Heartbreak Hotel (Editing)

Chapter 86: Respect

"Hold your head back!" I laughed as I pushed Michael's head back into my lap. "You're gonna mess it up."

" You don't have to do this." He said as he settled down on the floor. Pushing himself in between my legs.

"Well, guess what...." I leaned forward and peck him on the lips. " I am." I whispered. "Now hold still." I was sitting on the couch in our living about to moisturize his hair for him because he had just washed it. He had been at rehearsals all day for his upcoming tour and had basically sweated his hair out. He spent a whole hour and a half in the shower washing and conditioning it. " Did you put the movie in?" I asked him as I began to part his still wet hair.

"Yeah, hand me the controller." He told me.

I pushed away the hair supplies and pulled the remote control from the between the couch cushions. "What movie did you put in?" I asked him as I handed it to him.

"Superman,"

"Which one, the new one?"

He snickered," It's not exactly new anymore, Li."

"Whatever, it's new to me." I picked up a bottle of moisturizer and put a little in his head. "How much stuff am I supposed to use?" I said, as I began applying it on a section of his hair.

"Just a little." He answered as he began to relax.

"You look like you need to relax, baby."

A sigh escaped his lips. " I ain't gonna be relaxed until this commercial is over with tomorrow."

"It's tomorrow?" I asked, surprised. " I thought it was next month."

"No, it's tomorrow." He sighed, " I don't wanna do it."

" You should've never agreed to it in the first place."

He looked back at me. " Liyah, please don't start with that 'I told you so speech', because I don't wanna hear it."

" I wasn't going to." I said, casually.

From the beginning, it was understood by everyone that was involved that Michael did not want to do the two commercials that they were signed up to do with Pepsi-Cola. I can clearly remember the arguments he had with Joseph and his brothers. Michael felt so strongly about not wanting to do that commercial that he continuously confronted his father about the whole thing. The commercials and Don King are two the two main things Michael was relectuant about. All of his brothers voted for Don King as their promoter, and he agreed to it if they left the commercials out. The thing was, his family knew Michael's weakness. They knew that putting intense pressure on him would get him to sign the contract.

That's exactly what they did.

Michael signed the contract for the Pepsi-Cola endorsement on Monday morning, but he made it clear that he would not drink, or hold a can of Pepsi in a commercial, or for a public shot. Michael told me that he didn't believe in Pepsi. For a moment I didnt understand what he meant by that, but the more he talked about it the more I realized that he just didn't believe in false advertisement. He didn't drink Pepsi, so he felt it was wrong to be apart of something he didn't have any part of his life.

I wasn't the only one who was trying to keep him from agreeing to signing the endorsement. His lawyer, John Branca tried talking him out of it. Even our friends, Paul and Jane (Fonda) told him that it was a bad idea. Saying that it was a mistake for him to sign the contract. They thought that the result would be overexpose him. He was already doing so much. Michael decided that one way to rectify the problem was to have full control of how much of him would be showed on the camera. He wanted them to use his symbols-his glove, his spats, his looks-he thought that if he was going to be involved he was gonna make it special. Apparently, the producers did not understand that.