Please excuse any grammatical errors.

January 18, 1992

~DeVanté's P.O.V~

Both vehicles arrived to the aquarium around the same time. When we saw Tia and Pac come out we went inside to pay. We all paid for ourselves except for Tia, Pac paid for her. The person behind the front desk hyperventilated when she saw all of us.

"I-I-I'm a huge fan of you all! May I have you guys autograph!?"

"Sure thing, baby," Dalvin said. She handed us a pen, we all signed our names on different souvenirs the Aquarium had.

We went inside the Aquarium tunnel.

"Wow," Tia said spinning around."This is so nice."

"Yop," Tupac said taking a picture of Tia from the Polaroid camera as she spun. It was hanging around his neck.

"So we taking pictures now," she asked him after she saw the camera flash.

"Mmhm, yeah. Everyday time is running out. Capture the memories when we can.

"Look, there go K-Ci," JoJo said pointing at a fish.

"It looks more like Dalvin," I said.

"He does have your eyebrows," Tupac said to Dalvin, laughing.

"Yo, y'all bugging. My eyebrows look dope," Dalvin said smoothing his eyebrows out.

I felt a tap on my leg, when I looked down I saw a little girl. She looked to be five or six.

"Are y'all Jodeci?" She asked looking up.

"Yes, we are little lady. Who may you be?" K-Ci said squatting down.

"I'm Jai'Loni Tuckerson." She held out her hand, for us to shake and we accepted.

"Mr. Dalvin," she asked.

"Yes?"

"My mama says that you're her daddy. So, are you my other pawpaw? You look very young." Dalvin's eyes grew wide, as she said that.

"Uhhh," I knew Dalvin was at lost for words, as he cleared his throat.

"Honey, where are your parents?" Tia asked the little girl, in a concerned voice.

"My mama is with one of her boyfriends," she pointed in the direction of a couple lip locking.

"Umm, come on let's take you to her." Dalvin said, "Ladies first." He let her walk ahead of her.

"Thanks pawpaw," she walked to her parents.

"Excuse me miss. Little ol' Ja'Loni here, was wondering around." Dalvin said getting the woman's attention.

"Baby, what I tell you about wondering?" Her mother said looking down at her.

"But, mommy I went to talk to pawpaw!" The little girl exclaimed.

"Thank you," She said looking up then widened her eyes in shock.

"Oh my God, IT'S Jodeci!" She exclaimed. "Tupac, and Tia!" She caused attention to us and people started swarming us. People were grabbing at us, clawing, and screaming. Tia's eyes widened, and her chest quickly rose and fell. She was hyperventilating.

"We gotta go!" I yelled, Tia still stood there wide eyed, shoulders scrunched, and breathing hard.

"COME ON!" Pac yelled.

I grabbed Tia, threw her over my shoulder and fought through the crowd. I threw the keys to K-Ci, he surprisingly caught them. JoJo thankfully jumped into the passenger seat. We needed all the room we could get hack here.

I sat Tia down in the back jumped in myself, along with Dalvin and Pac. Tia and Dalvin sat in the middle, Pac sat at the end with Dalvin next to him, while I sat at the other end with Tia next to me. We were slightly squished in the back seat.

"Drive, drive, DRIVE!" Dalvin said, as the running crowd was on our tail. People started beating on the windows as K-Ci drove off. We finally got away from the crowd. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

I don't know what made us go to a PUBLIC PLACE in broad daylight, being who WE are. I'm guessing this was the first time this has happened to her.

"You good, now?" Pac asked Tia.

"Hmmm?" She snapped out of her daze.

"I said, are you good?" He repeated.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," Tia said just above a whisper.

"Is this your first time?" I asked her.

"Mmhm." She mumbled

"Welcome to our world, sweetheart." K-Ci said to her chuckling from the front seat.

"My fucking coat is ripped. Man I just got this shit!" Dalvin whined out loud.

"They scratched my ass up!" Pac said touching on his face.

"Man, all you need is some Robitussin. You'll be good." K-Ci said from the front seat.

"Robitussin is for internal illnesses, you big dummy!" JoJo said from the passenger seat.

"Right! What he need is hydrogen peroxide to clean it. We don't know what was under they nails," Dalvin said.

"Damn..." I felt the stings of scratches on my neck and face.

"Y'all wanna stop to get something to eat? Cause I could eat right now." K-Ci asked us.

"Yeah, let's go to Popeyes." I responded.

We stopped at the Popeyes drive-thru, ordered our food, and made I way to the hotel.

We were now in the elevator, "Well, it was fun while it lasted right?" I said looking at Tia. She looked a bit frightened.

"Yeah, it was." She nodded and chuckled awkwardly. She was gripping the railing hard with sleeve covered hands.

