CHAPTER THIRTY
Lately we've been talking about who we are
It seems we don't know anymore
And all this time that we've been thinking
At night I've been dreaming about you
And I know you don't believe me when I say
I'll love you till the end, forever and a day
And I guess we'll never know
Exactly where this River is gonna flow
And I guess we'll never understand
Until we reach that promise land
So I guess we'll, I guess we'll never know
Well people say that we're sweethearts
They say nothing in the world can tear us apart
Well I don't know about you
But this thing we're going through is tearing me in two
And I know you don't believe me when I say
I'll love you till the end, forever and a day
We've had our highs and lows
But we let our feelings flow into the sea
These feelings come and go
But if we let our feelings show
This River just might flow through you and me
MEL
Mel walked into her house and into an aroma not normally conducive to the activities that normally went on in her home. The fragrant smell of breakfast coming from her kitchen was near foreign to her. However, exhausted from her flight, she didn't have the energy to care what was going on at the moment and chose to trudge straight upstairs to her bedroom.
Upon passing by her kitchen, Mel saw a sight that made her stop dead in her tracks. There was Taylor, in his own world, whistling a tune and milling around the stove with a dishtowel thrown over his left shoulder. Surely this wasn't real. Should she just keep going to her room as if she saw nothing or should she stay and investigate the situation?
Sighing, she listlessly let her bags fall to the floor where she was standing and trudged into the kitchen, desperately wishing she had chosen to keep walking.
Tay turned around, skillet in his hand, and flashed her a smile as she sat at the marble top bar. "Good morning," he greeted her. It was as if he was expecting her. Like he knew exactly when she'd be home...
She was going to kill Drew.
Completely bewildered, Mel said nothing and, instead, watched him work. It was obvious he took pride in his work as she spied the perfectly cut fruit on the counter and the way he carefully flipped the bread on the pan. He stopped for a moment and poured her a cup of coffee, placed it in front of her without a word, and continued about his work.
He looked completely at home. What the fuck was going on here?
Finally, working up the effort to speak, Mel said, "Um, did I miss something?"
"I don't know. Did you?"
Mel scowled into her coffee mug.
Finally, he placed an absolutely gorgeous plate in front of her. He had arranged four French toast triangles in circle and placed a small amount of perfectly-cut fruit in the center. Over it all, he had drizzled a homemade glaze. She almost didn't want to mess it up by digging in but she realized just how famished she actually was. Tay smiled at her and set about cleaning up after himself.
"Oh my god," Mel said after her first bite. She was in heaven.
Tay turned around and grinned. "You like it?"
"It's fucking fantastic. What else do you make?"
"Little of this, little of that."
"Wow," she said, taking another bite. "You're very talented."
"Why, thank you."
Suddenly Mel's radar started going off. Something was different. Something had changed. Something...
"So...what's this all about?" Mel finally asked.
"A peace offering," he said simply as he began putting away dishes.
"I didn't realize we were at war," she responded suspiciously.
"Well," he started as he began wiping counters. He kept himself very busy. Not looking her in the eye. Mel was slightly amused as she recognized this behavior. This was a pride thing for him. He was trying to say something he didn't want to own up to. This could be interesting. "I did some soul-searching while you were gone this past week," he continued. "I realized some things about myself that I hadn't otherwise noticed and I'm working through them. I've put a lot of pressure on you and that isn't where that pressure should have been directed. I shouldn't have been so foreword."
"So...what are you saying?"
"Um...I'm giving you space."
"You're in my kitchen."
"I mean...emotional...space. I have stuff I have to work through on my own and pushing it all on you isn't fair. So...I'm gonna drop it."
Mel felt stunned and almost devastated. Apparently his "soul-searching" had turned up completely opposite results as hers did. It was as if they had switched bodies.
"But I don't want space."
Tay turned to look at her and that was when his eyes fell on her arms. They rested on the marble top on either side of her plate, both tattoos exposed. She had forgotten that he hadn't seen them yet. Last time she saw him they were still bandaged up. "What's going on here?" he asked, turning her hands palms up on the bar. "When did you get these?"
"Um, when Jason showed up at the studio. I got them that afternoon."
"You didn't mention it."
"They're just tattoos."
