//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Living on a Prayer // by P-Berry //------------------------------// Have you ever had that feeling of complete, ultimate, utter happiness? Of a satisfaction that is so comprehensive and so intense it seems to flow right into you and through every single inch of your body, and the only thing you want to do is smile until your face rips apart and share your joy with the world by any means possible? Well, I hadn't had that feeling. Not for a while at least. The days that lay behind me were dark, murky times, and I was yearning for things to be like they had once been. Like when I had proposed to the girl of my dreams - or when I had taken the first step towards it, anyway. It was an overcast, cold and rainy day in mid-February. I had called my employer early in the morning and taken the day off - neither my boss, nor my coworkers had been particularily happy about lacking a member of their team on the day before Valentine's Day (the number of people bombarding the store I was working in over the past days had been outrageous, and it certainly wouldn' t be any easier to handle without me) but I had things that needed to be taken care of. Very, very important things. It was around nine o'clock when I arrived at her workplace: a small flower shop in the outskirts of town, run by her and her two best friends - a shared childhood dream she and them had realized a few years ago, after she had gathered up some starting capital working as a dental assistant. Parking my car around a nearby corner and walking towards the entrance, I checked if her bicycle was parked in its usual place to make sure that she was there, and that everything was running smoothly so far. Giving a short shudder and pulling my jacket a little tighter -the air was cold as it was; the strong wind and heavy rain didn't really help- I walked up to the entrance door, and stepped inside. I was greeted by a warm breeze of air from a space heater standing next to the entrance, which was accompanied by ... I closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath ... flowers. That sweet, fresh, colorful scent flooded my nostrils like any other time when I entered a flower store, and brought a spontaneous smile onto my face. Ever since I had met her, I had been wondering how she had managed to keep that very special flower-y scent stuck to her body, even without any sort of deodorant or shampoo, but from the moment I had first set foot into her store, I had known. This heavenly scent, the comparably warm air, and simply being out of the rain made me forget about the horrid weather outside, and caused me to smile. And my smile widened all the more as I walked towards the counter, and saw who -in between bushes of roses, tulips and sunflowers- was working on a magnificent boquet of white and red roses, humming a happy melody. She was wearing a plain -and extremely comfy-looking- red sweater with a green apron over it, and a set of pants that once used to be plain white. A while ago I had asked her why she wouldn't settle with dark pants, as her work, given its flower-related nature, would cause her pants to get covered in stains sooner or later, but she, talented with simple arguing as she was, had simply said that she liked the colorful stains on her pants - they would give them a face, as she had said it. Her back was facing me, and she hadn't heard me entering, being so absorbed in her work. I hesitated for a moment, looking past her and towards the store's backroom where a pink-coated mare, one of her friends and colleagues -Lilly, if I remembered correctly- having expected my arrival at about now and standing ready in the doorframe, gave me a confirming nod and a thumbs-up. Everything was prepared. Unable to contain a grin, I stepped towards the counter, making sure she would hear me, and waited for her to notice me and turn around. Her eyes widened, but before she could say something, I leapfrogged her. "Oh," I said with a surprised, but pleased smile, looking around, "Nobody here? Guess that means I'm next." Roseluck gave me a blank stare for a moment, then, realizing what I had referenced -the first words she had ever said to me-, couldn't hold back a short giggle, but then caught herself and raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?" she asked, pleasantly surprised, but still surprised, "Shouldn't you be at work?" "Well, nice to see you too." I said with a mock frown, crossing my arms. "I called it a day earlier and was just on my way home. Thought I might pay you a visit first - it's only a small detour, after all." "Well, that's nice of you, but..." she said with a slightly confused smile, "you work at the other end of the city. Coming here was more than just a small detour." seeming to count one and one together, she crossed her arms as well