"Maxie!" Justin shouted throughout the empty house. The grandfather clock ticked in the large foyer, telling him that it was clearly past one o'clock in the morning. It was dark and quiet. Quite unusual since his fiance always left a light or two on and fell asleep to the radio blaring. The twenty eight year old international sensation, lept up the grand marble staircase to the second floor.
"Maxinne?" He yelled out into the erie silence, but there was no reply back to him. This made Justin's heart jump and pump faster as he approached the dark open doorway that was their bedroom. Quickly, he flicked on the light switch and immediatly became worried.
The bed was neatly made and looked untouched just like he had left it this morning. Justin could smell Maxie's lingering scent as he cautiously walked into the room. Nothing was out of place and neat as a pin, which was rare for Maxie. He peered into their closet, only to stop cold in his tracks. Justin flicked the closet switch and gaped in sheer anger.
Every single piece of clothing that had belonged to her was gone. Ever shoe, scarf, blouse. Everything had vanished as if it had never existed in the first place. Justin walked into the closet further and found that nothing on his side was touched. Every article of clothing that had crowded their closet that was his, was still there. Was it some sort of sick joke? Had she really up and left him this time? All those questions filtered through Justin's mind while he ran his shaking hands through his short brown tufts of hair.
Coming out of his numb daze, Justin fumbled for the phone in his pocket. Once in hand, he hit speed dial six. It rang twice before immediatly being sent to voicemail.
"You've reached Maxie! I probably can't get to the phone
right now so leave a message and I'll call you when I can."
Justin gritted his teeth, clearly frustrated and tried again. After getting her voicemail ten times in a row, Justin suddenly became desperate. He scrolled through his contacts and sighed before hitting call. It rang once before someone answered.
"Hello?" Mitchel asked in a groggy voice. Jutin could tell he had been sleeping.
"Mitch! Oh thank god you answered. Listen, something's wrong and I need your help." Justin pleaded to Maxie's twin brother. He could hear Anna in the background, asking who it was.
"Justin? What the hell are you calling me for at two thirty in the morning?" He thundered.
"Maxie. I did something to her and I don't know what. I came home and her clothes are gone." Justin explained while Mitch listened. The newborn baby cried faintly in the background as Mitch's wife Anna, tried to sooth her.
"I haven't heard from her and even if I did, she wouldn't tell me anything. Listen man, let her cool off alittle bit and then try to work it out. I'm sure whatever it is, it can't be that bad." Mitch said sleepily. Once they hung up, Justin sat on their bed with an exasperated sigh. He reached down and pulled off one sneaker to throw into the quarter empty closet. Soon, the other one followed it and so did his jacket and shirt. Justin laid there and stared up at the high ceiling of his bedroom. He would wait until an appropriate hour before trying to find her and sort everything out. Justin just hoped that it would work and she would listen to him unlike any other time he tried to explain. He was always a failure when it came to that stuff.
Justin awoke to the bright streams of gold that streamed through the bedroom windows and many skylights. He rolled over and slung his arm out to wrap around Maxie, but quickly realized after gripping the cold sheets, that she wasn't there. A faint melody played and he quickly scrambled for his phone on the dresser. Without looking at the caller id, he answered.
"Hello?"
"Are you home?" Her voice was like an unspoken melody that always rolled through his mind. He lived and breathed to hear that voice and it took him until now to realize it.
"Maxie!" He shouted in astonisment and joy.
"Justin. I need to know if you are home so I can come over." She said sternly.
"Yes. This is your house too, baby." Justin said softly and rubbed a hand over his face. Silence filled the phone line. Then there was nothing, but the dial tone. Justin hung up and walked over to the closet to pull on a black vneck tshirt and sneakers. He didn't even bother with his hair that stood up in all directions as he raced down the hallway to the stairs. She was pulling into the driveway when he opened the door to the Atlanta sunshine. Seeing her made his heart ache.
Maxie stepped out of her red mercedes in white cutoffs, a red tshirt, and sneakers. Her auburn hair was pulled up into a messy side ponytail and her navy eyes were hid behind dark sunglasses. She walked towards him casually as if they were just friends meeting up for coffee.
"Hey." She said sharply before walking past him and into the house. Justin followed her like a dog. She strolled into the office that had held both of their important documents and Justin was hot on her heels. Maxie began digging through the desk drawer when Justin set a hand on her waist. She immediatly stiffened and looked up at him through the dark shades.
"Justin. Please not now."
"What did I do? Tell me and I can fix it." Justin said and tried to pull her curvy frame to him, but she held her ground.
"What you did? You should know, Mr. Bigshot." Maxie sneered and picked up a manila folder and a book.
"Tell me. Maxie, don't do this!" Justin said and followed her as she walked into the dinning room. Maxie claimed the china teapot that had sat in the middle of the table.
"I don't have to say a thing, Justin. We both know that it was never ment to be. Celebrities marry celebrities and that is just how it is." She said harshly and stalked quickly out of the room and back towards the front door. Justin finally caught her in the middle of the circle drive a few feet from her car. He had grasped her elbow and whirled her around to face him.
"What in the hell is all of this about? I thought we talked about this, Maxie? You are mine and only mine, forever." This made anger pulse through Maxie's body. She whipped off her sunglasses and threw the contents in her arms onto the pavement. The sound of the teapot shattering seemed like a distant sound to Justin's ears.
"You make me sound like a damn piece of property, Justin! How am I suppose to be a wife to you when you are always on tour and jetting off to every damn place in the world? You think I want to spend the rest of my life in that big damn house all alone?" She screamed and the damn she had tried so hard to compose, broke. Tears streaked down her sunkissed cheeks and Justin felt his heart contract painfully. He framed her face in his hands like it was made of precious glass.
"Is that what is wrong? God Maxie, I would do anything in the world to make you happy. You could have just told me and I could have fixed it. I can cancel meetings or reschedule them. I would and I will. Hell, I'll even cancel the tour this fall to spend all the time with you." Justin replied. Maxie's eyes just watered even more.
"You can't do that. That's your career and I don't want to interfer with it. I just want you to spend some time with me, Justin. That's all I'm asking." She said softly and it was like music to Justin's ears.
"Then I will spend as much as I can. Maxie, I love you."
"I love you too, Justin." Then he lowered his mouth down to hers for a kiss that was better than any he had ever remebered or had. She was his weakness and always made him stronger than what he actually was. Maxie was his love, forever.