Love of a Rockstar

Chapter Two, Love of a Rockstar

LUKE’S PENETRATING STARE made me feel naked. The last time he saw me, I was thirty-five pounds heavier with a basketball for a stomach. Now, four years later, I hardly looked any different than I did at seventeen. The only notable difference was my hair; which was now chin length instead of flowing down my back.

“M?” his husky voice asked, disbelief in his eyes.

I winced at the personal term of endearment he had given me on our second date. Luke said M fit me better because it stood for all my best qualities. Motivated, mesmerizing, and mysterious. Surprisingly, the nickname stuck. Out of habit, my teeth snagged my bottom lip as I shifted uncomfortably.

Luke’s face lit up like a jack-o’-lantern. “It is you.”

As he sauntered over to the hotel desk, my fight or flight instinct kicked in. I couldn’t plaster a fake smile on my face and pretend as if we didn’t have a child together. That we didn’t once share a love story worthy of the big screen. From the corner of my eye, I spotted the door to the ladies’ restroom. My legs overruled my brain as I took off running.

“Wait!” Luke called out after me.

I stumbled into the bathroom and closed the door behind me, leaning against it to catch my breath. A lady washing her hands at the sink gave me a suspicious sideways glance.

“Is there a problem?” I snapped.

She quickly dried off her hands and hustled past me, out the door. Shutting myself in a bathroom stall, I hung my head, embarrassed. Not only did I snap at a hotel guest, I also ran away from Luke like a scared little girl. What happened to the confidant 24 year old I had become? Luke obviously was what happened. He had a way of getting under my skin with one look. I pulled my knees to my chest as the bathroom door clattered open.

“Marlene, are you in here?” Josie called out.

I let out a sigh of relief that it wasn’t Luke. I wouldn’t put it past him to walk into a ladies restroom. Unlocking the stall door, I peeked my head out from my safety zone. “I’m here.”

She stuck her hand on her hip. “Hiding, are we?”

“I just need a moment.” Or however long it took for Luke to leave my life again.

“Look, I’m not stupid,” Josie said. “There’s obviously a story between you and Mr. Rock Star.”

I sensed Josie wanted more than friendly co-worker talk. She smelled a story and wanted inside Intel so she could divulge it to the rag sheets where I’d be portrayed as a desolate single mother.

I peeked through the crack in the stall door and mumbled, “I’d rather not talk about it.”

She held up her hand “You’re right, it’s none of my business, and to be honest, I don’t need to know.”

“You don’t?”

Josie laughed at my stunned reaction. “No, everybody has secrets. If you need to take the day off, I’ll cover for you.”

I couldn’t allow Luke’s presence to drive me away from my place of work. Besides, he was a guest. I had to get used to seeing him around.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Josie nodded and was halfway out the door when she turned around. “Just to give you a head’s up, Luke is in the lobby waiting for you. He doesn’t seem like a guy who gives up easily.”

“He isn’t, except when it comes to his own family,” I muttered underneath my breath.

Once the door swung shut, silence enveloped me like a heavy blanket. With shaking hands, I whipped out my cell phone. If anybody knew how to talk down the crazy in me, it would be my best friend, Camille. We met in second grade when we both grabbed the same Barbie. We took turns with it each weekend until her head popped off. To this day, there is a makeshift gravestone with the name Barbie on it in Camille’s parents’ backyard.