***
January 10th, 2004
After spending the next couple of days squared away in David’s guestroom going over a few work related files--that her friend and room-mate Angie had over-nighted her--while a still brooding David spent the majority of his time in his living room, pouring out his heart to his piano, Valerie was more than shocked when a knock was heard at the room’s door, followed by, a couple seconds later, David sticking his head in and asking her if she had a minute.
“Sure…what’s up?”
After looking around for a place to sit down, and not finding anywhere but next to Valerie on the bed, David reluctantly took a seat next to the older female before beginning to tell her what was on his mind, “Do you remember that guy I introduced you to a few years ago, the one who was looking to start his own PR firm and wanted me to go into business with him a couple years back?”
After taking a second to think about it, Valerie quickly nodded her head as if to say yes she remembered, before outwardly replying, “Yeah, his name was Rick Lubin or something like that, right?”
“Yeah,” David commented, looking to be slightly impressed that she had remembered his name—but only for a second. “Anyway, that was him on the phone. Turns out that he just got back from vacationing in Hawaii only to discover a bunch of missed calls and messages from one of his friends, who works in N.Y under Arista Records. The guy said he was down here on business last weekend, scouting out a few acts, and just happened to hear about the After Dark and saw yours truly performing there Sunday night.”
Oh my god…
Now understanding why David seemed to look much happier now than he did almost a week ago when she had first came back to Los Angeles caused a small smile to spread across Valerie’s face as she quickly asked David what the man said.
“He told Rick that he loved my raw emotion and that I was just what he’d been searching for when coming to Beverly Hills. He said he wants to fly back down here in a couple of weeks to check out another one of my performances and see about signing me onto his record label.”
“Oh my god, David, that’s great!”
Without even thinking about what she was doing, Valerie quickly leaned in towards David and threw her arms around his shoulders; pulling the younger man into a small bear hug.
After a second of doing this, Valerie was quickly brought back to her senses as she noticed that David was starting to stiffen up underneath her.
Removing him from her embrace, Valerie slightly blushed while apologizing and then afterwards, she replied. “I’m just so happy for you. I’m really proud of you, David.”
While letting, what looked to be, a small smile pop up on his face for a couple of seconds, David outwardly replied, “I’m proud of myself…now we have a reason to celebrate.”
"Really?" Valerie opened her mouth to ask, but at the last second she had to close it as she remembered Dr. Myers warning her to stay low for the next couple of weeks. Just one time shouldn’t hurt things though…
As if reading Valerie’s mind, David quickly replied, “It doesn’t have to be anything too fancy--no trips outdoors or anything. Just a simple dinner at home…to thank you.”
To thank me…? What for?
After wondering this question out-loud, Valerie was taken aback when, after a small second of silence had passed between the two, David sincerely replied, “For believing me in the past when no one else did and never allowing me to give up on my dreams. That means a lot more to me than you’ll ever know, Val.”
Wow, does this man have a way with words…
Knowing that the moment had gotten a little bit more emotional than David had wanted it to get, Valerie refrained from telling the man in front of her how much that statement had meant to her and instead agreed to celebrate later that night with him.
Hey, if he wants to go through all this effort just to thank me, the least I can do is try and keep his food down.
Later that night, while sitting across from David at the dining room table, Valerie realized after a few minutes of silence had passed between the two of them, that even though she hadn’t yet touched the food in front of her, she should at least compliment David on his cooking skills.
“This looks really good, David.”
After taking a second to look away from his half eaten chicken and move his line of vision towards Valerie’s untouched plate of food, David sarcastically replied, “Oh yeah? Then why aren’t you eating any of it?”
Ouch
Noticing the slight edge in the man’s voice caused Valerie to quickly feel guilty. I knew I should’ve said something to him before he first started cooking.
After putting her fork down, Valerie slowly remarked, “It’s not because the food doesn’t look appetizing--because it does. It’s just that I haven’t been able to keep anything down for the last couple of weeks. It’s one of the minuses of having leukemia, I guess.”