First he examined the small, back wave. To a third party it simply looked like a triangle with a curved top. "What's this one?"
"Um, that one is very personal for me. I'm not going to discuss it."
"Okay..." he said, suspicion filling his eyes as he looked into hers. She could tell he was fighting hard to hold his tongue. He examined the treble clef on her left arm more closely. Finally he said, "They totally screwed that one up. You should probably have it fixed."
"No they didn't."
"Yes they did, look," he began pointing out the extra marks she had the artist add in when she caught his hand.
"NO, they didn't." Wordlessly, she took his index finger and guided it to the tattoo. She traced his finger over the two small horizontal added marks, then down the middle perpendicular and stopped at the bottom of the base of the G on the clef.
Slowly his eyes met hers and they were silent for a moment. She then said, "I could have easily transformed the tail but you wouldn't have believed that the J stood for Jordan."
Tay was rendered speechless. Mel loved these moments. He managed to get out only barely, "It's a T..."
"Yes."
"Uh, wow..."
"Tay, I don't want space. I want YOU."
"Mel--"
"I did some soul-searching of my own. I did things and experienced things in Cabo this week that I will probably never experience again. And I am so glad to have been able to experience them. I had a blast--probably the time of my life. But I missed you. Every single day, morning, noon, and night. And as for your being forward? You didn't say or do anything that I wasn't already feeling."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously." She pointed to her treble clef. "This right here. This is forever."
He looked down at her arm then back up at her. "I--" He shifted his weight nervously from side to side. It was obvious he was trying desperately to hold back. She wasn't sure if she appreciated it or if she wished he would just come out and say it.
Instead, he changed the subject. "Uh, so we did that thing you said. You know, for the girls in the office."
Mel smiled. "Well good. What did you do?"
"Took them to dinner. They were totally surprised, it was great."
"Good! Did they enjoy it?"
Tay smiled. "I think so, yeah."
"You should make it, like, a quarterly thing or something."
"Yeah. I think we will."
Mel took a few more bites of her breakfast and then looked at Tay again. "Thank you for being here this morning and doing all of this. I really needed it, I think."
He smiled at her again. "Anytime. So, uh...what all went on in Cabo?"
Mel felt herself begin to blush and she couldn't wipe the embarrassed grin from her face. "Uh, what happens in Cabo stays in Cabo."
________________________________________________
DREW
Drew arrived at the airport along with Mel and Zac. Her nerves were absolutely shot. This was it, this was happening. Her entire life amounted to this plane ride. Once she landed in Ireland she was filming her first major motion picture. She couldn't even keep her palms dry.
Emotions ran high in that airport. Zac was unusually quiet. Drew learned that Mel had to talk Zac into coming to the airport to see her off. Drew knew that Zac liked people to believe he was resilient, but deep
down she knew he was extremely sensitive. He didn't handle goodbyes well.
Mel hugged Drew tightly. "I can't believe you're finally doing this," she said, her voice cracking.
Drew forced a laugh. "Mel, don't cry. Then I'll start crying and I can't board the plane looking like I'm on drugs."
Mel smiled. "I'm sorry, it's just--this is it. You're on your way. After you wrap filming there'll be press and premieres--you might come out of this as the next big thing and I'll hardly see you anymore."
"That'll never happen," Drew said. "You're my family. I'll drag you to every awards ceremony and party Hollywood could possibly dream up."
"You better," Mel sniffled.
"And you better come see me in Ireland. I can't go four months without seeing my best friend like that. I'd go crazy!"
"You better believe I will. It's tempting to just live there while you film. I could use the stress relief."
"Mel, I'm so nervous. What if I'm horrible?"
"If you weren't fantastic we wouldn't be standing here."
"What if people hate it?"
"People will LOVE it! I promise."
"I love you, Mel."
"I love you, too. Sisters forever."
Mel hugged Drew one more time and then stepped away and kept some distance so that Zac and Drew could have some privacy. Zac shoved his hands in his pockets. "So, uh, here we are."
"Don't you dare say goodbye to me," Drew said.
Zac smiled. "I'm not. I just--I've kinda been dreading this day. I mean, I am so incredibly proud of you, you have no idea. I am so over-the-moon happy for you. But this part--this is the part that sucks."
