An Image of Love - Chapter Two

Waking up the next morning, you at least made it to the bed the night before and since Ville A. was downstairs in the couch you crashed in his bed. Grabbing your cellphone, you saw that it was 8 am and you had to leave at 11 am. Seeing that you had plenty time to take a shower and woke up the guys, you walked to your bag and picked up some washed jeans, V-neck violet top and a black jacket. You finally grabbed the underwear and walked to the bathroom where you undressed and hoped into the shower.

Dressing up in the bathroom with the clothes that you had already pick, you put on some eyeliner and left your straight hair down. Grabbing your bags from the room, you went downstairs and saw the guys passed out in the same position Ville and you put them yesterday. Giggling, you walked to Ville A. and shook him. He just groaned and rolled to the other side almost falling off of the couch.

"Ville come on, it's time for you to wake up"

"But I don't want to" Shaking your head you replied, "Come on, I will make you breakfast. Go take a shower while I wake up the other guys" Ville A. looked up at you and smiled, although his head hurted like a bitch he was going to have breakfast. He stood up and walked to the stairs or more like stumbling. Shaking your head you walked to Jussi and Bazie and did the same thing like with Ville A. They were the only ones that crashed last night.

The guys decided that they will go to their homes so they finished preparing everything and take showers. With 'see you's they left leaving you alone downstairs to prepare breakfast for Ville A. and you. Amazingly you found all the ingredients needed to make some pancakes and eggs with orange juice. Putting everything on a plate you saw Ville coming into the kitchen with his head on his hands.

Smiling a bit you said, "Aww is my Wille feeling hungover this beautiful and sunny morning?"

Groaning, he nodded his head since speaking was painful. Smiling, you placed an advil that you had already prepared in front of him and a glass of orange juice, which he drowned in no time. "How long until we leave?" He asked while he ate the breakfast.

Sitting in front of him, you glanced at your watch and replied, "We have one hour still, do you have everything ready?" You asked as you took a bit of your food.

Nodding his head, the two of you finished your breakfast and went to pick everything else that you wanted to take with you in the ride since the other things were going in the bunk. Grabbing all your gear you heard a knock on the door and sure enough all the guys from the two bands were there with the tour bus. Smiling you said 'hi' to everyone and went to the bus.

You left the bag on the bunk, you went into the tour bus and saw the rest of the guys because some of them were downstairs and some inside the bus. Kissing all the HIM's guys cheek and some of 69 eyes', you walked to the only spot that was available and it had to be next to Ville and Mige.

Taking out your iPod just when the bus started the engine, you thought that you could hear some music but Ville had other plans.

"So are you excited?" He spoke as everyone started drinking and laughing their asses off with poor jokes. Smiling, you nodded your head.

"Really excited, you are my two favorites bands, so you can guess how I am" You said and laughed. Ville smiled and nodded his head.

"I didn't know you like us, I thought that you only liked The 69 eyes"

"Pfft, I have loved you guys since you started"

Shocked Ville curious asked, "Really? And how did you find out about our music?"

Looking at him for the first time since you were a bit shy to look into them and get lost once again you replied, "It's a long story, you really want to know?"

Nodding, wanting to hear a good story, Ville sat more comfortably to be right in front of you and he swore that as you spoke that you got more and more beautiful.

"Well it was summer and I was at Philly at my grandparents' house, I hated to go there because it wasn't too near Philly's center it was a place called West Chester. So in the boring days I used to go out on the woods or to the streets to walk and hear music. I remember I started seeing the 'heartagram' everywhere and I wondered what was it" Taking a deep breath remembering everything, you continued, "So I get to this house with a few guys that were skating and I see that they have the same symbol on their tshirts. So I thought why not ? and walked to them asking them what was it. They at first were like 'Oh dude don't you know the band HIM?' and I felt so ignorant" You said with a laugh with made Ville laughed too,"And so that guy who told me that turned into Bam Margera, king of pranks"

Ville raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you friends with Bam Bam?"

Nodding your head, you replied "Yes, we are but I haven't seen him in so long I wonder if he still remember me"

"Me and Bam are best of friends, he told me that maybe he will join us on the tour so you might get to see him really soon"

Smiling you said, "Really? That's so cool!" And just then you were interrupted by Jussi that was a bit tipsy, 

"Char I brought you this" He said handing you a beer.

"How did you know my nickname? I'm sure Ville A. has to do something about that" Grinning Jussi nodded his head and replied, "Come on, join us on strip poker!"

"Oh guys I'm not about to leave you all naked"

"Pftt, yeah right! Come on!" He said and grabbed your arm, you turned with an apologetic looked at Ville and he just smiled.

"Go on, I will enjoy watching you guys get wasted" And Char naked, Ville thought and walked near the table.

