Hey everyone! This is a new story that I have been working on. I Will Always Love You: Chapter 95 is just about complete and it will be out within the week. I had some papers to write and an exam to study for, so I have been a bit busy as of late. Please enjoy and leave feedback on this clip. Thank you so much!!!
And The Grammy Goes To
Twyla'a POV
Stevie was holding my hand tightly, whispering in my ear,
"You've got this. We all believe in you. He does, too." I knew exactly who Stevie was talking about, and I looked three seats over to my right, and saw him sitting there, focused on the presenter. I wanted him to see me, and share this moment with me, but then Stevie redirected my attention, saying,
"Here it goes…"
The nominees for best female pop vocal were playing, and then I heard the presenter introduce my song, “Down In Flames" and my voice rang out, filling the room. That feeling, that absolute sheer joy intoxicated me. It's the knowingness that I made something that people love, and millions of people were watching this show unfold. There were hundreds of people in the audience, many of whom I had admired for years, all sitting there and hearing my song.
Stevie Wonder, one of my inspirations and now one of my best friends, was to my left, holding my hand in encouragement. I had never imagined such a charmed life. This moment was perfect. Again, I looked down to my right, three seats over, and saw him training his eyes on the presenter. I wanted him to look at me. I was willing him with my mind to look at me, but he wouldn't. The words “And the grammy goes to..." had come and gone without notice on my part, and finally he looked to me. His smile was brilliant. He bit his bottom lip, still smiling hard. He looked so happy, but then he put his hands up questioning me before looking mortified. I then knew why. A spotlight was on me, and the cameras had caught me staring straight at him, which would probably only add more fuel to the rumors. My face was plastered all over the Jumbotron screens and my world began to feel unreal. It seemed like Stevie was speaking through a tunnel, when I finally heard him say,
“Twyla! It's you! You did it girl! You did it!”
I whipped my face to Stevie's and my voice came out shakily asking him,
“Are you sure?" He replied,
“Girl, I can't see, but I sure as hell can hear, and that was your name. Listen to your song playing!" And sure enough, there it was. My voice was bouncing off of the walls, my words filling the room, and my fans cheering me on.
I got to my feet and felt Kenny Rogers give me a peck on the cheek, Paul Simon hugged me, Janet Jackson took my hand and held my face and gave me her congratulations, but I couldn't hear anything except the rhythm of my euphoria. I thanked everyone around me, and I made it to the stage.
The Debarge family presented my award and hugged me, congratulating me. Finally the room fell silent as I took to the podium.
“I am entirely speechless. I...um... - well - to my fans, thank you so much. I love you endlessly and this is our award. We did it!" I thrusted the award into the air and the crowd erupted. I continued,
“I would like to thank my record label, and all of the wonderful people who supported me and helped to make this album possible. I literally couldn't have done it without you. To my family, my lovely family, thank you, I love you. My mother, you planted the seed, now do you like the flower? I love you, I love you, I love you. My boyfriend, the love of my life, who is in the audience," I looked to him, the word “Michael" bubbling to my lips...it transformed to my cover up.
This is the prime time to put an end to the rumors.
Although they're true…
“Greg. Thank you." I blew him a kiss, and briefly I looked back to Michael who had no expression on his face. Greg stood up, bouncing right into character, mouthed "I Love You" and pointed at me. The audience “awed" and then cheered for me, and for the newly confirmed couple. Twyla and Greg. I knew that it would be on the cover of some paper tomorrow.
It had been such a whirlwind since the announcements last year. My single had just barely made the cut off to be considered for nomination, so I wasn’t pressed to watch the nomination ceremony. I ended up sleeping through it, but my manager called - waking me up out of dead sleep.
**FLASHBACK**
The phone rang piercing the silent air and shot into my ears. I picked it up from the receiver,
“Hello?” I whispered.
