In Love with a Star Read online

  “You have time till tomorrow morning”, the boy gave up, going out of the flat and kicking the parcels spread all over the room.

  Seeing her things mistreated like that and thrown badly on the floor by those vandals, made her break down.

  She knelt on her knees, among the dresses Emily that had given her and those two boys had enjoyed touching and handling carelessly.

  She hold her things tight, the only nice things she had had in all her life and she started crying hysterical tears of relief, heedless of being heard by her neighbors.

  She felt she was going to lose everything again and Emily would leave the next day, losing her once more.

  She started folding slowly and lovingly all the clothes spread on the floor and putting them back into the big box one by one.

  She was going to close it, when she saw another box completely turned upside down.

  It was the one containing all the newspaper cuttings about Emily and Chris.

  Some of them were crumpled, but what was worse others were badly torn.

  “Animals”, Leny railed against those boys, shaken violently by tears while she tried to smooth the photo of a smiling Chris picking up his first prize for the best novice actor of the year.

  She was fond of that photo. Images like that had made Leny understand she had made the right choice in giving him up for his career. But now, looking at the spoilt image made her feel sick. As if the boys had spoilt with that also the memory in her mind.

  She took her hands to her face, as if trying to hide that disaster from her eyes: her dolls, her beloved cushions she had personally decorated, her tea service in a pastry shape…everything had been thrown on the floor in a mess without any shame.

  Leny was still kneeling in the middle of that mess, when someone put a hand on her shoulder.

  Starting with fear, she stiffened trying to focus on the person crunching next to her.

  “Chris”, she whispered trying to wipe the tears away with the back of her hand.

  “I’ll help you tidy up”, he muttered sweetly next to her. All the anger and the scorn he had shown lately had disappeared.

  He took kindly the newspaper cutting she was still holding on her breast and put it back into the open binder, where dozens of his and Emily’s photos were coming out from.

  “I didn’t believe you were keeping all these articles”, Chris told her, trying to give an order to all the photos and interviews reported on newspapers.

  “Of course, you and Emily are the people I love the most and I’ve always been proud of your success”, Leny revealed tiding up the second binder.

  “Of this one too?”, Chris asked her nervously showing her an article talking about his alcohol problem.

  “I’m sorry for what happened to you. I wish I were there to help you…”, Leny sighed taking the paper from his hand.

  “So do I”, Chris whispered looking at her with a very painful expression.

  “It must have been hard for you, but you’re ok now”, Leny comforted him smiling shyly.

  “I’ll always be an ex- alcohol addicted”.

  “No, you’ll always be Chris Hailen, my best friend”, she contradicted him putting her hand on his arm.

  He didn’t answer and went on tiding the dossiers.

  Three hours later, they had almost put everything back into the boxes, among the different memories connected to the objects of their past together.

  “My God, Leny! You’re really keeping everything!”, Chris exclaimed worn out after he had closed the last package.

  “I’ve got so many things that if I went back to my mother’s I wouldn’t know where to put them”, Leny giggled trying to avoid another burst of tears thinking she didn’t know where to go the day after.

  She didn’t have a home anymore.

  “I’m exhausted. Where do you want to bring all this stuff before those vandals are back?”

  “I don’t know”, Leny muttered broken-hearted, while new tears started rolling down her face.

  “Leny…”, he called her, shattered in seeing her crying again. Incapable of make her stop, he hold her tight as he used to do when they were children and he wanted to protect her from a world which was too bad and cruel for such a weak and sensitive soul like his friend’s.

  Some hours before, when he had decided to go to her flat in order to understand what was happening, and he had found her kneeling on the floor and crying desperately, he had felt he would die. After some months of abstemiousness, he had thought of having a drink, but he had recovered and gone to her.

  “I’m sorry. I’ll go and clean myself up”. She didn’t want to start crying again, not before him. She felt even worse seeing him so sad and worried about her.

  She didn’t let him add anything else and run to the bathroom, where she started crying again silently till she could get control of herself again.

  When she went back to the kitchen, she saw Chris opening the cupboard door.

  “I’m sorry but I can’t even offer you a cup of coffee. We’ve packed everything”.

  “I know, I was just checking if we had put everything away. I’ve just called a removal company and they’ll be here in half an hour”.

  “And where will they put my things?”

  “At my grandpa’s for a while. It’s big enough and there is a lot of place, since I put his things away. You could stay there if you want, at least till your marriage”, Chris suggested to her, stiffening when he got to the last words.

  “My marriage? Chris, Emily was just joking. I’m not going to get married”, she smiled at him.

  “But you love him…”

  Leny looked away uneasy. Yes, she loved him, but Chris didn’t know Emily was referring to him. She didn’t know what to answer.

  Luckily Emily came to her rescue, phoning Chris to pray him to go back to her with Leny.

  It seemed that the love affair between she and Steven had come to light and she had now to face her mother’s and aunt’s complete disapproval.

  Worried about her cousin, Leny gave the keys to her neighbor, asking her if she could kindly open the door to the removal company.

