Human Nature

Chapter 34

July 30th, 1992

Michael smiled to himself as he looked down at Mariah, who was curled up against his chest. Janet was planning to meet them in London for his next three shows to keep Mariah company since he would be busy most of the time. He slipped from under Mariah, pulled the blanket back over her, and brushed the hair out of her face. It was getting hard to imagine his life without her. 

Once he out of the shower, he glanced over at the bed and Mariah was still in the exact position he left her in.

She sleeps like a rock.

He decided to let her sleep in since she had been a good sport about the jet-lag and incessant travelling that they'd been doing for the past month. He went into the living room area of their hotel room and moved their suitcases from the door. Mariah's notebook fell out of hers and he picked it up, but he was curious to see what Mariah had written for her next album.

He started flipping through the pages of different songs: All I Ever Wanted, Everything Fades Away, Just to Hold You Once Again, and the unfinished Music Box. He frowned realizing that there were mostly sad songs while he felt that their relationship was flourishing. He flipped through a few more pages and found another song: I've Been Thinking About You.

 We've known each other
For a long long time But I never really noticed
All the magic in your eyes
I've been around you
A thousand times before
And you've always been a friend to me
But now I'm wanting more
I must have been so blind
I never realized
You're the one that's right for me
All the while I couldn't see
And now I feel so strange
I'll never be the same
Going 'round and 'round in circles...  

He slammed the book closed and took a deep breath to stop his heart from pounding out of his chest. He knew Mariah had a tendency to write from the heart, which he had admired, but that song was messing with his head. 

Who is she thinking about? What made her write this song? Please, God tell me it wasn't Tommy.

Bill opened the door and Michael jumped. 

"Sorry, Mike. Janet's here."

He nodded. "Okay, I'll meet her out there."

Michael walked out of the room and Bill followed him. Janet ran up and hugged him.

"Where's Mariah?" 

"Sleeping." Michael spat.

Janet raised an eyebrow. "Uh-oh, what happened?"

"So I was looking through her notebook-"

Janet folded her arms. "That was your first mistake."

"Would you listen? There was a song in there and it was...interesting." He scratched his head.

"So are you going to show me?"

He pulled Janet towards the room, picked up the notebook, flipped to the pages, and nearly threw the book into her hands.

She looked at the page for a few seconds and pointed. "Did you see the little heart in the corner?"

He pulled it out of her hands. "Where?"

Janet laughed. "You are so paranoid. You have no idea when she wrote that or when she wrote it. It could be about you."

"She changes notebooks every album." He said, putting it back in her suitcase. "She wrote it after a lot of sad love songs. Janet..."

He shook his head. He was trembling and looked back towards the bedroom. 

Janet shook her head. "You have some serious trust issues."