A Tender Touch

\.Home To Me./

Tuesday, - February 20, 1990

"No, honey. We really need to get up."
He gave me the puppy eyes, but although they fascinated me as usual, I resisted.
"Baby, we need to get up and get ready. The brunch is at 11 and it's already 9:30."
He sighed deeply, acting overdramatically - something he would always do when he couldn't get what he wanted. I quickly locked my lips with his before he could pout or protest, running my fingers through his curls. It's not that they weren't already messed-up enough but his hair was just too silky not to touch it.
"Love me still?"
I asked, gazing into his dark brown eyes.
"Hm, we'll see about that later."
He winked, trying to hide the enormous smile on his face. In response, I playfully rolled my eyes at him, slowly getting up from his way too comfortable lap.
"Wait."
I felt his hand carefully grabbing my arm, stopping me in my tracks.
"Hm?"
"Are you... uhm - happy? I mean like - genuinely happy with us..."

What in the world?
"Michael, of course I a-"
"Be honest. Is this really the life you want? Being here with me? Look, I know it can get a little stressful sometimes and very often, I'm in the focus and the attention is only on me and..."
He sighed, still I didn't want to stop him talking because when he beats around the bush like that, there's always more to the story - and not only did I want to know, I needed to.
"I just don't want you to feel like 'my little fiancé in the background'. You - I wanna support you as well, you know?"
I gave him the warmest smile I could bring out, although his words started to concern me - deeply.
"Michael Joseph Jackson, you support me already so much by the way you love me. You are my life, baby. And of course you're in the constant spotlight because you're the king of pop and -"
I gently put his face between my hands.
"- not only am I fine with that, I am very, very proud of you."
"But we're not able to live a normal life... ever. See, I ain't even able to go shopping, or taking a walk in a park and since you're with me, the same goes for you, too. And I don't wanna limit you life so much."

And I surely would've answered if the lump in my throat wasn't there to stop me. So I kissed him, not passionately, not in a seducing way. I just brushed my lips over his and instead of pulling away afterwards, I leaned my forehead against his and closed my eyes.
"I never had to make any sacrifices for you. My life is in no way limited because of you. And... I could not care less if I could never go shopping again, go out, take a walk or party, because as long as it is without you, I wouldn't enjoy it anyway. You're home to me, Michael."
Then I felt his arms pulling me closer.
"I'm sorry for questioning your love. It's just that... sometimes-"
"I understand."
I chuckled, leaning towards him.
"I love you so much."
His facial expression instantly lightened up, hearing my response. Next thing I knew, I already felt him kissing me hardly on the lips.
"I love you more. You can't even imagine how much I love you, Miriam Elena Abelin."
His eyes beamed at me with nothing but pure love, having me returning the gaze. I sighed.
"Now you made me wanna make love to you."
He raised his eyebrows at me, smirking, also well aware of what that did to me.
"I mean..."
His hands travelled all the way down my spine, digging his fingers into the white bedsheets that were placed over my behind.
"It's not that we don't have the time to do so."
But we both knew that it would not only take us ten minutes. We would either get way too passionate about it that it would need half an hour, or - and that's how it usually went - we would have sex at least two times in a row. So, with that being said, I didn't wanna risk coming too late to the planned brunch and award ceremony held by freaking CBS. Although there wouldn't be that many cameras around and we hadn't plan to let this be our official first time being seen together since he told me he already had planned something else for that, I still wanted to show up on time.
"You know damn well that we'll need probably an hour and we gotta be there on time. Tonight, ok?"
I tried to make it up to him, although I knew he wouldn't be all too satisfied with the result.
"Oh, well - unfortunately I have a very, very important meeting at 11 p.m. and won't be here for -"
I interrupted him by kissing his soft lips.
"Shut up."
Rolling my eyes, I eventually managed to get off him and made my way towards the bathroom. His chuckles were heard while I did so, making my lips curl as well.