  The woman accepted willingly. She liked Leny. She considered her a respectable girl, always ready to help her with the shopping. She was sorry she wouldn’t be her neighbor anymore.

  A strange silence fell again between Leny and Chris, broken only by Leny’s continual thanks for everything he had done for her that day.

  When they got home, the situation had already calmed down.

  “It took you ages!”, Emily burst out furiously, her eyes red with tears.

  “We arrived as soon as possible”, her cousin justified herself feeling sorry.

  When they got into the living room, they found their two mothers still discussing and despairing for Emily’s sentimental situation, which they considered absurd and impossible to realize.

  “Please, make them stop!”, Emily implored her crying.

  Leny understood then that the time for truth had come.

  “Mum”.

  “Oh, Leny! Did you know? Did you know your cousin was going out with an old man?”, Her mother asked her shuttered.

  “He isn’t old!”, Emily burst out in their back.

  “Mum, I must tell you something important”. Leny tried to catch Claire’s attention.

  “I hope it’s good news”.

  “I’ve been sacked and thrown out of my flat”, Leny summarized fast, trying to get free of that huge burden as soon as possible.

  That was probably the last straw, because the two mothers started crying desperately and collapsed on the sofa.

  “Oh, Claire, when did we get wrong with them?”, Rose asked. “It’s our fault if they didn’t have a father figure, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it must be our fault. Emily is going out with someone who could be her father and my Leny is afraid of men”, her sister sobbed holding the woman tight.

  “No, mum. It’s not your fault. I lost my job becaus
e Andrew Marshall’s new wife accused me of making a move on her husband”.

  “I can’t believe it! But who was she? Pamela, that crazy woman? Andrew can’t have listened to her”.

  “Unfortunately he did. He doesn’t feel like contradicting his wife, but I swear I’ve never had a flirt with my boss. Never”.

  “That treacherous witch! Leny, keep calm. Of course I believe you! Chris excepted, you never let any man come close to you. You’ve always been so shy, my little girl. Even with Travis you’ve never been particularly tender”, Claire comforted her, catching Chris’s attention and making him feel involved.

  Leny wished she could answer that it was because of what Ethan had done to her, besides the love she felt for Chris, but she just nodded.

  “Leny has always been very close to Chris”, Emily commented giving Emily a knowing look.

  “Yes. Thank goodness you were there, Chris. I can still remember when Leny was eight years old and started having a lot of nightmares, till she couldn’t sleep at night. I was so worried and scared by all her screams waking us up at night. Then, one day, Leny went to your house to study for an important maths test at night and fell asleep in your bed. Arthur convinced me to let you sleep there, even if I didn’t completely agree since you were a young boy. But I was so anxious and Leny had almost ceased talking. What’s more, Emily had a flu, so I finally left her with you till the next morning. I can still remember when Arthur took me into your bedroom and I found you holding each other and smiling in your little single bed. After that night, Leny didn’t have nightmares anymore and was again the girl she used to be”, Her mother reminded, turning to Chris with eyes full of fondness and gratitude for that boy who had always been so close to her daughter.

  Both Leny and Chris blushed at Claire’s words.

  “That’s true! Now I can remember! It was Ethan’s fault for what he made us…”, Emily exclaimed amused, but her cousin’s dirty look made her stop talking.

  Well, both of them had sworn they would never tell their mothers what happened at Brad’s birthday party. Ethan brought a horror movie he had found at home. The two cousins knew it was forbidden for them to watch things like that, but they didn’t want to look childish, so they watched it all. Emily wondered for the first time how actors could feign fear, while it was a shock for Leny. Every time she went to bed, she dreamt of that murderous and bloody monster.

  She had never succeeded in telling her mother the truth. She had just told Chris that night and he had suggested her to sleep for a while before Claire’s arrival.

  “You mustn’t be scared. I’ll keep awake and watch. If that monster arrives, I’ll protect you”, He had told her while he was checking her homework.

  “By the way, I’ve given up my flat and Mrs. Korder has thrown me out”, Leny went on.

  “I told you not to trust that viper! So where are you going now? Are you coming back to live here?”, her mother asked her.

  “No, Leny’s going to stay at my grandpa’s”, Chris intruded surprising everyone. “I’m leaving tomorrow and I don’t know if and when I’ll be back in Pieville”.

  Hearing those words, Leny was left breathless.

  Maybe she would never see him again.

  How could she stand all that?

  “You can come and stay with me! I’ve got a wonderful house in Los Angeles!”, Emily suggested her with enthusiasm.

  “I prefer going to stay at Chris and Arthur’s”, Leny thought, realizing too late she was thinking aloud.

  “Perfect”, Chris ended drily. “I’ll go and tell the removal company where they can put your things”.

  9

  “They’ve been really fast”, Leny judged trying to find her place among the boxes which invaded Chris’s bedroom after the removal company had gone. “Chris, really, I don’t know how to thank you and I’ll give you back every cent as soon as I can”.

