Chapter 11 - Worlds Apart

Chapter Eleven

 
The day passed by completely blurry. Elena was tired, she felt numb. The idea that her real life had now actually turned into something weird and unrealistic scared her.
It was like at the theatre: Entrance Riku – he carries a huge bucket of mess, empties it over the protagonist – exit Riku.
Maybe she had to stop seeing him. It actually did her no good. Thoughtfully she touched her lips, still burning from his touch. He was only messing up her life, messing with her sense of reality.
She was a doctor, had a lovely family, some nice and close friends, a boyfriend she cared about... cared about... well...
On the other hand her life was definitely boring. There was no... no colour in it, no highlights. The days and weeks passed. Months and years started to run by far too fast. She was about to turn 28 this summer and still she felt that there was something missing. Some action, some adventure and excitement from time to time. Riku would surely be a big adventure, but was he actually capable of sharing a normal life with her one day? Maybe live together, quit the band, have children? They had only met and the boy she remembered dimly from high school and that was now part of a famous rockband wasn’t exactly what she had in mind, when she made plans about her future. Sighing she leaned back in her chair, staring at the screen of her computer.
Safety or adventure?
Continuing her life or living it?
Spinning her pen she closed her eyes. You can’t stick to safety all your life! She said to herself, throwing a gaze outside into the foggy and snowy afternoon. Then she picked up her mobile.
“Rob, it’s me, am I interrupting?”
“You’re not.” She heard him walking a little out of breath. “Just an ordinary day at the ICU. What is it?”
“I have been thinking...” she paused, taking a deep breath, but before she could continue he interrupted.
“Me too. So what are we gonna do?”
“Well, what did you come up with?”
“I still have some of your stuff at my apartment, most probably there’s some of mine at yours, so... if you want I can come and pick it up tonight.”
Speechless she stared down at her free hand, crumpling a post-it with her notes. “So it is definitely over for you?” she managed to say after a few seconds, feeling a sudden rush of pain and fear.
“I think it is for the best.” He simply answered, sounding cold.
“Alright then.” Elena took a deep breath. “So I will collect all your stuff then and you can just pop by and pick it up.”
“You know why I have to do this, right?” he asked, suddenly sounding a bit softer.
“Actually I don’t, but maybe I... maybe I just crossed the line during the last couple of days.” She answered in a very low voice, sorry for hurting his feelings.
“That’s not it. That was only the last straw to be honest.” He sighed. “You have changed a lot since you came back from Finland. I had the feeling that... well, you... you weren’t interested in me any longer. Something has changed and you kept pushing me away for weeks now. And maybe Riku was one of your reasons, I know you met him back home and... well, it changed you completely. All the calls from him... this closeness and then all the nights out, you’re getting wasted all the time, that’s so not you! And I think that... well, our attitudes and also our perspectives on life they... they seemed to have changed drastically!”
“Wow.” Again Elena sighed. “That is actually the bottom line of my thinking as well. So... D’you think we could still be friends?”
He fell silent for a moment. “I don’t think so.” He said pensively. “I mean, we... we don’t have anything in common really, so... what would we do? We don’t like going to the same places, we don’t have the same taste in food, in music, whatever. What would we do?”
“I just... I don’t want hard feelings, that’s all.”
“There’s no such thing as hard feelings. We tried and it didn’t work. We both agree on that. So... well, we could meet for lunch in the canteen from time to time if you want to.”
“Alright.” Torn between relief, fear and guilt, Elena leaned back in her chair. “So you’ll just come over after work, ok? Let’s say at about seven?”
“Fine with me. Ok, sorry, I have to go! I’ll call you as soon as I can tell you exactly if I can make it tonight, ok? I have to get home and collect your stuff first.”
“No problem. You could also come tomorrow morning, you’re off work this Saturday, right?”
“Alright, so... I’ll see you tomorrow, that’s actually a lot easier. See you then!”
“Bye... Rob.”
“Bye!” he hung up and Elena stared down at her mobile. This had actually been the easiest break-up of her life but somehow it had hurt her a lot more than many others before. He didn’t care. It was simply over for him, he didn’t even think about fighting for her. But that was him. He had always been straight forward. Even though he had never opened up to her completely he had always been honest. And he had never looked into her eyes, telling her the simple three words ‘I love you’. Never. Not once in two years. She had been glad about it most of the time, because ‘I love you too’ were the hardest four words for her. Especially because she had never been sure about her feelings towards him. ‘Two years of my life.’ She thought. ‘Simply wasted.’ Sighing she put her mobile aside, running her fingers through her hair. Then she picked it up again. It was only short after four but she didn’t care. “Wanna pick me up?” she simply texted.
The answer came promptly. “Gimme 10.”
Taking a deep breath, Elena got up. Alright then. Let’s have some adventure.
 
