October 1985

"Tell me how you got involved in Under The Cherry Moon?"

"Long story" I giggled and poured myself another cup of green tea. "Do you mind?"

"Go ahead!" She click her pen, ready to take notes. I leaned back into the patio chair, reminiscing.

"Ok...My 20th birthday was just a couple of months ago, August 16th. I celebrated it with a group of friends, who are also my dancers, at Club 20-20 in Century City." I started.

Someone at my party told me that Prince just arrived. I figured since it was my birthday, and I hadn't seen him in a while I was going to ask him to dance with me, as a present to me.

It was like the parting of the Red Sea. We were all having a great time but I think my friends were amazed when I walked over to Prince's table and I politely said to his bodyguards that I wanted to ask Prince for a dance.

I had to go through them first because there were several of them blocking the front of his table. I could see Prince thought the crack of his security guard fort and he was sitting down. Finally his bodyguards parted and let me enter.

His eyes were pretty wide when he first saw me and so were mine because he had just cut his hair short around this time and he had on this bright all pink suit with the heels to match. He damn near blinded me. Anyway I told Prince that it was my birthday. He said he knew that. I said to him, "Since you didn't get me anything for my birthday the least you could do is dance with me." He laughed and nodded his head yes. Then he grabbed my hand and damn near dislocated my shoulder pulling me to the floor. We tore up the dance floor to Erotic City never the less. The entire club was gawking at us.

To back up a bit, my friend David Bowie, astounded all of us with his Michael Jackson moves. Homeboy had them down. The last time I saw him was when we performed Modern Love at Live Aid in July.

I caught my friend Nekai, trying to take pictures of us as we danced. Prince's bodyguards stepped in front of her and stopped her dead in her tracks. I was so disappointed because she wasn't quick enough.

Prince walked me back to my table. He said that I had an open invitation to join him at his table and he kissed me on my temple. I quietly agreed to meet him there in a few minutes. After all it was my birthday! Friends and guests gathered around me. After they sang Happy Birthday, they started asking me a million questions about Prince. How I knew him and stuff.  I was like "Yeah, we're extremely good friends" They were all so surprised that I had just casually walked over to him and asked him if he would dance with me but it's not like he was a stranger anyways. Nekai kept saying how disappointed she was because they wouldn't let her take a picture of Prince.

My stylist Naomi was so mad at herself because she had not made it to my birthday party. She had a job doing a Versace Fashion Show, so she had to leave for the weekend. She was a huge Prince fan. After blowing out my candles and opening my gifts. I excused myself and went to Prince's table to join him. I met up with the crew again. We had our little reunion last time I saw them all together was on when I performed with them at a Purple Rain show in 84'. We talked, laughed, ordered drinks, the usual. When our drinks arrived, he offered me a taste of his drink.

I had a virgin pomegranate daiquiri and he had a virgin Pina' Colada. His usual. I said, "No thank you, but can I have your cherry?" Prince gave me this wide-eyed, shocked expression. He took it as a sexual innuendo, as usual. I said it wasn't my intention and we started cracking up. Prince has always liked innuendos and double meanings, he's really big on word play.

As this exciting evening progressed, Prince asked me to join him in his limo. He wanted to take me for a ride like we used to do. So he took my hand and we left the club together. When I walked up to the long, white stretch limo, I stopped in my tracks. I wanted to make a mental note of this magical moment. The glow on the moonlight bounced off the limo's frame.

It looked like something from straight from Cinderella. He asked me what was wrong and I told him I just was happy to see him. I hadn't seen him in a good bit, of course he was everywhere but I hadn't seen him face to face in about 7 months. It may not sound like a long time, but if you loved him like I do then you could understand. But anyway this was slowly becoming the most wonderful birthday I have ever had in my life.

"So where did you and Prince go?" she asked pulling me from my flashback.

"We just rode around Westwood all night" I squeezed a bit of nectar into my tea and swirled it around before I took a sip.

"We were listening to some of his new music on his demo. He asked me what I thought about his new stuff. One of the songs was the song Kiss and this was after he took the song back from Mazarati. I told him that the song sounded like a hit to me. Prince has the best sounding demos. They sound so finished. Anyway, I loved his new stuff." I blushed realizing I was rambling on about him.