At the brunch...
Adjusting my grey turtleneck shirt, I lightly cleared my throat and tapped Michael on the shoulder with the other hand.
"I'm not supposed to really do anything, right? I mean, I don't have to -"
"No."
He gave me a warm smile.
"No, just look stunning and beautiful."
Then I felt his warm breath on my neck, sending shivers down my spine.
"But it's not that you'd need to really do something for that, am I right?"
This angel.
"I don't deserve you."
"No, you probably deserve better."
But before I could protest, he carefully grabbed my hand and led me towards the door of the small room.
"Why are we attending this lunch again? Sorry, I forgot."
"I'm receiving an award, baby."
He giggled at my question.
"Oh, yeah - there was something with an award, right."
"I swear, if your pretty little head wasn't screwed on..."
"Very funny."
I gave him the look before he placed his hand on the doorknob, wanting to playfully hit him in the chest but his flashing pearly whites kept me from doing so.
"Aww, no punching today?"
"You're acting as if I was a criminal."
I scoffed, laughing.
"Yeah, but a very smooth one."
I watched him opening the door, then lightly slapping my forehead.
"I swear, if your pretty little head wasn't screwed on..."
I smirked, causing him to turn around and raise his eyebrows at me.
"Is this a dare?"
"Hm, maybe."
Soon after, his laughter filled the hallway.

A few moments later, I found ourselves already approaching a round wooden table, which was decorated with some flowers and plates. Everyone had a glass of orange juice standing in front of them and soon after we had sat down, the people started talking, most of them to Michael all at the same time. At first, it was just the normal chatting, but later on it turned into somewhat more professional - some would call it business talking I think. But I was kept busy anyway, trying not to act like his fiancé. The illusion of me just being 'a good family friend that also participates in business to make her way into the music industry' as he introduced me, just needed to be continued - otherwise people would probably freak out. But the moment I felt his long fingers tracing up my thigh, I knew that he didn't really care if anyone noticed or not. Well, maybe he did care, but teasing was something he enjoyed way too much - apparently. Inconspicuously, I let my hands travel under the white table cloth, carefully placing his hand away from my leg. As I looked at him, his facial expressions remained very serious and professional, making me wonder what was going on in his mind. I then put my hands back up, taking the glass into my hands to take a sip. And almost as if I knew it, his hand was being placed on my thigh again, making the drinking part harder than I thought. But at the same time, I couldn't just place the glass back down without drinking, that would seem awkward. So I - wrongly - decided to gulp the remaining rest of orange juice down but had to caugh very loudly when his grip on my thigh tightened and he squeezed it very hard. Then all eyes landed on me, some looking worried, others definelty questioning if I was crazy.
"Are you okay, Mira?"
Michael asked, faking a worried expression while raising his perfect eyebrows at me. At this moment I could've just killed him, but of course decided to play it cool by nodding my head yes.
"Yeah, I -"
I gasped, without really being able to do something against it. This boy was seriously moving his hand all the way up my leg, not even thinking about loosening his grip. And the fact that only the very thin fabric of my nude fishnet tights was seperaring his fingers from my bare skin didn't really help at all.
"You sure?"
He asked again, his lips curling to a small smile.
This little devil.

"No, don't worry. I'm just - something's stuck in my throat but now I'm fine."
I cleared my throat, making sure that my eyes warned him and would automatically prevent him from trying this again.
"Ok, I'm glad. Maybe we could -"
His eyes travelled around the room and over the table, then his face suddenly lightened up.
"Could someone pass me the water please?"
And as if the president had just spoken, several people reached out for the crewed with him pouring some water into my glass only seconds later.
"Here, maybe that'll help."
His brown eyes tried to convince me of his innonce, still I knew by heart that he was just crazy sometimes.
"Oh, thank you."
And while I drank a bit of water, most people went back to their conversation and Michael focused on the two guys who were talking to him ealier. They were rather quickly jumping right back into the topic and Michael seemed very interested about it, staying polite as usual - well, that was until my hand was traveling up his thigh. And before I could see any facial expression of him, I quickly turned my head to the other side, starting a conversation with the lady next to me. And with every time I answered one of her question or responded, my fingers travelled up a little bit more.
...