✴️
|January 1st, 1987|
|Rio All-Suites Hotel|
|8:00pm|
Prince
It was my last day in California before I headed back home to Minnesota. I was currently staying at the Rio All-Suites Hotel, which I had arrived to yesterday morning, so it was a quick trip, but I was okay with it anyway because it was worth it. The main reason why I came to California so unexpectedly was because I just had to make amends with Michael. I couldn't wait until the next time we saw each other, which who knows when that text time would be if I didn't show up to his family's home. Yes, maybe showing up wasn't the best idea, but after leaving the hotel that night when Michael and Vanity were together, and having the time to cool down, I did a lot of thinking and reflecting.
First off, I know I can be very stubborn and don't like to admit when I'm wrong, but I came to a conclusion that the way I treated Michael wasn't right. That says a lot, because I barely say things like this, which I also know is wrong. He didn't deserve the mistreatment, the humiliation, and the bully-like behavior that I constantly threw at him. All he asked from me was to do a collaboration, in a very polite way might I add, but I let something that happened years ago work me up so much and keep me from giving the same kindness in return. Even though I still might of denied to do the song, I could've done it in a better way than I did, and I didn't have to shut down his offer so quickly and rudely.
Grudges, and holding onto the hurt from the past, will honestly get you nowhere. But only if I practiced what I preached, I feel like I wouldn't of been in the state that I was in right now. I know that I have mentioned this before, but truly, when I was younger, I went through so much. So much pain, agony, the constant tears, living in fear, not feeling love or the comfort in your own home. Which why I mentioned before, why it was so hard for me to love, because I feel like I rarely received it growing up, and the so called "love" I saw between my parents was the complete opposite.
There was fighting, physical abuse, shouting, screaming, it was like battle zone every single second of the day. Therefore, which also explains why everyone thinks I might come off as a mean person. As I continued to grow, being around that all the time really influenced a huge part in my personality. I felt I became my something like father at times, not the physical abuse part, luckily I never picked up that which I'm proud of myself for, but the ugliness of it, feeling like you had to be tough, say something mean to get your point across, not shed a tear to show your weakness, basically to just put a wall up and you'll be fine, no one can fuck with you. I managed to hold onto all of that, including the pain, which was why I was the way I was, which was why I held such a grudge against Michael after the incident, which I also realized, wasn't his fault or his intention. It was why I wanted to get revenge so bad on him, because I wanted him to feel the pain I felt, and just get some clarity, which was wrong.
To be honest, what happened between Michael and I, was due to the pain I've been wanting to let go of for so long, and at the time, after being so close to my breaking point, he just happened to be the trigger for it. Overall, I was impressed with the apology I gave him, because I felt like by me doing that, I was slowly but surely getting parts of myself back, but obviously due to everything I had just explained, I wasn't completely honest on why I did. But, I didn't tell him all of that because I just didn't feel comfortable doing that yet.
He already saw me at a low point, which I know I need to work on, but everytime it happened I just felt so ashamed so I didn't want it to happen again. However, what Michael did for me that night, really warmed my heart. The reason why I was in the stall, completely drunk and worn out was because I was still very heartbroken by what happened between me and Madonna. Love was something so important to me, even though it was hard to feel, I craved it like it was a drug. With her, I felt like I was really close to feeling that once again ever since Sheila and Vanity, and when she rejected me I was really fucked up. I couldn't even think straight.
I was alone, even though I told my guards to leave, I didn't honestly want them to leave. There were a few people that had also came into the bathroom, which I'm pretty sure they overheard me bawling my eyes out, but did nothing about it. So for Michael, out of all people, especially after the way I treated him, to make sure that I was okay, really did mean a lot to me, because I know that he didn't have to do it. Also, while I was thinking, I started to feel bad about trying to potentially get in the middle of Michael and Vanity. Even though I loved Vanity very much, I knew deep down that I had commitment issues at times, and she deserved better.
At the time, as much as I know that I would hate to admit this before, but Michael would treat her better and win her over for good, and with that also being mixed with the disliking I had for him, it did make me jealous, seeing someone that I loved, with someone that I despised, it made my blood boil. I know that they had ended things, but I realized I was wrong in that setting, she was happy, and if she was happy, no matter who she might be with, then I'm fine with that. The whole overall situation, could've been avoided in a better way, and I am happy that I was able to admit to my mistakes and finally make amends with Michael. Even though I still had to clear some things with Vanity still, it was a start.
