The Best Day
Belle opened her eyes when she felt the
cool breeze touch her face. Five minutes ago she was having a picnic under a gazebo in
the park, and now she was sitting in a small wooden kayak surrounded by raging
waters. She searched around hoping
to find an oar so she could row herself safely back to shore.
The boat was empty aside from a jar of green jelly beans.
She looked all around her in every direction trying to find someone who
would help her. She finally spotted
two figures on the edge of the water. They
were surrounded by fog, so Belle had to squint to make them out.
It was Brady and Chloe, only Brady was dressed in a Superman costume and
Chloe was dressed in green hospital scrubs.
They were holding hands and staring blankly at her.
Belle screamed out, desperate
for help. "BRADY!
CHLOE! HELP ME!
HEEEEELP! I NEED YOUR
HELP!"
Brady & Chloe shook their
heads mournfully and spoke in unison, "No, Isabella.
You took the goat cheese. We
can't help you any more."
Belle heard the water behind
her rage louder, and as she turned, her kayak dropped down an enormous
waterfall. She screamed at the top
of her lungs, knowing that if she hit the bottom she would surely die.
All of a sudden, she felt a pair of strong arms grasp her and pull her
away from danger. She opened her
eyes and looked up into the brown eyes of Shawn Brady.
She sighed in relief, "Shawn... you saved me..."
Shawn grinned, "Well...
I knew this hot air balloon would come in handy eventually..."
Belle threw him a confused
glance, "Huh...?"
Shawn smiled at her and took
her in his arms, "Shhhh... you're safe now, Belle.
You're safe with me." He
leaned forward and was just about to press lips to hers, when....
"WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?
WHO! WHO! WHO! WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?"
Belle sat straight up in bed
and knocked her clock radio to the floor beside the bed.
She wiped the sleep out of her eyes, and groaned in frustration.
"Bahhhhhhhhh... figures.", she muttered to herself.
She rolled the rest of the way out of bed and headed to her bathroom to
get her self together. She noticed her clock on the floor and realized that she had
slept 30 minutes later than she was supposed to.
"Great.... guess I'll have to forego the hairdryer and half of my
beauty routine today... fun."
She quickly showered, brushed
her hair, and put a very minimal amount of makeup on.
She grabbed a clean change of clothes out of her closet, hoping it would
be just clean and acceptable enough to volunteer at the hospital for the day.
She had no time for a fashion crisis, but ever since they had started
allowing the volunteers to wear street clothes and nametags only, she had to at
least make sure she looked somewhat presentable.
Belle ran downstairs, praying
that somebody had made some coffee this morning.
She'd do anything for a caffeine boost on a morning like this.
She reached the kitchen where she found her older brother devouring a
bowl of Frosted Flakes. "Good
morning, Brady..."
She noticed that there was
still coffee in the pot, and thought her prayers had been answered.
Until she grabbed the pot and realized it was old and icy cold.
Belle's jaw dropped in shock. "IT'S
COLD... AHHH! This.... this...
SUCKS."
Brady looked up from his
cereal and nodded in sympathy. "Yeah.
Dad made it this morning, but he and Marlena both left early.
So, I think it's been sitting there for 2 hours."
Belle sighed and frowned at
the coffee pot. "Well, I'll
just have to drink it cold then. I
don't have time to heat it up." Belled
poured some into a cup and took a large swig.
"Blehhhhhhhhh. This
tastes like… yuuuuck."
Brady grinned at her.
"Awww, come on Belle. It's
like one of those iced mocha frappucino half-caf double tall latte
thingy-ma-bob's that you always get at Dot.Com"
Belle smirked and rolled her
eyes. "Oh yeah, Brady. It's
*just* like it... only TERRIBLE. Echhh.
I guess it's better than nothing though."
Belle grimaced and took another quick swig before putting the cup in the
sink.
"Hey Belle... you might
want to grab an umbrella." He held up the newspaper in front of her and pointed at the
forecast. "They say there's a
mighty good chance of rain today."
Belle sighed deeply, "I
can't... I left my umbrella at Shawn's house a week ago and keep forgetting to
get it from him. This is going to
be such a woooonderful day, I can tell already.
I should've stayed in bed."
