FicWad

[This is my side of a one-shot art trade with Holly. I loved the one she gave me and I finally got to read it today after a very long wait no thanks to the evil one called my mother. I hope you all like it, and you Holly ma'am!]

Holly sighed heavily as she set down her bag after walking in the front door of the home she shared with her boyfriend, Ryan. She had had a bad day at work so it was heaven for her to be home, away from the annoying customers, the rude co-workers, and the asshole boss that had threatened to fire her for being late back to work from break, when she had been held up by a customer. What had pissed her off was that she worked harder than the others and never came back late, while they all slacked and took longer breaks than allowed, but she gets back late one time on accident and she gets her job threatened.

The thing that was the full icing on the cake, however, was that today was her and Ryan’s anniversary. She had requested it off, but since it fell on the weekend, when the store was busier, her boss had denied it to her. Even though she had asked three weeks in advance, giving him plenty of time to find someone to replace her for one eight-hour shift, he had said he didn’t have anyone that could cover her for that day.

She slowly removed her shoes, cringing since she had been breaking in new shoes at work, since it was the best place to break in new shoes, even though it always ended up hurting more than just walking around some store with them. Leaving them by the door with the other pair of shoes she and Ryan normally left by the door, she walked to the kitchen, in need of a drink, and gave Ryan a small smile, since he was sitting at the bar. “Hey, baby,” she said quietly as she took a cup from the cabinet and got some water from the sink faucet.

“Hey, Holls, how was work?” He questioned as he swiveled in the turning stool to face her. He frowned when he saw the look on her face as she drank the water. “That bad?”

Finally she came up for air, the glass almost completely empty by then, and nodded as she got more water in the cup and moved over to him, kissing him softly. “That bad,” she said before she headed to the living room, setting her glass on the coffee table before sitting on the couch with a sigh, happy to be off of her feet.

Ryan frowned as he followed her into the living room, gently picking up her legs and turning her so that she was sitting up but her legs were in his lap as he sat down next to her. He smiled at her as he rolled up the first of her pant legs, to the knee, and slowly began rubbing her legs muscles, smiling when she made a noise of contentment and leaned her head back, resting into the couch. He continued to rub, making sure not to rub too hard and hurt her as he worked on getting rid of her pain for her. “Do you feel up to telling me about it, or do you want to just pretend it didn’t happen?” He questioned, curious as to what went wrong today, but willing to not push it if she didn’t want to talk about it.

“All I really want to say is that I wish I had been able to get today off,” she said as she cracked an eye open and looked at him. She gave him a small smile. “I have to admit though, getting to come home to you makes it all worth it.”

He smiled back at her as he moved his hands to her foot, slowly rubbing over the whole foot, chuckling when she moaned and shut her eye. He continued to work, and when he was done, he lifted her leg and kissed the top of her foot, smiling at her when he rolled down the pant leg and rolled up the other, repeating his ministrations on the other leg and foot. “I hope you don’t mind, baby, but I made us some dinner reservations for tonight,” he said as he concentrated his work on a tense muscle.

“You did?” She questioned, opening her eyes to look at her boyfriend once more. When he nodded and kept rubbing, but looked at her, she smiled. “That’s fine, is it dressy or casual?”

“Dressy, formal,” he smiled as he continued to rub, moving his hands to her foot and began to work on making it feel as good as the previous one.

“Do I have time for a shower and to get ready?” She questioned, curious since she had been made to stay an extra two hours.

Ryan nodded. “Yeah, hon, you have plenty of time,” he said with a smile. “I made the reservation for a little later since I thought you might run late at work, knowing your manager. You have enough time for me to finish rubbing your poor foot before you even need to take a shower.”

“Trust me, as soon as your done with my foot I’m hitting that shower,” she said as he kissed the top of her feet and rolled down her pant leg.

“Actually hon, there is a warm bath waiting for you so that you can soak for a little,” Ryan said, smiling sheepishly at her. “Since you stayed late I thought you should have a hot soak waiting for you. It’s got those oils you like in the water.”

