Catch Me If You Can

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

Jared had just picked up his suitcase from the baggage claim belt and was walking towards the exit of the airport when his Blackberry began to ring. He checked the display and a smile appeared on his tired face.

“Hey! I was just thinking about you.” - He said, with his low and warm voice, which was able to calm any agitation more than a lorry load of Lexotan.- “I didn't know you had clairvoyant powers!”

The voice on the other end of the phone chuckled softly, without answering. She prepared a nice farewell speech, but, for the first time since they met, he had taken her off guard.

“What are you doing? Are you at work?” - He continued.

“Yes! I'm around for ... work.” - Francesca confirmed, finally finding the word. - “Hello Jared! ... I hope I don't interrupt anything important! You're not in one of your creative moments? Or ... 'recreational' ones?” - Alluding to one of Jay's favorite 'extracurricular activities'. - “Because if you are, you're allowed to send me to hell!”

He didn't realized that he sat on a seat of a waiting room. He was in a hurry but didn't really want to interrupt that call too soon.

“I'm around too ... Alone! ... If this is what you wanted to know.”

“No! The thing doesn't interest me particularly.” - She joked. - “Tell me, how's your little break from the tour? You're relaxing yourself?”

Jared gave a long look around him. Thousands of people were back and forth, dragging suitcases, sneaking in tear-jerking regards or running to not miss the flight. Animated like a giant anthill, that airport, one of the largest in the world, didn't absolutely give the impression of a relaxing place.

“More or less.” - He said.

He got up to head back towards the exit. Hear her voice was making him even more impatient.

“Well! At least ... you are at home. Aren't you glad?” - A little hesitation in Francesca's voice. - “How soon you'll be back on promotional tour?”

“In five days!” - Almost snorted, while he said so. - “Our first date is in Philadelphia!”

“Gnammm! Cheesecake! Delicious ...!”

Jared could not help but smile. - “I'll send you one.”

“I'm counting!”

“I'm sorry we didn't meet, last time I was in London!” - He said, removing immediately the phone from his mouth, so she didn't hear him laugh.

“Hey! It wasn't your fault if your brother was sick.”

Yeah! In fact, during the mini European tour leg the band stopped in London for only one night, and that very night, Shannon had made ​​up his mind to re-act the entire possession scene from the Exorcist movie. Throwing up like a mad man!

“I like to imagine you in the role of baby sitter. You must have been so sweet!” - She was clearly kidding, but now he was used to her ways.

It was one of the things that made ​​him crazier about her.

“I promise we'll recuperate! Soon ...!” - Sooner than she could picture, he thought.

“SSTT! Do you know how many times I've heard promises like that? ... You men don't enchant me anymore ... so many words and so little action!” - He heard her laugh merrily.

God, how he loved that laugh!

“I thought I showed you ... the action! Do you remember the last time we met?”

It lasted only one night and now were gone more than two months since it. But it was good. Maybe even too good. For a multitude of reasons.

“Vaguely! Wait ..., you are?” - Didn't she ever stop making fun of him?

“Fool! You don't make me laugh at all!” - He scolded, of course, laughing.

“In fact, I can hear it. … Jay ...?”

“Yeah?”

“Now I have got to go. Talk to you later, okay?”

“Ok! Later!”

“Later!” - Francesca repeated.

Smiling to herself for how much would be close that 'later'.

Finally, Jared came out of the airport. He climbed into a taxi and headed towards the city. He could already see London in the distance, and its traffic, chaotically ordered.

London and the beating heart of modern civilization. London and the deep eyes of Francesca.

◊ ◊ ◊

Francesca put away her cell phone in the bag, resting near the edge of the sink and returning for a moment to stare in the mirror in front of her. She looked at herself, but with the mind begun to travel back in time. Destination: that famous night, two months earlier. You bet she remembered!

***
She was back home, one o'clock, more or less, after spending the night at Milord, with George and two of his film financiers. And found Jared waiting for her, in front of her door.
They had stumbled into each other only a few hours before, when she had invaded the privacy of his car, in Leicester Square, seeking shelter from the horde of Justin Bieber fans.

