[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Part XI

Coral chucked the pile of clothes into the suitcase and sunk onto her bed, head in her hands. Shit. Now what? What was she going to do? Why was this happening now? What had she done that was so wrong?
She slid her face out of her hands and rested her chin on her fists, looking around the room. What other choice did she have? Either she signed the contract, went to school like her parents wanted, or Marshall got leaked to the press. It was a lose, lose situation.
God, she just needed to get out of that house!
In a whirlwind she changed her clothes and hurried back to the kitchen. She got the maid to take care of lunch and dinner, before speeding out of driveway and taking off.
Marshall knew that Coral would leave. He hadn’t meant to yell at her. He didn’t want to yell at her. He didn’t want her to leave. He didn’t want to upset her. Everything was gone to hell now.
“Hey Em, look, if you want this to go easy, you should just let her go. Maybe this is the best thing for her,” Dre tried as Marshall paced the patio.
“It is not the best thing for her. You don’t know her, you don’t know her family, you don’t know what it’s like.” Marshall snapped.
“You got to think about your career Marshall,” Dre said again, but it was the wrong thing to say. Marshall turned on him as fast as a snake.
“Fuck my career! I don’t give a shit about my career! I’m sick of hiding Dre! If they want to print something, let them fucking print it! I’m not a fucking image, and I can’t live up to one either, so fuck rap, fuck hip hop, fuck it all, cause it don’t fucking matter!” Dre was able to fend him off, knowing that Marshall more than anything was just upset. He needed to blow off steam.
“You all right now man?” Dre asked after a minute. Marshall took a deep breath and shook his head.
“No man, I’m not. I’m not okay, ever since that, that night. No, I’m not. Fuck, how the fuck did it get so fucking messed up?”
“When you’re lonely man, you drink, and when you drink you hook up. It’s what you do,” Dre said quietly.
“Nah, nah, it’s not that, shit man, it’s that. Fuck, I miss Hailie,” Marshall admitted.
“And you’re thinking about retiring, and you got something for this girl. You’re bound to be a little stressed, it happens man. Just chill out, okay? Take it easy. The maid said Coral would be back tonight. You’ll both be cooled down, you can talk, you can figure it out.”
“I don’t know. I think I overstepped the boundaries,” Marshall replied.
“You’re Eminem, that’s your job,” Dre laughed, finally earning a chuckle from Marshall.
“Ah fuck man, when did I get to be such an old man?” Marshall asked.
“Don’t sweat it, it happens to the best of us.”

Marshall waited up for Coral, in the kitchen, because it was the one place she was sure to go when she got home. He’d avoided the guys for the rest of the day, but Dre filled them in, and they understood.
Coral had stalled as much as she could coming home from her date, which had been a very bad idea to go ahead with in the first place. Now either one of two things would happen. Marshall would ignore her, or he’d be waiting to talk to her. She hoped it was the latter, she wanted to talk to him too, but she wasn’t looking forward to the awkwardness.
She sat in the driveway for nearly fifteen minutes, trying to get up the courage to go inside, figure out what she really wanted to do. She saw the lights on, she knew he was up. Now it was what she had to do.
The door opened quietly though it knocked Marshall out of his doze of thoughts he’d been wallowing in the last three hours. He heard her soft steps into the kitchen.
“Hey,” she said quietly, sheepishly as she leaned in the doorway.
“Hey, I was getting worried,” Marshall said sitting up and stretching slightly.
“Yeah, well, I was trying to avoid this.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Coral took a few tentative steps into the kitchen and decided to take her seat next to him at the counter.
“So what’d you do all day?” he asked conversationally.
“Walked. Went on a blind date.”
“You went on a date?” Marshall asked surprised, and he felt his chest constrict painfully again, though it wasn’t pleasant this time.
“Yeah, though he turned out to be a little more blind than a date. Plus, I just wasn’t in the mood to socialize.”
“Oh.” He relaxed a bit.
“So about this after noon,” they both started at the same time, they laughed.
“We both flew off the handle, didn’t we?” Coral asked.
“I shouldn’t have yelled at you, I do apologize for that,” Marshall added quickly.
“Don’t worry about it, really. But I’m sorry about flipping out on you. You didn’t deserve it.” They were both quiet for a minute.
“I meant what I said though Coral. Something being in the tabloids, it’s not gonna be as much a problem as you turning slave to your family.”
“Whatever I do, someone is gonna suffer. If I don’t go, Pearl will send the stuff to the papers, and if go, I’ll be miserable. So tell me, what are the other options? Change names, move to Timbuktu to get away from it all?” she asked with a slight smile.
“Just don’t leave. I’ll deal, with what ever comes up. Besides, I’m not in the spotlight right now, I’m not doing anything, not promoting an album, it’ll blow over in a few months. It’ll be taken care of. I’d feel much better, knowing you’re here, instead of with that family who’ll hurt you.”
“See, there you go, showing that sweetness again. Dammit Marshall, why you got to be like that? You making me want to stay,” Coral laughed. Marshall smiled in return.
“Then stay. Come on, when are you gonna find a friend who you can live with, and work with?” Coral stood up and put a hand on his shoulder.
“The job, is not the reason I’m staying, good night.” She leaned in, placed a kiss on the back of his head and left the kitchen. Leaving Marshall, more confused, and with a bad case of heartburn.
“Damn, we can’t let that maid cook anymore.”

