Round 2
June 19th, 2019
Anthony gets out of his car handing his keys to someone so they can park his car. He looks up at the building of the tv studio taking a deep sigh. He didn't necessarily want to come and do late night talk show he's doing tonight, but his manager talked him into it. What would he talk about? Losing the fight? But it's not about that.
After this week he'll be done with all his appearance obligations. That means he'll have the rest of the summer to focus on training and going on holiday with his family before he's back in front of cameras once again to promote the rematch.
He walks into the building already knowing where to go because he's been here a couple times. He's immediately approached by someone who works for the show with a greeting. He walks with the woman listening to her talk when they start to walk by one of the stages. Sure enough standing on the small stage is Abella. She tells a producer everything that needs to be changed before showtime later tonight. Anthony knew she would be here because his manager told him who else would be on the show tonight.
On the other end Abella doesn't know anything besides the fact she's being interviewed and performing. She doesn't even know anything about the show. She just knows it's an England late night show like Jimmy Kimmel or something. Her publicist booked her as many interviews and performances as she could fit in her schedule when Abella's not doing her tour dates.
Mid-sentence the producer that's talking to Abella turns and looks at Anthony making her look in that direction too. "AJ!" The woman says with a big smile greeting him with a hug. Abella's completely stuck. She wasn't told he's going to be on the show too. "I'm so glad you could come tonight. You've met Béla, right?" The producer says motioning towards Abella who puts on one of those fake cheeky smiles.
"I have," Anthony says giving Abella a quick hug. Once they part he begins familiar conversation with the producer. Abella narrows her eyes at Anthony as he carries on in conversation. She wanted to talk to and see him when she's ready not be bombarded. That's obvious by the fact Anthony hasn't talked to or seen her since the other day.
He didn't expect to see her everyday that she's in London for the next two weeks. He did expect to hear something from her in regards to his offer of wanting to sit down and talk. The offer she pretty much ignored before getting out of his car.
He hadn't heard a peep from her for the past two days. He didn't want to be clingy either, so he said he would fall back a little. The problem is you don't know while you're 'falling back' if the other person decided to ghost you with no plans of ever talking to you again. Anthony hates feeling ignored. At least tell him why you're not talking to him.
The woman excuses herself and leaves as Anthony turns towards Abella. He's able to get a full look at her as she stands there wearing no makeup, a Tommy Hilfiger hoodie dress, and Ugg 'Fluff Yeah' slides while her hair needs to be re-curled. She wasn't the star that looked camera ready 24/7. She holds a microphone because she has to do a quick run-through of her performance before she can go get ready for the show.
"What're you doing here?" Abella asks placing a hand on her hip.
"I'm being interviewed. You've probably never seen this talk show, but they usually have multiple celebrity guests sitting on the same couch being interviewed together." He's right. She's never seen the show a day in her life, but her publicist agreed to do it.
"Greattt," Abella mumbles under her breath.
"Don't be too happy to see me." He shoots her a smile while raising his brows. "I'll let you get back to what you were doing. See you on stage," he says walking off.
"Was that Anthony?"Abella's publicist, Tamara, asks hanging up her phone.
"Sure was," Abella says putting the mic back on the stand. She shakes her head remembering everything that happened the last time they hung out. She had been thinking about it hard, probably even overthinking, and Anthony knew that.
"Hey, a familiar face. Maybe I'm small minded, but I don't know any famous people from the U.K. except Adele," Tamara says.
Abella chuckles. "There's a lot of solid talent out here." Anthony, she thinks to herself. He's definitely solid and talented. She takes a deep breath asking the band who's now setup, "You guys ready?" They nod then they begin rehearsing a quick run through of the song she's performing.
At the same time Anthony walks into his dressing room closing the door behind him. He got here early, so no one from his team is here yet. He sits on the chair in front of the vanity checking his phone to preoccupy himself until his manager and publicist get here.
He's slowly starting to get her.. or at least he thinks he is. It's funny when Abella is stuck because she seems to always be ten steps ahead of everyone. She has mastered the art of detachment, while still being passionate about everything. It's weird.
Anthony knows it's only a matter of time before she's at his dressing room door. And he's right... After Abella finishes doing a quick sound check she walks down the hall with Tamara. When she sees a door with a sign that reads Anthony Joshua she says, "I'm going to talk to him real quick."
"Make it quick. You have to get hair and makeup done then change clothes," Tamara warns her. Abella nods before Tamara continues down the hall. Abella knocks on the door causing Anthony to look up from his phone.