Now he was there! Still wearing his dark suit of formal occasions. Sitting on the sidewalk step. Francesca was immediately seized by an electric shock through her spine, maybe due to the surprise, maybe due to the happiness.

“You gave me your own address, ... 303 Walcot Road, internal 7 ... am I wrong?” - Jared started, catching her gaze in amazement.

It was obvious that she didn't expect to find him at her home, that evening. On the other hand, she knew he was born to impress people!
There was still about a meter away between them, but Francesca was like blocked. She could not even move a muscle.

“Okay! Yes! ... Right … But ... I didn't think ...”

There wasn't a complete meaning in the words that came from her mouth. Neither in her head.

“I have no a very good memory!” - Jared continued, feeling in total control. With her, ​​it was the first time he had control. - “I was afraid to forget it.”

Francesca laughed at him, suddenly freed from the tension.

“You! The man who invented the phrase 'Take Away Everything From Me But Not My Blackberry'!” - She said, mimicking the gesture of writing typical of that phone. - “... I didn't know that you'd still need to pen and paper.”

Jared smiled, puffing and rolling his eyes. He would have to cut through this whole story of his fetishist love for his Blackberry.

“How was your dinner?” - He asked, once Francesca had finished laughing.

She approached a few steps, but was still there, standing in front of him.

“Pretty good!” - She replied satisfied. - “I think they'll distribute the film, maybe before winter.”

“Great! George will be in seventh heaven?”

He didn't care much for George, but politeness required him at least that bit of pleasantries.
Francesca nodded.

“And your night?” - She saw the expression on his face transfigured into a grimace of pain. - “Was it so awful?”

“I think I can't endure this crap any longer! I don't ... I've never felt more stupid!”

She searched for the keys into her small purse and, found them, held out a hand to Jared, inviting him to enter.

“Come! How about if we go up by my place?”

Jared stared at her hand, small and pink, willing to grab it and follow her wherever she wanted to take him. But he didn't move.

“Would you like if we talk some more?” - He asked softly.

It was a very strange request, considering the lips from which it had come out.

“Of course! But we can do it at my place.”

Jared opened his already huge eyes and rippled his lips in a mischievous smile. - “If I come up to your home, I don't think that I'll still want to talk!”

Francesca looked at him, from head to foot. She couldn't understand why no trickle of drool had yet fallen from her mouth. Yes! He was absolutely right. If they had been alone in her apartment, in the middle of the night, and with the inhibitions already left, she wanted to do anything else but talk.
She sat beside him on the sidewalk, taking his arm. Jared was pleasantly shocked by her reaction and leaned his head on the shoulder of the girl, bending a little. Finally starting to feel more relaxed.

“What's the matter, Jay?”

It was the first time that she used his nickname. But in fact they had never been so intimate first.

“I feel completely useless!” - He confessed, whispering, almost as revealing a terrible secret. - “I know that pretending is part of my job ... but I'm so tired ... of everything. Why can't I just do what I like? What I'm really good. And forget about everything else. ... But no! I have to do this and to smile at that one, and participate in crap like tonight. Is it asking too much to want to live life my way? … It seems to me living a nightmare that I used to have when I was younger. I'm in the middle of an earthquake, and everything around me is falling apart and I scream and I try to save myself ... but I'm just ... completely alone!” - He looked into her eyes for a moment. - “I don't know if you can understand what I mean!”

Francesca nodded her head no, smiling sweetly at him. - “Maybe you should talk to your analyst.” - She said, snatching to him a smile.

He leaned back his head on her shoulder as she started to caress his arm, still tight to hers.

“Jared?”

“Mmmhh?”

“It's not so complicated loving you, do you know? You should try it ... sometimes!”

Jared was astonished at these words, but don't even move a muscle. Her pampering was so pleasant that he could stay there for hours.

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe you should ask yourself why you do it? … Why do you undergo to all of this if you don't like it?” - Francesca continued, speaking in an almost inaudible tone of voice. - “You shouldn't do it to get the respect or love of others! Or because you're convinced that people expect this from you. You should do it only for yourself. ... Who loves you, always will, no matter what you decide to do with your life.”

