Stereo

by Trevion Burns

  Adam took in his sister’s words. She was now the fifth person of the day who’d told him that he’d been a happier man with Shaun in his life. He’d been denying the truth for so long that he’d actually convinced himself he was okay without her. He wasn’t. Looking back to his little sister, he frowned.

  “I want you to be happy,” Katie said, softly. “And if she makes you happy…”

  “I have no idea where to even begin looking…” Adam’s words slowed to a stop.

  Katie noticed. “What?” she demanded, curious to know what epiphany had showed its face in her brother’s wild mind.

  --

  “Is there trouble in paradise between Adam Brand and Shaun Green? Earlier today Adam jumped into a crowd filled with thousands of adoring fans all the while screaming Shaun’s name. We have more, right here, at 11…”

  Celia gaped at the television in shock as she watched the latest news story that seemed to be on every channel. The media had been having a field day speculating on why Adam and Shaun hadn’t been seen out together in months, and since neither of them had made an official statement, they had begun to fade from the public’s memory entirely. All of that changed today. Adam had jumped into a crowd of people who'd immediately swarmed him like bees to honey. All because he thought he’d seen Shaun.

  Either he was a man in love, or he was completely insane.

  “Probably both,” Celia said to herself, with a smile. She thought about Shaun, who’d left for the job with The New York Times a couple of days ago, and wondered if she’d heard the news of what Adam had done. Celia hoped Shaun hadn’t heard, because she knew her friend was still raw from everything that had occurred and probably wouldn’t have the strength to handle it. It had taken many long discussions to convince her friend to take that job and not stay in Los Angeles for Adam. Thankfully, Shaun had made the right decision, packed up and moved to New York City.

  A knock on the door spurred Celia back to reality and, pausing the television, she climbed off of her couch and ran to the door. Her eyes widened when the very person gracing her television greeted her at the door, breathing somewhat wildly.

  “Whoa. Adam.” She looked to the very young girl standing at Adam’s side, smiled politely, and then looked back to him. “Wait. How do you know where I live?”

  Adam didn’t give her another second to speak. “Where is she, Celia?”

  Celia watched him for several long moments with wide eyes before finally speaking. “You know, Adam, she’s happy. She really is. And I swore to her that I was done meddling in her life. I really don’t think--”

  As she continued to take in his face it dawned on Celia that this was the one time that her being messy might have been necessary. Never in her life had she seen such naked devotion in a man’s eyes. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to live with herself if she let her friend miss out on a man who clearly loved her deeply.

  “Celia.” Adam clutched both sides of the doorframe, struggling to breathe. “Please. Where is Shaun?”

  Celia looked at the floor and thought hard, before looking back up at Adam with a grin.

  --

  Early the next morning Adam stepped out of a cab on 8th Avenue in Manhattan and paid the driver before looking up at the sprawling New York Times building. His heart hammered in his chest. He was finally here. After begging Celia to tell him where Shaun was and enduring the painful six hour plane ride from Los Angeles to New York City he was finally here. He’d dropped Katie off with his father, jumped on the first flight out the night before and had just landed. He didn’t even have a bag.

  As he stood in the middle of the street, cars honking and easing around him, he thought about what he would do when he saw her. What he would say. He wasn’t leaving that city without knowing she was his, again, but he had no idea how he would even fix his mouth to ask. He’d done the unspeakable, leaving her on her own that night, and could only pray that she’d forgive him.

  In the middle of his thoughts, just like that, there she was.

  Shaun was making her way down the busy Manhattan street sluggishly, bumping into random strangers as she attempted to read something on a small piece of paper. It was clear that she was somewhat lost, and about to pass up The New York Times building altogether when she ran smack dab into an older, sharply dressed blonde woman. Adam faltered, watching as the woman held out her hand to shake and Shaun opted instead to give her a hug.

  He chuckled softly, taking her in. The smart black pantsuit hugged her like a dream, as if she’d stepped straight out of an Ann Taylor billboard and onto the busy Manhattan street. She hugged the blonde one last time, clutching her briefcase anxiously once she’d pulled away.

  His heart swelled.

  He took in her smiling face and went to start across the street, but something stopped him. It was her smile, the pure, unadulterated happiness spread across her face. She was finally doing exactly what she loved on her own terms. No deceit, no lies, no false sense of self. Just… Shaun. She was content. It radiated off of her and reached all the way across the street to Adam, freezing him where he stood.

