It was the day of my soft opening for Frings, and this shit was still blowing my mind. Everything was so surreal; having my own restaurant in my home town, and on top of that, talks of a Vegas residency… your boy is really doing big things. I had my entire OVO family and my son was on the way to celebrate with me, only person missing is Raven. To tell the truth, I’m kind of relieved she can’t make it, so now I don’t have to worry about her and Ava butting heads. I know I'm gonna have to come clean soon, especially with all of these flashing cameras in the room. Soon enough they'll be pictures posted on instagram with some blogger thinking they've caught me cheating already, and with everything still being fresh with me and Raven and knowing her the way I do, naturally she's going to jump to conclusions when she sees them.
I've been trying to keep some space between me and Ava all night so I could avoid that, but that wasn't working too well. I only wanted to get her out of the house and around a few smiling faces so she wouldn't do anything stupid, like hurt herself but that was back firing on me. She was clinging to me all night. I leaned against the bar, waving over the bartender as Ava took a seat on the stool beside me. I can't lie, she looked beautiful tonight. I sent Courtne to pick out an outfit for her to wear tonight and when she walked through that door wearing this burgundy silk dress that stopped at her thigh, I couldn't take my eyes off of her for that moment. Old habits die hard. After the bartender poured another glass of champagne I checked my watch to see what time it was. My mom was supposed to be here with Cam by now.
I turned to Ava who was sipping on the same glass of cranberry juice for the past 20 minutes with her face scrunched up. "What's wrong with you? You've been acting funny all night." I asked, having her roll her eyes in response.
"I don't like the way your friends are looking at me." said Ava while looking over my shoulder. I turned my head to see who she was talking about and didn't spot anyone looking our way; none of the crew were even standing nearby. "Aubrey I'm ready to go."
"Relax, you didn't even have dinner yet. If you still want to leave after that, then I will make sure you get home safely." I told her. I wasn't trying to leave right now, especially since my mom wasn't here yet. Speaking of my mother; I glanced up at the door in time to see her walking through it with Cam holding her hand while Spoons guided her through the crowd.
I made my way over to them knowing that my mom is too short to spot me. As soon as Cam laid eyes on me, he tackled my legs in a hug. Just as I was about to ask my mom why they were so late, I saw her eyes shift to my left and her cheery face turned to confusion. I glanced to my left, seeing Ava and knew that I had some explaining to do.
“Mom, you remember Ava, right?” I asked breaking the tension. My mom slowly nodded her head remembering the conversation we had earlier.
Ava smiled, changing her entire demeanor from just moments ago. "Hello Ms. Graham, how are you?" She leaned forward, embracing my mom in a hug.
“I'm fine dear, although I wasn't expecting to you here tonight." My mom replied as she was released from Ava's grasp. "How have you been?"
“I’m well, it’s nice seeing you again.” She spoke with her first smile I've seen all night, and then turned her attention to Cam. “Hi Cam, I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.” Her fingers ran through his curly hair. I smirked looking down at the crinkle in his nose, he did not like that.
“Hi Ms. Ava.” He quietly spoke, still with his arm wrapped securely around my leg like I was about to take off or something.
Ava bent down to his level, touching his cheek. “So are you excited about being a big brother?” She asked, making the smile on my face disappear. The way her eyes met mine I knew it wasn't just a slip of words, she did that on purpose.
Cam stood there with confusion written all over his face, and before he could ask any questions my mom took him by the hand. “Come on sweetie, lets get you and Bubby something to drink.” The two of them walked off, not before my mom threw one last, "I told you so" look my way. She told me earlier that it was a bad idea inviting Ava tonight.
I took Ava by the hand, leading her through the kitchen and into a storage room where we could talk privately. “What the fuck are you doing? Why would you say that shit to my son?” I whispered so no eavesdroppers could hear us.
"Aubrey, why are you so upset? It's the truth, isn't it? He's going to find out soon enough." She carelessly brushed it off and tried to get pass me to reach for the door knob and leave the room, but I stepped in front of it to block her path. This conversation was far from over.
"He'll find out when I'm ready and after I talk with his mother." I told her. I haven't even figured out how to break the news to Raven, and I for damn sure can't have Cam spilling the beans again.
