Over the Moon
Apr. 17th, 2012 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
intheheartTitle: Over the Moon
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Rachel's first year in Boston.
Notes: Anyone remember Rachel? If you don't, she's Ivy's cousin.
Warnings: adultery
Oh! Darling, Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy
Oh! Darling, please believe me
I'll never let you down
She chose Boston because it was the polar opposite of Los Angeles. Cold where LA was warm, puritanical where LA was hedonistic, wise and old where LA was young and brash. She chose it sight unseen, but when she got there, she loved everything about it-- the brownstones with their iron railings, the impossibly confusing twists of the streets. She even went to church a few times, just for the experience of it.
Oh, yes, she thought, hurrying through the snow in her first Boston blizzard. Her toes were freezing and her nose was numb, and she'd never been happier.
Over the Moon, Rent
Only thing to do is jump over the moon
Over the moon
"Are you running away?" her dad had asked, when she told him.
"No," Rachel had said, shocked. "No, not at all. What would I be running from?"
He shrugged, and gestured around them, at the whole world. "This. The divorce. I don't know."
She snickered. "You know, Mom said the same thing?"
He shook his head. "I guess we still think alike on some things."
Rachel ignored that. "I'm not running, Dad. I'm... I'm taking a leap of faith."
"We all have to do it sometime," he said. "You know I love you, honey?"
"Yeah, Dad." She smiled. "I know.
Chariot's Rise, Lizzie West
I took the notes of past excursions
And I read them through once more
She found her diaries in the bottom of a box when she was unpacking in her new apartment. She hadn't kept a diary for years-- had stopped, in fact, just before her parents divorced. Curious, she cracked one open, and spent the whole afternoon sitting on the floor, unpacking forgotten, turning the pages in the warm sunlight.
She'd been such an optimistic kid. Such a little fool, hoping for things that could never happen, could never come true. But... and this was a surprise... she'd obviously known her parents' marriage was ending before they did.
Maybe not such a fool.
When I See You Smile, Bic Runga
When I see you smile, it feels like I'm falling
It's not for anybody else to know
Damien was her boss, twelve years older than she was, married, and a mistake in every conceivable way, and yet... he was irresistable.
Rachel tried to figure it out, tried to understand why she'd agree to be a secret. But she never could get beyond his smile, though, the sudden splash of brightness that lit up his unhandsome face and made him utterly beautiful.
She saw it for the first time in the middle of work, and fell right then and there.
She saw it now in his bed, and couldn't bring herself to care that this was all wrong.
Only Ashes, Something Corporate
Incinerate what's left of this
and torch the part of me that's you
She quit, after it ended.
Not that she had to. Damien was still a good man-- well, mostly-- and he never would have made her leave, never would have made her uncomfortable or alluded in word or deed to the mistake they'd made. She was the one who couldn't look him in the face for fear she'd remember what he'd made her.
So she quit. She had savings, and a good resume. She'd find another job. She'd find someone else to keep her warm. She'd made the right choice.
She had to keep believing that, or she'd break down completely.
The Sun Will Rise, Kelly Clarkson
The sun will rise
The sun will rise
When you've lost your lights
She left Damien and her job in the middle of winter, when the nights were long and the days grey and dark. She shuffled through the city, pushed her way through the snow with increasing lassitude. What was the point anymore?
Except there was a point. She just couldn't see it. There was something, some reason. A neon sunrise flashing in a convenience store window, a small child pausing to give a homeless man a sandwich, a man standing on the corner with a sign that read "Smile! You're beautiful!" Small beauties. Small reasons.
They'd build her up again soon.
No One Is Alone, Into the Woods
Someone is on your side
No one is alone
Her father came to visit her unexpectedly when she was at her worst. She must not have hidden it well enough, because his smile vanished, and he exclaimed, "Rachel, what's wrong?"
She told him. She hadn't meant to, but she did. She told him everything, from Damien to the winter, and how impossibly lonely she was in her small cold apartment in the dark winter.
He held her, and kissed her forehead, and said, "No, no. You're not alone. You're never alone. I've got you, sweetie. You're never alone."
Rachel closed her eyes, took in his cologne, and believed him.
Time, Backstreet Boys
Time, look where we are and what we've been through
Time, sharing our dreams
The phone rang, and Rachel scrambled over her couch to get it. She caught up the handset, paused before answering to catch her breath, then said, in her most professional voice, "Rachel Weston."
"Ms. Weston?" The receptionist at the TV station where she'd applied, sounding cheerful. Hope bubbled up in her chest. "This is Elaine, from Boston Local. You applied for a job with us."
"Yes, ma'am, I did." She bit her lip, trying not to count her chickens. Don't expect too much...
"We'd like you to start immediately," Elaine said, and Rachel barely managed not to whoop with joy.
Saint Simon, The Shins
I'll try hard not to give in
Batten down to fare the wind
She met Damien again six months later, at some kind of meeting that her station was doing with his. She was grateful, afterwards, that she'd dressed very professionally: her curly red hair scraped back into a ruthless bun, her business suit of severe cut and color. There was nothing alluring about her, and it helped her keep steady when she saw him, that plain face and that wonderful smile.
"I'm single now," he'd said. "Divorced two months ago."
"That's lovely for you," she'd said, and went away and cried.
She was proud of this much, at least: it stayed over.
I Feel Lucky, Mary Chapin Carpenter
I feel lucky, brrrrr, I feel lucky, yeah
Think I'll flip a coin, I'm a winner either way
Mmmmmm, I feel lucky today
The next Monday was a sunny summer day, the perfect weather that everyone in Boston yearned for. Rachel left work early, changed into her favorite blue tank top, and took her new little dog Ashton for a walk, iPod humming in her ears. Her neighbors smiled and waved as she jogged past, Ashton in tow, her favorite songs playing in her ears.
