The Last Dance

021

Aisha held her newborn baby and was contently about to fall asleep before her phone began ringing. Her eyes widened before she sat up and walked into Arie's room. She placed the sleeping child into her pink cradle slowly before whispering. "Mommy will be back."

Her feet moved quickly to her room and when she grabbed her phone, Mariah had hung up already. She FaceTimed her back. Soon, her dance daughters face popped up.

Smiles graced both of their faces as Mariah spoke. "Hey ma!"

"Hey my Bonus Daughter. How're you?"

"Good. Good. No complaints. Two things actually, one, congratulations. Where is my little sister?"

The older woman flipped the camera to the baby monitor so Mariah could see her sleeping. "She just fell asleep a few minutes ago. You just missed her."

"Aww. She's so adorable. I can't wait to get off this tour and come see her." Mariah cooed into the phone. "Look at her cheeks. Oh my gosh my ovaries are tingling."

"Uh uh. No ma'am. No babies just yet. You just took off." Aisha scolded before flipping the camera back to her face.

The younger girl chuckled. "Alright mama, I was just joking but speaking of take off's guess who just got a call back from Normani?"

"You're lying!" Her eyes widened in excitement for Mariah. "Oh my gosh that's so good Riah! I'm so proud of you."

"Like ma, I didn't even think I would get it but J kept telling me I was over stressing it. So I sent my tryout video in through email and I definitely thought she wouldn't pick me because I wasn't trying out face to face like the other dancers but she did. I start right after we get back from the tour. It's for her performance at Billboard Music Awards. I'm so excited."

Aisha paused before asking. "J? Whose J?"

Had the younger woman moved on? If that was the case, Aisha knew she'd be happy for her daughter but wouldn't help but be a bit bummed that things didn't work out between her and the singer. They had a vibe and sure they had problems early on, but the road had to be bumpy to find your soulmate.

Mariah grinned. "Oh did I not tell you Janet and I are back together?"

"Okay... don't play with me right now."

"I'm serious ma. We got back together like a few weeks ago. I forgot to tell you, I guess between touring, crashing immediately after the performances, and therapy, I've been full too the top."

"Girl I'm so damn excited for you. Whew. Good news after good news. You're really right where you need to be Mariah. I hope you realize that. Your talent and your heart deserves every blessing coming your way."

"Thank you mama."

"Now what's this therapy you just talked about? Everything alright?"

"Yeah. It is. Janet and I just decided that we should talk with relationship counselors so we can better our relationship. Work on communication and all that jazz."

Aisha nodded. "That's good kid. Whew, I'm so damn proud of you. I'm just going to continue to say it. You're doing everything you envisioned."

"All thanks to you."

"Oh bull. I teach people to dance in heels. I bring the lessons, the moves, the technique but it's not nearly as much as you brought. You brought the dedication, the drive, the courage and the heart. Many people are good dancers but will never be great dancers because their heart isn't in it. This is heart work and you definitely have the heart." The older woman expressed. "I may have played a hand in it, but if Mariah Hilliard wouldn't have walked into my studio with the mindset that she did, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere."

"Thank you ma. Seriously, I needed to hear that." Mariah expressed truthfully before she saw Janet requesting to FaceTime her. "Ma, I have to go but please send me pictures of the baby. I love you and miss you so much."

"I will and you do the same. I love and miss you more daughter. Go be great."

Soon the dancers face was no longer on Aisha's screen and she smiled softly. She was proud of the young girl. That was one thing she couldn't even begin to hide. Aisha's only hope for her dancers were that they grew in the craft and made it to wherever they wanted to be at. She was happy to see Mariah achieving everything she once placed on her personal dream board. It was refreshing to see the cards of luck change for the woman.

States over, Janet sat in her hotel room after a performance. She checked the time and saw it wasn't too late to call the woman that had been on her mind all day. Grabbing her iPad, she FaceTimed Mariah and it rang a few times before it finally began connecting. Not very much after, the dancers face popped onto the singers screen.

Smiles graced both of their faces as Mariah greeted the woman. "Hey baby."

"Hi beautiful..." Janet noticed Mariah was in a room. "You all made it to the hotel I see."

The younger woman nodded. "Yeah we did, I was about to call you after I got the phone with ma."

"Who Aisha?"

"Mhm. Apparently I forgot to tell her about us."

"Oh geez, I know she's upset." The singer chuckled softly knowing her friend well.

"She was actually happy but I don't know if you'll get that same reaction. You two talk more than we do."

Janet sent the younger girl a look. "And that's on you Mariah. You barely answered her calls."

"Hey, I'm getting better." The dancer rolled her eyes playfully. "Oh, but guess what?"

"What?"

"Bae, you have to guess."

The singer chuckled before shrugging. "You at least have to give me a certain topic."

"It's about dance..."

"That helps me none because all you breathe is dance but um, let's see, you got another solo on the lineup?"

Mariah shook her head. "Nope."

"Saweetie's letting you change a dance?"

"Nope."

"Uh.." The singer truly went blank before taking one last guess. "Did you get the call back from Normani?" Her girlfriend went quiet with a large smile and it caused Janet's eyes to widen. "Babe, you got the call back? I'm so proud of you!"

"Thank you baby."

"I told you that you would get it. They would have been crazy to pass you up."

"She sent me the email and everything. It's for the BMA's. The shows like three weeks after we get back from the tour,"

The news excited the singer, she was happy that her girlfriend was happy. Still, she knew that meant they'd really have less time to spend together. It would probably always be like this though, they were both in the industry, work would always be a priority to the duo. Truthfully, Janet would give it up to spend time with Mariah... but Mariah was just starting to rise, now wouldn't be the time for the dancer to take a break. With that in mind, Janet refrained from bringing it up.

"That's great baby."