The Project Part 2
Bella's POV
Bella woke and looking at the clock saw that it was already 8:00 AM. She looked over at her sleeping Prince. He looked so incredibly precious. He was laying on his side facing her and even with eyes closed, they were beautiful. He took a deep breath but didn't wake. She moved closer to him and kissed his cheek and then lay back on her pillow for a moment. She thought about the day yesterday. So many things had happened; all of them good and all of them had the footprint of heaven on them. Miracles was what Prince had referred to them as and as was so often true, he was right.
Bella got up, pulled on her robe, made her morning water, washed her hands, brushed her teeth and went into the kitchen to make coffee. As she walked in though, Elaine was already measuring the fragrant beans and putting them in the grinder. "Good morning" Elaine said. "Morning" Bella said. "Thanks for getting things started". "No problem. I thought I would get breakfast going this morning as I know you want to update the manuscript outline". "Yes I do", Bella said. " If you have this under control, I am going to shower and get started on the changes". "Go for it", Elaine said. Bella returned to the bedroom and selected some fresh undergarments from her lingerie drawer and pulled out a pair of jeans and navy cropped summer weight sweater. Her sandals were navy with silver clasps. She headed into the shower. As she did, Prince said "good morning Sugah...wait for me". "Okay baby, I will start the water".
Prince got up did his morning business and brushed his teeth and Bella turned on the shower. They walked into the shower together. As soon as they were in standing under the heavenly warm water, Prince embraced Bella and kissed her passionately. In his deep morning voice he said, "Bella that was some love you made to me last night. You were amazing and I was left speechless". Bella smiled and kissed him back and said, "thank you baby. Being with you inspires me...you make me so happy and I love you so...I simply do what I feel". Prince's eyes felt suddenly wet and he said softly..."I want to make you feel that way everyday of our lives". "Prince, just your presence makes that happen...so you can't fail", Bella answered in a whisper. He kissed her softly again and they got about the business of bathing each other. Bella washed and conditioned her hair and Prince got out and started toweling off. Bella stepped out of the shower turning it off. Prince was standing there with his towel wrapped around his waist and hers in his hand. He toweled her off and using a second towel began to dry her hair with it. Bella put on her robe and pulled out the dryer and blow dried her hair straight. She would wear it with no curls or waves at all today. She moisturized herself as did he and then they dressed quickly, with Prince pulling on some black linen walking shorts and a black and aqua linen shirt. He put on some black flip flops and headed into the kitchen right behind his Bella. Carlos was standing at the table having a cup of coffee. He had just pulled the toast out of the oven and Elaine was was putting the finishing touches on the scrambled eggs which she put onto a platter. Prince went into the living room after hearing voices coming from there. He said "morning guys...breakfast is ready" to his security team. "Thanks Prince" they said and all went back into the kitchen. Carlos had just finished setting the table and they all sat down and joined hands. Prince said the grace and they dug in to eat. After breakfast Bella and Prince took cleanup duty and then headed into the study to work on the outline. Bella fired up her computer and efficiently made the changes and read through them. She asked Prince to proof read them also and he found no errors. She made copies for the four of them and then two more; one for Andy and on a hunch one for Christian. It was 11:30 AM when they finished the outline. Bella continued working, but this time she expanded the major character development in the story by 5. She had just finished the last descriptor when the doorbell rang. 1:00 PM straight up. Andy had arrived. Prince answered the door.