"I know," Drew agreed. "But it's not like you're crippled or in prison. You can come visit on set. I think you're really gonna like this movie."
"Are you kidding? I'm gonna love it because you're in it."
Drew blushed. "So, uh, what happens now?"
"Uh--shit, Drew, I don't want another ten years to go by without you in my life. That scares me."
"But, Zac--we can't go another ten years sneaking around either. Eventually something's gonna have to give somewhere."
"I know," Zac sighed. "It's just--it's hard, you know? It's almost like when you go, a part of me disappears. I don't like that feeling."
Drew glanced down at the floor in silence. She wasn't really sure what to say. She was so conflicted inside between what she wanted to happen and what she believed the reality may be that she hadn't been brave
enough to bring any of it up. But here she was about to board a plane to Ireland for four months. It was now or never. "Look, Zac. I'm going to be extremely tied up once this film wraps. And if I'm lucky I'll get more offers afterward and I can keep working. That's my hope. This is my dream. And I can't leave here today without anything going unsaid. I would never, ever ask you to leave your wife. Never. But I would be lying if I said I didn't want to be with you. Because I do. We're great together. We just--work. It's almost like we're soul mates. And I want you to know, no matter where we go or how any of this turns out, that I DO care for you and I DO want to belong to you. I do. I really do. I just--I at least don't want you to be uncertain about THAT."
Zac sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was obvious he was unsure how to respond to her. At this point, Drew didn't care. She said what she needed to say to him. She threw the ball at him. Now it was his turn to do whatever he wanted to do with it.
"You know how I feel about you," he finally said. "I never wanted there to be any doubt between us. But I'm just--I just can't make any promises or commitments right now. I just--I just can't."
"I'm not asking you to. I'm not trying to pressure you. I'm not trying to give you any kind of ultimatum. I just wanted you to KNOW exactly where I stood with us. You know--before it's too late."
"I'm gonna miss you so much. I missed you for so long."
Drew smiled. "It's only four months. It'll fly by. I still have a phone. And Skype. It'll be like I never left."
Zac smiled back. "You're being so strong and so great about this. I admire you so much for that."
"Are you kidding, I'm losing my shit," Drew joked.
Zac pulled Drew to him by her waist and kissed her deeply. Drew was momentarily surprised. They were in the middle of Tulsa International Airport. Anyone could have seen them! But apparently Zac didn't care
and so neither did Drew. As she kissed him back, she heard her flight called. She didn't want this moment to end.
Reluctantly, Zac broke their kiss and rested his forehead against hers. "Behave."
Drew smiled, fighting back tears. "You behave."
He kissed her forehead and she broke away to hug Mel one more time before boarding the plane.
Drew was barely in the gate and out of sight before she burst into tears.
Half an hour later, as she got comfortable in her seat, she fished a folded up sheet of paper out of her pocket. She opened it up, confused. When had he had a chance to sneak this on her? Inside, Zac had hurriedly scrawled out some song lyrics:
"You may give me gray hairs before my time
I'll be happy just sitting on the passenger side
Cause I live for you and me and a lonely drive
You can stay out late
You can burn the candle
You can contemplate
But won't you kiss me good?
I will tell you straight
If it's too hard to handle
All I've go to say
Is won't you Kiss Me When You Come Home?
It gets tough
But we've picked up a lot of things along the way
You know that when I get mad
I don't mean a word that I say
Sometimes I need more
Than what's left at the end of the day
Sometimes reason doesn't line up with the rhyme
With a wash and a sew the rips and the frays
Will come out okay in time
Cause I long for you and me and a lonely drive
You can stay out late
You can burn the candle
You can contemplate
But won't you kiss me good?
I will tell you straight
If you're too hard to handle
But all I've got to say
Is won't you Kiss Me When You Come Home?"
____________________________________________________
MEL
The next morning Mel sat at her desk at 3CG, smiling at her phone. Jason had sent her a gorgeous picture after he landed in Ireland. They still continued their picture-sharing, even in Cabo. They were thoroughly amused when they both sent each other pictures of Cabo to each other from under the same roof.
Mel had just finished snapping a picture of her office as a joke and sending it to Jason, when there was a knock on her open office door. "Hey, you got a minute?" Isaac asked her.
She smiled. "Of course I do. I have lots of minutes. What's up?"
