She's on the phone with Nick, not caving but hearing him out. I space out, thinking of everything she's done professionally. She's been in videos for the Boys, us, LFO, Aaliyah, Missy, DMX, Christina, Britney, Mariah and I think the upcoming acts that Sean Combs is managing. She has been in high demand since she's appeared as one of Nick's mummy girls for 'Everybody', it's made for an exciting career and she enjoys it.
She did say she had to work on a video between August 11-15, but she found out at the last minute (2 days before) and she wasn't very happy about it. They were lucky she could get back to Orlando so quickly, although she missed a little over a day's worth and they got the other parts she wasn't needed for completed. She said the single is called 'Larger Than Life' and she was again placed with Nick. "Nick, I see you in the morning and we can talk on the flight to Charlotte. I know, just let me be mad right now. Yes, we'll talk it out then. Yup. Bye," she says, shutting her phone off and plugging it in to charge. "I feel like a dunce."
"You think I'll be with him after Easter?"
"I don't think you'll last beyond the end of March, to be honest."
"Why's that?" she asks, taking a good size bite of ice cream.
"He is just a jerk and you know the truth is going to eat away at your conscience before you cave, telling Caylei every little detail." I shove a spoonful of the frozen dessert in my mouth, nodding at her and watch her shrug.
"You ever realize you know me a bit too well?"
I scoff, rolling my eyes and smiling cockily. "Of course."
I turn on a movie and while it goes through the previews, put the ice cream in the freezer. I grab her overnight bag from the couch and drop it by the master bath, laying under the light blanket afterward. She follows suit and I spoon with her, both of us focused on comfort as we view the movie. "James?"
"Hmmm?"
"Thank you."
"What for?"
"Being true to your roots and sticking by your word."
I had promised her years ago, prior to leaving to join the group, that I'd keep in touch with her and do my best to be there for her, including keeping her safe. "I always keep my word," I remind her, weaving my fingers into hers as her breathing slows and becomes deeper. "I won't stop protecting you, ever." I kiss her bare shoulder and curl around her, trying to form a shield around her.
An unfamiliar noise pulls me from my slumber, opening one eye to search for the item emitting the irritating noise and spot her cell vibrating on the nightstand across from me. "Seriously?" I ask myself, just now aware that my shower is running. "Oh, yeah." I answer it. "Hello?"
"Why are you answering my girl's cell?" the voice demands.
"You woke me out of a dead sleep, ding dong."
"Whatever. Where is Jazz?"
"Her name is Sam," I inform Nick, hanging up on him. The water stops running and she pokes her head out. "End it or he's going to get it."
"You and what army?"
"He was just rude to me."
"Forbid he have a bad attitude in the morning."
"Now I can't be rude to him?!" I snap. I've been holding back for the next time the asshole breaks her heart, but that's fucked up!
"James!" she scolds me. "I don't think it'll be much longer, maybe 6 months."
It's been almost an hour and we're almost done getting her packed, we should have close to an hour and a half before they get here. Once her last item is in her bag, she flops down next to it and sighs. "I'd much rather go on tour with you guys," she confesses with a pout.
"Then tell Johnny that."
"He said after this tour with them for 'Millennium', I have no obligation to tour period and I choose the performer."
"I guess that's good," I try to sound as convinced as I wish I were.
"Yeah, I doubt you're excited about it."
"Never mind that, you need something to eat, little girl."
"I suppose."
She managed to make a breakfast I've been missing since I was able to be home more than a week and I look at the food, hungrier than I could imagine feeling. "When did you have time to learn this?"
"The month I spent at home, I had cared for my Neenee," she tells me, shrugging as she lightly drizzles honey over the biscuits before placing my plate in front of me and sitting across from me.
She's kneeling on the floor in my living room like the Japanese do and says thanks, followed by taking a bite of her apple cinnamon pancakes. "Do I have flour on my face?" she questions, wiping at her face with a damp washcloth.
"No. I'm surprised you sit like that and say thanks, I guess it's kind of a mixed culture shock."
"It's just comfy."
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