"So what did you do at the end of the night'?" She leaned in, clicking her pen.

"I wasn't ready for this night to end, but we had been driving around for a few hours. He invited me to his hotel-the Sunset Marquee in Westwood."

I questioned the thought of going there with him because you know how the press is. But we were both having such a wonderful time with each other and neither one of us was tired.

When I entered his room, It was typical Prince. A lot of people may not know this but Prince is extremely neat. But everything was "Princely", the artwork, even the smell of the air had that same sweet musky scent. Although this was a hotel, Prince was living there, sort making it his home.

He showed me around and we walked down a short hallway that led to the bedroom. I recall staring at a painting that hung above the bed. The detail was so small and faint that from a distance I couldn't make sense of it. So I toed out my shoes and hopped on the bed to see it and as I got closer I saw that it was all nude women intertwined together.

He told me, "Don't get too close it might damage your eyes." and I was like "If I can stare at that bright ass suit, I can withstand anything."

"Side note" I paused, swirling the tea around in my cup. The reporter, who's name I never caught when she introduced herself, jumped up. Clicking her pen open waiting for something to write down.

"Prince is a musical genius and he...hmm..he's very uhmm he's intrigued me. Like my best friend-well used to be.." My voice trailed off a bit. "Anyway Hannah is from Minneapolis and I've heard his music. I ran into him actually backstage on American Bandstand in 79' . I doubt he remembers it. Well didn't really meet. I saw him as he was walking offstage and we made eye contact. I waved and he waved back. Simple as that. I don't think I saw him again after that, at least I don't think so. I never exactly knew he was Prince then which sounds weird to say. But I knew the sound better than the man. Ever since then he's always intrigued me an- sorry off topic back to the story." I waved the thought off.

"He walked me towards his closet and it was amazing! It was just awesome beyond words."

Before me hung dozens and dozens of outfits. There were so many colors, textures, bold prints, and designs. For every outfit, there was a matching pair of boots. His closet was the bomb! It was unlike anything I have ever laid my eyes on. His closet was better than mine or any female closet I have ever seen. Not to brag I thought my closet was pretty bomb put Prince's is on another level, it's on such another level that can't even be described in human terms.

He told me, "Curiosity killed the cat." I stepped in his closet further and said, "Well I'll die well dressed." He started laughing. Then he asked me, "Would you like it if I dressed you in my clothes sometime"

I was like "Hell yeah" Then I went through all his clothes like I was shopping. I was pulling everything I liked out.  A suit caught my eye. It was all black and it has these big white buttons down the pants leg and on the jacket. I have some shoes that would look poppin' with that suit. He said he had plan for it. He was gonna put some words or it. He asked me did I want to borrow one.

I told him that would be cool, he said he would have some things made for me since I liked his clothes so much. Since Prince is flossin' all the time. I got really excited and I decided to try on a few of his clothes and I had a mini fashion show in his clothes. There was one problem though, his pants were a bit too small for me. I have curves, more importantly a butt, but other than that I was good. Plus he is like 5'2" and around 5'5"-5'6" in heels and I am only 5'0" but I wear 5 to 6 inch heels all the time. So maybe the length wouldn't be a problem. Anyway, I tried on one of his boots, and it was a perfect fit. He started out by saying "You know, when I was little... Well, I'm still little..." Before he could finish, I started laughing so hard. I thought I was going to pee on myself from laughing so hard. I thought it was great that he could joke and laugh at himself and make light of his small frame. He never did that before. I'm small too but he's bigger than me so he never made short jokes, except when he called me a little diva that one time but I don't think he meant to call me little as in small. Maybe he did, I don't know. He's not too big on short jokes because we're roughly the same size.

Anyway, I thought it was cool for a few seconds anyway. Suddenly, I stopped laughing because of this expression on his face. and it wasn't the nicest. There was immediate silence. He had this look on his face that said "I can make fun of myself but you stay in yo' lane."

Then I remembered that Prince is a Gemini and his moods tend to switch on and off like a light switch. Gemini's are strange. They do have two sides to their personalities.

His bathroom bewildered me. Laid out were an endless amount of make-up and toiletries. Any girl would have been jealous. I was jealous. The vanity's layout was so beautifully arranged. You could view every piece of lip liner, mascara, and eyeliner. He had more make-up and perfume than any woman I knew and that included me.

