you belong with me-- a reunion (Sterling)

[Marie Rose Massone]

To say Marie was surprised about Sterling's overall reaction to her secret was an understatement. Aside from the fact that she had killed his baby, Marie felt like things were pretty much back to normal. It was almost like she was talking to her best friend back in middle school, even before they were dating. She could tell based on his comments in the chat room that he didn't like she was staying with another guy, especially one he didn't know. Most people would say 'Why should he care?' or 'He shouldn't control you,' but Marie wanted him to feel as comfortable as possible. Plus, she hadn't been able to be around him for a month because of her mistakes and she wasn't all that comfortable staying with someone she barely knew.

Sterling had said he was coming over and signed out of the chat. It took about 10 minutes before she heard a knock on the door and could only assume it was Sterling. Caillen was out for the afternoon, so it would be easy to leave without causing an issue with him. She pretty much ran down the steps and opened the door for him, allowing him to come into the house. Marie saw him take in the environment and analyze every detail, probably to see if it was dangerous or something. They made their way up the steps to the room Marie had been sleeping in for the past few days and packed up her things into her duffle bag, making sure to grab her backpack which she had already put her laptop into and the penguin Sterling had given her when they first became friends almost 7 years ago. Marie had tried to grab all of her stuff herself, but Sterling had quickly took it from her and insisted on carrying her things for her. They made their way outside to his car, a blue Toyota Rav4 that Sterling must have purchased when he came to town. Her things were put into the trunk and her door was opened for her, and they were on their way to Sterling's hotel. During the entire drive to the hotel, Sterling had held her hand.

When they arrived at the hotel, Marie had moved to open her door on her own, but soon realized that Sterling insisted on opening her door himself. One of Sterling's best qualities for their entire friendship was that he had been raised to be chivalrous; he knew how to treat a woman and at the same time knew that Marie liked to do some things on her own. Her stuff was taken out of the trunk by her boyfriend and they walked into the hotel and up to the fourth floor to room 418. That thought made Marie begin to wonder how he was managing to be so nice to her after everything she'd done. She had left him to fend for himself and didn't tell him why she left; he probably thought she had died or something, which would have scared her endlessly if she had been in his shoes.

When they finally came to his door and he opened the hotel room, she followed him into the room and surveyed the area. The room reminded her somewhat of her room from home, with its dot designs and unique color scheme. Marie finally felt protected after a month of being on her own. For four weeks, Marie had tried to remain as strong as possible, since she was fending for herself and trying to survive in a bad situation. The only thing she carried was the penguin stuffed animal, named Boo, that Sterling had given her. He usually spent so much time in her room that the penguin had smelled like him; it was her only lifeline to keep her sane and help her control her emotions enough to not let her guard down. Now, her guard was quickly falling, feeling the tears begin to well up in her eyes already. Marie flopped down on the bed, her head hitting the pillow as she pulled off her flats with her toes. Her baseball hat was still positioned on her head, hiding her face to the world, and the boy she saw standing across the room watching her. She didn't want to start crying, but Marie soon was sobbing, soaking the pillow with her tears. Her efforts to choke back the tears could be heard through very brief breaks in her sobs, but other than that she couldn't stop the river that was coming from her eyes. She didn't want to finally break down in front of him, but she supposed it was better now because she would finally let out all the stress she had been feeling over the last few weeks. Plus, she knew Sterling would protect her until she was able to put her guard back together, regardless of what she did. First and foremost, the pair were best friends; they had obviously developed a relationship on top of that, but they would always be the two awkward sixth graders who had a common interest in music in the dismal band room of their middle school.

