My Heart Is Yours

Chapter 34

"Can I call you RJ instead?"

"What?" Richard stared at her. His eyes were wide in surprise.

"I'm sorry," Maine stammered. "It was silly of me. It won't - "

"No!" He cut her off. "RJ...RJ's fine. I don't mind. I actually prefer it even. I was just surprised. That's all."

"Really?"

"Yes," he replied with a smile that showed how deep his dimple was. It was like Alden's. "So please, call me RJ."

"Okay," she smiled in reply. "RJ it is."

Maine looked at him and noticed a different sparkle in Richard's eyes when she called him "RJ". But she couldn't place what it was.

Richard felt his heart leap with joy. 'Could she actually have been aware of my presence before?' He thought of that night in the hospital room. It gave him hope.

Still smiling, he said, "let's go. I remember parking my car at the west parking."

"You don't remember where you parked?" Maine stifled a giggle.

"It's been five days," he explained but he smirked. "I'm trying to get my bearings. I did fly a 747 awhile ago. Twelve hours ago to be exact."

"Point taken," she remarked. "Lead the way, RJ."

Richard gave her a strange look before smiling once more and led her to the parking lot. They walked in silence for a while before one of them spoke up.

"I never really got the chance to thank you," Maine started.

"Thank me?" Richard answered as he fumbled in his pocket to open the locks to his car.

"For yesterday," she replied. "You helped me up when I fainted."

He stopped and turned to face her before replying, "I was the reason you fainted in the first place."

He opened the passenger door for her first and made sure she got in before taking their luggages to put in the trunk. He then made his way to the driver side.

"Still," she insisted when he got in. "Thank you, RJ."

He gave her that same look he gave a while ago. Then he shook his head and smiled. He started the car and they were on their way.

"Why do you always give me that look when I call you 'RJ'?" Maine inquired after a few moments of silence.

"Rich was the only other person who called me 'RJ'," Richard admitted after a few seconds. "Everybody else including our parents calls me 'Jase'. The same token that I am the only one who called him 'Rich' while the rest of the world called him 'Alden'. It feels strange that someone else would use it. But really, I don't mind. I just need to get used to it, that's all. Besides, you might not remember but I did say that you can call me 'RJ' if you wanted."

Maine recalled her dream once again and was glad to know that it was a memory. She must have been in and out of consciousness that time. But she didn't voice it out loud.

"But why 'Jase'?" She asked instead.

"It's my second name," he answered nonchalantly. "I mean, Rich and I are both Richard, it would be confusing to the both of us if people called us that. Why?"

"Sorry," Maine said. "RJ suits you better. You don't look like a 'Jase' to me."

"I don't look like a 'Jase'?" Richard inquired, an eyebrow raised in question. "What does a 'Jase' look like anyway?"

"I don't know," Maine shrugged. "Blond, golden eyes, have rune markings all over his body..."

"Great," Richard muttered. "I'm being compared to a TV character."

"If you're going for the live-action version," Maine retorted with a grimace. "Go for the movie version. Jace Herondale was way hotter in the movie version."

"It's the hair, right?" He guessed. "Chicks dig the long hair."

"No," she answered. "It was the accent. British accents have always been sexy for me."

"So, you like British english?" Richard remarked with his own attempt of a British accent but failing miserably. Maine laughed and after a few seconds he joined in.

"That was terrible!" Maine exclaimed after she'd calm down.

"I know," he answered, his own laughter subsiding. "Don't make me do it again."

They sat in silence for a time while Richard drove the length of SLEX. Maine peered at him from time to time, looking at him as if trying to decide what to do.

"I know you have questions," Richard finally said, breaking the silence. "So, ask away. It's still about an hour drive back home. So we have plenty of time."