It didn’t even take Riku ten minutes to stop his car behind the hospital. Smiling he waved at her, pecking her lips when she closed her seatbelt. “I’ll have to take you along to the studio for a bit if you don’t mind.” He engaged the gear, driving off a little too fast.
Elena grabbed her seat with both hands. “As long as you intend to reach it alive I don’t mind at all!”
He laughed, turning up the music. “Snow chains.” He simply said, speeding up the car.
“Wohow!” she closed her eyes. “Maybe you have them, what about the other drivers?”
“I’m sorry for them, but we are in a bit of a hurry, the producers are going bananas if I don’t show up within the next minutes because they want me to record at...” he threw a quick gaze at his wristwatch. “At four fifteen.”
“But that’s now!”
“ Osmo’s in the box at the moment, he always takes a bit longer.” He took a turn roughly, driving down in an underground car park, stopping the engine. Quickly he opened his mobile. “Am I alright?” he asked, chuckling slightly. “Alright then, I’ll see you upstairs!” smiling he bent over to kiss her lips. “Raul switched places with me, we don’t have to hurry.”
She returned his smile, running her fingers through his hair. “I’m actually curious about your work now.”
“I hope you are! It is actually a bit boring, listening to the same people, singing and playing the same passages over and over again, but hey! There’s bad coffee and free donuts and afterwards we go for dinner, alright?”
“Fine with me.” Giggling she kissed him once more. “I’m glad I came.”
“Me too.” He jumped out of the car, opening the door of the passenger’s side for her. “Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of the lads.” He took her hand, heading for an elevator. “I assume you remember Sami and Osmo from school, right?”
“Not really. Sami was in my older brother’s year, right?” she linked fingers with him.
“I thought about it again and I’m not so sure. I think he was below, how old is your brother now? Wasn’t he older than the rest of us?”
“31.”
“So he must have been one year above Sami and you were the year below my class, right?”
“I think so.” Elena stared up at the jumping numbers. Suddenly the elevator stopped and Riku pulled her along.
“Alright!” smiling he wrapped his arm around her waist, opening a door on a long corridor.
The studio was a lot smaller than she had expected. There were a lot of blinking computers and mixing desks, two men sitting right in front of a huge window, randomly turning switches and pressing buttons.
“Hey guys!” Riku waved at them but they didn’t even look up properly, still concentrating on a man inside a booth, wearing headphones. Raul. She couldn’t help smiling. He was definitely nice. Well, in her dreams, she corrected, following Riku into a nearby room with couches and a TV. The rest of them was sitting around, watching an episode of ‘Friends’.
“Hey!” Riku sat down on the armrest of the couch, pulling Elena closer. “Guys, my friend Elena.” He introduced, making the three men turn their heads and pause the DVD.
“Elena Heikkinen?” Sami got up from his armchair, offering his hand to her with a smile. “He’s been talking about you a lot!!” he shook hands with her, watching her closely. Then he laughed. “Definitely Heikkinen’s little sister! I’m pleased!”
“How come I don’t remember you at all?” Osmo pushed Sami aside, reaching out his hand. “I do remember Ced, but...” he cocked his head. “You look a lot like him though!”
“Well, at school, I... I looked different. More like this...” She put down her head to mess up her hair. “It was also dyed black and I had a piercing in my nose and a lot of dark make-up.”
Osmo broke into laughter. “You’re the little bat? Snake-girl?”
Laughing along with him, she raised her hands, presenting her wrists. “Snake-girl indeed!”
“There was this rumour at school about you having another tattoo somewhere around your private area...” cocking his eyebrow, Osmo folded his arms in front of his chest. “True or false?”
Elena broke into laughter again. “Goodness! I had no idea! So you have been wondering about my private area for years now, right?”
“I have actually.” Grinning Osmo sat down on a chair. “So, will you now end my misery and tell me about this special little secret?”
“I won’t, dear. Keep thinking about it for a few more years!” She grinned, looking up when somebody cleared his throat right behind her.
“So little bat Heikkinen, I’m Samu.” He said in his deep voice, immediately causing goosebumps on her back. “And I have to say, I’m really curious about your private parts now, no offence!”
‘My chance to make a different choice.’ She thought, smiling at Riku before she turned around to take the big hand that was offered to her. “None taken. Nice to meet you, Samu!” she said, resting her back at Riku. Although she felt a little tingle in her stomach when he smiled at her warmly, she just nodded openly. This was real life! She would never hurt Riku in real life, that was one thing she was 100% sure of. She could resist the other man’s charm, because she already knew the mess this whole love triangle would create. “I’m very excited to meet you guys.” Smiling she turned her head to grin widely at Osmo and Sami. “I’m happy you made it big! Makes me proud of my hometown!”
The two of them laughed and Elena felt Riku’s arm sliding around her waist again when he pulled her down on the couch to sit on his lap.
“So d’you wanna sit around for a bit and watch TV or d’you actually want to listen to Ruutuu over there recording?” he kissed her neck, rubbing his nose into her hair.
“I think I’ll stay with you for a bit.” She decided, cuddling up in his arms. “Maybe I can listen to you and make fun later on.” She lifted her head from his chest, winking at him. “I can’t believe you became a rockband-member, nerdy!”
“Well, I can’t believe you became a woman after being a bat for so long!”
Laughing she kissed his lips. “You win.” She ran her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer.
He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her completely. “I do actually.”
Sami let out a vomiting sound. “Goodness, Rajamaa! Is it really cheesy-day?” he slapped his mate’s head, sitting down in his armchair again, to start the DVD.
Elena closed her eyes, listening to Riku’s heartbeat instead of listening to the TV. She didn’t look at Samu again. Better safe than sorry. She smiled to herself. This was more than enough adventure for now. With the smell of his skin close to her nose she fell asleep after a while, completely relaxed and happy.
 
