Strawberry Fields Forever

It was late, already way past midnight when they arrived back home, but Amelie couldn’t care less. She felt so good in his presence. They’d simply forgotten the time as they’d laid there and enjoyed the view of the stars together, him softly running his fingers through her hair while she touched his tattoos.

The prospect of sleeping in the next day and not having to get up until twelve to pick up the boys from kindergarten delighted her. Everything seemed alright, better even. Great, finally.

When Matt switched on the light inside the house, Amelie heard her phone ringing upstairs, signaling an incoming facetime call. It was 2 am in California, 10 am in Germany. She was startled at the thought of not having checked her phone for days. She hoped nothing had happened. Why were her parents calling her at 2 am?

Quickly, she ran into the guest bedroom just in time to pick up the phone. She did her best to seem groggy with sleep, which was probably the best defense in this moment. Amelie knew she couldn’t tell her parents about Matt and their relationship, although she was going to be honest about living with him as a babysitter.

“Good mor-“ she began as she slid her finger on the screen, taking the call. But her parents didn’t even let her finish. She eyed them closely, knowing they were sitting in front of the Mac in the laundry room that Amelie had taken ages to install.

They weren’t exactly tech-savvy, but there were a few things they could do: Send e-mails, call her on FaceTime (but no-one else), use google and type letters that Amelie or one of their vet’s assistants had to print later.

She noticed that her mom’s mid-length dark brown hair was neatly made and she was wearing make-up, something she rarely ever did. Her dad was wearing a dark blue shirt although Amelie didn’t remember seeing him in anything else but his pajamas, his scrubs or his outdoor clothes except for her graduation party. He lived for his job and never cared about the way he looked. Something was terribly wrong, that much she could sense.


“Amelie,” her mom began, rapidly throwing German words at her. It took her a second to get used to hearing her mother tongue again. But she got the gist of what they said, and it didn’t sound good at all. Her heart sank as she heard them talk, both at once and way too close to the microphone. They were so upset that they didn’t even give her a second to gather her thoughts, let alone respond.

Reporters were all over Amelie’s hometown, currently standing right in front of her parents’ house, mobbing them. She could only guess what it was about… While hearing their huffed voices telling her about a reporter who smashed in their window, she opened the google app on her phone and quickly typed in “M Shadows”. As she selected the “news” tab, she felt the blood freeze in her veins.

A7X’S M SHADOWS NEWLY IN LOVE!

The letters practically sprung into her face as she opened the article. The headline was written so boldly that it occupied two lines, almost all of her phone’s screen. But right under it, she saw the rim of a photo, too.A PHOTO????

Growing more anxious by the second, she scrolled down. A muffled tone escaped her mouth. It was a close-up professional shot of them kissing in the water, and there were smaller photos of them laughing, sitting by the fire and of Amelie playing with River, too. Her face was clearly visible. There was no way to deny it was her. Anyone who knew her would know.

“AMELIE! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?” She mentally cursed herself. For a second, she’d forgotten that her parents were still on FaceTime. Her mind was racing a mile a minute as she returned to the FaceTime app. “I’m sorry,” she heard herself mumbling, “I was having connection issues.”

What a lame excuse, she thought, but knowing her parents they were buying it.

Did they… see it? “So please tell me again, the short version with one of you talking this time,” she ordered, all while thinking of a way to get out of this. Her fingers trembled slightly as she placed the phone in her hands.

“There are reporters all over town. They want to talk to us and we don’t know why. They keep saying your name and that you’re the new girlfriend of a celebrity. We told them it wasn’t true, we’re sure this is just a misunderstanding, but they won’t leave. Can you explain this?”

FUCK. How did they even find out who she was? Amelie was torn. If she lied to them and told them she was only working for one, but they’d find out via the internet sooner or later. They weren’t tech savvy, but her aunt in Hamburg surely was.

The pictures had been taken only twelve hours ago and yet they were all over the internet, so it was only a matter of time until they found out. And they would be really disappointed if they found out she’d lied to them.

And then, she could tell them what happened. Without a doubt they wouldn’t be delighted. They’d tell her the truth: that it wasn’t working, which was exactly what she didn’t want to hear. But other than lying, which was definitely the worst option, she didn’t know what to do.

“Yeah, it’s uhm… kind of a funny story,” she replied, noticing that it was the first time in their twelve minute call that she said something that wasn’t interrupted. Two curious pairs of eyes were glued to her, her mom’s pretty green ones that she’d given to Amelie, and her dad’s icy blue ones.

“I uh, fell in love. And then I found out he’s famous. Just like that.” She stifled a fake laugh. Their eyes grew wide with horror. Amelie knew that her falling in love in the states had been one of her parents’ biggest concerns. Somehow, they’d feared for her never returning, which was exaggerated, but Amelie understood.

