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|New York, Times Square |
|Wednesday December 22, 1986|
|9:00 pm|

Prince

I held the red roses tightly in my hand,
taking a deep breath while my leg was shaking constantly. I was so nervous.
Currently, I was in New York, Times Square to be exact, to visit my friend Madonna. Yes, the Madonna. I'll give a bit of a backstory for this to make a little sense.

Back in 1985, which was last year, Madonna and I met at the American Music Awards. We really hit it off, even though she had a tendency to be a little bit aggressive, it intrigued me and I liked that about her. We've been seeing each other for awhile, well, we've been on and off for awhile, but we still managed to keep in touch. I wasn't quiet sure what our relationship was, I wasn't sure if we we're together, or if we were friends. It was hard to tell with her, I wasn't sure what she wanted out of our relationship. However, that didn't take away any of the feelings that I had for her.

As our fling started to progress, I actually started to have strong feelings for her. I wasn't exactly in love with her yet, though. Love was a strong word, and it was very hard for me to love. I had my fair share of relationships in the past, I'd say the only woman that I truly loved with all my heart was Sheila E, and another woman I don't like to talk about much. Me and her had this very strong connection that was over the moon special.

Sadly, our relationship ended on a sour note. Sheila and I had gotten in a huge argument over my closeness to Wendy's twin sister Susannah. I had never done anything with Susannah, but of course, she didn't believe me, so we ended our relationship. My heart was broken into pieces, then coincidentally, I started dating Susannah right after we broke up but our relationship ended in January of this year. It just wasn't the same, and I even proved Sheila's point, which was very stupid of me to do. Me and Sheila are fine now, we're friends, but I'm still sad that it ended that way.

After all of that, I convinced myself that I was going to be done with relationships for awhile. However, I was happy now that I might get another chance at love. It was going pretty well in my opinion, and tonight, I was going to ask Madonna if we can finally make things official.

Madonna was currently staying in the Hilton Times Square Hotel. As the limo I was riding in pulled up to the curb, there were thousands of screaming fans outside of the hotel. Paparazzi were already crowding the door, trying to snap pictures of me through the window. Big chick, which was my guard, along with my other guards stepped out of the limo and cleared the way so I could come out of the car.

I opened the door, stepping outside of the car, quicky being covered by the security guards. We all rushed to the door while the paparazzi were flashing their cameras, the light was so bright that it could blind you, also there were multiple fans shouting my name and screaming sweet things.

"Prince I love you!"

"Take me home with you!"

The last comment made me giggle as I finally made my way into the hotel. I made my way to the elevator and it went up to the fourth floor. When the elevator came open, me and the guards who followed behind me walked up to the door that Madonna stayed in. I turned around, facing them, "Alright, fellas. I got it from here."

They all nodded, Big Chick patted my shoulder and winked at me for good luck. I chuckled, turning back around as they left. I took a deep breath once again, staring at the door, finally working up the courage to knock. I stood there, waiting for her to answer for about five seconds before she finally open the door.

I looked at her in awe. She was wearing a short red dress that hugged her body like a glove, with the sparkly gold necklace that I gave her for her birthday not too long ago laying delicately on her neck. Her makeup was nicely done, while her dirty blond hair was beautifully curled, laying down on her shoulders. Not only that, she had pretty red lipstick on which was the icing on the cake.

"Hey," She said, smiling at me."You look nice."

I was still speechless. Madonna rolled her eyes, shaking her head. She waved her hand in front of my face, getting my attention.

"I'm sorry," I said nervously. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks, are those for me?" She gestured towards the roses. I nodded, handing the roses to her. Madonna brought up the roses to her nose, inhaling the scent. She smiled, then stepped aside for me to come in. I stepped inside her room, shutting the door behind me. I looked around at the extravagant suite. Even though I had a high status and a lot of money myself, things like this never got old. It caught me off guard everytime.

"This is nice," I said, staring at the pretty chandelier that was hanging in the middle of the room.

"Eh, it's a little too fancy for my liking," She shrugged, placing the roses down. "But I'll manage, I guess."

Too fancy? Please, nothing was ever too fancy for me. This room was very huge, it even had its own kitchen. Me and Madonna both walked to the kitchen, sitting down at the table that room service had prepared.

