031: It's about me and you

"Just a sec, I'm on another line." Tracy's voice came over the line and Maille knew her mom was in Southern California right now, at ABCSC, where she was CEO of the Alternate Birthing Center there, and arranged adoptions or for unwed mothers to get education while keeping their babies. "Maille is that you? I've been worried sick about you. What is this I hear about you quitting the band? And where have you been? I was in your room a little while ago, it's a pig sty, cocoa puffs all over the floor... what is going on?"

"Mommy, I am fine, and I'll talk to you later, tonight okay? Will you be home then? In Park City?"

"Maille, talk to me now." Tracy's voice was firm, but Maille knew she couldn't talk now. She glanced up at Kell's concerned face and smiled at him reassuringly. "Mommy, are you going to be commuting a lot the next couple of weeks? I need a ride for a very close friend, back and forth at short notice."

"We'll be toting Megan and Maille on location quite a bit." Tracy's voice was suddenly wary. "What friend?"

As if Maille didn't have any friends.

"That's perfect ..." she covered the mouthpiece, and spoke to Kell. "They 'll be taking Megan and Maille back and forth quite a bit." she released her hand hold. "It's Kell Stevak, he's working on the same project as Steve and Melia. It'll be perfect. Just count him as a passenger every time, okay? And maybe..." Her voice caught, and she choked up suddenly-- unaccountably. "Maybe once or twice not scheduled."

"Maille Ann, what are you doing with Kell Stevak?" Tracy's voice was terse.

"What?" Maille croaked and turned her face away.

"That actor is the most outrageous, undisciplined, completely unprecedented ... Maille Mann, tell me you are not hanging around Kell Stevak."

"I'll talk to you tonight, Mommy, thanks, okay? Bye." She clicked the end button and handed the phone back to Kell who was waiting patiently, his eyes wary but hopeful.

"She doesn't like me." He pursed his lips, but then grinned comically.

"It's all set up. Anytime you need to come home." Maille tried to act cheerful as if the conversation had been no problem, but inside her body was quivering. Kell lifted her chin and looked into her eyes.

"That's not what I heard."

"But she will still take you on the plane back and forth."

"I know she will, but she doesn't approve of me, does she?" he smiled.

"Kell..."

He shrugged. "Few people do."

"But Kell..." he pulled her hair a bit and leaned close to her ear. "This isn't about me, is it? It's about Myndee."

Maille let out her breath and closed her eyes on another unshed sob. "Yeah." she whispered, thinking of that darling little girl in there, crying her eyes out because her last moments would not be spent with her mother and little brother at her side.

"And it's about me and you." he added and got up in his characteristically energetic fashion.

He laced his fingers comfortingly with hers and then pulled her unresisting form out the revolving doors and out to his pick-up truck. They zoomed back up the highway not speaking, and pulled into the studio as Megan and Steve were just getting out of their car. As Maille slid to the ground Megan walked right by her and didn't even blink an eye in her direction.

At first, she felt snubbed, like Megan had just rejected her, but when Kell took her hand, she realized that Megan hadn't recognized her. Shock registered-- and then she grinned at Kell who was escorting her into the plush office part of the studio.

They were very out of place. Their matching Bob the Builder outfits were contrary to the stilted heels and pressed suits that assailed them. People stared as they entered the elevator with Steve and Megan who were busy talking together. Maille couldn't resist.

"Megan ..."she called.

Megan turned and assessed her sister without a trace of recognition.

"Yes?"

"Megan!" she said again and Megan gasped.

"Maille! Oh my gosh! Maille! What are you ... Maille what is-?" she glanced back at Kell and their matching outfits, and then turned to stare at Maille.

"Your hair." Megan said in a weak voice as the elevator door opened. Megan shook Maille's shoulders and put and arm around her, "Hey sis, where have you been? We've been worried about you ... really worried. I talked to Michael and to Melia, they said you quit, and are you really hanging out with Kell?"

The way Megan said the name Kell alerted Maille to sudden interest as well as feelings. If she'd talked to Melia then she knew that Maille was hanging out with Kell, but she must not have believed it.

"Yes." she said softly looking back at Kell's inquisitive face. He hadn't dropped her hand, even as Megan tried to pry them apart, and come between her sister and him. Megan shot him a look.

"Kell, let go. I want to talk to my sister."

"She's with me.:"

"I can see that." Megan glanced at their matching outfits once again and at Maille's hair. "Braids right? Not true dreads?" she fingered Maille's hair and sighed in relief. "You would have had to shave to get them out you know." She eyed Kell in disgust.

Kell and Maille nodded as they walked down the hall, Kell behind, trying to hold onto Maille's hand, Megan trying to shield her sister out of Kell's reach , Maille feeling torn and helpless. Finally, Kell pushed himself between Maille and Megan. "Beat cheeks, Meg." he said in a friendly manner, but Steve immediately raised his brows and gripped Kell's shoulder.

"Hold it there, partner, you don't speak to my wife that way."

Kell turned to Megan who had stopped in the hall outside the conference room door. "I apologize profusely, Megan McQueen." he said. "And since we are acting this way, I'll say this once more. Maille is with me."

"So that means what exactly?" Megan said. "No, Maille you answer. What does that mean?"

Maille tried to smile, her conditioning was winning over bravado in the face of radical tradition, but one look at Kell's closed face and she took a deep breath.

"Kell and I are together. I didn't come here to be with you, I came to be with Kell. He-- he needs me." she added with a tinge of sarcasm, and the look on Megan's face was priceless.

"How can you be with Kell Stevak?" she hissed as they walked into the conference room.