  “No need for that”, Chris explained. He hadn’t addressed her a single word till then.

  “I don’t know how to thank you…for everything”, she repeated before she handed him a big box to put on the top of a tower of packages. Chris had insisted on putting all the boxes in his old bedroom, which was soon so full they were forced to pile up in small columns the less important things.

  Dinner time had already gone when they finished tidying everything up and Leny felt stomach cramps, as she had skipped lunch to follow Chris.

  That removal had besides exhausted her energy.

  Feeling completely easy in a house she had been cleaning and organizing for ages to help Arthur, Leny moved to the little pantry and took out of the fridge the frozen lasagna she used to keep for Arthur when she worked overtime and had no time to get something more complex ready.

  “Do you feel like having lasagna? There’s just one tub left, but we can share it. I don’t know how you feel, but I’m starving”, Leny asked him sweetly. She was really grateful to Chris and she wanted to resume her old relationship with him, so she decided to ignore his indifferent and silent mood.

  She would be the friendly one, making someone else to overcome shyness for once.

  Chris nodded and went on tiding the room.

  After some minutes in the microwave oven, the delicious lasagna slipped into the only clean dish in the house. Chris had stored almost all the dish services and the only ones left were soaking in the sink, waiting for any charitable soul who would wash them.

  Leny promised to herself she would clean the whole house deeply and very carefully to pay homage to Arthur, as soon as she recovered enough energy.

  Chris came to the table, drawn by the good smell.

  He was starving, so he sank his teeth into the lasagna at once.

  He was still trying to decide whether they were really good or he was starving so much they tasted still better, when he saw Leny stealing the fork from his hand, dipping it into the pasta and then taking it to her mouth.

  “Delicious!”, Leny exclaimed with her mouth full, handing the fork back to him.

  That gesture made him go back to ten years before.

  Leny had been used to taste food in other people’s dishes since she was a little child, but she did so just with her mother, Emily and himself.

  Sheila saw them once and made fun of them, saying that it was like an indirect kiss.

  Leny felt so ashamed she didn’t do that again for a long time, till he missed that gesture and he forced into her mouth some French fries one day, telling her she was silly because she cared about a girl like Sheila.

  Leny finished all the fries that day, giggling like an happy child who had put her hands into jam and hadn’t been caught.

  But now, looking at that gesture again, he felt different meanings, much more similar to that indirect kiss Sheila had been talking about.

  “Here you are”, she invited him, handing him a glass of water with her usual shy smile, which had often made his heart beat during the last period they had spent together seven years before.

  It was just that innocent and soft smile which had made him wish to kiss her.

  “Aren’t you thirsty, Chris?”, Leny asked him seeing him hesitate in taking the glass.

  “I’m sorry I said you were a liar bitch and I treated you as a mere opportunist. Forgive me because I misunderstood you…I…I was wrong”, he told her in a hurry taking the glass.

  “No matter. It’s all water under the bridge”, she comforted him feeling relief. “You’ve been far away for a long time, we’ve changed and…”.

  “No, you’re always the same. But I’ve turned distrustful”, and jealous.

  “I can understand that. Living in a merciless world like the movies one can’t have been easy”, Leny justified him remembering what her cousin had told her.

  Chris put down the fork wondering, then he moved close to Leny, who was standing and eating because there was a big mess, between Arthur’s things to store and hers to put in place.

  He took her face into his hands, making her heartbeat
stop for a moment.

  “I haven’t changed because of the cinema, but because of my distance from you”, he whispered just a few inches from her mouth, before he put his lips on hers.

  Leny wished she could run away from that kiss, which was just going to make her suffer more the day after, when he would leave.

  In spite of that, her heart implored her to let herself go and enjoy those magic moments before Chris left. If she couldn’t have him, she would hold the memory of his kisses at least...

  Her body finally decided in her place: Chris’s kisses brought her far from real life, to a parallel world made just of pleasure, while his hands moved on her back under her sweatshirt, making her shiver and relax at the same time.

  All the tension and fear slipped away, giving place to the longing of reaching higher levels of pleasure.

  Pushed by desire and by their mutual pathological affection, they undressed each other and found peace only in their mutual physical contact, without clothes to hinder them.

  Feeling each other’s warmth on their skin made their hearts beat faster.

  They found themselves breathless into each other’s arms soon.

  Leny had never felt something similar before, but when Chris took her in his arms and took her to the main bedroom, she felt that was the right thing for her heart.

  Before he laid her on the bed, Chris unfastened her bra and took off her trousers and stockings, then he stood looking with admiration at the woman who had made him crazy for ages.

  In spite of her embarrassment, Leny avoided covering herself and, even if she was blushing with excitement and shame, she relaxed pleased by Chris’s hungry look, as he was staring at her in adoration.

  “You’re gorgeous!”, he whispered excited as he had never been in his life, while he took off his trousers and boxers as well.

  Leny was left breathless when she saw Chris completely naked in front of her and when he lay on her with his impressive erection.

  “So, am I as you remember me?”, he asked her starting to kiss her again.