This was a new beginning to a friendship that I would've never thought I would have. Michael and I? Being friends? If you would've told me about this years ago, I would've been like yeah, like that's gonna ever happen. Now, I'm actually liking the sound of it so far.
At the New Years Eve party, everything went pretty well, after we broke the ice of course. Me and Michael spent an hour or two having a conversation, starting over and getting to know each other. We talked about our likes, dislikes, dreams, goals and our backgrounds, and figured out that we actually had a lot in common. Even though our music styles and the way we do things as an artist is quite different, we shared similarities in other areas. He's a really nice guy, and super down to earth, which made me feel guilty about how I made a mess of things before, but happy that he gave me another chance.
Then, sometime after that I got the chance to meet and get to know some of his family members a bit more than I did when I surprised everyone at the door. His Mother, Katherine which she told me to call her from now on, was very sweet, and I saw a lot of Michael's personality qualities in her. His father was nice as well, although I sensed something was a bit off between Michael and his father because when me and Michael talked about our family he didn't seem to bring up his father as much as everyone else, which I didn't want to ask too much about because I didn't want to invade his privacy. I didn't get too deep into my father either, I was very brief.
All of his brothers were a trip, let me tell you. It was like meeting the three stooges plus five more. They were full of personality and there wasn't a dull moment in meeting them.
His sisters were all very beautiful and sweet. After Latoya had passed out onto the ground, she was much more calm when I actually had a conversation with her, and she was very nice, and had a very soft high voice that was like music to my ears. Others might of found it as annoying to hear but I thought it was really cute.
Janet, out of all the three sisters was probably the least shy, she was very bubbly and kind, and I saw a lot of Michael's physical features in her, she actually looked just like him.
His oldest sister, Rebbie, was the most quiet and shy out of all the siblings combined. However, me and her clicked very well and held a very pleasant conversation. Michael had told me when he would bring certain woman over in the past, they would usually gravitate towards Janet and sometimes Latoya, and Rebbie would be left out a lot since she was so quiet and extremely shy. I know I'm not a woman of course, but I was glad I was able to connect with her and make her feel just as included as everyone else, and Michael told me it was very special to see because she never really opens up to new people that fast.
His nephews and nieces were absolutely adorable, his niece Brandi completely melted my heart, and the rest of his family and friends were just overall really kind people to be around. I was glad that they treated me just like everyone else, and also like I was apart of the family. I didn't regret my choice, which was barging into the party, as silly as that sounded.
Last night, Michael had asked me when I was leaving and when I told him I would be leaving after today, we had both agreed to meet up sometime this evening before I left, which was soon. He offered to go out to KFC for some reason and have the whole place shut down for us of course, I thought it was weird because first of all, when me, Vanity and himself ate steak together he barely touched his food and Vanity ended up eating his plate, which made me think he was a vegetarian. So if he were to be a vegetarian, then why did he crave KFC exactly?
However, I denied because I actually happened to be a vegetarian myself, I just sucked it up and ate the steak at the time so I would try to one up Michael. Also, I didn't want to risk Paparazzi catching us. Even though I could care less about what people thought about me and the relationships I had with certain people, they tend to jump to conclusions and take things too far, and I know they would go above and beyond once they found out me and Michael were hanging out. So I suggested that he should come over to the hotel that I was staying at to just hang out a bit and then have one of my guards order pizza for us instead, and he agreed.
Right now, I was at a desk that was in the corner of the room, writing down every single lyric that flooded through my mind on a piece of notebook paper. Currently, I was in the works of creating my new album called Sign 'O' The Times that I had actually been working on during the Parade era but I took a pause on it since the tour started to get really hectic.
I had written most of the songs that I wanted on the album already, so I was halfway done. I just needed to write a couple more, and work on recording them, then the music video arrangements and the rest of that jazz would be completed later on. I couldn't really record right now because my own recording studio was being worked on at my new home called Paisley Park, but it was almost finished and I was actually going to be moving into the house in a week so it relieved a lot of stress and pressure to get everything finished on time since I planned to have this album released in March.
