Prince's POV
After the show, we walked backstage and realized she wasn't with us immediately. She's been out of it since this morning and I haven't figured out what to do but her disappearing wasn't something I was prepared for.
I want to talk to her and ask her what's wrong but somehow I know this isn't something she wants to talk to me about. Still, I wonder where she is.
"Andre, you gotta help me find her."
"You don't even know where she is! We just gonna wonder a city we don't know until we see her?"
"I don't know but her dad told me not to let her be by herself when she gets like this."
"Prince, man, I really think we've gotta jut wait for her at the hotel. She'll get tired and come back."
"I told him I'd protect her."
"By running around like a psycho in an unfamiliar city trying to find her?! Help her by being at the hotel when she needs you." I nod and we head onto the bus.
Finally in the room, I try to relax. I take off my shoes and jacket before sitting on the bed.
I want my baby.
My heart is screaming for her. I knew I should've left the stage early. Something kept telling me to turn around and I didn't listen. Maybe I would've seen her slip away. I don't know where she went or how she's feeling or anything. I just know she's gone. Should I call Anthony? Is this that type of emergency? No. No. She was talking to me earlier. That's means she probably just needed some space.
I sit in this spiral for I don't even know how long. I just want her to be okay. Maybe I'll go visit Miko and Andre together my head together. I stand up, stretching towards the ceiling and the door opens. In walks Genevieve, still in her clothes from the show. Our eyes lock and I can see an apologetic sorrow in them. As if she's telling me she's sorry she worried me.
"Come here, mama." She walks over to me and our arms find their way around each other's bodies.
"I needed time to think so I walked here from the venue."
"I'm just glad you're back. Are you okay? You do all your thinking?" She nods.
"I feel better now but my feet really hurt."
"I'll draw you a bath so you can get off them for a while."
"Can you just rub them? I'm ready to lay down."
"Sure, baby. You wanna go get a pedicure tomorrow?"
"Yes, please." Together we walk over to the bed and wait for her to have a seat. I pull up a chair and sit across from her. Bending down, I grab her left ankle and gently pull it into my lap. I loosen the strap on her shoe and shake my head as I pull it off her foot.
"Your feet are starting to swell. Next time, can you at least remember to change shoes?"
"You won't have to worry. I may never go for a walk again."
"What do I do for swelling?"
"Cold water or ice."
"How would you like me to do it?"
"Fill up the sink with cold water and soak a towel in it. We can wrap my feet." I nod, walking to the bathroom to do what she asked. I run the water for a while to make sure it's as cold as possible. I ring out the towel as much as I can before bringing it back to the room where she's propped her feet up on the chair.
I wrap her feet in the towel and she sighs feeling relieved. I sit beside her and she sits up moving closer to me. Her head falls on my shoulder and I can feel her hesitation. There's something she's keeping close to her heart, I can feel it. If she felt like she can tell me, she would've told me but I can't just let her heart call out to me and not answer.
"Baby, whats bothering you, huh? What's going on?"
"I've been keeping a secret from you. There's a lot you don't know about me actually but I'm afraid of what you'll think when I tell you."
"I love you for you, Genevieve. I don't think there's anything you can tell me that would change my mind."
"Promise?" She asks softly.
"I promise." She sits up straight, turning her body to face me. She looks down at her hands for a while, searching for the words.
"I was supposed to go to Juilliard."
"Juilliard? Like that fancy performing arts school in New York?"
"Yea. Not only was I supposed to go but I was one of the lucky ones to get a full ride. Room, board, tuition, everything."
"W-what happened?"
"They had been scouting around the city. I didn't know but there were scouts at everything performance I did for half a season. They were looking for me. I guess word had gotten out about me and all the stuff I was working on at the time. At the time, I was working two jobs and pageants and showcases were all I did in my free time. I think I did 2 or 3 pageants and my dance company had me performing three shows every weekend, as part of a fundraiser for the youth groups, all in the span of like half a year. I was so tired from performing I didn't have time to prepare much but my talents continued to place first overall. One night after one of the performances, a woman approached me and began asking me questions. How old I was, how long I had been dancing, singing and playing, stuff like that. She wrote it all down and then left. I didn't think anything of it until I got a call at the house. Baba answered, I'll never forget this, I was in the shower, and he waited for me to get out and told me to throw on some warmups, grab my violin and my dance shoes, and head to the car. He didn't tell anyone what's was happening or where we were going but I did as I was told. In the car, he told me all of my dance teachers and my vocal coach rented a space for me to do a showcase. What he didn't tell me was that it was an audition. They wanted to offer me a scholarship but they wanted to test my ability and see which discipline I was most comfortable with. I did my vocal warm ups in the car, I stretched before I went on the stage, and Baba made sure my violin was tuned before we left. As soon as I was ready, they handed me sheet music and told me to everything from my senior showcase."
