𝐀 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐔𝐬

𝐗𝐈𝐈 - 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬

February 14, '01

Raconteur

"You got the flowers I sent you?," Michael asked Yana, in regards to the Valentine's Day surprises he'd sent her.

They'd been talking since 7 pm, despite Yana's protest about their calls being free at 9 and so why would Michael run her bill up like that? "Cuz," he'd responded, "it's my bill now."

"Yeah, I got the garden you sent me," she sassed, delight dancing in her words. "The edible arrangement bouquet was cute even though Jalen ate most of it but you didn't have to send that bag."

"What bag?," he sniggered.

"The nylon Prada. The one I had and you noticed was fake."

"I ain't send you no bag. You got another nigga or some'?," Michael laughed out loud.

Yana winced at his joke. It wasn't funny when she still hadn't told him about Sean, the guilt of her untruth heavy on her mind.

"Nah, I'm playin'," he said. "You like it?"

"Uh-huh," she voiced absentmindedly.

After a moment of silence, Michael asked, "How Maji suspension been goin'?"

Yana sneered, "Oh, just swell, for her. She wakes up late, comes back late and she still won't talk to me."

"I mean, you did slap her. She not gon' talk to you for awhile," Michael muttered.

"I don't care. She deserved it," Yana responded dismissively.

Sensing Yana's mood switching, Michael decided to steer the conversation away from Maji. Although he had stopped walking on shells around Yana a while ago and could've had this argument any other day, especially since he had taken Maji's side of the situation, he had more important things to tend to.

It'd only been 2 days since Sean had told him about the details of his deal having been leaked and yet he'd been dodging people around the city for the past 48 hours. It seemed that the last safe place was Willis' crib, where he could talk with Yana on the phone all day. She always had the funniest shit to say about a co-worker named Sarah or some family drama Michael was still trying to piece together in his mind.

When he wasn't talking with Yana on the phone, he was concocting the perfect interview with Sean, who'd found himself to be Michael's new PR person, in addition to all the managerial tasks he already undertook.

"Aight child abuser, imma hit you back later," he said. "You get it? 'Child abuser', 'hit you back'?"

Scrunching her face up, Yana muttered, "That wasn't even funny."

"Yeah, it was. I crack me up sometimes," he sighed, hanging up with a 'talk to you soon, hater'.

Exhausted, Michael turned to his side, ready to fall asleep when his phone rang again. Checking the caller ID and time, he saw it was Sean calling him at a quarter past 11.

Picking up, he barked, "What, nigga?"

Sighing heavily, Sean revealed, "Elijah called, man."

Sitting upright in seconds, Michael repeated, "What?"

"We're fucked. Me more than you and Cam, but..."

"Nah, chill out, what'd he say?"

"Man, the fuck you think he said? He wants money. He told me to give you his number," Sean fumed.

Michael asked for the number and hung up on Sean, throwing on some sweatpants, a shirt, and a hoodie before making his way downstairs to the payphone at the end of the block.