Please excuse ANY grammatical errors.

September 30, 1995

~Dalvin's P.O.V~

          Today- well now yesterday was De's birthday and we're on tour. You want to know what we did for his birthday? You probably already know that we are partying. We're just young and want to have fun. De left his own party early and it's past midnight. He stayed at the party for like and hour and a half. We are in Europe on tour at the moment AND we don't have a show until the day after tomorrow, so you know we getting buck wild! We're currently touring in the United Kingdom. DeVanté's girlfriend is here as well but he doesn't know it. We've been partying all day and DeVanté got tired and went to his room.

"Hello?" I answered my phone. I had to talk loud because the music was blasting.

"I'm down at the lobby." Sherie told me.

"Alright. I'm on my way down." I told her.

          I left from the party and went to De's room to make sure he ain't have no other women in the room. I'm not trying to get him caught up. I know De says that he doesn't cheat but you never know these days. DeVanté is unpredictable.l and especially because Rolita is here. Everybody knows about him and Rolita. I opened the door quietly and walked in. I have an extra key. Being in tour, sometimes we don't want to wake up because we're so exhausted.

"De?" I called out walking further away from the door.

De jumped when he saw me. "Nigga, I was just about to take my draws off and you sneakin' in my room." He told me.

"Fuck is you gettin' naked duh anyways?" I frowned at him, disgusted.

He squinted at me. "Nigga, I'm about to get my ass in the shower. Somethin' you don't know nothin' about." He laughed.

"Nigga, stop bullshittin'. I'm never a dirty nigga." I laughed.

"I know, but the the fuck you want?" He asked me.

"Oh- um-" I looked down and patted my pockets and pulled out my phone. "I was wondering if this was your phone? I found it on the floor where you was standing." I quickly let out.

"Nahh, nigga. My phone is right here." He said pointing to the dresser.

"Oh, okay. Lemme go then. Get yo funky ass in the shower nigga!" I yelled walking away. I heard something being thrown my way but he missed.

"A'ight, nigga. Fuck outta my room so I can think of some new shit and rest." He laughed.

          I left and closed the door behind me. Then I got in the elevator and headed towards the lobby. Sherie is bad as hell. She kind of looks like Whitney Houston in the face and body but she's from up north; Chicago, Illinois. Sherie likes to party like us. Shit, she party's way more than DeVanté. She's also very laid back so De hit the lotto with this one. They have been dating for a little while now.

(This is Sherie Yvette Withers for you folks that were wondering.)

"Hey, brother in law!" She stood up and hugged me.

"Wassup," I said a but weirded out. I have her a side hug. The reason I'm a bit weirded out is because they haven't been dating that long for her to be calling me that. "How's it going?" I asked her.

"It's good." She responded. "Now, let's go. I need to go and see my man." She laughed walking towards the elevator with her bags dragging behind her.

"How long are you planning on staying?" I asked her.

"It depends on how fun my time is here..." She said to me.

"So it depends if y'all get into it?" I asked pressing the button.

"You know it." She laughed.

"I feel you." I nodded. We made it to DeVanté's hotel room and I unlocked it for her. I stuffed the key back into left my pocket. "Right now, he's in the shower. I don't know how long he's going to be in there but-" I patted my pockets and grabbed De's entrance key from my right pocket. "Here you go. Like I said, I don't know how long he's going to be in there or where the hell he put his key but here's the key just in case you need to step out. Just give me it back to me tomorrow." I told her.

"Thanks." She grabbed it and stuffed it in her pocket.

"See ya." I said and walked out.

           I headed back to the party where everybody else was. It's past two o'clock and we still partying. Well, it looks as if I'm the only one of the group here. K-Ci and Jojo are nowhere in sight, but I got other friends here too so that ain't no big deal. Even if they weren't here, I'm here to party and there's a bunch of ladies here. Speaking of ladies, I spot one right there. I went to the bar and ordered a bottle of Cognac for myself and a Long Island Iced Tea drink for the lady. I'm a professional alcoholic and I see that's what in her clear glass. I walked up behind the lady.

"Is this place taken?" I asked her.

She turned around. "No." She smiled the turned back around looking at the people dancing on the dancefloor.

"Mind if I sit here?" I raised my eyebrows.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't mind."

"You have a name?" I asked her after a short period of silence.

"Naomi." She said briefly.

"I'm-"

"Dalvin, Dalvin DeGrate. I know." She smiled. "So what made you come over here?" She asked me.

"I thought that you needed some company and another drink. You look tense." I slid the Long Island Iced Tea over to her.