“Chucky?” soft lips touched her cheek and she looked up sleepily.
“What?” she whispered, clearing her throat.
“It’s my turn.” Riku kissed her lips and got up very carefully. “D’you wanna sleep for a bit? You look tired! I can take you along again if you insist on listening to my singing.” Smiling he kissed her again. “Go back to sleep, I’ll be right with you.”
Elena only mumbled something and curled up on the couch again. Soon she was fast asleep.
 
“Thanks for keeping her warm.” She suddenly heard Riku’s voice again and opened her eyes, realising that she was actually sleeping on someone’s lap.
“Anytime.” She heard a husky voice she knew too well and flinched, quickly sitting up.
Riku bent down to kiss her. “Did you sleep well, Chucky?” he smiled, running his fingers through her messy hair. “You wanna go for dinner or d’you want me to take ye home?”
“Dun wanna go home.” She rubbed her eyes, getting up from the couch to take Riku in her arms. “Let’s go have some dinner first, okay?”
“Alright.” He smiled, biting down on her earlobe. “Whatever you want. Bye guys! See you tomorrow!”
Elena turned around to wave at the rest of them, smiling at Raul. “Oh! Hey, I’m Elena.”
“Raul.” He returned her smile. “I was actually wondering a little, when I found you sleeping on Samu’s lap before!” he chuckled. “Normally we don’t share girls!”
Elena felt her cheeks blushing. “I was out with Riku last night and... well, we had a little crash and I haven’t slept too much.” She tried to explain, making Raul grin.
“Yeah, he told us about the whole vomiting thing. You’d better keep it low tonight!”
“We will!” Elena looked up at Riku. “Very low. Dinner and sleep. No vomiting included!” she waved again, smiling at Raul, Sami and Osmo. Her smile froze on her lips when her gaze met Samu’s that was looking up at her from the couch. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.” She mumbled, averting her gaze.
“Nevermind!” she could tell from the sound of his voice that he was smiling. “Have good night’s rest, we’ll see you two tomorrow, right?”
“D’you guys maybe wanna join?” Riku suddenly offered. “A burger, some chips?”
“We’re not gonna interrupt yer date, mate!” Osmo shook his head with a grin. “And let me tell you something: It should be a bit more than a burger! Hell, Rajamaa! What are you thinking? Burger and chips? What happened to fancy hotel restaurants and French food? Take that poor girl out!”
“The poor girl likes chips, thanks a lot, mate!” Elena giggled, pulling Riku closer. “Come on, let’s go, I’m starving!”
 
“So where d’you wanna go?” Riku asked, closing his seatbelt.
“Do we have a chance to go to an actual restaurant and have dinner without being interrupted by crazy fans or paparazzi?” she asked, putting her hand on his thigh. He laughed and shook his head, giving her an apologetic look.
“I doubt that.”
“Then how about some Chinese take away and a movie at my place?”
“Sounds good to me!” he smiled relieved, squeezing her hand that was still resting on his thigh.