"Ah, I see you ordered one of my favorites," I grinned at her, bringing my seat closer to the table.

"Yeah, you're like the only person I know that would eat pancakes at 9'olock at night," She teases, bringing her plate closer to her.
Honestly, I rarely eat. I can go a whole two days without eating. Not that I didn't want to, it's because I had a very small appetite. I usually just snack on things than to actually have a whole meal. But when it came to pancakes, all bets were off. I loved pancakes, I could eat over a dozen of them if I could.

"So," She starts the conversation off. "How did everything go with Michael?"

I grinned widely, cutting into my pancake, "Girl, you have no idea."

I told her everything, from the moment Michael showed up to my house, to the end where I stole the film crew from him and left him there by himself. My revenge had went as planned and my work was done, I bet he learned his lesson not to fuck with me. Madonna widened her eyes, "You did not."

I shrugged, taking a piece of the pancake in my mouth. She laughed and shook her head in amazement, "You're so mean."

"Says you," I joked, raising my eyebrow at her. "I'm not on your level of mean, though." She laughed, and I laughed with her.

"Whatever," I replied. Later on, Madonna and I were cuddled up on the couch watching 'A Nightmare On Elm Street.' As we were in the middle of the movie, I felt Madonna lifted her head up slightly, placing her hand on the side of my face and slowly placed kisses on my neck. I smirked softly, opening my neck for her to get more of an access. After a second or two, I remembered the main thing I came here for, and as much as I wanted to continue, I had to stop.

"Donna.." I say quietly, moving my neck away from her lips slowly, sitting up. A confused look was written all over her face and she sits up as well. "What's wrong?" She questions. I sighed, taking a huge gulp. She stared at me impatiently, waiting for me to go on.

"I have to ask you something."

"What?"

"Well," I start off, placing my hands on my lap, "We've known each other for a minute now, and, you know that I really like you. I can't count on one hand how many times I've told you that. You're not only beautiful, but you're also a very fun person to be around and I adore that about you. I can talk to you about anything, I feel like I can be myself around you. You're like my best friend, and my special girl all wrapped in one."

Madonna smiled softly at me, looking down while a blush lightly colored her cheeks. I looked her in her eyes, and placed my hand on hers.

"I was wondering if.." I trailed off, "I was wondering if we could make things official."
Her smile fell instantly, and the sparkle in her eye was gone. Her facial expression was unreadable, and she was silent. I titled my head, taking her hand in mine, "Is there something wrong?"

She shook her head, looking down, "No, um.."

I waited for her reply, she looked up back at me with a look of guilt. She gently squeezed my hand and placed her other hand on top of mine.

"Prince, listen," She sighed. "I'm flattered, I really am. That's actually the sweetest thing any guy has ever said to me. I absolutely adore you just as much, and I am very thankful for the relationship we have. But, I don't really want to be tied down right now."

My heart dropped to the floor, and it was slowly shattering into pieces. I felt like I could barely speak, so I spoke in a very delicate voice, sounding like I was whispering.

"Why? I thought you felt the same way."

Madonna frowned, looking like she was feeling more guilty by the minute, "I don't know, Prince. I honestly felt like we were just having fun! In the heat of the moment, I never saw us actually being in a serious relationship."

"But we've been on and off for months. We've made love, we've gone on memorable dates, you and I have a close bond. All of that meant nothing to you?"

She looked down at her lap, playing with her bracelet. I looked away from her, trying to fight back tears. I rarely cry, I almost never cry. So if I cried, it was over something very serious. I cared about her a lot, and the fact that she couldn't see that, really broke my heart. I successfully fought back my tears and took a deep breath. My voice went back to normal, and spoke in a slightly disappointed tone.

"So you basically wanted everything that consisted of a relationship, but not actually wanted to be committed in a relationship?"

Madonna looked back up at me, slightly furrowing her eyebrows, "I never meant to hurt you Prince, and I'm truly sorry, but you can't go there. Haven't you done the same in your past relationships with all the women you've been with?"

"You know nothing about my past," I said defensively, getting up from the couch. "Don't try to flip this on me, Madonna. Maybe I wanted to change and start fresh with you. But, clearly, that's never going to happen."

Madonna grabbed my hand, looking up at me, "Where are you going? Sit back down. Can we please talk about this?"

I shook my head, gently taking my hand out of her grasps, "I think we already did."

