Aubrey's Pov
It was seven in the morning when Cam's laughter woke me out of my sleep. I cracked my eyes open and saw him sitting in my bed watching Spongebob and eating cookies. His mother would have fit if she knew he was eating junk this early in the morning. I shook my head and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. It was a little after 7:00 A.M, and I already had like twenty missed calls. They were all from Tiana and Danielle which was strange because I don't even like her, so why would she be calling me? I called Tiana back to see what was going on. When I talked to her she was all panicky saying that neither her or Danielle have spoken to Raven since last night, which was weird since Danielle was supposed to be with Raven. I tried calling her phone to see if she would answer, but it just went to her voicemail.
Naturally, I was worried. If none of her friends knew where she was then something must have been wrong. I threw on some clothes and told the guys I would be back. When I pulled through the gates of her house I saw that the cars were still outside, but then I remember that she drove with Danielle. I knocked on the door but there was no answer so I used my key to open it. When I stepped inside, I called out her name but there was no answer. I then checked the bedroom thinking maybe she was asleep, but her bed was still made letting me know that she hasn't been here all night.
So here I sat on Raven's couch in her living room, watching the sunrise as I waited for her to return. Hours went by, no call, no text, no nothing, and most importantly, no Raven. Now I was the one panicking. Just as I was about to try her phone again I heard the alarm go off alerting me that the front door had opened. I looked down at my watch to check the time. I've been sitting here for damn near four hours and now she decides to come home. I got up from the couch and walked over to her.
"Where the hell have you been?" I called out to Raven. I could tell she was surprised to see me from the way she stood frozen with one foot on the step and the other still on the carpet. I gave her a quick once over to make sure she was okay, but then I noticed she wasn't wearing the clothes she had on last night. As a matter of fact, she was wearing baggy grey sweats and a black Nike t-shirt that looked like it belonged to a man. The dress and shoes she had on last night was in her hand, which made me wonder why it wasn't on her body.
"Aubrey, what are you doing here, and where's Cam?" Raven found her tongue to speak, but still didn't answer my question.
"Cam's fine, don't try and change the subject. I asked you a question." I repeated growing more frustrated by the second.
"I was out with a friend, now can you leave me alone." She responded with her sights set on her nails to avoid looking at me. I don't know who she thought she was fooling with that lie.
I planted my foot on the first step, stepping closer to Raven, who stood on the second. She was still trying to avoid my questioning gaze, so I tilted my head to meet her eyes. "That's funny, 'cause all your friends didn't seem to know where the hell you were."
All of a sudden she looked at me with a grin on her face. "You don't know all my friends, Aubrey." She said as she gave me her back and started walking up the stairs. I caught a whiff of cologne as she walked. This confirmed my suspicions of her spending the night with another man. They had to be pretty close for his scent to rub off on her and the thought of that had me gripping this banister. I followed Raven up to her bedroom. She tried to close the door on me, but I pushed it open and walked inside anyway. "Oh my god Aubrey, it's too early in the morning for this." She groaned. "I really need a shower, so if you don't mind..." Raven looked over at the door, insinuating that she wanted me to get out, but I wasn't going anywhere.
"Whose clothes are you wearing?" I asked. I think I have the right to know who this guy is.
"That's none of your business," was her simple reply while looking up at me with her hands on her hips.
"None of my business?" My eyes widened looking down at her. I couldn't believe how she was acting. "I've been sitting here for hours worrying about you, and you come in here wearing some man's clothes and you tell me it's none of my business." My voice raised a little because she was really irritating me with this nonchalant attitude she's had since she walked through the door.
"Aubrey, you are not my man. I don't have to answer to you. As you can see, I'm fine, so you can go home now." Raven gave me another careless reply like my concern meant nothing to her and walked past me and into her closet.
I stood there feeling like a fool for worrying about her and the entire time she was probably laid up with some dude. Now I could be jumping to conclusions, but what do you expect. She's out all night with a guy, comes home wearing his clothes and smelling like him. That only left one thought in my mind. "Did you sleep with him?" I asked. A few seconds ticked by and there was nothing but silence, and I know she heard me because I was only standing five feet away from where he was. "Raven I asked you a question."
"What business would it be of yours if I did? You have a girlfriend, or did you forget this week?" Raven hollered back from the closet. I didn't have to be standing in front of her to see the smirk on her face. She was getting to me and she knew it.
