Old Friends (Janet and Toni Fanfic)

Chapter 36

Toni

I woke up again around 11:30, and I was so surprised I slept in that late. Everything was just so quiet here, although inside my head were constant sounds of Janet's voice, and mine too, together. I didn't think it would be, but the smell of her on the sheets was extremely comforting.

Rehearsal had everybody mad at me, I was so distracted. I was making stupid little mistakes that caused us to have to take it from the top. No matter how much I apologized, nothing was going to take my mind off of her.

"Toni, can I talk to you right quick?" Face asked me about halfway through. "5 minutes or less, y'all."

He pulled me to the side. "Where's your head, man? We ran this show top to bottom with no stopping last week," he interrogated in a quiet, firm voice.

"Yeah, I know. I'm kind of scatterbrained right now."

"Yeah, why?"

"Janet left yesterday morning-"

"Say no more," he held his hand up and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "How long is she gone for?"

"I won't see her for about 2 months."

"Okay." He paced the floor, then turned around to face me again. "We don't have 2 months, Toni. Hell, we don't even have 3 weeks."

"I'll be fine tomorrow. It's just the first day. I know it's pathetic, I'm sorry." I sighed. I loved her to death but she couldn't keep distracting me. I was messing with people's money at this point.

"Thank you."

We went back to rehearsal, and the more I made a conscious effort to focus, the more I thought about it. But I kept it cool enough to finish with only 1 more mistake, and then I had to practically run to dinner with the girls since we had to stay so much later and start over so many times.

Once I arrived at the restaurant, everyone was there, and when they saw me, the traditional 'Toni is Always Late' song began. I rolled my eyes and took a seat between Tamar and Traci. They had ordered me a drink already and a few appetizers. How late was I?

"40 minutes. That is a new record, Toni Braxton," Tamar said. They all agreed.

"I'm sorry y'all, practice ran late."

"Mhm." She side-eyed me while she slurped her water through the straw.

"So how is everybody?" I interjected, trying to change the subject. Everybody was silent. I looked at blank stares around the entire table.

"Really, Ton?" Towanda said. She was always the one to speak up.

"Really what?"

"We wanna talk about all your Pleasure Principles. With Ms. Jackson," Tamar cut in. Aw hell.

"How come you didn't say nothing at the hospital? You said y'all were friends!" Towanda added.

"And we are! What's the big deal?"

"You knew damn well y'all were on that Anytime Anyplace mess and wasn't going to tell nobody!" Tamar exclaimed. I'm so happy we started getting private rooms to eat. She was so damn loud.

"Cuz y'all act like this," I groaned. "With anyone that I'm with. And obviously this is a little different from past relationships, because she's a woman--"

"And she's Janet Jackson," they all said in unison.

"What does that matter?"

"Oh, Toni. Come on. Don't act slow," Traci said. "You know she a freak. And she's famous as all hell."