I walked to the door, taking my jacket off of the hook. I slid my jacket on, putting my hand on the knob. "Prince, don't leave," She said, trying to get me to stay. I looked at her, with my eyes beginning to gloss over.

"I'll call you, okay?" I told her, with my voice cracking. I opened the door, walking out of the room and closing it shut.

|Friday, December 25th, 1986|
|5:00 pm|
|Manhattan, New York|

Michael

I was halfway done with the songs on my album. Quincy and I were finally getting somewhere, which was a relief, because so far it has been a disaster. When I came back, Quincy had a field day with the news when I told him about what happened with Prince.
He told me, "I told you so" about a thousand times, and even told me I owed him ten bucks. First Bill, now him, what is it with everyone thinking I owe them money?

I was, and still so upset with what happened at the meeting. Those people told him where I was? Let alone, they were working for him the entire time? Why would they sit and look me in the eye, agreeing to work with me knowing damn well that wasn't gonna fly with Prince. I swear, you couldn't trust anyone these days.

But I always did somehow, due to how overly kind I was. Which got me into trouble at times. I swear, I'm never coming to Minnesota again. It's clearly ran by Prince and his little minions.

I'm good on that.

Currently, I had a moment to breath from working on the album and traveled to Manhattan, New York. It was Christmas Day, I don't celebrate Christmas really, but I was here because I was invited to one of my huge influencer's 79th birthday bash, Cab Calloway. I was very excited and honored, and I couldn't turn it down.

I was staying at Homewood Suites, which was a really huge hotel. It was so big that the floors could go on for days. I stayed in a room that was pretty high up, I looked out my window then looked down to see thousands of screaming fans holding up 'I love you' signs and chanting 'We want Michael' over and over again.

I smiled brightly, but slightly cringed on the inside. It was the middle of December in New York, and snow covered the ground like glue. How were they not freezing their asses off right now?

I shook my head, taking it all in. My fans would truly do anything and go through any circumstance just to get a glimpse of me. Some would even sleep outside, and stay there all night waiting for me. I couldn't explain the love I had for them, it's incredible. I truly take none of my fans for granted at all.

I backed away from the window and walked over to my bed, picking up the outfit I had laid out to wear to the party. I gazed at it for a little bit before putting it back down and walking to the bathroom. Took a nice shower, came out, brushed my teeth, washed my face then came back out into the room. I undressed, swiftly putting the outfit on. I walked into the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror, adjusting my tie then fixing my hair.

"Not too bad," I shrugged, then I reached to my left for the makeup pallet I had for emergencies only when I needed to cover up some of the white blotches on my skin.

I opened the pallet, taking the brush, and lightly applying it to the right side of my cheek. Then I applied some on my hands as usual, because that's where it showed the most. When it looked like everything was covered, I put the pallet and brush on the counter, walking out of the bathroom.

Was I insecure about my skin condition? Yes, I was. However, I have been dealing with it for so long that it just came naturally to me, so it was like apart of me and I had to accept it. I never made a huge deal about it.
I sat down, slipping on my loafers, then stood back up, finally making my way to the door to leave for the party.

Bill, Wayne, and the rest of my bodyguards stood outside of my door waiting for me. When they saw that I was ready, we all walked to the elevator and made our way to the car. The screams of the fans were quite ear piercing, but I didn't mind, I loved it. My bodyguards covered me tightly, making sure no one could get to me and I successfully made my way into the car. I took a breath, taking a look at the thousands of fans outside my window.

It never gets old, I'll never get tired of this. A hour later due to all the crazy traffic New York is known for, I finally made it to Times Square, pulling up to this very large building called the 'Paradise Club.'

There were millions of cameras flashing in my direction, and thousands of fans screaming to the top of their lungs outside waiting for me to come out. My guards got out of the car, clearing the way for me as I got out. I waved to a couple of fans, smiling as they rushed me into the building. That went better than I thought it would, there was so many people outside, I wasn't sure if I wasn't gonna be able to go in.

When I walked in, I instantly looked up at all the pretty lights that were hung from the ceiling. There were many familiar faces that I saw engaged in their own conversations, dancing on the dance floor and music was blasting through the speakers.

