✴️

|Monday, January 21st, 1987|
|Santa Barbara County, California|
|Neverland Valley Ranch|
|4:00 am|

Michael

I sat there at the piano, comforting Prince for a good hour as he cried, and cried uncontrollably. I felt horrible and it made my heart rip into shreds. I noticed from day one, that there was some deep rooted issues with him that I couldn't exactly put my finger on. However, I could see the pain in his eyes, and I truly wanted to know what was going on. All those times he got defensive about it, it was like a cry for help, and I feel bad for not realizing that. I shouldn't of thought that I was overreacting, because I was right, and all of that pain, was written all over his face and shown through his tears.

After his sobs calmed down, him and I went into the living room. It was the time where Prince was finally going to open up to me and explain what was going on, and I never thought I saw this day coming. I was in the kitchen, making him a cup of water while he sat on the couch, staring at his lap while his tears were dried onto his face, in silence. As I came out of the kitchen, I walked to the couch, handing him the cup of water. He looked up at me with very sad eyes, and slowly took the cup away from me.

"Thanks.." He faintly said, I nodded with a guilty look on my face, and then sat next to him. Prince took a sip of the water, and gently sat it down on the coffee table in front of us. He leaned back into the couch, bringing his legs his chest, and took a deep breath, finally beginning to open up.

"I've been through a lot, Michael.." He said with his voice slightly cracking, "I put on this face, everyday, to pretend that I'm okay, when in reality, I'm not. I'm hurt, and I have no idea how to deal that hurt, because I've been dealing with it all my life, from now, and since I was a kid. I felt pain, not one ounce of happiness existed in my life, ever. I grew up in a home where love, just didn't exist. My mother and father fought, all the time. It happened any time of the day, whether it was early in the morning, or if it was late at night, the fighting did not stop. It was like a battle zone, and I had no way out. It would even get physical, I saw my father, slap the soul out of my mother so many times that it would knock her out and she would be unconscious. Sometimes, she would be so vulnerable, to the point where she would use me as protection, and she would put me in between her and my father, so he wouldn't get to her. I felt so alone, so confused, and I felt like I had nobody. I got bullied in school, use to get called all types of names, and it began to weigh so much on me, and it started to reflect a lot in my character, I felt changed, but not in a good way "

"As I got older, I felt myself starting to spiral out of control. I realized that I was missing something in my life that I didn't have, and it was love, and I craved it like it was a drug. I was involved with a lot of girls, trying to search for that love I was missing, and I use to do it all the time, even behind my parent's back. When I was around twelve years old, I got caught in the bed with a girl, and just like that, my father threw me out of the house. I had little to none, no money in my pocket, nothing to keep me warm in the cold weather, and I remember walking miles to the nearest phone booth. I was so weak, I was crying, so hard, begging him if I could come back home, and his response, was no, every response was the same each time I called, it was always no. I remember sitting there, crying in that phone booth for two hours straight, and I never went back after that. I went through living at so many homes, I alternated between close family, and some friends..." Prince stopped abruptly, sounding like he was going to break down crying again.

I reached out, and placed my hand on his knee, comforting him, hoping he would go on. A tear slipped down my face, and my heart continued to break as I listened to his story. As he struggled to keep going, I exhaled a little and asked, "Did you ever find somewhere safe to stay?"

He nodded slightly, and took a deep breath and continued with his story, "I did, and I'm so blessed that I did. I don't know if I would be here today if I hadn't. I moved in with one of my close friends, and his mother took great care of me and treated me as one of her own. I would say, that was probably the one time that I felt loved, and ever since then, I felt like I was finally going towards the right path. Yes, I did get in trouble here and there still, but I felt so much safer, than I did living with my parents, that didn't seem to give a damn about me. My passion for music grew and I began my career shortly after that, and even though the relationship with my father at the time was strained, I will forever thank him for getting me into music, because it was the only escape I had from the harsh reality that I was living in. It was, and still is, really hard for me to forgive him for the hell he put me through. We got back into contact a couple of years after that, and our relationship was on and off, but I haven't talked to him in two years."

