The eyes are what grabbed AJ’s attention. The green eyes that any emerald would be jealous of found his across the room and he was immediately drawn to their owner. Everything about her intrigued him from the beginning. Her tattoos that seemed to tell her life story; her style that was both girly and tough at the same time; her hair that was naturally so dark he’d thought he would get lost in the abyss. He had to know her.

That Sunday night, he was rewarded with her phone number, and he wasn’t exactly sure what he had said, but she was leaving the club with him. He sped down Ventura Blvd. on the way to his place, chatting with her. He realized the first time she laughed he wanted to hear that sound the rest of his life. He did everything he could that night to make her laugh, and the melody that graced his ears told him he was doing a good job. He was glad the next morning when she was still there, in his arms.

He was even more glad the next month, when she had stuck around.

******

                Sunday rolled around. AJ and Cori had declared Sunday’s their lazy days.

                Lazy was one thing, but it was 2 in the afternoon and she was still asleep.

                With a wicked grin, AJ decided now was the time to wake her up. He began by placing soft kisses along her shoulder and collarbone, but when she didn’t flinch, he got more aggressive, nibbling her throat before covering her entire face with kisses. When she started to roll away from him, he tickled her sides before pinning her arms down and kissing her lips deeply. He smiled as she responded to the kiss, her fingers lacing with his. As he relaxed, Cori forced him off her, straddling him, before leaning down to kiss him.

                This was going to be a great lazy Sunday.

******

                “They’re going to love you,” AJ whispered in Cori’s ear. He was holding her hand as they walked into the restaurant, and was starting to wonder if she was cutting off the circulation to his fingers.

                “Parents always hate me,” Cori whispered, stepping closer to AJ. He released her hand and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

                “My mother only wants me happy, and you make me happy, so she’s going to love you,” he whispered in her ear before kissing just behind her ear lobe. “I love you, that’s enough for her,” he said before nibbling her ear gently.

                “Alexander, it’s Sunday! Didn’t I teach you to keep it Holy?” his mother admonished, seeing the lovers embrace. “You must be Cori,” she said, extending her hand.

                AJ laughed softly and made the introductions, sitting down to enjoy the meal. He relaxed visibly as he saw his mother try to make Cori feel more comfortable as well. He loved both those women so much, and he was glad things seemed to be going well with them through the meal.

******

                “You know you can be an asshole sometimes!” Cori yelled at him as she started packing her things up.  “I can’t believe you said that about my mother!”

                “Where are you going?” he asked, noticing she was throwing clothes in a bag.

                “Anywhere so long as it’s away from YOU!” she screamed, picking up a picture and throwing it at him.

                AJ caught the picture deftly and carefully set it down on their coffee table. “You don’t need to go anywhere, I’ll sleep on the couch,” he said, hoping to make everything go away. So much for their lazy Sunday.

                “You called my mother a cheap whore!” she screamed, throwing something else at him.

                AJ tried to catch this one as well, but the vase slipped out of his hands, crashing on the tile, shattering. “It’s not like you’ve never said that about her, either! She called you a lazy bitch, what did you want me to do, sit back and not defend you?”

                “YOU CALLED MY MOTHER A CHEAP WHORE!” she screamed again, angrily zipping up her overnight bag, breaking the zipper. She huffed and put the broken bag over her shoulder, storming past him to the door.

                AJ sighed, watching her go, “Call me when you calm-“ He wasn’t able to finish the sentence as he heard the door slamming.

******

                AJ rubbed his eyes. It had been entirely too long since he’d last seen Cori. He really should have gone after her the night of their fight. Maybe if he had, things would have been different. If he had followed her, maybe they’d be fine now. They would have kissed and made up until the early hours of the morning.

                But the fact of the matter was she was no longer there in his house. Her laughter haunted his mind, but didn’t grace the halls. Her eyes looked back at him from the few pictures he hadn’t taken down. Her clothes long put into boxes and taken away.

                He looked at his watch. Sunday. Of course it was Sunday. It was their lazy day, and he hadn’t done anything that day except miss her.

It was time to do something about that.

AJ stood up and grabbed his car keys, heading outside. He climbed into his jag and began zipping through the Hollywood Hills, Cori still haunting his mind. No girl had ever affected him like this, and he was afraid no girl ever would.

                He finally found the place he was looking for, picking a few wild flowers before walking in. He wandered around for a few minutes before releasing a breath and made his way over.

                He knelt down next to the stone, placing the flowers on the fresh grave, surprised the grass was all ready growing in.

                Tears formed in his eyes as he began tracing Cori’s name with his finger. He still blamed himself for the accident, thinking if he had just gone after her, maybe the accident could have been prevented.

                Instead, he was forced to live with all this pain and torment, and “What if’s” and “what could have beens.”

                He sat there in silence for nearly an hour, before eventually whispering, “I miss you so damn much, Cor…”