The Truths Behind the Life of Maeve Sun Lively

49

KLARISE WAS FIXING TWO CUPS of coffee when I found her in the kitchen, sunlight just starting to shine in between the shaded curtains. Cameron's apartment had always been big, and sometimes when I sat somewhere in one part of the place I felt unknown there, like I had not much of a sense of idea or feeling for this area; which therefore was also most of the apartment. But with the three of them here, parts of it actually felt like a home. I guess anywhere with them would feel like home.

I yawned, my hair all over the place. It was so early I just wanted to crawl back to sleep, but finding her gone from my bed gave me nearly a feeling of what might've been a heart attack .

"Good morning, birthday girl." She poured the coffee into two mugs, handing one of them to me.

I leave it on the table and hug her from behind, feeling just how precious it all was to have her under my arms, my care again.

"I tried to scare you, guess that didn't work."

She turns around in my hug and wraps her arms around my neck. "Maybe next time, sweetheart," she pulls my arms off, smiling with a tease. "Now drink up, coffee is never good when cold."

My nose crinkled up as I sipped the bitter taste. I would have loved to add the sugar, which I always enjoyed with my coffee, but the cake from yesterday was already enough fats. Or else my nutritionist is going to go insane.

She takes her mug of coffee and joins me at the table, the steam rolling up over her face. "I've missed you, but you already know that, don't you?"

She was tapping her index finger with a steady beat on the table, which had always been a habit of hers when she was nervous about something no matter how blank of a face she puts on. Klarise is a great singer, sometimes not always the best actress, but I think she also could've gone for that side of a career and made a life out of it. Ultimately, in the long or short run, she had fooled me for a while.

"What is it? There's something on your mind."

She carefully takes a sip of her mug, then glances at the corridor leading off to the bedroom Cameron and Mason were sleeping at. "Are those two up yet?"

"No," I got up from my chair and went over toward her. I took up the hand that had been tapping on the table, clasping it lightly in mine, like how one might caress a butterfly in their palms. "Which leaves us the perfect time to have you tell me what you want to tell me."

She looked away from the corridor and at me, eyes dark and so captivating. "I thought I could do without you for a year or two, you know. After all...we did spend seven years apart. But Maeve, I can't. I feel like someone might as well be tightening my bra day after day, and I just can't seem to take it off. I want to see you, to touch you, to just be with you after some long days in the studios or recording rooms or concerts. I've even watched your films the days when I thought I might as well become out of my mind!" She tilts her head at me, a small grin on her face. "I know it's a selfish thing, to ask you to stay at a certain place for me. You have your own career, and it's not right to just force you to a decision that will only benefit me. So it's okay, I understand if you say no, it really is. Because you——"

I grabbed her cheeks and kissed her lightly, then I drawed away, half smiling and half frowning. "I'll come. Yes, oh yes, I'll come, Klarise. I love you, and so what I'll be like your sidekick going after you from place after place? I love you, and I don't know if I can say that a million times in this life to you, but if I can I will. And I want you to know that. A role? Whatever, I can just get a role somewhere near where you are. Don't worry about it, alright? It's not selfish, well, if it is, then I guess you can also call me selfish. Because I'd do the same thing."