Outfit:
www.polyvore.com/untitled_37/set?id=47607227

Hotel Room:
0.tqn.com/d/detroit/1/0/O/1/-/-/HotelRoom3rdtry.jpg

Toyota Rav4:
www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/3g/tdg-2010-Toyota-RAV4-crossover-SUV-lg.jpg

[Sterling David Marvelli]

Sterling was actually very upset to know that Marie killed his baby, but he knew that it was something that he would need to learn to get past and move on. There would always be other babies to come around, when he was ready for one. Maybe that would be soon but he wasn’t quite sure about that, besides Marie left him worried about her for a month and he was certain that it would take him awhile just to get over that. He loved kids, and above all else he would have loved to be a father. He knew that he would still be able to, but it was still the fact that she didn’t even come to him before she did anything. She just sorta left; he remembered just how he felt when he noticed that she was gone and the fact no one knew just where she had gone. He was actually planning to tell her that he was accepted into Julliard, his dream school since he was a little kid that day but clearly that didn’t happen. Now a days he even seemed to wonder if he wanted to go there anymore, since just so much was going on in his life.

Heading over there after being given directions he sighed wondering if he seemed possessive by picking her up and making her stay with him instead, but he missed her a lot. Besides he really didn’t feel comfortable with her staying with someone he didn’t even know being the protective boyfriend that he happened to be and pulling up stepping out of his car he went and knocked on the door waiting for her to let him in before looking around, it was a simple Sterling move to make sure that everything was in order before he took her things and heading back to his car to head to the hotel he was staying in. It was a pretty nice hotel and he was actually pretty happy to find a place like it, but he knew if he planned to stay here for a few months he would need something more permanent because he was sure his money would slowly run out just staying there.

In the car Sterling held her hand trying to just act like nothing was wrong even though somewhere in his head he knew that he should be upset, even mad at her and it felt weird that he wasn’t or at least he was acting like he wasn’t. He knew that he truly was and he just really didn’t want to show it, turning into the hotel lot he got out, opening Marie’s door for her before heading up to his room on the fourth floor thinking. He knew that a lot had happened, and he was terrified that something could have happened to Marie but he hid it well in till he was in the room looking at her for a moment. He just really missed her and being here with her now was a good feeling.

Only problem was when she started crying, he really didn’t like seeing her cry and lying down beside her he pulled her into his arms holding her close. “You know for a fact I hate seeing you cry” he said quietly with a frown kissing the top of her head. It was truly the only thing he could do right now, he hated seeing her so upset but he almost felt defeated.

[Marie Rose Massone]

Marie could only nod to acknowledge his statement as she felt her body continue to convulse with her sobs. After maybe 5 minutes, she finally felt herself calm down to a point where she was only sniffling while she was crying. She could feel Sterling's shirt soaked underneath her cheek, and sat up a little bit. "I'm sorry I soaked your shirt..." she replied, not really sure of what else to say to him at that moment. She was secretly waiting for him to start yelling at her. He deserved to let out his obvious rage over what she had done; he may think he was hiding his frustration well, but Marie knew him better than he did himself. She laid back down on the bed but she chose to lay down next to him instead of in his arms completely. Marie loved the feeling of finally being around his warmth once again, with one of his arms still laying underneath her. Her eyes were beat red from the tears that had cascaded down her cheeks. The redness could only be seen a little bit underneath her baseball hat, but it was still red enough to easily be seen by anyone who would be near her, Sterling included.

It was hard to figure out how to move forward from here. Were they still together? Would he still want to be around her after all that happened between them? It was definitely a good sign that he was willing to hold her while she was crying. At least he was able to stand touching her without feeling like she was messed up or something. Deciding to test how far he was willing to go with her at the moment, she laid her head back down on his chest in pretty much the same spot she had been before. If he kept holding her like this, she would have some hope that they could move forward through all of the negative things they had both been through over the past few weeks. Her exhaustion from barely getting any sleep for the past few weeks was finally setting in and she started to yawn repeatedly. "Sorry," she apologized. "Haven't.. been sleeping much." She knew he would probably be even more worried about her health after that, but she didn't want to keep any more secrets from him. Secrets caused their issues in the first place, and Marie did not want to give him any more stress than was necessary.

