Falling for Stars - 3 Pop

He stood there, so cold and unfeeling. As if it all meant nothing at all to him.

Maggie Hart fought back the tears, and fought to keep calm. He was leaving her... After everything they'd been through, he was leaving her.

"It's better this way Mags. You'll see. I'm not the Hollywood type anyway..."

"But... but your said.... you promised!" She clutched her left hand, the cheap cubic zirconia ring biting into her palm.

"I lied. This was just a highschool fling. It's not like we're star crossed lovers or anything. You'll find someone more suited to you on the west coast and I can move onto a girl that's more my type. You'll see. This is for the best." Turning away from her, he walked away.

It was on her tongue... there, just behind her teeth... but she couldn't say it.... She knew she could say the words... she could bring him back...

I love you... please don't leave me... I can't do this without you...Please Conner!

But they wouldn't come out. And then he was gone....

Maggie sat straight up in bed, her hands going to her cheeks- to the tears she knew would be there and feverently wiped them away. It didn't help... they just kept coming. Throwing aside the covers she bolted for the bathroom and opened closet instead. Shit, that's right! She wasn't home... She was at Kevin's.

"Hmmm.... Maggie?" came his groggy query.

"Go back to sleep Kevin."

"Where you goin' baby?" he rolled over and pursed his lips, "Don't you want a little morning sugar?"

Maggie turned towards him frowning. She loved him. He was just her type. A hollywood beach boy. Blond hair, tan skin... and the fact that he just happened to be the lead singer of the boy band sensations "Skky" was also a major plus. The public loved it when two beautiful pop stars hooked up. Her Manager had introduced them at a party a few months ago.

In the beginning, everything had been fine... Kevin had been exactly what she wanted. Sweet, cool, insanely popular... The public loved them together. Her Manager was starting to hint at marriage... It'd be a good carreer move... lots of people in holly wood got married for publicity reasons... It would be perfect. But she kept having the dreams....

"I've got to go home. I've uh... got a meeting with Rodger."

"Your manager? I thought he was in New York?"

"That was last weekend," pulling on one of the Juicy sweatsuits she had him buy to keep for her for days when she slept over, Maggie reached into her Prada purse and pulled out her Gucci Sun glasses. the huge shades did a pretty good job hiding her face. She didn't want the paparazzi to know she'd been crying. They'd think she and Kevin were fighting and it would be all over the tabloids by noon.

She slipped on her Ed Hardy flip-flops and with a wink to Kevin she slipped out the door. Her hand was on her cell phone to call her driver when she suddenly shut off the phone. She didn't want to go home just yet... she wanted to walk... get some air... Only the other health nuts were out this early in the morning on Venice Beach. She'd be safe just taking a walk along the coast... The dreams were really freaking her out. She hadn't thought about Conner in five years... There'd been no reason to. He'd rejected her. Dropped her like last week's lip color!

Yeah it had hurt. She'd been devastated. But with a record deal already signed, tickets to L.A. already paid for and videos in production there'd been nothing for her to do but scrape the shattered pieces of her heart off the ground, bury them in a deep dark place and move on. She'd released six singles on that heart break. She was over him. Conner was nothing more than a stupid highschool fling.... He'd been right all those years ago. It was for the best. And if there was something missing in her life, it wasn't him.

She was a few blocks from Kevin's when she saw the small girl huddled near the water's edge. At first she thought the girl was just looking at shells, but she never stood up, she just sat there rocking. over the sound of the surf, Maggie could just hear what sounded like sobbing. She glanced around the beach, but there wasn't anyone around who looked like they were responsible for her. Concerned, she jogged over, "Hi there...?" she cooed, "You okay?"

The child couldn't be more three or four. She looked up, her eyes filled with tears. "I'm lost!" she sobbed.

Maggie was instantly horrified, "Oh my god, no! Who was watching you? Where'd they go?"

"I don't know! He was here, and then I went to get a shell and then he was gone!"

"Dani?!" a man's frantic voice called out from a short distance away. "Dani??!"

Maggie stood to wave him over and froze solid on the spot.

Dark mahogany hair, shoulders like a football linebacker, and those eyes... She'd never forget those eyes... Like whiskey.

Dani, still sobbing, stood and ran to him crying "BEAR, BEAR!" He caught her tiny form up in his arms and hugged her close.

"Don't scare me like that!" he growled warming, "I thought I was going to have a heartattack! And that's nothing compared to what your mother would do to me!" Giving the child one more squeeze, he held out his hand to her, "Thank you so much for finding her Miss. I'm sorry if she intterupted your work out."

Maggie, didn't accept his hand, Instead she lifted her glasses to her head, "Hey, it's nothing."

He dropped his hand, his eyes going wild and perhaps a little panicked? "Mags..." he whispered.

"Hello Conner," she smiled her most brilliant, "It's been a long time."

He shook off his shock, smiling like they were old friends. Like everything was in the past... "Yeah. My god, Mags, It's been years. You look great!"

"Thought the west coast wasn't your thing?" Keep it light, cheerful, joking. Smile. Maggie Hart was always sunshine. Inside she wanted to scream. He said he didn't want to move to Cali... Didn't want to come with her. Another lie...

"Yeah well, it appears you can't escape silicone valley when it calls." He chuckled, "I can't believe this... running into you on Venice beach? Shouldn't you have an entourage or something?"

"They're with my other limo." she said flippantly and wanted to strangle him when he laughed good naturedly. Instead she pulled out her phone, "Call me sometime and we'll do lunch. What's your number?"

He ratteled off the digits and Maggie obediently saved them, but inside she knew she'd never call.