"So you're gonna go around and fuck random nigga just to get my attention?" I shouted back, knowing it would piss her off. Not a second later I heard her footsteps.
To my surprise, she came out of the closet laughing to herself while tying the belt to the robe she was now wearing. "Please, Aubrey, you were the last person on my mind last night," said Raven. "Me deciding to have sex with someone has absolutely nothing to do with you, but just know that I enjoyed every minute of it into the wee hours of the morning." She spoke with a taunting grin on her lips. I wanted to grab Raven and pin her against the wall so she would listen to me.
I was letting her get under my skin and beginning to lose my cool. I stood in front of Raven, blocking her so she couldn't get past me like she was trying to do. "Why are you playing these games with me, Raven? We both know what this is between us." I tilted her chin up so she would look at me. Raven's glare slowly went away as I stared into her eyes, so I took this opportunity to lean down and kiss her lips, but once again she turned her head away from me.
"I can't keep doing this with you Aubrey. It's not fair to me and it's not fair to her." I heard her say in a soft voice. Her attitude had suddenly changed when she pushed me away. She wasn't upset, she just seemed tired, like she was over the situation. "If you love her so much and she's as good of a woman as you say she is, then go be with her, because I'm not about to compete with another woman for your affection."
"If you would've been straight up from the beginning and told me that you wanted to get back together, we wouldn't be going in these circles," I said to her. We were only in this grey area because she spent years denying that she wanted to be with me.
"There's a lot of if's we can factor in, but both of our choices brought us here." She responded looking me dead in the eyes. Raven sighed, blowing air through her nose. "Look, I'm about to take a shower so I can go get Cam. I should-"
"I told him he could stay with me for the rest of the weekend." I lied. Raven was really starting to get on my nerves. She dumped our son off so she could spend the night out, and now she wants to take him now that she's got what she wanted.
"You could've asked me first. What if I made plans with him already?" She asked and I shrugged my shoulders.
"Look at it this way, you can finish running around with whatever guy you were with because they won't be around my son," I said to Raven, and meant every single word.
Her arms folded across her chest as her mouth shot opened and for a second I thought she was going to yell at me, but she paused for a second and shook her head from side to side. "Whatever Aubrey, I can't deal with you right now." She calmly spoke and walked over to the bathroom while mumbling to herself and slammed the door behind her.
When I heard the water running, I picked up her phone from the dresser to find out who she was with. Just my luck, it was dead, so I sat it back in the same spot and left. On the ride home I just kept thinking about the possibility of Raven finding someone new. What if she really does move on one of these days? I don't want my son calling some other man dad, and most of all I can't picture Raven with another man. Having him touch her, and making her smile the way I used to. It's not that I don't want her happy, I just don't want her happy with someone else. I had let things get out of hand, and my ego was pushing us further apart. I looked down at my phone and saw that Ava was calling. I just let it go to voicemail. There's so much going on and I really don't know what to say to her, but we do need to talk. Even though I didn't want to admit it at the time, Raven was right. They both deserve better than what I've been giving.
Raven's Pov
After I left Aubrey with his attitude, I hopped in the shower like I intended to do in the first place. This morning kind of threw me off guard because I didn't think I would be having the dating discussion with Aubrey so soon, but I didn't think I'd be going out with someone so soon either. Last night was completely unexpected, but I ended up enjoying myself. Michael's much different from the arrogant guys that I seem to attract. He's laid back and down to earth, much like myself and I really like that about him.
I wrapped up my shower and threw on my black Puma yoga pants and matching jacket on top of my sports bra, then slipped on my sneakers. By the time I finished putting my hair in a bun and grabbed my car keys it was a little after 12:00 P.M. Since Cam's not with me cause Aubrey wants to be petty, I decided to drop in on one of Tiana's yoga classes.
On my way over I called up Danielle to see if she wanted to come so we could make this a girl's day. Of course, she said yes, but that was only because her noisy self wanted to bombard me with questions. Danielle and I got there towards the end of the last class, so we tried to sneak in unnoticed, but Tiana's head popped up right in the middle of her downward dog.
"Oh, I see we have a couple of latecomers!" She interjected causing ten heads to turn in our direction.
I thought yoga was supposed to be silent, but Tiana's loud mouth got us caught. I gave a small wave to the women in the room as I unrolled my mat in the back of the class. Tiana was grinning because she knows that I don't like being put on the spot, but I guess that was her getting me back for being late.