Brady stood up and put his
cereal bowl in the dishwasher. "Well, Belle... it's not going to be *all*
bad. You wonderful brother is going
to drive you to the hospital this morning."
Belle sighed in relief,
"Oh Brady. Thank you so
much."
Brady shrugged his shoulders,
"Well... It's not like I have anything else to do..."
Belle gave her brother a
slight smile and they headed downstairs to Brady's van.
As she was getting into the van, Belle looked up at the sky, and could
see that the newspaper was predicting correctly.
The sky was gray and filled with clouds, not a bit of blue sky or a even
a glimpse of the sun could be seen all over Salem.
Belle climbed in, and Brady
began the drive to the hospital. Belle
reached into her backpack hoping that she would find her nametag here, and she
hadn't left it in the jeans she wore yesterday.
She dug deeper and found a picture that Shawn had given her last night
when she was at his house. She
chuckled softly to herself and smiled when she saw it.
Brady took a quick glance in
her direction, "What is it?"
"Oh... Last night at
Shawn's, his mom found this picture in an old photo album and gave it to me.
Remember when I had my 8th birthday party?"
Brady laughed,
"Remember? How could I forget?
That was when you and Shawn got in that fight with the cake icing...
Marlena tried so hard to be mad at you for making such a mess, but she couldn't
because you two looked so adorable all dolled up in birthday cake."
Brady rested at a red light,
and Belle showed him the picture. An
8 year old Shawn and Belle had there arms wrapped around each other and were
smiling widely at the camera. Only,
you could just barely tell it was Shawn and Belle.
Their faces faces were literally covered in the white icing, and you
could only see Belle's big blue eyes and Shawn's chocolate brown eyes peeking
out behind the mess.
Belle laughed out loud.
"Oh geez. The look on
mom's face... well, it's something I will never forget."
Brady nodded and laughed with
her. Belle slipped the picture back
into her bag just as the light was turning green again.
"Anyway... I was going to hang it on the wall with my other pictures
last night, but I just forgot to get it out."
Belle thought to herself, < But, I'm glad I forgot.
Just seeing this picture made this day not as bad as it was before.
Thoughts of Shawn Brady are always happy thoughts. >
She dug a bit deeper into her backpack and finally dug out her blue and
white nametag and pinned it to her shirt.
Brady and Belle remained
mostly silent the rest of the way to the hospital.
Brady was concentrating on the road, and Belle seemed lost in thought.
He dropped her off at the front doors, and she quickly thanked him for
the ride and ran inside just in the nick of time.
She was about 45 seconds away from being late.
Belle breathed a sigh of
relief as she signed in for the day on time, and thought to herself, < Okay,
I got off to a bad start, but it just has to get better. >
***
Three hours later, she knew
she had been wrong. About a half
hour into her shift, her head began to pound.
She went into the lounge and took a few aspirin.
Aspirin which had promised to start working in less than an hour.
No more would she believe the lies of pharmaceutical companies.
Not only had the aspirin failed to work, but the pain in her head had
increased tenfold.
She walked over to the
nearest nurse’s station and leaned against the counter.
Every now and then the pain would make her pause and close her eyes.
She sat there in darkness for a moment until a voice in front of her
disturbed her. “Belle?
Are you okay?”
Belle fluttered her eyes open
and saw Dr. Wesley standing in front of her, “Dr. Wesley…. Yeah, I’m fine.
Just had a headache all morning…Probably because I didn’t really eat
breakfast, that’s all.”
Dr. Wesley looked concerned.
“Are you sure you’re alright then?
If you need to go home early….”
Belle shook her head and
smiled weakly, “No, no… I’ll be fine.
I’m just gonna go and get a drink of water. Thank you though…”
Craig smiled back at her,
“You’re welcome, Belle. Remember,
if you don’t think you’ll be able to make it to the end of the day, just
find me or Nurse Brenda and we’ll let you go home… okay?”
Belle nodded and watched him
go. She stepped into the lounge and
got a cup of water from the cooler. She
emptied the cup and threw it into the trash by the door.
As she was about to go back in the hallway, the lounge phone rang and she
ran to pick it up.
“Uhm… second floor
lounge? Hello?”
“Oh good, it’s you.”