“I told you, our baby has nothing to do with Raven. She doesn't need to know my business.” She argued back, raising her voice at me.
I took a deep breath, trying not to let this situation get out of hand and have her cause a scene at my opening. “Look Ava, we gotta figure this out, because I'm not going to lie to Raven.” I calmly tried to reason with her. Catching an attitude, Ava just pushed me out the way and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. I stood there in confusion for a moment. How the hell do I keep digging myself in these holes. And who the hell is this woman? It must be the pregnancy hormones, because this isn't the Ava I was dating.
After the party I had Ryan take Ava home, and of course they both gave me shit about that, but I couldn't be around her any longer. She was trying so hard to pick a fight with me the rest of the night and I wasn't trying to give her the ammunition to do so. I hopped in the car with Spoons to take my mom home, with Cam knocked out in the back seat. My phone started vibrating in my pocket, when I took it out I saw Raven’s name on the screen. She’s probably checking in on Cam.
“Hello...” I yawned into phone. It's been so long of a night, I didn't even realize how tired I was.
“Hey, you sound exhausted. Where are you?” Her soft voice came through phone, sounding like she was in a good mood.
“In the car, taking my mom home.” I glanced over at my mom who was falling asleep herself.
“So, was the opening a success?”
“Yeah, you can say that. Wish you were here with me though.”
“I know, but my flight was delayed so I landed in Toronto late.”
“It's cool, I-" I paused for a second, letting her words settle in. "Wait, what? Where are you?” I asked, making her laugh on the other end.
“Well right now I’m at the condo, in your bed naked, but I can’t say how long I’ll be this way. I'm starting to get a little sleepy myself.”
“Yeah right, stop playing Raven.” I laughed it off. I was just on her instagram an hour ago and she was posted up in her hotel in, New York. A few seconds later I felt my phone buzz with a notification; a text from Raven. I opened the message and sure enough she was in my bed with damn near nothing on. I put the phone back to my ear, “I’ll be there in 20, so don’t move." I told her before hanging up. I'm not sure what's gotten into Raven, but I like it.
When I got to the condo, all of the lights were out. I didn't tell the crew why they had to get a hotel tonight because I didn't feel like all of the question about me and Raven, and our current situationship. Hell, I don't even know what we are right now, but whatever it is, it got us moving in the right direction, and as you know I'm all for that.
As I walked through the kitchen, I tossed my phone and wallet on the counter and headed towards the bedroom. My hand touched the doorknob, easing the door open to see lit candles all around the room. Raven laid in the middle of the bed wearing a black lace bra and matching panties with a smile on her face.
"Damn, that was quick. Did you run all the red lights?" She asked as she sat up on her knees.
"Every last one." I leaned down to kiss her lips. Damn she smelled good. "What are you doing here? I thought you had interviews and all that?"
Raven just shrugged her shoulders as she reached for my belt buckle, undoing it as she spoke. "Well, I cancelled to be here with you." She said as she slid the zipper down to my pants.
I looked down at Raven, staring at every curve of her body. In this moment, I didn't want anything or anyone else but her. "I could get used to coming home to you like this." I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it to the floor. Her eyes roamed from my chest, traveling lower making her bite her lip. Raven leaned in, touching her soft lips against my neck. "I'm not trying to ruin the moment, but I have to ask." She stopped kissing my neck to look at me. At this very second I had everything I could want, but I needed to know if it's real. "What are we Raven? What are we doing right now?"
Raven smiled, pulling me down on the mattress. she climbed on top of me, straddling my lap as she placed her hands on my chest, looking me dead in the eyes. "Look Aubrey, I know I said lets takes things slow, but slow never really worked for us. When I said that I was ready to give us another try, I meant it; no regrets. I'm all yours and you are mine." She leaned down, kissing me softly on the lips to seal her words. Finally, I had my woman back.