Half an hour passed and you were drunk as fuck playing strip poker with your idols, but you were doing a pretty good job since you were with all your clothes except from your top, so you were in a black bra. You caught some of the guys staring at your naked torso and you somehow tried to cover up. But were failing since the guys somplained with 'Come on you can't hide!'

But all the guys were only in their underwears and you were laughing so hard because all they wanted to do is see you naked and you were winning by far. Jussi kept on passing beers to you and if you kept drinking you were sure you were going to pass out so saying, "Guys I'm passing out this hand of poker" You slurred drunkily which followed by everyone complaining.

"Let the poor girl alone, don't you see she is beating your asses?" Ville said with a smile to me and you smiled back. Standing up since all you wanted to do is go lay down to a bunk, you found yourself really dizzy and the sudden of it made you lost your balance and crashed on top of Ville.

"Ouhh that's an invitation for bed Wille!" Yelled Jyrki which made everyone cracked up. But Ville was lost in your eyes that were looking back at him. God, you thought in your drunk state, this guy had the most beautiful eyes you had ever ever seen.

"Are you okay, darling?" Asked Ville and he shifted and helped you up.

"I'm twotally fwine" You replied , but the truth was that you could barely stand on your feet. Ville seeing your poor attemps to walk to the bunks in the back picked you up and carried you. "Ville is getting it!" Could be heard and Ville just shook his head.

You raised your head and saw that Ville was carrying you and smiling drunkily to him you said "Thank you Ville" Before your eyes dropped to the back of your head and you passed out. Ville smiled and laid you down on one of the many bunks. He looked at you and thought once again how beautiful you were even drunk and asleep. Feeling the urge to touch your pale skin he traced his palm through your cheek, feeling a spark that he had never felt before.

Waking up at someone shaking you, you groaned as this time your head was pounding really hard, it was like someone was playing bongos in your head. Opening your eyes, you were blinded by the light and rubbing them you saw that Seppo, HIM's manager was shaking you awake.

"Yeah?" You managed to say.

"We arrived in Sweden, we are going out for breakfast, are you coming?"

Shaking your head, not really hungry, you replied "No, thank you, you go ahead I will stay here" 

Nodding his head, Seppo walked out with the rest of the guys that were just as hungover as you, but they needed a hit of caffeine as soon as possible. You on the other hand needed just to sleep the hungover.  

Seeing Seppo, Bazie asked, "Is Char coming?"

"Nope, she decided she will stay in and sleep" Nodding their heads they all walked to the breakfast place. 

Mige with his head back in his head decided to play a little, "Ville was keeping you so distract?"

Ville was just thinking, how his life broke just a few months ago when his ex girlfriend, Jonna left him for another man. And now he was amazed that for the first time he wasn't thinking so much about her. "Nothing, just thinking that's all"

Jussi decided to join in and asked, "Thinking about a certain photographer?"

Raising an eyebrow, trying to sound convincing he said, "No, I'm not gay I'm not thinking about Ville A."

 Which made Ville A. made a hurtful expression, "Oh, you are cheating me with my co worker...oh you broke my heart!" And with that everyone laughed. Ville just chuckled and didn't say anything else on the matter since he didn't feel so comfortable talking about it.

An Image of Love - Chapter One

Well the story stars here when you met a guy called Ville Akseli in a music photography exhibition. Both of you had been working for several years shooting different rockstars and both of you seemed to like the same kind of music. You exchanged cell phone’s numbers and emails and that’s where everything started.

Last week, you were sitting on your couch in the living room just watching your favorite show when your cell phone rang. Picking it up you said "Hello?"

"Hey Carla, it’s me Ville"

"Oh hey Ville! Long time not talk to you"

"Yeah that’s true I have been busy here but anyway I was calling you to make you a propose"

"Oh? And what’s it about?"

"I’m working on this photography book called ‘666 Vampire Ways’ and well basically this book will be tour photos and interviews of two bands called ‘The 69 eyes’ and ‘HIM’,  they are currently going on tour together and I was thinking if you wanted to help me and come on tour with us?"

Sitting straight in your couch, your mouth hung opened when you heard the bands that were going to be on tour. You replied, "Holy shit, are you serious?"

Hearing him laughed, he said "Of course, you know how much I love your work and I think you are perfect to work with me, really"

Oh my god, was all you could think. Here you have this guy asking you to go with him on tour with two of your favorites bands and you stupidly stayed shock "I- god Ville I don’t know what to say" Then you thought it and said OF COURSE YOU WANT TO GO!

"Come on, you have a week to think about it"

"I seriously have to think about it"

"Okay I will give you a call tomorrow and you tell me what you think" Ville said, hoping that you would agree.