I turned around and thanked my guards, telling them to go enjoy themselves. Then, I stood by myself, still taking everything in. I was excited to be here, but God, I should've asked someone to come with me. I hated being by myself at these types of things, matter of fact, why did I even tell them to leave? I should've had Bill stay with me. But, I didn't want him to feel like he had to hold my hand through everything. He had been working very hard, and I wanted to give him a chance to relax and have fun.

When I looked to my left, I saw Cab Calloway coming towards me to approach me, with it looks like his daughter. I smiled brightly, feeling starstruck but I held it together. He gave me a very tight hug, telling me how much he appreciated me being here, and I told him it was an honor. His daughter began to tell me how much she admired me as an artist, and of course I told her how much I adored her love. She was very gorgeous, and she happened to be in her late 50s too. When she told me her age I almost I couldn't believe it, black truly did not crack.

As our conversation ended, they walked away to greet the other guests. Then a second letter, I felt someone tap my shoulder from behind. I turned around and came face to face with a very stunning woman of hispanic and african american descents. She had glowing, caramel skin. Her eyes were dark brown, and her body was very petite. I took in her presence before she poke to me.

"Hi," She said politely, smiling, and she had a very beautiful smile might I add. "I'm sorry for coming up to you out of the blue, but I couldn't miss this chance to introduce myself. I'm a huge fan," She says quite nervously.

I smiled back, feeling very flattered by her comment, "Why thank you, actually I don't mind at all. You've actually saved me from looking like a loner."

"You're here by yourself?" She asks.

"Not really," I said. "I had my guards here with me but I let them go enjoy themselves."

"Well I'm sure you wouldn't of been by yourself for long. I think anyone would of been rushing up to you to try to have a conversation," She joked.

"Tell me about it," I roll my eyes playfully, then I asked. "I don't think I caught your name?"

"Denise Matthews," She says, smiling softly, putting her hand out and I shook it. "But everyone calls me Vanity."

"Vanity.." I let the name marinate in my mind. I could've sworn I heard that name from somewhere before, and she actually looked quite familiar. I didn't think about it too much though, I smiled, still shaking her hand.

"Michael," I said, even though she already knew my name. We let our hands drop back to our sides and we changed the topic.

"You wanna go sit down somewhere and talk?" She said, slightly shouting so I could hear her because the music began to get louder.

I nodded, accepting her offer, "Sure!" I shouted back.

〰️

Me and Vanity sat down in the corner of the room, having a really pleasant conversation.
She was a very kind and down to earth, we hit it off instantly. We had a lot in common, and we began to talk about our backgrounds, like where we were from and how we grew up. Then we got on the topic of our current love life.

"Do you have a special lady in your life?" She asked me, wiggling her eyebrows in a playful way. I laughed and shook my head.

"No, I do not," I said. "It would be nice, but I'm more focused on my work right now than looking for a relationship. When the right person comes, who knows, but for right now I'm just doing me."

She nodded, understanding my point fully. I raised my eyebrow, "How about you?"

She sighed, "Well, it's complicated. I am seeing this guy, but our relationship is far from healthy."

I leaned forward, putting the drink down that I was holding in my hand, then I folded my hands together, "Tell me."

"Well," She started off. "His name is Nikki Sixx. He's a sweet guy, don't get me wrong, but for awhile now he's been abusing drugs heavily and it's been getting out of control. Honestly, he's not the same guy that I met before, and I feel like if I stay with him, things could get dangerous." She got silent for a minute, then looked down at her lap. I stared at her, waiting for her to keep going.

"It makes it even tougher for me because I've been actually trying to quit on drugs, because I use to be just as hooked on them. Sometimes I feel like he would manipulate me to join him in taking the drugs, but I always refused, but it's really hard because it's tempting. Very tempting. I just don't know what to do." She said sadly, feeling very ashamed.

I was surprised that she had opened up to me about very personal issues that she had been dealing with, especially knowing that we had just met like an hour ago. However, I felt bad for the woman, my heart completely shattered at hearing her story. It hurts me whenever I hear a story about someone's use of drugs and then it goes terribly wrong. That's why I never touched a drug, ever, the only drug I used was a medication that I had to take to ease the pain from the burn I got on my scalp from the Pepsi commercial back in '84. I reached my hand over and place it on hers, reassuring her that it was okay.