Holly got her legs off of his lap and moved closer to him, kissing him heavily, leaving both breathless when she pulled away and smiled down at him. She giggled when she saw him blushing. “What’s with the blush, Ry?”

“I just wasn’t expecting that kiss, that’s all,” he chuckled as he ran his fingers through his hair. “Go on up and have your shower, baby. I’ll go pick something out while you’re in there. Do you want me to pick for you too, or do you want to pick something out yourself?”

Holly smiled affectionately at him before kissing him one more time and rising to her feet. “I’ll pick something out, let it be a surprise for you,” she answered before turning and walking to the stairs, walking up them as fast as her feet would allow; though thankfully they did feel much better than when she had come home.

Downstairs, while Ryan waited on her to be done, he made a couple of much needed calls before he headed up the stairs to their bedroom to pick an outfit from his vast closet. He walked to her closet, grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, carried them in to his walk-in closet. He set her clothes down and touched a couple of shirts, thinking them over before he decided to go with picking out his pants first. He had finally picked out an outfit when Holly came into the bedroom, a towel wrapped around her torso, leaving little to his already filled in imagination.

Holly blushed at the look her boyfriend gave her. She knew she should be used to the look by now, but every time it caught her off guard, leaving her blushing like no tomorrow. She smiled through her blush and headed over to her walk-in closet, going in and shutting the closet doors once she was inside.

He chuckled, knowing it was because she was wanting to surprise him with the outfit she was going to be wearing out. They had seen each other naked so it didn’t matter anymore. He changed into his outfit and grabbed his messenger bag, throwing a spare set of her clothes in it, along with a spare set of his own before he headed out of the room. He headed outside, being quiet about opening and shutting the front door, and then the trunk of his car, before he threw the bag inside and went back inside to wait for her.

- - - - -

Ryan smiled over at her as he drove towards the restaurant and placed his hand over hers on her leg, keeping his other hand on the steering wheel. When she returned the smile he looked back to the road and took the turn they needed. It was a little hard to find a spot, but luckily they did and he got out of the car, walking around to open the door for her to get out of the car. He helped her out of the car and walking with her to the door of the restaurant, that he also opened for her, allowing her to go inside first.

Walking with her to the podium, he held her hand as they waited for the man speaking on the restaurant’s phone to finish up, or acknowledge them. After a few minutes, both Ryan and Holly were fidgeting a little since a small line was starting to form behind them. Ryan cleared his throat, earning a look from the maitre de, that he quickly returned himself. “Excuse me, sir?”

The maitre de lifted an eyebrow, the look clearly reading that he was shocked Ryan would dare speak to him when he was on the phone, that he sent a sideways glance at before holding up his index finger. He shook his head, rolling his eyes before he finished up the phone call and hung up the phone, turning his eyes to Ryan. “What can I do for you, sir?” He questioned, his tone suggesting it was a bother to even speak back to Ryan.

“I’m here for my dinner reservation,” Ryan answered, trying to keep his tone as nice as possible. “It should be under Ross.”

The maitre de, whose name tag read Francis, gave a small scoff and looked to the list in front of him. “I don’t see you on here,” he said as he looked down the list, too quickly to have seen if Ryan was actually on it or not.

“Sir, if you could check the list again, that would be great, because I know I’m on it,” Ryan said, his anger threatening to leak through.

Francis gave another roll of his eyes before gave the list an actual look, putting his finger on the name, as if it might disappear if he didn’t. “Oh, look at that,” he mused. “Well then, just for two?”

“Yes, for two,” Ryan said as Francis came out from behind his podium and grabbed two menus, walking towards the dining area, touching the chair of a table.

“Is this good enough for you, sir, or would you prefer somewhere else?” Francis asked, but there was an under-lying hint in his tone that read loud and clear he didn’t want to be bothered with finding a seat for the two.

“This will be fine,” Ryan said as he pulled out the chair so Holly could take her seat. “Thank you,” he said as Francis set the menus down on the table and stalked off, as if he had been greatly offended.

