Just Good Friends

"No, please, I have to see him." I was close to tears.

"Do you know how much I hear that every day?" The security guard looked unamused.

"You don't even recognize me. Really? New security?" I growled.

"You've been tagging around that long?" He raised his eyebrows.

I glanced back at the desperate girls behind me. "Where's Bill? Bill Bray? He's tall, old, bald, usually wears a hat...He'll know who I am."

The guard smiled sympathetically. "I know you must be a girl who loves Michael very much. But he's not meeting any more fans tonight."

"Fan? Are you fucking kidding me? I'm a black girl in the middle of a bunch of Japanese girls in Tokyo. I'm an entertainer. I have credits on the Jacksons' Triumph album," I ranted.

"I don't want to have to call the poli--"

"My name is Lily Davis. I've known Michael and his family since second grade. I was his neighbor. I've even been engaged to him. Five years ago, he cut off contact with me with no warning. So that means for five years, I've been trying to speak with him just once." I paused to breathe. "You seem like a man with some empathy. If Michael or anyone with him doesn't know who I am, you can remove me. I won't struggle."

He looked past me at the other girls. "Come with me, Miss Jackson," he said to me loudly, adding a wink.

I picked at my fingernails as we walked slowly down the small path to the waiting bus.

The guard opened the door. "Mr. Jackson, there's a girl here, says she knows you. Said her name is Davis."

"I don't know anyone with that last name. But you can let her in," that achingly familiar voice floated from inside.

I was a little hurt that he said he didn't know me, but I went inside anyway.

Michael was sitting on a red leather couch, reading a book. He looked up when he heard me. His eyes clouded. "Get her out."

"Do you know her, sir?" The security guard asked.

"Never seen her in my life." He said this with a straight face. I almost believed him if I didn't know better.

"You fucking liar. I don't know how you can say that." I felt a hand wrap around my arm.

"I'm sorry, I'm not seeing any more fans tonight. I hope you enjoyed the show," he said.

"Why do you hate me? What did I do to you?" I demanded.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he lied.

The grip on my arm tightened.

"Bill!" I shrieked as a last resort. "Bill, it's me! Lily!"

Bill Bray climbed into the bus behind me. "I heard my name."

Michael's eyes widened. He clenched his jaw.

I nearly burst into tears again. "Michael says he doesn't know me. I don't know what I did," I sobbed. This was my first and probably only chance to get back to my life.

Bill stared at me. "Lily! It's been ages. I've seen some of your work. Good job, kid." He pulled me into a hug. The younger security guard disappeared.

"Joker, what is she talking about? You've been ignoring your best friend?" Bill questioned.

"Last time I checked, our relationship was over," Michael informed me.

"Really? I was never told. I was just thrown aside like trash," I shot back.

"You told me you would stay away from Prince. You were the one that lied to me." Mike threw his book on the floor. "Now get off my bus."

"No," I said simply. I sat down in a chair.

"Bill..." he whined.

"You're being ridiculous. Look at the poor girl," Bill replied.

"You're siding with her?" Michael screeched.

"The world doesn't revolve around you," I interrupted. I smirked at how I'd rendered him speechless.

The bus started moving. I looked over and saw Bill driving. "I'll stop when you two make up," he called.

"I don't want her on the bus!"

"That's too bad, son. You don't have a show tomorrow, I could drive around for hours," Bill chuckled. He put on earmuffs to block out our voices.

Mike was outraged. He didn't even look at me.

"You know, I stayed away from Prince until the very end of the tour. Once I figured you were never coming, I got back with him," I mumbled.

"So I was right. You can't control yourself around him," Michael spat.

"He made me feel great when you were completely ignoring me. He helped me deal with the fact that you hated me. I technically never cheated on you." I crossed one leg over the other.

"...I did go to a couple shows in disguise," he admitted finally after minutes of angry silence.

"Did you like them?" I tried to hide my intense curiosity.

"When you were on stage." He made eye contact with me.

"So your vitiligo got really bad?" I guessed after another long silence.

"Yeah. I have to use a lot of stuff to even out my skin tone. Everyone thinks I'm trying to be white." His voice cracked and he averted his eyes.

I had to plant my feet into the floor to stop myself from sitting on the couch. Last time we moved too fast and our relationship fell apart again. "How's your head been since the burn?"

"It still hurts. I have good and bad days. My hair can't really grow back in that spot anymore," he explained.

"I wanted to visit you in the hospital but they wouldn't let me. They said you didn't want to see me at all. Something about the fans..." I trailed off.

"Because you were with someone else, obviously," Mike scoffed.

"I turned down the lead female role in Purple Rain for you. I stopped working with Prince completely after the 1999 tour," I protested.

"But you didn't stop messing around with him."

I noticed the bus stopped.

Bill turned around and took off the earmuffs. "We're here, kids," he announced as if he were a school bus driver.

Michael pulled me off the bus, into the back door of a hotel, and then into an empty elevator.

(I've honestly had this story ready for about a month now. I just didn't know how to end the last one.)