Belle smiled at the sound of
his voice. “Shawn?
How did you know I’d be in here?”
“I called the nurse’s
station, and she transferred me here. The
nurse at the desk said she saw you go in the lounge.
So, here I am… What’s up? How’s
your day going?”
“Better now, actually.
Much better. So, this is
unexpected. Nice though. Why the surprise phone call?”
Belle absently twirled the phone cord between her fingers.
“Welllll… I just wanted
to see if you were busy tonight. You
know, maybe we could hang out or something.”
“Hmm.
I had planned to come home, fall asleep and pretend that this day
didn’t happen. I’ve got a
headache bigger than this entire building.
But, your idea sounds a lot better.”
“Geez.
That bad huh?”
“Mmm.
Yeah. Could be worse
though…”
“So, what time are you
leaving?”
“I’ll be outta here at
4:00. I think I’ll take the bus
home. Don’t wanna walk, and my
mom has to be here for a meeting so she’s not leaving until 6 tonight..
Anyway, you can come to my house at like, 5 o’clock, okay?”
“Okay… I’ll see you
there. Hope you feel better,
Belle.”
“Thanks, Shawn.
Bye.”
"Bye”
She heard the line go dead on
Shawn’s end, and she still held the phone to her ear.
It was amazing how just two minutes on the phone with him could make such
a difference. Her head was still
aching, but the rest of her felt warm and happy.
She smiled to herself and placed the phone back on the hook.
For every bad or mildly irritating moment in her 16 years, Shawn had been
there. And, he always made it feel
better. Just one smile from Shawn,
or the sound of his voice made all her other problems feel insignificant.
She smiled to herself and
made her way back into the hospital hallway.
***
Around 3 o’clock…
Belle had finished her rounds
in the children’s ward for the day and had decided to take another rest at the
nurse’s station. She massaged her
forehead with one hand, hoping she could magically make the pain disappear.
She had felt a bit better after eating a quick sandwich in the cafeteria,
but that faded about an hour ago. Now,
the headache was back in full force, and showed no signs of fading.
She took in a deep breath and moved her hand away from her face when she
saw Nurse Brenda heading towards her.
“Belle… Dr. Wesley told
me you haven’t been feeling well today. Why don’t you go home a little early? You’re all finished here anyway, just go home and rest
up…”
Belle nodded and smiled
weakly, “Thank you… so much. Maybe
I can catch the 3 o’clock bus so I can get home quicker.”
Brenda smiled and waved her
off, “Take care, Belle.”
Belle hurried into the lounge
and grabbed her backpack. She ran
to the bus stop, but arrived too late. The bus was already halfway down the block and Belle knew
there was no way she could catch it. She
plopped herself down on the bench with a groan just as the sky above her opened
up and began to rain. Belle threw
her hands up in frustration and began to yell at the top of her lungs, “WHAT
THE HECK? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS
DAY? BAHH!”
She sighed deeply, then looked around her to make sure that nobody was
around to hear her sudden and embarrassing outburst.
She stood up and trudged down
the sidewalk to head home. All the
while she prayed that nothing more could go wrong… like being hit by lightning
or something. < Yeah, wouldn’t
that just be the cherry on top of my sundae. > She thought.
***
Shawn stood outside the door
to the Black penthouse. He was
beginning to get worried about Belle, the hospital had told him she left early,
and he hoped that she hadn’t been in an accident or something terrible like
that. He tried to dial her cell
phone again, but she must have left it turned off by mistake. Just
as he was placing the phone in his back pocket, he saw her step off of the
elevator. She stood there staring
at him, dripping from head to toe. Not
an inch of her was dry, and she was shivering slightly.
He stepped towards her and
wrapped his arms around her trying to warm her up.
“Belle… you’re freezing to death.”
Belle looked up and nodded
weakly. Even in this state, Shawn
couldn’t help but think about how beautiful she looked.
Even soaking wet, with her hair and makeup in a mess, she was still
perfect. Some of her blonde hair
was matted and stuck to her face. Shawn reached his hand up and stroked it away gently.
She smiled at him, and whispered in a weak voice.
“Shawn… You’re here.”
“Yup.
I was going to pick you up at the hospital, but when I called they said
you left early. So, I came here to
meet you. What happened to you?”
