Chapter 18: The Reading
-3 months later-
{A}
"For God's sake, Josh, I said no," Autumn said loudly.
"Come on, your sissy asshole pop-star friend is gone and is never coming back. You might as well be with me."
"Go away," she said as she attempted to slam the door, but the man stuck his foot in the doorway.
"Ouch. That wasn't a very pleasant thing to feel."
"Your existence outside my house also isn't a pleasant thing to feel, goodbye."
She slammed the door harder, and this time he didn't even bother to stop it. Everyday for the past two weeks, he had been bothering her to go out with him, since "Michael Jackson isn't coming back anyway."
What had been more bothering was that her curiosity was killing her. She had been wanting to read the notebook -Michael's, rather- more than anything else. What was written in it? What's at the bottom of the last page that he wrote before handing it over to Maria?
She sighed. Well, she couldn't read it, could she? If she read his, then Michael would read hers, which will be pretty embarrassing for them. His notebook seemed very interesting though. It was as if Michael wrote on it everyday, making it seem messier than the usual notebook. Plus, when she flipped through the pages a month ago, she saw some sketches and drawings.
She went to the bathroom and quickly changed into her uniform. She was almost late for work already, so she had to go. When she opened the door, ready to run to the hospital, she almost bumped into him.
"Josh, what the hell?" She exclaimed.
"I was thinking maybe you'd reconsider, seeing little miss Autumn is so lonely lately," he said with mock sincerity.
"No, Josh, You've been at me for years, just go away. I'm late for work," she simply stated and started to sprint towards the hospital.
"The hospital?"
"Yes, and I assure you, if you don't stop following me, you're ending up there" she shouted.
She ran quickly, not even bothering to wait for his reply. Why couldn't he just let her be? It's been literally years since he asked her out, and she said no. All the times he asked her, she always said no.
She slowed down a bit later when she realized she was now far from Josh. She still sprinted though; she's only got 5 minutes to spare. When she reached the hospital, she went in quickly and clocked in. She sighed in relief because she was just right on time.
She went towards the children's ward, where she was always assigned to. She was always good with kids anyway. When she arrived, the cheerful faces of the children greeted her. Some continued to play and do whatever they were doing, some were trying to engage in a conversation with Autumn, while some were just sleeping. In other words, just another normal day at work.
Hours later, while she was assisting and guiding the children at play, she heard the ward doors open. She didn't turn around though; she was busy. The kids were quite a handful.
"Hello, Autumn," a voice said. She turned around to see the last person on earth she even wanted to see.
"Josh, what are you doing here? You're not allowed here," she tried to say in the most timid tone she can; she didn't want to seem vicious in front of the kids.
"Just wanted to visit.. the girl I like," he replied with a wink. Autumn shuddered and cringed inwardly. Then both adults heard murmurs and whispers around the room.
"Autumn, what happened to Michael? You two were perfect together."
"I thought you and Michael were together."
"Who is he, and why is he here?"
The kids bombarded Autumn with questions involving her "relationship" with Michael. She chuckled inside; these kids were just so cute. She looked towards Josh again, and he was fuming. He looked beyond pissed that he was being replaced by "Michael Jackson" even if he wasn't around anymore. And with that, he walked out of the room, leaving Autumn laughing at his desperation.
---
The night came by quickly. Autumn was too tired to make her own food, so she just decided to watch a movie on TV to kill the night. When she sat down on the couch, she accidentally knock a light object down from the table. She looked down to see an open notebook.
She knew she shouldn't take advantage of this moment. She knew she shouldn't look, but she was extremely curious already. She grabbed the notebook and held it in front of her, and her jaw dropped. What she saw was amazing. It was a drawing of the guest room Michael stayed in 15 years ago. All the features of the room were so exact and detailed.
She reminisced a while about the guest room. The day she first saw it was also the day Michael left them to continue touring for the Jackson 5. She couldn't believe it went by so quickly. It only seemed like yesterday that they were fooling around in the carnival, riding the roller coasters her mom didn't allow her to ride when she was with her.
Autumn carefully placed the notebook on the table and went up towards the guest room. She opened the door quickly to reveal the sight of the dusty room filled with multiple ripped pieces of popped balloons. To be honest, she never did remove the balloons from this room. She had literally pleaded to her mom to let the room stay that way, for the memories.
She missed Michael already, and it's only been a month. This was exactly how she felt before, when they were younger. She missed him whenever they were apart, and she wasn't sure if it was because of her friendship with him, her fanaticism, or her little crush.
She went back down and spotted the notebook once again on the table. She can practically hear it calling her name, begging for it to be read. She knew she shouldn't, she really did, but her curiosity couldn't take it much longer. Whispering a quiet "sorry" towards Michael, she flipped the notebook to the very first page and she started to read.
"I did not actually plan on writing this because it is extremely creepy to write about your best friend without her knowledge or consent, but I'm doing this just for you, Maria. Okay?" She smiled slightly at this. Oh, Michael, always a gentleman. She flipped towards the next page, only to be surprised to see a bullet-formed list filled with adjectives. On the top of the page, "Thoughts on Autumn" was written.
She read every single word carefully, and she must've blushed at least 10 times. Maybe she should just stop reading; this is invading his privacy. She wouldn't want Michael to read her notebook, so why should she read his?