"As for my mother, I haven't talked to her in awhile either. I love her, but it's also been really hard to work up the courage to rekindle with her as well. She was such a great mother, but she changed as the relationship between her and my father got worse, and I didn't recognize her anymore. She wasn't like my father, she was different, but she wasn't a mother. She was so scared to death of my father, that she never had the courage to stand up for me, or protect me and my sister. I felt like at times, she cared more about her safety, than her own kids. When my father and my mother divorced, she was out of the door so fast that I couldn't even think straight. I couldn't blame her for being afraid, and wanting to separate from my father, but I missed her so much, but I felt so betrayed that she left us, because I needed her, but I grew up, knowing how to live without the love of a mother. Like I said before, I felt like I had no one, but I did have my sister. But even my sister, barely stuck around, even to this day."

"She was, and still is abusing drugs, so much to the point where I barely hear from her. I would travel miles, even between shows, just to make sure that she was okay, but my schedule would be so busy that I couldn't do it all the time, and I'm worried sick about her. That's why I didn't answer your question, when you asked about my family earlier tonight, because I was just so embarrassed, because if you really look at it, I don't have one. I've been on my own for so long, that I never really had the need to reconnect with my family, because they left me, when I needed them the most. I changed, in the worst way. I'm not the kind, shy person that I use to be years ago. People say all the time, that I'm arrogant, that I'm rude, or that I'm cold, but that's a reflection of what happened to me all those years, because that's all I knew. At times, I felt like I was becoming my father, which I'm not proud of. It explains why the relationships I had with certain woman, didn't last long, because I would search for love in one person, and then I would look for so much more love in another person, which reveals the commitment issues that I had, and that explains why the relationships I've been in never worked out. Even with Vanity, it was the same issue. I didn't just love her, I felt the need to love other woman at the same time, and it was wrong of me to do that, I regret it so much.."

I saw Prince's eyes start to water, and then tears started to fall down onto his face. He bit his lip, holding back his sobs as he stared down at his lap. Then he looked up at me, and said with a soft voice, "I've hurt so many people, Michael, including you. You didn't deserve the way I treated you, I was just at my breaking point, and I took it out on you, and I'm so sorry. I feel horrible, I want to change, I want to be happy, but I just d-don't know how." He stuttered, and then he broke down crying, wrapping his arms around his legs and bringing his head down to his knees.

My heart officially broke, as I watched Prince cry. Tears were streaming down my face like a water stream, but I tried my best to stay strong for him regardless of what I was feeling. His story, left me speechless. I had no idea what to say, he truly went through a lot. I put myself in his shoes, and I couldn't imagine going through pain like that, however, I could relate to it a lot, which made me feel so sad, because I went through the exact same thing with my father. We also didn't have the best relationship, and we didn't talk a lot either. Even though I forgave my father for everything that he did, I have not forgotten the pain he put me and my family through. There would be times where he would come to visit or whenever I would be around him, and I would feel so scared, even to the point where I would regurgitate. It was really hard dealing with the same type of pain that Prince described growing up, but thank god, I found ways to cope with the pain and moved on. Sadly, Prince didn't, and he had been holding onto it for so long, and it really tore me to pieces.

Everything that I had said about Prince in the past, I deeply felt horrible about, and I take all of it back. He was going through hell, and all he needed was someone to help him get out of it.

And I was determined to be that person.

"Prince.." I say, feeling speechless, wiping some of my tears away. I scooted closer to him, and I wrapped my arm around him, and then it fell down to rub his back.

He looked up from his knees, made eye contact with me for a split with his blood shot, red eyes, and he brought his knees down and wiped his tears, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't of said a word-"

"Stop." I cut him off from rambling, very sternly, I wasn't going to let him crumble into dust any longer. He deserved better, and this was going to end, today.

As he looked down at the floor with guilt, I slid down from the couch, and kneeled in front of him, so he could look at me fully.

"Look at me." I said, as I wiped the rest of the tears that was rolling down his face completely off. His slowly looked up, and his eyes met mine.

"Do you know how proud of yourself you should be, right now?" I asked. His eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"What?" He replied.

"Prince." I said reassuringly, and then I took one of his hands in mine, gripping it softly.

"You did it, Prince. You finally let all the hurt, and the pain that you felt all those years, go, by what you did just now. You poured your heart out, and that's the key to letting yourself free, do you realize that?"

Prince stayed silent, and I continued to speak, "You shouldn't have to want to change anymore, because guess what? You already have. You're not the same person I met, you revealed a side of you that I thought I would never see. You're honestly one of the most sweetest, and caring people that I've met. I saw the look in your eye when we went to the children's hospital that I never saw before this whole time I've known you, you were happy. The pain that I often saw in you, was gone, and you let go. Now, you let go of all of it completely, and you should be very proud of yourself for doing that. You deserve better, Prince, way better. I understand what you went through, I went through the exact same thing."

