Falling In Love With Him

Chapter 5

"Ugh, I'm so tired." I plopped down onto my Queen size, rose gold colored silk bed sheets. I kicked my shoes off, one by one and pulled my jacket off. Nicole stretched out in my lounge chair across the room. "I know, me too. So did you have fun today?" she asked. "Yeah it was nice, just another photo shoot. You know." I said staring at the chandelier on the ceiling. "Yeah, I know. I loved the shots of you all, but I must admit JET got some really good pictures of just you and Michael." Nicole continued. "My favorite take was when they had you two sitting on the picnic blanket, on the sand staring into eachothers eyes and smiling. I can't wait for the developments. You go girl." Nicole started to laugh. I smiled to myself. Although it was a part of the shoot, I kind of felt like there was lots of chemistry between Michael and I.

But I wouldn't tell Nicole that.

    Staring into Michael's eyes and him staring back into mine meant everything for me, and when he smiled it was impossible for me to ev—"Mariah!" I snapped out of my thought. "Huh?" "I asked which one was your favorite from the shoot?" I let out an awkward laugh, in attempt to make it seem less awkward. "Oh. I liked them all I guess, I mean I was in them." I shrugged. I leaned over to my night stand and grabbed my favorite sparkly pink hair tie, and used it to put my hair in a bun.
"Um, conceited much? You never act like that. Is everything okay?" I just stared. I let out a sigh, and slowly shook my head no. "Nicole, if I tell you something will you promise not to over react?" Nicoles' eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped, in apparent shock. "When do I ever over react about the things you tell me?" she folded her arms and glared at me. I sat back up.

"All the time! Now can you promise me, please?" Nicole exhaled. "Oh my gosh, whatever. I promise, now tell me." I laid back down and grabbed my favorite pillow and I held it close to me.
"You were right." I couldn't believe what I was saying. One thing I couldn't stand was telling Nicole that she was right. It was like drinking vinegar. "Okay, that's nothing knew." she smirked. "What was I right about this time?" Nicole started un-lacing her block heeled ankle boots and taking them off. I faced towards her, still lying down on the bed. "You know, about Michael. I really like him." Nicoles' eyes widened and she started to smile. "Really?" she said enthusiastically. I started to laugh just looking at the expression on Nicoles' face.

She looked like a child in the candy store about to go wild. I nodded at her. Nicole ran from the chaise chair, and plopped next to me on my bed.

"So when did you finally realize you had feelings for him?" hesitant to answer I bit my lip. "I always had feelings for him. I just didn't want to say anything, you know." Nicoles' jaw dropped, but before she could say anything I interrupted. "I know, I know I'm sorry I denied it. It's just sometimes you do tend to over react and I didn't want to risk getting my hopes up, or anyone finding out about it." Nicole sighed and shook her head.

"Mariah, I'm not mad at you. I know sometimes I get a little too excited, and I can understand why you would want to play it safe. But I really think you should pursue it--" "No." I interrupted and shook my head at the suggestion. "What? Why not?" snapped Nicole, with a confused look on her face. "I can't do that. Do you know how many females throw themselves at him on a regular basis? What if he doesn't feel the same? Then I'd look like a fool. Nic, I cannot handle rejection. I just can't." I got up and started to walk towards my bedroom door, to leave. Nicole grabbed me by my arm and stopped me.

"Mariah, stop!" she scolded. "You can't keep running away from the truth every time you get worried or scared. You're beautiful, you're smart and you have a great personality! Not to mention you have an amazing career, and to be so young your future is so bright. You're amazing. Michael, or any guy for that manner would be crazy not to be interested! Do you hear me?" I nodded. "Just trust me. If you just talk to him, and tell him how you really feel, you'd be surprised." Tears started to form and roll down my face.

"How do you know?" I said, Nicole reached over and started to wipe the tears off my face. "Trust me. I just know. Talk to him." I smiled at Nicole. Maybe she's right, maybe I'll finally tell Michael how I feel.
I just hope she's right.