"Hey man", Andy said. "Hey Mr G"., Prince said, "Come on in". Carlos and Elaine were in the living room listening to some of their huge collection of original songs. As Andy walked in, Carlos turned the music down and greeted him. "Hi you two", Andy said. They sat down and Bella came in and joined them. Andy said," I think that it is important that you be up to date on what is going on behind the scenes. Some months back Christian had mentioned to me and I had shared with Prince that there might be an opportunity for the band to do a film if the Album, which had not dropped yet, got enough play. It would be a way of keeping it on the radar for a much longer time and it would provide a launching pad for both a domestic and international tour as well as an international release of the film itself if it did well. Yesterday, Andy made it clear that he intends to discuss this with you guys and if you agree, to push for the project. If this happens the trajectory of growth and recognition will change completely and I want you to understand that. Your lives will be totally different. The attention that you will attract will be, for lack of a better term, insane. Nothing you have experienced up to now will come anywhere close to what will happen then. We will need to plan for that...living arrangements, safety concerns everything we have been concerned with times 100. Prince looked at Bella and said, we will talk those things through and we will ask the Creator to help us and I am certain that He will. Carlos and Prince fist bumped and said "Praise the Creator"!
"When You told me about this briefly before Andy, you mentioned that Christian wanted to platform the movie on the story around Bella's Eyes that is presented in that song. While I think that should be a huge piece of the tale, when I told Bella about it, she had a different perspective. Bella would you please tell Andy what you think", Prince asked? "While no one outside of our inner circle will know this, we know that the real story is much bigger than that. The rest of the world will see it as a fantasy, albeit I think a fascinating one...but I think that we should tell the whole story of an amazingly talented man who had a very troubled beginning that led him to make some major errors in life and he died young. Returning to Paradise he revisits those lessons under the tutelage of the Son of God and meets the woman who was designed by the Creator to help him heal from a lifetime of hurt, of learned paranoia, insecurity and fear and who will support him to succeed the second time around. He recognizes her when they return to earth because she has, of course, Bella's Eyes which he had discovered while they were in heaven were almond shaped and deeply brown. They return to earth to live another life time and demonstrate that they have learned their lessons well and ultimately return to reside in Paradise after the great war, then in the New World forever. While here on earth they accomplish miraculous things for the Creator and Paradise".
"As you know Mr. G., I have to do a major written presentation for my Senior Thesis and Elaine has to do the same in Screenplay form to complete her degree as well. We are going to do this story and screenplay as part of our degree completion. Bella paused to see if Andy wanted to say anything. When he did not she continued. I have here the outline for the manuscript along with the main character development treatments. I would like to ask you to review them with us and tell us what you think. Andy said "of course" and they began to go through the outline. An hour and 1/2 later Andy looked up and said "this is incredible work Bella. I am not a writer, but I think that this is as good as anything Arista could or will come up with".
"Prince, Carlos, how would you like to go about sharing this with Christian", Andy asked? "When does he intend to talk to us about this" Prince asked? "While he didn't specify", Andy said; "I think that because he wants this to get going asap, he will probably call you this week". Prince said, "Andy, I want the girls to write this...I think they will bring an intimacy and purity to the story that no one else can for obvious reason. I need to make certain that Christian understands that. To that end, I would like you to be involved in this in a conference call with the 4 of us involved also and I would like you to set that up as soon as possible". Andy thought that was a good idea and was happy to facilitate the conversation. But what he was really marveling at was the way that Prince was driving this situation. The maturity that he was displaying was light years beyond the young man he had begun mentoring some 4 years ago. He was extremely impressed and even more proud of him. "I will get it done boss", Andy said smiling. At the word boss, Prince's head tilted a little as though he was doubting what he had heard. He did not, however say anything. Rather, that little crooked smile of his crept across his lips and he simply nodded his head. "Please let us know as soon as the call is set up", he said. "Will do", Andy said. At that point, checking his watch, Andy noted it was time to leave for the airport. He hugged his daughter and kissed her on the cheek remembered not to call her mouse and then did the same with Bella. He did the man embrace thing with Carlos and Prince and said "I love you guys", grabbed his copy of the outline as well as Christian's copy and put them in his valise and left. On his way to the airport he thought about the days ahead...they were going into a whole new depth of the business waters...but the Creator's A team would be ready. The Creator would make certain of it...and he would help all he could.
