In the Life (8 page)

"I’m out on my own, doing some exploration of the city. Since you were doing your thing and Curtis is still hung over, I decided to just look around."

"Well, we are about done here, I think. There are some equipment problems that are cutting the day short."

"Oh okay."

"So where are you now? I can come and pick you up if you want."

"Umm, naw that's okay. I will take a cab."

"A cab? But babe, I can just come get you."

"I know, but I will just see you shortly. I am about to go back to the hotel now. I will meet you there." I hated not being totally honest, but it was a necessary lie. I got off the phone with Morris shortly after.

"You ready for me to take you back," Breion asked me.

"Yeah and… thank you for letting me see you at work here. It was really cool."

"You know you can see a lot more than that." I smiled at the idea.

"Come on, superstar. Let’s get out of here." I nudged him towards the door so I could get back to the hotel.

Chapter 13

"You sure you want to eat here, babe," Morris turned to ask me once we had entered my favorite, yet crowded restaurant.

"What do you think?" Against his better judgment, Morris headed to the host stand to put our name on the seating list.

Morris had been back in Philly for about three months now. The movie was finished and was about to be released soon. I knew I had to cherish this time that I had with my man while I could. Before I probably could blink an eye, he would be off promoting the film or possibly shooting another. I knew my baby had talent and he was going to go far. Unfortunately, he was beginning to know that too. The movie hadn't even come out yet, but he was already getting a big head.

"Excuse me." Two ghetto looking bitches stepped our way. The one who had spoken was about 5'7 and 290 lbs. The extra weight looked like it all was coming from her titties. They looked like two full grown dogs trapped behind the finest bra that the Dollar Store had in stock. She should definitely look into finding a bra that actually can lift and support those mountains properly. But enough about her milk bags…

"Yes," Morris said back with a slight smile.

"Girl, you know you wild for asking?" The second girl said to her overdeveloped friend.

"Well hell, I know it’s him because I saw it all over Entertainment Tonight and plus I read about it online on Media Takeout. I know my men and this is him, girl."

"You do your thing then." They continued to carry on their conversation as if they weren't standing right in front of us. Morris was a good one for still being interested in why they came up to him. If it had been me, I would have been walked the hell off.

"Can I help you ladies?" Morris was probably using the term "ladies" loosely with these hoodrats.

"Uh huh, you sure can, Mr. Man," the heftier girl said smacking her lips. She expressively started to wave her long fingernail in his face. "You that actor that is fucking Lailiana ain't you."

"Ethiopia! How you gonna ask the man who he fucking?"

"Shit, why can't I? That's what he doing! That's what I heard he doing. He grown. He can answer for himself." First of all, who the hell does shit like that? Secondly, did she just say that the big tittied heifer’s name is Ethiopia? Please tell me that Ethiopia is a nickname… hell, at least middle name. Her parents did not name this trick, who ain’t even let a Cheeto escape her mouth, after a poor, starving country! I am through!

"I am an actor, yes. And I do have a movie coming up with Lailiana," Morris replied calmly, but with a big smile on his face.

"See, girl. I told you. He fucking her! I knew my eyes were right. I should have bet your ass dinner."

"Now Ethiopia, you know that ain’t what he said," the other girl chastised her friend. "He ain’t say nothing about fucking nobody."

"Raylette, you gotta read between the lines. He ain’t say he wasn't, now did he?"

"No," Raylette rolled her eyes. "But you ain’t gotta be all up in the man's business like that."

"Whatever," Ethiopia said back with an attitude before turning her attention back to Morris. And probably with all the class she could muster, she said, "Well, it was nice meeting you, Mr…"

"Morris Epson."

"Ooh girl, he said his name so sexy like, didn't he," Ethiopia jabbed at Raylette while laughing at her own damn stupid ass self.

"Nice to meet you," Raylette echoed as the duo was called off to be seated. I could still hear Ethiopia talking as they walked away.

"Wait until I tell Sparkle about this!" I was so glad that they were gone. They were annoying the hell out of me although they did manage to ignore my presence all together.

I looked over at Morris and he was smiling hard.

"I know you ain’t
take that as no compliment or positive thing, right?"

"Babe, just let me have my moment," he laughed. "I am getting recognized now."

"Yeah, basically for cheating on me." I don't know where that bitter statement came from. It just slipped out of my mouth. I was over the thing he had with Lailiana… or at least that is what I wanted him to think. I still didn't trust that they could be left alone in a room together without proper adult supervision. And when I say proper adult supervision, I mean me sitting next to them with a zoom lens and a gun.

"You said that…"

"I know. I am so sorry," I cut him off to apologize. "Please forgive me. I didn't mean to start nothing." Morris nodded but didn't verbally reply. I knew I would hear his frustrations later.