However, I do love working under pressure at times, I feel like it tests my artistry even more. Also, it didn't take me long to write a song anyway, I could do it in my sleep.
"Until the end of time, I'll be there for you, you own my heart and mind, I truly adore you," I sang delicately while I listened to how the lyrics started to sound. I liked that part, but then I started to struggle on the next line, which rarely happened to me. I sighed, starting to get upset.
"Fuck." I cursed to myself, feeling like I was having a brain fart, and don't laugh, because it's real. As I tapped the pencil harshly on the desk, I heard a knock on the door interuptting my thoughts. I jumped a little bit from the knock, holding my chest slightly and let out a breath.
"Come in." I said, knowing that it was my guard Chucky since I requested for no one to have the same floor as me due to wanting as much privacy as possible. My other guard, Big Chick, had unexpectedly wanted to stop working for me for I don't know what reason exactly. I didn't fire him or anything after the incident, him and I had a very close relationship, so it confused me and made me very sad to see him go, but I had to replace him as soon as I could to get my security team back in order, which was Chucky, but deep down I know he would never be replaced. The door opened, and of course who I expected, Chucky walked in.
He had this intimidated look on his face, and he said, "There's someone here to see you."
I raised my eyebrow a little and then also as expected, Michael walked in slowly past Chucky not breaking the tense eye contact they had, giving him the dirtiest look. Then he shook his head, then looked over at me, and his mood completely changed into a positive one. We exchanged smiles for a bit before Chucky awkwardly cleared his throat, asking if he could leave. I tried not to laugh, nodding at him, letting him know that he could leave, then he walked out of the door, closing it shut.
"Obviously someone is still upset, you do know that he's new, right?" I joked, letting out a small laugh before turning back into my chair.
"So? I'm surprised you're not." He stressed, then he scoffed. "You didn't fire them after what they did?" Michael asked.
"I wanted to." I admit, nodding my head, "But, I forgave them anyway." Then I smirked at him, "Sounds like you're holding a grudge."
"Says you." Michael playfully rolled his eyes, he started to walk over to where I was sitting and he took off his fedora, sitting it on the table, looking down at what I was writing, "Whatcha' doing?"
I sighed, erasing a lyric that I didn't like, "Just writing a song, but I'm struggling a little right now. "
He pulled up a chair that was next to the table, and sat beside me. Then he started to shake his head, and make this tsk tsk sound come out of his mouth. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked up at him, "What?"
Michael chuckled, "You wanna know why you're struggling?"
The nerve of him, I leaned back, crossing my arms, wanting to hear what he had to say, "Enlighten me."
"You're writing the song." He started, "Don't write the song, let the song write itself."
I raised my eyebrow at him, trying to figure out if he was being serious. What was he talking about? The pencil was just going to stand up on it's own and just start randomly writing lyrics down?
"Yeah, okay Michael." I laughed a little, shaking my head and ignoring the silly suggestion that he gave me.
"Seriously, Prince." He said in a slightly stern voice, looking at me very serious like, stressing that he was not making this up. Then, he glanced down at my note book and looked up at me, "May I?"
Usually, I never really had anyone assist or help me in my writing, especially with someone that had a completely different style than me like Michael. However, I was intrigued, and I wanted to see if this silly conspiracy of his, actually worked.
I nodded, then he slid notebook and pencil over to his side. I watched him as he sat there for at least a good ten seconds, staring at the paper before he finally wrote something down. When he finished, he slid the notebook back over to me, then I looked down and read it out loud.
"If God one day stroke me blind, your beauty I'd still see, love is to weak to define, just what you mean to me." I said, reading the lyrics he had written, instantly eating my own words.
I liked what he wrote down a lot. This was perfect to put in the song. I can't believe I'm saying this, but, Michael had a very valid point, and he was right.
"So," I heard Michael say, seeing him smirk out of the corner. "What do you think?"
I was speechless, not wanting to admit that it was good but I had to give him credit. I smiled small, glancing between him and the notebook, then shrugged, "Not bad, kid."
"Kid?" Michael raised his eyebrow, and he replied, "Last time I checked, we were both twenty eight years old."
"I'm two months older than you. So technically, you're the kid out of the both of us." I said smartly, grinning at him before closing the notebook.
