Five Months Later
From the moment Raven spoke those three words that Drake swore he'd never forget, there had been a change in their relationship- for the better of course. Their schedules still collided, but whenever either of them had free time, it was spent with each other. Either Raven was visiting him in the studio, or he was dropping by her trailer. Or times like now where it was just the two of them relaxing in solitude at her house. Raven had finished shooting her film and had a little downtime with post-production, and Drake's album was all wrapped, he was only doing promo's and shows here and there.
The two of them had just finished eating dinner and were sitting on the sofa watching old basketball highlights. When he turned to ESPN, he expected Raven to protest and beg him to change the channel but was surprised when she just cuddled up next to him. Throughout the course of the clips he tried to 'educate' her in the sport, but she just brushed him off with a laugh.
"Now the one in the white and red with the headband that was just fouled, that's LeBron James," Drake explained as they continued to watch.
"I know who LeBron James is Aubrey, and he wasn't fouled, if anything it's a blocking foul on him, the shot was already in motion when he jumped out there," Raven replied sounding all too sure of herself. She didn't have to look at him to see the shock on his face, Raven just kept her eyes on the screen. About five seconds later, the referee ruled it a blocking foul on Miami. She turned to him with a smirk seeing that her previous assumptions were correct. "Don't look too surprised, I was engaged to a basketball player."
"Don't remind me," Drake grumbled under his breath, but Raven still heard him and smirked. "Okay, Ms. Know It All. I bet you he doesn't make both of these free throws." He challenged.
"What are we betting?" Raven asked.
"If he misses even one, I get whatever I want." There was an unmistakable suggestive grin on his face that made Raven roll her eyes.
Raven watched the forward take his place at the free-throw line. There wasn't much time left to decide, so she just went with it. "Alright, I can do that, but the same goes for you." She replied quickly, hoping that this wasn't a game that he saw. After all, they were watching highlights.
After they shook on it, both of their heads turned to the television. They watched closely as the ball bounced once, twice, and then again. Raven held her breath as the player took his form and released the ball- swish, it went right in. Drake dismissed it as a lucky shot, and his confidence went up a little seeing that the crowd had started making noise to throw the shooter off of his game. Meanwhile, Raven was silently hoping that didn't affect his shot, there was no telling what Drake would have her do. Once again the ball was released. It bounced on the edge of the rim, threatening to fall off the side when suddenly it dropped into the net.
"Yes!" Raven stood up raising both arms in the air with a cheesy grin. "Now if memory serves me correctly, I do believe there was something about a bet," Raven asked facetiously as she did her victory dance in front of him.
This girl was full of surprises, they were always finding out something new about each other that kept that spark in their relationship. Drake smiled watching the sway of her hips and the bounce of her breasts in her purple nightie, he was actually enjoying her victory dance more than she was. He reached out and grabbed the front of her gown, pulling her onto his lap which she straddled.
"I think I remember something like that." His hands slid down to the small of her back easing her closer as he planted slow and teasing kisses at the apex of her breasts. "I think it was something about you getting what you want." He spoke into her skin, not breaking the contact.
Raven smiled feeling his delicate touch. That smile grew even wider when she felt his body coming alive beneath her. She placed her hands on his shoulders pushing him back. "Sorry baby, but that's not what I want."
"Oh really? Then what do you want?"
"I haven't decided yet, but when I find out I'll let you know." She replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes seeing his anticipation. This was going to be so much fun for her, now all she had to do was map out her plans.
As they sat on the couch watching the rest of the game, Drake's phone started to make noise. He reached in his pocket pulling it out to look at the screen. After reading a message he stuffed it back in his pocket and wrapped his arm back around Raven's shoulder.
"Is everything okay?" Raven asked when she really wanted to ask who it was. That was the third message he got that he didn't reply to. Her inquiring mind wanted to get a peek at his phone, but she refrained. She didn't want to be that girl; the jealous girlfriend role didn't suit her.
