It was the last day of school before Christmas break, and I was freaking out. Last week, during my Calculus quiz, I received a B for my quiz. It didn’t really put any damage to my overall grade, but it was a B! I haven’t received a grade like that since I was in grade school. I partially blame the fact that my studying habits have lessened immensely due to the fact that I’ve been with Tony during my free time. However, the other big contributor to my slipping study time would be Cassandra.

Her wedding date has been moved to next summer and now she’s a frantic, raging, bridezilla that visits us—meaning my parent’s and myself—quite often. She always hurries over with her Wedding Planning book to talk to my mother and I, but mostly my mother. Apparently her maid of honor is busy with work and whatnot that she turns to my family for help. Last week’s freak out episode was over her wedding cake. It appears that the bakery she hired to customize her cake had lost her order entirely and now they are too swamped to retake her order even though she had put down a down payment. It was practically code-red-crisis back at my house that I would spend time at Tony’s house just so I wouldn’t have to deal with a hysterical bride-to-be.

Waiting under the large tree with a cigarette between my lips, I took out my copy of Forgotten Pieces and started to read where I left off. The story was from the author of The Looking Glass and I hadn’t really sat down to read since my plane ride to and from New York. Forgotten Pieces is vastly more tragic than The Looking Glass, and that counts for something because TLG had a pretty sad vibe to it already.

In Hubert Finnegan’s newest epic tragic story, it features Amy (a newly diagnosed cancer girl) who is struggling to piece together her past—did I mention that she suffered from amnesia as well? Anyway, as Amy is both fighting the gripping hands of cancer as well as the flimsy remains of her memory, she meets Gerard. I haven’t reached the end, but I highly suspect that one of these main characters will surly face death. Puffing down the last of my cigarette, I discarded it in the grass.

“I didn’t realize you smoke.” I heard Tony comment.

I shrugged. “I’ve been feeling a little stressed lately that I smoke quite often.” I answered honestly.

“You’ll do fine on your Calculus exam.” Tony assured me as he sat down next to me and wrapped his hand around mines.

I groaned. “I got a B on my last quiz. A fucking B!” I exclaimed with mortification.

Tony chuckled before kissing the side of my head. “You know my mom would probably host a fancy dinner if I ever brought home a B for calculus.” He remarked. “However, I’m not smart enough to take classes like that.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Yeah, but I’m not the kind of girl who gets anything lower than an A.” I whined.

It was true. I was a 4.0 GPA kind of girl. I took my academics seriously because I was neither an athlete nor a social butterfly which meant that I had to sorta compensate those two for an impeccable GPA. Tony chuckled in response.

“What are your plans after school?” He asked.

I shrugged. “No idea. Now that Charlie picked up two new girls—Bliss and Lily—I’m not technically needed for much.”

Tony smiled. “Does this mean that your entire afternoon is cleared?”

“That is a possibility.” I smirked.

“Good because I want to show you something.” He told me.

“Another surprise?” I questioned.

“This one isn’t as extravagant as our first date, but I hope you’ll like it nonetheless.” Tony replied bashfully.

I smiled while fondly remembering our first date. Everything about that night was perfect, and even then the word ‘perfect’ seemed to come up short when summarizing that night—October 28th.

Deciding to act playful, I said “Why are you always such a disappointment?”

Tony laughed; at a loss for a comeback. I grabbed out another cigarette and placed it between my lips as I fished through my bag for my lighter, which it seems that my bag is freaking Narnia because I can never find anything easily.

“Another one, really?” Tony questioned.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s just so I can calm myself for the Calculus and Physics exam I’ll be faced with this morning.”

Tony shrugged before saying “Okay.”

---

“Your surprise is to take me to your house?” I asked skeptically.

We had drove to Tony’s house after dropping my car off at my house. Fortunately, I was in high spirits because I breezed through both my Calculus and Physics test. However, it did make me slightly fret over the fact that if Calculus and Physics were easy then I did everything completely wrong.

“What, my house not good enough for you?” Tony asked in a thick Mexican accent.

I laughed. “Your house is truly perfect. However, it’s oddly quiet. Where is everyone?” I asked. Usually, Tony’s house is filled with the laughter of Rosie or with the puttering of Gabby. Yet, Tony’s house was dead quiet.

“Rosie has recently joined a junior volleyball team. She saw one tournament on television and now she wants to go pro.” Tony grimaced.

I laughed. “Volleyball is a fun sport.” I commented.

“Really?” Tony questioned doubtfully.

“Yeah, I used to play when I was a kid, but I wasn’t really good so I stopped.” I explained.

“You played before?”

“Yeah, is it that hard to believe?”

Tony nodded his head yes.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’ll have you know that I’ve been on a volleyball team as well as a swim team back in my youth.” I remarked while sticking my tongue out at him.

Tony rolled his eyes. “You’re still in your youth.” He pointed out.

Shaking my head, I asked “So where’s this surprise you wanted to show me?”

Tony chuckled before leading the way to his bedroom. I gulped out of nervousness because I’ve never actually been in his room when the house was empty. There was usually Rosie in the house or Gabby, but never just me and Tony alone.

“Mind you, I’m not good at this kind of stuff. This is mainly your element, but I thought I’d share this with you because I received an A for this project.” Tony started to explain before going quiet.

He rummaged around his room, picking up random pieces of clothing and clearing up his bed. He then placed a blank DVD into his player and turned on his TV. I walked over to his bed and sat beside Tony as the black screen soon lit up to brightening white. The first thing I heard was the familiar tune that I heard before. It was then that I recognized the tune because it was from a The Killers song called Here With Me. I smiled warmly while scooting closer to Tony.

(Stop Motion Photography Video) *Read A/N after watching*

The screen soon showed a teddy bear and at first I was confused, but then I realized that this was Tony’s stop motion photography project. The Killers song continued to play as the lone teddy bear held a pen in his paw while paper tears dripped down his furry face. The bear soon wrote out a message on a blank piece of paper before eventually crumpling it up and walking away. The note—which I haven’t seen what it said yet—soon made its way over to a desk where an abundance of letters and mail laid out. The note then squeezed itself into an already marked envelope before being mailed to a house. It was then that the envelope inched its way up a case of stairs, into a bedroom, and on a dresser before being spotted by a lamb.

The entire time I was watching this I couldn’t help but laugh and let out a chorus of ‘awws’ at its sheer cuteness.

After receiving the note, which said “Don’t want your picture on my cell phone, I want you here with me. Don’t want your memory in my head, no. I want you here with me” the lamb then ventures out to find the teddy bear. Soon enough she finds him sitting on a slab of wood and the two make up. The screen soon went black as the song continued to play on, making me sway with it because I happen to love this song.

I bit back my smile while looking at Tony. “This is one of my favorite moments with you.” I managed to say without my voice squeaking because my boyfriend just demonstrated how cheesy and cute he can be.

“I made it when we were broken up.” Tony mumbled out.

“It’s perfect. A well deserved A.” I complimented.

Notes

If you watched the video then you'll notice that I switched a small detail about the video; the music part. The video features Michelle Branch's song 1000 Miles, while in this story I said it's The Killers song Here With Me. I decided to alter that bit mostly because the characters of Tony and Verity aren't really Michelle Branch fans and therefore I chose The Killers that could easily convey a similar message. Anyway, video credit goes to Emily DewsPhotography who graciously allowed me to use her video in this story. She is brilliant at this stuff, so please check out her other work.

There will be a next update today, and I'm torn between writing smut or not. We shall see...

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