She felt on top of the world today, like nothing could go wrong again. Because nothing could, anymore. She'd taken all Boston could throw at her, and she still loved it.
She'd made the right choice, coming here.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Rachel's first year in Boston.
Notes: Anyone remember Rachel? If you don't, she's Ivy's cousin.
Warnings: adultery
Oh! Darling, please believe me
I'll never let you down
She chose Boston because it was the polar opposite of Los Angeles. Cold where LA was warm, puritanical where LA was hedonistic, wise and old where LA was young and brash. She chose it sight unseen, but when she got there, she loved everything about it-- the brownstones with their iron railings, the impossibly confusing twists of the streets. She even went to church a few times, just for the experience of it.
Oh, yes, she thought, hurrying through the snow in her first Boston blizzard. Her toes were freezing and her nose was numb, and she'd never been happier.
Only thing to do is jump over the moon
Over the moon
"Are you running away?" her dad had asked, when she told him.
"No," Rachel had said, shocked. "No, not at all. What would I be running from?"
He shrugged, and gestured around them, at the whole world. "This. The divorce. I don't know."
She snickered. "You know, Mom said the same thing?"
He shook his head. "I guess we still think alike on some things."
Rachel ignored that. "I'm not running, Dad. I'm... I'm taking a leap of faith."
"We all have to do it sometime," he said. "You know I love you, honey?"
"Yeah, Dad." She smiled. "I know.
I took the notes of past excursions
And I read them through once more
She found her diaries in the bottom of a box when she was unpacking in her new apartment. She hadn't kept a diary for years-- had stopped, in fact, just before her parents divorced. Curious, she cracked one open, and spent the whole afternoon sitting on the floor, unpacking forgotten, turning the pages in the warm sunlight.
She'd been such an optimistic kid. Such a little fool, hoping for things that could never happen, could never come true. But... and this was a surprise... she'd obviously known her parents' marriage was ending before they did.
Maybe not such a fool.
When I see you smile, it feels like I'm falling
It's not for anybody else to know
Damien was her boss, twelve years older than she was, married, and a mistake in every conceivable way, and yet... he was irresistable.
Rachel tried to figure it out, tried to understand why she'd agree to be a secret. But she never could get beyond his smile, though, the sudden splash of brightness that lit up his unhandsome face and made him utterly beautiful.
She saw it for the first time in the middle of work, and fell right then and there.
She saw it now in his bed, and couldn't bring herself to care that this was all wrong.
Incinerate what's left of this
and torch the part of me that's you
She quit, after it ended.
Not that she had to. Damien was still a good man-- well, mostly-- and he never would have made her leave, never would have made her uncomfortable or alluded in word or deed to the mistake they'd made. She was the one who couldn't look him in the face for fear she'd remember what he'd made her.
So she quit. She had savings, and a good resume. She'd find another job. She'd find someone else to keep her warm. She'd made the right choice.
She had to keep believing that, or she'd break down completely.
The sun will rise
The sun will rise
When you've lost your lights
She left Damien and her job in the middle of winter, when the nights were long and the days grey and dark. She shuffled through the city, pushed her way through the snow with increasing lassitude. What was the point anymore?
Except there was a point. She just couldn't see it. There was something, some reason. A neon sunrise flashing in a convenience store window, a small child pausing to give a homeless man a sandwich, a man standing on the corner with a sign that read "Smile! You're beautiful!" Small beauties. Small reasons.
They'd build her up again soon.
Someone is on your side
No one is alone
Her father came to visit her unexpectedly when she was at her worst. She must not have hidden it well enough, because his smile vanished, and he exclaimed, "Rachel, what's wrong?"
She told him. She hadn't meant to, but she did. She told him everything, from Damien to the winter, and how impossibly lonely she was in her small cold apartment in the dark winter.
He held her, and kissed her forehead, and said, "No, no. You're not alone. You're never alone. I've got you, sweetie. You're never alone."
Rachel closed her eyes, took in his cologne, and believed him.
Time, look where we are and what we've been through
Time, sharing our dreams
The phone rang, and Rachel scrambled over her couch to get it. She caught up the handset, paused before answering to catch her breath, then said, in her most professional voice, "Rachel Weston."
"Ms. Weston?" The receptionist at the TV station where she'd applied, sounding cheerful. Hope bubbled up in her chest. "This is Elaine, from Boston Local. You applied for a job with us."
"Yes, ma'am, I did." She bit her lip, trying not to count her chickens. Don't expect too much...
"We'd like you to start immediately," Elaine said, and Rachel barely managed not to whoop with joy.
I'll try hard not to give in
Batten down to fare the wind
She met Damien again six months later, at some kind of meeting that her station was doing with his. She was grateful, afterwards, that she'd dressed very professionally: her curly red hair scraped back into a ruthless bun, her business suit of severe cut and color. There was nothing alluring about her, and it helped her keep steady when she saw him, that plain face and that wonderful smile.
"I'm single now," he'd said. "Divorced two months ago."
"That's lovely for you," she'd said, and went away and cried.
She was proud of this much, at least: it stayed over.
I feel lucky, brrrrr, I feel lucky, yeah
Think I'll flip a coin, I'm a winner either way
Mmmmmm, I feel lucky today
The next Monday was a sunny summer day, the perfect weather that everyone in Boston yearned for. Rachel left work early, changed into her favorite blue tank top, and took her new little dog Ashton for a walk, iPod humming in her ears. Her neighbors smiled and waved as she jogged past, Ashton in tow, her favorite songs playing in her ears.
She felt on top of the world today, like nothing could go wrong again. Because nothing could, anymore. She'd taken all Boston could throw at her, and she still loved it.
She'd made the right choice, coming here.
