Melody's P.O.V.
Lyric is currently with Marshall, so today Tessa and I are both flying out to New York.
I've missed being here, I've missed this crazy city of mine, and it's about time I paid a visit here.
I'm going to stay with my mom while I'm here, but tonight, Tessa and I are hitting one of the clubs for a party. I haven't gone clubbing or partying in ages, so I guess it would be good for me to unwind.
We make our way into the V.I.P. section immediately and go straight to the bar.
I take a couple of shots to the head and start feeling nice.
There are guys here buying us drinks as well, and that feels kind of nice too, to have all this male attention on me. It does boost my self-esteem a little bit to feel like so many dudes are attracted to me, after having been thrown away like I was nothing.
I don't want anything with anybody though, I just wanna use motherfuckers for buying me drinks for the rest of the night.
"Girl, Usher is staring at you," Tessa suddenly whispers in my ear as we sit by the bar.
This being V.I.P. and all, there are all kinds of celebrities here, mostly rappers and r'n'b singers, some I'm familiar with, some not so much. Apparently a lot of them are having come to New York for the night after some awards show on BET or something.
I take a lock of my curly hair and attempt to tuck it behind my ear, trying to discreetly look in the direction Tessa is pointing with her eyes, and my girl is right Usher is staring at me.
I roll my eyes.
"Not my type, girl. I'm done with cheaters."
"Suit yourself," Tessa giggles, and she orders us another round of shots.
We continue to laugh with each other and talk shit, then Tessa leaves me to go to the bathroom. I was gonna join her like girls usually do, but I ended-up staying at the bar, because I was feeling kind of lazy to get up.
Big fucking mistake.
"Wassup shawty," I hear a familiar voice behind me, and I turn around, and I immediately find myself frozen in place and paralyzed by fear.
Never knew that this guy could have this effect on me, but considering what he's done to me in the past, I could never look at Nelly the same.
"What the fuck do you want, Cornell?" I ask as aggressively as I could, trying to hide the fact that he actually scares the fuck out of me.
He smirks and moves closer to me, and I suddenly feel cornered and like it's just me and him in this whole room full of people and like he would do whatever the hell he wanted to me now and nobody would stop him.
Well, Marshall could stop him, but Marshall isn't here, nor does he give a fuck about me anymore. He never has actually.
"You look good," Cornell says and then frowns at my discomfort. "Relax, fuck are you looking at me like that for, girl? I ain't gonna bite you."
"Fuck you, Cornell," I say, still trying to hide the fact that his presence is actually making me feel very nervous. The damn flashbacks come back of that fucked-up ass day when he had his homeboys...
Don't think about it, Mel!!
"Damn," Nelly chuckles as he winks at me. "Still as feisty as ever I see. Imma be real with you, Mel, that's one of the things that always attracted me to you. You always had that lil attitude about you, even though you and I both know, baby girl, you are soft as fuck."
"Not as soft as you was that day you got your ass beat," I remind him, crossing my arms over my chest.
Where the fuck is Tessa?! I wish she would hurry back so I could excuse myself out of this messed-up situation!
"Careful, shawty," Nelly now frowns. "White boy is not here to protect you this time. And from what I've heard, he don't give too many fucks about you these days anyway."
"Shut the fuck up!" I exclaim, and before I know it, my open hand flies across his cheek.
Then I get up from my seat and walk away as quickly as I can, heading towards the bathrooms where I collide with Tessa walking out.
"Damn girl, what took you so long in there!" I exclaim on the verge of hysteria.
"Um... I've had something to take care of. Girl, what's wrong with you?"
"Nothing," I sigh. I'm starting to slowly but surely cool off and I can't believe I've let Cornell affect me like this. "It's just... I've ran into my ex in there."
"Eminem is there?!"
"No, Nelly."
"Oh, that guy. Girl, honestly, I don't know why you broke it off with him for Em. He seemed like such a nice guy."
"Don't Tess, please," I sigh. Tessa has no idea about what's went down with Cornell and I and his boys from the St. Lunatics group. I've never told her. The only person I've ever confided in was Marshall.
"Okay, okay," Tessa agrees. One thing I really appreciate about her is that when she sees something is really uncomfortable for me to talk about, she usually just drops it. I mean, she can be pushy too, like she keeps trying to get me to open up more about how I feel about the whole break up thing, but that's just because she thinks it's bad for me to just keep holding on to my pain like that. Which honestly, I have no idea what she's talking about, because I'm fucking fine.
We start to make our way back towards the party, when Tessa suddenly grabs my arm.
"Mel, I guess I ought to warn you. I've seen those D12 dudes in there somewhere. I figured I'd let you know so you don't get caught off guard when you see them."
You've got to be shitting me!!
Can this night honestly get any worse?!
"OK, thanks girl," I sigh.
It's good that she's warned me too.
Because once we get back to the party, that's exactly who I see walking in the V.I.P. section.
The whole D12, minus Marshall walk in, along with 50 Cent, and I automatically get tense.
First of all, what are they even doing here in New York today, and on the same day I'm here too?! I mean, I've heard they were supposed to be here for the whole BET event, ugh!!
"What's wrong with you?" Tessa asks me, picking up on my mood, then follows my gaze. "Oh see, I told you they were here girl, but please, don't let them get to you."
"You are right," I agree as she does have a point.
I look around. Well, at least Cornell is no longer anywhere in my eyesight. I guess his bitch ass ran off as soon as he saw Proof and them.
After a while, Fifty comes over to say hi.
"Yo wassup Mel," he says, smiling that wide ass smile.
"Hey," I reply coldly.
"Don't be like that, girl. I know you mad at my boy but we are still cool, right?"
