Not Enough (Now a Norman Reedus story)

Life in Pictures

Chapter 19—Life in Pictures

Mia wakes up the next morning, rolling over to find Norman gone. She reaches over to his side of the bed and it's slightly warm to the touch. She groans as she stretches her arms over her head, sitting up and getting a good look around. Besides her bed in his room she didn't take notice of anything yesterday when she arrived. Norman kept her preoccupied last night, waking her up a couple of times to make love to her.

She looks over at the walls; several photos of Mingus as a small child are hung on the far wall, some taken by Helena and some by Norman. Mia smiles to herself as she looks at the one black and white photo of Ming as a toddler sitting on Norm's shoulders. She was there when Helena took that picture. She was laughing it up in the background as she watched the father and son goofing around. It was a good day, even though the relationship between Helena and Norman had only ended months before they were civil and actually on very good terms.

Most people would think that because of what brought their relationship to an end, Helena and Norman would despise each other but it couldn't be further from the truth. What brought their love-affair to an end is what hurt and angered Norman. She cheated on him and he would never trust her with his heart again but he liked her as a person and very much respected her as the mother of his child. Helena was a chronic cheater, her way of forever punishing herself. Mia figured it had something to do with her ex Michael Hutchence.

Helena was head over heels for the INXS lead singer and Michael's issues with drugs made their relationship a tumultuous one. She kept taking him back because she was completely in love with him and he would eventually push her away until he decided he needed her again. It wasn't healthy but Helena couldn't say no to him. His death almost destroyed her even though they hadn't been together in months. Her relationship with Norman was too soon and she made sure it was on a path to self-destruct.

Norman tried to forgive her for her indiscretions, knowing her fragile emotional state and her history but she just kept repeating her adulteress behavior, barely trying to conceal it. Finally, the two sat down and talked it out, deciding to focus on parenting their son together and becoming friends rather than lovers. Mia knew Helena felt terrible about how she treated Norman but she just couldn't change herself and Helena did the best thing she could, she let Norman go.

After that Norman dabbled in several semi-serious relationships; his heart guarded but he was and is still a bit of a hopeless romantic. Mia chuckles at the thought, the man who has always had a dark and even morbid side was truly a hopeless romantic. All he really wanted for himself is to have someone truly love him forever. Norman is as complicated as his photography, what you think you see on the surface isn't everything. You really have to look at it from all angles to understand it all.

Mia's thoughts are pulled away from past memories as her eyes dart around the room. She notices his low dresser, the dark wood simple and tasteful, much like Norman himself. This is the only place with clutter, Norman prefers simple clean lines. She pulls the white sheet off the bed, wrapping it around her naked body as she walks closer to the dresser. She's stunned by what she sees; the top of the dresser is full of at least fifteen small picture frames; all of them holding old pictures of her. Some of them have other friends in them as well but she is in every single photo. She smiles, seeing some of the old polaroid's in frames and trying to remember when they were taken. She can tell the frames have been on this dresser for a while; this was not something he recently did.

She looks through the collection of old pictures, picking up each one and recalling the moment captured on film. So many memories; Santa Monica Pier on the roller coaster, a bonfire on the beach, Slurpees at 7-11, that freaky party up in Burbank, that night at the Viper Room when she ended up puking on the sidewalk of the Sunset Strip; Norman holding her hair out of her face while she barfed her brains out.