My eyes were glued to the pinball game as Michael was focused on controlling the flippers to direct the ball through the various parts of the machine, hitting all the bumpers on its way without letting it fall. As he hit the center loop, he gained the privilege to get a multiball, which drastically increased his amount of points.
"Noooo, it's not fair!" I complained, as I looked at the scoreboard. Of course, Michael was way ahead of me. "How do you do that?"
"I've got skills, Tickles," he snickered with a Twizzler in his mouth. "I'll teach you someday," he said, his eyes still on the game, as he kept on pushing the buttons on each side of the machine.
"Show off," I told him, as I snitched his candy from his mouth and put it in mine.
"Hey!" he whined, as I giggled, eating the candy in front of his face. "You cheater!"
"I didn't do anything," I put my hands up, fainting innocence. "Aaaand you lost your four balls. You suck."
"Oh you should run before I catch you, Hayley Thames," he threatened, and I fled the Arcade Room as fast as I could.
I went outside, and started to look for a spot where I could hide. The first thing that hit my eyes was Michael's big Giving Tree, the tree that helped his inspiration flow. Without thinking twice, I climbed the tree and waited for my boyfriend to come out. I looked at the surroundings in awe, and immediately, I felt at ease, like I belonged right here, at this very moment.
I felt lighter ever since I saw the date Michael would meet Jordan the week prior. It's like a weight was taken off of my shoulders. But I still stayed alert, though. May was three months away, and all I wanted was this date to arrive already, hopefully so that all of this would be behind us.
In the distance, I saw a car pulling up in front of what would become Neverland's train station. Hayden came out of the car, surprisingly accompanied with Grams, to whom he opened the car's door. A smile decorated my face at this very sight. Hayden and Grams' relationship used to be so complicated and filled with hard feelings on both sides. I was glad that they somehow managed to work things out, and be there for each other.
"Hale!" Michael called, as he looked around. "Come on, come out now!"
I giggled at his desperate tone, but I didn't budge from my hiding place. I knew I would have to leave it at some point, but I also wanted Michael to keep looking for me. I made myself more comfortable on the wooden platform, leaning with my back against the thick branch behind me. In the process, I let something fall from the tree, which caught Michael's attention right away.
"Ah! Busted!" he screamed, which made me laugh loudly.
In a matter of a minute, Michael was jogging towards the tree, totally ignoring Hayden and Grams walking towards us. He swiftly climbed the tree with agility, and joined me on the platform with a smile that made my inside erupt with love.
"Now miss Thames, where's my Twizzler?" he asked, as he came crawling in my direction.
"I'm afraid there's no more of your candy, Mr. Jackson," I told him, rubbing my belly with a devilish smirk. "Sorry," I shrugged, and Michael narrowed his eyes at me.
"You're lucky you're cute and that we're perched in a tree right now, because I would have tickled the hell out of you," he told me, and I giggled, approaching him slowly.
"Can I get a hug then?" I asked, batting my eyelashes in an exaggerated manner. "Hayden and Grams are here to get me."
"Already? Ugh, can't you stay like... Forever?" he asked, as he wrapped his arms around me while I snuggled close to him.
"Babe, we're both leaving for Africa tomorrow in the morning," I chuckled, as I circled my arms around his waist as he put a small kiss on my head. "I'll be gone only for a few hours."
"I know, I'm just being clingy," he snorted, and exhaled loudly. "Alice needs you too, I would be selfish if I kept you all for myself, no matter how much I want to."
"I like the idea, though," I chuckled, as I looked up to him. I put my right hand on his his cheek, and rubbed it gently, looking deep into his eyes. "And I love it when you're being clingy," I added with a genuine smile.
"And I love you," he answered ever so smoothly, before he leaned in to kiss me gently as his big hand delicately cupped my cheek.
"Smooth," I giggled in between kisses. "I love you too, Maestro."
"We see you up there, you know?" Hayden's voice was heard from beneath, and instantly Michael's face turned red, which I found incredibly cute.
"Guess that's our cue to leave," I told him regretfully, as I pulled away from my boyfriend's warm body.
We both climbed down, and were welcomed by my brother and my grandmother. I hugged them both with force, as I didn't see them for quite a long time.
Michael greeted them both too, and quickly Grams started asking him questions about our trip to Africa. I knew she was scared because I never left the country, and since my health wasn't the best these days, she worried a lot about me. However, I knew that, deep down, she trusted Michael with me. She knew he would do anything for me to stay safe.