Ike stepped in her office and shut the door behind him. Her smile immediately turned into a frown. Ike never shut the door.
"Uh..." Mel started nervously. "This must be serious."
"Serious may not be the correct word," he said. "More like...a matter of privacy."
Mel quickly racked her brain. She hadn't remembered ever violating Ike's privacy. Or anyone's privacy, for that matter. As a matter of fact, she more or less kept to herself. Or could he mean company privacy? She hadn't done anything worth violating. All she had done so far was confirm shipping orders.
"I sent you an email," Ike said, interrupting her train of thought.
Mel laughed, incredulous. "Well you're standing right here."
"It's a link," he said simply. Deepening her frown, she quickly opened her email and clicked the link. Shock didn't begin to describe how what she saw made her feel. It had been more than ten years since she'd
experienced anything like this, and even then it was difficult to handle. This made her stomach turn. "I wanted you to see it first, before anyone else said anything," Ike continued.
In front of her, on the screen, was a wildly popular tabloid website, where 80 percent of the photos were real and 80 percent of the stories were not. Unfortunately, this was where the average Joe chose to get all his information about anybody who was anybody. The latest headline read: "Mysterious Heiress of the Bradshaw Fortune Revealed!" Mel had no idea that Bernice was THIS popular. Sure, she had married into the money but after her husband passed, besides the investments, all Bernice had ever done was give to charities. So...was this all the rage now? You're considered a type of celebrity when you give money to good causes? And now you're equally as popular if you simply unwillingly inherited said money? And how did people even GET this type of information? It was the strangest thing she had ever heard of.
And then there were the photos. Jesus Christ, were there photos. This was the part that made Mel's skin crawl. "Oh my god..." Mel said. "Everything is here. There's you and I going for bagels, Jason and I in Cabo...Tay and I walking down the street in New York...oh my god...there are pictures of Tay and I? There's even one here from yesterday when Zac and I were leaving the airport! I mean, there were a couple of people taking pictures, but I assumed they were taking pictures of him!" As she scrolled, one particular photo caught her attention and the hair raised on the back of her neck. It was of her walking into the tattoo parlor right there in Tulsa. Mere blocks away!
"Oh my god, Ike," she said. "They're even in Tulsa! What--what is this all about? Why are they interested in ME?"
"I--" Ike shook his head and sighed. "I mean, it's apparent that maybe your late mother-in-law was very prominent in New York. Unfortunately when there's money like that involved people tend to be interested..."
"Well what do I do about it?"
"There's really nothing you can do. People are going to take pictures and people are going to say things and most of it will be reconstructed and taken out of context--the important thing is that you don't let it get to you and that you remember that you and everyone else close to you know the real truth. And who knows? This may not last. This may die down after another month or so, who knows?"
Mel looked at him skeptically. "Ike, they're calling me a 'celebutante.' What the fuck does that even mean? Bernice just had a lot of money, she wasn't famous. I'm not one of those girls who get famous simply by inheriting daddy's money..." She thought about her statement for a moment and the thought scared her. "Am I?"
"It's a hard pill to swallow," Ike said. "Now you just kinda gotta watch what you say and do for awhile. It can either get crazy or nothing much will come out of it all. You always want to hope for the latter, but you just never can tell."
"I couldn't even handle it well with you guys. Hell I almost dumped Tay over it when we were 16...and now it's about me...I'm gonna be a crazy mess. I'm gonna sit here and Google myself till the end of time!"
Ike laughed. "Well I wouldn't go that far. You never truly get used to it, but you learn to adapt and cope."
Mel smiled at Ike, suspiciously. "I didn't think you were into checking up on things like this..."
"I'm not, believe me. But Nikki is and she pointed it out to me this morning."
"Well if Nikki is...does Tay know? Oh god...he doesn't need to come across these pictures of me and Jason any more than I need to see him out with Natalie..."
"I don't know if he does or not. But he'll have to deal with it, too. I got your back, don't worry." He winked at her.
Mel smiled back at him. "Thanks. I appreciate this, I really do."
"No problem. Just thought you should be aware of what was going on."
As Isaac left her office, Mel sighed and frowned at the computer screen again, unable to stop scrolling the page. She was terrified of leaving 3CG that day.