[Sterling David Marvelli]

Sterling hated when Marie cried, heck he hated when anyone cried because he had no idea what to do when that happened and not knowing what to do just seemed to make him feel awful and he really didn't like that feeling. I made him feel like he had to do something to fix it and the only thing he could do right now was hold Marie in his arms while she cried and try to soothe her and work on making her crying stop. "Soaking shirt is fine really, it's just a shirt" he shrugged his shoulders ever slightly looking at her. "I just really hate seeing you so upset really, it makes me upset because well hmm I don't know actually" he sighed running his fingers through her hair trying to gather his thoughts.

A lot had happened between them and he knew that but still, he just really couldn't seem to think straight anymore after everything that had happened. He knew that he should be mad at her but he couldn't bring his self to yell at her and he couldn't bring his self to be mad like he should be, he just wasn't really that kind of person. He wasn't an angry person ever, and that was how he had always been. Holding Marie in his arms he heard her yawn before hearing her words, hearing that only seemed to worry him more. "You should try and sleep then Marie, even if it's hard sleep is still really important" he said his voice slightly concerned. He was always concerned over sometimes even the simpliest of things, but with everything that had happened he did have a pretty good reason to be.

[Marie Rose Massone]

Being in his arms felt right. That was the easiest way to describe her feelings at that moment. She would literally kiss his feet to get him to forgive her for what she did but she knew it would take time. If she couldn't forgive herself for what she'd done, she knew there would be a necessary period to work towards that forgiveness on his end as well. However, no matter how comfortable she was in his arms at that moment, she knew what was worrying her so much that she couldn't sleep. "I know I did things to separate us. And we'll need to work through what happened... but where does this leave us? Our relationship?" This question was the one thing causing her so much stress. If she didn't have Sterling in her life, she would most likely break down into tiny little pieces that would be very hard to put back together. They had been friends and always together for so long that he had now become the only constant in her life. Without that constant, she really didn't know what would happen.

"I'll sleep once I know what your thoughts are about all this." she replied, yawning again because the motion of him playing with her hair was relaxing her to the point where she really wasn't able to move. Her body felt like jelly, forming to the side of Sterling's body in a way that was easy to tell how perfect the two were for each other. Marie had always heard other girls talk about the right height ratio between girls and their boyfriends. From past experience, she knew that Sterling was easily able to put his head on top of hers when hugging her from behind without having to bend his neck, which according to the girls who had made Marie aware of the "ratio" was the perfect combination of heights. Marie didn't really care about "ratios" or anything of that sort; she simply knew that Sterling completed her in ways she didn't even imagine until she realized how well they worked together.

[Sterling David Marvelli]

Sterling knew his head that it would be a while for him to fully forgive Marie for leaving and even longer to forgive her for killing his child, even when he really did love kids a lot. He always had, when his aunt had her daughter he would hardly leave her alone. He just seemed to like being around her, she was just so time and he never did quite understand why being young why babies were always just so tiny but as he got older he honestly didn't even seem to care as he just seemed to want to be around them. Back then with his longer hair, he would put on a lot of small plays and sometimes he would just play the role as a dad and he just knew that in the end he would love to have kids. He made that clear to pretty much everyone right off the bat, he wanted to have children of his own someday and he knew for a fact when that did happen the boy was going to be a protective father. He had a pretty protective edge to him, coming from a close knit family with his parents and his older brother, his big bro always tended to even treat him as a little brother and the siblings seemed to just count on each other. But of course not he was here so that wasn't turning out all too well for him, now he was alone.

I was even a slightly scary though, "we're still together" Sterling said quietly glancing at her just making that much known. They never did actually break up, "since we never did break up it means that we're still together" he said just keeping her even closer to him. "We'll be able to work through all this somehow too" he added with a small yawn and a sigh snuggling a little bit. It was the only thing that he knew how to do to soothe her now, it was a simple process for him and something that he did well when the two of them were just sorta laying together. He would run his fingers through her hair and often times he even sang to her and slowly starting to sing "Hello Beautiful" a song he actually wrote about her he kissed the top of her head once more, his main goal was just to calm her down. It he could do that he would be happy and if not well then he didn't know what to even do, he would be happy though.

