Remember the Time

Chapter 27

April 16th, 1997

Mariah had decided to leave her recording session with producer David Morales early so that she could surprise Michael at the studio. She had picked up lunch for the two of them since he was finally starting to eat again. When she arrived to his studio session, she saw him standing over by the sound mixer with his back to her. She walked over and snaked her arms around his waist. He turned around and smiled sheepishly.

"I came to surprise you." She explained.

His smile grew a little wider, his eyes downcast.

Mariah continued. "I brought you some lunch."

"I'm working." He said quietly, turning his attention back to his music.

Mariah nodded and took a seat next to him, watching him mess around with the track. "Are you almost done?"

He nodded without looking at her, focusing intently on what he was doing. He pressed a few buttons, shook his head then pressed something else,  looking much more satisfied.

"Done."

"You're done?"

He nodded. "Done. My album's done."

"The whole thing?"

He nodded vehemently, maintaining his reserve.

She smiled, rubbing his shoulder. "That's good baby. Now, let's eat."

He hesitated and she grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the soundboard. There was a couch and table on the other side of the room where she had set their food. They both sat down and she picked up a brown paper bag. She handed Michael a turkey Lunchable and pulled out a salad for herself.

As she was getting the napkins out of the bottom of the bag she noticed that Michael had opened his Lunchable and was about to eat one of his cookies.

"Uh uh uh. You're gonna get diabetes if you only eat sweets, Michael." She said shaking her head. "Give me."

She held out a napkin and Michael shook his head. "No."

Damnit, he's gone from one to two, now he knows 'no'.

"Michael, I want you to eat your food. You can have them after you eat, okay?" She promised.

He frowned and put the cookie on the napkin.

"Thank you." She said, wrapping them up and putting them out of his reach. She pointed at his food. "Now, can you eat for me?"

He nodded and began to make a sandwich, carefully stacking the meat and cheese on one of the crackers and then adding another cracker on top. Mariah suppressed a chuckle when he picked up the tiny sandwich with two hands, as if his hands weren't big enough to palm a basketball.

"Mike, can we talk?" She asked, playing in her salad.

He nodded, starting on another sandwich.

"So about the dinner at your mom's house-" She stopped when she noticed him tense up. "We don't have to talk about it, baby."

Michael seemed to relax and ate his second sandwich. She watched him carefully, making sure that he didn't try to hide his food like the night before.

"Do you like it?" She asked, precariously.

He shrugged. "It's okay." He pushed the container to the side. "I'm done."

Michael held his hands out for his cookie and Mariah shook her head. "Baby do you think you could eat one more?"