He smiled a little, and he sniffled, wiping a tear away with his other hand, "You have?"

I nodded, and smiled back softly, "Of course. Growing up, I had the same relationship with my father. He had also gotten me into music, but he was so strict, and tough as nails. Me and my brothers weren't allowed to call him dad, he had cheated on my Mother, multiple times, and he would whoop us so bad that I thought we wouldn't see the light of day."

Prince chuckled a little bit as I continued to speak, "I felt so much pain and so much resentment towards him, just like you did. Now even though, what we both went through was different, I learned how to cope with it,  and I haven't looked back since. I forgave my father, and I let myself move forward. Now I'm not saying you have to do the same, I encourage you to take that step whenever you feel comfortable. What I'm trying to say though, Prince, is to never let the past define you, because if you do, it's going to control you for the rest of your life.
What you went through was hell, and I'm truly sorry about all of it, I wouldn't wish that on anyone, but I don't want that for you, and I know you wouldn't want that for yourself. You have so much more in you, it's okay to let others see the beauty of what's inside of you. It's okay to cry, it's okay to let your guard down at times, it's okay to make mistakes, but most importantly, it's okay to let yourself heal."

Prince's eyes never left mine, and it looked like he came to realization that everything I said, was the truth. There was a slight sparkle in his eye, and his lips turned into a soft, closed smile.

He had found the part of himself that he lost all those years ago, and he finally had it back. Prince, was Prince again.

"I don't even know what to say.." Prince said truthfully, honestly unsure of what to say. I shook my head, and I sat back next to him, leaning back onto the couch.

"Don't even say a word." I said, and then I pulled him into a hug. He didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around me, tightening the hug as his head laid on my chest.

About a minute later, as I tried to let ago, he wouldn't budge and his arms stayed wrapped around me. I looked down at him to see that he had drifted off into a deep sleep and he was snoring slightly. I sighed, and then I chuckled, and I patted his back a couple of times before I found myself falling asleep shortly after as well.

|10:00am|

My eyes fluttered open from my deep slumber, and the sunlight shined right through the curtains, slightly blinding my eyes. I held my hand in front of my face, and slowly sat up. I looked around, taking in my surroundings, then realized that Prince wasn't on the couch next to me.

I squinted my eyes a little in confusion and called out, "Prince?"

No answer. I looked around once more, then I stood up. I walked around the house, looking for him, wondering where he went until I soon figured it out.

He's probably in the studio, I thought. I walked across the hallway, making my way  to the door. I stopped, taking the red letterman jacket I had off of the rack, and then I slipped it on, walking out of the door and made my way to the studio.

As I opened the door to the studio, I heard music flowing through the speakers. I walked in further to see Prince sitting down, leaning back into his chair as he sang along to the song.

"Hot thing, barely twenty one
Hot thing, looking for big fun
Hot thing, what's your fantasy?
Hot thing, do you want to play with me?"

I grinned, listening to him as he sang along with the music. I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms, watching him as he made some slight changes to the sound and turned the volume a little higher. Then, I saw a slight smirk from the side of his face and then he stopped the music completely.

"Good Morning." He said, still facing forward. I raised my eyebrow, curious about how he knew I was here.

"How did you know I was here?" I questioned while walking up from behind him, and pulling up a chair to sit next to him.

"You don't think I heard the door open?" He asked, raising his eyebrow, looking up from the sound board.

"Oh, right." I said, feeling very dumb from the question I just asked. I shifted in my seat a little, then changed the topic, "How are you feeling?"

"Much better." He smiled softly, "Thanks for asking."

I smiled back at him, admiring how nice and open he was being. It was very refreshing to see and I was very happy he was turning over a new leaf.

"Everything's sounding good so far." I complimented, "How many tracks do you have left?"

"Just five more." He spun in his chair, leaning back and sighing heavily, "I honestly don't feel like I could get this done on time."

I waved him off, "Yes you will. But I can tell you're a bit stressed, how about you just take a break?"

Prince shook his head, "I can't. I told you, Michael, I need to get this done."

"One break won't hurt." I stood up and nodded my head towards the door, "Come on."

