Secret Lover (Eminem)

The New Plan

He slammed the door on his way out and stopped by his security's guard point before heading back to the hotel. The drive was a complete blur. Next thing he knew he was in the parking lot. He had been gone for about 45 minutes. He recognized Paul's car in the parking lot but noone was in it meaning he had to have already gone up to Dre's room. He really didn't feel like talking business now. His whole fucking mood went down the toilet. His palms slammed onto his steering wheel a few times before he collected himself and made his way to the elevator. Son of a bitch. The song was about her too. Now what were they gonna do? He was reluctant to even knock on Dre's door but he did anyways.

"Bout damn time you got here." Paul joked as he opened the door "what the hell's wrong with you?"

Dre perked up from where he was sitting, upon hearing that question. Marshall sighed as he walked in and finally plugged his phone in. This shit wouldn't have happened if he hadn't forgotten his charger.

"I got some bad news." He stated irritated

"About?" Dre questioned

"Fucking everything. The video."

"She backed out?"

"No. I did."

"What? Why?" Paul asked urgently

"Caught her talking shit about me to her sister. Saying she's only with me for the money and shit. As always."

"Damn." Paul started "Dre was just telling me that you were getting all excited over her at lunch too."

"Wait so what'd you say to her?" Dre asked

"I told her that all her shit needed to be gone by the time I got back tonight."

Dre got up and slapped a hand on Marshall's back "that's the same shit I told Nicole. At least you weren't 25 years in though."

"Yeah I mean... it's definitely not as bad as other break ups I've had but still... now I'm like what the fuck are we gonna do for the video."

"You just kicked this chick out and you're already thinking about the video?" Paul asked

"I can be sad later. At this point I'm over it. I always expect this shit. I'm done. I've moved on. I don't wanna think about it."

Marsh looked over at Dre half expecting him to give him some mentor like advice like he always did.

"I dunno what the fuck you're looking at me for? I ain't got nothin to do with this video. I mean you honestly could just... cancel it."

"No we can't." Marshall replied "people are going to be waiting for this."

"But you haven't told anyone about it yet."

"That doesn't matter. They're still asking for it and you know how my fans get."

"That's true" Dre said with raised brows

"Well..." Paul said while scrolling through his phone "we could do this. I just looking through your lyrics and it's very obvious that it's a love song yet you never say the words 'she' or 'her' so why not make it about something else? Make it be about... your love for the industry or something."

"I just did that on MTBMB though."

"And you've done it many times before so... might as well do it again."

Dre leaned over close to Marshall "you could make it about Paul." Dre said calmly

The serious tone in his voice was enough to make Marshall crack up. He was damn near laughing to the point of tears. He could always count on Dre to bring him back up.

"Hell yeah. We'll still do all the sexy scenes but just have Paul in a bikini." Marshall replied

The three erupted in laughter

"No no no no no!" Paul said between barrels of laughter "I ain't got the body for that. Dre sure as hell does though."

"Shiiiit." Dre started "you are NOT getting me in a fucking bikini."

Marshall continued to laugh some more before getting an idea. "...but... what if we DID."

"What?"

"Well. Those rumors have always existed right? And we want this video to get major attention... so why not do the video with you instead? We do the exact same scenes and whatever except it's you and me."

"Wait wait wait wait wait. Wait." Dre contested. "You want to just play on those rumors that we've been in a secret relationship with eachother this whole time?"

"Yeah why not." Marshall started. "I mean the song is called 'secret lover' right? So why not play it out like a legit thing. Everyone who knows us will know it's not legit and will see it as a joke but it'll freak everyone else the fuck out. Then if anyone asks us about it we can just pretend we don't know what the fuck they're talking about or ignore it. Easy as that."

"You're dead serious?"

"Yeah. It'll get the video a lot of attention."

Paul chimed in "and the final product will be funny as fuck too. At least to our crew it will be."

Marshall looked up at Dre with a face as if to say 'what do you think?'

Dre sighed and looked back down at him. "I mean... it's not like I have a wife or anything anymore so... Alright fuck it. Let's do it. It'll be the most action I've gotten in months anyway."

The room erupted in laughter again after Dre said that last line. They continued to discuss the idea and the more they talked about it, the more they realized just how much of a genius idea it was. They didn't have shit to lose. Might as well go all in. Paul stepped out to call Allan and tell him the change of plans for the next day.

Dre looked over at Marshall "this is gonna be fun as fuck to shoot."

"Hell yeah it is. You get to stare at my white ass all day. Lucky you."

Dre met his joke with a laugh and patted him on the shoulder. "I am sorry about that bitch though. You deserve better."

"I know I do. That's why I told her to leave."

Dre just gave him a half smile and rubbed his shoulder again until Paul came back in the room.

"Plans are all set. We will go there in the morning, have some coffee while we discuss the days activities then go from there."

Marshall felt a weight being pulled off of his shoulders and he wasn't sure if it had to do with the video being saved or clarity that he got from seeing her real side. It made him feel way better than he had an hour ago. Now it was back to the original plans of the 3 of them fucking around and discussing some points to bring up in the meeting for Dre's album.