"Sure, give me a call tomorrow and I will have an answer"

"Ok, then I will talk to you later, bye bye" And hanging up, you stared at your phone shocked about what had just been proposed to you. You could go on tour with your favorites bands for god knows how long and you told him that you would think about it. There was nothing to think! Of course you wanted to go and you were going to. Since you were your own boss you could take the time to go and do this work.

Waking up the next morning at your cell phone ringing you groaned and grabbed it from the nightstand. You kept telling yourself to turn it off once you go to sleep but you never learned. Answering you heard Ville’s voice in the other line, "Woke you up right?" He said laughing.

Groaning you replied "Yeah you know what time is it here?"

"Yes, it’s 11 am so get up lazy ass"

Looking up at your nightstand watch you were about to say that it was 7 am when you indeed saw that it was 11 am "Okay so you are right, I thought it was earlier"

Laughing he replied "So anyway have you think about the tour thing?"

Clearing your mind to remember what was about you said, "Oh yeah, well when is this tour starting?"

"Next week"

"Jesus Christ, is too soon I have to get things ready here before going there"

"Come on, you are your own boss what do you have to do?"

"Well I suppose this tour last at least 3 months so I need to get things done. What about my apartment? I need to let my family know I’m leaving"

"That doesn’t take a whole week, come on you know you want to"

Sighing knowing it was true you replied "Well let’s see what I can do, what about the hotels or where are we staying during the tour?"

"That’s all done all you have to do is have your camera, the rest is pure magic"

Rolling your eyes you said "Yeah pure magic…Okay as soon as I get the plane ticket I will give you a call" And hanging up you proceeded to start getting everything ready for your trip because sure as hell you weren’t missing it.

A week passed and you already had your ticket for the next day, making the last arrangements you called Ville to let him know when you were arriving into Helsinki. He was happy that you accepted since he knew you were perfect for this work and you, more than anyone, would enjoy it to the fullest.

Grabbing your bags, you looked around your apartment that you weren’t going to be for three months and smiled. Although you were going to miss it you were glad for what you were going to do.

Walking out of the plane that was now in Helsinki’s Airport, you walked to the baggage claim and waited for your bags to appear and while you did that you called Ville.

"Where are you?" I heard him said as soon as he picked up the phone.

"Next to the baggage claim picking my stuff up"

"Okay, we are just outside the baggage claim" Hanging up the phone you saw your luggage and grabbing it you walked out to where Ville A. was waiting for you. Smiling you hugged him.

"Such a long time" He said and you nodded your head.

"Yeah that’s true Ville" Looking up you saw that Ville A. was not alone, beside him was a dark haired man that you knew too well from photos and videos.

"Let me introduce you to Jyrki, which you might know" Nodding your head, a bit in awe because of seeing one of your many idols, you extended your hand to shake but he instead took it and planted a kiss on top of it. A perfect gentleman, you thought.

"Nice to meet you, darling" He said moving his dark glasses a bit so you could see those beautiful blue eyes.

"Same for you" God, this man was so beautiful, you thought. Walking to Ville A.’s car, you got in the back of it. Relaxing against the seat your eyes started to drop off and soon you were dead asleep.

When Ville A. parked his car in front of his house, he looked from the reviewer mirror and saw that you were asleep. Jyrki seeing that Ville A. turned around, he himself did the same and saw what caught his attention. Jyrki thought that you were beautiful, simple yet you had that beauty that he didn’t see that much even though he layed various women.

"So I will just carry her inside and then she can meet the guys" Ville A. said and Jyrki nodded his head. Walking out of the car Ville A. carried into the house where the rest of The 69 eyes and HIM were having some beers.

Ville shushed the guys and they quickly turned around to see Ville A. carrying a beautiful female. "Well and who’s that sleeping beauty?" Asked Jussi69 as he took a sip of his beer bottle.

"This is Carla, she must be very tired so I’m just going to lay her down on my bed and then you can meet her and we will have the talk about what we have planned for this book"

"Oh let me carry her to your bed" Said Bazie hornily and everyone laughed. Shaking his head Ville A. made his way upstairs and into his room were he laid you down in the king size bed. After closing the door he walked downstairs where the guys continued talking.

"So she is basically the only female on the tour bus" Jussi said with that look on his face that only men could understand when they wanted to make a move on a girl. Ville Valo was struck speechless at your beauty, were you even real? He thought.

"Jussi she is our photographer not a hooker" He spatted which made everyone laugh. "Photographer , hooker what’s the difference?" And again everyone cracked up. Shaking his head Ville sipped on his coffee since he had stopped drinking for about more than an year now and he was glad about it.

Waking up a few hours later feeling restless you looked around and freaked because you were in a room that you didn’t know. Quickly standing up you walked to the table that was at the corner of the room and saw a camera and it stuff. Sighing knowing that those were from Ville A. you walked to the door and seeing the stairs you went down.

