The days, weeks and months went by agonisingly slow. I tried keeping myself busy as much as I could, but there was only so much work that needed to be done. With the boss being out of town, not much was going on at the ranch.
At least I had gotten to know a lot of my co-workers, but my mind was always somewhere else. Normally that place was Michael’s pants… It must have been showing on my face, because another maid asked me if I was in love or something, as I was always walking around with a grin on my face and a dreamy look in my eyes.
During the day I could somewhat keep busy, but at night time, alone in my bedroom, I could really feel his absence. For crying out loud, I had known him for like a week! This was ridiculous! But he had this thing about him that just made you love to be near him. He had this pull, almost like a tractor beam, and I was caught in it totally helpless, but also completely willing. Not a lot of people were like that. You immediately wanted to be his friend… or more.
Michael called me almost every week. Due to the time difference, it wasn’t easy to keep in touch by phone as much as we’d like to, but when we did get to talk it often turned hot. I found out Michael was pretty eager to try phone sex and I was only happy to oblige. The first time he brought up the subject he accidentally blurted out if I wanted to have sex with the phone. I of course said no and that I would prefer having sex with him. It took him a few seconds to catch the joke and after some laughing we got down and dirty. Turned out he was the master in bed, on stage AND on the phone.
He also sent me tons of “Wish you were here” postcards. One from each city he performed in and my refrigerator was starting to look like a map of the world. He never signed them with his whole name; just "M". It was always short messages, but they were very sweet. Stuff like “I miss you”, “Can’t wait to see you”, “Can’t sleep without you”, “I miss your touch” and god only knows, I sure missed his touch as well.
Summer turned to winter and his short return was coming closer and closer. And so was my birthday. I had made plans with Janice to go out for dinner and a movie and just keep it low key. We chose to eat at Planet Hollywood and to my pleasant surprise, a few items of Michael memorabilia was decorating the walls. Janice wanted to know everything about my new work place and my employer, but I was only able to speak in loose terms as we all had to sign confidentiality agreements. She knew who he was, but she didn’t know I was doing him and I SO wanted to tell her and share like girls do. Luckily, she took my blushing at the mention of his name as the normal adoration from females when it comes to him, and I don’t think she suspected anything. I almost choked on my food when she blurted out that she often wondered if he was well endowed.
After spending a few hours in the company of Tom Cruise in Cocktail, I headed home. I hadn’t heard from Michael yet and I was a bit disappointed. I figured he was busy and I couldn’t blame him.
I opened the door with a sigh as I looked around the dark living room. I threw my purse on the couch and went to the bathroom to wash my face and get ready for bed. I pulled my hair back with a scrunchy and turned on the water, looked at myself in the mirror while waiting for the water to warm up. “Happy birthday to me…” I sighed.
A knock on the door woke me from my self pity of having to go without Michael on my birthday. When I opened, I was greeted by the biggest bouquet of long stemmed red roses I had ever seen in my life.
“Compliments of Mr. Jackson” a male voice said somewhere behind the flowers. I freed the man from the heavy load and placed them on my coffee table. “Miss, this is also for you”. I turned around and the guy handed me an envelope which I accepted, wondering what waited inside. The man politely nodded a goodbye and left.
I sat down on the couch and took another look at the roses in front of me. They were so beautiful! But the envelope was burning in my hand, so I ripped it open. Inside I found a Peter Pan birthday card with Michael’s scrawly handwriting on it, which I had come to love.
“Hey girl.
Happy birthday! I hope you had a great day with your cousin. I wish I could be there and celebrate you…But!… I’m coming back soon and I can’t wait to see you.
I hope you like the flowers and my little extra surprise.
Love Michael”
I took another look inside the envelope and I was thrilled to see what the extra surprise was; a ticket to his concert at the Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles in two days and a backstage pas. This was a great present and the butterflies in my stomach already began rummaging around with the thought of seeing him again. I had only seen Michael in concert in 1984 when he did the Victory Tour with his brothers and that was on TV. I had a feeling that seeing him live in person would be an experience out of this world.
I returned to the bathroom to finish getting ready for bed. I looked at the reflexion in the mirror and the excitement was written all over my face. “Happy birthday to me!” I smiled to myself.
****
The day of the concert had arrived and I was excited as hell. I was going to see Michael at his best and later one, Michael at his biggest. I had missed him like crazy for what felt like an eternity. The few days we had spent together before he left, seemed like a distant memory. When I thought about it, things had moved very fast between us considering the circumstances. I would have imagined that a guy in his position was on guard all the time and never did anything in the spur of the moment. I didn’t know where things were going and I didn’t really care. I was just enjoying the fuzzy feeling inside when I thought about him, walking around blushing when something he had said popped up in my head and the pounding in my chest that started the morning of the concert in anticipation of what to come. I was nervous and excited at the same time, and I loved it.
When the car pulled up to my place, I got my first surprise; it was a stretch limo! I had never ridden in one of those before and I suddenly felt a bit underdressed. From previous experiences I had learnt that high heels, dresses and concerts didn’t go together. So I wore my black converse, tight black jeans with a low waist (high waist pants was very much in at that time, but I felt constipated when I wore them), a white turtleneck and a black blazer. I thought I looked ok. Not the look I had imagined for when I saw Michael again, but I didn’t expect to be in my clothes for that long anyway.