___________________________________________
Lately we've been talking about who we are
It seems we don't know anymore
And all this time that we've been thinking
At night I've been dreaming about you
And I know you don't believe me when I say
I'll love you till the end, forever and a day
And I guess we'll never know
Exactly where this River is gonna flow
And I guess we'll never understand
Until we reach that promise land
So I guess we'll, I guess we'll never know
Well people say that we're sweethearts
They say nothing in the world can tear us apart
Well I don't know about you
But this thing we're going through is tearing me in two
And I know you don't believe me when I say
I'll love you till the end, forever and a day
We've had our highs and lows
But we let our feelings flow into the sea
These feelings come and go
But if we let our feelings show
This River just might flow through you and me
MEL
Mel walked into her house and into an aroma not normally conducive to the activities that normally went on in her home. The fragrant smell of breakfast coming from her kitchen was near foreign to her. However, exhausted from her flight, she didn't have the energy to care what was going on at the moment and chose to trudge straight upstairs to her bedroom.
Upon passing by her kitchen, Mel saw a sight that made her stop dead in her tracks. There was Taylor, in his own world, whistling a tune and milling around the stove with a dishtowel thrown over his left shoulder. Surely this wasn't real. Should she just keep going to her room as if she saw nothing or should she stay and investigate the situation?
Sighing, she listlessly let her bags fall to the floor where she was standing and trudged into the kitchen, desperately wishing she had chosen to keep walking.
Tay turned around, skillet in his hand, and flashed her a smile as she sat at the marble top bar. "Good morning," he greeted her. It was as if he was expecting her. Like he knew exactly when she'd be home...
She was going to kill Drew.
Completely bewildered, Mel said nothing and, instead, watched him work. It was obvious he took pride in his work as she spied the perfectly cut fruit on the counter and the way he carefully flipped the bread on the pan. He stopped for a moment and poured her a cup of coffee, placed it in front of her without a word, and continued about his work.
He looked completely at home. What the fuck was going on here?
Finally, working up the effort to speak, Mel said, "Um, did I miss something?"
"I don't know. Did you?"
Mel scowled into her coffee mug.
Finally, he placed an absolutely gorgeous plate in front of her. He had arranged four French toast triangles in circle and placed a small amount of perfectly-cut fruit in the center. Over it all, he had drizzled a homemade glaze. She almost didn't want to mess it up by digging in but she realized just how famished she actually was. Tay smiled at her and set about cleaning up after himself.
"Oh my god," Mel said after her first bite. She was in heaven.
Tay turned around and grinned. "You like it?"
"It's fucking fantastic. What else do you make?"
"Little of this, little of that."
"Wow," she said, taking another bite. "You're very talented."
"Why, thank you."
Suddenly Mel's radar started going off. Something was different. Something had changed. Something...
"So...what's this all about?" Mel finally asked.
"A peace offering," he said simply as he began putting away dishes.
"I didn't realize we were at war," she responded suspiciously.
"Well," he started as he began wiping counters. He kept himself very busy. Not looking her in the eye. Mel was slightly amused as she recognized this behavior. This was a pride thing for him. He was trying to say something he didn't want to own up to. This could be interesting. "I did some soul-searching while you were gone this past week," he continued. "I realized some things about myself that I hadn't otherwise noticed and I'm working through them. I've put a lot of pressure on you and that isn't where that pressure should have been directed. I shouldn't have been so foreword."
"So...what are you saying?"
"Um...I'm giving you space."
"You're in my kitchen."
"I mean...emotional...space. I have stuff I have to work through on my own and pushing it all on you isn't fair. So...I'm gonna drop it."
Mel felt stunned and almost devastated. Apparently his "soul-searching" had turned up completely opposite results as hers did. It was as if they had switched bodies.
"But I don't want space."
Tay turned to look at her and that was when his eyes fell on her arms. They rested on the marble top on either side of her plate, both tattoos exposed. She had forgotten that he hadn't seen them yet. Last time she saw him they were still bandaged up. "What's going on here?" he asked, turning her hands palms up on the bar. "When did you get these?"
"Um, when Jason showed up at the studio. I got them that afternoon."
"You didn't mention it."
"They're just tattoos."