I can't tell you how long it's been since Raven and I have been on the same page. We've been together almost everyday since we got back from Toronto, and Cam's been loving every second of constantly having me and his mom around at the same time. We're still back and forth between houses because of course, Raven isn't ready to take that step and move back in, but I get it. I could almost say everything is just right... almost. Me and Raven still have to go to the judges marriage counselling before he'll grant the divorce and on top of that I still haven't spoken to Raven about the baby. Now before someone starts thinking the wrong thing about me keeping secrets, this isn't like before. I want more than anything to tell Raven about Ava being pregnant, but Ava made it clear to me before I left Toronto that if I told Raven about the baby before she's ready, she would shut me out completely, as in out of our child’s life and I wasn't trying to have that type of drama. So instead, I kept everything low key and we only communicated about doctor appointments.
Now that everything had died down and the restaurant was up and running I was now back to the music side of business. There's some ideas that been stuck in my head, so 40 sent some beats over so I can get them out. I sat in the studio with music blasting as I wrote down some lyrics that popped in my brain. I kept it going until I had the hook perfected. The door of the studio opened, I looked up just as Raven was walking in, in her pajama shorts and OVO t-shirt with feather in her hair. I laughed at the sight of her making, Raven roll her eyes.
"Good morning. Why do you have feathers in your hair?" I asked, making Raven pick at her curls, making some of the feather fall out.
"Cam decided to wake me up with a pillow fight. Needless to say, I won." said Raven as she approached me to sit on my lap.
"You ready for marriage counselling tomorrow?" I asked, causing her to roll her eyes yet again.
Raven didn't take to the counselling like I did. She acts like a kid who doesn't want to go to school whenever it's time for our sessions. "To be honest, I don't see the point of continuing these sessions. We've already decided to work things out, I don't see why the judge won't just annul the marriage so we can move forward with a clean slate."
"Well we only have three more weeks, that's only three sessions; besides the I think it's been helping how we communicate with each other. Like now... I would like to share with you, my wife that I am hungry and would like it very much for you to make breakfast..." I asked, making Raven laugh. You see, we've been practicing being open and honest when expressing ourselves, along with listening and relating to our partner.
"I hear you and I do understand that you've been up all night working, and you're hungry; I too have hunger, and if I remember correctly, it's your turn to cook breakfast." She replied.
I thought about it for a moment...she was right. "I guess we're having Fruit Loops."
"You and Cam can have Fruit Loops, I have left over buffalo wings from last night."
"Damn babe, buffalo wings for breakfast? What's up with you and spicy food?" I asked. For the past couple of weeks she's been eating weird shit. She literally walks around with a small bottle of hot sauce in her bag. I saw her pull it out the other day to sprinkle some on a slim jim. At first I thought she was pregnant, which scared the hell out of me, but then I remembered, Raven's on birth control. Thank God.
Raven just brushed off my question, and asked me to play her some of the music I'd been working on all night. As she listened, I pulled my phone out to scrolled through instagram. Not even a minute went by and of course a Shaderoom post caught my eye. It was a picture that Michael posted on his page of Raven, sitting on his lap wearing a bikini with a caption of "WCW" under it. Of course the Shaderoom reposted it to start some shit, knowing that it's public knowledge that Raven and I are back together.
“Why is he posting you on instagram like y’all still together? This shit really starting to piss me off Raven.” I gave Raven my phone to show her the post. This nigga has been doing blatant disrespectful shit like drunk texting and calling her phone in the middle of the night, and sending her flowers; like I don't even exist. I know Raven wants me to chill because he got his little feelings hurt, but there's only so much I'm gonna let slide.
“Baby relax, I can’t control what he post and it doesn’t matter any way, you’re the one I’m here with.”
“It does matter. It’s been over a month a he still doesn’t get that y’all are not together. This is why I don’t want you around him.” Raven's been doing a press tour for Creed 2, so that means he gets to be around her when I'm not around. I'm not stupid, if he's still calling trying to get her back, I know he's trying it in person too.
“Aubrey you know I have to work with Michael and that’s all it ever is., so can we please not argue about Michael tonight.”
“I’m just saying Raven, either you gonna say something to him or I will-” She kissed my lips to shut me up. When Raven broke the kiss she had a playful smile on her face.
“No more talk about Michael, okay?" She asked. I nodded my head, letting it go... for now. Just as she was about to say something else, her phone rung. She looked down at the screen, and jumped up from my lap. "Shit." Raven cursed under breath.