Unfortunately the experience at the restaurant didn’t get any better, but only worse. The waiter that finally came over got their food and drink orders wrong, so the food had to be sent back, only for the right stuff to finally reach the table burnt for her, undercooked for him. Finally after a couple of attempts, they finally got their food, the right order, made the way it was supposed to be, and they were finally getting to talk about something besides how to beat up the kitchen staff, the waiter, and Francis, the maitre de from Hell.

He took a sip of his drink, smiling a little. “I’m sorry this dinner has been such a train wreck, Holly,” he said as he set his glass down and picked up his fork. “I honestly don’t remember the service, or food, being this bad before.”

Holly shook her head as she swallowed the bite of food she had in her mouth. “Ryan, it’s not your fault,” she said before she took a sip of her drink, swallowing it and then smiling at him. “You didn’t know it would be like this. It happens.”

“Yeah, I know.” He bit his lip before he took a bite of his food, slowly chewing it. It took him almost a full minute to swallow, but when he did, he took a long sip of his drink. “Holly, baby, I lo-”

“Oh, my, God, Ryan fucking Ross!” Cried out a voice from nowhere before a girl, who couldn’t have been more than seventeen latched herself on to Ryan, startling just about everyone in the semi-quiet restaurant. “I knew it was you!”

Ryan gave Holly an apologetic look over the girl’s shoulder, but he nearly shrunk back at the look she was giving the girl’s unsuspecting back. He mouthed an apology to his girlfriend, before mouthing an apology to the woman that was seated not too far away from him, glaring at him as if he had called the girl over and told her to freak out. “Um, excuse me?” He managed to get out, trying to gently remove himself from the girl’s clutches.

She looked at him, an oddly expectant look as she beamed at him. “Yes, Ryan, baby?”

He gave a nervous chuckle, his eyes darting to Holly, before they landed back on the girl, whose name he didn’t even know. “Um, I’m very sorry, but my girlfriend and I were eating din-”

Suddenly the friendly smile turned into an angry, offended face as the girl snapped at him. “So you’re saying your girlfriend is more important than your fans?” She demanded, her hands going to her hips. “She’s not the one that put the millions in your pockets, people like me, are. We should be number one in your world, not some sleaze you picked up off some street corner.”

Ryan frowned at her. “I’m sorry hon, but one, I don’t even know your name, but you have no right to talk about the love of my life like that. Two, fans like you are the scary, stalker ones that make it so I can’t even have a dinner date with my own girlfriend. Three, I appreciate my fans, I love them all, but Holly is number one in my world, fans, even my family, come second to her. If you want an autograph I’ll give you one, but after that I’d really like it if you left.”

The girl stared at him for a long moment, her eyebrow arched in defiance and disbelief before she scowled. “I don’t want your fucking autograph anyway. Screw you, and your girlfriend,” she spat before she stalked off, leaving the other patrons of the restaurant staring at him and Holly, who was trying her hardest to keep from beating the Hell out of the little twat.

Ryan gave a sigh of defeat as he waved the waiter over. When the waiter finally made his way over, Ryan looked up at him. “Can I get the check please?” He requested.

“After all that fuss you put up, you want to leave before your food is even finished?” The waiter questioned, obviously irritated by all the walking back and forth he had been made to do, as if it wasn’t already his job.

“You know what, fuck it,” Ryan growled out as he stood up, startling the waiter. “I have put up with the asshole at the entrance, and I’ve dealt with your crappy service, I’ve even dealt with our food being messed up I forget how many times; all with a fucking smile on my face. The least you could do is understand, after all of that, why I would want to leave.” He took out his wallet, removing some 20s and set them on the table. “That should fucking cover it, even though it’s not even worth that much.”

Holly was a bit caught off guard by the outburst, but she did agree that it was warranted . She stood up and took his hand when he extended it to her, walking with him through the sea of stares and out the front doors. When he opened the car door for her, she moved to him and wrapped her arms around his mid-section, snuggling her face into his shoulder. “I love you,” she whispered to him, smiling when she felt his arms go around her, his body relaxing against her.