Then she remembered something: the note Maria wrote, the one that was stuck in between the pages of this notebook. "Between you and me, before he handed it to me, he wrote something at the last page." She was suddenly even more curious than ever. what would Michael write at the last page, and why the last page? She doubted he even finished this notebook, considering the several blank pages she saw when she scanned the notebook.
Should she look?
---
{M}
Rehearsals just finished, and he was pretty proud of the jobs accomplished today. They are very excited for the concert in Kansas City for the next day. But what made Michael much more excited is that in a week or so, his next destination would be New York City, meaning he'd be able to see Autumn again.
"Okay, guys. Let's wrap it up," he said to everyone. "Everybody's done a great job, and I know we'll do amazing tomorrow. Let's go celebrate; my treat. You pick the place" The whole cast hollered at this in agreement, and Michael chuckled at this. This is going to be great.
---
"So when I said 'my treat,' I didn't mean KFC. Why do you all think I'm obsessed with it?" He laughed as everybody stormed in the fast food place.
"This is practically the only thing you eat when it comes to meat, Michael."
"Touché."
The cashiers, managers, and even the servers were surprised at the sight of him. What is an ultimately successful, worldwide popular artist doing in a regular place like this? They thought Michael Jackson only goes to fancy and expensive restaurants, not to some dirty, run-down fast food chain. Michael saw this and smiled slightly. It was exactly what happened at the hospital the first time he went there.
He asked everyone to order what they wanted. When everybody was done, Michael asked them to sit down while he order his food. And to keep things less serious and awkward for the employees, he started up a little chat with them before going back to his crew, or rather, friends.
Michael sat down beside Karen Faye, his personal makeup artist and stylist, as they all waited for their orders. Everybody was chatting around, and Michael felt so out of place. He just nods and smiles once in a while to make things less awkward. What was he even supposed to say? Does he even say anything?
"Hey, Michael!" Somebody shouted, which snapped him out of his thoughts. When he came to, he noticed everyone was staring at him. He smiled sheepishly at them. "Did you hear the question?"
"Uhm, no. Sorry. What was it again?"
"Do you like anyone? You know, like a celebrity crush or even a crush on a friend?" Michael was taken aback by their question. The food was served shortly after.
"Well, actually I- I.. No, I don't," he mumbled as he looked down in his food.
"Jesus Christ, he stuttered. He likes someone," one of them hollered. At this, everybody raised their plastic cups. "To the lucky lady Michael Jackson likes!" Everybody cheered and clinked their cups to each other's as Michael only looked at them, blushing slightly.
"Shut up, you're all embarrassing," he giggled softly as he tried to cover his blushing red face. "You're all supposed to be professionals, you know?"
"Yeah, we are. We're professional hecklers."
---
"So, who do you like?" Michael heard Karen say. He threw his black blazer on a chair as they entered his messy hotel room.
"Why do you need to know?" He asked as he lied down on his unmade bed.
"Because, you obviously don't know how to act in front of a girl. Isn't that obvious?"
"What's your point?"
"It means you need professional dating tips, you antisocial nerd," she said as she put a few cases of cosmetics in the medicine cabinet of the bathroom. "And I think the crew will be able to help you out with that."
"Yeah, right. You'd just embarrass me," he chuckled.
As Karen was about to leave the room, she spotted a small red notebook on Michael's bedside table.
"Hey, what's that for?" She pointed towards the notebook. Michael looked at the direction where she was pointing to and quickly got up and grab it.
"Nothing, just a notebook."
"I'm sure isn't yours since it's neat and clean."
"I have to get new employees," he laughed. "Well, yeah it isn't mine, and I'm also not allowed to open it."
"Why?"
"We made a promise we wouldn't read each other's notebooks. Yes, mine is with her and hers is with me. But I'm extremely curious on what's written in here."
"What if I read it for you? Then you wouldn't be breaking your promise since I was the one who read it." Michael looked at his makeup artist, dumbfounded. He had never thought of that. He knew it was wrong to invade her privacy, much more if someone else did it, but it's been three months. He's been curious about it everyday. Reluctantly, he nodded as he slowly handed the notebook to her.
Michael watched as Karen flipped to the first page.
"I'm just going to use this as a journal since you (Maria) didn't actually tell me what to do with it, except write everything about Michael, so okay.
Michael left the hospital in such a hurry today. I was kind of hoping we could take a cab or something together. Guess not. I had walked home from the hospital while it was drizzling, and I'm still in my soaked clothes while I'm writing this. Actually that's all I have for now.
Maria, since I know you're the only one who's going to read this, let me tell you. Michael and you looked like a father-daughter thing, and it was really cute. You being your cute self, while he.. well looks extremely dashing and handsome. Okay, don't judge me.
Yeah, I'm going to stop here, I guess.
-Autumn Sommerset"
Michael could not believe his ears. Did she just call him "extremely dashing and handsome?" He blushed at the thought of the whole thing she wrote and Karen just looked at him.
"Guess she really likes you."
"You can't know that for sure. She was just writing what happened that day."
"Stop being stubborn, Michael. Just the first page tells everything," she said as she closed the notebook. "I have to go. But if you want to know what the next pages contain, you know who to call."
She closed the door to his room, leaving Michael alone with his thoughts about what Autumn wrote. All she wrote was that he was "dashing" and "handsome." It couldn't mean anything. He knew it didn't.
---
A/N: I know I take long to update, sorry. I think this is a long chapter though, so I guess that's good. I don't have much to say now, just sorry and thanks for reading. So yeah, please vote, comment, and maybe even follow if you're not yet following me? x
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