He doesn't bother to ask who it is and says, "Come in." She pushes the door open and the first thing she notices is that he's the only one in the room.
"Alone?" She asks in surprise while shutting the door behind her.
"I got here early. Just waiting on my team to show up." Abella nods her head in understanding before sitting on the armrest of a couch across from him. She sighs looking around not knowing what to say. She honestly didn't know the intent of coming to his dressing room.
"You look nice," she finally says nodding her head up and down. Anthony laughs because he knows that's all she could think to say.
"You're being bare awkward," he says with a chuckle.
"Sorry," she says instinctively.
It was like he spent all that time to get her to be comfortable around him for her to put the shell right back up in a matter of a day. She still radiates that cold allure. She's like a faint glow from a distant star. You can see it shining just enough, but you want a closer look at its beauty. She might be sitting right next to you, but there's this sense that she's thousands of light years away. She's always slightly removed.
"You don't have to apologize. Obviously you came in here for a reason though. Something on your mind?" He asks putting his phone on a table looking at her.
"No. Well, I don't think this is the right place or time to talk about it.."
"And why not?"
"It's just not. I would prefer us being alone, like not in a public place. Not when we're about to work. I don't know what you're doing after we're done filming, but maybe we can talk then.."
"Okay, but if it's about–"
"Not right now," she stops him knowing he's going to try and talk about it anyway. "I guess I'll see you later on stage," she says standing up.
"Where are you going?" He asks standing up too.
"To my dressing room," she says like it's obvious.
"You can't hang out with me for a bit? I'm all alone," Anthony says holding his hands up looking around the dressing room. "Only until someone from my team gets here. They're on their way," he says to reason with her.
"Honestly, I can't talk to you normally until we have the conversation we're having later."
"So then let's just talk about it now and get it out of the way."
"I'm really not trying to ruin anyone's mood," she says with a shrug.
"Ruin moods? It's that deep, g?" He asks looking at her. Abella just looks at him. "Fine, you don't even have to talk. Just sit in here and keep me company."
"I can't. I need to get my hair and makeup done and change clothes."
He looks at his watch. "You have time."
"I really don't though, so I'm gonna go." Right as she's reaching for the door handle, Anthony grabs her other hand gently pulling her towards him. He puts his hand at the nape of her neck pulling her face towards his kissing her. Her statements of her wanting to leave were nowhere in sight as their lips dip and dive into one another's.
And like a bad habit she picks it right back up knowing she swore off it. Her hands instinctively glide up his muscular arms wrapping them around his neck. And as soon as she fell into him, she picks herself back up by pulling away from him.
"I can't do this right now. Anybody can walk in this room at any second," she says looking at the door.
"The door locks," Anthony says reaching around her twisting the lock and motioning to it like it's magic.
"And it unlocks so I can leave," she says unlocking it.
"And it locks again," he says locking it right back making Abella glare at him. He knows it's childish. He can't even help but laugh at her frustrated face as she pouts with a scold. She unclenches her face not wanting to show emotion.
"You're annoying," she says letting out a short laugh.
Anthony looks at her letting his lips linger over hers. He slowly lifts her head by her chin leaning in kissing her again. When he picks her up she naturally wraps her legs around him as he carries and places her onto the counter of the vanity.
This is how Anthony wanted it to be the other day. Instead she was barely talking to him, awkward, and his baby mother kept calling him. Amid the kissing Anthony moved his hands from gripping her thick thighs to pulling her closer to the edge of the counter. He pulls the bottom of her dress up and pushes the thin and delicate fabric of the lace panties to the side.
When he lowers into a squat Abella places her hand on the top of his head. She could act as annoyed as she wants, but head is head. Who would turn that shit down? When Antony is ignored his first instinct is to seduce her again. It always works like a charm...
Anthony sits on stage as they are now on air to film the show. Abella was trying to act as normal as possible, but she was finding it hard after what just happened in the dressing room about an hour ago. It was hard when she was placed right beside Anthony on the couch with the two other guests on the other end. Anthony's acting normal engaging in conversation with the host who asked him a question. Like always he wears that big smile and laughs through everything.
Abella's mind was somewhere else the entire interview. If she looked at Anthony sitting beside her all she could picture was him in between her legs. When he laughed the vibration of its mightiness reminded her of his moans and groans. When he smiled she just wanted to sit on his face. At one point he barely tapped her thigh to get her attention and she felt wetness rush out of her.