"Yeah, that's just 40 and the guys. They're trying to get me to come out with them tonight." Tonight would mark one whole week he'd spent 'missing in action' as his crew put it. Since he and Raven both had some free time, he was using it to their advantage. They'd been held up at her house since that was the only place they could truly be alone and just be. They spent their early mornings and late nights in bed, which neither of them had any problems with, and the in between time was spent relaxing on the beach, or having tv marathons in their pajamas away from intruding eyes.
Raven nodded her head and went back to watching television, but soon turned her attention back to him. She took the popcorn bowl from his lap and sat it on the table. "Call Noah and tell him you're going," said Raven. Deep down she didn't want him to go, but she didn't want him to alienate his friends either.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"Yes, they probably think I'm holding you hostage." She joked, but yet and still he sat there contemplating what he was going to do. Raven nudged his side trying to push him off the sofa. "Aubrey, go spend time with your boys. I'll be here when you get back."
After thinking it over for another minute, he unwrapped his arm from around Raven and stood up. "Alright, let me tell them to come get me then." He said as he walked out of the room leaving Raven on the sofa.
Raven sat in the living room mindlessly flipping through channels. Sports had suddenly become less interesting to her. After fifteen minutes or so of channel surfing, she got up and went into her bedroom. The first thing she saw when she entered was Drake standing in front of the closet wearing a pair of white jeans with a towel on over his head using it to dry the remaining bits of water. When he finished, he tossed it on the floor in a pile with the dirty clothes that he just took off. Raven shook her head, she'd lost count of how many times she's asked him to put his clothes in the hamper and somehow they just always managed to end up on the floor. He could be so messy at times. Raven sat down on the bed and watched him shift through 'his' closet looking for a shirt.
"So where are you guys going?" she asked.
"I don't know, Ryan said something about a strip club. Are you cool with that?" Drake spoke with his back to her while still looking for something to wear. His eyes land on a blue and black button-down, with weird patterns all over it. He took it off the hanger and began putting it on.
The words strip club was still registering in her head. When she encouraged him to go out with the guys, she was thinking along the lines of kicking back, eating greasy foods, talking about the female anatomy, scratching themselves, or whatever the hell they did. But a strip club... she wasn't too sure about that. The thought of some naked thirsty woman grinding on him made her stomach turn. It was so difficult being with him, knowing that women were constantly throwing their vagina at him. If they did it when she was around, she knew it was even worse when she wasn't. When she drifted out of Lala land to answer him, her nose slightly scrunched up as she watched him button the fugly blue shirt.
"I can't tell you not to go, but I do ask that you consider my feelings and behave yourself." She stated with her focus set on the eyesore. It was like a train wreck that she couldn't turn away from.
"I'm always on my best behavior," Drake replied with a laugh, but when he turned around he saw an absent look on her face as if she was thinking about something. He walked over to where she sat on the bed and leaned down placing one hand on the mattress and the other on her chin tilting her head to look at him. "I don't care about none of those other women out there, I love you, Raven, you know that."
Staring into his eyes that melted her, how could she not know that? She told herself she was going to trust him in every aspect of their relationship, and now her word was being put to the test. "I know," Raven said with a smile, but then her attention was pulled back to that shirt of his. "And since I love you back, I'm going to tell you to change that shirt."
Drake looked down, giving himself a brief once over. "What's wrong with this shirt?" he asked sounding slightly offended.
"Nothing, it would be perfectly fine as my Abuelita's table cloth," Raven replied trying to contain her laughter.
"Oh, so you gonna just clown my shirt." He laid his body weight on top of Raven crushing her between him and the mattress as he tickled her sides causing her to wiggle and squirm beneath him.
Raven managed to roll them over so that she was now on top and held his hands at the sides of his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you go out like that, even if you are going to look at half-naked women."
"I'll be thinking about you the whole time." Was his smooth and extremely sexy response rolling his tongue across his bottom lip. He always did that whenever he wanted to get his way with her.