He sighed, not wanting to leave the studio but gave in, taking a break anyway, "Where are we even going?"

I thought about that question for a second, where were we going? I didn't even know. But then an idea popped into my head, then a evil smirk grew onto my face. Prince was going to be so pissed after I did what I was about to do, but hey, a little fun never killed anyone.

As we made our way out of the studio, I immediately stopped him from walking.

"Wait here." I said.

He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Nothing." I tried my best to hide my smirk, "Close your eyes."

"Are you serious? What is this, hide and seek? I'm not closing my eyes." He replied.

"Just do it." I whined, "Close your eyes."

He stared at me for a couple a seconds, then finally closed his eyes. Yes, I thought. I slowly backed up from him and quietly made my way back into the studio. I walked to the back of the studio, and opened a closet that was full of super soakers, water guns, and water balloons. If you were wondering why I had a closet full of these, I loved having water balloon fights and all of the above. Usually, during those days when I used to tour with my brothers, we used to do fun stuff like this all the time, however, my Mother hated anything that would get her porch wet, or anything that would leave a huge mess, so it wasn't really allowed at Hayvenhurst. Now that I had my own place, which was especially a place to have fun, I have officially made a rule.

If you ever come to Neverland, you are bound to get wet. It was more easier to get to them if they were in the studio, so that's why I placed them here. Also, I was originally going to save this when Prince had finally finished recording the album. But after the emotional rollercoaster he went through last night, and with the stress of the album, I thought it wouldn't hurt to take something off of his mind, even though I knew he was going to be caught off guard.

I grabbed two buckets of water balloons, one for me, then one for him, and I carried them both in each hand as I quietly made my way back outside.

"I can't believe I'm doing this stupid shit." Prince mumbled, with his eyes still closed. I tried my best to hold in my laugh as I placed his bucket of water balloons right next to him, and then I backed away.

I grabbed a blue water balloon out of the bucket carefully as I stood behind him, and I said, "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

As soon as he opened his eyes, I threw the water balloon as hard as I could at his back, and then the water splattered all over him. Prince gasped, and froze in shock, looking down at his now wet clothes. I busted out laughing, not being able to contain my laughter anymore.

He slowly turned around, and his eyes pierced into mine with anger. His eyes looked down, and fell onto the bucket of water balloons that was next to him and he looked back up at me. If looks could kill, I would be dead right now.

He was so pissed. I'm so stupid, why did I give him the bucket? He's probably going to forget about the balloons and try to hit me in the head with it.

"You.." He trailed off, shaking in anger, then he picked up the bucket, taking one of the water balloons out, getting ready to aim it at me, "Are so dead!"

Fuck. I dashed off as fast as I could, and he followed closely behind, chasing me. He threw water balloon, after water balloon at me but each one wasn't even close to hitting me. We ran out into the open field, and he continued to chase me. Damn, he was fast, and so was I if I do say so myself, but I stopped running, not sure how far I would go due to me running out of gas.

"Okay, okay!" I pleaded, and I put my hand up, trying to catch my breath. Prince came to a stop, and the water balloon still remained in his hand as he gave me a death stare.

"Let's call a truce." I suggested. Prince scoffed, thinking that what I had just said was crazy.

"Fuck a truce." He said, "This was my favorite shirt, and now you're really gonna feel the pain."

"It's just water." I raised my eyebrow and I held my hand up, hoping he wouldn't throw it. His death stare grew even more intense and raised his water balloon even higher, threatening that he was going to throw it.

"I'm sorry!" I quickly said, wanting to take back my comment, "Just don't throw the water balloon. Let's just call a truce, please?"

I held my hand out, and he looked down at my hand, with a confused look. But suddenly, his expression changed, and he slowly took my hand, and we shook on it.

"Good.." I slightly raised my eyebrow at him, then walked past him, "Let's go back to the-"

In the middle of my sentence, I was cut off with a water balloon clashing against my back, getting me wet. I gasped loudly at the coldness of the water, but feeling stunned that he got me. You're so so stupid, Michael.
Why the hell would you turn your back on Prince?

Then I heard Prince, busting out laughing. I slowly turned around, and gave him a mean glare.

"Well, that was more easier than I thought." He smirked, shrugging his shoulders.

Then we both came to a silence. After two seconds of realizing that I wasn't playing around, he wasted no time to take off running, and I was close on his ass. When I got close to him, I grabbed his arm, catching him, but we both came to a rough stop which caused Prince to fall onto the grass, with me falling on top of him.