**Michaels' Point of View**

She's so beautiful. She's everything that I've ever wanted in a girl; smart, sweet, funny and every time she smiles at me, or even looked my way I felt as if my heart could jump out of my chest.

I laid there in my bed, staring at my ceiling—for what felt like a lifetime, just thinking about Mariah. Why can't I just tell her how I feel? A million and one thoughts must've ran through my head, and they were all about her.

"Hey Mikey," said Jermaine, as he walked into my bedroom and came over to me. "You've been up here all day. You sick or something?" "No Jermaine, I'm fine. Just thinking I guess." I continued looking at my ceiling, it was like the more I looked at it, the more her face came to mind. "Oh, well whatcha thinking about? Mariah?" I sat up and looked at him with a confused look on my face. "Is it really that obvious?"

Jermaine started to laugh, "Well, you were pretty excited to see her at the shoot earlier today. So yeah it was kind of obvious." "Oh yeah."
I was pretty off the wall there. It felt like I couldn't even control myself. As if it wasn't even me, and I was just watching from someone else's point of view. Like an out-of-body experience. Mariah would probably think I was weird, if she'd ever found out. "You know Mike, we were all talking about it when you two were together. You guys look good together." I laughed to myself. "Really?" Jermaine nodded. "Yeah, it's just too bad you two can't even get together." "What? Why not?"
Jermaine came over and sat next to me. "You know Joseph wouldn't like that. Plus you're supposed to be fake dating Priscilla Davis. Remember?"
"Ah man, I forgot about that."
    Priscilla was a new upcoming singer, who was recently signed to Motown records. Our agents agreed that it would be good exposure for the both of us, if we were "dating". Truthfully, Priscilla was a beautiful girl and all, but she wasn't as close to my heart as Mariah was. It was planned for me to escort her to the Grammy awards, where we would present an award together, and reveal to the world that we were an item. We have a little over a month to get acquainted with one another, before the awards.

"Yeah, well you better remember." he joked. "You know Joseph thinks it's a great idea for publicity, and you can't go against Joseph."
"But Jermaine I feel nothing for her. You of all people know how I feel about Mariah. I've felt this way ever since I was ten years old. You expect me to just turn that off?"

"Not turn it off." Jermaine said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Just go with the publicity stunt idea for awhile. It'll really benefit both of your careers." I sighed.

Man, am I tired of doing what's best for everybody else. What about what was best for me?

"Well I'll see you later Mikey. I need some food." Jermaine got up, and headed towards the door.
I could hear him going down the stairs, then I got up and and shut the bedroom door. I laid back down onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling.

As I laid there, I began drifting off to sleep, and thinking to myself:
Mariah Taylor, where ever you are, I just wish you could know how much I do love you.

**Mariah's Point of View**

I sat there, looking out of my bedroom window staring up at the night sky, just wishing for a shooting star to fly across it. I wanted him so much. I never was the type to become insecure, but when it came to Michael, I had no choice but to be. I suddenly heard a knock at my door. "Come in." my father walked in. "Hey snookems." I smirked. "Hi, daddy." I loved when my father used pet names for me. Snookems was my favorite. It always seemed to bring me back to reality. I was such a daddy's girl. "Almost ready for bed?" he asked, placing his arm around me whilst kissing my forehead. "Just five more minutes?" I plead. My father laughed softly, and nodded. "You used to say that to me all the time when you were a little girl." I smiled at him. "Alright, I'll be back in ten to check up on you. Is that okay?" "Perfect." I said. "Alright, good night." He said playfully pinching my nose. "Good night, dad."

I turned back to looking out of the window, then I could hear "Got to be There" softly playing out of the radio. I listened and hummed along, until the song came off. I turned the radio off and crawled into bed, staring up at the ceiling.

I continued to hum the song until, I could feel my eyes getting heavy. The last thing I remembered thinking were the lyrics.
Good night, Michael.