That move provoked an eye roll from Raven. "Yeah, yeah, tell me anything." The doorbell rang getting both of their attention. "I'll get it, you need to find a new shirt." Raven climbed off of Drake to answer the door but was pulled back to him.
"Don't you think you should put something on?" His bushy brows rose not releasing his hold on her.
Raven looked down at the satin nightgown that skimmed her mid-thigh and then back up to him with a smirk on her face. "What are you talking about Aubrey, I have on clothes."
Drake shook his head from side to side and passed her the robe that was lying on the bed. "You're not wearing that in front of the guys, that's for my eyes only."
Her head tilted slightly to the side chuckling at his unblinking expression as she tied her robe. "Do you feel better now Mr. Graham?" She asked.
"Ecstatic," Drake replied getting up to get a new shirt out of the closet.
When Raven opened her front door, she found 40, Chubbs, Ryan, Hush and Neeks on the other side of it. She smiled stepping aside to allow them in giving each of them hugs as they walked pass her. Once the last one was in she closed door turning around to face the five guys that were gathered in her living room. "Aubrey's just finishing getting dressed so you guys can make yourself comfortable." Raven glanced over to Ryan who had already made himself at home with his feet propped up on her table with her bowl of leftover popcorn sitting on his lap. She walked by him knocking his feet to the floor before taking a seat next to 40.
"Why is he just now getting dressed? What were y'all doing before we got here?" Ryan asked all the while showing his mouth full of popcorn.
Raven just shook her head choosing to ignore the amused man question. "Anyway, Noah were you able to do that for me?"
"Everything's set up. OB's flying in that morning; and I double checked the guest list to make sure we didn't forget anyone." 40 replied.
A smile lit up on her face. Raven was throwing Drake a surprise birthday party Supperclub with the help of the fellas. It was a week from now and she wanted to make sure everything was in place. "Thank you so much! He still has no clue so let's and keep it that way." She said looking directly at Ryan.
"Why are you looking at me?" Ryan asked noticing all eyes on him.
"Because you're the one with the big ass mouth." said Chubbs. He laughed at the finger gesture Ryan replied with and turned back to Raven. "So when are you gonna let us bless your house with a party?" he asked her.
Raven laughed shaking her head. "I've seen the frat parties you throw, that's not gonna happen here." In the time that Raven had been in LA, she's had the unfortunate pleasure of attending several 'gatherings' thrown by Drake's crew, each one more wilder than the last. It was nothing but drunken scantily clad females doing any and everything for attention.
"Oh come on, you got the beach right there. All we got to do is invite a few girls over..." Chubbs tried, but Raven kept shaking her head from side to side.
"Absolutely not, you are not about to have a bunch of half naked hoes running around my house."
"Why they gotta be hoes?" Chubbs asked.
"Because that's all ya'll deal with." She said as she motioned to the men in the room.
"Damn, you just throwing all of us in the pot. It's not our fault that these women throw themselves out there like that." Ryan reasoned.
"At the end of the day, any smart man is gonna go with the easy catch in the room." Niko added earning a dap from Chubbs and a couple of head nods.
Looking around the room, she could see that the men were all in agreement. Raven just shook her head at the men trying to justify their attraction to promiscuous women. She crossed her arms in front of her staring at the beige man wearing a hood. "Is that right? So is that why you guys are going to the strip club, to find an easy catch?" Raven asked, throwing his words back at him.
Niko fixed his lips to say something, but was stuck- so Chubbs spoke up instead. "Don't worry Raven, we're not gonna corrupt your man. He's gonna be the same ole whipped dude when we return him."
"I heard that nigga." Drake's voice chimed in as he entered the living room. He'd got rid of the awful blue button down, now sporting a black v-neck topping it off with a gold chain, watch, and the ring Raven gave him. He walked over to the group and playful smacked Chubbs on the back of his head. "Ya'll ready?" Drake asked the men. They nodded and stood to their feet. He let the guys say their goodbyes before walking out the door, and then he turned to the woman who was awaiting him with a smile. "I'm coming back later on. Are you gonna be up?"
