Illicit Affair ||Pedro Pascal||

Without You

The cold air condition coming from the vent in my mothers car hit my face, turning the tip of my nose into ice. I reached out and turned the direction of the air flow to the right so it hit the window. My mom needed to go grocery shopping and I wanted to tag along. We were driving back home, the sound of the plastic bags shuffling in the backseat. It was quiet enough to make me fall asleep, so I turned on the radio and switched from station to station. I froze when I heard a familiar song. Quickly I changed it to a different station, and my mom looked over at me, offended. "How could you skip over Purple Rain?" She exclaimed.

Like a teenager, I wanted to roll my eyes and tell her I hated the song when in reality I didn't. But she didn't know. She didn't know that song made me think of him. Of that night when we danced in the kitchen to Purple Rain while we cooked.

So I switched it back and listened to Prince. I couldn't help but smile at the memory, the sound of his singing as he grabbed my hands and spun me around. The way his dark green t-shirt felt when it clung to his body. The warmth I felt when he pulled me into his chest as the melody of the song played through the speaker.

We finally got to her house and I helped bring all the groceries inside. Once everything was put away I went to the study room by the living room. I opened my laptop that sat perfectly on the dark wooden desk and began reading all of the emails Sophie had sent me, which was almost twenty over the span of five days.

'You need to answer my calls and texts.'

'Why haven't you been on set?'

'Where did you go?'

'Maggie, I'm getting tired of this.'

Each email after those were basically a repeat of the first four, just worded differently. I could tell she was trying to sound more professional through email, but she was also secretly losing her mind. I wasn't sure what I should've said, but I knew one thing for sure. I didn't want to be her client anymore, not after she tried to force me to chose love over my career. I no longer wanted to be apart of the limelight, being home these past few days made me realize how much I missed my family, and how much I missed being a normal person.

Maybe then, I could be with Pedro and not have him worry about being seen. It was a long shot, but I had to figure out how to tell Sophie that I didn't want to be a public figure anymore. Maybe I was just feeling it in the moment, but I sat in front of my laptop, beginning to type an email to Sophie telling her that I wanted to buy out of my contract. I couldn't decide how to say it in a way that wouldn't cause conflict. Deep down, I knew she wouldn't be pleased. As I stared at the screen, my mind blanking out, my sister walks in. "Nolie, there's someone here to see you." She says.

I furrow my eyebrows and turn in my chair to look at her. She looked tense as she stood in the doorway. I wondered why her body was so stiff. "No." I shook my head. "Im not expecting anybody."

"Trust me...you're going to want to see who it is."

I curiously got up and walked to the entryway of my mothers house. I could tell from the tall broad silhouette that showed through the textured glass door that it was Pedro. I froze, my throat went dry. What was he doing here?

Callie pushed me towards the door and I mentally cursed at her. Once I swing it open, I didn't waste anytime walking out a couple steps. I didn't want my family to overhear our conversation, so I walked past him and down the front porch steps. He followed me and we stopped by my car that was parked on the side of the street.

I couldn't look at him.

I knew that if I did, I would crumble to pieces. I knew that once I looked into his eyes, I would fall right into the palms of his hands. We were silent for several seconds. During that time I tried my hardest to keep my guard up, to look at the ground, the trees, the house, anything but him. And I was doing good, until he finally broke the silence. "Magnolia..."

My eyes brought themselves to his face. "What are you...how did you know where I was?" I asked.

"Your friend, Chloe told me." His expression lit up a little bit. Like he was relieved that I looked at him directly.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Of course she did." I should've known she would tell him immediately. She was always on his side. I then looked around us, there was no other car in sight, nor did he have any bags with him. "You didn't go on your trip." I said. It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Pedro shrugged. "I tried." He answered. "I got to the airport...couldn't bring myself to get on the plane."

"Why not?" I crossed my arms above my chest.

"You and I talked about going on that trip together. I didn't want to go without you." I wanted so badly to say something snarky in response. Something along the lines of 'you had your chance'. But at the same time, I waited for him to say more. "I don't want to be without you anymore. I love you."

My expression softened, against my will of course. His words had tugged on my heartstrings and I practically made like putty in his hands. "You came all this way to tell me that?" I asked, still trying to sound tough.

Pedro shrugged, the corner of his mouth tilted up ever so slightly as he exhaled through his nose. I couldn't help but to smile as I shook my head at him. My eyes rolled, and I knew that he'd won me over. Pedro stepped towards me, our bodies almost touching. He looked down at me, and like they always had, his brown eyes captivated me. He placed his hand on the back of my head and pulled me into him. I missed the feeling of his lips on mine.

I pulled away from him and looked at the house. "Come on." I said grabbing his hand and leading him inside.