"Whatever." He scoffed, standing up and walked over to the rack to hang his jacket. I looked over to the piano that was in the corner of the room, and I smirked. As Michael walked over to my side again, he stopped in his tracks and looked at me confusingly.
"What?" He asked as I stared at him, then his eyes eventually fell onto the grand piano that was in the corner of the room, and it looked like he didn't even realize it was there until now.
Michael tilted his head to the side a bit, and crossed his arms, "Why is there a Piano in every room that you happen to be in?
"That's because it's a special request of mine." I say, standing up from my seat, "Can you play the piano?"
He shrugged, nodding his head a little bit, honestly not looking too sure in my opinion, "I would say I'm decent at it."
I find that hard to believe.
I raise my eyebrow, "We'll see about that." I say, making my way over to the piano and sat down. I turned my head and looked over at him, "Come on."
I patted a seat next to me, he sighed, slowly making his way to the piano and sat down next to me. There was a silence, he turned his head awkwardly and said, "Now what?"
"Play something." I suggested, wanting to see how "decently" he played. He gave me a death stare for a second, before he looked down, gently pressing his fingers onto the keys, making a pretty nice melody. About five seconds later, he messed up, accidentally pressing three keys at ones, making a horrible sound.
I cringed, then immediately had to cover my mouth to hide my laughs. He sensed that I was going to laugh, and he removed his hands from the keyboard, and sighed heavily.
"Decent, huh?" I joked, shortly grinning. Michael rubbed his forehead in slight embarrassment, shaking his head.
"I haven't played in a long time, okay?" He stressed, putting his hands up in defense.
"Clearly." I smirked, then placed my fingers on the keys, "Watch and learn."
Michael rolled his eyes while I looked down, and started playing the piano smoothly. There was a peaceful silence between us as the music began to flow into the air, and I felt Michael's eyes glued to the keys the entire time in amazement. As I finished the last two notes, my playing came to a stop and I turned my head to see his reaction. Before I could open my mouth to speak, Michael said.
"Don't even say it."
I raised my eyebrow, and laughed a little bit then said, "What was I gonna say?"
"Something smart." He said tiredly, crossing his arms. I shook my head, with a small smile, denying it.
"That's not what I was going to say." I replied, "I was going to ask, if you wanted to learn a couple of notes or two."
He laughed, then furrowed his eyebrows, "You?" His finger pointed at me, "Teaching me?"
I nodded, looking at him innocently, being fully honest.
Michael slightly tilted his head, looking confused as ever. Then out of nowhere, he touched the top of my forehead, then the side of my face.
"Are you okay?" He said, "Feeling warm at all?"
I grabbed his hands, slowly removing them from my face, and I looked at him weirdly, "Is there a reason why you're touching my face? I'm not sick."
Michael took his hands out of my grasps and once again touched the side of my face but started to pat it.
"Is Prince in there?" He slightly shouted, I grabbed his hand again, and winced in pain, grabbing the side of my face.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked, starting to get irritated. Michael let out a sigh, giving up, putting down his hands and realizing that I was completely fine.
"This is just so weird, you're being very, very...nice." He raised his eyebrow, thinking that me teaching him how to play the piano was a set up.
I rolled my eyes playfully, crossing my arms, "Why, you want me to be mean?"
"No!" He quickly said, knowing that I would be on a roll if I was, "It's just weird, like even though we're now friends and on the same page, I'm still not use to you being so nice to me."
"Well." I shrugged, "Don't get too happy, I'm gonna have to make fun of ya every now and then."
Michael scoffed, and started to chuckle, staying silent. I looked back down at the piano keys before I glanced at him, "Besides, there's a lot of things you're not gonna be use to about me."
"Like what?" Michael questioned, I smirked then I pressed onto a key, that made a very low sound.
"Maybe if you agree to play along." I say, then played a tune, making the dun dun dunn sound, "You'll know those things."
Michael sighed, contemplating, and we kept eye contact for at least ten seconds before he cracked a smile after trying to be serious, and that ended up making me smile as well and then we both started to laugh.
"Okay fine." Michael got himself together, surpressing his laugh, "Just don't start feelin' yourself, now."
I smirked, and shook my head, "Never that."
Michael smiled at me, and I did the same in return. We sat there and gazed at each other for a good twenty seconds, and it seemed like it went on for longer than that. I didn't realize what we were doing until we finally came to our senses and snapped out of it. We both cleared our throats and shifted in our seats. I wasn't quite sure what happened there honestly, but we didn't pay that much attention to it and moved on.
