Love in the Heartland

by Diana Currie

  Eventually, when both were feeling lightheaded from lack of oxygen, their mouths finally parted. “I needed that,” Nathan sighed happily.

  “Me too. But I’m afraid that I’ve not yet had my fill,” Maddie said seductively.

  Nathan smirked; pleased by the direction of her thoughts. “Oh, really? How do you suggest we remedy that, Angel?”

  Maddie fisted his t-shirt in one hand and dragged him towards the bed. “Let’s start with a few of the things I’ve been thinking about doing this past month and we’ll go from there.”

  “I’m very interested in hearing what things you’re talking about but what about your parents? What if they hear us?”

  “Why would they? Are you a screamer?” Maddie teased.

  “What the hell happened to that shy, uncertain girl I left here a month ago?” he asked as Maddie pushed him down onto her bed.

  Nathan was completely surprised by Maddie’s aggressiveness but very receptive to it. He hadn’t known what to expect during their second weekend together; Maddie had been quite shy during their first meeting and he knew her parents would be underfoot this time. He couldn’t hide his enthusiasm for whatever she might have in mind.

  She lifted his t-shirt up and over his head; smiling when that washboard stomach appeared to her. “I’ve had a month to get used to the idea that you want to be my boyfriend. Don’t tell me you prefer the old me, because what I’m about to do to you she would never have had the courage to do.”

  “I was scared last month too, you know. We’ve found our courage together,” Nathan replied as he pulled Maddie down on top of him. She squealed as his hands brushed over her hips, pulling her shirt up as they moved along her torso. “Now kiss me, because I’ve made plans for you too.”

  Nathan flipped her over and knelt between her legs. She was so beautiful as a momentary flash of surprise came over her face and faded into a seductive smirk. He tugged her shirt off the rest of the way and threw it over his shoulder. “Two days together and we can’t leave the house. Whatever will we do to pass the time?” he wondered facetiously.

  Maddie lifted her head to kiss Nathan on the mouth and placed her hands firmly on his back. She didn’t need to answer that rhetorical question; she knew they were having similar thoughts. Nathan nipped at her ear, kissed her neck, and slowly worked his way down her chest to her breasts. He needed to see them soon. If he began counting the days of his relationship with Maddie from the night of their first phone call then he was rounding the bases slower with her than he had with any girl since high school. He had more than paced himself and he felt like they were ready.

  “Let me see you,” he whispered.

  Maddie knew exactly what he meant and arched her back so Nathan could reach underneath her. She bit her lip as he pulled the lacy pink bra away from her skin and blushed as he took his first look at her. She worried how her body measured up compared to the women Nathan had been with in Hollywood. As he slowly kissed and touched her all over he never showed the slightest disappointment in what he found. Instead, she could feel his growing excitement against her leg and it gave her more confidence; lighting the fire of her own arousal.

  Nathan brushed the loose strands of hair off her face and she could see the longing in his eyes. He was trying to resist his sexual desires but that was the last thing Maddie wanted. She wanted to embrace it; indulge in their shared passion. “Lay back, Nathan,” she said pushing herself up and straddling his thighs.

  “What are you going to do?” he asked breathlessly as Maddie’s fingers began unzipping his jeans and inching them down his legs.

  “Show my boyfriend how much I’ve missed him; is that okay?” Maddie grinned as her hand carefully extracted Nathan’s erection from his boxers.

  “You must have missed me a lot, Angel,” Nathan teased. Maddie didn’t say anything more, but instead focused her attention on what she held in her hands; licking her lips and lowering her head to taste him.

  An hour later, Maddie lay naked and sated in Nathan’s arms after both had proved to one another how much they missed the other. He held her close, stroking his fingers along her arm and occasionally brushing them across her exposed breasts. Nathan couldn’t remember ever being happier than he was holding this woman. She kept surprising him over and over again whether it be with her strong commitment to her family or her unwavering trust in him. He knew she was taking a leap of faith when she agreed to give their relationship a try. Nathan had done right by her so far and hoped that would continue when he returned to Los Angeles.