Jared squeezed her hand and raised it to his lips, kissing it gently. He didn't realized how much he needed to hear those words, as long as she had not spoken. He looked back at her and this time didn't hold back from kissing her on the lips.

“I don't think I need an analyst, if you're here!”

“Hold on to say until you have seen my fee.”

Jared laughed, finally. Now he felt better. He got up from the sidewalk, holding out his hand to Francesca to help her sit up.

“I hope that your invitation to see your apartment is still valid?” - Again that mischievous smile.

Of course it was! Was he joking?
***

“Excuse me, miss! Does your soap dispenser work?”

The hoarse and phlegmy voice of a fat lady, who was washing her hands at her side, brought Francesca back to reality. She nodded to the lady and, without other words, she moved away from the sink to let the woman using the dispenser. She pulled the phone from her bag again to check the time. And laughed thinking about the fact that she had never done a so huge crap in her entire life. Certainly, she always liked to behave in not too orthodox manners, for a frustrating no approval desire, more than anything else. But despite this, she had always been a fairly square person. With a very solid mental balance. What the fuck was she doing there, then? The answer was obvious. That night!

***
Once inside her apartment, their clothes had resisted on their bodies for no more than a couple of minutes, as both had expected. On the other hand, those preliminary had lasted about six months. Guinness World Record! And, as is well known, the anxiety takes away space for clarity, therefore, though their bodies perfectly and instinctively knew what to do, their minds were clouded by a chaotic and numbing mist that enveloped them by dragging them into another dimension.

“What are you smiling at?” - Jared asked, as he held her close to him, after they finally made love, under the soft blanket, unable to fall asleep, just like her.

“You have a white hair. Here!”

She pointed with her finger a hair of the incipient beard on his cheek, tickling slightly.

“My self-esteem thanks you for letting me know that!” - He replied sarcastically.

“A good analyst must always mirror a patient in front of his own flaws!”

He liked the touch of her fingers on his face. The warmth of her hand was all he could focus on. There was something of ancestral in her, in her essence, that went beyond her person. It's like when you breathe a peculiar smell, or savor a particular taste, and you come immediately overwhelmed by a well-being feeling. And you feel better, almost happy!

“I take it you've decided to accept me as a patient?” - He whispered, continuing to bask in her tickling.

Francesca interrupted his fun, rolling on her back and leaning on elbows, back to look into his eyes.

“Absolutely not!” - She replied imperative.

Jared turned on his side to her, taking his arm under his head. He was not surprised by that reaction. He now realized that she wouldn't have been too serious with him.

“Why not?” - He asked innocently, already tasting in advance her answer.

“Mainly for three reasons. Number one: I am not a psychologist at all!”

He laughed heartily. - “Seriously?” - It was obvious that he had never believed she was really a psychologist and a documentary filmmaker. - “Well, I don't care much if you don't have a degree in psychology. I don't do much ... difficult in these cases.”

“Number two: I live in London and you somewhere around the world. It would be very complicated schedule regular sessions. And, believe me, you'd need some serious and constant help.”

“There is always the phone!” - Jared retorted. - “Number three?”

Francesca stretched herself on the side, entering the red alert zone of magnetic waves of the body of Jared.

“Number three: It goes against every professional ethics have sex with a patient!”

Jared grabbed her with his free arm, dragging her over him, impetuously and sweetly at the same time, let her joining completely to his skin and perhaps beyond.

“Okay!” - He whispered through her hair. - “At the third attempt, you've convinced me! Maybe I should look for ... another analyst.”
***

She double-checked herself in the mirror again. She could almost look at herself in full, 'cause that mirror was so big and bright. After all, it was quite logical, considering the number of celebrities who probably used it habitually. She shook her head, smiling for the bullshit that she just thought. She had been there just a few minutes and already had begun to stop thinking like a normal person.

Francesca grabbed the bag, adjusting her dress as best she could and left the toilets. The blinding light of the Californian sun bathed relentlessly the corridors of LAX, and Francesca, who hated the heat, maybe more than anything else, cursed herself, sensing the torrid temperature that would wait for her outside that airport.

Los Angeles and its endless highway. Los Angeles and its palm trees, climbing up into the sky. Los Angeles and the indescribable eyes of Jared.