“I’ve got French toast, sausages, mango juice and fresh sliced oranges coming up!” Coral called from the kitchen the next morning.
“All right, sounds good,” Marshall said grabbing one of the plates of toast and a pitcher of juice to take out to the table.
“Where the hell did that maid get to?” he asked as he returned to get the silver wear and Coral passed him with plate of fruit and some more toast.
“I don’t know, she was supposed to be here by eight thirty, it’s ten already,” she replied.
“My oh my, now does this smell good. Coral, don’t you dare leave that other woman to cook, I nearly had an ulcer last night,” Kuniva said giving a smile to Coral on his way into the dining room.
“I don’t plan on it. Enjoy,” Coral replied. One by one the rest of the guys came in and sat down, finally Bizarre sauntered in.
“Uh uh, hold up, I don’t feed people who don’t trust me,” Coral said pointing at him with a fork. Marshall had a grin plastered on his face. Bizarre sighed and looked over at her.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would do that for somebody, but you did. And I guess you’re all right by me then.” Bizarre wasn’t used to apologizing, for anything, and this left a nasty taste in his mouth.
“All right then, take a seat,” Coral gave him a sly look, but the breakfast conversation went back to normal.

“Where the hell is that maid, I swear I’m gonna kill her,” Marshall snapped as he looked at the growing pile of laundry the next day.
“I don’t know, I called the agency and they said they hadn’t heard from her either. Maybe she got sick, or had a family emergency,” Coral replied as she stirred some of her marinara sauce.
“I hope it ain’t nothing serious, and in the mean time I should call them and get another girl over here, it’s not fair you doing the cooking and the dishes.” Marshall replied making a mental note.
“What time is Dre supposed to be over?” she asked after a minute.
“He said he’d be here soon. Have no idea what he found out though,” Marshall shrugged. Dre had phoned earlier in the afternoon saying he had something to show them, and not to leave the house before he got there.
“Would you bring the dough out of the fridge for me,” Coral asked nodding to the fridge as she pulled a package of mushrooms towards her, ripping off the cellophane wrapper and grabbing her butcher knife. Marshall nodded and pulled the stuff out of the fridge.
“What are you doing?” Proof asked as he took a seat at the counter.
“You all said you wanted pizza, so I’m making pizza,” Coral replied as she chopped the mushrooms into fine slices.
“The point was, that we order something, so you don’t have to cook, and we don’t have to do the dishes,” Kuniva said as he too came in and took a seat.
“Eh, store bough pizza, it’s disgusting.” Coral said waving her hand at them and smiling.
“You think she likes to cook or something?” Marshall laughed.
“I think she just likes making me do dishes,” Bizarre commented as he came in.
“As a matter of fact I do. I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive you for that ‘help’ comment, so you better keeping washing out that dirty mouth with the dish liquid,” Coral quipped and they all chuckled.
“You got it Coral,” Bizarre laughed patting her on the shoulder. After a while Kon and Swifty joined the party in the kitchen to talk and watch Coral make the pizza.
“Marshall, you can start slicing those peppers and let me just make sure that no body wants sardines, right?” she asked looking around.
“Nope.”
“Good.” The doorbell rang and Marshall motioned for one of the guys to get it as he pulled the stick of pepperoni out of the fridge to slice. They heard the sounds of greetings in the hall and Dre emerged in the kitchen doorway.
“Hey man, what up?” Marshall asked as they did their handshake.
“Guess who isn’t going to law school?” he asked with a smile.
“What?” Coral asked with a jolt. Dre tossed a stack of magazines on the counter, the first one emblazoned with,
“EMINEM AND HIS NEW WIFE, HOW THEY MET AND THEIR SHOTGUN WEDDING!”
“She went and did it anyway! That bitch!” Coral swore.
“Nope, it wasn’t Pearl,” Dre chuckled.
“Huh?” Marshall and Coral asked surprised.
“The maid. She got a hold of that little press kit your lovely sister sent and got a good chunk of money for it.” Dre replied with a slight grin.
Coral looked over at the magazine that Marshall had picked up, recognizing them in a picture while out shopping for towels. They were both smiling and laughing, and it almost looked like Marshall had his arm around her. She had to smile.
At the same moment Marshall looked up and they caught each other’s eyes and started to laugh hysterically.
“What’s so funny?” Bizarre asked.
“Yeah, this is going to be a press hiatus,” Dre remarked, though he couldn’t keep a small smile from forming on his lips.
“Pearl is going to be furious,” Coral laughed.
“I just wish we could see her face.” Marshall laughed as well.
“You happy that your mug is in the tabloids?” Kuniva asked seriously.
“No, but what are PR people for? Come on Coral show what you can do with that pizza dough,” Marshall replied, still laughing slightly.
“You got it.” Coral went to work, pulling out a package of flour and dusting the counter, her hands and one of the blobs of dough she’d made earlier. Slowly she flattened out the dough and picked it up to stretch it out using her fists.
“Ever seen a professional toss a pizza crust boys?” she asked.
“Nope,” Kon replied for the group.
“Well you will now.” Coral spun the dough and tossed it high into the air and the guys jumped in surprise.
“Just you wait,” Coral said as she caught the dough and stretched it a little more before tossing it again. The guys were impressed as she threw the dough again, this time doing a spin and catching it.
“Whoa, would you look at this, maybe you ought to take her on tour Em, she could be your opening act,” Proof laughed as Coral threw the crust one more time and caught it behind her back.
“Now now gentlemen, there’s no hurry, I’m here all week,” Coral smiled and plopped the finished dough on the counter.