“I love you too, Holly,” he replied as he rubbed the small of her back. “I’m sorry I acted like that in there,” he said as he slowly pulled back to look at her. “I shouldn’t have been like that.”

Holly shook her head before she placed a soft kiss on his lower lip. “It’s okay Ryrie,” she said with a smile. “Really, it’s not your fault. One of us were bound to snap if one more thing had gone wrong. I was about to when your psycho, now ex, fan pretty much verbally attacked us.”

A deep frown creased his forehead as he remembered what the fan had said about her. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“Stop apologizing for everything that’s gone wrong,” she said with a stern tone, but a small smile, wanting him to know she wasn’t mad at him. “You didn’t pay those people to act like that and you didn’t intend for our food to get messed up. So how is it your fault, for you to be apologizing like you are?” When he gave a small shrug and started to look to the side, she smiled and gently turned his head, kissing him again. “I think I made my point. So, Mr. Ross, are we headed home after this?”

He smiled when he remembered the last part of his plans for the night, having forgotten them by the time everything had been going on at the stupid restaurant. “Actually, there is one last stop before we go home,” he said as he put his hands on her hips.

“Is it another surprise, or can I know?” She asked, smiling as she moved her arms from around his mid-section and wrapped them around his shoulders.

Ryan shook his head as he smiled down at her. “It’s a surprise of course, so hop on it and let’s get going,” he said before he kissed the top of her head and let go of her, shutting the car door once she was inside the vehicle. He got in and backed out of the parking spot, heading towards their next destination.

- - - - -

Holly looked out at the small waves crashing against the shore, and then down at her strapless blue dress, and then to Ryan, biting her lip. “Um, baby… I think I’m a little too over-dressed to go for a walk on the beach,” she said as she looked back out at the waves again. She did want to walk on the beach, but she didn’t want to ruin the dress, especially after how much she had paid for it.

Ryan chuckled as he twirled his keys on his index finger. “I think I can fix that,” he said as he walked to the rear of his car, opening the trunk. He wiggled his finger at her, for her to come to him, as he took out his messenger bag. When she was standing next to him, he took out the spare set of clothes he had brought for her and handed them over. “I already thought ahead,” he said with a smile.

Holly couldn’t help but giggle in amusement at how well he had thought it through. “When did you get these set aside?” She questioned as she set the pants on the side of the trunk since he had decided to go ahead and change his shirt out in the open. She pulled the shirt on over the top of the strapless dress.

“I did it while you were in the bathroom,” he answered as he slid off his shoes, doing a quick look around before he undid his suit’s pants. “I put the change of clothes in my messenger bag, and then while you were getting ready, I took them out to the car so you wouldn’t be wracking your mind all night, trying to figure out what was going on, if you should see them.”

By the time, he was done explaining it all to her, he had changed his clothes and was working on putting the suit in his bag, and she was folding up her dress, after sliding it off, over the jeans she had slid on underneath it. She handed him the dress, letting him put it in the bag, before she took off her shoes. “I’m going to go put these in the front seat,” she said as she took off her socks, too, and put them in the shoes. “Want me to put yours there while I’m at it?”

“Only if you want to hon,” he said as he handed her his shoes before he zipped up his pants.

While she put their shoes in the car, he walked around to the front of the car and leaned against it, waiting for her, watching the small waves to pass the time. When she came to stand beside him, he took her hand in his and walked with her down to the shore, both walking slowly in the softer sand areas to keep from falling. The one time she stumbled because of the soft sand shifting, he caught her by the elbow, keeping her from falling.

Holly and Ryan both smiled as they walked together on the beach, just out of the reach of the water that was still lapping at the shorelines. Anytime the water managed to reach them, tickling their feet with its coolness, they would giggle or laugh and keep walking. It had been a while since they were out like this, without the guys of his band, or without the paparazzi buzzards circling them, so it was very enjoyable for the both of them. No crazy fans to interrupt was another good bonus.