"Scared ass," Tupac said to her.

"I'm not!" She defensively responded. I would ask for her number but I see the type of woman she is she likes to slow things down. How do I know that? Just from observing her. Anyways, I have a feeling I will see her again.

We stopped on our floor.

"I guess, we'll see y'all later." I said but they followed too.

"Why y'all following us for?" K-Ci asked.

"I'm going to my room..." Tia said, coming to a halt and reaching into her pocket.

"You been staying right here, next to me all this time?" I asked.

"I guess I have." She shrugged and pulled out her key.

"I know DeVanté likes that. See y'all later!" Dalvin said the first part low.
K-Ci pushed their door to his and Dalvins two bedroom hotel room. Dalvin didn't go into theirs instead he followed me and JoJo.

"Okay," Tia waved and went inside her hotel. Tupac followed her inside. JoJo opened the door to ours and we went inside.

"JoJo, you want to switch rooms with me?" I asked, once the door closed.

"DeVanté wanna switch rooms rooms with me!? What's the catch?" JoJo said in a fangirl voice, but his octave dropped at the question.

"There is none?" I made it sound like a question rather than an answer.

🤔Dalvin put his hand on his chin, "You tryna hear what's going on in the next hotel room right?" I didn't reply.

"Yep, silence is louder than words. That's exactly what you want, you fucking creep." Dalvin said smacking the back of my head, and laughed, right along with Jojo.

"You must be crazy if you think imma switch with you. I be hearing what the hell you be watching in there, and Ion know what's on those sheets." JoJo said looking at me disgusted.

"Skeet. There's skeet on them sheets! Nasty ass." Dalvin pointed out laughing.

"You can male your way across the hall! Besides I don't really having time for no play. Neither have y'all." I said.

"I been getting mine, and plenty of it. Remember ion live with y'all. Y'all haven't been getting none." JoJo said pointing to us.

People really be really underestimating JoJo. He be having our fans thinking he's just a quiet dude but this nigga ain't innocent at all. He talk a lot of shit, and play a lot of women.

"The difference between me and y'all two is that I have self control," Dalvin said with his fingertips on his chest.

"Nigga I got self control," I responded defensively.

"No you don't, every white bitch you see, you end up bedding her. What do YOU really want with Tia? She's a sister and she's far too wise for your dumb ass." Dalvin said.

"She is. She seem like she ain't gon' take no shit from nobody. She one of those Queen Latifah types. You know the one to flaunt her blackness." JoJo said.

"Man, fuck y'all!" I said to the both of them.

There was a knock on the door. JoJo opened it up and revealed K-Ci he had some peroxide and cotton balls in his hands.

"What y'all niggas talking about?"

"The woman DeVanté sweating," Dalvin said.

"Oh, she a'ight." K-Ci responded.

"A'ight the girl is all that and a factory of chips. Tia is very beautiful and seems so sure of herself." I said standing up for her.

"Like I said she a'ight. She seem like she's tryna make herself look smarter than what she is." K-Ci said shrugging.

"Man, whatever that girl is as smart as she looks, TOO smart for De's dumb ass. She ain't putting on no front." Dalvin said laughing.

"I don't deny the fact that she's smart. I just said, she tryna sound smarter than what she is. She sounds white, just like this. Which is probably the reason you like her." K-Ci said pronouncing every syllable trying to make a point.

"Now, who's degrading their own people." I said to K-Ci.

"Right, you saying she talk white because she pronounced every syllable, and she used big words YOU probably couldn't understand. You do notice that when you say a black person is talking white because of their pronunciation, you're automatically implying black people are incapable of doing so. I don't know her much, but like JoJo stated before you got here, she's the type to stand in her blackness. You probably didn't get that did you? Are the words I used too big for your puny brain." Dalvin said agreeing with me.

"Hell, most of the white women De brought home had a little hood twang in them. Knowing damn well the closest thing they been to the hood is a nigga. I ain't ever heard you mention any of then were acting black, it's only the other way around with you." JoJo said to him.

"Shut y'all dumb asses up, y'all don't know what the fuck y'all talking about. She got Dalvin talking like her only after only one time talking." K-Ci said laughing.

"Dumb? Me? Dalvin DeGrate is dumb? Let me remind you that I graduated with a 3.7, to your what 1.6? I'm about tired of y'all calling me me but I'm the one with the highest GPA in this whole room. Like I've previously stated, K-Ci, you don't really understand what I said because of the 'BIG WORDS' I used." Dalvin said using air quotes.

"Come one so we can clean our cuts." JoJo said changing the subject.

"Yeah..." K-Ci said in a defeated tone.

We passed the the cotton balls and hydrogen peroxide around and began to clean our wounds.