Abella stares at his lips until she's brought back to earth. "You and Bela met for the first time after Anthony's fight against Ruiz," the interviewer mentions as a picture of the pair from the night flashes on the screen. "You two have perfect smiles by the way. How was that? You two are friends now?"
"I've never seen this picture before," she says looking at the screen.
It must've been taken by one of the people in the small group gathered around because they remembered camera flashes going off. In the picture Anthony's arm is across her shoulder and hers is around his lower back. Anybodies first thought would be that they do look good together. Even them sitting on the couch next to each other had some people thinking 'goals'.
"But yes, we're friends," Abella adds. She says it just as fast as she said she wouldn't date him in the interview from February that kind of started it all. She says it in the same quickness when she clarified their lunch wasn't a date in Miami.
"Good friends. Best friends actually," Anthony throws in. He's doing it on purpose to get under her skin. Abella glances at Anthony putting on a fake smile remembering they're on camera. The slightest off body language or facial expression can be noticed.
"Really? Already? You just met. You two don't waste any time," the host responds as the audience laughs.
"We actually met before that night," Anthony says pointing at the picture. "We met in March," he says looking at Abella for conformation that's right. She nods her head.
"Then that makes more sense... I take it there's no truth to you two dating."
"No," Abella says quickly once again. But he did eat her pussy in your dressing room.
"Wouldn't they make a lovely couple?" The host asks the crowd that claps and cheers. Abella does an awkward smile and Anthony shrugs. "Okay, we're actually going to play a little game. This game requires teams, so let's see... Let's have the best friends, Anthony and Béla as a team," the host says jokingly before pairing the other people.
They all stand up going to the setup they have for the game as the host lays out the rules. "The object of the game is to test your knowledge of pop culture outside of your home country. As you can see each pair has one British native and one American native. The Britain will be asked about American celebrities and vise versa. Got it?" They all nod. "Figure out who goes first."
Anthony and Abella both look at each other with a knowing smile. They don't even hesitate to play a game of rock, paper, scissors making the crowd chuckle. It's something they started doing throughout the week they hung out in New York City. The other pair simply had one who willingly volunteered to go first. Anthony throws out rock and she throws out scissors.
He hits her hand over her two fingers as Abella says, "You cheated. You put yours out after you saw mine, but I'll go."
"I did not," Anthony says as Abella walks up to the podiums for the contestant. As soon as she turns and faces Anthony who's feet away he's smiling at her. She wasn't doing very well at keeping a poker face for cameras sake...
They hold a stare the entire time not paying any attention to the other 'team' who went first and got the answer right. This is not how seeing Anthony again was supposed to go for her, but there's something about him. He knows Abella was deterred from wanting to be involved with him, so he's trying to work a little charm on her. It seems to be working...
"What is going on over here?" The host asks making his way over to Anthony. "You two ready? First question..."
Anthony looks at the cards he was given beginning to read the question. "This British professional boxer is a heavyweight champion. His bout against Wladimir Klitschko in which he won shocked the world. He is deemed handsome. I am...
A. Tyson Fury
B. Anthony Joshua
C. David Haye"
Anthony smiles proudly at the last part he threw in making the audience laugh. Abella squints her eyes looking at him...
The handsome part gave the answer away. "I don't know the answer. Can I phone a friend?" Abella asks jokingly making people laugh.
"You know this. Come on!" Anthony says wriggling his eyebrows flashing a smile at her.
"It's not David Haye. Klitschko beat him," she says as if trying to narrow it down. She hisses. "I don't knowww. It could be Tyson Fury. He beat Klitschko."
"I said handsome. You can't possibly think that geezer looks good," Anthony says dryly. Him and Tyson Fury have always exchanged insults. They still respect each other as fighters, but going back and forth with him is fun because he's such a crazy character.
"I think Tyson Fury looks good after losing all that weight. He has a nice smile too and he can sing. I don't want any smoke with his wife though." Abella pauses. "I'm only kidding. The answer is B. Anthony Joshua," She says pushing the button to lock in her answer.
"You are correct," the host says as their first point is added.
"I don't know why it said he's handsome. Who writes the cards?" She asks making everyone laugh.
"That definitely wasn't on the card. I think he's quite funny looking," the host agrees. "Punched one too many times in the face I reckon."
They continue to play the game with Anthony and Abella in the lead by a point. They're both competitive people, so they're probably taking a game that's supposed to be fun more serious than they should. They're taking it so serious they rather cheat than get the answer wrong.