Holly had been completely surprised by Ryan’s last plan for their anniversary night, since they hadn’t been to the beach in such a long time. She had been without him, with friends, but for some reason she always found it nicer when she was with him.

Ryan looked over at his girlfriend, and he couldn’t help but smile as he thought about how lucky he was to have someone like her. She understood him, they had so many similar interests, and she never used him, or treated him like other girlfriends had in the past. She got along with a vast majority of his friends, and she always understood when he had to leave her side to go on tour. But, most important of all, she loved him. He had found true love in this girl and he hoped he could spend the rest of their lifetime by her side.

She smiled over at him, when he gave her hand a small squeeze, before she returned the squeeze. She furrowed her brow in confusion when she heard an odd noise coming from behind them. Looking behind them, she tried to see the cause of it, but with how dark it was, thanks to it being a new moon night, she couldn’t see what could be causing it. The most light they had was from the lights coming from the hotels and condos that were by the road, and that light wasn‘t very much help. The wind had been pretty strong, but it wasn’t the wind that was making the noise. They stopped walking as Ryan turned his head in the direction she was looking.

“What are you looking at, hon?” He questioned.

“Do you hear that weird noise?” She asked in reply, narrowing her eyes to see if that would help her see any better. It wasn’t until she noticed the sand, not too far away from her and Ryan, was getting darker, as if some weird shadow was moving towards them, darkening the sand as it did moved.

Their confusion turned into a shocking realization as rain moved in on them, pelting them as they yelped in surprise and ran towards the pier that was closer than the car, even though both were pretty far away with how far they had walked by the time the rain hit. They learned quickly that there was no outrunning the rain, since they were soaked before they got within 50 feet of the pier.

They came to a stop underneath the pier, panting softly from having run so far, so fast, and Ryan leaned against one of the support beams, frowning as he angrily wiped the hair from his face. He heard soft laughter, and looked up at Holly, who was looking out at the rain, in the direction they had come from, to see her laughing as she leaned against one of the beams.

When she didn’t hear any laughter, she looked behind herself, at Ryan, her laughter stopping when she saw the frown on his face. Walking over to him, she took his hand in hers. “Baby, what’s wrong?” She questioned, confused.

Ryan sighed and ran his free hand over his wet hair. “It just seems like everything is going wrong for us tonight,” he answered. “I’ve been trying to make tonight special for you, and everything I’ve done, something goes wrong. The restaurant, shitty attitudes, horrible food, psycho fan. Even here. I was about to…never mind… It’s just not working out tonight, that’s all…”

Holly leaned up and kissed him softly. “Ryan, it’s okay. Tonight has been special… You know how?” When he lifted his brow to show he was curious, she kissed him again. “Not one time, here, or at the crappy food place, have we seen the flash of a camera. I can handle the attitudes and bad food, but the buzzards? They haven’t shown up tonight, not once. And, I’ve had the whole night alone with you, with no interruptions from the label, or from anyone that knows us. It’s been a night, one Hell of a night,” she said with a smile that made him smile, “with you and you alone. So, it had been special, even if you didn’t see it that way.”

Ryan smiled more, unable to keep a frown around his gorgeous girlfriend, and slid his arms around her, holding her close as she stepped into his arms. “You know what? You’re right,” he mused in agreement before he gave a soft chuckle. “You are absolutely right.”

“I know I am,” Holly said before she giggled and leaned up, kissing him softly.

Ryan returned the kiss, rubbing the small of her back as he closed his eyes and let the kiss grow a little deeper since they hadn’t had a real kiss all night. He sighed softly as she brought her hand up and lightly played with the hair that was matted to his neck by the rain, before he slowly broke the kiss, smiling at her. “Do you want your anniversary gift, or do you want to wait until we get home?” He questioned, smiling as he lightly rested his forehead against Holly’s.

“Would it be okay if I got it now?” Holly questioned, shifting her gaze so that she could look up into her love’s eyes.