Steve leaned in toward them both. "After the meeting ladies... Maille, don't go anywhere, we have to talk." She couldn't help but feel the obedience ticket closing in on her. She'd known Steve all her life. Literally, raised together. Like siblings--- cousins for sure.

Maille nodded at Steve, and then waited while Kell pulled her chair for her, Steve utterly forgot to pull Megan's and her eyes widened as she had to seat herself. Maille saw her elbow her husband and Steve leaned over and gave Kell and look.

Kell raised his own eyebrows thoughtfully and then laced his fingers with Maille's and put their joined hands on the table top for all to see. Maille cringed a bit inwardly as she saw Melia and Ryan at the head of the table, fingers also joined, but mouths hanging agape.

The meeting took about forty minutes and was simply about travel arrangements and dates.

Melia's concerns about being with her children took up most of the time, and a couple of other actresses also voiced opinions about children visiting location.

When it was over, Megan pinched Maille's arm and indicated with a stiff nod that she and Melia wanted to talk to her alone.

"I'll be right back." Maille whispered to Kell. Kell pulled her close by one braid.

"Don't give 'em an inch, baby." he said. "I'm right here."

They went into the hall and then she followed her high minded sisters down the carpeted runway to the ladies room and they all went in at the same time,. There was a gold and pink lounge and Melia sat down and slipped off her heels. When Maille entered she looked up.

"You're not with Kell Stevak." she said easily massaging her foot. "He has the weirdest reputation in the business. He's an eccentric egomaniacal, pompous-"

''Not to mention talented, extremely good looking, mysterious.---." Megan smiled sweetly at her sister leaning against the bathroom door frame with her arms folded.

"He's a nut." Melia said. Maille looked back and forth between her two sisters. She was quite used to them discussing issues between themselves without including her. She was the audience, even when the subject was her.

"He's a womanizer."

"He is not." Maille cut in. "I know he's not."

"You don't know anything." Melia snapped. "I know him better than you do."

Maille fumed as she tried to overcome years of programming.

"Oh, so spending three days with him in the afternoons makes you an expert on him?'' Melia went on inexorably.

''No, but spending time with him in preproduction doesn't make you one either." Maille snapped.

Megan put up a hand between the two. "Now girls, calm down. Melia, you don't know Kell Stevak except by rep, and you aren't the type to judge people by their Hollywood reps are you? No." she turned to Maille. "Is he why you quit the band?"

Maille shook her head. "No." she said. "I quit because I was going to quit anyway, I just didn't know it till after I was with Kell the other night. But I quit without any pressure from him. In fact he didn't even know I wanted to quit. It's just that we aren't really a group anymore. We've all got our separate interests. Meg, you have the movies and the art and stuff with Steve. And Melia, you have a family now. I'm like an outcast. I need to get my own life."

Both her sisters stared at her. Maille thought she could hear their thoughts whirling around. When did she get a voice? When did she get an opinion? When did she braid her hair? When did she wear any color but tan?

"Maille, it's true, the band has outgrown its usefulness, and I agree that we have all gone our separate ways." Melia said then earnestly. "But you are simply not to go hanging around with that creep."

Megan shot her sister a look. "Just because he didn't fall under your spell, Mia dear, doesn't make him a creep."

"Oh for goodness sake, that hasn't got anything to do with it."

Megan shrugged her shoulders, as if to say 'right'. Melia huffed visibly and shook her head. "Maille, tell me what he's done to you. You don't even look like yourself."

''Nothing." Maille said. "I mean, he hasn't done anything that I haven't allowed him to. He's perfectly safe." she couldn't bring herself to say he was gay to her sisters as he had mentioned that he hadn't come out of the closet yet, and anyway, it said something about her to be hanging out with a gay guy. Something she wasn't ready to tell her sisters.

Melia's eyes narrowed. "You're kidding."

Maille screwed up her eyes in bemusement. "What? No, I'm not kidding. He's been a perfect gentleman, and we are just friends, and anyway... " she took a deep breath. "I don't have to check with you before making friends do I?"

Melia's mouth opened and shut like an eel Maille had once seen in an aquarium on Catalina island. Maille smiled. "There you see. I have grown up and you didn't even notice."

Megan bit her lip. "Be careful Maille. He does have a really weird rep."

"Like what?"

"Like he's promiscuous."

"He hasn't seen one other girl in three days." Maille defended, "Except a little girl in a final care facility."

Megan and Melia both stared at their sister. "He frequents major dance clubs, and has a rep as a drinking, smoking, wild, weird, freak of nature....'' Melia was on it again and Maille made to turn away, but Megan caught her at the door.

"Avoid even the appearance of evil."

Maille shook her head, now hurt shown in her face. "Evil. Is that what you think? You really think I would choose to follow evil? You think I'm so stupid? I have no thoughts of my own?"

Both her sisters stared at her. "Just because I'm dressed like him doesn't mean I am chasing after him. If anything we've simply been spending a little time together. Not as if I jumped in bed with him the first night I met him, unlike some people I know." she glanced at Melia pointedly.

"I didn't sleep with Ryan that night."

Maille cocked her head. "Even the appearance." she said softly and then turned to Megan. "And I didn't go to a bar with him, or get drunk to chase all my fears away.''

Megan sighed. "You're right. I made a stupid choice. I'm glad Stevie was there.'' she said and her shoulders slumped. "We've got to have a little more faith in our little sis. Just know that I am here for you, okay?"

Maille shrugged. "Thanks for the vote of approval, Meg, but I am learning to be me without anybody telling me what to think or what to do."

That stung and she regretted in instantly, but Mia's hardened features were just too unsympathetic for Maille to stomach. She opened the door and slammed it shut behind her.

*****