After taking a small second to study the woman in front of him, David raised an eyebrow in questioning while rhetorically asking if there were any pluses.
Knowing that there wasn’t, Valerie moved her attention back to the plate in front of her and then looked up again when the cordless phone across from them began to ring.
“I’ll get it.”
Watching as David stood up from the table and made his way over to the phone, Valerie couldn’t help but wonder who it was when she noticed the younger man’s face go from a neutral expression to a slightly appreciated expression then back to a neutral expression again.
I wonder who that could be…
She didn’t have to wonder much longer though as David took the phone away from his ear and then while handing the device to her, he replied: “It’s for you. It’s Brandon.”
“Shit! I knew there was someone I forgot to call…”
While absentmindedly watching on as David took a seat in the chair he had previously occupied, Valerie outwardly said her hellos. “Hey Brandon, what’s up?”
“What’s up? Do you know how long I’ve been trying to get in contact with you? Why didn’t you tell me you were going back home?”
Hearing the anger in his voice even through the phone caused Valerie to slightly wince before outwardly replying that it had been a last minute decision—wisely leaving the part out about Steve begging her to come cheer up David since no one else seemed to be able to do so, especially with the latter sitting across from her at the moment. “Anyway, who told you I was here?”
Knowing who the culprit was before Brandon even had a chance to answer her caused Valerie to not even be that surprised when Brandon replied, “Steve… which brings me to the question of why are you staying at Casa Silvers when there’s plenty of room for you over at Casa Walshes?”
Glancing over at David, who was still looking down at her plate of food, Valerie chose her words carefully while telling Brandon that that was another story for another day.
As if realizing that their conversation was probably being eavesdropped on, Brandon was silent for a second before saying that he’d hold her to that. “But anyway, Malone, I was just calling to touch base with you, but I’ll probably call back later on, either this weekend or next week; whether you’re still in California or back in Buffalo, all right?”
Not wanting to seem rude, but wanting to get Brandon off the phone, caused Valerie to quickly reply, “Okay. I’ll talk to you later then. Take care, Brandon.”
“You too, Val.” The male replied back, before disconnecting their phone call and leaving Valerie alone again to talk to only David.
Or better yet, alone again, to look at only David.
With that thought in mind, Valerie let out a small sigh before turning her attention back to the food on her plate, but then surprisingly she had to look up once again as David began to open his mouth.
“So, does Brandon know?”
Not really knowing what he was talking about caused Valerie to furrow both eyebrows in confusion, before asking the younger man, “About what?”
After taking a second to try and word the question correctly, David replied: “Does he know that you have cancer?”
After waiting until she had taken a sip out of her water glass, the only thing she had touched since the beginning of this meal, Valerie let out a small sigh before nodding her head and saying that Brandon did indeed know that she had cancer.
Knowing that he was probably wondering how Brandon knew when the rest of the gang didn’t caused Valerie to begin spilling the story, “After my mom’s funeral last year, Brandon had come by the house to see if I had needed anything and I asked him for a ride to my doctor’s appointment because my car was in the shop that day. He went in with me when we got there and that was the day that the doctor told me that I had leukemia.”
After a few seconds of silence had passed between the two, David asked another question, that Valerie had been suspecting the younger man had been dying to ask since she had moved in with him a couple days before, “So, what’s the real reason you didn’t tell anyone else that you had cancer?”
Even though she had told the rest of the gang that it was because she didn’t want them to worry about her, Valerie knew there had been another reason to it as well—and she guessed David could tell also.
With that thought in mind, she told him the truth:
“I didn’t tell anyone for the same reason why you told all of us to leave you alone—I thought I could deal with it on my own.”
As if he had known all along that that was the real reason why she hadn’t told anyone why she had cancer, David began to nod his head in understanding before turning his attention back to the food on his own plate; letting Valerie know that the conversation had been dropped…for the moment anyways.