"Don't feel ashamed, I completely understand," I said softly, feeling very bad for her, then she looked up at me and then we made eye contact.

"Do you mind if I give my opinion?" I asked, not trying to intrude her privacy.

"Please," She nodded, and smiled small.

"In my honest opinion, you're right, the relationship between the two of you isn't healthy. I'm glad that you took that into account, because most people wouldn't of been able to do that. This could get very dangerous like you said, and I feel like while you still have the chance, you should leave. I know it sounds hard, it sounds like you really care for him, but it's for your well being. You have to put yourself first, especially since you've been trying to quit, which speaks volumes because it shows that he doesn't care. Has he gone into rehab before?"

"I tried getting him to consider it," She said sighing, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. "But he always says no, and gets very defensive about it."

"That's another thing," I stressed, looking at her in a serious manner. "You cannot help someone that will not meet you halfway. You've done your part, and you've done everything that you can do. Besides, that is no way to treat a beautiful woman."

She chuckled, looking the other way to hide her tinted rose cheeks. Vanity turned her head back to me, "Thank you, Michael." She says

"You're welcome," I say back sincerely, taking in all of her beauty, completing forgetting that I might of been looking like a creep from just starting at her.

"Vanity!" A woman calls out from the crowd, interrupting the gaze we had. We both snap our heads in the direction. The woman smiled and waved at her, signaling for her to come over.

"Can it wait!?" Vanity shouted back over the loud music, clearly irritated that we were being interrupted. I turned my head at her, smiling politely, patting her hand.

"It's okay, you go ahead," I said, letting her know that it was okay. Vanity looked slightly guilty, then frowned, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," I chuckled, waving her off. "I'll be fine."

Her frown turned into a small smile, then she stood up and spoke, "Okay, then. It was very nice talking to you, Michael. How long are you staying in New York?"

"I leave on Sunday," I said.

"Oh," She said, grinning to herself. Vanity was quiet for about two seconds before asking, "Would you like to come over to my Hotel Suite for dinner tommorow?"

On the inside I felt like my organs were doing backflips, and I silently cheered to myself in my head. However, on the other hand, I felt a little guilty knowing that she was currently with someone else and I didn't want to create drama, but I couldn't disappoint her, maybe she just meant as a friend. I kept it cool, and nodded, smiling at her, "Of course."

Her smile grew even bigger, happy that I said yes. She looked down at her purse and grabbed a piece of paper out, handing it to me, "Here's my number."

I lightly took the paper in my hands, then she said, "Goodbye, Michael. Merry Christmas."

I chuckled at the end of her comment, waving slightly, "Merry Christmas. Goodbye, Vanity."

Then she walked off and met up with her friend that called her. I let out a breath, feeling like I had been holding it for so long. I shook my head, still taking in everything that had just happened. Damn, she was fine.
I sat there for awhile until a minute later, due to all the water that I was drinking while I was talking to Vanity, I ended up having to go to the bathroom. As I opened the door to the very nice, elegant bathroom might I say, I heard silent cries in one of the stalls, then the next minute it sounded like the person was vomiting.

I cringed at the sound, wanting to instantly go back outside, forgetting that I had to use the bathroom but I had to pee really bad, so I tried my best to block it out. I walked in further to the bathroom, on my way to open a stall. As I opened the stall door, the cries began to get worse. The person was hiccuping, sniffling, and coughing at the same time due to how hard they were crying. I stopped what I was doing, and my heart began to drop for the person. The kindness in me slowly started to take over and I sighed.

God, Michael. Why do you have to be so nice? You had to pee for God sake.

Fuck it, I'll just hold it in. I backed up away from the stall that I was going in and leaned my ear on the stall where the cries were coming from. I took a deep breath, softly knocking on the door and asked.

"Hey, you okay in there?"

The person groaned loudly, "Whoever the fuck you are, please. Just leave me the hell alone!"

I jerked my head back a little, startled by the loudness of their voice a little. I then rolled my eyes, starting to walk away from the stall. Why do I even bother? I'm definitely not doing my business listening to that crap the whole time. Then I stopped in my tracks, replaying the mysterious person's voice in my head. That voice sounded awfully familiar, and I noticed when I heard it, I felt like my skin was crawling at the same time. I widened my eyes.

Was that who I think it is?