“Pizza and beer, don’t get much better than this,” Proof laughed as they sat around the table, polishing off the remainder of the pizzas and Coronas.
“You got it,” Coral smiled as she sat back, taking a sip of the beer in her hand.
“So Em, when are we gonna go out and party huh?” Swifty asked.
“Whenever you guys want to go out, I know a few good places,” Marshall replied.
“What about now?” Proof asked.
“I guess so, the rest of ya up for it?” Marshall asked looking around the table. They all nodded.
“We gonna get to see you out on the dance floor Coral? Girl as fine as you I bet can burn it up,” Kuniva asked.
“Nah, I don’t plan on going. You guys, go enjoy, have some fun.” Coral replied waving at him and sipping at her beer again.
“Oh come on Coral, you don’t expect us to go out and leave you here, do you?”
“I just figured, considering that your friends are here for such a short time, you’d want to spend some with them, by yourself,” Coral replied standing up to grab the dishes off the table.
“Marshall, restrain this girl would you?” Dre asked smacking her hands away from the dishes and standing to pick them up himself.
“Coral, sit your ass down,” Marshall said pushing her slightly and knocking her back into her chair.
“You’re coming to the club with us. Any friend of Marshall’s is a friend of ours. Go on, you ladies take enough time to get ready, we’ll do the dishes and then we’ll go,” Proof said as he too stood and grabbed some of the dishes.
“Why is it gonna take me any longer to get ready?”
“Coral, you got to wear something a little different than your jeans and t-shirts, come on girl you got something, show it off!” Kon replied.
“I don’t go to clubs,” Coral replied laughing.
“Come on, I’ll find something in your closet,” Marshall said grabbing Coral’s arm and pulling her up out of her chair.
“Why am I going anyway?” she moaned as he dragged her to the stairs.
“Because, you need to get out of this house.”
Back at the table, all the guys were looking at one another and grinning.
“Our man’s lost it.” Bizarre commented.

Upstairs, Marshall was pawing through Coral’s closet looking for something for her to wear to a club. He passed on jeans, the t-shirts, the sneakers, all her usual casual clothes that she looked good in anyway.
“This, and this, there you go, that’s definitely something for the clubs,” Marshall said as he emerged with a short denim skirt and a bright red, long sleeved, flowing shirt.
“Got alterior motives Mr. Mathers?” she asked with a raised an eyebrow.
“Just shut up and get dressed. We’re gonna find you a date tonight that knows how to treat you right.” Marshall laughed handing over the clothes, but not being to suppress a hint of redness that crept into his cheeks.
“Your full of shit Marshall, now get out of here so I can get dressed.” She pushed him out the door, both of them laughing hard.

“Ya’ll aren’t done with them dishes yet?” Coral asked stepping into the door of the kitchen. The guys all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her, framed in the door of the kitchen. She wore her long hair down, looking stunning in the clothes Marshall had picked out for her, and a pair of red stilettos. Proof whistled long and loud.
“Damn girl, you about to give a room full a heart attack!” Bizarre remarked.
“Why thank ya gentlemen, I’ll take that as a compliment.” Coral laughed. Marshall remained quiet and did not attempt to say anything. He knew if he did say something, it wouldn’t have been something at he wanted any of them to hear.
“Lets go boys, we can deal with those later.”