Maverick Effect (Chapter 12)

Damien and Natalie lay in bed. He lay on his back staring at the ceiling and absently caressing her side. She lay against him, running slow, aimless designs on his chest. Music played softly from the stereo system. She touched his cheek softly before moving her hand back to his chest.

“Hmmm?” he said, not shifting his eyes from the ceiling.

“Can I ask you something Mav?”

“Sure cutie.”

“What happened between Michelle and you?”

He shifted slightly and looked at her.

“Been talking to Angie?”

“Maybe…” Natalie replied with a playful smirk. Her smirk dropped after a few seconds, “But if you’d rather not talk about it, it’s okay.”

Damien looked at the ceiling for a few moments. The silence grew. Natalie was about to switch the conversation to something else when he spoke.

“Why not. Michelle and I met some years back. Awhile back now that I think about it. It was pre-Maverick one could say. We got along pretty well. We decided to take things to the next level. We got into a relationship. Thing was, neither of us had much idea of that next level, we were both pretty green. We were still young, we had dreams. I wasn’t so cynical back then, well I wasn’t really cynical at all. One might say that Michelle was the start. Back then I was just shy.”

Natalie smiled softly, then giggled, “Maverick shy?!”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. You wanna hear this or not Princess?”

She poked his stomach and stuck her tongue out.

“Yes, but stop calling me Princess.”

He smirked, “Okay, but don’t stick that out unless you intend to use it…Princess.”

She tried to look annoyed, but laughed after a few seconds, not being able to help it. “Maybe later.”

“Well, anyway….I had been playing violin for some years by the time we met. I had already been writing, but I hadn’t started singing, mostly cause my singing was horrible back then. But she sang, quite well too. We had both had dreams about making it back then. Mine weren’t all the well founded back then. I had been thinking about going into film. I still feel that my writing will always be better than my music. But I’m pretty sure my fans don’t have a problem with it. I hadn’t really thought about music. I always had pretty good improv, but had never really thought much about it. Not enough to be a career anyway. Anyway, time went on and she started getting kinda, well stuck up honestly. Things started changing between us, in just about everything. From how we talked, to intimacy, to being around each other. Finally we decided to call it quits. It didn’t stop there though. After the break up, she changed even more. Finally she told me she didn’t even want to associate with me. Until I found her in my dressing room, we hadn’t talked or seen each other since then. I still love her and I guess a part of me always will, you never forget your first love. But a part of my just can’t forgive that she didn’t even want to talk about what happened, to try and sort things out. Or even discuss the possibility of trying to talk later, after we’ve both had some time. But absolutely nothing, she ignored my calls and all. In time who knows. But back then she didn’t want to see me and now I can’t see her.”

Natalie nodded and kissed him softly.

“But for now I’m happy about how things are in my life.”

Natalie nodded again and then smiled. She kissed him and started kissing down his neck.

“What was that you were saying about don’t stick it out unless you intend to use it…”

Maverick just smiled and replied as he ran his fingers through her hair, “You seem to be finding the answer well enough on your own.”

Damien