We went back into the living room and he asked me if I was hungry. I'm vegetarian but I was hungry, and minutes later everything I ordered was in double amounts. I'm talking the largest veggie trays and fruit trays I've ever seen. I had mozzarella sticks galore. Girl it was beautiful. Prince didn't touch any of it. He just sat and watched me. I thought it was odd that he didn't have anything to eat, especially since he ordered so much. Why did he order so much if he was not going to eat? My thought was oh well more for me so after I ate. When I finished, Prince and I sat Indian style on the living room, listening to some old records. He had a huge collection just sitting out, right next to a record player that i'm guessing was his. He told me he picked up some while he was out and I could turn on whatever I wanted. So I put on Songs in the Key of Life, classic record, not at a high volume, just softly in the background. We just sat and talked, about everything. I had a halter crop top on and in the middle of me talking, just out of nowhere Prince yanked my top down. He laughed all in my face at my shocked expression, like he was a little kid. Bastard.

Our conversations always get interesting late at night and it drifted towards sex, so naturally he asked me. "Do you ever caress them or play with them?" I could not believe that he was asking me about my tits and I was like "No!" I know I started blushing but I laughed it off.

He then asked me, "Well why not?" Then our conversation quickly switched from boobs, to Sheila E. She wasn't at the club that night and their usually together so I asked him where she was. We first met in Tokyo 81' she came to one of my shows. I met back up with her in 83' or 84'. I believe she was working with Prince in the studio. They were working on a demo for the single "The Glamorous Life". I was visiting her at her New York apartment and she had given me strict instructions not to answer a red phone. She was the only person that could answer it so I assumed that Prince called her on that phone.

After I told Prince that story his face was priceless. He sort of scrunched his face up and rolled his eyes at the same time. His lil' dramatic ass.

By 5:00 ,we were still up talking. Then he asked me if I wanted to sleep over. I had been at his place for this long, and it's not like it was safe outside. So I agreed .

Before I knew it, Prince handed me a pair of silk pajamas. The entire scenario was out of the ordinary but when your with Prince nothing is. So it seems ordinary if that makes sense. So basically I decided to spend the night. I showered up. Yes, Prince keeps women's under clothes at his place. It's strange I know but very convenient. Anyway I took off my makeup, and changed into the pajamas. When I walked out the bathroom he was already in bed and I asked him what he was going to put on. He told me, "These are my pajamas,".

"Imagine that." I bursted out. "Prince standing there telling me the black lycra cat suit with the half of the waist missing were his pajamas for the night." I laughed and looked over to the reporter to see her rubbing a piece of ice on her neck.

"I'm imagining."

I scrunched my face up at her. "Anyways.." I rolled my eyes, getting back to the story.

"There was a chain attached to the cat suit that dangled from his waist from one side of his body to the other. I thought Well you go ahead with ya'  bad self! If you had his body, you'd show it off too." I giggled. "You know what i've noticed...geniuses have odd habits. He is a genius and he has odd habits. But that doesn't make him an odd person necessarily. Every human being has odd habits, people just highlight his versus his music. Which is sad."

"So did you end up sleeping him." She asked and I stared at her. She completely disregarded what I said.

"We curled up in bed like kittens and simply fell asleep, sweet and innocent as that. Well I sleep like a wild woman and I'm pretty sure I punched him in the throat while I was sleep." She laughed and started writing, I rolled my eyes at her and sipped my tea.

"Were you and Michael dating at the time?"

"Yeah, we're still dating." For the next 3 months atleast. Although me and Prince have been together a lot lately, writing and such.

"Is he ok with you being friends with Prince?" What? I need Michael's permission to have male friends now. I can be friends with whoever the fuck I wanna be friends with. Well that's what I wanted to say but I suppressed it.

"Why wouldn't he be? I mean they've met before and they've hung out before and he knows me and Prince are close."

"How are the two of them different?"

"Michael is the sweet sheltered one, and Prince is the sexually overt one the more street one. You can tell Prince is from Minneapolis. They were like night and day but they are both geniuses and incredible to observe. Prince respects Michael and Michael respects Prince." The last part may have been a slight lie but I digress. Things went quiet between us and all you could hear was the sounds on the clock

"Are you gonna finish your story?" she spoke up.

