U AND I.
( CHAPTER SIXTEEN ! )
SEEPING PAIN.
' 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘, 𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟐𝟐, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟐. '
the swings' residence ━━━ teaneck, new jersey !
"LET'S MAKE A DEAL, sugar, all i want to do is be your one and only lover. I just want to be your lover girl. I just wanna rock your world." Teena Marie's Lovergirl played loudly in Milani and DeVanté's residence, Milani humming along to the R&B/Soul record as she packed her luggage to fly to Los Angeles within the next two hours.
Ever since Milani and DeVanté moved in together, DeVanté got more in the groove of Teena's music. He heard her name and a couple songs many times before on the radio, at parties, or even seen her preform one time and hadn't noticed it. He liked it, he loved how soulful her voice sounded, even though she wasn't the race of black, she sounded like it, and made it sound beautiful.
For Milani, she practically grew up listening to Teena Marie from her mother, who'd play her everytime they were in the car, cleaning, cooking, or even just relaxing within one another. She was big inspiration for her since the age of seven, she hoped to be able to meet her during some point in her life.
Milani walked downstairs to gather more things for her trip when she heard the doorbell ring. The dogs began to run everywhere, their nails scratching against the wooden floor which reminded Milani that she needed to make a nail trim appointment with the veterinarian office since she and DeVanté didn't feel comfortable with doing it themselves.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Haynes, we have mail for you." The mail lady spoke, plastering a smile on her face as she handed the stack of mail in Milani's hand. "Thank you, you too." She said before she closed the door, the dogs continuing to go crazy — just doing what they were meant to do.
"Ace, calm down! Nobody's there." She called out, walking over to the marble kitchen counter as she scanned through the mail. Ace, one of the puppies, continued to run around before he couldn't catch himself and fell, however, he didn't hit his head due to the cone that was wrapped around his neck. Got his ears clipped? Yes, and Milani didn't know how to feel about it either.
Milani scanned through the stack of mail, placing the ones that had billing on them on the counter. That was until one caught her eye in particular.
For DeVanté — From, Vanessa.
Hampton, Virginia.
She scrunched her face up the slightest, she opened it the tab before seeing as there was note. She didn't read it nor take it out of the envelope, since she declared it as invasion of his privacy, and she jogged up the stairs to their bedroom where was.
He was in the bathroom, finishing up brushing his teeth, wiping his mouth off. "Hey De? Can I ask you a question?" Milani asked, entering the bathroom and leaning against the doorframe.
She watched as he fixed the single chain, this time it had no pendant that accompanied his all black attire. He nodded his head in question, since he couldn't speak due to the mouthwash in his mouth.
"You mentioned that you used to talk to a girl named Vanessa, right? Are you still uhm . . . talking to her?" She questioned, the calmest she possibly could since she recalled DeVanté stating he didn't talk to her any longer when they had been on the road for tour. "Yeah, I did. I haven't talked to her since like May, why you ask?"
She inhaled a deep breath before letting out an even heavier exhale, her chest heaved up and down in sync. "Then why did you just receive mail from her? She sent it here meaning someone gave her the address to our house, we just got this house. I know it wasn't JoJo, Dalvin or K-Ci, because they're not that stupid. So, I'm going to ask you this one last time. Have you talked to her recently or anytime since May?" She questioned, handing him the golden brown envelope.
"Fine, I lied, alright? I had still been talking to her since May. But you wouldn't understand why." He sighed, opening the letter. He knew it exactly what it about, Milani watched the entire thing transpire. She slightly scoffed, uncrossing her arms, "I wouldn't understand? Then please enlighten me! Please, DeVanté."
"I-I can't, now right now. I can't explain it, I'm just-you wouldn't understand, M." He tried to explain, stammering over his words, looking up from the letter. "And how do you know that? This woman mailed you a letter, she knows our address, I'm not even asking you what the letter is about. I'm asking you what wouldn't I understand? It's like you're hiding something, and this is relationship, we're suppose to be open with each other, and you're going against that."
She had hit him hard in the head, mentally. She spoke nothing but true facts. He almost folded, and told her the truth before his brain quickly refrained himself from doing so.
"You know what, I don't have time for this. If you don't want to say, you don't want to say. I'm not going to force you to explain something to your girlfriend if you don't want to." She scoffed again, before exiting out the bathroom.
He sighed, throwing his hand back as he mentally groaned. Why now? He thought. The two were having a great time together, then this had to happen.
"Milani! Come on, yo, you're really mad about this shit?" He called out, following behind her by leaving the bathroom, throwing the letter on the bed. "Yes, DeVanté, I am! Because if it were to be the other way around, you would have a total meltdown and force me out of saying it! You won't even tell me what's up, I thought we agreed to be open, not hide things from each other. That's not how I am, nor do I want us to be. It feels like you don't even trust me!" She frowned, zipping her luggage back up.
