Being with Michael: Part 1 (Book Two)

Chapter Forty Six

The SUV drives along the gravel drive and Michael's looking out the window trying to find something of interest outside.

"Where are we going? This is all woods," he says.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Paige smirks at him.

"Does Josh even know where he's going? Hey, Josh do you know where you're going?" Michael asks the driver of the SUV, Josh.

Josh chuckles at him and replies, "Yes sir, Paige told me exactly where I'm supposed to be going."

"Well atleast somebody around here knows a thing or two," Michael says sarcastically to Paige.

Paige sticks her tongue out to him and laughs. Then she leans forward in the backseat to look out the front to where they're heading.

"We're almost there," she tells Michael.

"How can you tell? It's all trees," he says, with a little annoyance in his voice.

"Because I grew up here," Paige says, still looking out the front.

Michael freezes and looks at Paige's face. He realizes then that this is the first time Paige has ever shown him anything about her past, especially that past.

Paige steals a quick glance to him and they sit there looking at each other for a second not smiling, but then she goes back to looking out the front.

Michael just keeps staring at her because he can't make himself move, or do, or say anything.

The SUV slows down and comes to a stop. Josh says, "Here you go."

"Thank you, Josh," Paige says.

Michael snaps out of his trance and remembers he has to get out and help Paige into her wheelchair.

He climbs out the door and Josh has already grabbed the chair from the trunk, so he hands it to Michael.

Michael rolls it around to Paige's door and helps her climb in. Then Josh walks back around holding a picnic basket in hand, which he hands over to Paige to rest on her lap.

"What's this?" Michael asks.

"What does it look like? We're having a picnic," Paige says, smiling now.

Michael finally takes a look at the place they've arrived at and he immediately sees why they're having a picnic.

There's an old concrete basketball court to the left, a group of benches and tables for people to eat at, and a cobblestone walkway that wraps around a gigantic Oak tree and leads back to the gravel road. Past the Oak, there's a rolling field of grass that falls downhill to reveal the skyline of the city among the forests.

"You grew up here?" Michael asks, amazed. He starts pushing Paige in the wheelchair down the cobblestone walkway.

"Well, I grew up escaping here," Paige says. "This is where I would go as a refuge anytime my parents were high or drunk or fighting, so a lot of my time was spent here."

Michael feels so bad for her. He wishes he could change things for her, but he knows he can't. Just like she can't change things for him.

As he's pushing Paige along the pathway, he starts to hear music playing. "Is that music?" He asks.

"Yup," Paige says excitedly. "Now you'll see why I love this place even more."

Michael pulls her chair up to a lunch table and she sets the picnic basket on the table. He begins setting the table, but the music starts getting louder.

"Okay, where is that music coming from?" He asks Paige.

"There's an outdoor amphitheater through those woods right there," Paige says as she points out to her right, in the opposite direction of where they came from.

"Right now it's only playing music before the concert starts, so it's not as loud," she explains. "But guess what show is playing tonight."

Michael shrugs and lifts his eyebrows, "Well, it's obviously not me."

Paige laughs and tells him, "No, but it is a Michael Jackson tribute show. The same one that came here one night when I was out here escaping as a kid and first introduced me to your music."