Their Choices, Their Life

Chapter Twenty

Michael walked on set a week later, excited about starting his new film, but nervous about seeing Aja again. He never bothered to tell anyone but Steelo about the details of their break up a few months back, because it wasn't all that pretty. After telling her he was ending their relationship, Aja trashed his place and called him everything but a child of God. Thanks to his security cameras, he knew she'd egged his car a few times, but it wouldn't have been hard to guess it was her anyway.

He caught her frequently driving by his place at night, which spooked him out a little. After the fourth or fifth time, he considered hiring security, but then he didn't see her anymore. The calls and texts stopped and after a few weeks and he kind of forgot how crazy she acted-- until he saw her again today.

"Hey Mike. Can we talk?" She asked nervously. He slowly followed her to a less congested area. "I wanted to apologize for the way I acted when we broke up. I think I lost my mind or something. I just was so upset, but that's no excuse."

"It's cool."

"No it's not, really. I'm sorry." Her hand reached for his forearm, but he shifted back slightly, reacting quickly to her attempt to touch him. She looked a mixture of embarrassed and angry but he didn't care. He didn't owe her anything but to do his job as best he could and the conversation they were having had nothing to do with that.

"We're good, Aja. Let's just make this movie great. Aight?"

"Ayo Mike! You good bro?" Michael thanked his lucky stars when he saw his best friend headed their way.

"Yea, man. We good," he said looking at Aja.

"Sterling," she said, greeting him dryly.

"It's Steelo. Only Janee can--"

"Chill, Stee. Let's go check out our trailers man." Michael thought it best to keep any mention of Janee out of any conversation that involved Aja. He didn't want to trigger her crazy switch again. Before he broke up with her, Aja repeatedly accused Michael of still being in love with her as the reason for their split. It was true he was in love with her of course, but that wasn't the whole story. He'd loved Janeé their whole relationship, but after Aja acted the way she did when they met, he knew Janeé would never let her around BJ. Being in a relationship with Aja would be an unnecessary complication because he'd always pick his child and Janeé over her.

"I know you're the star and all, but why is your trailer so much bigger than mine?!" Steelo had also been cast in the film, making it the first movie they'd done together since they were kids.

Michael shrugged his shoulders, not really paying attention to his best friend's comment.

"And what was up with that non-disclosure agreement we had to sign, man? I felt like they made me sign my life away and then told me I couldn't tell anyone I had." Michael's ears perked up when he heard Steelo bring up the NDA. "You know why everything is so top secret? My lawyer told me I couldn't tell anyone I was working on a movie. Mike?"

"I'm sorry, bro." He got up and poured himself a glass of bourbon and drank it straight.

"What's up, Mike? You never drink on the job." Steelo looked at his friend curiously, trying to figure out what was up.

"It's Jay," he said taking a deep breath in and pushing it back out with force.

"Nay Nay? Y'all were just good like 12 hours ago," he joked.

"Yea, we're great," he smiled. "But I don't know how much longer that'll be the case."

"What the hell you do?"

"I haven't told her about Aja. That's why I had everyone sign those agreements saying they wouldn't share anything about the movie."

Steelo sat down dramatically and rubbed his face up and down. Michael knew he'd be disappointed in his decision not to tell Janeé, which is why he was just now admitting the truth.