Human Nature

Chapter 30

March 24th, 1992

"Are you kissing Michael in this video?"

"No, but I wanna kiss him. I may kiss him, but if I kiss him it won't be for the screen."

Mariah turned her TV off and glanced back at the phone. Michael hadn't tried to call her again, but Mariah had already decided to wait for him. He was mad at her and when he was ready to talk about it, he would. If he wanted to. 

Mariah had spent the last few days working on new songs for her next album, but she had writer's block so she was sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, and drinking tea. Tommy had spent the night, but he was gone before she had gotten up. She and Tommy had been getting closer since Michael had been gone because he showed her all the attention she wished she had gotten from Michael. He was always busy with his career, which she understood to an extent, but he spent his days split between music and charity, Mariah just fell into the five minutes between. Sometimes she wished Michael was more like Tommy.

Lily jumped on the couch and curled up by Mariah's feet. She remembered when Michael had showed up with the box in his hand and how mad she was at him for taking Madonna to the Academy Awards and now he was on TV flirting with Naomi Campbell. He had to be if she thought she had a chance at kissing him. Funny how Michael was always with another woman close to her birthday.

She picked up the phone and dialed Patsy's number. No answer. She groaned and called Brenda, only to get the answering machine. She hung up the phone and took a sip of her tea which had gotten cold.

She set it down on the table decided to think about where she stood with Michael. They weren't speaking to each other and were living on opposite sides of the country. She was wondering if she should just let him go since it seemed like he had let her go.

Her phone rang and she hoped it was either Brenda or Patsy.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Mariah?"

It was Michael's brother, Marlon.

"Um, yeah this is Mariah."

"Yeah, it's Marlon. Can I talk to you about whatever little games you playing with my brother?"

"Games? I'm not-"

"No, listen because you're playing games. Why do you have another man in your house?"

Mariah opened her mouth, but she closed it again, searching for the right answer. There wasn't one.

"He's hurting, Mariah. He actually cares about you whether you believe it or not. He's been depressed since he's been back home and I don't like seeing him like this."

"I don't know what to do Marlon. I don't know if I can keep doing this back and forth with him like this and he's starting to get a little controlling."

"Because he doesn't want you to talk to Tommy Mottola?"

"How did you-"

"Listen to me girl. I've been in this business a long time, me and Michael. We know what Tommy's game is, you're not the first to be in this position. Michael is trying to protect you because he knows the game, it's not just because ya'll are together. Tommy will use you up and throw you away the minute you hit thirty."

"We're just friends. Michael's overreacting, I'm not doing anything wrong."

She could hear Marlon sigh on the other end. "Mariah, just talk to my brother. And be careful with Tommy."

He hung up before she could respond and she rolled her eyes. Apparently Michael couldn't be bothered to talk to her himself so he got his brother to do it.