and raised an eyebrow at me, "What did you get into this time?" "Nothing!" I hastily assured her, feeling my ears turn red. I was a terrible liar. "Can't I just visit you without any particular reason?" "Sure you can." she said soberly, not releasing me from her stern look, "But I know you. And that's not what you would normally do." Her eyes narrowed, "Where is the poop?" "There's no poop, really." I said once again, holding up my arms in defense, "I just wanted to see if you-" "You don't have a Valentine's gift for me, do you?" she said with a sigh, rolling her eyes and dropping her arms, "For the last time, I told you I don't care about these things. I love you every day, and I won't change my mind because you didn't waste any money on petty gifts that land in the trash in a few weeks anyway." she said, repeating the same lecture she would give me every year on Valentine's Day. "But that's not it." I affirmed her once again, "Promise." "Then what is it?" she asked me agian, finally putting on an encouraging smile, "Come on, I'm sure it can't be that bad." I hesitated, looking at her with begging eyes for a moment, but then gave a defeated sigh and dropped my shoulders. "Fine." I said, "You got me." I looked up, locking eyes with her and gaining a questioning "Hmm?" "I ..." I hesitantly began, "I ... forgot my keys at home this morning. Again. I was wondering if I could have yours again." She smirked, and her body relaxed. "Is that all?" she asked, noticeably relieved. I gave a short nod, practicing my embarrassed, innocent dork-look. "Yeah. I know this isn't the first time, but I was hoping you could help me out again." "Pfft, sure." she said with a casual flick of her hand, "And here I thought you had some serious confessions to make." she turned around, walking into a corner of the room where her jacket was resting on a chair, and I finally allowed the excited smile back on my face again, knowing what was to come. Everything was going according to plan. "You know, you might wanna get a keychain or something." she said as she walked back into my direction, rummaging through her jacket's pockets. "If I would get one dollar for all the times you've asked me to..." she stopped, giving me a confused look, "What's with that smile on your face? You're beaming brighter than the sun." "Dunno." I said with an innocent shrug, "I'm just happy to see the girl I love." She tried to play it cool, but couldn't hide the blush on her face, which was joined by a sheepish smile shortly after. "Yeah, sure. You're a charmer, you know that?" she said, still searching for her keys in her jacket. What she didn't know was that Lily had, at my request, taken them out earlier and replaced them with... "What's that?" It cost me physical effort to not let out an -extremely un-manly- squeal of excitment as she pulled out the plain white envelope and eyed it, visibly confused. Looking at my contorted face, she cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Is that from you?" Again, I tried my luck with playing the innocent and shrugged. "Maaaybe." I said, unable to hide my excitement, "Why don't you open it?" She still seemed skeptical, but slowly began to open the envelope. "You know Valentine's Day is tomorrow, not today, right?" I replied nothing, deciding to wait for her to open her gift instead. The envelope was open after a few seconds, and I could literally taste her confustion in the air as she pulled out the two pieces of paper. "Tickets?" she asked, her confusion not vanishing. Then, however, she gave the mysterious tickets a closer look, and I felt reminded to a scene from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory when her eyes spotted her name, today's date, the words 'Fiji Islands', 'Non-stop', and above all, 'FIRST CLASS' embedded in broad lettering in the top corner. Like stunned, she held the ticket in her hands, her eyes wide with disbelief. Then she looked at me. Then back at the tickets. Then back at me again. "No." she gasped with disbelief. "Yes." I said with a curt nod, now not making an effort to hide my excitement. Her eyes travelled back to the ticket in her hands, reading both, the date and the booking class again like mesmerized, then went back up to me. "You're kidding." she said dryly, "There's no way you- no." "Yes!" I once again confirmed, holding out a hand for her, "Come on, we gotta get to the airport. We got a flight to catch." Staring blankly at my outstretched hand, then back at my face, she said, "You ... you're kidding. You're kidding, right?" Relishing the moment, I shook my head. "Nope." I said curtly, "I made sure you'll get two weeks off, booked us a hotel, and packed our things." With a wink at her, I added, "Now all that's missing is you." She remained silent, blinking at me for a few seconds, then whispered, "Wow ... that's ... that's a