DISCLAIMER: The Kids from Fame belong to MGM Studios. The song used here is "Forever Love", sung by Reba MeEntire, written by Liz Hengber, Deanna Bryant and Sunny Russ, and is available on the "If You See Him" album.
The tables were cleaned, the chairs were stacked, the till was balanced, and the last customer was well home and tucked up in bed when Bruno Martelli finally decided to call it a night. He looked around him as he went, checking that everything was in it's place and turned off as he went upstairs to the appartment above the coffee shop that Caruso was letting him stay in.
"Finished at last," he muttered to himself, flicking off the light switch, and feeling both relief and sadness as he said it.
Relief that a long and busy Friday night was finally over.
And sadness that this was the last night he was ever going to do this. He was returning to L.A. the next evening, having finally secured the publishing deal he had always dreamed of. Mike had agreed to step in as manager until Caruso got back, and Caruso himself had practically ordered Bruno to go to L.A. when he told him about the offer. Thinking of Caruso made Bruno smile. He had taken him in off the streets three years ago when his pop died, and had done the same thing again when Bruno returned to New York last summer. He loved this coffee house, loved the memories he had there. He was going to miss it.
His last night had been fairly hectic, all the regulars came by to say their farewells - Mr Sipowicz and all his family had stayed until Bruno jokingly threatened to call the police and have them arrested. Still, that had been nothing compared to his last leaving party from Caruso's - what a party that had been! The place had been jammed with kids from the School of the Arts, with hardly room to stand comfortably, never mind dance. Some of the kids had solved the problem by literally dancing on the tables. Bruno had expected Caruso to blow his top, but he'd just laughed. "It's strange Bruno" he'd said, interrupting Bruno's profuse apologies as they watched Eartha and Leroy defy the laws of gravity and seemingly decency on one of the tables. "This usually drives me nuts....but I think I'm gonna miss it."
Bruno knew how he felt - this place sometimes drove him crazy too. But he knew he was going to miss it.
And as he let himself into the appartment, he knew that this was what he was going to miss most of all.
The appartment was small - one room, split into a kitchen and sitting room, with a bedroom and bathroom hidden at the rear. The stairwell from the coffee shop opened directly onto the sitting room, so it was ideal for Bruno when he was working late. Some may have thought the place cramped, but Bruno preferred to think of it as cosy. His favourite feature of it was the open fireplace. Some of his best song ideas had come while he was staring into that fire.
Now, however, he wasn't looking at the fire.
He was looking at the sofa in front of the fire.
In particular, the lady asleep on the sofa in front of the fire.
This was without doubt his favourite part of the evening, the time when he came up the stairs and opened the door, knowing that he'd find her waiting for him. Sometimes, she'd be busy working on an assignment that had to be done for school, or quietly reading. Occassionally, she'd be looking at the television. And sometimes, it'd be like it was now. She'd have fallen asleep waiting for him.
The love of his life - Nicole Chapman.
At times like this, he was always careful not to wake her right away. Eventually he would, but first, he'd just stand there and watch her sleep. There was something about the peaceful smile on her face, the way the firelight flickered across her features that relaxed him, made him feel peaceful and happy.
He wanted to remember the way she looked right at this moment.
It was going to have to see him through a long time without her.
As he knew she would, she began to stir as he looked at her. He supposed that deep down she'd heard the door open, heard him come in. He squatted down beside her and kissed her forehead. Her eyes blinked open and she smiled sleepily up at him.
"Hi"
"Hi yourself,"
"Is it late?" she asked, struggling into a sitting position.
"No more so than usual," Bruno replied, sitting down beside her. With a contented sigh, she positioned herself so that his arms were around her and her head was on his shoulder.
"I thought you'd be later," she told him. "It was quite a crowd."
He smiled. "I should have made you leave earlier. Mr S was never going to leave while you were still there. He kept asking me to get you to sing."
Nicole smiled. "He kept asking me too."
"I think you have yourself a fan there. Should I be worried?"
Nicole planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "Hardly."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Then Bruno sighed. "I'm going to miss you."
"Don't Bruno." Nicole's tone was that of a person who had had this conversation before and had no wish to do so again.
"I can't help it. I've just waited for so long to meet you. Now I have to lose you again."
"It's not forever Bruno. I graduate in the summer. I'll come out then. It's not that long."
"It just seems like it."
"I know," Nicole sighed. "I feel the same way."
They were silent for a while longer. Then Bruno spoke up again. "I wrote a song."
"Another one?" Nicole's voice betrayed her amusement.
Bruno wisely refused to comment on that. "I'd really like to hear you sing it." He reached over to the table beside him and took up some sheet music.