Belle sighed, “Missed the
bus. It rained a lot.
I walked home.”
“Well, let’s get inside.
You need to dry off before you get sick or something.”
Belle took her keys out of
her pocket and began to unlock the door. She muttered under her breath, “Geez… now you sound like
my mom…”
Shawn followed her inside and
grinned, “Well, I’m just concerned. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Now, stand right here and I’ll go get you some towels.”
He turned around and rushed off to the bathroom.
Belle did as she was told.
She was far too tired to even think about moving.
Shawn dashed back into the room only moments later carrying 2 big white
fluffy towels. He wrapped one
around her shoulders and handed her the other one to pat herself dry.
She quickly patted her hair and the rest of her, but still shivered as
she did it. Shawn stopped her
efforts and impulsively wrapped her in his arms.
He tried to share his warmth with her to stop her shivering, and she
leaned into his embrace and sighed.
“So… how’s your
headache?”
Belle just leaned her head
into his chest. “Don’t even
notice it’s there right now.”
Shawn stroked her hair gently
and soothingly. “Well, that’s a
pretty good cure you must have.”
Belle lifted her head and
looked up at him, “Not my cure. Yours.”
Shawn looked perplexed,
“Mine? How’s that?”
Belle paused and then looked
at him seriously, “Shawn. I guess
I realized something today. So,
just hear me out and don’t go running for the hills when I tell you.”
Shawn smiled at her, “Of
course not. You know I’m always
here for you.”
Belle nodded and continued,
“I know. And that’s part of
what I have to say. I mean,
Shawn… you may not have noticed it. But,
I’ve had these… uhm, feelings for you lately.
Like, feelings that you and I are more than just friends… Do you know
what I’m mean?”
Shawn grinned in
embarrassment and felt his face start to blush, “Actually.
I think I know exactly what you mean… I guess I… well, I think I feel
the same too.”
“Well, it’s not just that
Shawn. It’s… Well, I realized
that no matter what kind of a bad day I’ve had, or what kind of terrible thing
that has happened to me. The one
thing that has always made me feel better is… you.
Today was a bad day, Shawn. A
terrible day. But, whenever I
thought of you… I didn’t even notice it.
You turned a bad day into a great day… And, you’ve always been able
to do that for me. Nobody else can
do that. Just you.”
Shawn placed his hand on her
cheek and leaned in close and placed his lips on hers.
Their first kiss was even better than he could have wished it would be.
Despite the fact that her body was freezing, Belle’s lips were warm and
soft and gentle. She was perfect to
him, and he couldn’t imagine any thing that would feel as good as this.
Nothing in the world would ever compare to this moment right now.
Belle broke the kiss off when
she heard footsteps in the hallway outside.
She looked up into Shawn’s eyes and whispered, “Thank you…”
“For the kiss?”
Belle grinned at him,
“Well… that was good too. But,
I meant… Thank you for being everything that you are, Shawn Brady.”
Shawn now heard the keys
turning in the lock and leaned against the back of the couch.
“No… thank you Belle…”
The two shared a brief smile
with each other and turned to face Brady as he walked through the door.
He shut the door behind him and as he clanked his soaking wet sister up
and down, he grinned evilly and asked, “Soooo, Belle…. How was *your*
day?”
Belle looked briefly at
Shawn, then looked back at her brother, smiled widely and said just one word.
“Perfect.”
The End
By the way, I came up with
this fic while listening to my Dido CD. (For the record, I could probably write 10 different stories
just from listening to that CD… Sheesh.)
The song that inspired it all
follows:
Thank You
By D. Armstrong & P.
Herman
My
tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window and I can't see at all
And even if I could it'd all be gray, but your picture on my wall
It reminds me that it's not so bad, it's not so bad
I drank too much last night, got bills to pay, my head just feels in pain
I missed the bus and there'll be hell today, I'm late for work again
And even if I'm there, they'll all imply that I might not last the day
And then you call me and it's not so bad, it's not so bad and
I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life
Push the door I'm home at last and I'm soaking through and through
Then you handed me a towel and all I see is you
And even if my house falls down now, I wouldn't have a clue
Because you're near me and
I want to thank you for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you is having the best day of my life.