"I guess," I shrug. I've actually been in a couple of his videos, so Fif and are always have had a good working relationship, but I don't feel comfortable around him anymore, just because of the company he keeps.
"Yo Mel!"
Great, just fucking great. Now Proof comes over too.
I pretty much stopped talking to all of them once Marshall and I broke up because they are his friends, so fuck them by association. Not to mention that they all knew about how he cheated on me with that groupie, and probably knew how he was still fucking Kim the whole time he was with me, but none of them said anything to me. Which I get it, they are HIS friends first, but still, even looking at any of them now puts a bad taste in my mouth.
"Hi Proof," I say.
Then, next thing I know, the rest of them come over too.
"Wassup ladies," Bizarre says to me and Tessa, rubbing his big ass stomach. "Baby, you are kinda fine," he speaks to Tessa.
I roll my eyes.
"Where y'all white daddy is at?" I ask with hostility in my voice, just to make sure that Marshall wouldn't be all of a sudden popping up here too. Cause if he is, then I need to bounce right now. Not trying to see his face at all!
"Mel chill," Proof quietly says. "Slim ain't here. So you can party with us tonight."
"Why?" I ask.
"Cause we kind of missed your crazy ass girl," Denaun says.
"Tessa, let's bounce," I roll my eyes.
"Oh common Mel, Em isn't even here. Don't let him ruin your night when he isn't even here," Tessa begs me, and I shake my head at her.
Damn, this girl seriously is that pressed over Bizarre now, just cause he complimented her or whatever, that she now all of a sudden wants to hang with D12?!
I go with it though and we all end-up getting drunk together.
After a while, we are all sitting on the sofas at V.I.P. and Tessa is enjoying the attention from the guys, while they are all telling wild stories from the past.
I sit there and listen and soon can't take it anymore, because all of their damn stories seem to involve Marshall.
I give Tessa an evil look. Like how is this girl not picking up on the fact that I don't wanna be here right now?! I mean, I guess she's kind of drunk and having too good of a time. I would've never thought Bizarre would be her kind of dude, but I guess she likes them chubby?
Fine then, let her have fun, but I need a minute to myself right now.
So I excuse myself and go get some fresh air.
I fully intend to eventually go back there for Tessa, but I really just need to get away for right now.
Just as I'm walking out of the V.I.P. another person is walking in and he immediately zeroes in on me.
"Wassup Melody," he says.
Fuck my fucking life!! Why is this night keep getting worse?! Like what the hell is going on?!
"How you doing Ja?" I reply.
Stupid ass Ja Rule, he honestly irritates me!
I've worked with him ages ago on some music video shoot, and lately, for whatever strange reason, he's been trying to get in contact with me, emailing me non-stop.
I know that he and Marshall have some type of a petty ass beef going on. Well, really, Ja Rule is beefing with Fifty, but because Fifty is Marshall's friend, I guess Marshall is beefing with him too just because.
Wait, not just because, actually. I know that Ja Rule recently released somw type of a diss track towards Marshall, and while I've never heard it, I know that he had mentioned Hailie's name on it, which obviously sent Marshall through the roof, and I can only guess how much he must hate the guy now.
And as much as I hate Marshall right now, I would never mess with his enemy, so I've been ignoring his attempts to contact me, but here he is now.
"Can I holla at you for a second?" Ja gets close to me to be heard over the loud music. "You are a very difficult woman to reach, Melody."
"Probably because you and I have nothing to talk to each other about," I reply.
"Damn girl, it's like that? Let me buy you a drink at least."
"No thanks. I think I've had enough for tonight," I reply.
"So where you going now?" He asks me curiously.
"Just trying to get out of here."
"Cool then, let's get out of here together," he suddenly says and he follows behind me.
***
I wake up and my whole fucking head is pounding like crazy.
I've had way too much to drink last night, and I swear, I'm never drinking again ever!!
Well, I lie, I totally would get drunk again, but like... probably not no time soon?
My phone is buzzing loudly somewhere and I look at the messages flashing on screen.
Tessa is texting me non-stop, asking me where I'm at and if I'm okay. I guess I kind of bounced on her last night. Damn, I'm a terrible friend!
I start to text her back.
Until it occurs to me that I actually have no fucking idea where I'm at.
I look around and take in my surroundings.
This looks like a hotel room or something.
And I am completely naked.
Under the covers in this huge bed. With a man sleeping next to me.
It's fucking Ja Rule!!
What. The. Fuck?!
I jump out of that bed so quick and look around for my clothes.
They are laying on the floor, all mixed up with HIS clothes!
I frantically get dressed and start shaking him.
"Ja!! Ja, wake the fuck up!!"
"Aw man, what the fuck, what is it?!" Ja Rule rasps as he opens his forever squinted eyes as wide as they can go.
"What the fuck happened last night?!" I exclaim.
He sits up in the bed shirtless.
"What the fuck do you think happened, baby girl? We fucked," he shrugs, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"No, we haven't!!" I exclaim, but I'm not really sure because my mind is drawing blanks. I cannot remember anything from the moment I left the club with him and got in his car.
Actually, some things do come back to me now.
Going to another club with him and getting even more fucking hammered.
But after that, that's it.
"We have," Ja shrugs and then he smirks.
Fuck my fucking life!!
I back away from him frantically and run for the door.
Then, I pause and walk back into the room slowly.
"Ja? Can I ask you a favor?" I quietly say. "Can we please keep this between us?"
The last thing I ever need in my life is the embarrassment of anybody finding out that I got drunk and had a one night stand with fucking Ja Rule!!
"Sure thing, baby girl," he replies. "Don't worry, I don't kiss and tell."