The Last Dance

08

Janet Jackson Appreciation Day? Say less. 💕

"You were in awe of my house but you have a whole dance studio with a pole inside your condo." Janet commented as Mariah gave her a tour of her home.

Joey had to come in before Janet did and do a 'sweep' of the entire condo. Mariah didn't have a problem with that, as long as that meant Janet would actually be in her condo with her.

The dancer chuckled as she put her hands into the pockets of her dress. It was her favorite dress to lounge in. "Don't do that, it's just for dancing purposes."

"Mhm, I bet. I talked to your dance mother today."

"Really? What was she talking about?" Mariah asked curiously as they walked back to her living room. She hadn't spoken to her dance mama since she'd started working with Janet.

"Nothing really, just warning me not to hurt you. That's all."

Mariah opted on not responding. What did that mean? She knew what Janet was saying, but what else had Aisha really said? She hoped the woman hadn't said too much because Mariah wasn't ready to do all of that talking.

"Don't get quiet on me now. Did I say something wrong?" Janet asked softly as she began to worry about if she'd said the wrong thing. She didn't want to upset Mariah, that was the last thing she wanted to do.

The dancer glanced up at her and shook her head. "No. No. You didn't do anything. I'm just thinking. Did you eat?"

When Mariah asked Janet, the older woman made a face. "Of course I did. Did you?"

"Yeah. Surprisingly, I did." Mariah went to sit down but Janet's arms wrapped around her waist from behind causing the younger girl to smile and stay standing. She felt the singer muzzle into her neck and mumbled, "What?"

"Nothing." Janet replied before placing a kiss on the woman's neck. "Just wanted to hold you. How'd the party go? Did your brother like his present?"

The younger woman went into her brothers dramatics as she replied. "Did he? He went all, 'Do not talk to me, Janet Jackson said my name,' on us."

"Aww." The singer cooed softly. "I'm glad he liked it."

"Mhm."

"Let's talk." Janet's arms unwrapped from around the woman's because she was serious.

Mariah nodded. "Okay, let's talk."

"Obviously, well at least I hope it's obvious, but obviously I like you Mariah. More than a boss and employee type of relationship. I want to maybe take this somewhere but with taking this somewhere comes rules."

For the first time in a long time, Mariah felt as if she was back in grade school listening to the rules of becoming a teachers aid again. Still, she nodded. "Okay, what's the rules?"

"You'd have to sign a non disclosure agreement, which is—."

"A form that says I'll keep my mouth shut if or even if we don't break up. I can't speak on you or else you'll sue me. Yeah. Got it."

Janet nodded. "Yeah so a NDA, but then if you are really down to try this out, I have a son and I have work so I'm pretty hectic most times and I don't want you to feel neglected. I just want to make sure that you know that."

Mariah hesitated but not because of the fact that she was was a busy worker and not because of the fact that she had a son. Mariah hesitated because she was terrified of commitment. She had bad trust issues due to her ex boyfriend's and who was to say she wouldn't taint the relationship between her and Janet?