* * * * *
Leighanne woke up next to another body. What did he say his name was? She tried to remember. John? James? Joey? Jamie? Jeff? I can’t remember. Well, I knew when we slept together.
Since her breakup with Brian, Leighanne had taken to sleeping with anyone who could forward her career. Usually the press paid much more attention to the filming of her movie but without Brian, rising pop star to add to the mix, well . . . They weren’t quite as receptive.
She shook ‘him.’ No response. “Hello?” No reply. Brian, please come back, her heart begged. I'm paying in ways that I never thought I would. Come back Brian, if just for one night.
* * * * *
“Whoa! Someone’s in a good mood!” she observed, setting down an arrangement of wildflowers on the table. “Harold what do you think? Mr. Grumpy-Lies-On-The-Couch-All-Day is perky!”
“Huh?” he replied absently, looking up over the newspaper he was reading. “Welcome back,” he added turning a page.
Brian sighed, exasperated. “Don’t you even want to know why I'm so happy?!”
Jackie and Harold exchanged a look. In their wonderfully blissful years together they had brought up two handsome sons to be proud of. It’s a girl, they communicated through their eyes. Whenever they get so happy, it’s something to do with a girl.
“No,” Jackie faked, dusting off the table. Harold seconded her by turning a page in the paper with much ado.
“I'm telling you whether or not you want to know,” he announced, flopping into the chair next to his father. “Listen up!” he demanded, wrestling the paper out of his dad's hands.
“Hey! I was reading that! It’s very interesting actually.”
“Oh, let the boy speak dear, then we can be rid of him for the week,” Jackie teased.
“Speaking of going away . . . I have to go down to Orlando for three days this week.”
“Well that’s nice, get some sun. Now go out and do whatever young adult men do,” his mother chided, shooing him away.
“I still haven’t told you why I'm happy!”
“Brian, I meant to comment on your choice of cologne,” his father said, with a twinkle in his eye. “The smell of roses is very becoming on you.”
Brian sniffed his arm and groaned silently. Despite a shower and change in clothes the lingering scent of the petals stayed on his skin. “Well, see that’s why I'm so happy! You just gotta stop and smell the roses sometimes,” he said, jumping out of the path of his mother who was still cleaning.
“Not that’s not it,” she told him, wringing out a dishcloth. “You’re happy because you met someone. Now give you father back his paper and get out of here!”
Brian stared dumbfounded, first at his mother, then his father. “How’d you know?”
“And unusually large receipt for eighteen red roses from the florists was one clue, also the fact that ever since you snuck in this morning you’ve been wearing a really stupid grin,” Harold said, over the top of his glasses.
Brian sat down again. “Don’t you want to know about the lucky lady?”
“Don’t you mean tortured girl?”
“You’re so generous with the praise, mom. Her name is Natalie Collins, she’s a college student and a writer. She’s got really incredible eyes, heck everything about her stuns me,” Brian admitted, to himself as well as his parents.
“We know, we know. When you told us about your breakup with Leighanne we saw a website entitled ‘Brian’s New Bitch!’ I expect you’ve trained her the same way you trained Leighanne?” his mother asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Well, not quite. We agreed not to make in a public relationship-"
His father scoffed. “Fat chance.”
Brian shot him a look. “But, as dad so eloquently put it, ‘fat chance’. We don’t really know how this is going to go. So far, the only thing we agreed on was that we would be together for the next month.”
His mother set down sandwiches, sodas, and chips in front of Brian and Harold. “I wish you hadn’t broken up with Leighanne. . . “
“Mom, we’ve been over this a dozen times.”
“Yes, but she was such a nice girl.”
Brian laughed. “Mom, let’s not ruin this. I don’t love Leighanne anymore; I love Natalie with my whole heart-“
“You fed us the same line going from Samantha to Leighanne.”
“Look, it’s not going to happen,” Brian stated, taking a huge bite of his turkey sandwich.
“I just want to see you happy,” his mother begged. Harold ignored them both.
“I’ll be happier with Natalie!” he insisted.
She rolled her eyes. “Umm hmm.”
“Jackie!” Harold broke in sharply. He made eye contact with Brian. “I’d like to meet this girl who claimed your heart in an instant, or so it seems.” He rustled the paper as he stood up. “Jackie, be kind, and watch your mouth!”