After a full ten seconds of silence, her mom started talking. “Who is he? Anyone we know? Is he good-looking? Is he an actor from LA?” Questions she would rather not answer were being shot at her. She took a deep breath. “His name is Matt,” she began, “and he’s a singer. He’s, uhm… definitely good-looking.” But, she thought, they would not like his tattoos or the way he dressed.

“Is he treating you good?” Her dad asked, and she was happy to hear that was the first thing he cared about. “Absolutely,” she said and couldn’t suppress the smile that emerged onto her face when she thought about him. Her dad seemed to be pleased with the answer. “Which band?” her mom asked, “anything we know?” She chuckled. “No, you don’t know it.”

“How old is he?” The question caught her off-guard. She’d been pleased with being able to give vague answers that wouldn’t lead them to disapprove of their relationship, but there was no way they would still be happy for her after she replied to this question. And especially not if they knew he was a father of two.

“A little older,” she said evasively. Her mom smiled. “Okay,” she said, “at least he’s not, like, thirty.” She laughed a little and Amelie felt like someone had punched her in the stomach.

“Yeah, about that…” With dismissive looks they asked for his age. “The number,” her mom said curtly. Her voice was trembling. “34.”
“34?” her father shouted, “a 34-year-old man wants to marry and have children, not play around with a college student!” Her mom nodded. For a second, Amelie debated whether or not to tell them he HAD children, but she knew she had to.

“He… has two.” She watched as it hit them like a bomb. Her mom cradled her head in her hands, obviously not knowing what to say.

But what her dad then demanded to know fulfilled all of her fears. “His name. What do we have google for?” She’d hoped so much that they weren’t going to ask. If they didn’t see all those photos on the internet, they’d probably meet him (if ever) with an unbiased opinion. And he could wear long sleeves and take out his gauges and everything would have been alright. Would have.

Before she could respond, her mom whispered, “Amelie, please tell me you didn’t…” She felt her mouth run dry. “Of course she did, what else would a 34-year-old man do with her?” Mom just nodded, looking like she was in trance.

To top it all, in just that moment Matt’s voice sounded from the off, “Amelie, darling, are you still on the phone?” Oh no shit hits the fan...
“IS THAT HIM?” her parents asked, and then things processed way too far for her to do anything except sit there and wait for the rogue wave that was her parents and Matt meeting through webcam to bury her underneath.

He walked into the room wearing nothing but his boxers, a sight that normally made her drool but now suddenly opened up a whole different dimension of shit hitting the fan. Before she could turn around so he wouldn’t be on cam, it was too late. She heard her parents gasp at the same time. All their questions were suddenly answered in the worst way ever.

Amelie mentally checked the list of questions they’d posed and the answers they were getting from this sight.

What did he look like? - Well, he was heavily tattooed and had piercings in his ears, he was tall and built and looked intimidating.
Did they? - Hell yeah they did, why else would he come into the room almost naked if he wasn’t looking for fun?

Shit, Amelie cursed to herself, they probably thought they were in the middle of doing it when they called.

It took Matt some seconds to process what was happening, but then he left the room without a comment. A judging expression on her parents’ faces told her they were thinking just what Amelie knew they would. A part of her understood. It wasn’t wise to be with him, but at this point she couldn’t stop.

“Do we even have to say anything, Amelie?” Her mom said then swallowed. Now wearing a black t-shirt, Matt returned into the room, staying out of sight of the camera. With a gesture, he asked whether or not to join their talk. She motioned him to come closer. “Mom, Dad,” she said, now switching to English, “This is Matt.”

“Nice to meet you,” Matt said with a shy smile.

Her parents ignored the statement. “Amelie, in person,” they said in German. “What did they say?” he asked. “They want to meet you in person.” He swallowed, then replied, “I’m okay with that. How about a little trip to Munich and the surroundings? Instead of going to Big Bear,” he suggested.

Amelie didn’t know what to say. She just wanted to crawl into bed nad pretend nothing ever happened. If they went to Germany, she probably wouldn’t come back with him. She would apply to university like she was supposed to, seeing as the deadline was in a few weeks, she’d start going… and Matt?

Suddenly unable to bear the pain, she left the room, leaving behind a very surprised Matt and her even more surprised parents on the FaceTime call.

What did she want, after all? I need to make up my mind, and soon. She enjoyed her time with Matt, although deep down they both know they were playing house.

She wanted to play with the kids, to cook for him when he returned from the studio where he and the guys were headed in a couple of weeks, she wanted to fall asleep next to him, to iron his flannels. Amelie wanted anything that would not remind them of what they were doing, which was nothing more or less than playing house.

Notes

Hope you like the update.
I finished this story today, so I should be posting a chapter a day from now :) It will have 22 chaps and an epilogue.

Hope you liked the update. What do you think is going to happen next?
As always, thanks so much for your comments <3