First he examined the small, back wave. To a third party it simply looked like a triangle with a curved top. "What's this one?"
"Um, that one is very personal for me. I'm not going to discuss it."
"Okay..." he said, suspicion filling his eyes as he looked into hers. She could tell he was fighting hard to hold his tongue. He examined the treble clef on her left arm more closely. Finally he said, "They totally screwed that one up. You should probably have it fixed."
"No they didn't."
"Yes they did, look," he began pointing out the extra marks she had the artist add in when she caught his hand.
"NO, they didn't." Wordlessly, she took his index finger and guided it to the tattoo. She traced his finger over the two small horizontal added marks, then down the middle perpendicular and stopped at the bottom of the base of the G on the clef.
Slowly his eyes met hers and they were silent for a moment. She then said, "I could have easily transformed the tail but you wouldn't have believed that the J stood for Jordan."
Tay was rendered speechless. Mel loved these moments. He managed to get out only barely, "It's a T..."
"Yes."
"Uh, wow..."
"Tay, I don't want space. I want YOU."
"Mel--"
"I did some soul-searching of my own. I did things and experienced things in Cabo this week that I will probably never experience again. And I am so glad to have been able to experience them. I had a blast--probably the time of my life. But I missed you. Every single day, morning, noon, and night. And as for your being forward? You didn't say or do anything that I wasn't already feeling."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously." She pointed to her treble clef. "This right here. This is forever."
He looked down at her arm then back up at her. "I--" He shifted his weight nervously from side to side. It was obvious he was trying desperately to hold back. She wasn't sure if she appreciated it or if she wished he would just come out and say it.
Instead, he changed the subject. "Uh, so we did that thing you said. You know, for the girls in the office."
Mel smiled. "Well good. What did you do?"
"Took them to dinner. They were totally surprised, it was great."
"Good! Did they enjoy it?"
Tay smiled. "I think so, yeah."
"You should make it, like, a quarterly thing or something."
"Yeah. I think we will."
Mel took a few more bites of her breakfast and then looked at Tay again. "Thank you for being here this morning and doing all of this. I really needed it, I think."
He smiled at her again. "Anytime. So, uh...what all went on in Cabo?"
Mel felt herself begin to blush and she couldn't wipe the embarrassed grin from her face. "Uh, what happens in Cabo stays in Cabo."
________________________________________________
DREW
Drew arrived at the airport along with Mel and Zac. Her nerves were absolutely shot. This was it, this was happening. Her entire life amounted to this plane ride. Once she landed in Ireland she was filming her first major motion picture. She couldn't even keep her palms dry.
Emotions ran high in that airport. Zac was unusually quiet. Drew learned that Mel had to talk Zac into coming to the airport to see her off. Drew knew that Zac liked people to believe he was resilient, but deep
down she knew he was extremely sensitive. He didn't handle goodbyes well.
Mel hugged Drew tightly. "I can't believe you're finally doing this," she said, her voice cracking.
Drew forced a laugh. "Mel, don't cry. Then I'll start crying and I can't board the plane looking like I'm on drugs."
Mel smiled. "I'm sorry, it's just--this is it. You're on your way. After you wrap filming there'll be press and premieres--you might come out of this as the next big thing and I'll hardly see you anymore."
"That'll never happen," Drew said. "You're my family. I'll drag you to every awards ceremony and party Hollywood could possibly dream up."
"You better," Mel sniffled.
"And you better come see me in Ireland. I can't go four months without seeing my best friend like that. I'd go crazy!"
"You better believe I will. It's tempting to just live there while you film. I could use the stress relief."
"Mel, I'm so nervous. What if I'm horrible?"
"If you weren't fantastic we wouldn't be standing here."
"What if people hate it?"
"People will LOVE it! I promise."
"I love you, Mel."
"I love you, too. Sisters forever."
Mel hugged Drew one more time and then stepped away and kept some distance so that Zac and Drew could have some privacy. Zac shoved his hands in his pockets. "So, uh, here we are."
"Don't you dare say goodbye to me," Drew said.
Zac smiled. "I'm not. I just--I've kinda been dreading this day. I mean, I am so incredibly proud of you, you have no idea. I am so over-the-moon happy for you. But this part--this is the part that sucks."