We laughed so hard that we were almost out of breath. However, our laughter came to a stop when we finally realized that we were on top of each other. Our eyes met, and they were stuck together like glue for what it seemed like forever. My heart started to beat really fast, my blood was chilling, and I felt memorized by the sudden connection I was feeling from him. I didn't know what it was, I felt very confused, trapped, but I didn't know how to stop myself either. I found the strength to snap out of my thoughts, and then I cleared my throat.

I stood up, getting off of him, brushing the grass off of my red button up, and pants while he got up as well, doing the same.

"See? That wasn't too bad now was it?" I say, ending the awkward silence and trying to put it on a happier note.

As he kept wiping the grass off of his shirt, he rolled his eyes playfully and shook his head, "Whatever, I will get you back. Trust and believe."

He finally got all of the grass off, and then looked up at me. We held eye contact once again for a little bit, and he smiled softly at me, and I returned the smile back before he spoke up.

"Alright, no more fun. Seriously, I have to get this finished."

I nodded, putting my hands up in defense, agreeing with him, "Okay, fine."

He raised his eyebrow at me before starting to walk back to the studio, then he quickly stopped in his tracks, "Actually, you go first."

I laughed as he shoved me to walk in front of him, "Why do I have to be in front of you?"

"I don't trust you to stand behind me, you might throw another one." He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes playfully as we made our way back to the studio, and I stayed there along with Prince, all day, all night, and until the crack of dawn, making sure the Sign O' The Times album, was finally finished and ready to be released.

〰️

|Tuesday, May 12th, 1987|
|Santa Barbara County, California|
|Neverland Valley Ranch|
|11:00 am|

It has been four months since Prince and I worked countless hours on the Sign O' The Times album, after so much hard work, the album was successfully finished on time and released in March. So far, the album itself had been doing very well, and I was very proud of what he had accomplished. The album had reached number four on "Billboard Top Black Albums" chart and number six on the US "Billboard Top Pop Albums" chart. Three of those songs placed number three, two, and ten on "Billboard Hot 100." Even though I feel like it deserved a higher placing, it was very hard to do so since white artists had a better advantage of those spots than black artists did. I hate to say it, but it was the ugly truth about the music industry, hopefully in the future, there will be a change. Also, the album had four hit singles. It consisted of Sign O' The Times, If I Was Your Girlfriend, I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man, and Hot Thing, which was a promotional release.

Sign O' The Times was also certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association Of America just earlier this month, which made Prince very happy, and I was just as happy for him. The album was still placed under his label, but to my surprise, Prince had credited me on his album, which caused a huge uproar in the public and many people were shocked. Even my family, some of my close friends, and Quincy, who doubted our friendship to begin with, called me asking if it was true or not. It made me laugh, but the evidence was laid out, and it was indeed the truth.

Some of the credits on the album wrote,

"All songs written by Prince, except where noted.

1. Lyrics Written by Prince and Susannah Melvoin

2. Lyrics Written by Prince and Carole Davis

3. Lyrics Written by Prince and Michael Jackson.

4. Music Written by Prince, Dr. Fink, and Eric Leeds. "

He had also mentioned my name when he was giving special thanks to everyone that had worked on the album with him. I was honestly very shocked that he had given me credit because I had no idea about it at first, because he didn't tell me he was going to do that  It was brought to my attention, due to everyone calling me. I had bought the album myself about a week later, not only to support Prince, but also to see if it was true, and there my name was. I appreciated that Prince had done that and it really meant a lot to me. Even though my contribution to the song Adore was very little, he thought it was very important to include me in it, no matter how small it was. It also goes to show how thankful he was that I was able to help him get the album done, and I thanked him in return many times for that as well.

That also went to show that Prince no longer cared if the public knew about our friendship, and I was very happy about that. Prince was really changing into a new person, and I was proud of him.

After the album was finished, Prince had returned to Minnesota, while I remained in California, continuing to work on my album. During that time, Prince and I had really grown very close. We would have endless conversations on the phone. I would often times travel to Minnesota, and he would travel to California, and we would visit each other back and forth. We have went out in public together, doing usual things, like going out for dinner, visiting even more children's hospitals, and let me tell you, the public indeed had field day with it, and everyone went crazy. Let's just say, the media practically broke. Mainly because they were shocked to see us together as much as we were, but it didn't bother us. The news would constantly be on the topic of us, MTV would play recordings of us together, and we were always plastered on the covers of magazines with some of the craziest headings, but it made me giggle. Regardless, it never bothered us, like I said before.