"I do trust you, I really do. It's just that-I don't feel comfortable with what I need to tell you just yet. You wouldn't and don't understand, but I promise you, when I'm ready, I'll tell. You have my word." He assured her, attempted to place his hand on her waist before she moved from his hold.
"Can you drive me to the airport now? I want to be a little earlier." She told him, ignoring everything he had to say. She wasn't beat to place up a fight at the moment, but that's what they were doing anyway. It wasn't the first fight they had, and it damn sure wasn't going to be any of the lasts.
He just simply nodded, watching her walk out the bedroom and down the stairs with most of her luggage. "Fuck." He murmured, looking down at the ground. He ran his hand over his face, sighing heavily before taking the rest of her luggage down and drove her to the airport.
In complete silence besides the goodbyes and love yous they exchanged before Milani's departure.
It was a long five hour flight and Milani didn't sleep not one bit of it. Her mind was still focused on the argument she and DeVanté were left off at. She hated the fact that she left on those kinds of terms with him, but it wasn't like they were going to change if she tried harder then she was. He was hiding something from her, something that she couldn't understand yet.
But she would, and it was totally broke her heart. In the future, he wished and wished that he would've told her but the time wasn't right, and in his eyes, she didn't need to know about her nor him yet.
"Why haven't I heard from you?" Milani asked, placing the prop bottle of beer on the dresser. "I've been busy." Tyrin fired at her immediately, his face scrunching up. "Well, have you at least thought about what we talked-" She started to say before she groaned the slightest, holding onto her lower abdomen, a pain she had been feeling since she'd gotten on set.
"Alright cut! Milani, what's the matter with you?" Allen shot at her, throwing the stack of paper onto his chair as he rose up. "I'm sorry. It was probably just a small cramp. I'm okay." She assured him, Tyrin shot her the look, and she just nodded her head before forcing a smile upon her lips.
They began rolling again, Milani still felt the unbearable pain but she was managing to work through it. "Ain't nothin' goin' change in Atlanta. I mean I'm still gon' be black. Just another nigga from the ghetto." He fired before placing his hand down, looking at the ground. "—I mean you act like Atlanta ain't in America. They don't give a fuck."
"You know what? You know what Anthony asked me the other night? He asked me if you were going to die. If you were gonna die, Caine." There was a comfortable silence, Tyrin felt Milani's hand slightly grip the side of his leg but it wasn't noticeable in the camera nor the directors as she silently hitched a breath.
She didn't know what was going on with her, she'd been feeling bad with herself ever since she and DeVanté got into their fight. She couldn't pinpoint on what it was, but she had a feeling it was just her monthly.
"Are you coming with us or not?" Milani spoke up, Tyrin slowly picked himself up after he placed the bottle of beer on the floor. "Yeah, I'm gonna go." He nodded slowly, Milani looked up at him, before pulling him towards her face, causing her lips to crash onto his big plumped ones.
But he quickly pulled away, following in the directors scripted orders. "Hey, hey, that's not cool, alright?" He charged for the door, but Milani instantly got up and block him from opening it, placing her hands up in surrender.
She walked closer to him, locking her lips onto his as her fingers trailed up his chest. Her kisses trailed to his jawline before it made its way to his chest, the two began to scoot back, Tyrin knocking onto the bed as Milani climbed onto his slightly buffed figure.
The two continued on with their heated scene, Tyrin now on top and completely in control. He slipped her out of her cropped white shirt and swiftly removed her bra. He began to kiss along her back, sending shockwaves through her body at the sexual connection.
She silently winched as the pain came back to her body, as she thought it had went away. Thankfully, their sexual scene together was over and they were soon to go onto her their next scene with their other cast mates.
"Hey, are you okay?" Tyrin whispered, placing a hand on her back as she leaned over the dresser. The pain was pain she had never felt before, ever in her life. "Yeah, I am. Don't worry, it's most likely my monthly, Ty." Milani told him, as she saw the worry evident in his face. She winched one last time, clutching onto her lower half of her stomach.
"Here, why don't you go to the bathroom? I'll hold the production back a little bit. Just meet me back here when you come back." He ordered, Milani just nodded. She walked away, and he watched until she was out of his sight. He sighed, he hopes everything was okay with her. The pain seemed horrible by the way she kept having to hide it, it only had seemed to be getting worse.
She walked into one of the bathrooms, locking it behind her as she walked over to the toilet. She pulled down her pants and underwear, she seen dark red tissue clots which caused her to hitch a breath. She didn't know what was going on, which made her even more worrisome. Her lip began to quiver the slightest at the pain she was still enduring.
"What is happening to me?" She slightly cried in a whispering tone, not wanting anyone to hear her.