~Tia's P.O.V~

I opened the door and automatically went into the bedroom to grab the hydrogen peroxide and cotton out my suitcase. Tupac was sitting on the couch in the sitting room flipping through his notebook.

"I think imma leave Digital Underground." He said looking up once he saw me.

"Oh yeah?" I asked sitting down on the couch.

"Yop, it was fun while it lasted but I'm starting to catch bad vibes from some of them."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's not just one thing it's a plethora of things. And then what he said the other day at the After Party rubbed me the wrong way. Besides, my album '2pacalypse Now' came out last November and the sales are doing pretty decent. I mean I already got my foot in the door, I might as well push it open. Not to mention I'm making more money than I was in that group. We made money as a group but we had to split that money. That shit chump change compared to what I'm about to be getting."

"That does sounds like a smart business move. I support you bro." I told him genuinely.

"Bro? You ain't ever called me that before," he said laughing. "But that last song I did with them 'Same Song' is my last song with them. I did the album collaboration with Interscope Records now they offering me a record deal, and I made up my mind on taking it."

"Do what you feel is right. From what you read me from that notebook I know you're about to go far Bullet-Head." I said tapping the top of his head.

"Yo you wildin'." He said brushing my hand off his head. "You cooking anything today? Since you ain't get no Popeyes?" He asked.

"Yeah, I got some frozen chicken breast in there, I'm trying to get rid of that before I leave town. I'm thinking about making chicken parmesan and pasta for tonight."

"Sounds good I can't wait to eat." He said rubbing his stomach.

"Hold up, I didn't say I was making any for you, it for me!" I raised my brows at him.

"You for real?"

"No! I'm just jiving." I laughed slapping my knee.

"Them cats are pretty chill, ain't they?" Tupac asked.

"Yeah, that Dalvin guy is goofy! He's the funniest one of them all." I laughed thinking back on earlier.

"Yeah, but how do you feel about DeVanté?" Tupac asked.

"He's seems like a nice guy. But he's a man whore with some type of identity crisis. All the other times I saw him he was with a different woman. That was only in a span of seventeen days. Not to mention the drama."

"Wait, you saw him another time other than Premiere Night?"

"Yeah. You remember elevator girl?" I asked him.

"That racist ass whit bitch? Yeah." He said.

I laughed, "Yeah, he was with her on New Years. I got into a small altercation that day with her, TWICE. Then at the woman from the party. He's a nice looking guy but I can tell he gets around." I chuckled.

"Twice? So you telling the elevator wasn't the first encounter with her?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Well damn... I did notice her say it's you again, but in different words. What happened the first time?"

"DeVanté and I bumped into each other on accident and I apologized to him. But being the angry white woman that she is she called me out my name. A black bitch to be specific, and I said something back. He only slightly put her in her place. He still left with her after she put emphasis on BLACK. He's one of the type of dudes that I told you about. The ones who take pride in white women, who don't really look as them as an equal. You know?"

"Yeah," he said and took the cotton balls out of the bag.

I got up to go to the kitchen area to take out the frozen chicken. I put it ran it under water for a bit and let it sit on a plate on the countertop. I washed my hands, and made my way back into the sitting room. I heard him hissing at the cotton touching his scratches.

"Can you do this for me, it hurt like a motherfucker?" He asked.

"What's the difference, whether you do it or I do, it's still gonna burn?" I put my hand on my hip.

"It's surprise my wounds."

"Whaa- come on." I sat down, grabbed the cotton, and cleaned his cuts. He exhaled through his mouth, and I was right in his face.

"Your breath stinks." I scrunched up my face.

He purposefully blew his breath in my face this time. I popped him in head.

"What it smell like," he asked rubbing his head.

"You want me to be honest?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course."

"It smells like a hundred times of bounce that ass!" I said throwing my head back in laughter.

He smacked his teeth, "Whatever..." He said covering his mouth.

I finished cleaning his scratches.

"Do me now." I told him.

"If I do, you'd have to smell my breath that according to you smells like a hundred times of bounce that ass."

"You right," I said grabbing the cotton balls, and getting up.

I went into the bathroom to to clean it in the mirror. After a few minutes I finished and went back into the sitting room, to see him watching 'Family Matters'.

"What episode is this," I asked, sitting on the other couch.

He picked up the TV Guide on the table.

"Season 2: Episode 8 its called Cousin Urkel. Oh! It's the one when they first introduced Myrtle, Urkels cousin to the show, and she was digging on Eddie hard. You remember right?"

"Ahh, yeah!"

We took turns singing the parts of the theme song and sang the ending together. We sounded horrible, but we had a good time doing it. We watched television together until it was time for me to start dinner.

Word Count: 2855

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