She went back to instructing her class, demonstrating all sorts of crazy poses she wanted us to do. I was so proud of Tiana watching her up there. She looked like she was in her element, rather than in the middle of the ocean with waves going over her head. I realize that I put too much responsibility on Tiana when I asked her to run the studio, knowing dance wasn't her passion like it was mine. I'm just glad she finally found her calling. She has her man, her career, and seems much happier than she did working for me back in New York.
After the class was over, I signed a few autographs and took pictures with the students, even though I was now looking a hot mess. My stomach was growling all through that workout so we stopped to have lunch and talk each other ears off, but I also had a bone to pick with these two.
"So since we're all here, I would like to know which one of you heffas snitched on me to Aubrey?" I asked once our waiter left the table after bringing out our entrées. I glanced over at Danielle, who in turn, turned her head to the side to look at Tiana who had the guilty face. I had a feeling it was her since Danielle and Aubrey can't say two words to each other without insults flying.
"Yes, I called, but I wasn't the only one." Tiana asserted, and both of our sights were set on Danielle who had suddenly found her water more interesting. "I was worried because she didn't hear from you and didn't know where you were, so I called Aubrey thinking he might have spoken to you." She explained. I guess their heart was in the right place. "Why, what happened now?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing, except he was waiting for me in my living room this morning. As soon as I stepped through my front door I was hit with a bunch of questions about my whereabouts." I said as I thought back to my run in with Aubrey this morning.
Danielle's nose scrunched up while twirling her pasta on her fork. "Wait a minute, doesn't he have a girlfriend? Shouldn't he be checking her instead of you?" she asked.
"My point exactly!" I agreed while picking at the food on my plate. "Then get this... he accused me of sleeping with random guys to get his attention." I continued on telling them about Aubrey's foolishness. Tiana just shook her head from side to side.
"Really? Sleeping with random guys? So he just thinks you're just out here hoeing to make him jealous." Danielle concluded. I guess her mind works the same way mine does; because I was convinced of the same when he said it to me.
"Well, that's exactly why I let him believe that I slept with Michael and that it was the best sex I've ever had," I said to them. Danielle starting cracking up and Tiana nearly choked on her drink.
She stared at me, her brown eyes as wide as saucers. "Oh my god, so Aubrey thinks you actually had sex with him?" I could tell she was shocked, as I nodded yes. I know better than to stoop to Aubrey's childish games, but I needed to take his ego down a notch. "Well what did he do?" she asked.
"Things got awkward and then he left. That's it." I assured them. I didn't need Tiana and Danielle storming a certain mansion in Calabasas.
"That's enough about Aubrey. Tell me what happened with you and Michael?" Danielle's all too eager self, leaned forward just waiting for details, but I cut my eyes at her.
"You mean after you ditched me?" I asked and she flashed a not so innocent smile. I went on to tell them everything that went down last night. From our fall out at the restaurant to my failed dramatic exit that resulted in me injuring myself and my favorite boots, and then eventually ending up at Michael's place where he patched me up and I technically spent the night watching movies. Nothing else.
"So let me get this straight, you sprang your ankle on the first date?" Tiana chimed in. "That has to be some kind of omen or something, Rae" She stated plainly. She was very open with her feeling about my date, and to my surprise, she came off apprehensive.
"I'm actually kind of happy I did. If that never happened, then I would've never gotten the chance to get to know Michael."
Danielle smiled and gave my shoulder a nudge. "See, I told you he was a good guy. Aren't you glad you didn't choke me?"
"I'm still thinking about it," I joked and she rolled her eyes making me laugh. "But seriously, I had a great time. We have so much in common. We just kicked back and watched Netflix all night and the entire time he never once tried to make a move on me. He was almost too good to be true."
"Normally when something seems too good to be true, it is. He could be playing for the other team..." Tiana insinuated and I immediately picked up on what she was trying to say. This girl was being a Debby Downer every since we got on the subject of Michael.
"Come on Tiana, just because a guy acts like a gentleman, doesn't mean he's gay," I responded, coming to Michael's defense.
Danielle leaned back in her seat, swishing around the chilled water in her glass while side eying Tiana. "Do I sense some haterade coming from team Drake over there, aka team jackass?" She asked and after that, all I heard was those two trying to out talk each other. I sat there enjoying my crab cake while watching the two of them go back and forth about what and who they think I should be doing.