  Part of the reason he wanted Maddie to visit him over spring break was so she could get an idea of the life he led there. He hoped it might help resolve some of her fears about Hollywood to see it for herself. Nathan was about to mention her upcoming trip when his cell phone buzzed. He ignored it and snuggled in closer to her. When it buzzed again he knew there was a voice mail waiting.

  “Do you need to get that?” Maddie asked sleepily. “It’s okay if you do.”

  Nathan sighed. “It’s probably just Melissa. I forgot to call her back yesterday.” He rolled away from Maddie to reach the phone on the night stand next to the bed. He was scrolling through the missed calls and text messages when he felt her small warm hand caressing the back of his neck. It felt so good whenever she touched him that he groaned.

  “Everything okay?” she asked, starting to massage his back and shoulder muscles with more pressure.

  “Yes. That feels amazing. Melissa did call me. So did Hank, my accountant, and Gavin, the director. I also have text messages from Stanley, Garrett, Tyler Curran, Melissa, and Lupe.”

  “Gosh, is that normal?” Maddie asked.

  Nathan looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. “It’s worse when they know I’m in L.A. I’ve had a little bit of a break because everyone knew I was away filming out of state.”

  “Oh.”

  “When I get back I’ll start getting calls about my new project and Melissa will want me to go to all kinds of charity events and make random red-carpet appearances. She says it’s an important part of staying relevant.”

  “Do you have to call anyone back?”

  “Yeah, but not right now.”

  “Well, for two more days you can relax; just focus on you and me,” Maddie said. “But right now, we need to get dressed.”

  Nathan frowned purposely. “Why, what’s happening now?”

  “We must prepare ourselves to turn Holly Bishop’s world upside down,” she said seriously. “We have to decide where best to hide you until it’s over.”

  Maddie knew that Holly’s arrival time would be approximate so in preparation for her visit, she suggested Nathan tag along with Joe on his trip to the gun range. She figured it would be good bonding time for the men and much safer for her to explain her new boyfriend to Holly with him safely out of the house. Nathan was nervous about her idea at first. He felt guilty for having just messed around with the police officer’s daughter while he was downstairs having lunch. And he also thought it might be risky leaving the house. Maddie assured him Joe wouldn’t try to have any kind of father/boyfriend talk with him and there was next to no change his buddies at the range would be able to recognize him.

  Nathan finally relented and left for the gun range with Joe after eating the roast beef sandwich Sandy made him. When Holly finally arrived, it was an hour past the time Maddie had suggested that morning. But being late was not unusual for her best friend so she was surprised when Holly rushed into her bedroom apologetically.

  “Hey, Maddie. I’m so sorry that I’m late but I’ve been following the Nathan situation that popped up online this morning.”

  Maddie raised her head quickly from the book she’d been reading. “What Nathan situation?”

  “Didn’t you get my texts? There’s trouble in Maple Grove.”

  “What?”

  “Maple Grove, Maddie! The town where EVOL takes place,” Holly replied in a snippy tone. “Anyway, fans saw Nathan leaving the ai
rport in Shreveport early this morning but he never landed at LAX. He finished filming in Louisiana and was headed back home to Los Angeles but he never got there. No one has seen him since the plane took off!”

  “You’re worried because he went somewhere besides L.A.?”

  “Where else would he go? I’m worried because he chartered one of those little single engine planes. There’s been no fan sightings posted online from LAX. Nathan always stops in airports to sign autographs or at least wave to the cameras so there was a group of fans there waiting for him to arrive. There haven’t been any pictures of him posted today from any airport.”

  “So?”

  Holly rolled her eyes. “So… TMZ is reporting that he’s missing. What if his plane crashed, Maddie?”

  “I really don’t think you have to worry about that, Holly,” she replied desperately trying to hide her grin.

  Holly didn’t notice as she continued ranting. “I’ve had a bad feeling for days now that something’s wrong with him. Listen to this; last night on TV I watched the episode of Seinfeld where Elaine meets John F Kennedy Jr. And on the way over here I heard American Pie on the radio. And then TLC’s Waterfalls came on right after it!” she said panicking.

