| Chapter 4 |
| After this episode, life became normal again for Reese. She went back to work, pretending to everyone that she had caught a cold and stayed in bed for three days� She became serious again and very passionate for her work, but everything was now different once she was back home, on her own with her memories. She would sit on her sofa or her bed, silent and motionless, until a noise suddenly �woke her up�. She was in a kind of trance that she just couldn�t control. She always thought about those three days when she was on her own, and a wide smile appeared on her face every time she did. Even Steve had never seen her like this. It reminded him of how she was when she fell in love� But he was really hoping that it was not the case this time. Yet it was the same smile, same vague look that he had seen before. But he didn�t say anything, not wanting to start an argument if she said he was wrong. He also knew how stubborn she sometimes was. March quickly came around and Reese was now back in her work heart and soul. She still had those �trance� moments, but they were getting fewer and fewer, and instead she wanted to keep happy memories of the wonderful opportunity she had had. She tried to go to work earlier and come back later so that she would avoid staying on her own for too long. She went out with Steve more often than before, which pleased him, in a way. He knew she was struggling with that very strong feeling of hers, trying to minimize it because she knew in advance that it was impossible. He was ready too help her and even tried to introduce her to some male friends of his, but she was never interested. She was looking for �something else� as she said. And one night, when she came back from a dinner with Steve, a message left on her answering machine immediately caught her attention. It started with a short silence, and suddenly an angelic voice rose in the air, which literally made her freeze. �Miss Conelly� Erm Reese� It�s Michael Jackson�� His tone was very unsure and she could feel that he had difficulties finding his words. Yet he went on and grew more confident. �I know it might sound strange but I� I was wondering if you would agree to spend one day with me� I� I have things to do in Los Angeles and so I thought that� � I was about to tell Tony to call you, but I thought it was better to do it myself� Well, I will try to call you again � or get someone to do it if I can�t � so that we can try to plan it if you can�� Bip� Maybe one minute passed before Reese had any reaction. The first one was to go to her sofa and collapse on it. And the second one simply was to scream� It was just impossible to try to hold it, so she let all her excitement come out that way. She wanted to jump on her phone and tell Steve, but then she thought that she would wait until it was a hundred percent sure� The three days that followed were spent �in trance� once more. She changed her working habits again; coming back at normal time and trying not to spend all her time next to the phone waiting for it to ring� It would have been easier had she been able to call him, but it seemed perfectly normal that he didn�t give her his number� It was already such a miracle that he had called, himself! She really wanted to call Steve, but she had the feeling that it wouldn�t happen if she talked about it� Maybe it was a silly thing to think, but she couldn�t help it. And the wait finally came to an end� On Thursday evening she received a call from Tony. �Miss Conelly, did you get Michael�s message a few days ago?� �Yes I� I did�� she said, feeling her knees trembling. �I was waiting for someone to call me back.� �You understand that he couldn�t possibly give you a number to call him,� he nicely said. �Oh yes I do! And I was �patiently� waiting�� �So erm, Michael�s sorry for not making that call himself, but he�s quite busy at the moment. So would you be available on Saturday, all day?� �Erm� Sure, yes! I didn�t have any plan,� she said after thinking for a few seconds. �Perfect! We�ll send a car to your house for 9am, OK?� �Wait, how do you know my address?� she asked. �We just do; don�t worry about it. See you on Saturday.� �Thank you Tony, see you�� she whispered. Wow, that was a quick call for something that important! How long � or rather short � had it lasted?! 9am in two days, a car would come and take her to see him again� It was just too good to be true. At the same moment, somewhere in a hotel in Los Angeles, Tony turned to Michael who was anxiously waiting by his side. �Its OK, she�s available�� Michael sighed heavily and a wide smile brightened up his face. �Did she say anything?� he asked. �No, but she seemed delighted� I bet the young lady will have a hard time sleeping those two coming nights�� he said with a slight smile. �Tony?� �Yes?