"Say what you want, but you and I both know that she's still in love with Aubrey," said Tiana. When I heard the words Aubrey and love I set my fork down so I could jump into the debate they were having about me.
"Okay, wait, I'm confused. You're the one who told me I should date." I stated looking over at Tiana. Yes, I love Aubrey, but I'm finally getting out there and having fun- something she says I haven't been doing, and now I feel like she's trying to make me doubt that decision.
"Yes, Raven, date. Not get deep into another relationship and that's where this thing sounds like its heading." She responded. I could tell she was genuinely worried, she's reading way too much into this.
"It was one date Tiana, not a marriage proposal." I smiled, trying to get her to lighten up. "Trust me, I'm not looking to fall in love. I'm having fun and enjoying the last year of my twenties." I'm 29 years old, I'm going to blink and be 30 before I know it. I spent my entire life building my career and then had to balance being a mother on top of that. I just wanna have a little piece of pleasure for myself, and I explained that to her.
"Well if Michael is as great a guy as you say he is, then you should let that be known to him. You shouldn't lead him on, especially if your heart is somewhere else." Tiana reasoned with me. When she put it like that, I guess I can understand where she's coming from. I wouldn't want to do to Michael, what Aubrey is doing to Ava, but she's thinking too far ahead. I believe if we're both open, honest, and go into whatever this is with our eyes open, then there shouldn't be any problems.
As our conversation died down, my phone started ringing. When I looked down to see who it was, I found myself smiling causing the two women sitting across from me to look at me crazy. I got up from the table to answer the phone. Although I love my friends, they are way too nosey. I hit answer and pressed the phone to my ear and I entered the restroom. As soon as I said hello, Trey's voice came through the line.
"Hey, why you not answering your door?" Trey's mild southern accent crept in my ear.
"Maybe because I'm not home." I replied sarcastically.
"Oh yeah, then where are you?"
"I'm having lunch at the Ivy. Why are you clocking my moves? You're not my daddy, Tremaine." I teased knowing he was gonna have something smart to say.
"I could be if you let me." Trey said in a flirtatious tone, but I knew he was just playing. That's just Trey being Trey. "Nah, for real though, what time you heading back this way?"
I was basically finished with my crab cakes and knew I'd be leaving here soon, so I took the phone away from my ear to check the time. "I should be home in 20 minutes or so. Why, what's up?"
"I have talk to you. Can you swing by the crib before you go home?"
I really wanted to go home and lounge around, but I haven't seen Trey in a while. "I should be able to do that."
"Oh and can you be nice and grab me some In-N-Out burger since you're not home to feed me?" He asked. I could see the grin on his face through the phone.
I gave it some thought, and since I had no real plans today, I decided why not. "Okay, but you better not be asking me to come over just to I can bring you some food." I said to Trey and he laughed.
After hanging up, I washed my hands and headed back out to the girls so we could get the check. Danielle had a rehearsal to get to, Tiana was meeting up with Chubbs, and I needed to go see what Trey wanted.
———
After stopping at In-N-Out since I'm such a loving and caring friend, I headed over to Trey's place which was literally down the road from mine. I could walk from my house to his in ten minutes. The gates were already open since he was expecting me, so I pulled right through and parked alongside the cars in his driveway. Grabbing his food, I got out walked over to the front door which was open as well. As I entered the house I saw Trey's brother, Forrest in front of the tv and his assistant Cici. I said my hello's to both, giving them hugs, and Cici took me down to the studio where Trey was.
When I entered the studio his vocals were floating through the room. Trey sat at the engineer table looking immensely focused on whatever he was doing.
"I see you've resurfaced," I said as sat down in the chair next to him. Trey's been held up in studios for the past couple of months working on his sixth album. With both of our busy schedules, we haven't seen much of each other lately.
"Yeah, I'm just taking a break from recording." He slid back from the sound table, turning to face me with that smile of his that I missed seeing.
"How's the album coming along?" I asked. Trey was always talking about how he wanted this one to be different from all his others.
"It's gonna be a hit." He responded and not a moment later, that genuine smile turned to a sneaky one. He was giving me this look that said he wanted something. "So, I'm working on this song and I have an idea for the video, but I really want you to be in it," Trey asked, putting on his smooth voice and showing off his dimples. Just as I suspected, he wanted something, and I didn't want to say no, however, I wasn't too sure about it.