  Maddie could hardly keep a straight face at that point. “Okay calm down. I’ll give you JFK Jr. and Buddy Holly, but Left Eye died in a car accident,” she said.

  “I really hope you’re right,” Holly replied and then pulled her phone out of her purse to check for updates on the internet.

  “Speaking of Nathan, I really need to tell you something,” Maddie began nervously.

  Holly sat down on the edge of Maddie’s bed. “You don’t seem concerned for Nathan’s safety at all, Maddie. Don’t tell me you’re losing interest in him. I need you! I seriously can’t lose one more friend to Channing fucking Tatum!”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Maddie scoffed.

  “Me be ridiculous? What is it about Channing Tatum’s buns that make the women on Facebook suddenly jump the Nathan ship? I mean, come on… where is their sense of loyalty? You thought Nathan in Zero Gravity had a much hotter ass than Channing did in Magic Mike, right?”

  “Yes, of course. Nathan’s ass is spectacular,” she replied blushing a little. Holly wasn’t going to make this easy on her.

  “Exactly, thank you! It’s a no brainer in my opinion.”

  “I’m not over Nathan Foster, so relax,” Maddie insisted. “My news is quite the opposite, actually.”

  “Ok, then what do you need to tell me?”

  Maddie took a deep breath. “Okay, I don’t know how to say this. It’s so crazy. I wrote Nathan Foster a fan letter. Three actually, and the last one he responded to.”

  “Bullshit. When was this?”

  “I’m serious. I wrote him a letter a few months ago that said I thought he should cool it with all the drinking and partying and after he read it… he called me.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Holly said, her heart starting to pound in her chest.

  Maddie sighed. “I thought you might have trouble believing me. It is pretty unbelievable. So here, look at this.” Maddie handed the copy of Tomorrow and Forever’s script to Holly that Nathan had left behind on his way to Shreveport last month.

  “Where did you get this? eBay?” Holly asked, chuckling. She held the movie script in her hands and started leafing through the pages, intrigued. It was definitely a good find if it wasn’t a forgery. She could believe her naive friend would pay good money for a fake piece of Nathan memorabilia and hoped she hadn’t been duped out of too much money.

  “He gave it to me, Holly. I’ve been talking to him a lot, actually. He called me several times just to talk at first.”

  “You’re saying that you still talk to him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “He was really lonely and I helped him through a rough patch. Haven’t you noticed a decrease in his partying lately?”

  “Bullshit.”

  “We’ve gotten really close the past few months; so much that he wanted to come visit me.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “I met him, Holly. A month ago, he came here to town and we hung out.”

  “Bullshit! You’re such a liar! I knew we shouldn’t have watched that Nathan movie marathon last month because now that I think about it, you’ve been kind of weird and distant since the school year began. You’ve lost your grip on reality!”

  “Holly, please. I’m trying to tell you that Nathan and I are dating!”

  “Maddie, what the hell is wrong with you? Have you gone completely insane?” Holly yelled.

  “I’m not insane. Nathan’s been here, in this room,” she argued.

  Holly looked around the bedroom. “Do you see him right now, Mads?” she asked with concern in her voice.

  Maddie groaned. This conversation was getting her nowhere. “He sent me pictures of himself. Here, take a look.”

  Maddie handed her cell phone over to her friend hoping it wouldn’t be destroyed in a fit of rage when she saw the proof of their relationship. Holly scrolled through the pictures on the phone wondering what sort of doctor she should call to treat a Nathan Foster delusion. Psychiatrist? Psychologist? Dr. Phil?

  What Holly found on Maddie’s phone certainly shocked her; pictures that have never been published in any magazine, never posted in the Facebook fan groups she frequented. They were amateur and personal; not the kind of pictures the paparazzi would get. Nathan shirtless, smiling at the camera. Nathan in a hotel room. Nathan holding a piece of yellow paper? These pictures were selfies!

