The Small Things [Elvis]

Chapter 10 - I Have a One-Track Heart

That couldn't have been more horrible timing. Before, when women I was interested in saw me kissing another woman for a scene, I would snicker about it when I see their jealous expressions. Cilla had seen me do it before, and I would feel my male pride shoot up since she was so ticked and jealous about it. When she found out about Ann-Margret, she threw a vase against the wall. That made me laugh.

Things changed. When I saw Shannon standing there looking over at me as she was talking with John, and I knew that she saw me kiss Sue Ane, my heart plummeted. I had to go and talk to her. I wanted to, anyway, after the Colonel told me that John wanted to make her a reoccurring extra. That was after I told him about Shannon's and my kiss out at the picnic table. To put it lightly, he wasn't happy about it. Well, what could I do? When a man is that close to a woman he cares about, he wants nothing more than to make his feelings known, no matter the outcome.

I shouldn't care about this so much, that Shannon didn't want to start something out of fear for my reputation going south, but... I cared. A lot. More so than any other woman. I thought that Ann-Marget scared me because I had strong feelings for her and I didn't know what to do about them, but Shannon... that little pistol of a woman... she had me scared out of my mind. She had me sitting there on the edge of my bed in my LA house, thinking of how I could try and convince her to start a relationship. I wanted her more than Cilla. That was saying something. Shannon was just so different, it was refreshing. She wasn't like other girls, and that included how tall she was. It was endearing, her height. And cute.

"Maybe do a photoshoot where she's shot from the shoulders up, just so people can see that she's a beauty and would be great alongside me." Then people would see her height. "No, that wouldn't work, dammit."

There was no hiding her height, and people out there would still be bothered because I was seeing a little woman. They would completely disregard her age and only see her height. They had been doing that her whole life.

"Hm..." I hummed, contemplating as I stared at my black guitar that I used for the film. It was shiny and had a bit of tan around the center of it. "She's a vet... She's more popular because of me. Maybe if I show my face there again and bring along a photographer... But what would be my excuse to go to a vet's office?"

A dog barked outside, and a lightbulb went on in my mind. I had always wanted a dog to keep me company in this house. Maybe I could go get that spaniel I wanted and bring him or her to the vet to get checked up. People would get more used to Shannon because of me, and hopefully that would soften them up to the idea of me being involved with her.

That comment someone said in the paper came to my mind, the one about a lady keeping her eight-year-old daughter away from me since I supposedly didn't mind going on with females that height. I groaned and fell backward onto my bed and stared at the ceiling.

"There's nothin' I can do." I smirked, recalling our couple of kisses and other special moments. "We're basically a couple. Man, those lips of hers are nice."

Someone rapped on the front door out there, and I sat up, ready to face my manager. He came stomping into the house and came down the hallway. He knocked on my door. "Elvis, I hope you're not asleep!"

"If I was, I'm not anymore!" I joked loudly.

"We're leaving in fifteen minutes. I'll be out in the car."

He left, but I remained there on my back. I saw Shannon's face in the ceiling design. I would have to think more about this. She and everyone else had a point that being seen with her would be a bad idea, but she had to be mine. My eyes and heart were only on her at the moment. I was determined to not make her scared and to make other people see her as the beautiful woman that she was.