I turned around, walking slowly back to the stall. Since whoever was in the stall door forgot to lock it, I had easy access. I placed my hand on the door, pushing it open slowly so I could get a small glimpse of who was inside. My eyes widened back up, and I gasped.

Prince?

Hell, why was I always running into him? I was clearly the unluckiest person when it came to luck. I was still very much pissed off with Prince from the stunts that he tried to pull against me. There was a side of me saying that I should walk away and forget what I saw, due to how angry I still was with him. But the nurturing, nice and caring side of me started to shine past that, and I completely denied walking away from him like that without doing something.

I put all of the differences that I was feeling against him, and made sure he was okay. I came into the stall quickly, kneeling down to his level since he was sitting down on the floor. His hair was slicked back, and he was wearing a tux, and I'll give credit when it's due, he didn't look too bad.

The bad thing was that he looked completely horrible mentally. His eyes were blood shot red, there were dried tear stains on his cheeks. He was holding a bottle of alcohol in his hand, and I'm guessing he drank too much, due to all the vomiting he was doing when I came in. His eyes were slowly closing, looking like he was going to drift off into sleep any minute.

"Hey," I lightly tapped his face, trying to get his attention. He groaned in annoyance, slapping my hand away.

"Let me sleep," Prince said, in a very drunken voice. I felt like he was very unaware that I was here in front of him, which I preferred, because I knew if he was sober he would've shot a thousand disses at me right now.

"Prince.." I sighed, shaking my head, really shocked that I was seeing him in a very vulnerable state, which was weird, because he always put up this front that he was tough as nails and nothing could ever get to him. Clearly he wasn't as strong as he thought, and he wasn't as intimidating as I thought. He was human, just like everyone else, and I could see he was hurting, but I wasn't sure why though. Although, it did soften my heart to see another side of him that I never thought I would get to see.

"What are you doing here, man? Are you okay?" I asked him softly, Prince eyes opened up a bit, looking like he gained his sight back a little. His face was straight, but once he realized it was me, his face turned into disgust then he rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, it's you," He said, sounding a bit irritable. "Is there a reason why you're following me? I thought I put you in your place a long time ago."

I held back my tongue, trying not to say something back, remembering that he was drunk. Even though this is probably something that he would say to me regardless, there's no use in arguing with a drunk person.

"I'm not following you," I corrected him nicely. "I actually had no idea that you were going to be here. Where the hell are your guards? Why are you here by yourself?"

Prince waved me off, "I told them to leave me the fuck alone, and they left. Easy, don't you think?"

I titled my head looking at him, feeling confused. Why would his guards just leave him? I know if I was in this state, my guards would never leave my side, no matter how angry I got. What would happened if he tried to leave on his own? He would've gotten mobbed. He probably would've fell asleep in this stall.

"And how did you plan on getting back to your hotel?" I questioned, raising my eyebrow.

He furrowed his eyebrows at me, "Why are you asking me so much questions? Why are you even here? Do me a favor and get out of my face, please."

I watched him lift the bottle to his mouth to take another sip of the alcohol. I sighed tiredly, knowing he was gonna have a fit when I take it away from him. I didn't care though.

"Give me that," I say sternly, reaching for the bottle but then he pulls it away from my reach.

"Fuck off!" He shouts, going to take another sip, I finally managed to snatch the bottle out of his hand and I put it to the side.
He tried to reach for it once again until he came to a complete stop, and his face was completely straight. It looked like his face was starting to lose it's color, and he placed his hand on his stomach. Before I knew it, he turned around and continued to vomit in the toilet. I cringed even more, turning my head away slightly. I brought my hand to his back, patting it lightly while looking away.

"It's alright, let it all out," I say, feeling very grossed out. Thank god I wasn't one of those people who would instantly throw up after seeing other people throw up. Once he finished vomiting, he took huge deep breaths, then he wiped his mouth, sitting back up.

"Okay, Prince. Time to go," I say, taking one of his arms and wrapping it around my shoulder, helping him up. We walked out of the stall and over to the sink. I put his arm back down, guiding his hands to the sink and turning on the water.

"Come on, wash your hands," I say calmly, he whines and slightly shoves me to the side.

"Do you ever stop talking?" He says tiredly but with a hint of anger in his voice, lazily washing his hands. I sigh, still trying to keep my paitence, and I was doing pretty well, I thought I would've lost it by now.