"Alright." I shifted in seat once more, getting comfortable, "Follow my lead.'
I pressed two keys on the left making a flat, deep sound while Michael was on the right, pressing the same keys, but just on the other side, making a higher sound.
"Good." I said, reacting to the keys he played in the right tone, then I began to play three keys, slowly building the melody up.
He successfully did the same thing back, hitting the right keys. I smiled, nodding my head once again, "Great. Now, just follow the music."
I began to play the slower version of my song I would die 4 you and surprisingly, he caught on and starting playing along while I played on the left side of the piano.
Michael playfully glanced at me, in a way like seriously out of all songs you chose your own song? But he went along with it and played it very decently, and our playing mixed really well, making the song come alive.
As the music came to a stop, I couldn't help myself any longer, so I decided to play with him and bump his shoulder a bit so it would throw him off, and Michael instantly screwed up.
Michael sighed, hitting my shoulder, "Damn it, Prince! You made me mess up."
I rubbed my shoulder, feeling the stinging pain of that slap. Damn, even though he was soft as hell, he had one hell of a hit. I smirked and tried to be as innocent as I could.
"Sorry." I say, with an evil chuckle, "I lost my balance."
"You're full of shit." Michael shook his head, taking his fingers off of the piano.
"Aw, come on." I playfully whined, then nudged his shoulder, "Don't be a baby. I thought that was beautiful."
Michael looked up at me, with hope in his eyes, "Really?"
"No."
His facial expression dropped and he hit me on the shoulder again, but this time even harder. I think I needed a new shoulder.
"Damn, okay." I laughed, trying my hardest not to show any pain, "I was just kidding."
〰️
Soon after that, me and Michael continued to goof around at the piano for a couple of minutes before one of my guards finally brought up the pizza I had requested for us to have, and we were both in the living room area, yes my hotel room had a living room area, sounds weird but it was that big, and we both sat down at the couch, stuffing our face while we watched "Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo."
All of the dancers in the movie were extremely talented and I was very memorized by their movement. However, I started to recognize a lot of the moves they were doing looked extremely familiar. Especially from the kid named Turbo, he was doing all types of glides and robotic movement, and he even did the moonwalk.
"Damn, Mike." I said in a playful worried tone, taking another bite out of my pizza slice, "Looks like you stole his whole style."
Michael scoffed, and set his can of sprite down on the coffee table, "I didn't steal anything from anyone. I just incorporated it into my movement and make it my own, like enhancing it."
I raised my eyebrow, "So, you basically just said you took his move and made it better?"
"Oh my God, no." Michael facepalmed his forehead, "That's not what I meant."
"Did you give him credit?"
"Prince-"
"Ha!" I cut him off, catching him red handed, pointing at him, "Gotcha there."
"You didn't even let me finish." He said in a stern voice.
"Don't have to." I say with a smirk, "Copycat."
He picked up a bowl of popcorn that was also on the table next to the box of pizza, and then threw a handful of popcorn at me. I gasped, frozen in place as I looked down at my lap that was now full of popcorn.
"Shut up." He said, challenging me. I grabbed the popcorn that was in my lap and threw it back at him.
"Whatchu gonna do about it, sissy?" I challenged back. Michael scoffed, leaning over to put the popcorn on the table and then he stood up. His head turned to the left and he glanced at the light blue guitar I had leaned against the foot of the bed. He raised his eyebrow, turned his head back towards me, giving a sneaky look before he turned back around fully and started to walk towards the guitar.
I was confused about what he was doing at first, but then it finally hit me. I widened my eyes. Oh hell no, he was going to fuck up the tune to my guitar.
I jumped out of my seat and started to power walk as fast as I could to stop him, "Michael don't-" I say, but then got quickly interrupted when I slipped on the floor, and landed right on my ass.
I groan in pain, leaning on my side, holding the side of my ass. Words couldn't even explain how bad that hurt.
Meanwhile, Michael had snapped right back around to see what the loud thud was about, but when he saw it was me he instantly busted out laughing.
"See? That's what you get." He says, then starts laughing even more after that, holding his chest, "Are you okay?"