Andy called Christian on his cell, but it went straight to voicemail. He left a message thanking him for his gracious hospitality yesterday, and let him know he was about to board his flight back to Detroit. He shared that he would like to speak to him about something at his earliest convenience and asked that if he had a moment to call him tomorrow. He then turned off his phone, tucked it into his inside jacket pocket and stood in line to board the flight.
Bella decided that she was going to write tomorrow. Her mission was to get the opening chapters drafted and to begin to develop the discipline to write a minimum of 3 chapters a day. To complete the manuscript on time, she would probably need to do more if she was going to be able to take at least one full day off a week, which she thought would be important for both her mental health and to ensure Prince did not feel neglected, but she would start with three and move forward from there as the routine developed. She had to keep this in context as she had other courses to complete also to graduate. She silently asked the Creator for his guidance and support to make the right decisions in the development of this project and to manage her courses to complete her degree.
Prince decided to call a rehearsal for Wednesday and Thursday of this week, leaving Friday open if needed. He wanted to get back to rehearsing some of the non Album material as well as remaining sharp on Album music performance. He spoke to Carlos about it and they agreed on 1:00 tomorrow and Thursday. They would not need Elaine or Bella until they got closer to another performance date. The girls had enough to contend with, as school would begin a week from yesterday and they would be working in the new long distance format which they would need to adjust to. In the meanwhile, Prince and Carlos split up the band members and they each called some of them. Afterwards they decided to just chill out with Cloud Stream until dinner. In checking the leftovers from last night, Bella discovered that there was more than enough for dinner tonight. She would warm up the food for a 6:00 PM meal and then would write some this evening. Elaine came into the study and Bella told her the plan. Elaine said," I will warm up dinner...why don't you go ahead and get a jump start on the writing". Bella thanked her, pulled out the outline and fired up her computer and began. Another Chance-Chapter 1.
Bella had just completed the draft of Chapter 1 when she heard Elaine go into the kitchen to begin warming up dinner. She decided to use the time to proofread what she had written. She found only two minor spelling errors and made the corrections. She then reviewed the outline and began Chapter 2. She got 15 minutes into the new chapter when Elaine called them for dinner. All headed to the kitchen and sat down to eat. Prince asked Larry to say grace and they held hands while he did and then began to eat their food. While they were eating, Prince reminded everyone that as of next Monday, Elaine and Bella were officially back in school. They were carrying double loads so that they could graduate in May and their senior project which they were working on collectively had the potential to have huge impact on the band and its future. To that end, he wanted to ask that they consider creating some sort of schedule that freed the girls up from cooking for the household for the semester.
Bella looked at Prince and saw the sincerity in his face as he spoke those words and she wanted to be careful that she did not hurt his feelings or pinch his ego with what she had to say...after thinking it through Bella said, "Prince, you are so sweet to think of Elaine and myself when it comes to our school schedule. You are right this is going to be a very full term, however, it is also important not to overlook the fact that where I agree we might need help with some of the meals due to class times and exams when they occur, cooking for you Prince is one of my great joys". (Prince sat up in his chair and appeared to have grown 2 inches. He had a smile on his face as big as New York City too.)" With the physical nature of your performances, your nutrition is of critical importance. I need to know that you are eating enough and enough of the right things and if I cook for you I may as well cook for the household too". Elaine said "I totally agree with Bella. Perhaps though, we could create a schedule so that we can plan in advance who will have cooking duty and we can also try to cook enough each time to be able to cover 2 days worth of dinners for example". Ross listened with interest and said," ladies you know I love to cook and if it will help and it is agreeable to Frank, I would like to be included in that schedule". Frank said" it is fine by me". So by the end of dinner they had worked out a schedule for the last week of August and all of September. Bella agreed to load it into her computer tonight and post it on the corkboard in the kitchen. Larry and Melvin took dish duty and Bella went back into the study and created the cooking schedule and