Human Nature

Chapter 18

June 4th, 1991

Mariah took another deep breath. She was going to need all the patience in the world to deal with Alison today. She prayed twice and planned out what she wanted to address, but she had a feeling that she was going to be pushed to far...again. The doorbell rang and Mariah hesitated.

Now or never.

She wished she had been able to talk to Michael before this meeting with Alison, but she hadn't heard from him since he left in April. She buzzed Alison in and waited at the door.

"Nice to see you finally returning my calls." Alison said as she walked in.

Mariah rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I can finally speak to you without wanting to strangle you."

Alison laughed. "Yeah, right. You can't fight, your little boyfriend had to bail you out last time."

"Speaking of which, why the hell would you leak that to the tabloids?" Mariah demanded.

Alison shrugged. "You told me to start getting my own money, so I did."

"By using my name. That's not getting money on your own, I meant getting clean and getting a real job." Mariah snapped.

Alison got up. "Are you done?"

Mariah sighed. "Yeah, I'm done."

"Good, because I have shit to do." Alison bumped her shoulder as she walked out of the door.

Mariah sighed again and picked up the phone, dialing Michael's number again. She missed him and she couldn't understand why he was ignoring her. She knew he was working on his album, but he usually called her or left  message on her answering machine. She was starting to get worried about him and once again she got his answering machine.

"Hey, babe. Just calling to say I miss you. Call me when you can, okay? I love you." She hung up the phone and frowned.

July 15th, 1991

"Mr. Jackson, your brother is here."

Michael held up his finger and continued to lay down the second verse to Remember the Time. After the track was cut, he exited the booth and his brother, Marlon hugged him.

"Hey, Mike."

Michael nodded. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. How's life? I haven't seen or heard from you in a while." Marlon asked.

Michael laughed. "I've been in here, nobody's heard from me except for the producers and that's only because they're here."

Marlon's eyes widened. "Why?"

"I'm behind schedule so I'm making up for lost time." Michael shook his head. "I should be able to finish it by November if I keep up the pace."

"November? Haven't you been working on it since last year?" Marlon inquired.

Michael nodded. "I have, I've just been really picky about everything."

"As usual."

"Can you blame me?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

Marlon laughed. "You've at least talked to your girl, right?"

Michael shook his head. "Nope. I haven't left the studio since I've been back at Neverland."

"I hope you know you're dead." Marlon said.

Michael waved him off. "Mariah's a singer, she understands."

His brother shrugged. "If you say so."

"She does, she gets me." Michael said. "But I'm gonna get back to recording."