Fireworks 1 and 2

Jungle: Chapter Ninety-Five

    Mia woke up to an apology from Nicki - sent directly to her phone.

Missed text:

Nicki: Last night I wasn't thinking straight. I'm so used to talking to Aubrey when things go wrong. That's the only reason I reached out to him. After my fight with Kenny, I was...going through it. I just needed a friend to talk to. I don't want you to think that I was on some grimy, low-down shit. Anyway...I'm sorry, Mia. On a much lighter note, our song is going to drop next Friday. I've already announced to my fans that I have a surprise coming for them next week. Take care of yourself.

    Mia sat in the bed Indian-style while Drake slept.

    He eventually opened his eyes and sat up. "Did you get any sleep?" he asked groggily, reaching over to grab his phone.

    She eyed his cell phone. "Not as much as I would've liked, but it's okay."

    He unlocked his cell phone with one hand and rubbed his eyes with the other.

    "Um...before you look at anything on your phone, there's something I have to tell you," she warned.

    He turned and looked at her.

    She fidgeted with the bedsheets. "Your phone was ringing like crazy last night. I tried to ignore it. But...it just kept ringing, kept going off and lighting up. So...I checked to see who was calling and texting."

    "And?" he asked with a raised brow.

    "It was Nicki."

    Some of the sleepiness left his eyes. "Okay."

    She wrung the sheets in her hands. "She got in a fight with Ken and I guess they broke up. She wanted you to drop everything and go see her in New York."

    His brows furrowed as he looked down at his cell phone.

    Mia nervously bit her bottom lip.

    "Why are you telling me this instead of letting me read it?" he questioned softly.

"Because..." She squeezed her eyes shut. "Because I may have responded to her, and my response may not have been as nice as it could have been."

    Without saying a word, he accessed his text messages and scrolled through Nicki's text thread. He drew a hand over his mouth while reading. When he was near the bottom of the messages, his eyebrows shot up. "Why would you respond to her that way?"

    "Her message pissed me off," Mia said flatly.

    He slanted a look at her. "But why? She'd just gone through a break up. All she needed was a shoulder to cry on."

    "Maybe because I remember what happened the last time she cried on your shoulder," Mia snapped.

    He sighed and set his phone down. "Mia."

    "She's texting you during booty call hours asking you to drop everything just to come see her. As if you're not on tour. As if you don't have a girlfriend that she should have run that past."

    "I understand that, but reaching out to me is just habit for her at this point. And we're lyricists. We're usually awake during what you're calling 'booty call hours.' Scary hours, remember?"

    "Some habits need to be broken," Mia said.

    "That's insecurity talking."

    She scrambled out of bed, grabbed the closest pillow, and heaved it at him.

    "What the fuck are you doing?" he shouted.

    "You have the nerve to call me insecure?" she demanded shrilly.

    "That text message isn't what you think," he said, tossing the pillow back to its rightful place. "She just needed a friend."

    Mia squinted at him. "After what I've been through, you don't think it's a little strange that she's calling you to come help her?"

    His lips set into a straight line.

    "You don't think that's just a little inconsiderate?"

    "She was probably just...emotional. Sometimes when you get emotional like that, you're not thinking clearly."

    "She admitted to that much," Mia muttered, folding her arms across her chest.

    He frowned. "Really? When?"

    She nodded towards her cell phone. "She texted me an apology."

    "I want to see it," he said, holding out his hand.

    "Why do you want to see it?"

    "I want to see what she said."

    "I told you what she said. She apologized."

    Drake dropped his hand into his lap and stared up at her. "So...what is this? You're mad at me again now?"

    "I'm-I'm not...mad," she stammered. "I just wish you would take a break from defending her so you can admit that what she did is unacceptable."

    "Put yourself in her shoes, Mia."

    "I already have," she told him. "I didn't get much sleep, remember? So I have already put myself in her shoes, several times. None of those times could I come up with a reason as to why I would text those messages to a man who is on tour and dating someone."

    "You sound judgmental right now," he muttered. "If she apologized to you, it sounds like she realized how her message could have come off."

    She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her. He's treating me like I'm overreacting, but I'm not overreacting. If a man had texted something like that to me, he knows he would've lost it. He's a complete hypocrite. She walked through the hotel suite living room and slid the balcony door open. She stepped out onto the balcony and gripped the railing.

    Less than a minute later, Drake joined her on the balcony.

    She kept her back to him and stared out over the city of Indianapolis.

    "I'm sorry I came at you that way."

    She angled her gaze downward at the people bustling around below.

    "She's like a sister to me. So sometimes...I tend to defend her, even if what she does is...unacceptable."

    With her head tilted to the side, she slowly spun around to face him.

    He didn't quite meet her eyes.

    She stared at him for a moment, and turned her head. The sun spilled bright light across the city, bathing the balcony in a warm glow. "Texting her back the way I did wasn't about insecurity. It was about letting her know whose man she was attempting to steal."

    He started to speak.

    She held up her hand, cutting him off. "The text I sent her wasn't about insecurity, but I am insecure when it comes to her. I just am. I've forgiven you for not telling me what happened. But that doesn't mean that I feel comfortable with the relationship you have with her." She sighed and shook her head. "She's like a sister to you. That's not something I can take away from you while keeping a good conscience. So I'm not going to make demands or ultimatums about you putting distance between you and her. But while you defend her to the death out of a fear of losing the relationship you have with her, just know that I'm just as scared of the thought of losing you."

    "Mia," he said helplessly.

    She shrugged. "Just remember that, when you think I sound 'judgmental,'" she said before walking around him and leaving him standing alone on the balcony.