Fireworks 1 and 2

Jungle: Chapter Forty-Nine

    Drake shifted in his sleep. His arms were wrapped around a soft bundle of warmth. He cuddled closer to it and soft fluff brushed his chin and nose. Blinking his eyes open, he pulled back a little bit. His face was practically buried in Mia's hair. She slept soundly in front of him, with her hands still holding onto his forearms. As if she's afraid I'd try to leave her while she was sleeping, he thought, kissing the top of her head. I feel horrible that she's that worried about us. I feel like I'd only worry her more if I told her that this whole mess is making me question whether or not I should be in a relationship at this stage in my career. Especially if she intends to become an artist herself.

    She turned around in his arms and sighed in her sleep.

    He swept long, curly hair out of her eyes and watched her sleep. His heart swelled with love for her. Even though he had doubts regarding whether or not he should be in a relationship, he couldn't imagine walking away from her. He couldn't imagine his life without her. Every time he looked at her and every time words came out of those sexy, full lips, he fell a little more in love with her. As a defense mechanism, he was trying to hold onto the anger he felt towards her, but as he watched her peaceful slumber, he felt his anger slipping away. All he felt was love for her. At the end of the day, that would always be the strongest emotion he felt for her. Love above all else.

                                                                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    When Mia woke up, she was in bed alone. She sat up in bed slowly, glancing around the room and listening for the sound of running shower water. Her boyfriend was nowhere to be found, and all she heard was silence. After checking her phone to see if she had any messages from him, she drew her knees up to her chest and slid her arms around them. All night, I feared that he would be gone when I woke up. That he couldn't stand holding me all night, because he was still mad at me. I tried to tell myself not to worry about it, but that fear came true.

    Nearly ten minutes later, the bedroom door opened and Drake entered the room, bearing a Starbucks cup and a breakfast tray. "Good morning," he greeted, kicking the door closed with the heel of his Nike sneaker.

    "Good morning," she returned, trying to overlook how good he managed to look in a pair of black sweatpants and a matching hoodie.

    He walked over to her side of the bed and set the Starbucks cup down on the nightstand.

    "For me?" she asked him.

    "Of course," he said, and leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips.

    She framed his face with her hands and kissed him back with all that she had.

    He pulled back and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry that I'm taking so long to...deal with everything."

    Her brows slanted upwards and a flicker of hope ignited within her. "It's okay."

    He shook his head as he walked around the bed to the other side. "I'm trying to be more understanding, instead of being caught up in my feelings. Seeing you break down over not being able to cuddle with me was a reminder of what is important. That's you and me."

    She waited for him to set the breakfast tray down. Then she got on her knees in the bed and spread her arms open.

    With a boyish smile, he lowered one knee onto the bed and scooped her up in his arms, careful not to disturb the breakfast tray.

    She smothered his face with kisses. "You held me last night," she said in between kisses. "And you brought me food and Starbucks this morning. And you apologized, when you didn't have to. I love you so much."

    "I love you, too," he told her. "I'll never let jealousy or pettiness get in between us like that again. I promise."

    "I'll never ignore your text messages again," she vowed, kissing his lips again.

    His kisses were both passionate and gentle, but after a few moments he pulled back and gestured to the breakfast tray. "We don't want the food to be cold, and we have a very busy day today."

    He wasn't kidding when he said that they had a busy day. The quiet, intimate breakfast they shared together, sprinkled with kisses throughout, were some of the last peaceful moments they had.

    Tour life was chaos...at least, that's how it seemed to Mia. There was always something that had to get authorized or checked on. While she was struggling to keep up with it all, Drake handled it in stride. He was in his element. It made sense. He had been at it now for more than six years, so he was probably used to it by now.

    The fact that Mia was being pulled into the performance only seemed to add more urgency to getting tasks completed. First on the agenda was securing performance outfits for her to wear onstage.

    His security team shadowed them as they walked around a chic designer boutique. While browsing through the D.C. designer's selection, Drake explained, "If we were in New York, or Los Angeles, or even Miami, it wouldn't be as much of an issue. They're huge cities with a ton of designers who have pieces made and ready to go for last minute emergencies just like this. But being in a smaller city with less to offer..." He shrugged his shoulders while perusing a few catsuits. "I don't expect to find something amazing. You'll look amazing in whatever we get for you, but I don't expect to find a suitable wardrobe for your onstage performances until we hit New York. For now, we just want to find something that will look good with the stage lights, something that makes it look like the outfit was planned."

    She was fascinated by him when he slipped into this entertainer sensei mode. Because he'd taken the time to involve himself with just about every aspect of the business, he had the capability of being a one-man show. If he had to handle every aspect of managing his career, she truly felt that he could do it. It might run him ragged and with the amazing team around him, there wasn't the need for him to do it - but if it came down to it, he had the knowledge and know-how to manage his career entirely. Everything from fashion/wardrobe, to business dealings, to contracts, to networking and rubbing elbows with industry moguls, he knew how to do it all. Desirae had once jokingly asked why Drake had better fashion sense than Mia did. At the time, Mia had been borderline insulted but now as she watched him frown with indecision at a few outfit choices and set them aside, she had to admit that he had a keen eye.

    He was often criticized for the fashion risks that he took, but if anyone ever paid attention, his outfits always made a crazy sort of sense - even his most outlandish of wardrobe choices, came together to create art in fashion form.

    As if he felt her eyes on him, he arched a glance at her over his shoulder. "What do you think about these?" he asked, picking up two pieces.

    She exhaled and studied the two pieces. One was a one-piece catsuit, black with gold sequins and embroidering. The other was a two-piece, a shimmery pearl-white halter top with a pair of matching short-shorts equipped with an attached skirt. The skirt was translucent, filmy netted material. It was beautiful. Without speaking, she reached out and ran her hands down the skirt of the white piece.

    "You like that one?" he asked, surveying it and tilting his head to the side.

    "It's beautiful, and it would look better under the stage lights."

    He nodded in agreement. "We need shoes to go with it," he said, setting down the black catsuit. "And jewelry. I want audience members in the back to see you shining."

    She turned her head and kissed his upper arm. "You take such good care of me, baby."

    He smiled down at her. "That's what I'm supposed to do," he told her, putting an arm around her waist and kissing her temple. "All right, we need to break out of here. The designer won't have the shoes to go with this, or the jewelry. That means we need to hit up at least two more spots, and we still need you to get in one more rehearsal today."

    She beamed up at him, and all she could think was, We're going to be okay. Right now, in this moment, I can tell we're going to be okay.