"Shut up, Michael." I sighed, rubbing the side of my butt to ease the pain, "I'm fine."
He reached out a hand, I looked at it for a second and then looked up at him. Michael playfully rolled his eyes and said, "My arms getting tired, any day now."
I ignored his sarcasm, inhaling sharply as I took his hand that he offered, and then he helped me up. As I stood up, I saw Michael's eyes fall onto my lower torso that was slightly exposed. I looked down as well, seeing that my large bruise, which I had gotten years ago when I was a kid was now visible. It was so bad that even after years, it never went away.
I covered it up with makeup often so no one would see it when I wore crop tops, but I was wearing a long sleeve shirt that covered me completely, so I didn't feel the need to cover it with makeup, but I regretted it. I slid my shirt back down slowly, knowing it was too late but too embarrassed to let it be.
"Jeez, that looks like it hurts." Michael cringed, put said in a nurturing tone, "Are you sure you're okay? I can go to the bathroom and see if there's an emergency kit-"
"It's nothing." I say quickly, hoping he wouldn't ask too much about it, "And it's just a bruise, Michael. An emergency kit isn't going to do anything about that."
"But-"
"I said I'm fine, just let it go." I said a very stern voice, more serious than I expected. Michael put his hands up in defense.
"I'm sorry.." He said apologetically, trying to ease the tension since he could tell I was getting upset.
I sighed, squeezing the bridge of my nose and took a breath, calming down, "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it like that. How about we just finish watching the movie?"
Michael nodded his head slowly, and grinned a little bit, trying to ease the awkwardness. Then we both walked back to the couch, and sat down, continuing with the movie in silence. After twenty minutes had passed, Michael had broken the silence.
"Can I ask you a question?" He asks, I look at the TV for about two more seconds before turning my head to make eye contact with him.
"Sure." I said, Michael stared at me for a couple seconds, then looked down at his lap, playing with his fingers.
"I never really got the chance to ask you this, but I've been thinking about it a lot and becoming really curious to know what happened that night." He started, my heart slightly dropped, already knowing where he was going and then he said, "How come you were in the stall all by yourself? Do you remember how you got there?"
I sighed heavily, looking down at my lap, really not wanting to answer. I shook my head, "Nothing, I was just drunk, that's all."
"You were more than just drunk, Prince." Michael said with a softened face, "Seriously, what happened?"
"I'd rather not discuss it." I said, wanting him to get the hint already that I didn't want to talk about it.
He sighed, looking like he was already going to give up. But then a second later, he reached over, and touched my shoulder gently in a consoling manner.
"I'm the last person on earth that you should be guarding yourself away from, Prince." Michael said truthfully, as he could see right through me, "You're hurting, aren't you?" he said.
My heart stopped a little and my breath hitched, not knowing what to say. He was the first person to notice that I truly wasn't okay, and that the face I put on everyday, was all lie. He didn't pass any judgement towards me, and he noticed from the jump. However, I didn't want to give in.
I faked laughed, and furrowed my eyebrows at him, trying to lighten up the mood, "Yeah I'm hurting, from falling on my ass like a couple of minutes ago."
Michael gave me a look, letting me know that he was trying to be serious and it wasn't time for any jokes, "Prince, it's really not the time for games right now."
I shrugged, "Maybe it's not, but I don't appreciate you trying to stick your nose in my business when I told you clearly, twice, that I didn't want to talk about it, and now you're going above and beyond, just simply jumping to conclusions. What part of that do you not understand?" I snapped at him, feeling my blood starting to boil. He looked taken aback by my tone, and he stayed silent.
Then I immediately slapped myself on the forehead, and took two deep breaths, calming down. My blood went straight back to normal, and I quickly started to feel guilty.
"Michael-"
"You know what, Prince? Forget it. Just pretend I didn't even ask." Michael said irritably, feeling upset, which I didn't blame him, because I realized that he didn't mean any harm.
He stood up from his seat, walking over to the coat rack, picking up his jacket. I sighed, sitting up from my seat, "Where are you going?"
"I think it's clearly time for me to go." He said, putting his jacket on. I rubbed my hand over my face, feeling guilty.
"I'm sorry, okay? You don't have to leave." I said truthfully, regretting what I said to him earlier. He twisted the doorknob, and looked at me once last time.