(The next day)
After telling a reluctant David that since he had spent the entire evening cooking, she’d do the dishes while he finished working on a song he was writing, Valerie quickly cleaned up the kitchen—that David hadn’t left that much of a mess in—and then retired to her room for the rest of the night; only to be awaken, what she thought to be, a few seconds later by a knock at the door.
Figuring it was David, she yelled out, “Just a second,” before throwing on the silk robe that lay beside her and then tying the front of it into a knot so her night gown wasn’t being exposed. “Okay, it’s open.”
Interestingly enough, to Valerie’s surprise, it wasn’t David at the door, but Kelly.
“Well good afternoon, sleepy head. Did you get a good night's rest?”
Afternoon? Valerie inwardly commented to herself, before turning towards the digital clock beside her bed; seeing that it was indeed going on one p.m. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I slept that long.”
After taking a seat at the bottom of the bed and slightly laughing at her now disheveled friend, Kelly outwardly replied, “Yeah, when David told me that he thought you were still sleeping, I didn’t believe him—it must be nice.”
“Wait, you talked to David?” Valerie opened her mouth to ask, but not wanting to hear any David bashing so early in the morning—or afternoon, that is—she instead looked around the room, as if she was missing something and said: “Hey, I thought you were going to bring Erin with you?”
While displaying a look of amusement on her face, Kelly quickly replied back that she did. “But she’s in the living room right now giving David a piece of her mind--I almost didn’t want to leave, after seeing the look on David’s face when she started in on him, but I figured you needed at least a small bit of a warning before taking on the likes of my little sister’s mouth. It’s indescribable.”
After taking a second to laugh a little at that comment, Valerie had to throw a hand over her mouth as her chuckles soon turned into a hoarse sounding cough which ended up leaving her voice painfully raw.
“Are you okay?”
Even though there were now tears in her eyes from the harsh cough, not wanting Kelly to worry about her caused Valerie to quickly reply, “Yeah, I’m fine. I just need some water.”
Interestingly enough before Valerie could even make a move to get up to go get the item, Kelly stood up and said that she’d go get it, and then was out the door before Valerie even had a chance to stop her.
After outwardly saying, “Thanks, I guess,” to the spot where Kelly had just stood in, Valerie absentmindedly rubbed her hands down the front of her robe and then stood up; preparing to get her clothes out for the day.
“Valerie!”
Turning away from the closet she was peering into, Valerie couldn’t help but smile when she saw a miniature version of Jackie Taylor and Kelly McKay quickly walking towards her, with Kelly coming in the door behind her. “Hey you! Come over here and give me a hug.”
After wrapping her arms around the younger girl, Valerie took a step back to admire the petite teenager and then after outwardly commenting on the girl’s shorter hairstyle, she slowly reached over and accepted the glass of water that Kelly was now handing her. “I can’t believe how much your sister has grown. Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were all taking turns babysitting her?”
“Yeah, and now she’s the one doing the babysitting—which reminds me, Janet and Steve have to attend lamaze class next week and wanted to know if I knew anyone who would like to watch Madeline after they got out of school on Monday?”
Without even taking a second to think about it, Erin quickly told her sister that she’d do it, no charge; a comment which caused Valerie to smile, remembering how Steve had told her how Madeline wanted to be like the teenage Erin when she got older.
It’s good that she’s got such a good role model at a young age.
“What’s that on your robe...? Is that blood?”
Blood?
Snapping out of her thoughts at this comment, Valerie looked down at the area on her robe that Erin was pointing out to her and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she noticed the red streak, that hadn’t been there before, on the silk item.
“Yeah, it does kind of look like blood, but…” Valerie began, trying to think of where the stain had come from. But then after noticing Kelly staring at her hand, that was holding the glass of water, she remembered her cough from before. And after moving the glass into her other hand and seeing the remains of dried blood on her hand, she confirmed what she had already guessed:
I coughed up blood?
**
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