Short Stories

Time

Then Rosie appeared into his life.

He'd seen a few of her plays, didn't watch her famous trilogy that brought her to stardom; he was a fan of the classic roles she had played in the days of her musicals and her Shakespeare performances. He often made a few Shakespeare jokes with her, but Rosie always stumbled her words around him - especially after she fell in love with him.

Toby, though, was on a mission from the beginning to make her laugh. The first time he heard it at that reading on that Greek Myths movie he wanted to never stop hearing it. Joking around on set, making a few hilarious remarks, it was easy for him to come up with jokes.

He was just used to using them to stop bullying - he'd never used them to make someone happy before, not genuinely.

But then Rosie appeared into his life and turned his insecurities into praise.

A month into their relationship, even as under the radar as it was, he knew she was special to him. Even if it ended between them, whether he was too afraid to continue or he was afraid she'd find someone better, Toby would forever be grateful for the time she spent boosting his confidence. Trying on new clothes for the sake of it, the comforting squeeze of his hand when he spotted another headline on his 'angular and beastly' looks, and his personal favourite, the kisses she gave to distract him, to prove to him how much she loved him.

Rosie had to deal with a lot of Toby's fears; how insecure he was when she started another film during their few months spare before re-shoots and the press tour, a romance movie with a lead male he believed to be better for her than he was.

She quickly put that fear aside when she pointed out her new co-star was married with five kids.  

Then the press junkets came for their mythology film, where she was paired with her Ares co-star, and Toby was worried she'd fall in love with him instead.

Rosie told him she loved him the first time that night, when he'd gently approached her with his fears, so she could understand why he was jumpy around how much fun she'd had with the interviews today.

Toby fell before her when she said those words, and he shook. He couldn't quite believe it, that someone as beautiful and brilliant as Rose Bartholomew, the Hollywood Sweetheart, could love someone like him. Someone who was so much lower, not worthy of her.

Rosie knelt before him then, and merely said; "I love you. No one else. You are beautiful and brilliant - we are worthy of each other."

Toby cried in front of her that day.

He wasn't afraid the next day when Rosie had those press junkets with her Ares co-star, because he knew she loved him.

They were doing well, the relationship blossoming and growing stronger with each hurdle and each climb they did it together.

They decided on the day of the red carpet to walk down it together, going for their separate photos when required, but they stuck together for the duration of that long walk of flashing cameras and screaming names.

But the media coverage the next day almost broke Toby.

The headlines that pegged Rosie as 'Beauty' and Toby as 'The Beast' made him cry out of desperation and anger. She held him as he wept, as the media threw the bone to the fans and carried out that they were the modern day beauty and the beast, their romance spindling out of their film production; the belle falling in love with the monster.

Rosie couldn't do much besides hold him, besides be there for him, as his confidence rolled back down. She kept telling him she loved him, loved every part of him, going into detail about his face and his body, and his soul. How she loved him.

The reviews from the film came back, the unbiased ones that didn't comment on their official relationship, and Rosie told Toby about the ones that praised his acting, how brilliant he was as Hephaestus, and Toby started to get his smile back.

She told him about the fan-art that was being made, how the fans loved his character, and how they loved his crooked smile.

He started to joke again.

It took months and months, to build up that confidence again. The film hit the shelves of the Academy Awards, where Toby was nominated for Best Actor in a lead role for his brilliant take on Hephaestus.

The media started to press that the Beast was finally being given his rose when the nominations were released but Rosie kept holding Toby together.

When the day of the Academy Awards arrived, they walked in together, Rosie staying by Toby's side down the red carpet in her beautiful shimmering gown. 

He was beaming at the cameras. She was beaming at him. 

Their relationship was strong, solid, and would never break. 

Over their years together it did bend - when Toby was in a film that flopped and Rosie had to support their home and bills for almost ten months while he tried to be employed again. When Rosie was in a car accident and shattered her leg; she had to go through two years of rehab to learn to walk again, to heal her now almost completely metal leg. Toby helped her through it every step of the way. She had family and friends reach out as well, and they all chipped in to help Rosie recover, but Toby was her rock. 

She would never know who leaked her accident to the media. 

Even when paparazzi were knocking on her doors Toby held her hand while she cried, pictures of her broken body being wheeled around shattering her. 

But as she had helped Toby build his confidence back up when the world shattered it, so too did he bring Rosie back up. He helped her walk, helped her hold her head high, when she was at her lowest. 

They were always loving and supporting one another. 

Almost two years after her accident, she walked the red carpet with Toby for his latest film. He was a side character, he couldn't have a main role when he was also taking care of her, but she wanted to be there to support him. 

So she turned up. He held her hand tightly, and told her how proud he was of her, how much he loved her. 

It was headlines the next day - Rose Bartholomew was back on her feet. 

Months later, she was back acting. Toby, too. Their lives started to look up once again. They were on a holiday together walking down a beach in Australia, Rosie still hesitant walking such an unforgiving surface with her scarred leg, when Toby stopped her and asked her to marry him. 

They'd been through too much, loved one another too much, to ever part. They were a part of each other, seen each other at their lowest and at their highest. Rosie and Toby would hold the record in Hollywood for a couple staying together the longest. It wouldn't be until Toby died at ninety-six years old that they'd part, until they met again in another life. 

Their relationship inspired others, many others, that it was never about looks, personality, money, or soulful wealth. Their secret was time - time to see one another, to get to know all each other. To see them laugh, cry, rage and mourn. They never hid themselves from one another. In every picture they had together, you could see them so loving, their faces so open and their smiles so wide. 

Their love stood the test of time; it was everlasting. Enchanting. 

It was magic.