a strand of hair out of her face she placed the cellphone at her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey stranger."

An alcohol induced giggle escaped Valerie's lips as she recalled the way their first conversation started. "Hi stranger," She replied with her same first line but said no more. A minute of silence passed between the two, neither knowing what to say to the other, but before the silence turned truly awkward the Mainer spoke up, "So, uh... how did you get my number? I don't exactly give it out like candy."

"I, uh, asked around a bit and Death Rey gave it to me." Valerie could hear the change in his voice following her question, immediately regretting her bitchy nature. The jovial tone previously in his voice changed into one of annoyance. "I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. But I guess I should let you get back to your party or boyfriend or whatever..."

"No, I'm sorry. Um, it was my brother, not boyfriend. Hero's the closest thing," She corrected, repeating to him the fact that her dating life wasn't set in stone. "But, uh, wow. Thank you," She was still taken aback, here was his man she'd just met a little over twenty-four hours prior and he was wishing her a happy birthday when he didn't have to. Especially considering that the man who should have been calling her hadn't even bothered. "Can- can I ask why?"

On the other end of the line Colby gave a shrug as he leaned back against the headboard of the motel bed after his latest ROH booking, ever since their encounter the previous night he hadn't been able to shake the twenty-one year old from his mind. "I just felt like it was something I should do. Since you told me yesterday and everything."

"Well, thank you for the call. It's nice to know that people care," The black haired beauty took up the position her brother had previously been in, leaning against the table of their booth and watching the crowd on the dance floor. She was playing with a strand of her dark hair as she continued to speak, "Or at least that you care. Chris didn't even call..."

"I'm sorry. But hey, like I said, it's nothing. Just something I felt I had to do." There was silence between the two for a moment before the Iowan spoke up again. "So, how goes the party?"

"It's more like a 'typical Saturday night at the bar' over a party... but it's going good. At least I can drink now." Valerie gave a short laugh at her last comment while internally thinking that she'd be able to join the guys for a drink now.

"Good. Well, I'll let you get back to it." There was some uncertainty in Colby's voice as he made to end the conversation, wanting to keep talking to the black-haired beauty from Maine but felt like she didn't want to talk to him. "Goodni-"

Her heart began to race as she heard the man from Iowa start to end their conversation, her chat with Kerrie still in her mind as she hurriedly blurted out, "Could I call you tomorrow?"

That stopped him mid-goodnight. "Can I ask why?"

"Just to talk..."

It was almost a whisper that came out of her mouth, Valerie was thoroughly surprised Colby even heard her, but when he replied the Mainer's face started to grow hot again. "Sure, you can call me tomorrow. Goodnight, Valerie."

"Goodnight, Colby." With a sigh Valerie dropped herself down into the booth after hanging up her phone.

"Colby...?" Kerrie and Cole had returned to their table eyeing their sister curiously. "So what's going on?"

Valerie smirked slyly at her siblings. "It's complicated."
♠ ♠ ♠
And I give you theme two! As you can see this directly follows part one skipping over the very long trip from Philadelphia to Valerie's home town of Eastport. For those of you who don't know Eastport is the eastern-most city in the USA and is essentially an island connect to the state only by a thin land bridge. It's a very small town with a population of around 1300. So yeah. That's where I've decided that Valerie is from. So after her nearly half-day trip Valerie made it home only to be escorted off to enjoy her birthday~!

Valerie, Kerrie, Cole & rest of Silverthorne clan (c) Me