The Last Dance

05

The restaurant was down the road from the studio. It seemed kind of empty at this time of day for the lunch crowd was leaving and the dinner crowd was just beginning. People were approaching the trio often once they noticed it was Janet Jackson they were looking at.

Since it was a restaurant, Janet had to bring her bodyguard Joey. He stood beside her and made sure the fans didn't do too much. Mariah had only been introduced to the man, but he hadn't spoken a word yet other than that.

Janet had began to get a little antsy about it all, she just wanted to talk to Mariah and knew that it had to be bothering the woman but it wasn't. Mariah simply sat on the other side of the table observing. She liked it this way, and she always liked to see people in their elements. This seemed to be Janet's element so the younger of the two had no complaints about what was transpiring before her.

Instead, she occupied her time by sipping on the tea she had ordered and going into her own world of thoughts. She wondered why Janet had invited her to dinner. It was the second time that had occurred but she thought she'd given all the information Janet needed to know to her that previous night. Or at least all that she'd asked.

"Sorry..." Janet trailed as the last person walked away. "I guess I shouldn't have brought us here."

"It's okay. You don't have to apologize."

"Yeah, I kind of do. Sometimes I just want to be somewhere and not get recognized. It's too much to deal with some days. One day, I'll just get a chance to breath. That's the day I'll look forward to."

Mariah couldn't say she'd agree or knew how the woman before her was feeling. She didn't know, she wasn't even relative to most people. Let alone being asked to take pictures with and grace different objects with her signature.

"One day you will or maybe you're breathing but you just need a new sense of air."

Janet pondered on what the younger woman had said for longer than she intended. Mariah began to wonder if she had upset the lady without intention. Her worry faded away when Janet mumbled, "Yeah, I think that's what it is. I'm breathing air that I don't want to breath all the time but I don't have a choice sometimes. I was born into this life. It's all I know."

"Well open your horizons and learn something new for once. You might like it." Mariah suggested to Janet.

She nodded in response before changing topics. "What are you getting?"

Mariah browsed menu before mumbling. "I'm not really that hungry if I'm being honest. I usually don't eat until later."

"It's almost 7, you ate before or something?"

"Kind of sorta. Some days I can barely eat, some days all I do is eat. My eating schedule is trash and my doctor seems to think if I keep on with it I'll be in trouble."

The older woman nodded even though she wondered if there was an underlying issue behind that. Still she let it be for the time being. "Ah okay, well do you want to just order a appetizer?"

"I'm not really hungry Janet."

"So I invited you here for nothing? Nice to know." Janet was just joking but Mariah took it seriously.

"I'll eat something. Let me look." Mariah began browsing the menu, keen on forcing food down her throat if that's what she had to do.

Janet pulled the menu down from Mariah and sat it on the table. "I'm just playing Mariah, if you aren't hungry you don't have to eat. Come on. Joey we're ready."

Mariah stood seeing her now boss standing. She watched as Janet placed a hundred dollar bill at the table and Joey walked towards the exit of the restaurant with the duo behind him. The younger woman's curiosity bit through her veins but she held it in as she simply followed.

They got into Janet's SUV and Joey pulled off as he questioned. "Where to J?"

"My house."

Mariah had her next question in place to ask but still she bit it down again. She didn't want to seem to curious to the lady. She didn't want to talk too much or too little to the lady. She just wanted to seem present... a little invisible but still present.

The ride consisted of silence and Mariah was happy that she had took a Uber to the studio instead of driving her own vehicle. When the duo arrived at the singers home, Janet got out and Mariah, of course, followed.

They walked inside after Janet unlocked the door and Mariah finally broke through the silence. "What are we about to do?"

"Ah," Janet looked back at her with a chuckle. "Finally, she speaks. Well, I was thinking watch a movie. You in?"

"Of course. I love movies. What movie are we watching?"

"I don't know. You tell me. My theaters downstairs in the basement."

Mariah's face furrowed. Theater? She hadn't heard of that shit being in folks homes before. Shit she was from Michigan, the less they had the better because they were forever getting snowed in anyways.

"Got Netflix?" The dancer asked.

Janet nodded. "It's all down there."

"Wanna watch Joyful Noise?"

"Never heard of it."

The younger woman had no problem explaining. "It's a movie with KeKe Palmer and Queen Latifah. It's good."

"I'm down for whatever you want to watch."

Mariah nodded in understanding as she walked down the steps to the basement. It was dark and thankfully Janet wasn't that far behind her and she hit the switch. The lights in the room were dim but not too dim. Janet handed the younger girl a remote to control the screen and Mariah sat on the recliner and pieced her way to Netflix. She found the movie and hit play as Janet dimmed the lights even more and sat in the recliner next to her.

The space between them was still a lot because each recliner could fit two people. As the movie began playing, Mariah almost immediately found herself cold. She folded her arms together and tried to scrunch up but came to no avail.

"Want a blanket Mariah?"

This caused the cold girl to look over and nod. "Yeah, where are they?"

"I got it." Janet waved her off as she went up the steps. Mariah paused the movie until she came back and when she did she placed the blanket on her recliner instead of Mariah's. "Come over here."

It would be a lie to say the dancer didn't hesitate because she did but slowly she found herself crawling under the covers next to the singer. She left some space in between them but Janet didn't seem to be having that at the moment.

Her arm wrapped around Mariah causing the dancer to tense unintentionally. Janet whispered. "Relax Mariah."

The dancer nodded and took a breath as Janet pulled her closer, to the point where they were cuddling. Janet then pushed the buttons of the large seat and they laid out flat. Mariah was comfortable, that she couldn't argue. Still, her mind was questioning exactly where this was going.

Meanwhile, Janet's mind wasn't rambling at all. She was one step closer to doing what she wanted to do.

Making Mariah Hilliard hers and only hers.