The Inevitable Fanfiction

24/06/09
“You were supposed to be here,” Simon whines childishly over the phone.
“Simon, I’ll be there soon. In time for the London auditions.” Paula sighs.
“But that’s soooo far away,” He complains. It isn’t really, but to him it’s an eternity.
She knows how he feels; it is forever for them both. However one of them has to strong. And once in a while, it had to be her.
“Can’t we meet at New York, like last year?” Paula asks, steering the topic away just slightly.
“Darling, I can’t just drop everything and fly – ”
“Oh so I’m allowed to drop everything and go half way across the world for you, but you couldn’t do that for me?” Paula’s voice rises angrily. She’s not really mad at him. She’s just frustrated with the situation.
“You know it isn’t like that,” He says softly.
She sighs.
“I know... I’m sorry.”
A short silence takes over them. Simon is driving to work in his car and as their daily routine, he speaks to Paula on the phone as she gets ready for bed. Now as he navigates the busy streets of London, his mind imagines what she is wearing now, what she is doing at this very moment. He wonders which Chihuahua is following her around the house, begging for attention.
“Will you try coming here next week?” He asks.
“I’ll try, honey. Trust me, you aren’t the only one who wants me there.”
Paula sits in bed, looking at her Twitter account and laughs at some of the comments people give. ‘When are you going to London, Paula? Soon I hope!’, ‘I’m sure there is someone missing you in England’.
“So I take it you miss me too, then?” Simon asks, not aware of the bazillion other people in the world who are thinking about them at this very moment.
“Hmm?” She snaps her attention back to Simon and replays his words in her head. “Oh yeah, definitely.”
“Good.” He smiles, satisfied. “Listen sweetheart, I just pulled into work. I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”
“Sure. Have a nice day, Simon.” She doesn’t want him to go just yet, but she had gotten used to the bitter-sweetness of their overseas calls.
“And you, sleep well.”
“Love you.” She yawns.
“Goodnight.” He waits until she hangs up before putting the phone away.
25/06/09
Simon gets into his car and braces himself for a dreary meeting. He loathes meeting people he doesn’t know well and has to be diplomatic in order to get what he wants. Simon and diplomatic are a very difficult things to place together; sort of like the north poles of two magnets being held together. His days have started far too early lately, too.
There was an up-side though, which is catching Paula right before she sleeps. She is soft and quiet by then and most of her energy has been used up during the day. He likes her no matter what, but it’s always easier to speak with a calm Paula over the phone.
He puts on his Bluetooth and rings Paula’s number once he has sat in the car. It rings ten times before going to voicemail. Simon frowns. This is not good. Paula always has her phone with her. He tries again, making sure he has pressed the right speed dial. Again, it rings in his ear. Before the fifth ring can sound however, Simon presses down on the ‘off’ button hard.
Taking a deep breath, Simon figures that she has fallen asleep early. Lord knows the woman sleeps like the dead, anyway. This calms him a little. He is still in a bad mood though and shows no mercy to his associates in the meeting.
When the meeting has ended, he rushes back home and into his study. His laptop sits atop his desk, with the lid closed. He sits in the large chair and clicks the ‘power’ button. It loads far too slowly for his liking and the Internet Explorer takes even longer. Finally, when it is loaded, Simon types into the browser.
‘www.twitter.com/PaulaAbdul’.
There he sees many ‘Tweets’ from Paula, very few of the recent ones consisting of exclamation points. He takes a closer look and his eyes widen as he reads of Michael Jackson’s death.
“Oh Lord,” He heaves. “She must be in pieces.”
His phone rings then and Simon is relieved to see it is indeed Paula.
“Are you alright?” He asks. No greetings are needed.
“I just got off the phone with Janet... She’s taking it the worst.”
“Love, I’m so sorry,” He says softly.
She doesn’t say anything for a moment and he hears some shuffling. She is getting into bed now, probably.
“It was just so unexpected, you know?” She says, finally. “He was too young.”
“Yeah. I’m still in shock.”
“It’s just so hard to believe that he’ll never dance another step. He’ll never sing another note. Never – ” Paula’s voice chokes.
“He was an amazing artist, yes... His number was up though darling, and I’m sure God has a reward for him.” He tries comforting her.
“God doesn’t reward you for dancing and singing on stage. He rewards you for praying and loving him,” Paula replies, difficultly.
“But surely touching so many lives that he did counts for something?” This will get to her, he knew.
“You’re right... So many people in the world are in mourning right now.” Paula sighs.
“Mm,” He agrees.
“Nigel contacted me... He wants me to do a tribute for Michael.”
“On ‘So You Think You Can Dance’?” Simon asks, surprised.
“Yeah. It would be nice.”
“It would. And you’re the perfect person to do it.”
He wants to ask if this means her trip to London will be postponed but is very much afraid of her answer and offending her.
“I’m sorry, Simon.” She knows what he is retaining himself from saying. She feels awful for doing this again, but finds it difficult to say ‘no’ to a project – especially one that touches her heart.
“I understand,” He replies, simply.
There is an awkward moment between them and Paula doesn’t want it to continue.
“Simon... I think I’m going to sleep now. It’s late and hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.”
“Okay, sweetheart. Sleep well.” He softens slightly.
“I’ll talk to you soon,” Paula says.
“I love you,” He coos, hoping she’ll smile. She does. Even exhausted and down, he never fails to make her smile.
“I love you too.”
They linger for a little while, neither wanting to end the call just yet. They listen to each others’ breathing.
“Bye,” Paula says, finally. She is falling asleep and needs to hang up before she does.
“Bye.” Simon smiles a tad.