"Yeah, I'm sorry too." He said bluntly, before walking out of the door and shutting it.
I sighed heavily, leaning back on the seat, closing my eyes.
Way to go, Prince.
We we're just getting along too, until you had to screw it up.
I leaned foward, grabbing the remote to turn off the TV. When I looked to my left, I spotted Michael's fedora that he left, and it was lying on top of the table. I shook my head, chuckling a bit before standing up, and walking over to the table. I gently picked up the fedora, carefully rotating it with my fingers.
"You left your hat." I said out loud, knowing that he couldn't hear me since he left but I said it anyway, cracking myself up.
〰️
|September 16th, 2010|
|Paisley Park|
|9:00 am|
As I made my way into the kitchen, I smelt a wave of pancakes flowing into the air. When I entered, I looked up to see my daughter effortlessly flipping two pancakes over, just like I thought. I had taught her years ago how to make some when she was little, and she had been a pancake fanatic ever since, just like her father. I smiled to myself, and walked over to her, kissing the side of her forehead.
"Good morning, beautiful." I said to her, she turned her head slightly to look at me and she smiled a little before looking back down at the pan.
"Hey, Dad." She says, focusing intently on the pancakes. I chuckled, then I made my way over to my grandson, who was sitting in the purple high top chair. I kissed the top of his forehead, and saw that he already started eating his food. I raised my eyebrow, and bent down to his level.
"Did you say grace?" I asked him, he paused his eating, quickly dropping the strawberry he was going to pop in his mouth and then he put his small little hands together, saying his grace.
That's what I thought, I laughed to myself, leaning back up. It couldn't get any more adorable than that.
"Dad?" My daughter asked, "Can you please get the orange juice from the other fridge please?"
I sighed, not wanting to go all the way back to the garage, which was on the other end of the house, "Come on, Marhi Anne." I said, almost saying her full name, "Seriously?"
"I'm sorry! Please?" She begged, I rolled my eyes, shaking my head, and walking back out of the kitchen.
"Thank you!" She yelled from the kitchen, but I ignored. I turned the corner and started walking down the hallway. As I came to the end of the hallway, I slowly came to a stop, due to my eyes falling on a picture frame that was set on stand, along with many other family photos.
I stopped walking, facing the picture fully. I gently picked it up, gazing at the picture, and a small smile creeped up onto my face with a small chuckle.
The picture taken at one of the shows of the Sign 'O' The Times tour. I remember that day like it was yesterday.
June 29th, 1987. It was the last day of the tour, and I was closing out the show with the song Adore. Michael happened to be there, he came to visit and join me on the tour for a couple of days before he had to return to his own tour, which was the BAD tour. After begging him a thousand times to come on stage and play the piano with me, which he didn't want to do at first because he thought he was going to mess up in front of thousands of people, he finally came out and played the song along with me on the piano. The picture showed us together, side by side on the piano, playing with huge smiles on our faces, trying not to laugh because he accidentally pressed the wrong key, but it wasn't noticeable.
I sighed heavily, taking a deep breath. I looked up from the picture, holding it close to my heart. Then, my eyes started to well up with tears, wishing I could go back to that day.
"Dad? What's taking you so long? I made some pancakes for you." Marhi said, stepping out into the hallway with a bright smile on her face, and then made her way towards me. When she got closer and realized that I was upset, her face softened.
She gently touched my arm, and pulled it close to her, hugging it, "What's wrong, dad? Are you okay?"
I nodded, bringing the picture from my chest and setting it back on the stand, wrapping my arm around her, embracing her side. Marhi's eyes fell onto the picture that I was looking at, and then just like that, her entire mood changed.
Her arm that was wrapped around my side tightened, and she sighed, looking at the picture, "I miss Daddy so much.."
I began to hold her tighter, still looking at the picture, "I miss him too, babygirl."
We looked at the picture in silence for about twenty more seconds before I kissed her forehead, clearing my throat, trying to lightened the mood.
"I'll be back with the orange juice, okay?" I told her, she nodded, I rubbed her arm once more before leaving her side. As I was about to exit the hallway, I turned around and looked at my daughter one more time. She stood there, still staring at the picture with sadness showing all over her face.
My heart broke into pieces, then a tear dropped down my face. I bit my lip, holding it in, then I walked away.
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