  He took in the smile on her face one last time and, when the blonde turned in his direction, he took off his Ray Bans and made his way over. After watching him for a moment longer, the blonde woman touched Shaun’s arm and pointed toward Adam just as he stepped onto the sidewalk.

  Shaun looked over to him as the soft morning breeze blew her curls into her face.

  Adam was struck. She was so beautiful he almost couldn’t take it. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came.

  “Adam… What?” Shaun looked to the blonde woman, her new boss, who was giving her a knowing smile.

  “I’ll be inside, Shaun. Take all the time you need.” She threw Adam a knowing look, as well, having seen the footage of him at his concert the day before. “Adam,” she acknowledged him with a smirk before turning and making her way into the building.

  Shaun looked back and forth between her new retreating boss and Adam. She felt stuck in place but also itching to run.

  Adam didn’t miss the way she looked at him like a wounded animal that was ready to scatter at a moment’s notice. He held his hands out in peace.

  Shaun was the first to speak. “How did you know I was here?”

  He took a deep breath and licked his lips. “Celia told me. Shaun…” He jammed his eyes shut. “Shaun I made a huge mistake.”

  Shaun shook her head and looked away as the painful memories from two weeks ago jumped back into her brain.

  Tears stung Adam’s eyes and he covered his heart with his hand. “I should have never left you that night. I didn’t even want to. I was just so… so terrified of what could go wrong that I completely lost sight of what was right.”

  Shaun swiped away a tear. “And what was right, Adam?”

  Adam held his hands out to her. “Us,” he whispered, his hands trembling. “No matter how much bullshit was strewn our way the one constant was always you and me. We have always, always been right.” When he felt her hesitation he could feel a slight panic setting in. “Shaun, I can’t live without you. I don’t even want to try. It’s not working. It will never work. I need you…”

  “You said that you could never look at me the same way again.”

  “I was wrong. I look at you now, I see how happy you are and all I can feel is pure…” He faltered. “Pure goodness. I’ve spent the last two weeks asking myself what’s been real and it finally hit me. We are what’s real. The love I have for you… That I’ve always had… That is what’s real.”

  Shaun sighed as he stepped closer to her, dying to reach out and wrap her arms around him, but she couldn’t move. “My parents will never… They’ll never accept you.”

  Adam couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her smile. “I’ll win them over. I don’t have thousands of adoring fans for nothing. I can be pretty charming, babe.”

  Shaun had to roll her eyes. Her Adam. Arrogant even when he was pleading. “I
don’t live in Los Angeles, anymore. I’m not a model, anymore. I’m a writer. That’s what I am, and that’s all I will ever know how to be, Adam. Everything that you hate. That's what I am.”

  “I want you to be who you are. I want you to do what you love.”

  “But you're in L.A.. I'm here. What about your friends? What about Katie?”

  “I’ll fly out. I’ll fly you in. We’ll meet in the middle. Whatever I have to do Shaun, I'll do it... what I can’t do is be without you.”

  Shaun clutched her briefcase. “What about…” She swallowed. “What about the hundred story tower,” she whispered, tears coming to her eyes, “with a million fake bricks?”

  “Fuck that tower. We’ll build another one, a better one, a stronger one. We’ll build a million more. Together. You and me. Please Shaun.”

  Shaun’s eyes fell shut.

  “Please forgive me. I’m so in love with you.”

  Shaun covered her heart with her hand. “I’m in love with you, too.”

  Adam smiled joyfully. “You are?”

  Shaun nodded wildly, crying out when he charged at her and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her clear off the ground and spinning her around. She laughed into his shoulder as he sat her back on her feet and immediately covered her lips with his.

  The moment she tasted him again and felt his very essence surrounding her, she had no doubt in her mind that there was no place she’d rather be. This was right.

  She pulled her lips from his slowly and cupped his cheeks in her hands. “So I heard…I heard this morning…” Her brown eyes searched his green, amazed at the sight of happy tears in his eyes that she was sure were also present in her own. “I heard that your album just went diamond.”

  “Of course it did,” Adam whispered, his eyes travelling her face. He leaned down and kissed her softly, once more, pressing his forehead to hers as he took her in. “I wrote it for you.”