{"id":30,"date":"2023-12-20T04:42:02","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T04:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/?p=30"},"modified":"2023-12-20T04:42:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T04:42:02","slug":"december-20th-fulfilling-a-dream-by-jessica-celliers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/?p=30","title":{"rendered":"December 20th: Fulfilling a Dream by Jessica Celliers"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Are you listening to me, Hutch? HUTCH!<\/em>”<\/p>\n

“Hmm?” He was staring out the window, not paying attention to anything in particular, as the Torino whizzed by familiar landmarks on their way home. He didn’t look at Starsky, but he recognized the faint exasperation in his partner’s tone that told him Starsky had been talking for a while and was expecting an answer. “I’m sorry, Starsk. What did you say?”<\/p>\n

There was a heavy sigh, then Starsky said, “I was asking what you wanted to do for your birthday.”<\/p>\n

He said nothing for a moment, but Starsky was making an effort and he didn’t want to blow him off. “Let’s just stay in. Maybe order a pizza, have a couple of beers.”<\/p>\n

“But I’d planned\u2014”<\/p>\n

“Then why ask?” His impending birthday made him melancholy. “Let it go, Starsk. I don’t really need anything. Let it be just another day.”<\/p>\n

The rest of the drive home was done in silence.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Starsky did as he asked and treated his birthday as just another day. Their shift was quiet, they got off on-time and they stayed in and watched Casablanca while they ate the pizza they’d picked up on their way home. They skipped the beer, washing the food down with a couple of Cokes, then Starsky cleaned up.<\/p>\n

He was standing at the window in the darkened bedroom when Starsky came looking for him.<\/p>\n

“What’s that you’re humming?”<\/p>\n

“What? Oh, nothing. Just the song from that movie.” He stopped humming “As Time Goes By”, but didn’t turn from the window.<\/p>\n

“Something wrong, Hutch?”<\/p>\n

“No. Nothing’s wrong. I’m good. Just thinking.”<\/p>\n

“About what?”<\/p>\n

“Failed dreams,” he whispered, hugging himself. “Failed dreams and tarnished memories.” He waited, but Starsky stayed by the door and didn’t come close. Still melancholy, he sighed and said louder, “Nothing important. Maybe we should have those beers now, Starsk. I’ll come out.”<\/p>\n

He heard Starsky head for the kitchen, heard the refrigerator door open and close, but he stayed at the window, humming absently. “\u2026will you still love me\u2026”.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Hutch?”<\/p>\n

He stopped humming and joined Starsky.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hours later, they’d gone to bed and held each other. Starsky fell asleep, but Hutch didn’t. Couldn’t. He got up quietly and left the bedroom. Alone in the living room darkness, he went to the shelves, pulled out a hidden record album and put it on the stereo. The music played softly and he listened with his eyes closed, trying to remember how it felt to dance with the one he loved so long ago.<\/p>\n

But he could only remember the ridicule \u2013 and it still hurt.<\/p>\n

The song ended. Another started. Hutch sniffed and reached out to turn it off.<\/p>\n

“Leave it on. Please? I haven’t heard that album in years. One of her Greatest Hits<\/em> one, right? I always liked it.” The quiet voice cut through the darkness, but didn’t intrude. “I didn’t know you had a copy.”<\/p>\n

He sighed, but left the stereo alone. “Yeah, I haven’t played it in years. It used to mean something.”<\/p>\n

“Still does, I think. Why tonight?”<\/p>\n

It was a memory he never intended to share with anyone. But this was Starsky, and maybe it was time to tell his lover, even if Starsky made fun, too.<\/p>\n

“Because\u2026because it’s my birthday. Because she’s dead. Because it’s time to admit she was right and let go of a silly notion I had.”<\/p>\n

“She?”<\/p>\n

“Vanessa.” It was as the self-named, pretentious, super-model wannabe he chose to think of his ex now, dead this past year. It blunted the pain associated with her.<\/p>\n

“What notion?”<\/p>\n

“I used to like\u2026” He re-considered for a moment, but didn’t change his mind and continued. “I liked to slow-dance. Thought it was a terribly romantic thing to do. Silly, right?” He braced himself for whatever cutting remark Starsky would make.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think so. Why would you?”<\/p>\n

It surprised him that Starsky was accepting of the idea. “Nancy said it was. When we first got together, she would make a nice dinner and we would slow-dance on my birthday. I wanted to do it more often, but she said that made it special. Then I found out she was humoring me. She thought because I came from money, I had money, that we would have a more\u2026 lavish\u2026 lifestyle. When I became a cop, she stopped pretending and became ‘Vanessa’. Van had her own ideas about what was romantic and slow-dancing with me wasn’t one of them.” Hutch took careful breaths and admitted, “The birthday dinners and dances stopped, but the ridicule didn’t. Turns out, she didn’t even like Linda Rondstadt’s voice, so I put the album away. Maybe I should have destroyed it.”<\/p>\n

“I’m glad you didn’t.”<\/p>\n

His favorite song on the album started, and suddenly, he was in Starsky’s arms. “Dance with me, Hutch.”<\/p>\n

Already, they were swaying to the music and he leaned against his lover and closed his eyes, humming along as Linda sang. Someone to lay down beside me, and even though it’s not real\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

“This song is so sad, but I love it,” Starsky murmured in his ear. “And I love you. But what we have is<\/em> real. Believe it, babe. And we don’t have to wait for your birthday. We can do this any time you want. It’s romantic as hell. Just like you.”<\/p>\n

And Starsky kissed him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Click on the image to view it larger.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Are you listening to me, Hutch? HUTCH!” “Hmm?” He was staring out the window, not paying attention to anything in particular, as the Torino whizzed by familiar landmarks on their way home. He didn’t look at Starsky, but he recognized the faint exasperation in his partner’s tone that told him Starsky had been talking for … Continue reading “December 20th: Fulfilling a Dream by Jessica Celliers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,15,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fic","category-sfw","category-slash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":624,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions\/624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advent.starskyhutchcalendar.net\/2023\/calendar\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}