London, England 1938

Alex was sitting on his bed, staring at the wall when Rick came in. He sat down on the edge of the bed and watched him for a long time before finally speaking up. "Alex?....Anything wrong? Where's Val?-"

"I don't want to talk about it!" He snapped. Rick held up his hands.
"Fine. Leave me out of it. But if you need to talk-"
"NO I don't. Leave me alone!"

Rick got up and quietly left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Alex then started talking to himself.

"Should I go apoligize? I mean, it was kinda my fault..."
"No! It wasn't yours, it was hers!"
"Yeah I guess your right....But I miss her."
"No, no, you don't. You're just used to her being around."
"That can be it. But why do I hurt so much?"

He buried his face in his pillow.

*****

Valancy was lying on her bed when her mother came in. "It's time for dinner."

"I'm not hungry."
"Are you sure? Where's Alex-"
"Ugh! I don't want anything! Go away!"

She left the room, leaving Val to herself. She clutched the necklace that he had given to her three years ago in her hand. A tear rolled down her cheek. She didn't even remember how the argument had begun, but it had ended up with both of them storming out on each other. She started wishing she could go back in time and take everything back.

*****

It had already been a week and no sign of Alex or Val. They have not even eaten. The parents decided they needed to take action. They were all in the living room of O'connell manor.

"Anybody have any bright ideas?"
"Well, talking with them doesn't work."
"Exactly."
"We're just gonna have to get them together in the same place at the same time."
"But how?"
"We're gonna have to lie of course."
"Lie? Won't they be mad at us?"
"Believe me, they'll thank us later."
"If you say so. So what is your plan?"
"Well, tonight at dinner...................."

*****

Evie came in his room, to find Alex lying on the bed staring at the ceiling. "Get up, Alex, and clean up. Dinner is in another hour."
"I'm not hungry."
"Yes you *are*. We're going somewhere special. So get up!"
"But-"
"NOW!" Alex sighed and sat up.

*****

Alex dragged behind his parents as they walked through the park. There wasn't a lot of people there around dinner time and the weather was just right. Rick stopped and turned around. "Alex, go meet us over there. We'll be back." He pointed to a very secluded spot by a bunch of trees. Somebody had already spread out a blanket and even had a picnic basket.

"But how'd-"
"Just go. We'll be right back." And they were off before he could say anything. He reluctantly made his way over. He was almost there when he looked up and noticed somebody else, about 6 feet away, heading towards the same blanket. It was Val.
"What are *you* doing here?!" They both exclaimed.
"I have a feeling." Alex said and glared at the thought of their parents.
"Yeah." She looked him over. He looked terrible...............not that she had the room to talk.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"So..." He stood awkwardly for a minute. "What have you been up to?"
"Oh, I've been..........great! Just so busy. So much time on my hands now."
He nodded. "Yeah, me too...................."
She added, "Actually, I've been spending more time with Michael lately."
Alex tried to hide the anger, keeping in mind to pound him later. "That's......That's great......I've been with Nicole for the past week. She's really fun....."
Val tried not to act surprised, thinking she was going to have to hurt the girl later. "That's nice. Maybe we could all go out sometime."
"NO, I don't think so."
She stared at him. "Why not?"
Before any of them knew it, they were in each others arms. Alex held her close.
"Because I would rather be with you and only you."
"I like that.........a lot."
He smiled and looked down on her. "So did you really go out with Michael?"
"No....what about you and Nicole?"
"No way! Why would I go out with her?!"
"I don't know. That's what I was wondering." She laughed.
"I've been lost without you."
"I didn't know what to do without you either. Let's just promise we wont do this again." She told him, looking into his eyes.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, too."

And then their lips met.