She looked at the glass. "How did you know that this is what I was drinking?" She asked me.

"Great guess, I guess." I replied in a nonchalant tone.

"You said that I looked like I needed some company, how would you know that my company left briefly?" Naomi asked. "I could have a man."

"To answered your previous question, you caught my eye from across the room. No matter what how much fun I was having my eyes kept laying on you. Your beauty stands out from the rest. To answer this question, well, been watching you for a while trying to make sure that wasn't the case because I don't need to catch a case." I smoothly told her. I'm drunk off my ass, yet I'm still smooth with it. I got good game!

She brown skin began to turn red. "Really?"

"If I'm lyin', I'm flyin' and you see me still sitting, don't you?" I chuckled.

"Well, yes." She smiled.

"How old are you?" I asked her.

"I just turned twenty-six this month. You?" She finally said taking a sip of the drink I brought her after taking a good look at it. I will assume that's she's making sure I didn't out anything in her drink. That's not my style though. I'm not that type of person.

"I'm twenty-four. A very energetic twenty-four." I told her.

"Mm, twenty-four?" She perked up. "Energetic you say?"

"Yeah, energetic." I told her taking a swig from my bottle and leaning back in my chair. "So you got a man?" I asked her.

"Didn't you just say that you know I didn't?"

"I did, but I also don't want to assume. Like I said, I'm not trying to catch a case because you look like the type to make a nigga catch one." I eyed her.

"Do I?" She said taken aback.

"Yeah, you're a very beautiful woman." I'm telling the truth about her being beautiful.

"Thank you." 

"Wanna dance?" I asked her.

"I don't know. Can you dance?" Naomi asked me. Hell nah!

"I can do something." I shrugged and stood up. I put my hand out for her to grab.

"I don't know, I seen you perform on stage and you don't have the best rhythm." She laughed but took my hand anyways. It's a fast song so all I have to do is move fast. (I just thought of his dancing on Why Can't We. 🤣🤣🤣) "Can I bring my drink?" She asked me.

I nodded. "I got mines, and it up to you." I held up my bottle.

          She grabbed her glass and walked with me to the dance floor. It was towards the ending of Dr. Dre: Keep Their Heads Ringin'. We danced to that until it came off. We danced to a bunch of songs and kept getting more drinks. She got softer drinks but I kept the same type of drink I got before. We danced, drank, and talked for about two hours. It was fun and I didn't lie about being energetic. Now, Adina Howard's: Freak Like Me is on and she is dancing all up on me.  I mean, she's throwing her shit back on me and rubbing up against me. She has me on brick right now. After the song came off, I pulled her closer to me and started "dancing". Her back was still to me. 

Naomi turned her head to the side, enough for her to see my face. "You staying here?" She asked me, sliding her hands down the front of my pants.

"Ye-yeah, I have a room." I stuttered.

"Can I see it?" She asked me. That's  all I wanted from jump. All that shit in between don't matter

"You can. When?" I asked her.

She turned around, her breasts pressed against me. "How about, right now?" She whispered in my ear and slid her hand in my pants. She pressed her lips against mines which lead to a make-out session.

"Let's go." I told her after pulling away from the heated kiss. "Let's get your stuff." I told her pulled her hands out my pants.

          We walked back to her table and she grabbed her things. I am stumbling from how drink I am. Once we were back in the elevator, we continued to kiss. There were a few people in there with me. I should have a bodyguard with me but they probably can't see my face from the way we are kissing and touching. The elevator dinged and those people got off and one more got on. When we finally made it to my floor and we rushed to my door. I took out my key and stuck it in the door. Nothing happened and it didn't even go all the way in.

"Hol' on." I said pulling away from our kiss.

          I know, that we're doing too much but I'm drunk, horny, and still a little high from earlier. I turned my key again but it did the same thing. I squatted at looked at the keyhole trying to see if there was something stuck, but I didn't see anything. Then I stood back up and checked the number on the door. This was indeed my hotel room.

"Oh, shit." I threw my head back in frustration.

"What's wrong?" She asked me.

"I think I gave away the wrong key and I have my brothers." I went a little down the hall and knocked on K-Ci's door because I know he had a spare key for my room. No answer. I left K-Ci and Jojo's key in my hotel so I couldn't get in. "Shit, I have to go to my brother room to grab my key. I'll be right back." I told her in a rush.

"Why can't I go?" She frowned.

"My brother don't want nobody to know his room number." I told her.

"Okay," she walked close to me. "but don't keep me waiting to long." She rubbed me through my pants again and gave me another kiss. It was a nasty on.

