||02||Love In the Past||02||

2.

Within the six years they had been seperated, they changed. They changed because they weren't happy with those who accompanied them but what they do. They drowned their misery by finding their happiness within their work even though they weren't finding it in their new found relationships. Even, though they were miserable on the inside, they would mask it with their happiness from their long-term success. They may have made it to the peak of their professions and are supposedly in love but they have't found that peace within them like when they were together. Nathaniel Angel Ray and Riley Delilah Cohen. Forever.

Nathaniel leaned upon the window, looking at the view of the snowy mountain terrain. His crystal blue eyes scanned the mesmorizing scenery of his captivating land. A smirk creeped on the corners of his lips, as he watched the first crystals of winter, lightly, fall upon the earth. They glistened and sparkled under the sun's rays and some dissapitated before they, even, graced the ground. He loved the fact, that only he could see this. The beauty and the art of nature, was one that many couldn't learn how to appreciate or comprehend. He was happy that he was the few chosen.

As his spirits, slowly, creeped up to new heights, thay crashed back down at the dreadful reminder of this day. He pushed himself away from the wall of his bedroom and sauntered himself over to his bed, pulled up the mattress, and pulled out a small enchanting box. He closed his eyes and breathed in at the memories of this day, dealing with this enclosed case. His hands roamed over the box closing it into an airtight grasp. As much as he hated this cursed thing he couldn't dispose of it. It seemed more of a reminder of her and not of this day.

Nathaniel dragged himself out to his balcony and placed the black case out of his grasp and onto his greek-inspired table. His blue orbs held onto the black encasement. Within it was a 20k diamond, the biggest diamond ring that the store held at the time. It had cost him two million dollars but it was worth it at the time. He, of course, was happy and he thought she would share the mutual feeling but it was evident that she didn't. He was lucky that he could pay it off. He had earned a smacking ten million dollars from his first film. It was unexpected that the film would make such an endorsement but it did pay for the ring.

Six years ago, on this very day, was the last time he opened the box. He had made it a habit to bring it out on this day to remind himself to never serve your heart on a diamond ring to a woman, any of them. It was this day when she left, it was, also, the day when his happiness left with her. He couldn't explain why it had and he was confused by it. It, being the fact that whenever he opened his old album her face was the face that made him smile, even, when he was depressed by it. It was the memory of her, that made him want to go on in all of hollywood's treachery and lose himself in it. It was the ring that reminded him, constantly, not to lose himself in his success that took Hollywood and the world by surprise. It was the drive of his love for her that kept him going for more.

Riley walked down the valley plains, it reminded her of him. The winter's wind stroked the caramel surfaces of her skin and combed through the many curls of her dark toned hair, it reminded her of him. Her chestnut brown eyes scanned the golden waves of the plains, it reminded her of him. She held her hands up towards the cloudy heavens as the first snow drops fell from the skies. A couple fell upon her hands and glistened a hue of purple and blue, it reminded her of him. She breathed in the deep fresh smell of the valley plains because it reminded her of him.

Riley came to a halt at the valley's heart and she caressed the plains' grass. It tickled the palm of her hand and sent sensations of happiness through her body. It wasn't much that made her happy not, even, her current borderline boyfriend could make her as happy as the sight of this or the reminder of him. Her current borderline boyfriend couldn't even handle the her recent drinking problem or her frequent disappearances. Which would lead Riley, lying under the stars, with a hangover, in old Ray's fields. She wouldn't, even, know how and when she reached here but she never questioned her heart's desire. She already knew why she was here. Something her current borderline boyfriend couldn't suffice.

Riley's eyes skimmed the heart of the golden land until it reached an unevenly cut patch of golden grass. She stepped through the plains, carefully, as not to crush them beneath her feet but that was impossible due to the fact that there was five strands of grass that sprouted out of a centimeter of dirt. Once, she came to the uneven spot of grass, she huddled down beside it on her knees while she uprooted the grass that grew there. Soon enough, she was digging through the dirt digging for her own personal version of treasure which golden tips were exposed to the new winter's cold winds. In a few minutes, she had tugged it from her mini-version of a dig site.

It revealed itself to be nothing more than an old yellow piece of laminated paper rolled up by a couple of rubberbands. But to Riley it wasn't just a piece of aging paper, it was apart of her. All of her drawings she created were of her because they came from her heart, her mind, and her hands but this one. This one was a creation from her heart. On the bottom, laid the title of her creation called 'The Heart's Desire'. Placed at the center of the drawing, laid the rough sketching of a man's facial structure.

Riley traced the rough outlinings of the curly hair cascading over the man's eyes, casting them into it's usual darkness. Whenever he was feeling anything they managed to surface from his beautiful crystal eyes and he would cast them into the shadows. She traced the soft outline of his lips and remininsed about how softly and passionately they caressed her own. Her hand swept over his illuminated portrait. She shook her head at the image of his facial physique, six years ago.

This was the man that she was in love with, even though, she had a current borderline boyfriend awaiting her presence at her house. But she wouldn't come. She would lie under the stars and reminince over another man that would never look at her with those enchanting sapphire eyes of his. A man that would never love her like he did when they were together or a man that would never spare a smile her way. But she couldn't allow herself to think like that. She would dream of a man who still does love her. A man who smiles, revealing his rather appealing dimples, when she's a mile within his radar. A man whose heart still races at the sight of her, even if she has dark bags under her eyelids, a lazy smile, and bed hair. She would dream of that man because that's exactly how she felt and still feels about him.