After Anthony asks the question, she looks at him making a face. By the movement of her eyes he can tell she needs help. He mouths the answer hoping no one can see as if he's not on camera. She can't tell what answer he's mouthing, so she stares at him with a smile trying not to be obvious. She widens her eyes for him to do it one more time.
When one of the other celebrity guests says, "I think the best friends are cheating," Abella shakes her head with a laugh...
If she wasn't on tv she would tell him to shut the fuck up and quit snitchin'. Instead she laughs it off saying the answer getting it right with Anthony's 'help.'
They switch the teammates meaning Anthony is now the one being asked the questions by Abella.
"This American musician's second album went double platinum in 3 months. She currently has 5 songs in the top ten of Billboards Hot 100 and all songs are now certified gold. This makes her the fifth female singer to achieve five number-one singles on the chart during the 2010's. She is Grammy nominated. I am...
A. H.E.R.
B. Beyoncé
C. Béla"
Anthony makes a face as if thinking. "It could be any of them," he says looking at the answers. No it couldn't, Abella thinks to herself. It can't be because she hasn't achieved some of those things. "I'm not really familiar with H.E.R. Beyonce hasn't recently put out an album or that many songs. Therefore, I'm going to go with the lovely, Béla."
"No," Abella says under her breath.
"Final answer?" The host asks.
Abella motions her hand across her neck for him to change his answer. When one of the other guests turns to look at her she itches the side of her neck to not look like she's helping him.
"Yes, C. Béla," Anthony sticks to his answer.
Abella flips the card over to see the correct answer. When she sees it's her name and he's right she furrows her eyebrows. "It says he's right, but this answer's wrong. I'm me and I know—" Everyone on the stage is smiling because they know what's about to happen. When she looks up 5 people are walking onto the stage holding plaques. Abella's mouth immediately falls open. "You're lying?!"
Abella wasn't one to constantly check to see how her songs are doing number wise on the charts. She felt if she did that she would always be disappointed or feel like she has to compete with other people.
"Your label wants to let you know your album Lotanna is officially double platinum. Your singles Area Boy, African Giant, U Dey Craze, Naija Gal, and Shift are all in the top ten. You now have the highest charting African album in U.K. and U.S. history. Congratulations, Béla," he says before the audience and all the other celebrities on the stage clap with happiness including Anthony.
"Heyyy, Chineke!" Abella says using the Igbo word for God before doing a little happy dance. She's still in shock while looking at the plaques. She's so excited she not only hugs the host, but Anthony and everyone else on the stage. "Chai! I do this for my people dem. By the grace of God," she says in a Nigerian accent making Anthony laugh.
You'll only get it if you're Nigerian so they share a laugh before slapping hands transitioning into their handshake with ease. Even if Anthony and Abella are in a weird space they put that aside for tonight. They made for good tv, nobody can deny that. They have a natural chemistry.
One of the people is holding two plaques in each hand and comes towards Abella handing one of them to her. She holds it up with two hands doing a victory dance and at that the host closes out the show and it's a wrap.
Once it's over Anthony goes back to his dressing room already changing clothes. If he had it his way he would wear a t-shirt, track pants, and sliders 24/7. Anthony walks down the hall beside his manager, James, who says, "I told you it would be fine."
"Yeah, it was fun," Anthony says referring to the show seeing as he didn't want to do it.
The first thing he noticed when he lost was how quick a lot of British fans turned their backs on him. That's how it is in sports. Fans are fickle, they bandwagon when you're winning, then when you lose they find another person's wave to hop on. Despite all that the reception has been the same. People still come up to him and ask for pictures.
While he's walking down the hall Abella is doing the same. "I have to take all of these back to the hotel?" She asks Tamara looking at all the plaques still in disbelief. All of these in one night? It hasn't hit Abella that she made the perfect music for summer vibes, so the songs took over.
When she's sees Anthony coming towards her she stops walking and puts a hand on her hip. "You knew?" She says pointing her finger at him.
He smiles. "Of course. Congratulations," he says hugging her again. Abella wraps her arms around him as they rock back and forth. That was part of the reason he was even willing to come on tonight. Still holding her Anthony says in her ear, "Why do you think I wanted to celebrate? We can finish celebrating tonight."
Abella purses her lips to keep from smiling because both her publicist and his manager are standing by waiting on their clients. "Thank you," is all she says before pulling away from him.
"Do you need help taking these to the car?" Anthony offers.
"Nah, the employee's are handling it," she says right as a man takes one away. "Thanks for offering though."