"Oh yeah!" I snapped out of my daze. "A few days later Prince called me and invited me to a play. It was "Chicago" at the Universal Amphitheater."

He knew I was a musical theatre kid and I knew the cell block tango like a professional dancer. Chicago was my favorite play. That and Little Shop. I was literally singing my heart out and falling out crying right next to him. He laughed at me all night but I was literally living. Prince asked me if I would mind if the press took a few pictures of us together. I said that it wouldn't bother me. I don't care. I felt that Prince was concerned about media putting their own twisted spin on us like they always do and it was also out of concern and respect for me, because I always worry about stuff like that even though he tries to beat it into my head not to. Most people believe there is something between us. But to be honest it's not. (Lies) We clicked when we met but it wasn't sexual attraction. (Lies) Like sure he's cute but I don't see him like that he's my homie. (Lies Lies Lies) He talks shit. I talk shit. (Hey the truth!)

The show was incredible! After the show, we rode around the lot of Universal and Prince asked if I wanted to drive the limo for fun. I passed because I didn't want to crash the limo and kill us both.

I remember that night I wore a purple hat. Oddly because normally I don't wear hats my hair is just to thick but I think my hair was tamed that night. Several times during the night Prince complimented me on it so I gave it to him. He said he could use it for something. I was wearing this belt that spelled out "Love" in big block letters. He told me that he wanted one that spelled out Gemini. He wanted his in gold and mine was in silver. Now that I think about it, what the hell was I wearing.

Anyway Prince likes to speak on the phone at odd hours. It seemed like his curiosity was peaked at night. We spoke many times at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. Once he called me and when I answered he said, "I bet you're sorry you gave me your number huh?" and I was like "Not at all." He's really interesting to talk to, he's very insightful. Plus I like being up late you have the best conversation after midnight. I can stay up late but I can't stay up as late as Prince. I will fall asleep. Plus I need sleep for voice. I'm good until 4:45-5:00 after that I start to drift.

A few weeks went by and I ran into him at Vertigo, well really he ran into me. I was sitting at the bar talking to Whitney. So then out of nowhere I heard. "So check it out, you wanna dance?". I turned around in my stool and saw Prince standing there. Purple suit this time. That devilish smile on his face. I crossed my legs and decided to play with him.

I said. "Are you wearing that Paco Rabanne or whatever you call it."

He said "Oh wow, that's dog" and he reached out and pinched me in my side.

"What?! Speak up, I can't hear over that suit." He laughed at me and told me that my comeback was cute. Then he said  "Maybe you can hear this?"  and he held his keys up in my face and jingled them.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" I scoffed at him.

"That's right, Rolls Royce, check it out, baby" I groaned and rolled my eyes.

He leaned in. "You wanna dance now?" He asked, putting up his keys.

I finally gave in and told him "Maybe next song"

"Yeah right." he smiled and wrapped his arms around me and said."dance floor ain't big enough for the both of us." So we sat and talked at the bar for a while, me, him, and Whitney.

Anyway he asked me to join him and he was surrounded by three other women. (Which made me way more jealous than what I care to admit but I digress) Sometime during the evening, I asked him if he was working on anything.

He said a movie and then he put on this overly dramatic thinking face and he said he had a part for me. Which was Katy and we talked the rest of the night about Katy and who she was and he thought she was modeled after a part of my personality and stuff and how he thought i'd be perfect for the part. Long story short I ended up in Under The Cherry Moon.

"Wow" she exhaled. "Well what are your future plan with Prince."

"Well.." I thought while tapping on my teacup. "While we're there in France, we'll most likely talk about collaborating on a song. I've wanted to collab with him for years and we've talked about it before but it just hasn't been the right time. I feel like that time is coming up though. We are both very busy people. We've wrote a couple of things lately but nothing feels right. It has to be something out of the ordinary, but when you work with Prince that part is easy."

She chuckled and sat up in her seat to get her final notes. "Any current plans with Prince?"

"At the time I'm working on a special surprise album release gift for him. I had called one of my designer friends in New York and asked him to make a gold belt buckle that spelled GEMINI. So whenever the album drops, I'll give him that but don't tell him." I giggled.