"I know," Drew agreed. "But it's not like you're crippled or in prison. You can come visit on set. I think you're really gonna like this movie."
"Are you kidding? I'm gonna love it because you're in it."
Drew blushed. "So, uh, what happens now?"
"Uh--shit, Drew, I don't want another ten years to go by without you in my life. That scares me."
"But, Zac--we can't go another ten years sneaking around either. Eventually something's gonna have to give somewhere."
"I know," Zac sighed. "It's just--it's hard, you know? It's almost like when you go, a part of me disappears. I don't like that feeling."
Drew glanced down at the floor in silence. She wasn't really sure what to say. She was so conflicted inside between what she wanted to happen and what she believed the reality may be that she hadn't been brave
enough to bring any of it up. But here she was about to board a plane to Ireland for four months. It was now or never. "Look, Zac. I'm going to be extremely tied up once this film wraps. And if I'm lucky I'll get more offers afterward and I can keep working. That's my hope. This is my dream. And I can't leave here today without anything going unsaid. I would never, ever ask you to leave your wife. Never. But I would be lying if I said I didn't want to be with you. Because I do. We're great together. We just--work. It's almost like we're soul mates. And I want you to know, no matter where we go or how any of this turns out, that I DO care for you and I DO want to belong to you. I do. I really do. I just--I at least don't want you to be uncertain about THAT."
Zac sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was obvious he was unsure how to respond to her. At this point, Drew didn't care. She said what she needed to say to him. She threw the ball at him. Now it was his turn to do whatever he wanted to do with it.
"You know how I feel about you," he finally said. "I never wanted there to be any doubt between us. But I'm just--I just can't make any promises or commitments right now. I just--I just can't."
"I'm not asking you to. I'm not trying to pressure you. I'm not trying to give you any kind of ultimatum. I just wanted you to KNOW exactly where I stood with us. You know--before it's too late."
"I'm gonna miss you so much. I missed you for so long."
Drew smiled. "It's only four months. It'll fly by. I still have a phone. And Skype. It'll be like I never left."
Zac smiled back. "You're being so strong and so great about this. I admire you so much for that."
"Are you kidding, I'm losing my shit," Drew joked.
Zac pulled Drew to him by her waist and kissed her deeply. Drew was momentarily surprised. They were in the middle of Tulsa International Airport. Anyone could have seen them! But apparently Zac didn't care
and so neither did Drew. As she kissed him back, she heard her flight called. She didn't want this moment to end.
Reluctantly, Zac broke their kiss and rested his forehead against hers. "Behave."
Drew smiled, fighting back tears. "You behave."
He kissed her forehead and she broke away to hug Mel one more time before boarding the plane.
Drew was barely in the gate and out of sight before she burst into tears.
Half an hour later, as she got comfortable in her seat, she fished a folded up sheet of paper out of her pocket. She opened it up, confused. When had he had a chance to sneak this on her? Inside, Zac had hurriedly scrawled out some song lyrics:
"You may give me gray hairs before my time
I'll be happy just sitting on the passenger side
Cause I live for you and me and a lonely drive
You can stay out late
You can burn the candle
You can contemplate
But won't you kiss me good?
I will tell you straight
If it's too hard to handle
All I've go to say
Is won't you Kiss Me When You Come Home?
It gets tough
But we've picked up a lot of things along the way
You know that when I get mad
I don't mean a word that I say
Sometimes I need more
Than what's left at the end of the day
Sometimes reason doesn't line up with the rhyme
With a wash and a sew the rips and the frays
Will come out okay in time
Cause I long for you and me and a lonely drive
You can stay out late
You can burn the candle
You can contemplate
But won't you kiss me good?
I will tell you straight
If you're too hard to handle
But all I've got to say
Is won't you Kiss Me When You Come Home?"
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MEL
The next morning Mel sat at her desk at 3CG, smiling at her phone. Jason had sent her a gorgeous picture after he landed in Ireland. They still continued their picture-sharing, even in Cabo. They were thoroughly amused when they both sent each other pictures of Cabo to each other from under the same roof.
Mel had just finished snapping a picture of her office as a joke and sending it to Jason, when there was a knock on her open office door. "Hey, you got a minute?" Isaac asked her.
She smiled. "Of course I do. I have lots of minutes. What's up?"