I pulled away. "I won't, I promise." I told her and stumbled back to the elevator. I pressed the button to DeVanté's floor. There are people in here with me.

"Can I have your autograph? It's for my sister." A guy asked me. We got that line before. Some men just don't want to admit that they want it for themselves.

"Yeah, you got a pen?" I asked. He took one out and hand me the pen and a card to sign. I signed it and gave it back to him.

"Me too, I don't have a paper but will you sign my arm?" A lady asked me. "Can I use your pen?" She asked the guy. He handed it to her and I signed it. "Thank you, I'm getting this tattooed tomorrow." She beamed.

One got out the elevator once it stopped at the desired floor. "Thank you." The lady waved at me.

"You know my sister will really love this?" The guy asked me.

"Yeah." I mumbled not really caring.

It was finally my time to get off the elevator. "Thank you." I heard the guy yell as the elevator doors closed.

          I walked off and stumbled to DeVanté's room. I knocked first but when there was no answer I pulled out his key and sure enough it turned. I walked in and saw DeVanté asleep on the bed in a weird ass position on his back. There was a couple bottles of liquor on the bedside table.

"Yo, De?" I called out. He still was sleep.

"Sherie?" I called out. I walked in further and saw that the bathroom door was open and the light on. I knocked on the wall next to the bathroom door. "Sherie, I think I gave you the wrong key. Well, I KNOW that I gave you the wrong key. I knocked on the wall again but I still didn't hear her say anything.

I pushed the door open and walked in. The moment I turned my body, I saw Sherie on the floor next to the sink and near the toilet. "Sherie?" I called out again. I ran towards her as fast my drunken body would take me. "Sherie!?" I yelled at her and dropped down to my knee's.

I felt around her wrist for a pulse. My heart sped up I kept feeling around to find anything. Nothing! "DE!? I THINK SOMETHIN' IS WRONG WIT' YO GIRL!" I yelled breathing heavily.

Then I leaned down and put my head to hear chest to see if I could hear anything and still got nothing. I out my finger under her nose that has white residue on it. "DE, GET YO ASS UP! SHE AIN'T BREATHIN' MAN!" I yelled out franticly. When I looked up the counter caught my eye. On top of the counter, there was a white substance and rolled up money.

"Oh, shit." I mumbled to myself and stood up, stumbling.. "Yo, De?" I held the wall for support then walked back into the room. "DEVANTÉ!?" I yelled again but when I didn't hear him. I ran to the bed.

I flung the covers off the bed and off his body. "Junior." I slapped his face. "DEVANTÉ! DONALD!" I felt around his wrist to find something because I felt nothing. Then I felt a very faint pulse. Tears started pouring out my eyes. "SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE!" I yelled at the top of my lungs and grabbed the phone to call them myself.

"999, what's you-"

"MY BROTHER IS LAYING HERE AND I THINK HIS GIRLFRIEND IS DEAD. GET HERE QUICK!" I yelled completely terrified.

"Calm down, sir. What is the address?"

"ROYAL LANCASTER LONDON HOTEL. ROOM 603! HURRY THE FUCK UP!"

"Sir, calm down. Help is on the way. Check his pulse."

"I ALREADY DID, LADY, JUST COME!"

"Sir, do you know CPR?" She asked me.

"PLEASE JUST GET HER QUICK!" I cried harder. "COME ON, DE, WAKE UP MAN! WHY YOU GOTTA KEEP DOIN' DUMB SHIT, MAN!? WHY THE FUCK YOU KEEP DOIN' DUMB SHIT, HUH!? ANSWER ME!" I shook his body and dropped the phone. "DON'T DIE ON ME, MAN. I LIVE YOU! WAKE THE FUCK UP!" I shook him harder.

I heard the door open and the paramedics and police rushed in the room. "HE'S RIGHT HERE!" I cried out.

"Move over, sir so we can get to him." A paramedic told me. I moved out the way and stood up.

"We have a faint pulse we need to get him to the hospital fast! He's in cardiac arrest." The paramedic yelled out. They rushed him on the stretcher and buckled him up.

"What his name and age?" The asked me as the tended to him.

"Donald DeGrate, 26." I quickly answered. "Is he gon' be okay?" I asked following them.

"Sir, where is the other person?"

"Bathroom!" I yelled and ran after the paramedics that had my brother. I rode with them in the ambulance. They have me a breath mask because I am hyperventilating. We got to the hospital and they rushed him in a room.

"Stay back, sir!" They told me.

"Come with me." A nurse said to me. "You have to wait in the waiting room, sir, so he can get better. You'll only be a distraction to the nurses."