Raven shrugged her shoulders and reached her arm around his neck to tuck the tag into his shirt. "I don't know, I'll have to think about it."
Drake smiled showing his dimples, "Yeah, you'll be up." He spoke knowingly causing her to smile herself. His arm reached around her back pulling her close to him stealing a kiss. "I love you."
"Love you too. Have fun... but not too much fun." She said with a smile, but he knew she was serious. Raven walked him to the door and watched as the large suv drove off into the night. Once it was out of sight, she closed the door behind her and leaned against it letting out a sigh.
Raven was desperately trying to escape her mind. Thoughts of Drake touching other women, and drooling over naked bodies were running through her head and she needed something to take her mind off of it. Nothing was on television; cable was of no use to her tonight. Raven tried calling Tiana, but she got no answer. It was ten o'clock pacific time, which meant it was one o'clock eastern. Tiana was either sleeping or out partying, something that Raven missed doing. She missed being close to her best friend. A trip home was definitely on her agenda, and soon. Since she was home alone, and bored out of her mind she decided to go for a stroll on the beach.
It was a chill in the night air so Raven changed into some black leggings, a grey sweatshirt, and some running sneakers. She grabbed her earphones, her phone, and her keys with the mace attached to them and headed out to her patio where miles of beach awaited her. Music blasted in her ears and she walked and walked, watching the low tide wash against the shore. Raven continued her strides, singing along to the random songs that popped up on her Pandora when suddenly the music was interrupted. Raven looked down on the screen and saw an incoming call from Tiana.
"Hey, look who knows how to return phone calls." Raven teased.
Tiana was laughing on the other end. "I was out and couldn't hear my phone over the music. Besides, I'm surprised you found time to climb off of Drake and call me."
"Oh please, don't even front I call you all the time."
"Yeah whatever, where's Mr. Rapper anyway? I don't hear his voice in the background calling you back to the bedroom."
Raven stopped walking and sat down in the sand. She knew Tiana was about to have a long drawn out opinion for what she was about to say. "... He's out with his boys, they went to a strip club."
"A what? I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you right."
"Trust me, you did." She absent mindedly traced her name in the same while talking.
"Raven are you crazy?" Tiana shouted through the phone. "Do you know what goes on in those filthy places? I can't believe you allowed him to go."
"Aubrey's a grown man, I can't allow him to do anything. I trust him to think with the head on his shoulders, not the one between his legs. Besides, he knows what he has at home."
"I'm proud of you Raven. You are better than me, because I would be sitting right next to his ass in that club. Either we go together, or you don't go at all. Fuck a boys night."
Raven busted out laughing at the visual image Tiana provided. "You know what; I can actually see you doing some shit like that."
"So have you told him about this new role yet?"
Tiana asked, changing the light mood.
"No, but I'm working on it. I haven't even read the script yet, so I don't even know if I'm accepting the part."
"This is Steven fucking Spielberg, you're accepting the part. I like Aubrey, I really do, but if he can't accept that your career is just as important as his is, then maybe he should go back to dating strippers."
"Ugh... I know this, you know I do. I'm just afraid that his reaction isn't gonna be the one that I want, and then I'm gonna have to make a move that I don't want to make."
"If he loves you as much as he says he does, then it shouldn't be a problem."
"I hope so." Raven replied. She really wasn't looking forward to telling him.
After talking with Tiana for another hour, Raven started to make her way back up to her house. When she got inside, she through her keys on a table and headed straight to her office. A yellow envelope was sitting on her desk unopened, and had been that way for almost a week now. She opened the large envelope, and reached inside pulling out the stack of white papers that were held together by brass fasteners. Raven quickly flipped through the pages, letting her eyes fall on the last page. There was one hundred and sixteen pages of dialogue and action that she had to read, and what better night than tonight to get started.
