Smile

Chapter 7

March 27th 1988 (6:34 pm)

Mariah and Michael sat across from each other having a candle light dinner in celebration of Mariah's 18th birthday. "What would you two like to drink?" The waitress asked ready to jot it down.

"I'll have some champagne and Mariah do you want some wine or something- oh never mind I forgot your still under the legal drinking age... how sad." Michael joked.

Mariah playfully glared at him.

"Just get her a capri sun but can you please squeeze it into a sippy cup? People that young tend to squeeze it and make a mess." He told the young waitress.

Mariah and the waitress laughed in unison. "Just get me some tea with honey and lemon." She said finally being serious.

The waitress nodded and walked away.

Michael squinted his eyes. "Why would you drink tea and honey with lemon? That sounds like something a singer would drink."

"I just like the taste of it." She lied. In reality she was trying to recover her voice from her ongoing smoking habit that Michael was clueless to.

Michael smirked. "Oh really? Cause yesterday I heard you singing in the shower 'someday, oh someday'." He sang imitating her.

She playfully slapped him.

"All jokes aside you do have an amazing voice and may I ask who sings that song? I've never heard it before but I like it." He asked her.

She blushed. "Thank you, and nobody sings that song... I wrote it."

"I knew you weren't writing
poetry." He replied. "Why didn't you just tell me you can sing? You should be a huge superstar."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't want to seem like an opportunist." She explained.

"Having a dream isn't being an opportunist, you're clearly not an opportunist because I would be able to sense it." He replied. "But your voice really blows me away, I need to tell my label about you."

Mariah's face lit up and a smile appeared on her face. "You'd really do that for me?" She asked in shock.

He smiled back at her. "Of course I would, I'm just doing the world a favor... I've really never heard a voice like yours except for-"

"Whitney." Mariah replied and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah....whats wrong with Whitney?" He asked noticing her growing attitude.

She sighed and changed her tone trying to be nicer. "Nothings wrong with her she's an extremely talented individual and I love her music but every time I had a chance of being signed the labels responses would be 'you have an amazing voice but you sound too much like Whitney' personally I don't hear it but that's just what they think I guess." She explained.

The waitress came back asking them if they were ready to order food. "You guys ready to order?" She asked.

Mariah nodded. "I'll have the spaghetti with a side of mandarin oranges."

"And I'll have the filet mignon." Michael said.

Mariah gagged and then leaned down and gagged again. "What the hell is that?" She asked. "Please don't tell me you really dog meat."

Michael bursted our in laughter. "That was just a rumor, you can't believe the tabloids." He replied.

About a half an hour later the waitress arrived with they're food and they dug in. "Do you want to try a bite of mine?" Michael asked her.

Mariah flared her nostrils in disgust.

"Come on... it's really good,"

"Okay." Mariah said giving in.

Michael put a piece of the dish on his fork and fed it to Mariah, she almost immediately spit it back out and wiped her tongue with a napkin.

"That's not dog, that's what dogs
eat." She said continuing to try and get the taste of her tongue.

Michael chuckled. "I guess we have different taste buds."

"No I think your taste buds are irregular... you should see a doctor about that." She replied, the disgust apparent on her face.

March 27th 1988 (11:23 pm)

Mariah and Michael silently tip toed into the hotel trying to go un-seen. Before they left the restaurant they put on large coats and hats. Mariah didn't really need to because nobody knew who she was but they were just being cautious.

Mariah flickered the lights on and sat down on her bed tiredly. Michael lied down on the opposite bed and went under the covers.

They both lied down on they're side staring at the wall, unable to sleep.
"Can you come over here?" Mariah asked.

"Sure." He replied got up from his bed and crawled into hers.

Finally feeling comfortable, Mariah closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

He looked down at her, her face doll-like and beautiful. Am I really pursuing an 18 year old girl? He asked himself.

He knew Mariah had a lot of family issues that maybe he didn't want to deal with but somehow he felt the need to solve them.

Maybe I should help her find her father... or at least set up something so she can see him but where would he even be? He asked himself.

He looked at the small clock on the black night stand. 12:47 he read.

I better get to sleep, I have to do a show tomorrow and I can't do a show if I'm tired

He pulled the covers up to his shoulders and closed his eyes.