New Year's Even 1994 Los Angeles, CA
Michael was talking to one of his good friends and biographers, Adrien Grant. Adrien had been visiting with Michael. They were discussing about a possible black and white coffee table photography book, while drinking scotch. The book would show Michael's career through pictures. Michael loved the idea. Michael and Lisa were at his condo in Century City, her kids were with their father. Michael always felt weird whenever Danny would pick the kids up. He watched how he and Lisa would interact. A lot of smiles and friendly hugs. He couldn't tell if there was something building back up between them. He didn't like thinking about it. He and Danny officially met right before Thanksgiving. Michael shook his hand and told him he had nothing to worry about with the kids. Danny smiled at him and that was it. Lisa was tensed and wasn't sure what to say. Michael told her he didn't feel comfortable with their relationship. Lisa would say "If I wanted to be with Danny, I would ever never left him. You have nothing to worry about. Nothing." Her words did little to calm his worry and jealousy. Michael and Adrien were sitting in Michael's piano room. All the books in his piano room were about music and biographies on the artist he admired. There were framed posters of James Brown, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Wilson, Fred Astaire, Marvin Gaye, and Whitney Houston. Lisa was in the bedroom trying dresses on for New Year's Eve, one of her friends were with her.
"The book will be honest. No words, just pictures of you in your most iconic moments to your private ones. The fans and world will get to make their judgement about you. No words, just pictures."
"I think the world has made their judgements about me. The book sounds great. I like it. It will be a coffee table type book, you say?"
"Yes. I am thinking two hundred pages. Maybe more. We can have it start off in black and white photos and then color. It can be divided into a timeline."
"Good. Sounds good. So, what are the streets saying about me? I know you keep your ear to them." Adrien smiled and took a sip of his drink. He looked around the room and back at Michael.
"It's split. People want to believe you."
"They want to believe me? They should. I didn't do anything. People can't be that stupid. Common sense is dead, Adrien. Anything else they're saying?"
"Your marriage. It caught a lot of people off guard."
"It caught me off guard. I didn't expect to get married. I always wanted to, but never had the chance or the girl. Call me lucky. Lisa was definitely not planned, but I'm glad it happened."
"Can I ask you something personal?"
"Sure." Michael finished his drink and placed the glass next to him.
"How did you and Lisa Marie start dating?"
"Um. I can't really give you the exact date. I mean, we never said, 'you're my boyfriend or girlfriend' it wasn't that. I knew she was mines and I was hers. I saw her at this party or something back in '91. She was married. I was seeing some girls, nothing serious. Just for fun. Anyway, I see her and we start talking. I didn't see her for awhile. I saw her again and we exchanged numbers. She started calling, I didn't pay her any real attention. She was married and I was working on a new album. Again, I had Stephanie and a few other girls. Nothing serious." Adrien smiled, he notice that Michael repeated himself quite often. He listened on. "Our talks became more in depth. She started asking me personal questions. We realized we had a lot in common, then we started hanging out. Adrien, I never felt so understood. She would read my thoughts. I thought she was witch or something, it was scary. I kissed her. I liked it. She liked it and I became obsessed with her. I did. I wanted to know who she was with and what she was doing. All of it. But Lis was still married and that caused a lot of problems."