“I swear, if it’s him again--”
“Relax it’s, Tiana. Chubbs is stressing her so she wants to get out of the house. I told her I'd pick her up at this morning.” She said as she tried to walk out the door, but I grabbed Raven by the waist, pulling her back to me.
“What about our plans?” I asked as I kissed Raven's neck, making her giggle.
“Aubrey, we didn’t have any plans today.”
“Trust me, I got plans for us.” My hands dropped down from her waist moving lower but Raven grabbed my wrist, wriggling out of my reach.
"Later, I promise." She gave me a quick peck on the lips and backed away.
“Fine, go be with Tiana. While you're at it, tell her to stop tripping on my boy.” I said to her as she turned to leave the room with a smirk on her face. Even though I'd rather be chilling with Raven today, deep down I do hope she can talk some sense into her friend, because I'm gonna lose my mind if Chubbs keeps calling me at 3 o'clock in the morning. At this point I mind as well be apart of the relationship too.
After allowing Aubrey to talk me into making breakfast, I took a hot shower; throwing on something casual to pickup Tiana. 35 minutes into the drive to West Hollywood, I was finally pulling into the guest parking of her and Chubbs complex. She called me last night to update me on yet another installment of their drama, so I invited her out with me today. You see, Tiana’s still feeling some type of way about her and Chubbs not being on the same page in regards to marriage. It’s been over a month and she’s still in her feelings about it. As her friend, I do understand her side and why she’s hurt; no one deserves to be strung along. On the other hand, no one should be forced into making a life changing decision out of fear of losing someone. It’s basically a lose, lose situation unless someone compromises.
The doors of the elevator opened once I got to the 7th floor. As soon as I stepped off, I heard muffled shouting. I hoped that it wasn’t them yelling loud enough for their neighbors to hear, but that went out the window once I reached their door. I guess I’m right on time because they clearly need some space. I knocked on the door hard enough to be heard over the noise and sure enough, the voices stopped. A minute or two went by before the door swung open.
“Hey girl, I thought you were coming at 11:30?” Tiana asked with a fake smile like she just wasn’t in here calling Chubbs everything but a child of god.
“I’m only 5 minutes early T. Is everything okay?” I glanced around the apartment, spotting broken plates and glasses on the floor.
“Something like that.” She said as she stepped over the glass like it wasn’t there to grab her bag from the couch. “You ready?”
“Tiana, we’re not finished talking.” Chubbs emerged from the bedroom, cutting me off just as I was about to ask to use their bathroom.
“Hey Chubbs.” I smiled and waved, trying to cut the awkward tension but it did little to help.
“I’m done talking. I’m going out with Raven so don’t wait up.” She coldly responded to him. Without speaking a word of goodbye, she grabbed her keys and walked out the door leaving Chubbs with a blank stare.
“Ok...bye Chubbs.” I said to him as I slinked out behind her. I kind of felt sorry for him.
The elevator ride to the parking garage was silent. Tiana just leaned against the wall with her lip poked out and arms folded across her chest. We made it down to my car, and she got in, slamming the door so hard I thought the glass would shatter.
“Um, I know you’re upset but damn, don’t take it out on my door.” I said as I put my seat buckle on. She sighed, turning down HER and Daniel Caesar on the radio, just as I was about to turn it up.
“I’m sorry girl. This boy just got me so irked.”
“I can see that. What happened now?” I prodded to get more info on the drama. She wasn’t able to go into detail last night over the phone. Nothing like a nice car ride and R&B music to get you to open up to your best friend.
“I think Chubbs is cheating on me.” She replied while staring out the window.
“Are you serious? What makes you think that?”
“How else would you explain his unwillingness to fully commit?” She argued back, making me chuckle a bit. I swear she can be over dramatic at times.
“T, we talked about this. If Chubbs isn’t ready to pop the question, it just.. means he isn’t ready to pop the question. You can’t force that man down the aisle if he’s not mentally ready to make that lifetime commitment just yet. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you and it damn sure doesn’t mean he’s cheating.” I reasoned, hoping to get through her thick skull for the umpteenth time.