~~~~~
The strip club was like a second home to Drake and his crew. As soon as the word got out that he was in the building, dancers in all shape, sizes, and colors flocked to the VIP. The sad thing was he knew most of them by first name. They all stood watch as the voluptuous women did their tricks on the poles. Before he knew it there was a sea of green pouring from the air, drizzling down on the topless women in g-strings. Bottles were being popped, but Drake stayed true to his word and took it easy on the liquor. After indulging in numerous lap dances, and turning down even more "private" dances, his night was coming to an end. It was always good times and laughs when Drake was with his crew, but it was two in the morning and he was ready to go.
It was closing in on three when Drake pulled into Raven's driveway. The guys dropped him off and kept going; their night was far from over with. When he unlocked the door and stepped inside, his first thought was that Raven was sleeping. All of the lights were out, and the television in the living room was off. Drake flipped on a lamp and looked around the room. Just as he was about to go in the bedroom, he felt a cool breeze float by him. When he looked in the direction the draft was coming from, he noticed that the patio doors were open. As he moved towards the doors, he saw light illuminating from candles. When he stepped out back, there was Raven curled up on the sofa reading. Drake cleared his throat causing her to look up from the papers in her hands. When Raven saw it was him she flashed a smile that he returned when he saw that she was wearing her glasses. Drake walked over, taking a seat next to her.
He wrapped his arm around Raven's shoulder allowing her to lean into his chest. "Hey babe, what are you reading?" Drake asked as his eyes peered down on the paper trying to get a look at the words.
"This Spielberg script Ari sent me a week ago that I'm just now getting around to." Raven replied in a nonchalant tone turning the page to continue reading.
Drake's whole mood had changed; it was like she stuck a pin in his balloon. "You got another movie offer..." Things had been great between them. He'd gotten so use to her being there when he woke up in the morning and went to bed at night. The thought of her going back to work so soon hadn't even crossed his mind. "Are you taking the part?" he asked.
The apprehension in his voice hit her ears loud and clear. Raven sat up and closed the booklet sitting it down on the table in front of her. "I haven't made that decision yet, but this could be a good role for me." She paused trying to gauge his reaction so far, but his face was unreadable. "What do you think about it?" Raven asked trying to get him to express whatever it was he was thinking.
"I don't know. I mean, you just finished a film and now you're jumping right into another one." This was different for him, he was so used to having women depend on him and being there whenever and wherever for whatever. With Raven she was away and on the road as much as he was. There was no coming home after a tour to a woman waiting for him, because half the time she wasn't there. "Where do I fit in all of this Raven?"
"Right beside me." She answered in an impatient tone. "Aubrey, just because I'm working doesn't mean I won't make time for you."Raven hated when he made her feel guilty for working and being away from him. At times it felt like he didn't take her career as serious as his. They just sat there in silence letting everything sink in. Raven looked up at him and saw the brooding expression on his face as he stared out into space. She let out a soft sigh, "Like I said, I haven't decided yet, besides production doesn't start for another six months so you can stop sulking." Raven said teasingly in an attempt to redirect the conversation. She knew that he wanted to avoid an argument just as much she did.
Drake turned to look at Raven who was imitating his current facial expression and it took everything in him not to crack a smile. "I'm not sulking."
"Yeah you are, but it's kind of cute." She poked his dimple when he finally loosened up and smiled.
Letting the tension between them subside, he leaned over and kissed her. "I'm exhausted Raven... are you coming to bed anytime soon?"
"Yeah, just give me a few minutes and I'll be right behind you." said Raven.
Drake stood from the sofa stretching his arms above his head, and then leaned down giving her a kiss on the lips. When he stepped inside of the house, Raven leaned back against the cushions staring out at the water and sand. She sat out on the patio just thinking, her talk with Tiana played over in her head. She knew that if she took this part that it would ultimately cause problems for them, but then again she laid out all of her goals when they first started dating so he knew what he was getting into. Raven shrugged her shoulders standing from the sofa to blow out the candles around her and went to bed. She would handle whatever problems they were to face in the future whenever they came.