Nicole sat up properly and looked over it. "I love it."
"It's from something you said to me."
"I know. I remember. I told you that Jesse was my first love. But that you were my forever love."
"That sparked something in me. And I wrote the rest of the song about us." He paused. "So, are you going to sing it for me?"
"I'd love to." They walked over to the keyboard set up in the corner, and Bruno began to play.
The first time I laid my eyes on you I knew
We'd spend this life side by side.
I still feel the same though you're so far away.
I swear that you'll always be my....
Forever love.
I promise you.
Someday we'll be together.
Forever love.
I won't give up.
No matter what.
I'll be waiting for you.
Forever love.
Minutes and hours and years may go by
But my heart knows nothing of time.
So don't cry, just keep me right there
In your dreams.
And hold on to these words of mine.
Forever love.
I promise you.
Someday we'll be together.
Forever love.
I won't give up.
No matter what.
I'll be waiting for you.
Forever love.
Love is the road to our destiny.
Nothing can change what is meant to be.
Forever love.
I promise you.
Someday we'll be together.
Forever love.
I won't give up.
No matter what.
I'll be waiting for you.
Forever love.
Yes, I'll be waiting for you
Forever Love.
Nicole closed her eyes as she sang. Bruno really had written this song about the two of them. They both agreed that the first time they had met, there had been an instant attraction between them, an attraction that had been impossible to deny. No matter what happened, they had to be together. And even though they were going to be apart, on opposite sides of the country, they were both determined that they were going to stay together.
When she was finished, she rested her head on his shoulder. "I love you," she said simply.
Bruno tilted her head up to his and kissed her. "I love you too," he said. "That's what the song's about."
"I kinda figured that out," Nicole laughed.
Bruno laughed too. "I mean it," he said seriously. "I love you. And the reason I wrote this song, is that we're going to be apart." He took a deep breath. "And there's going to be times when we don't get to talk to each other for a while, when we haven't had a chance to write to each other...and I just wanted to have something to remind us that we will be together. That we will get through this. That we have someone waiting for us on the other side of this." His hand caressed the side of her face. "I'll be waiting for you Nicole."
Nicole kissed him, long and hard. "You'd better," she joked. "Because I'm going to be counting the minutes until I join you in L.A."
Bruno pulled her into a hug. "You and me both."
"What time do you have to be at the airport tomorrow?" Nicole broke the silence this time.
"Half six, tomorrow evening."
"So we've got all morning and afternoon together."
"Yeah." Bruno paused, wondering how to phrase the question he knew had to be asked. "It's late Nicole," he told her. "What are you doing tonight?"
Nicole smiled against his shoulder, knowing what he was asking her. "My parents think I'm staying over at Reggie's."
"And Reggie....?"
"Thinks I've gone to see my birth mother for the weekend."
Bruno smiled, amazed for what seemed like the hundreth time that they'd never been caught out in all the time they'd been seeing each other. "So I have you all to myself," he said jokingly.
He may have been joking, but Nicole answered him seriously. "Always," she said kissing him again.
ONE YEAR LATER
Bruno walked into his appartment in L.A. and sat down with a sigh. It had been a rough day in the studio. This wasn't the first time he had produced one of his own songs, but it was by far the most difficult.
It was the singer and the crew that he felt sorriest for. They were used to Bruno being demanding, expecting perfection, even being picky. But the mood he was in today...that wasn't the mild mannered songwriter they were used to seeing.
He was going to have to go in there tomorrow, apologies at the ready. He knew well that one of the most successful singers in America wasn't going to take kindly to the kind of advice that he'd been dishing out to her all day.
It wasn't her fault. One of the most successful singers in the country she may have been, but she wasn't his first choice to sing this song. Not even close.
His first choice was someone he'd said goodbye to in a cold New York graveyard a few months ago.
Standing up, he put a tape into the machine and closed his eyes. The familiar introduction to a song filtered through the speakers. At least, it should be familiar - it was the song they'd struggled with all day.
Sung the way it was sung in his dreams every night.
It still amazed him that no matter how many times he heard this song, he was still moved to tears by this particular recording of it. Nicole had recorded it herself, and sent it to him along with the first letter she'd written after he left New York. Just her voice and a piano - that was all it took to transport him back in time to when he and Nicole had been together and in love.
He'd thought they'd be together forever, and he'd been right.
Forever was just a little bit shorter than they'd thought.
What brought tears to his eyes was the irony in the lyrics. When he wrote them, they were a reminder to Nicole, and to himself too, that the separation was only temporary. That someday, they'd be together.
But now they took on a new meaning, one that he remembered every time he played the song.
The first time I laid my eyes on you I knew.
We'd spend this life side by side.