“Now, would I have offered if it wasn’t okay?” He asked with a smile. “My silly, little girl, of course it would be okay if you got it now.” He kissed her softly before slightly pulling back. “So, now that we have that cleared up, would you like to get it now?” He asked again, rubbing the small of her back as he did so; at the same time removing his forehead from hers. When she nodded, a wide, excited smile on her face now, he pulled away from their embrace and slipped his hand into his pocket, pulling out a thin, white box; a ribbon that was wrapped around it and tied into a bow held it shut.

Holly tilted her head as she looked at the box in question, slowly taking it from him. She looked at him, earning a sheepish, almost nervous, smile, before she untied the knot and removed the ribbon. Seeing the width of the almost flat, square, box, had made her suspect an anklet, or maybe a bracelet, but not the ring that lay on the cotton insert when she removed the lid. Her heart began to pound as hard as the rain on the pier above them as she looked from the ring to him as he took the ring from the cotton it lay on and knelt before her. “Ry-Ryan?” She stuttered, her heart pounding harder as he gently took her free hand into his own.

“Holly… I love you,” he said softly, his eyes holding her own. “You are special to me, and dear to me, more important to me than anyone or anything in this whole world. I look at you and I see my best friend, my girlfriend, and my future, all in one gorgeous, smart, caring person. I can’t imagine my life without you anymore, and to be honest, I don’t want to.” He paused to place a soft kiss on her slightly trembling hand before looking up at her. “Please, Holly, say you’ll marry me? Make me the luckiest, and happiest, man alive?”

Holly slowly sunk down until she was on her knees in front of him, her lips crashing against his own as her arms wrapped around his neck. She sniffled into the kiss before she broke away, smiling at him as she managed a nod, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. She watched as he gently unwrapped her arms from around his neck, just as gently taking hold of her left hand, and slid the ring on to her finger, kissing the back of her hand afterwards.

“I love you, baby,” he said as he rose to his feet, gently helping her up.

“I love you too, Ry,” she said as she looked at her hand, at the ring that was now claiming her as his to the world, or anyone who saw it. “I wasn’t expecting this, not at all,” she whispered.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to do since the restaurant, but as I said, something kept going wrong,” he said with a small chuckle. “That’s why I was so frustrated when it started pouring like it is. I was about too when it chased us under the pier.”

“Aw, baby,” she murmured as she hugged him, kissing his cheek. “No wonder…”

Ryan smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. “God, I love you. I just can’t wait until we can go back to the car so you can see your ring.”

Holly chewed her lip for a moment before running her fingers through his hair. “How about, until we can get back to the car, I give you your gift?” She questioned.

Ryan gave her a confused look, wondering where she could be hiding what she got him since her purse was in the car, and he hadn’t noticed any out of place bumps in her pockets when they were walking down the beach. “Sounds fine to me,” he answered.

Holly slid her hand into her pants pocket and took out her Sidekick, her heart pounding once more, even harder than before as she began going through her photos. “The original is much more clear than looking at it on the phone, but I didn’t want to risk anything happening to the original so it’s still at home,” she said as she stopped on the picture she was looking for, selecting it, and handed the Sidekick to Ryan.

Ryan gave a confused look as he took the phone, looking at the screen to see what she wanted to show him. He stared, his eyes going wide as he mind registered what it was he was looking at a picture of. He hadn’t realized he was holding his breath until he gave a shaky exhale, his eyes lifting from the picture of the sonogram to look at Holly, who was waiting anxiously for his response. He looked back down to the picture on the screen, staring at the baby that was his, and hers, before he closed the picture and closed the space between them, kissing her deeply as he slid the phone into her pocket before pulling her close.

[Author's Note: I hope you liked it Holly hon! I worked my butt off on it and thankfully it turned out good, in my opinion at least. But since this is for you, it's all about if you like it or not! I kept trying to make the fic about the beach like you asked, but I couldn't think of ANYTHING that worked out right. You wouldn't believe how many paper balls Nicole had to play with by the time I finally got this going lol. Lemme know what you think of it!]