� �Thank you very much for doing that for me�� �It�s alright� I just want to make sure that you�re not in danger, and this girl seems alright�� he answered respectfully before leaving the room. Michael stared at the phone, not able to take his mind off her once again� ***** When she woke up on Saturday morning around 7am, no word could have been strong enough to describe what she was feeling. She had never ever been that stressed out in her life; not when she had had to do oral presentations for school; not when she had received her very first kiss; not when she had had to do interviews for jobs. She got up and took her time to get ready. She had breakfast � surprisingly enough she managed to eat � had a shower and got dressed. She chose a sort of �compromise� between too well dressed and not enough with a black outfit � long skirt and shirt. She spent a long time making sure that her makeup didn�t look like she had put too much on and decided to put her hair in a plait this time. At 9 o�clock, the car was waiting in front of the building and immediately took her to Michael�s hotel. There, two bodyguards welcomed her, accompanied her to his suite and led her into a small salon. She had to wait for a few minutes, on her own, before a door at the back of the room finally opened and Michael appeared. ** When I entered the �salon�, she was already there. I wanted to be the first one there, so that I could welcome her there, but I was on the phone with one of my lawyers and it seemed to take ages! Oh boy she looks so good today, again... I�ve never seen her in a long black skirt like the one she�s wearing today; it suits her very well. And she�s wearing that black shirt I�ve already seen on the set one day� I must not look at her like that! I�m sure that she noticed it, for she blushes and smiles at me in a shy and very cute way. I just cannot help smiling back at her; it seems so natural to me. I don�t really know what that look on her face means, but I really wish I did� I don�t even really know what it is I feel for her, but I do know it�s something strong. She seems so nice; I wouldn�t want to find out that she came today just because of my name� But what can I do? Only she would tell me. So I have to swallow my shyness and talk to her. Oh boy� ** All those thoughts took place in a few seconds when he first entered the room. He took a few steps towards her and handed out his hand � not really knowing what else to do. �Reese; welcome. And sorry for keeping you waiting like this�� �Well, I can�t really complain� I wanted to thank you very much once again,� she replied with a huge smile, blushing more than ever, and shaking his hand too. �I could never be too grateful for �� �It�s alright. I�m very glad you�re here�� he simply said, which silenced her. She looked very puzzled by this last statement but he just smiled again and moved his head towards the door, inviting her to follow him. The day was spent very simply� Michael first had a sort of telephone meeting for quite a while � with lawyers, businessmen, and Reese didn�t have a clue what was going on � had a short interview with a magazine she didn�t know and then everybody had lunch in the salon, in which stood a big buffet. Still Michael seemed to be very busy and jumped from one conversation to another one while eating. And strangely enough he seemed to want her to be there� Why though? She was of no use at all to him� The afternoon was spent in one of the biggest hospitals of LA, in the children�s section most of all. She followed him from one room to another, one bed to another. And it really was one of the best moments to see him. Unfortunately, those were the moments he liked keeping private. It was such a delight for her to see him so happy, so joyful, trying to bring some happiness to all those children. And there also were all the toys that he gave out. She felt a pinch in her heart as she watched a tiny little girl put her arms around a huge teddy bear that he had just given her. As the end of the afternoon was drawing nearer, Reese was wondering how to say goodbye and go home� She took her chance on the way out of the hospital. �I think I�m going to take a taxi to go back home�� she whispered awkwardly. �Really?� he said, obviously not so happy to hear such a thing. �Oh well, if you have things to do�� �Oh no, not at all. It�s just that I think I shouldn�t bother you any�� �Bother me?� he asked, surprised. �But Reese� I asked you to spend this day with me. You�re not bothering me at all�� �But you see, this is what I don�t really understand�� she managed to say, �Why? Why did you �� �Shhh,� he interrupted, daring to touch her hand, which she didn�t remove. �I do insist and thus ask you to have dinner with me tonight�� In a faraway voice she heard herself answering yes and thanking him a lot. But it really seemed that someone had answered instead of her, for she felt too �shocked�; Michael Jackson had just asked her to have dinner with him� It took quite a while to definitely come back to reality, and she was sitting in his car before she could think straight again. ***** �I was thinking I should still go back home and get changed�� she told him once they were back at the hotel. �Why?� �Well� I don�t know where we�re going, but I don�t really want to look like a tramp�� she joked. How she managed to make that joke when she was so stressed out, she never knew. �Reese, let me tell you something,� she said, abandoning what he was doing and turning towards her. �You look great, as usual�� he added with a little smile. �I don�t see why you would want to get changed. You don�t look like a tramp at all, like you said.� He noticed that she was increasingly blushing as he was saying that to her, so he took the opportunity to make one more compliment. �I will be very honored to go out with you tonight�� Around 7.30pm, they went out of the hotel and a limousine took them to an Indian restaurant that Michael really liked. �I hope you don�t mind Indian food�� �Oh not at all!� she replied. �I kind of like any type of food; French, Italian, Chinese, Indian� But nothing to weird I have to admit.