The Last Dance

015

Janet and the kids had finished packing this morning and were riding on their three buses to Washington. It would be some hours until they made it, but they'd gotten a early start and their show wasn't til tomorrow anyways. They'd made a stop once or twice but the singer had slept through it all. She wasn't in a mood to entertain so when she got on her first bus with Gil and Joey, they knew to just leave her be until she wanted to talk again.

Denzel sat around the rest of his coworkers on the second bus. They'd been goofing off all day but right now they were in a heated game of spades and dominos. He'd whooped them twice and now he was score keeper and you could tell by the pen tucked on top of his right ear.

He was multitasking, writing whoever called out their scores while on Instagram. "15!" Cassandra, Janet's stylist, yelled out and he wrote it on the paper.

Soon the background dancer got bored of his feed and refreshed the page. He noticed that Saweetie had went live and clicked it knowing that Mariah was on that tour. Maybe he'd see her in her post tour phase.

Saweetie was outside of her tour bus and had her hoodie on and her hair pulled back. She spoke lowly. "Hey Icy Girls.."

Denzel spoke to his coworkers. "Aye y'all hold up real quick. Be quiet."

The bus fell silent as everyone tuned into his phone. Saweetie continued. "Unfortunately we won't be able to make it to our show tonight guys. We were on our way and our bus broke down. My other bus can't hold everyone and everything so I'm going to postpone this first show. My managers are searching hard for way to get me there but we're all out of options. I'll be back Idaho. I promise."

Chatter started as Dom mumbled. "That's messed up."

"Yeah. It is." James seconded.

"Maybe we could go pick them up." Denzel called out. Everyone looked at him as if he'd grown two heads, so he explained. "If we're leaving from California to Washington and they're leaving from California to Idaho... they're somewhere either close behind us or ahead of us. We can help them out."

Whyley nodded. "That's true. They're somewhere along this route. We could ask Mama."

"Denzie, this is your idea. We support you, but you're doing the asking. I don't wanna get yelled at..." Allison called out and everyone agreed.

Denzel rolled his eyes before calling their boss. It rang six times before she finally answered sounding sleepy. "Yes Denzel?"

"Hey to you too Mama... you mind pulling over? We have something we need to ask you that's very important."

Everyone made faces at Denzel for throwing them in it and in return he stuck his tongue out at them. Janet sighed before replying. "Yeah. Let me tell my driver."

She hung up and everyone glared at Denzel who pointed the finger. "Next time I bet you all gone call huh?"

Janet had told her driver to pull over and have the others do the same and soon she was pulling her shades over her eyes and stepping off the bus. The kids came off of theirs and the musicians came off the third. Everyone met between the first and second bus as Janet asked. "What's wrong?"

Denzel quickly filled her in. "Saweetie's bus is heading to Idaho and they broke down. I know it may be a bit off course for us but I think we should go help them Mama. She sounded so sad. We could help."

Everyone looked at the singer for a moment waiting for her to speak but she was too busy in her head. Wasn't Mariah on Saweetie's tour? She could get to finally talk to her if she helps out.

"We know it's a lot to ask—."

The singer cut Whyley off. "Alright. Someone call them and let them know we can come help out. Get ready to make some room. Let's map out our way to get to them and get them where they need to be. Cool?"

Her second family nodded as she turned and went to get back on the bus. Gil stopped her. "You getting our girl back?"

She glanced at Gil before speaking softly. "I'm going to try."

Mariah sat some miles away, everyone either sitting on the working bus or outside dancing and laughing. Trying anything to get their minds off of what was happening. Out of nowhere, people squealed and Saweetie suddenly came on the bus followed by everyone else outside.

When Mariah looked up, her boss was holding her phone in her hand. "We're going to make it to the show."

"No way. What happened?" Mariah asked getting excited.

"I just got off the phone with Miss Janet Jackson, Denzel watched my live and they are actually in front of us. They are turning around and heading back this way. They're going to stop and load us up on their buses and get us where we need to go. When we make it to Idaho, they should have fixed the broken bus by then."

Everyone began cheering and going outside to grab their bags except for Mariah. She didn't like this idea at all. She didn't want to be anywhere near Janet if she didn't have a clean get away. Her heart beat accelerated suddenly and her best friend mumbled. "Breathe. It'll be okay."

Cierra knew everything. Everything that happened. She knew the play by plays because for a long time Mariah was broken about it. Hell, she still is. Mariah nodded softly. "I— CieCie, this may not go well."

"You never know. Just get on the bus that we get on. Okay?"

Mariah agreed. "Okay. You're right."

"Don't panic or go all anxious Annie on me. It'll be fine. Don't let her pressure you into anything. If you aren't ready for a conversation then she can't force you. She hasn't reached out once since you broke it off anyways."

The dancer sighed. "Did I not tell you that I blocked her?"

Cierra made a face of surprise before speaking. "Oh bitch, so she did reach out?"

Mariah took a moment as she pulled out her phone and went to her Instagram-- which is where Janet had resulted to trying to contact her since she was blocked via phone. Showing Cierra the DM's, she spoke. "Like everyday."

"Now I am your best friend, and I tell you when you are right and I tell you when you are wrong. Riah, you wrong for that. She deserves to know what happened between you two. Maybe it wasn't how it seemed."

"Cierra... it is how it seemed. It was obvious as hell."

"Talk to that woman." Her best friend scolded. "You're wrong and you know it."

A horn was heard from outside and the duo turned around to see three busses pulling up. Mariah mumbled. "Here goes nothing."

They made their way off the bus they were on and went to grab their things. Mariah had three suitcases which was nothing to everyone else's five and six. She grabbed the first two and someone else grabbed the third one. She turned to see it was Janet. The singer mumbled. "Get on the first one."

Mariah watched as her best friend was boarding the second bus. "I was going to get on the one with--."

"Get on the first one. Come on." The older woman didn't wait for her answer but instead turned and made her way to her bus. The dancer stood there for a moment before realizing exactly who she was dealing with. She got on the first bus with her bags in tow.

She silently let out a prayer... praying that God would get her out of this situation because she knew it would take a miracle to get out of these hot waters.