quickly proofread it. Prince wandered in and she asked him to proof it for her. He did and there were no errors. "So are you going to join us in the living room and watch some Sound Cloud", he asked? "Baby, I thought I would try to finish Chapter 2 of the book. As of next week I am going to try to write 3 chapters per day, but taking one full day off per week to spend with my Sweet Prince...and more if I can make it work as I get into the routine of the new semester. Are you okay with that baby"? His eyes dropped a little but he said "yeah I'm okay with it". Bella could tell by his voice tone and by his body language that he was really disappointed. She got up and walking around the desk, she took his hand and walked him to the chaise and they sat down. She kissed him on his beautiful mouth and said, "Prince do you remember when I was struggling with all of the changes that were coming at us as we were preparing to leave to perform in New York"? "Yes mama I do. We were coming back to this new house and Christian was having us moved while we were on the road", Prince said. "That's right baby. You were so supportive of me then. You reminded me that although there was a lot of change coming, it was change that would get us to where we wanted to be. You and Carlos told us that night that there were 3 big things we needed to do to be married. They were move to be safe, get the parent's permission to stay together while in school and get Elaine and myself graduated. "That's right", Prince said. "Baby, I want you to know something. While those 3 things remain central to our immediate future...nothing when it comes to you and me has changed. You are still my primary focus and concern. As we go through this we will both be learning how to give each other what we need day to day and accomplish what we must to stay together and marry. We have done 2 of the big three on that list already baby. If you need something from me that I am not doing at any time, share it with me baby. Please do not sit silently and feel neglected. I want you to be happy and content both now and in our marriage. Nothing is more important to me than you! Just talk to me and we can make adjustments and make anything work". Prince smiled. "Bella, I love you little girl. Thank you for reminding me that I am your priority. It feels good to hear and I know that it is true and that makes it feel even better. Finish your chapter Mama". "I am going to give it one hour, and then the rest of the evening is yours Prince", Bella said. He smiled again and closing the door to the study went into the living room. One hour and five minutes later, Bella opened the study door and joined Prince, Carlos, Elaine and the Security team in the living room. She had completed the rough draft of Chapter 2! They were talking about a movie they had just finished watching. Prince piped up and said "we have enough people to play two tables of Bid Whist. Wanna Play"? All said they would like that. Prince got two decks of cards and keeping one at their table he gave the other to the security team for their table. The game began.
After talking smack for about 2 hours as they played, Prince and Bella and Carlos and Elaine were tied 3 to 3. Ross and Melvin were ahead of Frank and Larry 4 to 2. It was now 10:15 PM and they decided to call it a night. The girls picked up the living room a little and then headed to their rooms with their men. Good night everyone they said to one another.
Prince and Bella got out of their clothes and hung them and put their personal items in the hamper in the closet. They grabbed robes and went into the bathroom. Prince turned on the shower and once the water was just right, they got into the shower together. Bella pulled on a shower cap just as they stepped in. They took their time and bathed each other with Prince's Lavender shower gel and Bella's Vanilla-Coconut. They got out of the shower and toweled each other off. Bella moisturized Prince and Prince did the same for Bella. Bella put on a pale blue baby doll peignoir. Prince put on some pale blue silk boxer shorts. They walked to their bed and kneeling, thanked the Creator for the wonderful day, for the headway Bella had make on the manuscript and for each other. Bella thanked Him for always helping them to talk about things both large and small. Because they could talk about anything, it always left them both feeling far more secure in their relationship. Bella leaned over and kissed Prince on the cheek. Prince smiled and getting up from his knees he pulled her up after him. He then gave her one of those kisses that bent her back, was wet from his tongue and that had her eyes closed for the duration. When he finally stood her back up straight she was actually dizzy. Wow, Bella thought. I am one blessed woman. Pulling back the bed covers, Prince picked her up and laid her in the bed. He crawled in beside her and kissed her again. "I love you Bella Borden", he said. "I love you more Royal Prince Anderson", Bella said and laying her head on his shoulder, Bella fell asleep and within minutes so did her Prince.