* * * * *
“Happy?” he asked, putting an arm around her protectively.
“That would be an understatement,” she replied, letting her eyelids flutter shut. Everything about him feels so safe, she marveled. Everything about him feels so wonderful.
“Hey! No going to sleep on me! So far all we’ve talked about is the tour and it’s only nine!” he said, nudging her. “We haven’t even gotten to do this yet.” He gently brushed his lips over hers, and then let them slide down her jaw.
“Mmm. Keep doing that and I just might stay awake,” she murmured. “Do you mind if I put on a CD?”
“Go ahead. Doesn’t bother me, as long as you stay here tonight,” he winked mischievously.
“Hey!” she said, loading the player. “I did not agree to do that!”
For the next forty-five minutes the two sat in entwined in each other, talking and letting the long silences linger comfortably. Brian pressed Natalie closer to his chest and she smiled, loving the way he could touch her and she felt as though nothing could ever hurt them again.
“What is this song?” he finally spoke after ten minutes.
“Mmmbop by Hanson,” she answered, laughing.
“You’re not funny! I honestly want to know!”
“Whenever You Call by Mariah.”
“It’s pretty,” he remarked.
“I like her ballads a lot,” she replied.
"Want to dance?” He gently picked up her hand and she reluctantly stood up and followed him to an open space in the center of the room. “Just lay your head here,” he told her, placing it on his shoulder. “That’s it,” he said, as they swayed to the music, completely wrapped up in each other.
Love wandered inside
Stronger than you
Stronger than I
And now that is has begun
We cannot turn back
We can only turn into one
I won’t ever be too far away to feel you
And I won’t hesitate at all
Whenever you call
And I’ll always remember
The part of you so tender
I’ll be the one to catch your fall
Whenever you call
And I'm truly inspired
Finding my soul
There in your eyes
And you
Have opened my heart
And lifted me inside
By showing me yourself
Undisguised
I won’t ever be too far away to feel you
And I won’t hesitate at all
Whenever you call
And I’ll always remember
The part of you so tender
I’ll be the one to catch your fall
Whenever you call
And I will breathe for you each day
Comfort you through all the pain
Gently kiss your fears away
You can turn to me and cry
Always understand that I
Give you all I am inside
And I won’t ever be too far away to feel you
And I won’t hesitate at all
Whenever you call
I won’t ever be too far away to feel you
And I won’t hesitate at all
Whenever you call
I’ll always remember
The part of you so tender
And be the one to catch your fall
Whenever you call*
Brian looked down at Natalie’s face and he saw the tears streaming steadily down her cheeks as she whispered the last chorus softly. Staring at her, without a lick of makeup, without her hair arranged perfectly, and without a knockout outfit he saw the woman he knew he needed to be with. Plain and simple the feelings ran through him with such a force he felt he would overflow. So, he did the most logical thing he could.
He tilted her face towards his and pressed his lips onto hers.
“Wow,” she said softly, turning to glance up at him. A few more drops fell scattered across her face and she could do nothing to stop them.
“What do you say at a moment like this?” he asked, gazing at her damp face and gently wiping the last traces of her crying away.
“I won’t ever be too far away to feel you, and I won’t hesitate at all, whenever you call” she sang softly.
“I'm serious. I’ve been with you for just under a month but I don’t think I ever want to let you go. I know that this tour is going to be incredible. You’ll be there beside me and everything will be all right.”
Natalie bit back the words she knew she would have to say eventually. That no matter how much she loved him and he loved her that she would have to leave. That there would be no magic months of the two on tour, that there would be an end to the relationship before it began to spiral out of control. She knew that as much as it hurt she would have to let him go; let him follow his career without anyone to tie him down.
And then there’s the small matter of college, she added mentally. Summer vacation isn’t my entire life. The two sat back down.
Natalie didn’t know it but her thoughts were written across her face. Brian wasn’t sure how, he didn’t have a clue as to why, but he knew what:
She was leaving. Soon.
| Chapter Thirteen |
*Lyrics from the song "Whenever You Call" by Mariah Carey, off the 1997 release "Butterfly."