Why Not?

 Not that anyone knew, cause she'd rather have stuck pins in her eyes than tell a single soul, but there were so many more reasons that Kelly was so hardcore into celebrating Shelly De Luca than anybody realised. Though now that she though of it, if she were being really honest, she wasn't just celebrating- understatement of the century. No, she was completely loving Shelly De Luca. 

Kelly balked at questions of how or why. "Nuh uh." She raised a single finger in the air. "No, no, no. The real question," she paused for dramatic effect. "The real question is why not? The question is how could you not." She scoffed at the attempted rebuttals. 

You don't really know her. You think you do, but...  

Kelly cut in before there was the chance to say any more. "That's what you think." 

She's a big star. You're an ordinary person. She doesn't even know you exist. 

"Wanna bet?" she challenged. "Cause I'll bet that one day, she will know who I am. Just wait. You'll see." 

She's half a world away. She's across the pond, love.

Kelly shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I'll find a way." 

Eventually though, Kelly started to get sick of all the doubters. Of all the reasons why not. She gazed at the homemade poster of Shelly that adorned her wall and sighed as she surrendered to the flood of warm, fuzzy feelings that washed over her. The flood that washed away everything bad and made it all feel ok again. "Why do they have to try and pull me down, Shell?" Kelly asked the poster. "I like being in my bubble. The clouds... I love the clouds. I like being among them. I don't want to be brought down. The earth is hard." 

Kelly's breath hitched in her throat. "I know it's a fantasy, Shell. I know that. But I don't care." She looked around her room, the poster seeming to stand out, as if it were bordered with some sort of glow, maybe a spotlight shining behind it with light creeping out around the edges. Kelly nodded. Shelly was definitely the brightest thing in a world that seemed pretty dull and grey otherwise. It was like.. no. It wasn't just like.. Shelly did make Kelly's world better and brighter than it ever used to be. "The fantasy isn't hurting anybody, so why does it matter?" A hint of a smile played at her lips. She was vaguely aware it was just a projection of her imagination, but it didn't matter. She didn't care. Shelly's poster seemed to whisper to her: it doesn't. 

Kelly's grin grew a little bigger. "Which brings me back to one of my original questions." Just because she was alone in her room didn't stop Kelly from pausing for dramatic effect. "Why not?" 

There is no reason, Shelly seemed to say through the poster. 

"Exactly." Kelly's eyes sparkled with delight. "And I promise you Shell, that I will love you the way I always have. I will stand by you and be there through thick and thin, just like you've done for me. Cause why not." Kelly shook her head. "Why not? I'm hearing that so much it's like a broken record. But why not, when there are so many reasons why." She let out a breath of hot air, somewhat exasperated. "Those are what I want to focus on, Shell. More than anything. Not why not, but all the reasons why."    

You

 The young man sat on the back steps with a heavy ‘hmph’. “Why is it that all the best ones have to get stolen away?” He asked the empty yard. “First, it was Jay, then Mia, Renee, Tommy and Arnie.” His head hung low. Though no one was around, he still felt a need to at least try to hide his tears. “I know,” he whispered, picturing the face of his lost love in a puddle on the ground. “I know, Beau. You didn’t want me to cry. But losing you... it was the worst. It is the worst. Because you... you were the best. The best of all of them.” Each word he spoke was harder to get out then the last as tears streamed down his face.

The young man took a breath, trying hard to steady himself. He wanted to keep going and push through, but he wanted... no needed, to do so without having his voice quiver or break. He figured he owed Beau at least that much. “You,” he started again, “are the greatest gift I’ve ever gotten. Just you.” A montage of images, many of them moving, flashed through his mind. Of Beau, of the both of them together, happy and in love. The small smile that stretched across his lips was tinged with sadness. But he was ok with that. “If this is the price I have to pay, then so be it. Because anything is worth the chance to love and be loved by you.”

He remembered one time when they were together, laying quietly as the sunlight streaming in through the window warmed them. “You want to know something?”
“Tell me.” The young man had whispered against his lover’s lips.
“You’re my forever love.”
Just the sound of the words, spoken in Beau’s voice, almost melted him. “You’re my forever love,” he’d argued playfully. “And my every day Valentine.”
Beau’s giggle was etched in his memory, along with the cheeky smile.
“It just fits that your name is literally Valentine.” The young man smiled, both back in that moment, and again then, as he remembered the moment and relived it in his mind.

“Beau Valentine.” The name tasted like sugary syrup on his tongue, the sound a sweet symphony to his ears. “My Beau Valentine.” Beau’s smile had melted him too.

“My Beau Valentine,” the young man told the imagined reflection of his love. “My everyday valentine, my forever love. Because I choose you. Every day and forever.”