He remembered with a smile the first time he saw her - coming into Caruso's to get out of a thunderstorm, soaked to the skin. The place was empty at the time, and he knew how close she'd come to walking straight back out again. The lure of a dry place to sit had won out, despite being literally the only person in the room. That was something Bruno had been thankful for ever since. Her beauty had been obvious from the moment she walked in, but even that hadn't prepared Bruno for the feelings that overtook him when she looked through his music and began to play his newest song. Normally, he would have been furious with anyone taking that liberty, but Nicole had sung it so perfectly, so beautiful that he couldn't be angry at her. He had half fallen in love with her when she walked in the door, but singing the song, he was spellbound. He knew right then and there that no matter what happened, he had to get to know this girl. When he did, he fell in love with her all over again.
And miracle of all miracles, she felt the same way about him.
I still feel the same though you're so far away.
I swear that you'll always be my....
Forever love.
I promise you.
Someday we'll be together.
Forever love.
I won't give up.
No matter what.
I'll be waiting for you.
Forever love.
When he first wrote that, it had meant that even though he was going to be in L.A, and she was going to be in New York, that he'd always feel the same way about her. No matter how far apart in distance they were, in their hearts, in their souls, they were always going to be together. He'd even dreamed about marrying her. He had a half plan that he'd propose when she joined him, after she graduated. In spite of their youth, he knew that the answer would have been yes. He'd once made an off the cuff remark about what they'd do when they were married, and had nearly bitten off his tongue when he realised what he'd said. Then he looked at Nicole, and saw the smile on her face, and the look in her eyes, and knew that the same things were on her mind. He felt terrible that day he got on the plane to L.A and left her, but he knew that in a few months, she'd be following him out.
But then she'd left him. And he couldn't follow her.
Minutes and hours and years may go by.
But my heart knows nothing of time.
There were absolutely no words to describe the pain that Bruno felt when he heard those words. It described exactly how he felt. Ever since he'd received Danny's letter, telling him that Nicole had died, there had been an ache inside him. He kept waiting for time to ease it, for it to get easier, but so far it hadn't. He wondered if it ever would.
So don't cry, just keep me right there.
In your dreams.
And hold on to these words of mine.
A fresh wave of pain hit him when he heard this. He always felt as if Nicole were speaking just to him, as if she were telling him to be brave, and to go with his life, and to remember her, and the love that they shared.
Forever love.
I promise you.
Someday we'll be together.
Forever love.
I won't give up.
No matter what.
I'll be waiting for you.
Forever love.
These were the words that gave Bruno hope. While his original meaning had been that he was going to be in L.A, waiting for Nicole to join him, now it was as if Nicole was reminding him that even though they were apart now, one day, they'd be together again. That wherever she was now, she was waiting for him, and watching over him...his very own guardian angel. It was strange, Bruno reflected, that he had so many of them - his mother, his father, and now Nicole.
Love is the road to our destiny.
Nothing can change what is meant to be.
Although he hadn't known it at the time, this was the truest thing that Bruno had ever written. He believed with everything in him that he and Nicole were meant to meet, were meant to love each other. In the short time they were together, she had taught him so much about love, about what real love was. He had grown as a person, and as a songwriter because of her. Their relationship was the best thing to ever happen to him.
A couple of times after she died, Bruno had thought about what would have happened if she had walked out of Caruso's that first night. Or if she'd never have come in at all, if she had kept on walking through the storm. Or if they'd allowed their common sense to over-rule their feelings, and not kept on seeing each other because of her relationship with Jesse. He'd considered a thousand scenarios, all of which involved him not loving Nicole.
Those thoughts had brought him to an astonishing conclusion.
He could barely remember a time when he hadn't loved her. And if he could remember events, he certainly couldn't remember how he felt, the way he thought about things.
His life began when she came into it.
And no matter what the outcome, no matter the cost, no matter the pain, he knew that he was grateful for the love they had. It was the most extraordinary thing he'd ever known, and he knew without question that he was a better person for having loved her.
No matter how terrible losing her had been, never knowing her would have been worse.
Forever love.
I promise you.
Someday we'll be together.
Forever love.
I won't give up.
No matter what.
I'll be waiting for you.
Forever love.
Yes, I'll be waiting for you
Forever Love.
Smiling now, Bruno turned off the tape recorder, and began to get things ready for tomorrow, and another day at the studio, sure that they'd be able to get the recording done.
He knew that it wouldn't be the same as this one. Truth be told, he didn't want it to be the same as this one. This recording was his, and his alone. Like his relationship with Nicole, it was something that the general public would never know about.
The song would be shared, but the inspiration was his secret.
A secret between him and his Nicole - his forever love.