"Bianca said they're bringing a champagne bottle for you to your dressing room," Tamara says to Abella getting her attention off looking at Anthony. "You two coming?" She asks Anthony and his manager as an invitation.
"Uh, yeah." Tamara motions for them both to come and when they walk back to Abella's dressing room it's filled with people including the other guests on the show, her hairstylist, makeup artist, stylist, and more.
"Yeahhhh!" They all yell and clap as she walks in. Abella's all smiles. She's beyond grateful too. It's not that she thought the album wouldn't do good, she just didn't care. This album was about paying tribute to her father, which also pays tribute to Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Who woulda thought the sound of the motherland would go this far?
Anthony smiles as well because he knows she deserves it. He personally listens to the album often. It's a soild body of work from the first track to the last which is rare nowadays. Albums aren't as cohesive as they used to be. They're a bunch of singles put on an album in the hopes that it will help it sell better and get more streams.
A bottle of champagne is popped and glasses are passed around. After a few minutes pass while everyone is talking Anthony decides it's time for him to go. He hugs a couple of the people in the room that he knows before saying, "Everyone have a good night!" He throws his hand up with a wave to everyone as he walks towards the door. He gives one last look towards Abella knowing he's going to see her later then he exits.
Once Abella gets to her hotel she looks at the plaques leaned up against the wall with a smile. Everything is in place. Her second album did well, she's on her first international tour, she's getting more sponsorships and brand deals, more opportunities, and more recognition. Her career is exactly where she wants it, but her personal life is in shambles.
Abella looks at her watch figuring she has some time before Anthony gets here to take a shower. While the shower water is warming up to her preferred temperature of the pits of hell degrees she takes off the outfit she wore on stage tonight. With each item she strips off it's like stripping off the persona of Béla. She sighs getting into the water that's steamy trying to figure out everything she wants to say to him.
Her phone is hooked up to a bluetooth speaker and it's playing the No Love Remix by August Alsina. She raps Nicki Minaj's verse with a little too much passion scrubbing the day off her body after a long day of London press. "You can't treat me like you treat them. Yes, I am the crème de la crème. Yes I am from one to ten, ten. Yes I am!" She yells before going back to thinking.
She always had to go over what she's going to say during a discussion because then she'll forget and be mad at herself for not saying it afterwards. Like damn, I could've killed it with that one. Abella shakes her head realizing she's thinking too much into it. It'll be a simple conversation between two adults. He either agrees or he doesn't...
"You probably go insane with a nigga like me," she sings August's part. "Cause I'm a real nigga," she says to herself for a boost of confidence. Someone would probably think she's crazy, but they know they do it too when they're alone. "Don't come looking for love. Oh, no love, no love," she finishes singing the song.
Once Abella gets out of the shower she changes into a Fila bra top and a pair of matching shorts. She's now a brand ambassador for the clothing brand so she got a bunch of free clothes from them. She puts her curly hair in a messy bun at the top of her head and rubs lotion all over her body. Who's going to take you serious if you're ashy?
And like clockwork when she walks out of the bedroom of her suite into the living room there's a knock at her hotel door. Abella takes a deep sigh walking over to the door opening it. Standing directly in front of it is her security guard who's watching her door for the night. She already told him she's expecting someone so all he says is, "Anthony," before moving to the side.
Anthony walks into the hotel suite and she shuts the door behind him. She doesn't bother to do the swing bar lock at the top of the door because this won't take long. She leads the way towards the living room that's dim and only lit up by a couple lamps. She motions for him to sit on the couch, while she sits on the other one adjacent to it. Abella pulls her leg up putting it under the other one.
"So..." she starts as Anthony looks at her wondering what she's going to say. "I'm a very observant person and I notice a lot. I noticed quite a few things the other day when we were together that I feel are red flags."
"Like what?"
"The girl who showed up at the little event for the kids. Not only was she bold enough to talk to me, but also take a picture with me. Even the fact she was trying to get your attention. You told me you two had dealings, but obviously I don't know the extent. To me if a chick is popping up places there's something beyond just sleeping together."
"I told you the truth on that."
"That's fine, but I don't like drama. If things like that are happening already it makes me wonder. Obviously we're both single, but stuff like that makes me wonder... And your son's mother constantly calling didn't help either. Honestly, I was over it. I'm sure you could see that."
"I told you the truth on that one as well. I don't deal with her beyond co-parenting our son."