Hearing voices in the living room you fixed your hair and clothes and walked into the room. Ville A. said your name and all the pair of eyes turned to you. Smiling you tried not to scream since you had  your idols in front of you. Trying to play it cool and not sound like a fool you introduced yourself and after that you sat next to Ville A.

"Well, how did you sleep?"

"Great, thank you for not waking me up…so this are the guys" Nodding his head Ville A. replied, "Yes, so let’s explain the guys what we want to do in the book"

You nodded your head and waited for him to continue, "The idea of this project is to show you guys in every aspect of the tour yet if you want to keep something private we are willing to go with your wish. We want to show what Finnish rockers are like at tours, rocking at sold out shows and how fans react to you in this case"

The guys looked at each other and thought that this idea was perfect to get other countries to know them better. "So we are basically being shoot in the tour and when we don’t want you to do it we just say it?"

"That’s right, we will be partying with you, we will be everywhere just behind you taking photos of you yet if you don’t want you will just say it" You said, your professional side coming out of you. When this mode came to you, you were serious and there was nothing that disturbed you.

"I think that this is a great idea" Ville said and you smiled at him. "Well as soon as we get the feet on the road we will start with this project. Ah and we will also make some interviews that will be included in the book" You said and they nodded their head satisfied about it.

Soon chat turned to partying and since you were leaving the next day the guys said that they had to go and party on 'Ice Bar'. You had never been there but you had already see them in photos. Getting into two cars, you drove with Jussi, Jyrki, Ville, Mige and Linde while the other guys drove in the other one.

You couldn’t stop laughing with this guys. They were hilarious and you thought to yourself that you were going to spend a good time with them. And you didn’t regret it at all.

Arriving at the Ice Bar, you walked to the VIP tables and alcohol started flowing around you. You felt a pair of eyes burning in your neck and when you turned around you saw Ville looking at you. Smiling at him you turned once again to the contest that Jussi and Gas were having about who drinks more tequila than the other. Jussi was making a poor intent on trying to beat Gas.

All the guys after finishing the contest, Jussi losing and in a very drunk state, they decided to go to the dance floor and tried to hook with any of the girls that were able to fulfill their desires. You, not being drunk, decided that you were staying behind and let the boys haunted.

But you weren’t the only one not wanting to dance since Ville didn’t go either. Taking a seat in front of you, you smiled at him and asked "Not going with the boys to 'haunt'? as Jussi refer to hook with someone" You asked Ville and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Not really in the mood for it plus they are pissed drunk and I’m barely awake" You heard him said while glancing where the guys were dancing.

"Oh well there will be other times on tour" Nodding his head Ville looked up at you and you swear when those emerald eyes turned to you it hit you hard. Those eyes held sadness and concerned as to why, you were about to ask when he spoke,

"So since we are going to be in the tour together, why don’t we get to know each other?"

Smiling, something you always did, you replied "Well as you might now my name is Carla Michaels, I have 25 years old. I have been working as a photographer since I’m 18, I have always been passionate of photography, I like to travel and well I live in Los Angeles, California" You took at deep breath which made Ville chuck,

"Well that’s something" He said and you laughed, "What about you?" You asked curiously.

"Well as you might now" He started mimicking you which made you giggled "I’m Ville Valo, lead singer from the band H.I.M., I’m 34 years old and turning 35 this 22nd of November, I love to sing and music has been my life and air"

"No doubts on that" You said and the both of you laughed. Looking up at you Ville lit one of his cigarettes and smoked on it. "Well it’s nice to meet you, are you nervous about being the only girl on the tour bus?"

"Not at all, I have been on tour with many bands such as Trashlight Vision, Hanoi Rocks and many more so I’m used to the manly manners of the guys on tour" You explained and he nodded his head.

"Well if any of this guys try to hit on you and you find it bothering I’m here to kick some of their asses" He said with a sincere smile and you gave him one back.

"Thank you Ville, you are really sweet" You and Ville continued chatting and once the guys were done with the haunting some of you got back to Ville A.’s apartment and some of them went their separate ways with their preys.

Arriving at Ville A’s house with the help of Ville you took the guys all to the couch since they were too drunk to do anything. The only sober ones there were you and Ville and since you weren’t going to take everyone to each houses you decided that they could crash there.

Once you were done you turned to Ville and he said, "Well I guess I will leave you with this, It’s time I get home or tomorrow nobody will be able to wake me up"

Nodding your head you walked with him to the door and opening the door you said your goodbyes and soon he was out of the door and walking back home. All the time he was thinking how beautiful and intelligent you were and how good you looked. He swore he had never seen such a beautiful woman. He couldn’t wait to see you again. Tomorrow seemed so far away.