Tiana sucked her teeth, “Whatever, you sound just like him.” She once again folded her arms across her chest, acting like a big kid. I don’t know how Chubbs deals with this.
“Suck your arms and suck your teeth all you want, but you know I’m right. Look at it this way, wouldn’t you want him to be man enough to tell you that he isn’t ready, rather than lead the both of you down a road that he isn’t too sure about?” I asked. She dropped her arms, finally letting my words sink in.
“I guess I can apologize to him later.” She mumbled under her breath. I just shook my head. I hope that’s one hell of an apology. “Anyway, are we going to lunch or something?” She asked, which surprised me that it took this long. I never got around to telling her exactly where we're going.
“Yes, we're going to lunch, but first I want you to go to my doctor appointment with me.”
“What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“Look in the outside zipper of my bag.” I instructed. Tiana reached to the backseat to grab my bag to place it on her lap. Unzipping the zipper, she reached inside and pulled out a white stick. “Why am I holding a pregnancy test?” Her questioning eyes drifted over to me. I glanced over at Tiana, giving her a look that made her eyes widen. She turned the test over giving it another look. “Bitch! You’re pregnant!” She shouted. Her jaw dropped, frozen in shock before a big smile spread across her face.
“I have my first ultrasound today and I wanted you to come with me.” She leaned over to hug me, causing me to swerve a little in traffic. Horns blared behind us as I got back in my lane. “Uh, could you not get us into an accident.” I joked, making her laugh as she readjusted in her passenger seat. It felt right having Tiana with me. Our relationship was finally getting back to where it used to be.
“Oh my god, I’m so excited for you and Aubrey. When did you--” She stopped mid sentence, her head tilted to the side in confusion. “Wait a minute, not that I’m not happy to be here sharing this moment with you, but why isn’t Aubrey here?” Tiana asked. I was hoping she wouldn’t notice his absence so soon.
“Uh, because he doesn’t know, and I want to keep it that way… for now.” I quickly blurted out, not making eye contact with her. I turned up the radio in hopes to brush over the subject, but she turned it back down.
“And why is that? He’s always joking about getting you pregnant again, I’m sure he’ll lose his mind when he finds out.”
“Actually, he just might.” I pensively spoke, staring off into traffic. We approached a red light and I turned to my right to see Tiana’s eyes glued on me, waiting for an answer. I took a deep breath and just let it out. “I’m not sure if Aubrey is the father.”
Tiana was frozen. If it was n’t for the slow blink her eyes did I would've thought she turned into a statue. “Um, you wanna run that by me again...”
The light changed and I continued down the road as I went on with the details. “Well, Aubrey and I slept together before Michael and I started dating, and of course me and Michael had sex during our relationship; then there’s Vegas---”
“Where you had sex with Aubrey some more, so basically you need Maury Povich on the case.” She joked at my expense. I never imagined myself in a situation like this. When I took the at home test, I just knew I was overreacting to a late period. I’ve been on birth control, Michael and I used protection; with one exception, and then there’s Aubrey who’s the wild card which leaves me completely lost.
“This is not funny, Tiana I feel like a big hoe. What the hell am I gonna do if this is Michael’s baby?” Things just got back to normal with Aubrey and I, but I don’t know what’s going to happen if this isn’t his baby. I mean, can I really expect him to just stick around.
Wiping the amusement from her face, Tiana shifted in her seat, placing a comforting hand on my thigh. “Look, lets just hope for the best and whatever’s meant to be will be. One thing for certain is, Aubrey loves you. I’m sure you two will work through whatever comes next.” She assured me, and believe it or not, it took some of the weight off of my chest. Tiana’s right, Aubrey and I have been through too much just throw it all away again. Besides, I don’t even know what the outcome is going to be yet.
“You’re right, I just need to calm down. Once I get this ultrasound and find out how far along I am, I’ll know for sure who the father is.” I said as I maneuvered into a parking in front of Dr. Baxter’s office.
Tiana unbuckled her seatbelt, “And, I thought I had drama.” She playfully mumbled under her breath as she got out of the car. Drama was an understatement. I just hope today goes my way, if not then we’ll all be seeing just how much Aubrey loves me pretty soon.