Currently, Prince was out of the country, and had kicked off the Sign O' The Times tour in Europe. He wanted this tour to be a bit different and not have it in America, which gave me some ideas about my tour if I had wanted to keep in it America either. I still wasn't sure where I was going, but the tour was set and it was meant to go on until 1989. I wasn't ready for that, Jesus, that is so long of a tour, but I was ready to be on stage and perform for my fans again.

Anyways, right now he was in Sweden I believe, putting on another show. The show days for him were back to back, so with him being busy and with me working on my album, we didn't get to talk as much as of late but we always made sure to keep in touch once in awhile.

Me on the other hand, was in the studio with Quincy. I was in the booth, with a very talented woman that I was collaborating with, Siedah Garrett, and we were all working on the song 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You.'

Meanwhile, I had a really hard time focusing. As I was singing the song, my mind drifted off into a completely different place. I couldn't stop thinking, but I had no idea who, or what I was thinking about. I felt very confused, and was starting to feel a little distracted.

Then I stopped singing abruptly, and I sighed heavily, taking off my shades and face palmed my forehead. Siedah looked at me with a worried expression while Quincy stopped the music and asked through the booth.

"Michael, we've had to stop the music over ten times. Should we take a break?"

I stayed silent for a bit, thinking if I actually needed a break. Actually, nevermind. I really needed a break. I looked over at Siedah, giving her an apologetic look.

"Do you mind?" I asked her politely. She smiled, waving me off and nodded her head.

"It's alright, Mike. Go ahead." She said nicely, I thanked her kindly about twice before I exited the booth.

Quincy gave me a weird look as I began to head out of the studio, "You okay?"

"I just need some air." I admitted, walking past Quincy as I finally made my way out of the studio. I inhaled the relaxing, summer air and I stood there in silence.

My thoughts started to get even more foggy by the second, and it was terribly affecting my mood. I wasn't even sure if I could go back into the studio, with the way I was acting. Get it together, Michael I said, scolding myself repeatedly, but didn't know how to exactly calm down, since I had no idea what was wrong.

Maybe I just needed some water, yeah, that's what I needed. I nodded to myself then started to head all the way back to my house. Once I got back, I went into the kitchen and poured myself a very tall glass of water. When I took a sip out of the glass, the phone started to ring off of the hook.

I sighed, then stomped my way over to the phone and answered it, putting it up to my ear. I've had thousands of people call me all morning, trying to get me to do interviews and thousands of other things, since the release of my album was getting closer by the day, and for them, they would get more publicity. But I've had it, and they caught me at the worst time.

"Listen, who ever the hell is calling, no I'm not doing a interview for your little magazine or TV show, I'm not loaning you thousands of dollars and I'm certainly not playing around with your games. Call this number one more time and I swear-"

"Maybe I should call back later." The voice on the other end said with a laugh. I recognized the voice within a second, and I sighed, calming down.

"I'm sorry." I apologized, "Hey, Prince."

"What's up, are you good? Cause you sound awful." He replied.

I rolled my eyes at his response, "I'm fine, Prince. Just feeling a little stressed, that's all." I lied.

"You and me both." I could picture him shaking his head as he said that, "This tour just started and I'm already tired of it."

I chuckled, then I raised my eyebrow, "I thought you didn't mind touring. And shouldn't you be on stage right now?" I asked smartly.

"It's 8:30 pm, dumbass." He said, "You must of forgot that we have different time zones, the show was over a long time ago."

"Well damn I was just asking." I said defensively, leaning back against the wall.

"Whatever." He scoffed, "How's the album going?"

"Seriously, don't ask." I sighed, wrapping the curly cord that connected to the phone around my finger.

"Uh oh." He teased, "Is that why you sound like you have someone's foot up your ass?"

"Shut up." I clapped back, "No."

"Well, then what is it?"

"Nothing, alright?"

I heard Prince sigh on the other end and then he spoke up, with a more serious tone, "Mike, you know you can tell me anything. Come on, man. What's going on with you?"

