"Shhhh." He put a finger over his lips and I followed him through the house, walking as silently as possible. He lead me to their spare bedroom on the far end, aka Bretts edit suit. He bought a fancy Mac last year and set it up in there, he spends hours down there making strange little movies and messing around. He walked in and he closed the door behind us.
"Right Mike Matthews, I'd like you to take a seat over there." He pointed at the chair that was in front of a screen mounted on a wall.
"What's going on?"
"What's going on, is that you are going to watch a movie and take your head out of your fucking arse... popcorn?"
He reached for a bowl behind him and offered it to me. He had actual popcorn. I shook my head.
"I'm okay."
"Cool. But before I press play I just want you to know that this is potentially life changing. I feel like I should make you sign an indemnity form or some shit like that. Anyway... enough from me, here we go."
He pressed play and the screen flickered to life. And there we were, in black and white and a few years younger. Maria and I.
I remembered that moment immediately. A few summers ago, we'd swum in the lake all day long. Maria had that stupid spikey hair and I would tease her about it. So this is where all Brett's footage went to.
Suddenly some words flew onto the screen.
This is a story about a boy and a girl.
"What's this?" I turned to Brett.
"Keep looking." He pointed back at the TV.
I watched. I was chasing Maria now and she was shrieking with laughter as I caught up and pushed her into the water. We both emerged laughing.
But this is no ordinary love story.
"WHAT?" I whipped around and stared at Brett. He just shook his head and pointed back at the TV screen. Now a weird montage of moments of Maria and I started flashing across the screen. In each one we were laughing. In each one we were smiling at each other. In each one she was looking at me like....
She was looking at me like...
I gasped and my hand flew up over my mouth. My heart started beating faster and faster and faster.
"Jesus Christ!" I looked at Brett again and this time he nodded.
"Yup! Amazing what you can't see sometimes."
I turned back to the screen just as more words flew onto it.
Because he doesn't know that she's in love....
Images and shots of Maria's face flew onto the screen. One after the other after the other. She was always laughing, always with that look and she looked so fucking beautiful. Oh my God! It was as if I had never seen her until this very second.
And he doesn't know that he's in love either...
Another gasp escaped my mouth as I pulled the chair forward. My eyes were glued to the screen. He'd cut together scenes of us over the years. Me sliding up to Maria in the Canteen. Walking with my arm draped over her shoulder. Climbing up her trellis. Waving at her. Carrying her bags to class, the most random scenes ever.
But he is!
And then the footage switched to slow mo. It was Maria and she was dancing. I remembered that night. Giovanni's, her birthday. It was one of the only times I'd ever seen her in a dress and she was smiling and twirling with this creepy looking sixty year old. The shot froze. It was a close up of Maria's face. Her eyes were lit up, her smile was big and wide and she had a few strands of hair flying accorss her face.
NOW WHAT THE FUCK IS THE IDIOT GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
The end: A short film by legendary, Oscar winning filmmaker Brett.
He flicked the TV off. I sat in my chair for a moment in total shock. I was always in the moment. I was always in the middle of it, but like this, looking in, it was all so, so clear. Maria was in love with me. Is in love with me and I... I....
The realization sort of slammed through me. All these years. Ten years. All the chicks I had dated. None of them had ever lasted. The mystery fucking mint kisser they were all.... Whatever. And she was there. Always there.
My brain swirled. My heart raced. Sweaty palms. Dry mouth. Shake legs... and I...and I was in love with her. I'd always been. She was the most important person in my life. She was the first person I wanted to talk to every single morning. The last person I wanted to talk to when I went to bed. How the hell had I not known?
I looked up at Brett with a kind of questioning. And he just shrugged.
"I guess when you see someone everyday, all the time and that person just kind of becomes an extension of you, maybe it's hard to see it for what it really is? Maybe you need a bit of perspective."
"Oh my God I'm... I'm..." I paused. Was I about to say it out loud?
"Say it." Brett urged.
"In love with her?"
Brett threw his hands in the air, "Fucking Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah praise the baby Jesus!"
"She's been right under my nose this whole time!"
"Yup!"
"I've been so fucking blind"
"Yup!"
"I've been such a dick!"
"YUP!"
"Oh my God, I'm totally in love with her." I jumped out of my seat, I knew exactly what I needed to do now. It was so obvious. End it with this stupid fantasy I was chasing and wake up to what was real. And Maria was real.
"I've