There was a lot of traffic on the way to the arena and I had a hard time sitting still. Seemed like everyone was going to the concert! I gulped down another glass of complementary champagne and tried to keep myself from jumping out of the car and kill the other drivers. I looked down at the birthday present I had bought for Michael. I hoped he would like it. It was a bit hard to buy a present for a guy you had known only for such a short period of time, but I guess you could not go wrong with buying him a shirt. So that’s what I did; a green silk shirt. I checked my purse to make sure I had remembered my camera; I had. I found some lip gloss and put some on.
Gees, how slow are people allowed to drive in this damn town!
Everything around me was hectic as I stepped out of the car at the back entrance of the arena. People in headsets were running around like headless chickens and I had no idea what to do with myself. I could hear the audience chanting “Michael, Michael, Michael…” I looked up at the huge arena and felt quite overwhelmed. Suddenly someone grabbed my elbow.
“Miss, will you come with me please?”
“Well I don…I have this..” I explained while I rummaged through my purse for the backstage pass, thinking the man thought I had sneaked in.
“Don’t worry Miss. I know who you are. Come with me please. He’s almost ready to start.”
I nodded and followed the elderly casually dressed man, who wore the type of hat you use when you go fishing. He practically pulled me through the mass of people and I almost had to run to keep up.
“I’m Bill by the way. I take care of Michael. Are you excited about the concert?” He asked without turning around.
“Yes…Yes, very much. Nice to meet you, Sir.” No response came in return as we made our way inside. The roar from the crowd became more intense as he led me towards some stairs.
“If you just go up these stairs and to the right. That will put you on the side of the stage. If there’s any trouble, just tell them to call Bill. Have a great show Miss.” And with that he left and I made my way up the stairs.
The further op I got, the more I could feel the audience. The chanting had turned to screaming, meaning something was about to happen. I picked up the pace and ran the rest of the way. I ran down a small dark corridor and turned right and the sight that met me was breathtaking; thousands and thousands of people had filled the arena. Some were crying, others screaming and the rest looked ecstatic. Suddenly the stage lit up and a thunderous sound emerged from the speakers. Smoke filled the air and my heart jumped! There he was! The crowd went insane and for several minutes that was all I could hear. Michael stood absolutely still, almost stoic, and seemed to be feeling the moment. He was flanked by four ridiculously dressed dancers, making him the hottest one up there. Then, by the throw of his arm, the concert took of!
Michael took me and the audience on an emotional trip that was felt deep down inside. The bass pounded and I could physically feel it as it played with the little hairs on my arms and on the back of my neck. I felt like my body was sizzling with each beat. Michael’s voice melted each and every one of us in the most passionate way. He made us feel like he was singing to us personally. And he looked damn good doing it!
The black buckled pants hugged his sexy tight ass and the silver shirt brought out all his curves, not that he had many, but he had all the right ones. The outfit left a lot for the imagination, but I had the privilege of not having to imagine. My memory of what Michael kept locked away behind the buckles was pretty vivid and had kept me warm on many lonely nights. Thankfully those nights was over soon, if only for a short time because he was going away again for the very last part of the tour.
I had a hard time keeping a level head through the concert. The way Michael was moving his hips, his feet, his entire body, took my breath away. He was oozing sex and I felt myself getting more and more turned on. How could I not be? I didn’t know if he knew I was there, because he seemed very much lost in his performance, but then he looked at me! It was during Human Nature and just for a second his eyes met mine while he sang the line: “see that girl, she knows I’m watching. She likes the way I stare”. He was pointing at the girls in the audience but shot me a quick glance; a glance that spoke one thing: Wanting!
As much as I loved the performance, I also longed for it to be over so I could get that gorgeous man all to myself. But despite that, the show was beyond anything I had ever experienced. I was taken back to my early childhood with the J5 medley, felt the unity of “Another Part Of Me”, sensed the sadness of “She’s Out Of My Life” (although shortly interrupted by surging jealousy when he brought a girl up on stage), travelled down memory lane with “Beat It”, “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” and felt the need to change during “Man In The Mirror”. I was jumping and dancing for two hours straight, but it was my mind that felt exhausted when he sang the last stanza and waved goodbye to the audience. All the feelings that had gone through me during this once in a lifetime experience had taken it’s toll on me. But right before Michael disappeared to the other side of the stage, he turned around and gave me a big smile and suddenly my entire body perked up, including two very sensitive parts of my upper body. Thank God I was wearing my blazer!
The show ended and a few minutes passed and I began to feel quite lost and didn’t really know where to go. I expected I would be invited to Michael’s dressing room, but no one came for me. I looked around for Bill and almost bumped into him as he was suddenly behind me.
“Hello again. Would you come with me please?”
“Uhm, sure… Where’s Michael?”
“He left a few minutes ago.”
“Left? But I thought I was…” I felt really disappointed but Bill didn’t seem to notice. He just dragged me along in a quick pace, just like before.
“Your limo is parked right over there, Miss.” He pointed to the left, nodded and then walked away. I hurried over to the car, wanting to get to Neverland as fast as possible, to be with Michael.
If I thought getting to the arena took a long time, leaving was an entirely different matter. The streets were filled with fans and honking cars and we were hardly able to move. After about half an hour we were able to clear the crowds and get a move on. Finally! The driver drove another way than he did on the way here, but I figured it was due to the massive crowd of people still gathered outside the venue, so I just sat back and got comfortable. But too soon after, I felt the car stop. I rolled down the window and my eyes read “The Four Seasons.”
“Excuse me, Sir! I don’t live here! I think there’s been a mistake.”
The driver turned around and smiled. “I was instructed to take you here, Miss. And they told me to give you this.” He handed me a piece of paper:
“Hey you! I’m waiting upstairs… Just ask for John James Smith.”