surprise." "I know, right?" I said with a smile. "I ... I guess..." she muttered, then turned towards the back room behind her, "L-Lily, I think I ... I'll have to head out for a few days. Will you and Daisy take care of the store?" Her colleauge came walking from the backroom, carrying a smile as well. "Sure can, Rose." she said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Have fun, you two." Leaning towards her friend and giving her a conspiratorial grin, she added, "There's more to come, trust me." "T-thanks." Roseluck replied, still looking baffled, as she reached behind herself and untied her apron. Hanging it on a chair behind her, she turned towards me, and, disbelief written across her face, asked, "S-should we go?" "Right behind you." I replied swiftly as I reached out for her hand, and gently pulled her from behind the counter and out of the front door, just in time to hear another cheerful "Bye! And have fun!" from her friend. We stepped outside and were halfway to my car when Roseluck suddenly stopped, getting a confused look from me. Taking a look around to make sure that we were alone, she gave me a slightly amused smile. "Okay, she can't hear us anymore now." she said, crossing her arms again, "Now, what are we actually going to do?" "We're going to fly to the Sandy Hills Luxury Resort and SPA, Fiji Islands." my undeterred reply came without hesitation, "We're on flight 290; take-off is in about five hours, we're seated in seats 1E and 1F - First Class." "Okay, you can drop that now." Roseluck said, still not looking impressed. "I know you wanted to play whatever you have in mind up to impress my friends, but they're not here now." she explained soberly, "So what are we actually going to do? Visit your mother? Is your grandma sick again? Or does she just want to see you because she's worried I'm 'not treating you properly' again?" As I didn't reply and just looked at her with a coy grin, she rolled her eyes. "But I'm telling you now, if whatever you're planning turns out to be just another dinner at a fast food joint, you'll sleep on the couch tonight." "Don't worry about that." I said, smirking as I unlocked my car and opened the door for her, "I've heard fast food restaurants in Fiji are excellent!" We mounted my car, and I showed her our packed suitcases in the backseats - she didn't believe me. I drove, past our town's fast food restaurant, towards the airport - she didn't believe me. I parked my car, we checked in, confirming the booking I had made a good half year ago, and got our boarding passes - she still didn't believe me. It wasn't until a few minutes later when we were in the airport's First Class lounge, lounging in the big, soft, and incredibly comfortable leather sofa, next to each other, that she was oogling our boarding passes and suddenly looked up, turned towards me, and said, "You're serious about this." "Sure am." I said, taking a sip from the complimentary cola - the staff had offered us champaign after we had sat down, but Roseluck didn't normally drink alcohol, and I wanted to keep a clear head for what was still to come. "But ... but why?" she asked, her voice assuming a surprisingly high pitch as she sat up and turned towards me. "Why not?" I asked, feeling once again reminded to this fateful day when we had first met. "I love you, and this seemed like a good way to show you just how much I do." I explained, then, after a short pause, added, "And I remember you telling me that you've been dreaming of a luxury vacation ever since you were a child." My grin grew a little wider as I pitched my voice a little higher, mimicking what she had told me a few years ago, "But not just any luxury vacation. The real deal, from A to Z - First Class flight, Five Star hotel, SPA, room service, all that. ... That'd be great." I said with a light chuckle. "This ... this is just..." she stuttered, finally starting to understand, then let out a sigh, "Wow." "Nah, it's no big deal." I put her off with a casual flick of my hand. "You know, I just wanted to-" I was cut short as she had shot forward, flinging an arm around my neck and pulling me into a tight embrace, giving me a long, deep, passionate kiss. My body remained stiff, needing a moment to understand what was going on, but then relaxed and gave in, enjoying every second of this moment. "Thank you." she whispered as she finally broke the kiss, resting her head on my shoulder, then, after a moment, added, "I love you." "I love you too." I replied, closing my eyes and giving in to the hug, enjoying every second of this embrace we shared. This was, as far as I could remember, the happiest I had ever felt in my whole life, and I was sure, this happiness could only be beaten by one thing. One thing that was destined to take place only a day later, as the small ring box in my left pocket reminded me.