"Soooo, tell me sis. How was your experience of living with Michael?" Haze asked, as we were walking side by side, with Michael and Grams following close behind us.
"It was great," I simply said, not finding a better adjective to describe how it was to live around here. "It just feels like home."
"Neverland does, or is it Michael who feels like home?" he wondered with a smile.
"Both," I shrugged. "It just feels right. Like I fit in, like I was supposed to be there with him since the beginning."
"I see. The feeling of completeness, to belong here?"
"Yeah. Did you have this with Emma too?" I asked, and he simply nodded, looking at his feet. "It's crazy how one person can change your perspective of things and just make your life better."
"I think that's the point of it all. If you met Michael and I met Emma, it's because you have the power to make his life better, and he's making yours better too by having this effect on you. You know, like soulmates."
"And I thought soulmates were just a legend," I shook my head, snorting.
"You should know by now that being who we are, anything can be possible," Hayden chuckled, and I agreed with him. "I hope you didn't mind me taking Martha here? She said she wanted to spend some time with me, so I asked her if she wanted to tag along," he asked me once his laughter died down.
"Not at all," I admitted, hugging my brother's arm. "I'm actually glad you're spending some time with her. Seeing you both together is something that makes me genuinely happy."
"She's worried about you, but she's glad I'm here to guide you through all of this. She apologized for being stuck on my past while she should have been focused on the future and what I could bring you. It felt good hearing that," he truthfully said with a smile.
"What are you both talking about?" Grams asked from behind, and we stopped to let her and Michael catch up with us.
"How great of a grandmother you are," I told her, as I put my arm around her shoulders.
"Stop flattering me," she waved a hand in front of her, a smile decorating her face. "You're just saying that because you haven't seen me in a couple of weeks."
I let go of her as I chuckled, and took Michael's hand in mine. As much as I loved being here, I knew I would be pleased to come back home and be next to my grandmother again.
***
As I predicted, being back at the loft felt good, even though I missed Neverland already. All of my point of reference were there, but I knew for sure that all I needed to do was create others if I was to move out definitely.
While Haze was telling me about how well Andy was doing at school, Al was in Carl's bedroom to show me the wedding dress she chose among the three we selected together. I was eager to see her in her wedding gown, but I knew for sure it would get me emotional too. Alice deserved all the happiness this world has to offer, and I was certain that Carl was the person who could give her just that. He made mistakes in the past, but he fought to make things right between them, and this is all that matters. I knew for a fact that he was ready to take the leap with Al now.
"I wish I could have said goodbye to Andy before I leave," I regretfully said, before I took a sip of my coffee. "I miss him."
"I can tell he misses you too. But I didn't want to bring him to you because you needed to rest, and I know he can be a handful at times with all this energy he has."
"I didn't rest that much, to be honest. But I'm fine though! No worries, really. I'm fine," I quickly said, knowing that my brother would probably start worrying about me. "Now I know when Michael is supposed to be meeting the family, I feel better. Now I can start focusing on the rest."
"LaToya?" Hayden wondered, and I nodded.
"Yes, I didn't hear from her in a while, and I don't like that knowing she's with Jack 'Mohamed Ali' Gordon," I shook my head, clenching my jaw at the simple mention of this man. "But there's something else... I need to keep an eye on Michael's use of painkillers. It's been a recurrent vision of mine. Seeing him use some, begging for the pain to stop and, ugh," I sighed heavily, as the images came back running through my head. "I need to question him about it, but I know it's a sensitive topic for him."
"You'll find a way to come up with this topic. You know Michael is easy to talk to, and that he is very open-minded. He has no boundaries with you, his walls are down because he trusts you," my brother reassured, giving me a little smile. "You're a doctor, this is something he admires about you. I'm pretty sure he'll listen to whatever advice you have to give him about his health."
"You're probably right, Haze. Thank you for this," I returned his smile.
As on cue, we heard the door of Carl's room open down the hallway, letting us know that Alice was done putting her dress on.
"Okay guys, I'm coming! But keep in mind that there are a few alterations that need to be done, alright?" she called, still hidden behind the wall that separate the kitchen from the other rooms.
"Yeah we know, now show yourself!" I called back, rolling my eyes playfully.
"Okay," she quietly said, and we heard her footsteps approaching the kitchen slowly.
When she arrived in front of us, a huge grin appeared on my face, as I was happy with her choice of dress. It was an ivory, long-sleeved and full laced dress that stopped at her ankles. It was my favorite among the three we noticed back at the bridal shop.