His phone on his belt chirped and Dani reached for it. "It's Mommy." she announced, showing Conner the phone proudly.

"Well, can't keep her waiting can we?" He assured the little girl, hefting her higher in his arms, "Hey it was great seeing you, Mags. Take care?"

She grinned, "Oh don't you worry about me. My life is fantastic!"

He smiled, looking genuinely happy for her, "I'm glad."

Maggie watched them walk away, still smiling and waving until they rounded the corner and disappeared. Then she turned on her cell phone and called her driver. Barely five minutes later he pulled up near one of the parking lots and she climbed in. A sunny order to drive her home and she put up the partition, picked one of the velvet pink pillows that decorated the interior, buried her face and sobbed as loud as she could.

He was married! Married with a baby!! He'd always said he wanted a family. Even back in high school he'd talked about wanting a family. And now he had one. A wife and a beautiful baby girl! A baby girl that could have been hers! It should be hers! But she'd wanted to be a singer... a star....

Maggie looked up and around the empty limo, then curled up into a ball, hugging the pillow until her tears finally ran out....



Conner Williams stared at the abstract pattern of numbers and letters that filled the computer screen. His newest network security system, dubbed "Optimus Prime" after a private joke between himself and a few college buddies, was well on its way. A few more tweeks and he'd be ready to launch. Already several companies were chomping at the bit. His last project, "Cerberus" had been a server system to help catched hackers using a clever monitoring system of memory and processing. It had made him millions. "Optimus" was set to do even better with a private, more powerful version already commissioned by certain military departments.

Everything in life was going just swell... Until today...

"Uncle Bear, bear!" his niece, Dani, whined from his office doorway, "Mommy said we can't go to the zoo without you!"

He smiled. God damn, he loved that kid. Couldn't wait to have a few of his own. If only... "I'll be there in a minute, Doodle."

Grinning she darted back out the way she came and Conner's eyes drifted to the picture of his brother standing proudly in military greens. He hadn't heard from Jasper in a couple weeks. Probably nothing to worry about, but still... Kimberly had outlawed the news. The endless reports of American soldiers being killed overseas were making her a nervous wreck. That was why he'd come out to California... to be with them. To help watch Dani, and keep Kim sane until Jasper returned. He hadn't really wanted to come. Not so much because it was the west coast-- He'd never really minded the idea of living in LA-- dispite what he'd said... It was the thought of seeing her.

For weeks he'd been like an over caffeinated paranoid. Every time she came on TV or the radio- every time he saw her picture, he'd jump. Given that she was bigger than Brittany Spears and Hannah Montana combined- he found himself flinching alot those first weeks. Kim had started threatening to send him home because he was making her more nervous than anything. But he couldn't help it.

Maggie... His Maggie was somewhere in the city. What would he say to her if he saw her? Well now he knew. He'd yammer on like a damn robot about the weather! Fuck... talk about lame. There was so much he'd wanted to say to her... Things he'd fantisized being able to tell her... And when crunch time came he froze up solid. Could barely speak the polite nessesities and snatched up Kim's call as an excuse to run. Idiot...

She'd looked good though... It had taken a lot in him not to drool. Skinnier than he remembered, but good. She looked like pop idol...

Quietly sliding open the bottom drawer of his desk he reached under the stack of papers he purposely kept there and pulled out the small wooden frame. It was just an eight by ten glossy his Mom had taken. The lighting wasn't great... But it showed her... the real Maggie Hart. Resplendent in her blue prom gown, hanging on his arm, the bouquet of white roses he'd gotten for her clutched to her chest. Her smile was huge and genuine, and he was ginning like an idiot. They looked so akward together. The big scary goth and the skinny blond cheerleader... but they'd been happy...

"Let her go, Con, you're just holding her back from where she wants to be. Don't you want her to be happy? To reach her dream?" The words had been echoed by nearly everyone in town almost from the beginning of their relationship. Everyone knew she was going some where. She had drive, determination, beauty, talent... And some dumb hick kid dragging her down like dead weight... Still he'd selfishly held onto her until the last possible day...

It had hurt worse than anything he'd ever done in his life, but when she'd told him she'd been signed, he'd realized he didn't have any more choice. If she'd tried to stop him, to make him face her she would've seen the tears. But she hadn't. She'd let him walk away. She'd known just as he had that it was what needed to be done...

"BEAR BEAR!!!"

Conner shoved the photo back into the drawer and got hastily to his feet, "I'm coming!" he assured Dani and flipped out the light.

It was for the best...



The next day, after, a bubble bath, pint of fat free ice cream, full body massage, manicure/pedicure and a new hair style, Maggie stepped out of her favorite spa feeling much better. She didn't care about Conner Williams. Let him live in his hovel working his nine to five, saddled with a kid. Maggie Hart was a star! Her name was household! And tonight- unlike Conner- She was going out to party! Be young and alive and really live it up. Christine, her best friend since coming to Hollywood, snapped her gum on the other end of the phone. "Ooh! You know there's, like, that new place that just opened? We could go there. I hear Kayne has been, like, all about it. He's there like every night."

Maggie bobbed her head in thought, "Yeah... That sounds totally awesome! I'm all about finding somewhere new. The old places are so boring! There's nothing but coke heads there anymore."

"Like I know, right? This place is supposed to be killtastic!"

"Killtastic?"

"Yeah, it's, like, Tommy's new word. He's, like spreading it around."

"Well killtastic then! You wanna tan before we go?"

"Like, hell yeah! I was gonna call Tyisha, but, like, you know how she gets."