Link Larkin never thought he'd see her again but there she was, sitting on a park bench humming and feeding birds on a Saturday evening. He almost didn't believe it was her. Link hadn't seen her in years, and she looked eighteen or nineteen from where he stood a mere 3 feet away.
"Mickey Mouse, that you?"
She stared into Link's sapphire blue orbs. "Link?" She smiled, showing her white teeth, and held out her hand for him to shake it. "How are you?" Inez looked around, curiously. "Where's Tracy?"
Link laughed and sat beside her. "She's out with her mom for the evening." He took a deep breath and looked out at cloudy sky. "I'm good, though. Still on the Corny Collins show, but a little too old to dance," he joked.
"You were always a kidder," Inez said as she noticed an awkward silence washing over them. She dare not mention that she left the show, although Link and everyone else already knew. She'd always had a crush on Link and one night he took advantage of that. It made her feel alive, beautiful and on his level but left her empty all the same.
Link cleared his throat. "So, what about you?" He hoped that she'd look at him at least once while they talked. "Any new guy in your life?" Link mentally hoped that there wouldn't be. He remembered their night of passion as if it hadn't been the night she won Miss Teen Hairspray.
"No," she whispered, looking into his eyes. "I'm still looking." Inez knew that was a lie but she didn't want Link to know that she was still hung up on him. It'd been four years already. "Well, uh, do you and Tracy plan on having kids?" Inez didn't want to know about Tracy and Link's love life but it was reality. There'd never be an Inez Larkin.
"Oh, we haven't talked about it."
Inez smiled despite herself, thinking of her own child at home. "I'm sure everything will work out when the time comes." She hoped Link would just leave her alone. What would he get out of talking to her when he had four years to straighten things out between them. "Well, I have to go, Link." She got up and began to walk off when she felt Link's soft hands on her wrists.
"Inez, I know you're bitter..." Link stared into her eyes and fought the urge to kiss her. Seaweed's kid sister. Maybelle's daughter. Corny's future step daughter. Tracy's inspiration. "I'm not sorry for what happened," he whispered into her ear, feeling her arms around his waist as she hugged him. "I just hate that I hurt you."
"You didn't hurt me, Link." Inez pulled away and walked off before saying, "You used me." Link began to walk towards her but she walked faster. "Did you sleep with me to impress Tracy, too?"
Angry at her accusations, Link ran after Inez who was now walking slowly. "No, dammit. I slept with you because I liked you." Link looked into the sky as if it carried the words he would say. "I still do, Mickey Mouse. You're one hell of a dancer," he said, smirking.
"Link, we have a son," Inez blurted out. "I'm standing here wanting to kiss you so badly, and forgive you for that one night stand we had. I'm standing here knowing my son is yours and you belong to Tracy." Once she started she couldn't stop. "I couldn't tell you, ya know? I was only 14 and my family would kill me."
Link stood there, mouth agape as he looked into Inez's eyes. They'd had a child. Inez had spent 9 months of her life carrying a Larkin inside of her. He was a father. Link Larkin was a dad, and Inez Stubbs the mother.
"I'm-uh, Inez, I never meant to hurt you."
The little girl who'd grown into a beautiful woman just smiled, letting the tears flow. "But you did," she whispered as she let her footsteps say the words she couldn't let escape her lips.
Listen to the Goldfrapp song 'Monster Love' to understand where the title came from.
R&R