“Twyla! You were nominated! Oh my god, you were nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal!” She began screaming into the phone. I was half asleep when she was telling me all of this, but when it finally sunk in, I screamed back at her,
“Are you serious!? Goodness gracious!” I jumped around the room, and then I called my mother and told her. With perfect timing right after I got off of the phone with my mom, he called.
“Hello?”
“Twyla?” He asked in a low tone.
“Yes? Is this Michael?” My heartbeat quickened at the sound of his voice.
“Yeah, did you hear already?” His voice began rising with excitement.
“Yes!!” I half screamed into the phone. I began to get worked up all over again. He said,
“It’s beautiful! I’m so proud of you. You did it! Woohoo!!” He started cheering on the other end. I couldn’t contain my joy and I let out a squeal. He squealed back, mocking me until we were laughing uncontrollably. Then, he grew quiet. He said,
“I want to see you. What does your schedule look like today?”
“Well, it looked like my eyelids until all you bammas started calling me.”
“Girl…” He started laughing, “You’re a trip. I’m coming to get you then.”
“When will you leave?”
“I’ve already left my house.” He said, matter-of-factly.
“Okay then, when will you be here?”
“You should get dressed…because I’m around the corner.” He started snickering because he knew that I liked having time to properly get ready before anyone came to see me. He must have been on his car phone.
“Boy! Are you for real?”
“I was excited for you! So I decided to drive down and surprise you, but then I stopped at Hayvenhurst because…y’know you’re all particular.” I sighed into the phone, and he returned with,
“You know you want to see me though.” He knew he was pushing my limits but it was all too true.
“You’re so lucky right now that you’re fine.” I couldn’t help but smile and bite my lip. I twirled the phone cord while saying,
“Yeah…I miss you.”
“I miss you too. I can’t wait to see you. I absolutely cannot wait.” His words floated to me and filled me with so much happiness that it almost hurt.
“Well hurry up then!” I said, to try to diffuse the feeling. We hung up, and I knew that it was only a matter or minutes before he would pull in to my garage. Waiting for him has been the hardest thing for me to do in our relationship. He always eventually comes, but it’s the waiting. That feeling of almost desolate desperation. It is a pain that - at times - rivals that of heartbreak. I miss him so much at one particular moment that it’s crippling, and then he shows up when I feel like I can’t take it anymore and makes me remember why I stay around and wait.
I saw his car coming down the street, though I couldn’t see inside because of the tinted windows. When he started to pull in, I opened the garage door with the new remote control that I had bought. He nudged my trashcan on the way in, so I knew that it was definitely him behind the wheel. I didn’t bother letting him in, because he knew his way around the house better than I did. I heard the lock click, and then his footsteps coming up the stairs. My heart was thumping as I hid behind the door. He walked straight in, right past me, and swung open the closet.
“Gotcha!” He said, but unbeknownst to him, I had chosen a different hiding spot today. He checked my bathroom, behind the shower curtain, behind my desk, and finally he said,
“Ok, Twyla, I’m getting scared. Please come out now.” I stayed put, trying to stifle my laughter. He bent down on his hands and knees, trying to check under my bed. I tip toed from behind the door, and grabbed him.
“Gotcha!” I said, mimicking him. He let out a yelp, but then laughed.
“You were starting to worry me.” He got up from the floor and looked me in the eyes. His eyes made me want to sleep and run wild and kiss him all at once. They were peace and excitement and virility, and in that moment, they were mine. He sighed heavily and whispered,
“My goodness, have I missed you.” He pulled me into him, nestling me into his chest, my favorite place. He stroked my head, and buried his hands in my hair. Since I was wearing it out and curly, it wasn’t too hard for his fingers to get lost. I kissed his neck, pulled away, and smiled at him. He looked at me and gently placed the warmest sweet kiss on my lips, and said,
“I love you, my Twinkling Twyla.” I shuddered and then held him again and said,
“Michael Joe Jackson, my darling, I love you, too.”
**END OF FLASHBACK**