"Do I still look hot in this one?" she asked me, and I giggled at her question.
"You do for sure," I truthfully said, as I stood up and walked to her. "Carl is gonna lose it when he sees you. I can assure you that."
"I agree. You look amazing, Alice," Haze added, which caused my best friend to smile widely.
"Thank you guys," she emotionally said, turning around. "This is the one."
"The dress, or the future husband?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Both. They were made for me," she grinned, and that simple sight warmed up my heart. "Now I have to—"
Alice was cut off in the middle of her sentence because of someone opening the front door of the loft in a loud noise.
"Brit!" Carl's voice suddenly called, and my eyes widened immediately. He couldn't see Alice in her wedding gown before their big day.
"Carl, no!" Alice and I yelled in unison, as I ran to him to put my hands over his eyes. "Close your eyes! Al, run back to the bedroom!"
"What's going on?" Carl asked, confused, as I still had my hands hiding his sight.
"You can't see the dress, and Alice just put it on!" I explained, and looked over my shoulder to see if Alice was out of sight. "Now you can look, but don't go in your room, though."
"I—I need to talk to you, Brit," he said, and his tone alarmed me. "We've got a problem."
"A problem?" Hayden asked, coming from behind me, worry filling his voice. "What's going on, Carl?"
"June Chandler-Schwartz," he announced, and I felt my heart fall in the pit of my stomach just hearing her name. "She came to the hospital, she was looking for you."
"W—What? What did she want from me? What did you tell her?" I asked, slightly panicking as my brother joined me.
"She said she was looking for you, and I told her you were on sick leave for an indeterminate period of time. She asked if you were okay, and I told her you were very tired and needed rest, and she explained that she was worried because she hadn't heard from you since the dinner at her place," he explained, and I nodded, listening carefully to each word he was speaking. "Then she asked if she could have you address."
"Tell me you didn't give her my address, if you did, she could—"
"Relax, I didn't give her," my boss interrupted me, and I exhaled in relief. "I told her I wasn't allowed to share some confidential details about my employees to people who aren't related to them."
"Did she give up after you told her that?"
"You wish. She gave me her phone number, and told me I needed to tell you to call her, to make sure you were okay," he announced, giving me a little piece of paper with a phone number written on it. "You'll have to call her, Brit."
"What if I don't?" I wondered, looking from the paper to Carl.
"Hale, Carl is right," my brother chimed in, and I turned my head in his direction. "It doesn't have to be now, you can do it when you come back from Africa, but you'll have to do it eventually. It will leave you some time to come up with a plan."
"What if she tries to find where I live while I'm away? And what if she finds the loft and come here uninvited someday, while Michael is here?" I asked, panicking again.
"It won't happen, Brit," Carl tried to reassure me, but it didn't quite work.
"How can yo be so sure? Huh? Nobody knows what she's capable of after what she's going to put Michael through if I can't keep her away! Oh my God, what did I—"
"Brit, breathe!" Carl exclaimed, as he put both of his hands on each of my shoulders. "She won't try to find you because I told her you were with some relatives out of state for a couple of weeks. To rest," he explained, and I started breathing again. "I got you covered, Hale. I won't let this woman come near you or Michael again."
I nodded, touching Carl's arm gently to thank him before I went to sit on the couch nearby. "I should have been patient, I should have stayed away from this family. Now if they manage to get in touch with Michael, it would be all my fault."
"You needed to know more about this situation, and the only way for you to know more was to try to meet them to trigger any visions, and it worked. You had the visions, you needed to know more about this family," Hayden reassured me. He knelt in front of me, and put both of his hands on my knees. "Hayley, look at me," he demanded gently, taking my hands off of my face to take them in his. "You did what you had to do to try to save your man. You were brave, you befriended the enemy to have a closer look on them, and this was a smart move. Now, we will find a plan to put an end to this. I promise you."
"We've got your back," Carl added, giving me a warm smile. "We're in this with you."
"The three of us," Alice added, coming from the hallway. "I've heard everything. Walls are thin."
"Thank you guys," I thanked them, tears pooling my eyes at that point.
***
I zipped my last luggage, and huffed in relief as I was finally done packing. I let myself fall down on the bed, and looked at the clock on the nightstand: 11:05PM. I took the phone in my hands, and dialed Michael's direct line number, as I crawled into bed. After the second ringtone, my boyfriend's beautiful voice was heard, bringing a smile on my lips instantly.