As we continued to stand there, Breion called my cell phone. Breion and I chilled a lot. He was such a terrific guy. We could talk for hours about any and everything. He was a great conversationalist. I swear that I learned something new every day. Breion was both intelligent and insightful. I even felt comfortable telling him all about the details of my relationship with Morris. Breion would sit there and listen to me vent or gush over Morris and would not get mad or jealous. There is still some attraction between us, but we are just cool. However, Morris doesn't know all about that. I am no fool. Breion's name is saved as Larenz in my phone and his ringer definitely is not one of his own songs. I was not trying to get caught up in an argument with Morris especially when nothing wrong is going down.

I ignored the call, but I soon got a text message. I looked and it was from Breion.

"I need to talk to you tonight. It’s important. Meet at my place?"

I replied back that I would be there if I could. Being that me and Morris lived together, sneaking out without telling him where I was going would be hard. I couldn't say that I was going to chill with Curtis because that lie would unfold if Morris talked to Jay. I would have to think of something. This had to be something major. I would have my lie planned by dessert.

Chapter 14

I tried so hard to find a good way to sneak out of the house that night. I racked my mind thinking of what I could say to Morris to excuse myself from his side. However, since he knew as well as I did that this time before the movie's media blitz was very precious, he was not going to let me go nowhere. I knew what he would say to all of my planned lies.

For instance, I couldn't say that I needed to go to the store because he would insist on going with me. If I said I was going to chill with Curtis, he would have tagged along too and said that he and Jay could hang with us. If I made up a friend that I said I was going to hang with, he would have ten thousand questions to ask me. Basically, I seemed screwed. So in a final act of desperation, I did what any man would do in my position. I made hot, passionate love to him until he fell into a deep peaceful sleep and then I sneaked out. But since Breion lived on the other side of town, I asked for us to meet at a central place so that I could get back to Morris if he called to see where I was at. He agreed to just come pick me up and said we could just ride around in his car for a minute.

I was really anxious to know what was going on with him. What big talk did we need to have that would cause me to stoop to such sneaky ways to come to see him?

That night Breion laid all his cards on the proverbial table with me. He confessed how much he really did care for me. I knew that he felt a certain way about me. Truth be told, I kinda liked him too. I guess it was like that Erykah Badu song ‘Next Lifetime'. If Morris had not captured my heart, I could totally have seen myself with Breion. I know that I would be happy. Breion and I had to come to some kind of understanding though. We agreed to just do what makes us feel happy without compromising my relationship with Morris. What does that mean, you ask? We didn't know our damn selves. It just sounded good at the moment. What it ended up equating to was Breion and I getting a little bit closer.

Whenever Morris went away, I was with Breion. We never had sex or fooled around or nothing. Passionate kisses and lying in the bed together was as far as we would let ourselves get. I liked the way I felt when I was around Breion. In Morris' arms, I would feel
safe, but with Breion, I felt needed. Both feelings were great, but just different. Curtis kept telling me that spending time with Breion could be like playing with fire, but I knew what I was doing and he knew the deal.

Breion's company was very much needed around the time that Morris went out to promote the movie. He went everywhere with Lailiana to talk about the film. They were on Entertainment Tonight, MTV, and even co-hosted their own top 25 Countdown on BET. I disliked all this time he was spending with her, but it was his job. However, even I could pick up on their chemistry. Both in person and on the television screens, they seemed to be naturally comfortable with each other. I so wanted to hate Lailiana and paint her out to be this evil seductress that was trying to take my man. If that was the case, it would be easy to target all of my trust issues, frustration, and angst on her. Unfortunately though, Lailiana was so fucking sweet and gorgeous. She was all of what she seemed to portray in her interviews. Damn her, anyway.

The movie was days away from opening and Morris was on cloud nine. He was still getting a big head by all of the attention he was getting. A whole lot of people were recognizing him from all of the guest spots he had been doing and of course the tabloid mess with Lailiana. However, his tabloid nightmare had just begun.

I had stopped by the grocery store to pick up some milk and bread when I saw the headline on the Star Magazine. "Lailiana's boyfriend and co-star is GAY!" And below the headline was a picture of him and I on the set, but you couldn't see my face. What you could see, however, was him hugged up on me with one of his hands cupping my ass. I quickly tried to call Morris, but he did not answer. It kept going to his voicemail. I knew this couldn't be no type of good.

Chapter 15

All my attempts to call Morris were fruitless. I must have called him seventy times over the next five days and sent countless text messages. There was no doubt that he knew what was being said about him. The media was having a field day. I kept looking online at different gossip columns like Concrete Loop and Media Takeout to see what else was being said. On television, I saw the story being ran a few times. Lailiana never gave any kind of comment defending or confirming what she felt or knew. I had yet to know what Morris had to say. I hadn't even seen a press released statement or something from his Twitter account. I was getting really worried about him.

"I am tired of hearing his voicemail kick in every time I call." I told Curtis over the phone as I tried to straighten some things up around the house. All of this anxiety I had made me mop, dust, and wash everything in sight.

"He is fine, man. He just needs time to get everything together."

"But I don't know what's going on with him! Thankfully, they have not identified me as the guy in the picture or anything because I would have press at my door. I can't imagine what's going on in his head and that is what scares me. I mean, he isn't talking to no one about it or nothing. It’s like he just went into hiding."