I adjusted my suit a little bit from the shove, coming back to his side and turning off of the water. I walked off and grabbed some paper for him to dry his hands off, and gave it to him. His face scrunched up, and he threw the piece of paper in my face. I jumped back a little, taken off guard from the paper he threw in my face. I sighed heavily, starting to get frustrated.

"Can you please cooperate? I'm trying to help you," I said, trying to get him to listen.
"I don't need your help," He slurred, and I rolled my eyes.

"Of course you don't," I said unconvinced, wrapping his arm back around my shoulder, and sliding my arm around his waist to make sure I had a good hold on him. I was beginning to walk him outside of the bathroom until a person came in.

"Michael?" A person called, as the person came around the corner into the bathroom, I looked up to see that it was Bill.

"There you are. Are you ready to-" Bill paused, with his eyes trailing to who I was currently holding up at the moment. He was speechless, and the look on his face was priceless. He had absolutely nothing to say, I sighed, knowing that I had a lot to explain to him but I just couldn't do it right now. I needed to get Prince out of here as quickly as possible.

"Don't ask.." I stressed, lifting Prince up a little from his slouching. Prince was slightly unconscious right now, which is why he didn't recognize Bill's presence. It was kind of like he was sleep walking.

"Is Wayne and the rest of the guys out there waiting?" I asked. Bill cleared his throat, nodding at my question. I exhaled, feeling relieved.

"Okay good, we have to go," I said sternly.

"You think?" Bill said, sounding like what I had to just said was dumb. "Bill," I said, warning him not to start, feeling irritable by the second. He put his hands up in defense, and chuckled.

"Sorry," He said, then he walked over to the other side of Prince, wrapping his other arm around his shoulder and we all walked out of the door.

The rest of my guards were outside of the bathroom, waiting for us as expected. Wayne and the rest of the guys looked down at Prince, who we were still helping up, and they looked like a deer in headlights, confused as ever. However, they didn't ask any questions.

"Cover us, please," I asked nicely, then all of them stood on all sides me, covering all of us well so the party that was currently going on wouldn't recognize the scene that was happening at the moment. I knew if people saw that Prince and I were together, they would lose their minds, so we had to keep it as low profile as possible.

We walked towards the door, and of course, thousands of fans and paparazzi was still waiting outside after all this time. I'm still stuck on the fact that they were standing outside after all these hours while it was freezing cold outside, and snow was falling from the sky. Especially being in New York, this place was something else when winter came around.

I prayed to God that my security was covering us well so the Paparazzi wouldn't have a field day with this. I'm already picturing the headings on some of the magazines. That's the last thing I need right now, especially Prince, he'll complain nonstop about it.

When we walked out of the door, the fans began screaming again and the paparazzi started to flash their cameras like crazy. I had my shades on, so I was fine. Prince on the other hand didn't have shades on which I totally forgot about. His eyes started to flutter and squint, reacting to all the bright flashes.

"What's happening?" He slurred, bringing his head down to avoid the flashes.

I tightened my grip around his waist, hushing him quickly before he fully woke up, "Don't worry about it, just close your eyes."

We finally made it to the car, Wayne opened up the door while Bill and I slid Prince in, then we got in after him. The rest of my guards got in soon after, then the car drove off.

The car ride was very slow, and silent. The traffic had gotten worse, and Bill, Wayne, and the entire car kept stealing glances at Prince. Still, very confused on what he was doing here in the first place and how we got here. The silence started to get awkward, until I spoke up.

"I'll explain later, okay? I promise," I said, telling them that for the hundredth time, then I look down at Prince, who's head was laying against the window, drifting off into a deep sleep.

"Do you know what hotel he stays in? I can tell the driver to take us there," Wayne asked.

I shook my head, heavily sighing. I had no idea what Hotel he was staying in, and I didn't wanna wake him up to find out because I knew he was gonna curse me out.
I cannot believe I'm doing this, but I have no other choice. I know I'm gonna regret this later on.

"He's gonna stay with me for tonight," I say, already regretting it.

Bill looked at Prince, then looked up at me, "Are you sure?"

I nodded, then remained silent after that. I don't normally drink, but at this point, hell I needed one.

I can't wait for this night to be over with.