"Hey handsome," I greeted him, and I could just picture the embarrassed smile he has when I call him that.
"Don't you think it's a little late to call someone, Ms. Thames?"
"It is late to call someone, but it's never too late to call Mr. I-Never-Sleep," I pointed out, which made him giggle on the other end of the phone. "I needed to hear your voice before going to sleep."
"I'm glad you called," he admitted, and I could hear the smile in his voice. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"
"Yes sir, I'm all set. I'll be at LAX at seven o'clock, just like we planned."
"Great. Now I hope I won't get mobbed. I've always been scared of airports because there's just so many people around. And well... As you already know, I hate planes too. I'm quite nervous about the flight, that's why I wished you were here tonight," he told me. "You're the only one who can help me relax."
"I'll be right beside you during the entire flight, everything is going to be fine, baby," I reassured in a soothing tone. "The security officers working at the airport have special protocols for celebrities, so you won't get mobbed. Plus, you got your own security too, so everything is going to be just fine. Alright?"
"You're right. I'll just keep in mind that, after all of this, you'll be with me, and I'll be okay," he truthfully said, and I melted at his words. He was, without a doubt, the sweetest human being alive. "So tell me, how are the wedding preparations going?"
"They're going pretty well, actually! Alice chose her dress among the three we selected back at the bridal shop, and she finally managed to book the venue for the tenth of March. They sent the invitations today, and now they just need to hear from the guests to know who will be coming or not," I explained, excited about this entire event.
"That's great! Is Alice stressed yet?"
"She is. And she is an emotional wreck. She couldn't stop crying this evening, that was both hilarious and touching. She's just so happy to be marrying Carl, I've never seen her this happy in the past."
"And how are you?" Michael asked, out of the blue.
"Me? I'm fine, why wouldn't I be fine?" I asked, frowning. I was confused.
"I know you had a bad experience when it comes to engagement and marriage and all of that. Because of what your ex did to you," he explained, and I was relieved John was his only concern.
"I'm fine. At least the wedding magazines I stored from my time with him helped Alice with the organization, so that's a plus," I chuckled slightly, but I went back to being serious quickly. "I learned to heal from my relationship with John. It's never quite easy to be left when being engaged, but when John left me, he made me understand that he didn't love me as much as I thought he did, and this helped me move on."
"You rarely ever talk about your relationship with him. Not that I'm interested in knowing your dating history, but I'm just curious."
"There's nothing much to be said about him, to be honest," I shrugged, as I turned over in bed to look at the ceiling. "John and I met in college, we stayed together for six years, and then he asked me to marry him, and I said yes. But he started to complain about my job as an intern, and then he complained about my job as a doctor. He wasn't ready to... accept me just the way I am," I explained, as Michael remained silence, as he was probably waiting for me to go on. "So we broke up, after a few months of being engaged. I didn't want anybody to come between me and my job, and I knew he would have never been okay with it. I hated him for that."
"How can someone blame you for doing one of the most beautiful job in the world?" Michael asked, totally dumbfounded. "I just don't get it."
"Not everybody is as understanding as you are," I snorted slightly. "And not everybody loves as beautifully as you do."
"What do you mean?" he asked, curious.
"I've never been loved like you love me, Michael," I admitted. "You have this ability to make me feel like I'm the only girl around, like I'm the most important person in this world. You look at me in a way I can't even explain, and I feel loved, and wanted and important. John never looked at me this way. Well... No one has ever looked at me this way. And I'm glad you found me, because I would have died without knowing what it feels like to really love someone, and being loved back as strongly."
The line went silent for some long seconds, so long that I had to make sure Michael was still there. "Michael?"
"Yeah, I'm right here," he spoke in a small voice, and sniffled a bit. "I just—I got emotional."
"Michael, I'm sorry, I—"
"No, please. Don't apologize," he cut me off softly. "I just don't understand how anybody never truly loved you from the soul. You deserve everything beautiful this world has to offer, Hale, even more. Love is the most beautiful feeling we have, you should have experienced it sooner."
"It's never too late for love. And I'm glad I found this, with you."
"And I'm glad God put you on my way, because I've never loved someone as hard as I love you, Hayley Thames," my boyfriend gently told me, which brought my smile back. "No matter what hardship is coming our way, we'll get through it together."
"That we will," my smile turned into a grin, as my insides were tingling with joy.