� �I know what you�re talking about� I�ve had to taste pretty funny things in some of the countries I have visited so far. And trust me; not everything is nice�� But the restaurant he had chosen was a very good one� She knew Michael was a vegetarian, but just like her, he chose the chicken curry with rice, along with different salads and some Indian bread. �I do enjoy a bit of chicken once in a while, but beef or things like that I really can�t eat�� he said with a little smile. �Well, I�m not a big fan of beef either.� �Tell me about you Reese� You know things about me; I know nothing about you.� So she spent most of the dinner talking about herself, her family, her childhood in Ireland, when she had decided to leave on her own at 19 to have a better life� �So you�ve just been around here for about what� four years?� �Yes. But I got used to living here very quickly. It is a lot different from where I come from � since I grew up in the countryside � but it�s what I had always imagined and wanted.� Obviously he didn�t want to discuss anything too personal about him in a public place � and she could definitely understand that � so they spent the rest of the dinner talking more about her, and if it was about him it was only things that had already been told before in the press or others. Around 10.30 they were back at the hotel, dropping Michael off and then the driver would take Reese back home. But before they got there she remembered she had brought a jacket with her. �You must have left it in the salon,� Michael said. �That�s alright; just come upstairs and get it!� �Oh I don�t want to bother you anymore�� �Reese, how many times do I have to tell you that you don�t bother me at all?! Come on, let�s go and try to find your jacket.� And he was right; she had left it on one of the sofas there. He crossed the room to get it, and then walked towards her. �Here it is!� he said with a faint smile, knowing that they had to say goodbye. �Thank you very much for everything Michael� I had a fantastic day, and if I never see you again, I will remember this day forever, and maybe talk about it to myself, to make sure it was not just a dream�� she said, slightly giggling. �I had a great day as well� And I especially enjoyed dinner. It�s fantastic to be able to enjoy a simple dinner with �simple� people once in a while,� replied, looking at her deep in the eyes. ** Oh my God, I feel so nervous! She�s standing here right in front of me in my personal suite and there�s no one around� I�ve had a fantastic day and I only wish I could have spent more time with her. But diner was definitely the best part; I didn�t lie about that. Oh I don�t know what to do! She�ll be gone in a second if I don�t manage to keep her here, and I might regret it� What do I do?! ** �Michael, are you alright?� she asked, worried by his silence. �Yes,� he said with a nervous smile, lowering his head. �I�m sorry, I was just thinking that �� But he never finished that sentence for when he looked up again and met his eyes, he couldn�t refrain the urge to move his head towards her, closer and closer until their lips slightly touched. She had once read a book in which kisses were compared to �little drops of heaven�; well Michael�s kisses could definitely be described this way. It felt so pure, so innocent� She didn�t move back and just closed her eyes. Her heart was once again beating so fast that it felt like it would explode� Michael had actually kissed her! When she opened her eyes again, his face was still very close to hers, he was looking at her and seemed a bit worried about the absence of reaction. When she managed to slow down her heart beat and smiled to him, he smiled back, moved closer again, until their lips touched again, in a slightly deeper kiss. He put his hands on her hips but she didn�t dare to move, too afraid to do anything that would make him stop. When their lips parted again, he moved back a bit and smiled. He almost felt like laughing because he felt so nervous, but he controlled himself and managed to remain serious. �I� I should go back home now�� she whispered, not taking her eyes off him. �I will call you, if that�s alright with you of course,� he softly replied. �I will call personally this time,� he added with another smile, more relaxed this time. �I can�t wait�� she said in another whisper. Before she had time to do anything, he moved forward again and kissed her one last time before she went out of the door. He stayed on the doorstep, watching her going towards the elevator, not daring to turn back to look at him. Once she was gone he went back in the salon, crossing it towards his bedroom that he securely locked. Then he collapsed on his bed, smiling and laughing like crazy. He felt like shouting and jumping around, but too much noise would make all the bodyguards around rush in. ** I did it, I did it!!! Oh boy, I thought my heart was going to stop because it went so fast! How did I manage to do that; to actually kiss her like that?! Oh God, her lips are so soft; for a moment I couldn�t get enough of them. What did she think? She seemed a bit puzzled I must admit� I hope she doesn�t think I�m doing this just for fun, because I really am not. C�mon Michael, she knows you�re no the kind of man who would kiss every woman you spent a day with� Oh please God, make this night go very quick, so I can call her and see her again tomorrow� ** |