"Now you know that's only gonna spark more rumors about us," I swear, every time I'm spotted with Trey or if there's the slightest interaction between us, there's always some outlandish headline about us dating.
Trey shrugged his shoulders brushing it off. "So, let them talk. We both know the truth and besides, it's nothing crazy."
I sat there thinking about it for a moment. He always had my back whenever I needed him, so it shouldn't be a problem for me to do this for him... under certain conditions, that is. "I'll do it, but I will not be walking around in skimpy clothing, and it's gonna cost you."
Trey leaned back in his chair with his hand on his chin, stroking the hairs there. "What do you want me to cook?" He asked causing a grin to spread across my face. Trey knew I wasn't talking about money. I would never actually charge him for being in his video, but we had this thing where we traded favors, and I happen to love Trey's cooking.
"Surprise me," was my reply. "Oh, and throw in a free day of babysitting and you have a deal." I bargained with him.
"That's cool, Cam likes hanging out with me anyway." Trey boasted. This was true. Cameron loved being around Trey, sometimes I don't know who's the three year old between the two of them. "So have you been staying out of trouble?" He spoke as he dug in the bag I brought in.
"Always," I replied, not really paying him no mind. I was too busy skimming through details about this meeting with MTV that Ari emailed to me.
"Then who was this dude you were out with all night?" Trey asked out of nowhere. My head snapped up from my phone seeing a smirk on his face as he bit into his cheeseburger.
My head tilted slightly to the side, staring at him suspiciously. "How do you know about that?" I asked. This was the first time I had spoken to him in days so how could he possibly know about Michael.
"Come on now, you know Drake is my boy and we talk. He asked me if I knew who dude was." Figures. That sounds like something Aubrey would do. "So you got a man and didn't tell me... I'm deeply hurt, Raven." Trey teased with his bottom lip poked out and his hands clasped over his heart.
I rolled my eyes at his theatrics, "Oh please, I don't have a man. I go on one date and Aubrey starts tripping."
"That's because he don't want no other man to get what's his, and I can understand that." He replied, taking Aubrey's side. Men, they always stick together
"But, I'm not his."
Trey shook his head from side to side. "Who are you trying to convince? It's your fault for still letting him hit after y'all broke up." I gave him the finger and he just laughed. I'm really about to stop sharing these things with him.
"It wasn't a regular basis type of thing." I tried to justify my actions, but he just gave me this yeah right look. So I had a few setbacks when it comes to Aubrey, but I'm only human. This was the man that I was going to marry after all. "That's enough about my love life. What about you and your roster of hoes?" I asked.
"Don't be like that Raven, I'm gonna clear the bench for you one of these days." Trey flashed a playful smirk before taking a big chomp out of the burger in his hand. He was playing, but I was serious. I lost count on the number of women I've seen come in and out of Trey's life.
"Seriously Trey, you're a great guy. You're handsome, talented, and have a lot to offer a woman. When are you gonna stop giving these groupies the time of day and settle down with a good woman? I know you want kids someday."
"My life is crazy. I want to be able to give my woman the love and attention she deserves and I just can't do that right now." Trey gave me his usual reply that he used to brush me off, but I wouldn't drop it, so he put his food down, wiped his hands on a napkin and leaned towards me, placing his hands on my knees. "I tell you what Raven. If 40 rolls around and I'm still single, I'll just marry you." He joked making me laugh, but I knew he was just trying to change the subject.
"Well then you should know that I won't accept anything less than five carats," I told him as I pushed his hands away and he nodded his head.
After our chat, Trey and I hung out in the studio, and he played me some of the tracks off the album that were finished. I didn't leave Trey's until later that evening. As soon as I got home, I facetimed my baby. We only talked for about five minutes because he was so anxious to get back to playing with his dad, but at least I got to see his face. When I hung up with Cam, I noticed I had two missed calls, and a text message from Michael.
Michael: Are you doing anything Saturday?
I read the message to myself. I knew what he was asking, but I sat there with my fingers frozen on the screen trying to figure out how to reply. I thought about what Tiana said, and I don't want to lead him on, but am I really leading him on if I actually like him?
To Michael: What did you have in mind? I typed and pressed send before I could over think it.
I haven't dated in a while and I'm curious about getting back out there. Besides, like I said before, if we're open and honest, then there shouldn't be any problems.