"What's a senior showcase?" I ask softly, not wanting to interrupt but unable to fight away my curiosity.
"Well normally when you graduate from high school, they do a recital for just the seniors. They give us all small groups or solos and make an hour and a half show out of it but I had participated in so many of the dance classes that they decided to give me a bunch of solos and let me have my own showcase at a smaller venue. My parents paid for the space and whoever wanted to come came. When my other teachers found out, they gave me prices to showcase as well. I played all my instruments, I danced in all my genres, and I sang a few songs in different languages. All my things alone took an hour so I guess a that was a good thing. Anyway, I asked them if they expected me to do everything. It had been a few years. I was 20 or 21 at the time. They said pick two pieces from each discipline, which ended up being a lot."
"Discipline?"
"Two ballet numbers, two jazz, two tap, two violin pieces, two flute pieces, two vocal songs."
"You did all that? No preparation? Had you even done those pieces in a while?"
"Yea. I hadn't done them in a while but I did my best. I was too nervous to pick my songs so I let my teachers pick. I performed everything as well as I could in such short notice. They thought I was brilliant but my height and my age made things difficult."
"What does any of that matter?"
"Well it's no secret I'm not very tall and for a dancer that would be on Broadway being too small to see would be a problem."
"Okay and age?"
"Well Juilliard only likes to take performers that will truly benefit from the training. If you are too old you may be past your prime and the training might be wasted."
"What did they decide?"
"They ruled out dance because of my height and spent a long while deliberating on the others but they ultimately decided I was a candidate to the voice program. Which was fine because the program included minor dance training."
"W-why didn't you go?"
"That's when Mamakoko got sick. Maybe a few months before I was set to leave, her health started to decline."
"I talked to the advisors about my ability to help out at home and they explained that the voice program requires it's students to take around 24 credit hours a semester and it would be nearly impossible to travel home with all the work I'd be doing."
"Is 24 really a lot?"
"Regular colleges make you sign off to take more than 18. I would have also lived on campus and Queens is nearly an hour away. I had to make a lot of tough decisions. Training in the voice program would've given me skills in singing, acting, and dance. They thought I could've gone in to be a big Broadway star but in the moment I chose family."
"What brought all this up for you?"
"When you had me step up for soundcheck I found myself thinking about my talents. Prince, I'm a classically trained triple threat. My artistic range is massive and I haven't shown you even half of what I'm able to do. Juilliard offered to accept me again but I chose to move to Minnesota and while I think I've made the best decision I could've made my mother, my coaches, they all think this is a mistake." I sit for a moment and take it all it.
She passed up formal training at the best school in the country to come to Minnesota and dance.
She passed it up twice.
I think she's amazing and it's hard to imagine her being any more talented but they felt like she had more things to learn. And voice? They wanted her in the voice program instead of dance? I'll admit, I haven't heard her sing much outside of little things here and there.
"Do you want to show me?"
"I do but I'm scared."
"Scared of what?"
"That you won't like it."
"Mama, you and I are artists. It's not our job to worry about what people think. It's all about using your talents to create. It sounds like you've convinced yourself you didn't deserve Juilliard and you're trying to convince yourself you don't deserve to be here either." She looks at me and sighs, acknowledging her own feelings. I think a lot of her nervousness comes from her feeling like she isn't good enough but the truth is she's usually the most qualified person in the room. I just wish she knew that. "Are you happy in the band? Do you feel like you're being challenged creatively?"
"I love being in the band. It feels good to not be center stage for once."
"Do you want to be center stage?"
"Maybe someday but right now I'm happy where I am."
"If you want to go back to school we can make that work but Genevieve I think you've got a chance at something bigger than Broadway."
"R-really?"
"Everything I've seen of you is amazing and don't forget the second this tour is over you start working for Janet Jackson! If that's just a piece of what you're capable of then I know when I see it all I'll be nothing but amazed."
Something in the room changes. It's almost as if everything in her sighed in relief. I don't say anything else. I just pull her close to me rubbing her arm.
"I just didn't think I could handle another person thinking I made a dumb decision."
"How could I ever think you were dumb for making the decision that brought you to me?"