〰️

We finally made it to the hotel after a two hour drive. It was more easier to make it inside the building since not as much people were there than before. It got even more cold out, so I guessed everyone headed home. The guards covered us well again so we could make it into the building and before we knew it, we made it to my Hotel room.

"Thank you guys, really. You are free for the night, I'm sorry about this," I apologized to my security guards, I looked at Bill and said, "You too Bill, thank you."

Bill whispered "thank god" under his breath, taking Prince's arm down from his shoulder. Then, they all walk away to the rooms they were staying in.

Now this was going to be the hard part. I turned the door knob, opening the door, holding Prince up while walking in. I shut the door with my foot and walked him to the bed, laying him down.

I let out a huge breath, feeling tired from carrying him all night. I bend down on the floor, sliding the shoes off he had on so he could be more comfortable.

"Alright. Up and Adam, come on," I said, encouraging him to sit up, he slowly sat up, putting his arm around my shoulder, and I put my arm around his waist, walking him over to the other side of the bed for him to lay down. Once he was laid down, I pulled up the covers and laid it on him. He shifted a little in the bed, before turning on his left side, snuggling into the pillow.

I was relieved, and happy that he actually cooperated with me and did not say one thing ever since we got into the limo and now. I knew that he was too drunk to fight me off, and I also knew that him being this quiet wouldn't last for long. I enjoyed it for now, though.

Soon after that, I left his side and went to the bathroom to do my night routine. I also changed into my pajamas as well, since I didn't feel comfortable doing it in the room knowing that Prince was in there. After I was done, I came out of the bathroom. I turned to the left, opening up a closet that was full of blankets and pillows. I take out pillow and a blanket, carrying it over to the red couch that was in the corner of the room. I laid the stuff on the couch, patting it out so I could be comfortable. As I adjust the pillow, I look over to Prince, who was stirring in his sleep. I looked down at my feet and shook my head.

"Don't do it, Michael" I kept saying over and over again in my head, but my heart was telling me to something different.

I hated seeing people at their lowest, it made me really sensitive. If it was my family, a friend, a child, or even a homeless person, I would do anything to make sure they were okay and had everything that they needed to get better. It was the person I was, I loved seeing the best out of people, I love seeing people happy, because it instantly made me happy. I've had that nurturing side of me since I was kid, because even though I had that type of love from my mother, I didn't get that from my father. Which is why I was the person I was today.

Even Prince, of all people, even though I couldn't stand him at all and even though he made so much hell in the short amount of time that I knew him, I didn't like seeing him this way. He probably wouldn't of done the same for me knowing the way he is, but that's what made us different. I wasn't gonna leave him in that stall alone, he needed someone, and I'm still upset at the fact that his team left him. They need thicker skin, just because he told them to leave, didn't mean they had to listen. He told me to leave, but did I?

I'm not sure how he got there, and I'm not sure what was going on with him. I'm also not sure what's going on in his head. I'm trying to figure out why he's so resentful towards everyone, so mysterious, so arrogant, why was his walls was so built up, why it's hard for him to show others the real him. When we met, I couldn't even have a simple conversation without him being so utterly rude to me. It was like everything was a joke to him, and that he found every opportunity to throw a shot at me. It wasn't just the James Brown concert, it was something deeper, and I knew that.

I sensed some type of pain in his eyes everytime we met, but I never gave it too much mind since he was too busy getting on my nerves. Now, it was evident, and I could see it clearly. He was holding onto some type of pain, that he was struggling to let go.

He was just like me, and I was currently going through the same thing at the moment. I shook my head at my thoughts, knowing that I had way too much on my mind. Maybe I was overthinking it, I wasn't sure. After I pushed my thoughts away, I sighed to myself and put the pillow down on the couch.

"Damn it, Michael," I said to myself, then I walked over to the bed where Prince was sleeping peacefully, and finally stopped stirring in his sleep.

I looked down at him, thinking about what I was gonna do next and if I was gonna regret it. I let out a breath, letting it go and going for it, letting my caring side take over me once again. I leaned down to his level, and softly kissed his forehead.

"Sleep tight, feel better.." I said to him softly, leaning back up and walking over to the couch. I finally laid down on the couch, adjusting the pillow once again. I closed my eyes, taking in everything that had happened just now. Hopefully he didn't remember that kiss by the time he woke up tomorrow.

✴️