          I was put into the waiting room. I sat there on the chair in my head. I wish I would've never ignored him being on drugs. Damn! I could've help him! We should've been did something about this. Oh, God! I folded my hands and looked up at the ceiling.

"Please God, please let my brother live. Please, give him another chance Lord. He ain't ever did nothing to nobody. I'm sorry, I was stupid to the fact of what my brother been doin'. I'm sorry that I haven't been talking to you lately. I'm sorry. Aman." I finished.

          I grabbed my cell phone from my pocket and dialed my parents house. The timezones are different, it's probably about 1 a.m in North Carolina since it's probably two a.m here. I looked up at the clock and it read five a.m. so it's 2 in the morning in North Carolina. They picked it up on the last ring.

"Hello," Pops said groggily. I heard D.J crying in the background. "Dalvin, what the hell you doin' callin' at two in the morning? You woke up the baby."

I sniffled still trying to get myself together. "P-pops." Tears started back falling down my face.

"What's wrong son?" He softened his time once he heard me speak.

"Po-pops, Junior in the hospital. He's in cardiac arrest. I fou- I foun-" I cried.

"Get it out son. Calm down." He eased.

"I found him in the hotel room. He's unconscious. I thin- I-think he overdosed on something." I cried out. "There was drugs in there."

Pops sighed heavily and then I heard complete silence on the other end. "Son, where are you?"

"The hospital." I told him again.

"What's wrong honey?" I heard my mother say and baby cooing in the background.

"Junior is in the hospital. He's in a coma. They say cardiac arrest." He said sounding calm. I know that he's just trying not to feel sad.

"WHAT!?" She yelled out and then I heard DJ start to cry again.

"Son, what country are you in?" He asked me.

"I- we in London." I said still crying.

"Son, I want you to calm down. Junior is going to be okay. God's got him. Junior is a strong man. I will be there as soon as I can. Okay?" He told me.

I nodded and wiped my wet face with the back of my hands. "Okay. I can do that." I told him.

"Good. I love you, son." He told me.

"I love you too, pops." I responded.

"Alright, see you soon. Bye." He told me. I just held the phone still trying to wrap my hands around it all. "Son, it's going to be alright."

"Po-pops, I think his girlfriend is dead." I told him. "She had no pulse and she wasn't breathing at all."

"Be strong son. You got this and he's got this. God's got this too." He tried to reassure me.

"I can be strong any other time, but right now, I'm just weak. I- I can't this time pops. I can't be strong when my brother is in a coma especially when it's my fault." I cried harder.

"S-son, you right. Let it- let it all out." His voice cracked. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Now hang up." He told me.

         I dragged the phone away from my ear, held the phone for a while, then I finally hung up. I sat back in my seat just thinking about all the fun things me and Donald had. I love my brother so fucking much, man. Oh, shit. I can't let this get out to the public!

September 30, 1995

~Tia's P.O.V~

"Yasir, that wasn't cool." I told him. We're finally talking about what he did.

"I know and I'm sorry. I just thought it'd help you." He told me.

"I know, and I'm happy that you care but that didn't help me at all. In fact, that made it worse. I'm in therapy now and have been dealing with it that way. I have been in therapy for a long time now and I was healing. Her being there just brought everything back. I stopped having night terrors but when I saw her, it started back again." I said and wiped my face.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen." He sympathized.

"Yasir, it's not your fault. If she wouldn't have did this, I wouldn't be in this position at all. You were just trying to help me and I thank you. Just let me handle it." I lifted up my glasses and wiped my eyes.

"I can't stand that bitch. She had the nerve to say that dumb shit. I don't hit women but she should get her ass beat. She did this to more than one person and it's all her family that's some sick shit!" He yelled through the phone.

"Yasir, you can't resolve things with fighting. It happened and I'm dealing with it my own way."

"I know, it's just that she didn't admit to anything she did." He said throught the phone.

"That's fine." I told him.

"It's not though."

"Yasir, she's going to get what's coming to her. I'll call you back another time. I have to get back to work. I love you, bye." I told him.

"Bye." He said and then I hung up.

          That was a lie, I don't have to film today. I just wanted to leave the whole subject alone. He dragged it on and I get it it that he feels bad but the whole twenty minutes we talked about this. I not at the right place to be in that mindset. That whole situation made me have flashbacks again. They flashbacks and night terros aren't as frequent as they used to be. You can't just force someone who dealt with trauma to face their trauma head on.

          Never do that to people dealing with trauma. It inflicts them with more. That can set them back to where they used to be. I can't blame it on him though because all he did was try to help even though it ended up being the opposite of his intentions. I have now been doing therapy over the phone again. Yes, it has come to that. There was a knock at my hotel door.