"So your lips say," she says making Anthony laugh in disbelief because she basically called him a liar. "Look I've dealt with a man with a crazy baby mother before and that's not something I'm interested in doing again. I don't have time for that. The woman's either bitter, the dudes still sleeping with her, or something."
"Okay, wait..." he says laughing again because he's confused. "What did I do? What did I do personally because you're talking about things other people did. I don't have control over what my baby mum or someone I was only having sex with."
"If you don't have control over situations like that then I don't think you need anything added to it," she says shrugging. "Including me."
"What are you saying?"
"I think we should only talk and see each other when we're in the same city," she says hoping he gets what she means and he does.
"We get to know each other, yeah, we hang out, we talk, we go on a date, we have sex, yeah–" He says listing it on his fingers. "–now you're saying all a dat was a waste of time and you only want me to come pipe you down when we're in the same city?" He sucks his teeth long and hard.
"Maybe I want to fuck the hell out of you. Maybe I want to be friends...industry friends." Aka In da sheets friends. "Why does it have to be complicated?"
"Is this a joke?" Anthony asks with a laugh. When he sees Abella wears a straight face he furrows his eyebrows. "Why you always playing games with me?"
"I'm not. I know what I want from you. No strings. No stress. No pressure. And definitely no drama. That's what I would like. Are you open to it or no?"
"Friends with benefits basically."
"Yeah, basically," she agrees.
He smacks his lips rubbing his facial hair. "You must be fucking mad. I don't want to be your friend," he grumbles looking off to the side. "I don't know if you noticed, but I ain't no little boy. I'm about to be 30. If that's what I wanted from you that's what I would've said from the beginning."
"I'm being realistic. This could be fun for what? One more week. Then what happens when I leave London and I continue on my tour? What even happens when I'm done with tour and go back to America? It's not going to work. I've tried long distance before."
Now he doesn't need to know she was 18 and her boyfriend at the time was going to college out of state... That's a big difference from now. She's no longer a broke college student who can't afford a plane ticket. Abella could easily book a flight or even catch a private jet if she's not being cheap.
Anthony stares at her for a second trying to think of what to say. People are scared to speak up when it comes to feelings. No one wants to have the hard conversations in fear of rejection. Especially if the person has seemingly made up their mind on what they want. Abella isn't asking questions, she's making statements that Anthony can either agree with or not.
He laughs scratching his head in frustration and confusion. "Wow." He's never been put in a situation like this. Usually he's the one saying this to women, not the other way around. There's a lot he wants to say, but he doesn't even feel like it's worth it anymore. He's not one to pressure someone to do something that they don't want to do.
"I feel like there's no changing your mind, so..." He says shrugging.
"I still want to be friends, but like dating.. I don't think right now is a good time. I'm focused on my career and I'm sure you are too. I travel a lot, I'm still young, ya know," she explains until he cuts her off knowing she's going to keep going.
"It is what it is. It's cool..." His mouth is saying one thing, but his body language is saying another.
"So are you agreeing or no?" She asks not knowing what that means.
"Agreeing to what? Us only linking to have sex? No," he says with no hesitation before standing up. "If that's what I wanted I would still be dealing with Feven or any other woman I can get."
"Well, okay. That's fine," she says nonchalantly.
"Have you ever in your life not been in control of a situation? Have you ever just relinquished control and let things happen the way their supposed to?"
"I have and when I did I ended up looking stupid in the end, so I'm good."
"Looks like much hasn't changed," he says passive aggressively taking his key out of the pocket of his Under Armour sweats.
Abella squints her eyes at him standing up too. "Why does it have to be all that? I had an adult conversation with you when I could've just never said shit and ghosted you. I didn't have to explain anything or give you an option."
"An adult conversation would involve you not lying to yourself or me. You ain't that type of woman, I know you're not, but fine whatever you want. You're in control of this. Right? In control of your feelings."
"I don't know what this is," She shoots right back.
"And I don't think you want to or ever will. This whole cold and emotionless act ain't gonna cut it for long. Hit me when you're done playing games," he says heading for the door.
A woman just pulled a him on him. He doesn't know how to feel about this... They're both realizing they've met their match. Not only are they alike in a lot of ways, but they're very different.
They both don't like being vulnerable. They'll do weird things to avoid doing so. Abella tends to absorb and bottle emotions up until they overflow. But calling her unemotional is the wrong word to use for her. That means you don't understand her at all if you think that about her.
"That didn't go well," she mumbles flying back on the couch crossing her arms over her chest. At least it wasn't an argument and they talked about it calmly.