I bit my lip harshly, and exhaled, taking my fifth deep breath. Calm down, I told myself over and over again. Finally, my mood was slowly changing into a more calm one and then I gave in, being honest about what was bothering me.

"I just have a lot on my mind, and I'm just struggling to cope with all of it. I can hardly focus in the studio, and the release date for my album is in August. August Prince! I'm not even close to being finished. What the hell am I gonna do? There's no way I'm pushing the release date back. I had to do that with Thriller, and I'm not doing it again."

Prince chuckled and said, "Sounds like someone might need a break."

"What do you mean? I am taking a break. Why do you think I answered the phone?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"No, you airhead. Like an actual break." He replied. I shook my head, not taking that thought into consideration.

"I don't have time for that, Prince. I really need to get this done."

"Well look who's talking!" He remarked, and I could feel his smirk through the phone. I was a little confused at where he was getting that from, and I was starting to realize that this conversation sounded very familiar. This reminded me of the time I begged for Prince to take a break when he was in the middle of working on his album, and he was also on crunch time.

"If you're gonna sit here and tell me I told you so, then I'll just hang up." I rolled my eyes, honestly getting ready to hang up on his ass.

"No!" He quickly said, then laughed, "I'm just kidding, listen. Remember when we worked on my album? I took hundreds of breaks, and you begged me to take breaks, and I thought I wasn't gonna get shit done. But we did, and the album got release on the same date as planned. So by you taking a quick breather, isn't going to affect anything. I guarantee you'll work way better after you do so."

I stuffed my left hand in my pocket as he was speaking, and I realized he was right. I wasn't even going to front, I did need a short break. As long as it wasn't too major, I could really use one.

"I guess you're right." I sighed, standing back up a little after leaning on the wall for so long.

"I even got a little proposition for ya." He said confidently. I raised my eyebrow, "What?" I replied.

"During this little break of yours, you should come out to Sweden and visit me on tour for a couple of days."

I sighed heavily, taking the phone away from my ear for a second, and leaned my head against the wall. Traveling across the country, especially right now? I wasn't sure if I was up for that. Even though I haven't seen Prince for awhile now, and it might be fun, I don't know if I was ready to just drop everything and go.

I put the phone back up against my ear and said, "Prince, are you insane? There's no way I'm traveling all the way across the country right now."

"Aww, come on." He whined slightly, "It'll be fun."

"Don't you have your little band mates you can hang out with?" I suggested positively.

"Yeah." He admitted, "But the more the merrier. Also, it'd be nice to have you around, since we haven't hung out in forever. Please?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, unsure of what to say, "I don't know."

There was a twenty second silence on the phone as I continued to lean against the wall in thought. Then, Prince stupidly said in his horrible excuse of using a baby voice.

"I miss you."

I chuckled, finding his impression to be absolutely hilarious. I shook my head, and rolled my eyes, "Don't even try to act all cute. You still sound like an idiot." I said.

Prince laughed loudly, not being able to maintain it any longer, "Whatever. So what do you say."

I looked up at the ceiling, still in thought until I finally came to a decision. You know what? What the hell. I haven't been to Sweden in years, it'll be nice to go back and visit, and especially see one of my closest friends who I haven't seen in a long time.

"Fine, I'll go." I said, agreeing to his offer.

I heard Prince evlishly chuckle on the other end and he said, "I knew it. I always get what I want."

"Shut up." I replied, "Anyways, I'll be there next week. I'll call and give you more details later."

"Fine with me." He said, I smiled a little to myself in return and then I looked up at the clock, seeing that I should probably head back to the studio.

"Hey, I actually gotta go. Quincy is gonna kill me if I don't make it back to the studio within the next ten seconds." I say while Prince clears his throat, agreeing.

"Me too, I'm feeling pretty beat after this show." He yawned, "Make sure to keep me updated about when you're coming."

"I will." I nodded, knowing damn well he couldn't see me but it was a natural reaction, "I'll talk to you soon."

"Alright, talk to you later, Mike."

"Take care, P." I said, calling him by the nickname I gave him a month or two ago, and then we both hung up the phone.

✴️

Authors Note
Everyone stay safe out there, I have no words and I am completely heartbroken to what's happening right now. Make sure to donate, go to protests if you are able to or if they hold them where you live, and VOTE! we can no longer let this fool sit in office after everything he has done. 2020 has been a really shitty year and it's not even close to being over, so let's make this one good thing come out of it. I love you all.