"Who is it?" I said getting up and cleaned up my face.

"Taimak." I heard from the other side.

After I finished fixing my face, I went to the door and looked through the peephole. I then opened it. "Hi."

"Hello, I thought we were going to go the gym and jogging?" He asked me.

"Ahh, yeah. Exercising is fine, but I don't think jogging is safe. Think about it, This is Utah and there's only 1.6% of African Americans here." I chuckled.  "Not to mention the animals."

"Alright, then let's got to the gym downstairs." He told me.

"Okay, let me grab my stuff."

We were in the gym and I was tearing up the punching bag. Taimak grabbed the punching bag that was hanging from the ceiling and held it still. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing." I grunted and continued throwing jabs and kicks like he taught me.

"Somethings on your mind, talk about it. Talk to me about it."

"Later, okay? I don't feel like talking about it right now." I told him continuing to do what I was doing. I kicked my leg and he grabbed it.

"It's fine that you don't want to talk about it right now. But the way you're hitting, you're going end up hurting yourself. THIS is professional equipment. You've got to be careful." He  brought my leg to the floor.

"You're right." I told him. We moved over and he swung and me and I ducked then kicked.

He nodded with a satisfied look but kept going. "Good, good, good. Keep going."

"Faster."

"Faster?" Taimak asked and I nodded at him. "Okay." He sped it up as did I.

"1, 2, kick, punch! 3,4, kick, jump, kick and punch!" He said dropping near the floor and doing a helicopter kick. "Whatever is happening with you, will be over soon. Most problems are just temporary." He told me dropping kicking again.

"Yeah, but-" I punched the air. "What if these problems are eternal?" I went faster.

"Wait, a minute now." He grabbed my arms. "You're too angry at the moment for this. Let's take a break." He told me.

"Okay." I went to the bench and took a seat. My foot hurts.

"You hurt yourself. I saw that limp. Taking out your anger in the gym is normal but you YOU are on another level. This is why you should never do it." He lifted my foot up to his lap and took off my shoe. He massaged my sock covered foot. "Those eternal problems you're talking about, you will just have to learn how to live with them."

"I was- I am but it seems as if for every step I take forward, something drags me back double." I explained.

"You have to always be prepared for those setbacks. It's just a part of life. Yes, you may have something pull you back double the amount of times you're being pulled forwards but as long as you keep making an effort to get back up, you'll be fine. When you make it to the top of that last step and the previous stairs collapse, nobody of nothing can touch you. What up? What's this about?"

"I don't want to talk about that. My brother did it enough. I thought about what you told me." I exhaled. Then he tickled my foot. I shook and almost fell off the bench while laughing. He stopped and looked at me laughing.

"About what?" He raised his brows and stopped tickling me.

"People using me."

"Oh, I didn't want to be right but I used to be like you. Doing thing's for ungrateful people."

"That trip was a complete disaster. I just wanted me, my three friends and bodyguards with me. It would've been smooth even if Courtney did bring her sister. Everybody else was just on straight bull. Elijah egged some things on as well but with the people I didn't invite. It was overwhelming and I don't like that. I hate drama and try to stay far away from it." I shook my head at everything.

"Yeah, the fighting got out of hand. I'm sorry that happened to you during your first international trip." He told me. "I promise that you would have enjoyed it if those things hadn't occurred."

I smiled at him "I DID enjoy the country. Well, everything that I was able to see. Thank you for doing that too."

"You've thanked me too many time. I'm beginning to get overwhelmed with appreciation."

I looked at him and started laughing and he shortly joined in. "Now that you've calmed down, let's continue. You  ready?"

I hooded at him. "Yes, Sensei." I said like I was in the army.

"Does your foot feel better?" He asked me.

"Yes, thanks to you." I stood up. "Besides, it didn't hurt that much from jump."

"You limped." He said in a monotone voice.

"Yes, I did but-"

"Your pain tolerance is high. I know." He laughed at me. "Come on."

"Come." I said and we started going at it again.

Author's Note: Donald is in a coma.😭 Do you think this was done on purpose or what? Poor Dalvin! Tia has had a setback due to being at the Iyanla: Fix My Life house. Poor girl is left standing at Dalvin's hotel room. This is a sad chapter.😭😭😭

Word Count: 4,915

Please feel free to like and comment. Feedback gives motivation, and motivation urges me to continue to write.

Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to read another chapter of this story. Thank you for staying despite the slacking.💚🖤❤💜💙💛