At the same time Anthony is angrily leaving Abella's hotel room, Rejoice is coming out of her room. She looks at Anthony who storms past her. He's usually the type who says hello to every person he passes by especially if he's met them before, but he doesn't say a word to Rejoice as he continues down the hall.
Rejoice was about to speak herself, but sees how fast he flies by her. She wonders what that's about then shrugs it off going down the hotel hallway to Abella's room. "Is Abella here?" She asks the security guard who stands watch. He nods his head so she knocks on the door where behind it her cousin is pacing. Abella is trying to think about what she just did.
Abella honestly thinks and is hoping it's Anthony coming right back, so she rushes to the door. She feels bad now. When she looks through the peephole to see Rejoice's big head she smacks her lips before swinging the door open. "What do you want?" She says dryly before a sigh. She couldn't even be fake happy to see her cousin.
Rejoice stretches her neck back. "Ok, rudeness. Can we talk?"
"About?" Abella is tired of talking. She wants to go to bed.
"I have something I want to tell you." Abella opens the door wider for her to come in but she doesn't budge. "I want to talk in public. Can we go down to the little cafe in the lobby?"
"Yeah, fine. Give me a minute and I'll meet you down there." Rejoice nods her head as Abella closes the door. She needed a minute to gather herself. She leans her back against the door taking in a couple deep breaths.
Abella honestly feels bad for what happened with Anthony, which says something. Instead she tells herself you did what was right for you. You ended it before it was in too deep and somebody got really hurt or really wasted time.
She barely likes people and it takes her even longer to consider being romantically involved. It takes her a good while to grow feelings for someone, which means she can easily cut a guy off if he does one thing she doesn't like. Right about now it's not feeling so easy.
It's easier for a person's ego to reject and walk away from someone. It becomes a flight or fight reaction in order to protect yourself from harm. It's a natural human reaction for someone to want to protect their heart. It's not physically exposed, but it's probably the most vulnerable thing that a person has. You hold it close to you. You hold the love close to you not wanting to waste it on just anybody.
She fixes her hair in a bun then grabs her phone and room key. When she steps out of hotel room she turns to her security guard, Sergio. He's a Brazilian guy who stands at 6'5" who will be the head of her security team for the entire tour. "I'm going down to the cafe in the lobby with my cousin."
"Do you want me to come?"
"No, I don't think this will take long."
"You sure? That's minutes of you being alone that can't be accounted for. The elevator ride to the cafe. Anything can happen," he explains.
Abella pauses. She's always been scared to walk around hotels alone. You don't know what type of people can be staying here no matter if it's five star and very expensive. "Come on," she motions for him to come. He follows behind her leaving for the lobby.
"You okay?" Sergio asks during the quiet elevator ride making Abella look at him.
"Yeah," she says with a laugh when it's a lie.
"I know it's not my business, but he left pretty upset and you–" He stops talking when she gives Sergio a smile. Sergio stands directly by her door so he can hear some things. He realizes he shouldn't say anything, so he smiles back. He's a nice man. Most security guards don't utter a word to you.
Abella walks into the cafe that's pretty much empty seeing as it's midnight looking for her cousin. When she sees Rejoice she walks over to the table pulling the chair back and sitting down across from her...
Rejoice looks at her security who has turned around so he can see anyone coming towards them. She puts her cup of tea down asking, "Does he have to be right here during this?"
Abella looks back at Sergio. "It's fine. What's up?"
"I have something important I want to tell you. Can you promise not to flip out, physically attack me, or tell anybody else what I'm about to tell you?" Abella furrows her eyebrows at Rejoice's words.
"Physically attack you?" Abella asks stretching her neck back. It must be something crazy if she's saying that because Rejoice knows her cousin isn't even like that. They haven't gotten into a physical altercation since they were little kids. It's still an argument over who won to this day. "I can't make any promises if it's coming with that type of warning."
"Promise me," Rejoice insists. "I'm telling you because I trust you."
"Fine, I promise," Abella says shaking her head knowing it's about to be some fuckery. She sucks in a deep breath to prepare herself before motioning Rejoice to say it.
"I have a baby. Well, he's not a baby anymore but he's my baby. I have a son. His name's Royce." Abella pauses looking at her cousin.
"Wait, what? And did you say Royce? Royce as in the boy your Mom said was your brother's son?"
"Yes, she was lying for me because she was taking care of him for me while I was in California."
"That's your son?" She asks needing more clarification. Rejoice nods her head. "If that's the case he's definitely not a baby anymore. He was three last time I saw him and that was when I came home the summer after I graduated college."