  Holly was about to ask Maddie if Nathan was the latest celebrity to fall victim to the iCloud hacking when her finger scrolled over the last picture saved in the phone. Nathan ThomasFoster, the famous actor and major league hottie… sitting in Maddie Sherratt’s bedroom. He was sitting at her desk with his iPhone in one hand, looking up at the camera like he’d been caught off guard. But he was smiling happily. The background was unmistakably Maddie’s bedroom.

  “What the fuck?” Holly squeaked.

  “I can hardly believe it myself. Nathan was here, in this room. I’ve been trying to tell you he came to see me on his way to Louisiana,” Maddie replied softly.

  “He was here,” Holly repeated, dumbfounded. “So, you’re not delusional?”

  “I’m afraid not. I’m really dating him.”

  “I don’t even know what to say.” Her hands fisted Maddie’s comforter for support as she was worried that she might faint. “I’m shocked, amazed, stunned. Completely devastated,” Holly said, her brows scrunching together in confusion. “And I’m wretchedly jealous of you. That’s never happened to me before.”

  “I know, and I’m so sorry.”

  “It feels like you’ve stabbed me and every other EVOL fan in the back. It’s like you’ve stolen something from me.”

  “What do you mean?” Maddie asked even though she knew what Holly meant.

  Until this bomb was dropped on her, Holly could imagine Nathan being unattached and available; sleeping alone in his bed every night. It was the way every fangirl hoped the object of her infatuation lived, even though they all knew you couldn’t believe a celebrity when he said he didn’t have a girlfriend. They always did and just lied about it in interviews because their agents knew it was beneficial to appear obtainable to the female fans.

  Holly looked up, struggling to focus her eyes. “Five minutes ago, Nathan was single and up for grabs. Now everything’s changed.”

  “Well, not quite that suddenly,” Maddie said calmly. “We’ve been together for a month.”

  “No, I mean everything between you and me changed five minutes ago! I can’t talk to you about him anymore; that would be totally weird. Who am I going to talk to about his butt now?” Holly covered her face in her hands, still trying to come to grips with the new reality. “I can’t believe this,” she muttered to herself.

  “We can still talk about him and discuss his
movies,” Maddie said trying to comfort her friend.

  Holly shook her head. “No, it’s totally weird. You ruined the infatuation for me! And you met him a month ago! How could you not tell me immediately? You betrayed me! I can’t talk to you about his butt now!”

  “I figured you might feel that way so to prove you wrong I’m prepared to offer you five juicy tidbits about Nathan that he’s pre-approved me to tell you. To kind of soften the blow.”

  Holly’s face perked up slightly. “What kind of tidbits?”

  “First pinky swear that this information stays confidential. You take it to the grave, Bishop. You cannot tell the girls online anything. And if you do then I’ll cut you off from him indefinitely. I’ll never let you meet him.”

  “I still can’t believe this is happening.”

  “Believe it,” Maddie said pointedly.

  “When do I get to meet him?” Holly shrieked.

  “Focus, Holly. Promise you keep this confidential. No one can know I’m dating him or the press will hound me.”

  “Fine, I swear,” Holly replied wrapping her pinky finger tightly around Maddie’s.

  Maddie scooted her chair closer to where Holly sat on the edge of her bed and whispered as if her bedroom could be bugged by the paparazzi. “Okay. Number one, there’s going to be three sex scenes in Tomorrow and Forever and he filmed one of them in Louisiana two weeks ago.”

  “Maddie, that is the lamest gossip I’ve ever heard. What else you got?”

  “Okay… remember how you were deeply concerned he might have used a butt double in Zero Gravity?” Maddie asked slowly. Then she shook her head and smiled wide. “Nope. He never has.”

  Holly’s eye lit up, pleased with this information. “More,” she demanded.

  “He lost his virginity at sixteen.”

  “Have you slept with him yet?”

  “No comment.”

  “Come on, I want that to be one of my five tidbits. I’ll go insane if I don’t know!”

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “Fine. No, not yet but we got to third base.”

  Holly gasped. “God, I hate you Madeline Sherratt! And number five? The grand finale of Nathan gossip…”