Ike stepped in her office and shut the door behind him. Her smile immediately turned into a frown. Ike never shut the door.
"Uh..." Mel started nervously. "This must be serious."
"Serious may not be the correct word," he said. "More like...a matter of privacy."
Mel quickly racked her brain. She hadn't remembered ever violating Ike's privacy. Or anyone's privacy, for that matter. As a matter of fact, she more or less kept to herself. Or could he mean company privacy? She hadn't done anything worth violating. All she had done so far was confirm shipping orders.
"I sent you an email," Ike said, interrupting her train of thought.
Mel laughed, incredulous. "Well you're standing right here."
"It's a link," he said simply. Deepening her frown, she quickly opened her email and clicked the link. Shock didn't begin to describe how what she saw made her feel. It had been more than ten years since she'd
experienced anything like this, and even then it was difficult to handle. This made her stomach turn. "I wanted you to see it first, before anyone else said anything," Ike continued.
In front of her, on the screen, was a wildly popular tabloid website, where 80 percent of the photos were real and 80 percent of the stories were not. Unfortunately, this was where the average Joe chose to get all his information about anybody who was anybody. The latest headline read: "Mysterious Heiress of the Bradshaw Fortune Revealed!" Mel had no idea that Bernice was THIS popular. Sure, she had married into the money but after her husband passed, besides the investments, all Bernice had ever done was give to charities. So...was this all the rage now? You're considered a type of celebrity when you give money to good causes? And now you're equally as popular if you simply unwillingly inherited said money? And how did people even GET this type of information? It was the strangest thing she had ever heard of.
And then there were the photos. Jesus Christ, were there photos. This was the part that made Mel's skin crawl. "Oh my god..." Mel said. "Everything is here. There's you and I going for bagels, Jason and I in Cabo...Tay and I walking down the street in New York...oh my god...there are pictures of Tay and I? There's even one here from yesterday when Zac and I were leaving the airport! I mean, there were a couple of people taking pictures, but I assumed they were taking pictures of him!" As she scrolled, one particular photo caught her attention and the hair raised on the back of her neck. It was of her walking into the tattoo parlor right there in Tulsa. Mere blocks away!
"Oh my god, Ike," she said. "They're even in Tulsa! What--what is this all about? Why are they interested in ME?"
"I--" Ike shook his head and sighed. "I mean, it's apparent that maybe your late mother-in-law was very prominent in New York. Unfortunately when there's money like that involved people tend to be interested..."
"Well what do I do about it?"
"There's really nothing you can do. People are going to take pictures and people are going to say things and most of it will be reconstructed and taken out of context--the important thing is that you don't let it get to you and that you remember that you and everyone else close to you know the real truth. And who knows? This may not last. This may die down after another month or so, who knows?"
Mel looked at him skeptically. "Ike, they're calling me a 'celebutante.' What the fuck does that even mean? Bernice just had a lot of money, she wasn't famous. I'm not one of those girls who get famous simply by inheriting daddy's money..." She thought about her statement for a moment and the thought scared her. "Am I?"
"It's a hard pill to swallow," Ike said. "Now you just kinda gotta watch what you say and do for awhile. It can either get crazy or nothing much will come out of it all. You always want to hope for the latter, but you just never can tell."
"I couldn't even handle it well with you guys. Hell I almost dumped Tay over it when we were 16...and now it's about me...I'm gonna be a crazy mess. I'm gonna sit here and Google myself till the end of time!"
Ike laughed. "Well I wouldn't go that far. You never truly get used to it, but you learn to adapt and cope."
Mel smiled at Ike, suspiciously. "I didn't think you were into checking up on things like this..."
"I'm not, believe me. But Nikki is and she pointed it out to me this morning."
"Well if Nikki is...does Tay know? Oh god...he doesn't need to come across these pictures of me and Jason any more than I need to see him out with Natalie..."
"I don't know if he does or not. But he'll have to deal with it, too. I got your back, don't worry." He winked at her.
Mel smiled back at him. "Thanks. I appreciate this, I really do."
"No problem. Just thought you should be aware of what was going on."
As Isaac left her office, Mel sighed and frowned at the computer screen again, unable to stop scrolling the page. She was terrified of leaving 3CG that day.
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