"Yes, he's six now. I think..." Abella furrows her eyebrows at the I think.
"Who's the father?"
Rejoice stares at Abella and Abella immediately starts repeating no. She was doing the math in her head now. "Please don't tell me that child is Errol's. Please don't."
"He is," Joy says with a sigh.
"I know for a fact Errol doesn't know because he would've told me, told everybody. He takes his daughters everywhere, so I expect the same if he had a son."
"He doesn't know. I didn't tell him. I found out I was pregnant right before I was transferring schools and moving to California. I didn't want him to stop me from going, so I didn't tell him. I only told my mother. When I gave birth my Mom came to California. I signed my rights to her and she took Royce back to Texas with her."
Abella lowers her head trying to keep her emotions in check. She promised not to flip, but she's finding it hard. She taps her foot under the table feeling overwhelmed. "Are you crying?" Rejoice asks looking at her cousin like she's crazy. Abella wipes her face and sucks it up.
"I know Errol. You know, knew Errol. He was raised right. In a two parent home with his father. His father is his best friend and Errol always said he can't wait to have that with his son when he has one."
Rejoice looks to the side chewing on her bottom lip. "I had to do what's best for me.." She says sniffling to disguise any emotions that are peaking through.
"You had the chance to let him be a father to a son and you took that from him. Do you know how fucked up that is? If you didn't want the kid you should've had an abortion as fucked up as that sounds. Or you could've given the child to Errol and let him raise the boy."
"Look, I don't need you telling me what I should've done. It's already done. I just needed to tell someone to get it off my chest."
"And do you feel better?"
"Of course I don't. This shit is weighing heavy on my mind. I need to find him."
"Find? You don't know where the boys at?"
"No, my mother put him in foster care when she got sick."
Abella rubs her temples. "I don't understand you sometimes. I really don't. We had a loving, close family growing up. Yeah, your individual household had its problems, but you weren't alone like you made it seem. You convinced yourself that you were an outcast. You made yourself the outcast by doing people dirty. When will you learn?"
"When will you stop acting like some fuckin' saint who has it all together? Everything wasn't lilies and fairies in our family, Bell. You wanna talk about it, lets talk about. Talk about how your Dad fucked my Dad over saying he would help his boxing career but didn't. Got himself to where he wanted to be then said fuck my Dad leaving him no option but to sell drugs."
"Are you out of your fucking mind?! My mutha fuckin' Dad brought your Dad to America from Nigeria. Spent thousands getting all his siblings here with no thank you. All he asked them to do was go to college and get a degree, but none of them did it including your Dad. When my Dad went pro your Dad had a chance to build his own name. Instead he wanted to ride my Dad's coattails. Did anybody help my Daddy when he was blackballed from boxing and went back to a regular 9 to 5? No! When my Dad started his gym he still gave your Dad a job, but he wanted fast money so stop it!"
"Yeah, whatever."
"You, ya Daddy, and ya Momma all thought someone was supposed to give you handouts. Y'all thought money is just given out with no work put in. You still don't want to really work. Got a degree, but you're partying and selling bitches pussy for money." Abella pauses. "Now let's get back to the issue at hand. Your son!"
Rejoice rolls her eyes blowing air out of her nose. "I need to tell Errol." Abella wonders why now, but doesn't say it.
"Next week I'm going to Jamaica for two days to meet up with Errol and his family to do some charity work. You're coming and while you're there you need to tell Errol. From there I'll be putting you on a plane and you're going straight back to Texas. The rest is for you two to figure out."
Rejoice gives Abella a look wondering why she thinks she's the boss in this situation. "You do know I'm an adult, right? I'm going back to Texas next week because that was already the plan. I was only supposed to come to your U.K. tour dates."
"I said it that way because I was going to pay for your flight, but since you're an adult pay your own way. Are you agreeing to going to Jamaica or are you going to argue that too?"
"No, I'll go."
"Good. A week is the most I can keep this damn secret anyway," she says getting up from the table.
"I know you talk to Errol often. Please don't tell him or give him a heads up before the trip. I want to tell him myself."
"Girl, I won't. Knowing my forgetful ass I'll probably forget you told me this by the morning. Good night, I'm sick and tired," Abella says yawning before walking away from the table. Tonight has been way too long.
___________
Have you ever stopped talking to someone bc you started overthinking things? *slowly raises hand🙋🏾♀️* lol
Rejoice telling Errol about their son?
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