You over everything. (Book 2)

Chapter 22

Janet

"You sure you don't want to stay in here?" I asked, unbuckling my seatbelt.

We're currently in DC, outside a dance studio, and I called a meeting with all of my crew. I've, for the most part, avoided this meeting, and we haven't seen each other in almost a week.

We had a three day break since our last show, and I called off the show we had planned today.

I've been thinking about what I'd do to work both these shows and being here with my family. I knew if I continued the shows, I wouldn't bring what the audience expected. I don't have the energy I came into this with, and I feel it'll be unfair to my fans to continue like this.

I really don't want to go in here and tell them this, but I have to.

"No, I wanna see them." She reached down in her bag to grab an Ibuprofen. "You can go in. I'm going to feed Jayla, and I'll be in there."

"I got her. You get yourself together and then come inside." I got up and went back to grab Jayla's car seat.

I grabbed the bottle that she had just made and stepped outside.

"Elijah, you're not coming in?" I asked him.

He took one side of his headphones off his ear and shook his head. "Nah, I wanted to talk to Joey about something."

I shrugged. "Alright,"

I laid the bottle in the seat and closed the door. A cool breeze blew in the air, and I walked quickly to the door to get out of the cold. I pushed the door open, and walked into the studio. When I turned the corner, everyone was standing around conversating.

When they saw me, their faces lit up, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Look who it is!" James shouted.

Jayla started to cry, and it's probably both because of the noise and because she's hungry.

I lowered my hand for them to quiet down a little and went over to the wall to sit up against. I put the car seat down and sat on the floor. She wasn't going to let me feed her in the car seat, so I took her out and gave her the bottle.

"She's so cute." One of them said.

I thought back and realized this is the first time I've brought her here. "That's right, some of you haven't seen her yet," I said. "You all come closer—not too close, but I don't wanna yell."

Gill walked over to me with a mic and sat down.

"Do you want this?" He asked. "It's turned down, so it's not too loud, but loud enough to hear you."

"You're gonna hold it?" I asked.

He nodded and put his back against the wall.

I haven't really thought about exactly what I'm going to say, and I know they'll be understanding, but it's still hard. I could see how much fun they were having during this time. I just feel bad for cutting this time short. Even just temporarily.

He held the mic to me, and now there was no more time to stall, which I do best.

"Uh, it's only been a few days since we've all been together, and for me, a lot has happened in that time." I started. "It's not something I'm going to speak deeply about, but what I will say is that I've made a lot of mistakes in the past, and—"

As I said that Toni walked through the door. Everyone's attention turned to her and they waved and said, Hey. She waved to them all and came to sit next to me. I could see in her face that she didn't feel well, but she really wanted to see them.