[Marie Rose Massone]

She felt her body almost let out a breath she had felt like had been held in for weeks now. To finally have that tension be released from her body felt amazingly relaxing, and she was able to further control her emotions to the point where she was moments away from sleeping. When she heard him begin to sing to her with the lyrics of a song she knew by heart, she was almost tempted to cry again but this time out of happiness. The fact that he was singing a song he wrote for her solidified the feeling of belonging with him. He had written that song years ago when they had only been dating for a few months. Over the years of them being together, other songs had been written about her that made her cry happy tears every time he played and sang them for her and in front of large crowds. It made her heart soar to know that he loved her enough to write great music that had been inspired by his love for her.

The fact that he knew exactly how to make her feel better even when it felt like he could do nothing only made her feel even more like they belonged together. With that, she felt her eyes gently shut and slipped into a state of sleep that she hadn't experienced in weeks.


A few hours later, Marie gently opened her eyes to see that all the lights were off except for a small lamp above the desk on the other side of the room. The bed was vacant of her boyfriend and she wondered where he could be. At further analysis, she found that the light was on in the bathroom as well but the door was closed. "Babe? You in there?" she called as loud as she could, but her throat still hurt a little bit from her sobbing earlier. He must have removed her hat while she slept because it was situated on the desk on the other side of the room. He was such a sweet guy.

[Sterling David Marvelli]

An hour, that was just how long Sterling continued to sing to Marie to try and calm her down by singing songs he wrote for her to her in till he finally noticed she was asleep. That means his plan on getting her to finally sleep worked, which in his mind was a really good thing. Hearing that she hadn't been sleeping well really didn't make him very happy so he just really wanted her to rest because it sure did seem like she needed it judging by how tired she seemed to be right now and how quickly she went to sleep when it finally came down to that, something he was honestly really pretty happy about. He hated that Marie wasn't sleeping well, in fact it really worried him so watching her sleep for a moment he finally stood and decided not seemed like a good time to go and take a shower.

He knew for a fact he did kinda need one, it wasn't that he didn't take one but after not taking one all day he just decided he might as well now. Standing up he headed off to the bathroom a towel in his hands, he was going to shower and then everything would be perfect. About an hour in the shower he turned the water off drying his hair before stepping out the towel wrapped around his waist, it was then that he heard a voice. Marie's voice, "yeah love" he called out to her before stepping out of the bathroom the towel still around his waist. "I was taking a shower" he said looking at her.

[Marie Rose Massone]

She decided to get changed out of her jeans and sweater since they were beginning to get uncomfortable to be in. She figured they would just stay in bed for the rest of the night, so she stood up and slipped off the jeans and sweater, standing in just her underwear. Marie folded the clothes and set them down on the desk chair across the room where her bag was situated. However, before she went to grab her pajamas, she decided to see if Sterling had a shirt she could wear. She was on her way over to the drawers that held his clothes when he came out of the bathroom.

Marie couldn't help but smile when she saw Sterling was only in a towel and checked him out a little bit. She had every right to look at him like that since they were dating. No matter how hard she tried, she always was a little protective of Sterling around other girls. She was always afraid someone else would come along and steal him away from her. Without Sterling in her life, she did not know what would happen to her. Her life would be in complete ruins.

Eventually after about 30 seconds, she realized she was standing there in her tan and black lace bra and black boyshorts. She could feel her face become beat red from embarrassment and did not know what to say to him. "Was going to steal one of your shirts to make myself more comfortable..." she whispered as she crossed her arms over her chest to hide herself a little bit and looked away into another corner of the room.