Human Nature

Chapter 50

May 20th, 1993

Michael was staring at Evan Chandler in shock, hardly aware of Mariah choking on her water right next to him. He had just been accused of being a child molester.

"Excuse me?" Mariah spluttered. 

Evan pointed at them and laughed. "I'm kidding, just kidding."

"That's a sick joke. Who even jokes like that?" Mariah exclaimed, glancing at Michael.

Michael couldn't manage to form words to respond.

Evan's face returned to a somber expression. "I didn't mean to offend. I've got a pretty dark sense humor."

"By dark, do you mean from the pits of Hell?" Mariah quipped.

Evan chuckled. "I like that."

Mariah pulled a tight smile. "Evan, can you excuse us for a minute?"

"No worries."

Mariah pulled him into an alcove near the kitchen. "He's fucking insane."

"Mariah, I don't think-"

"No, you don't think. That's how we end up with people like that in our house." She glanced over her shoulder. "Shit, I'll be nice to June if I never have to see him again."

Michael sighed. "I'm failing to see how any of this is my fault."

"Well, if you had listened to me in the first place-"

Michael sighed again. "Can we not do this right now?"

"Fine, I'm going upstairs. Since you wanna be polite." She rolled her eyes and went up the stairs.

Michael took a deep breath and went back into the living room where Evan was looking through a magazine that had been on the coffee table.

"This is a really nice picture of you two." He said, showing a picture of Michael and Mariah posing on the red carpet.

Michael took the magazine to look at the picture. Mariah was dressed in a short black dress with silver straps, while he was wearing a black military-style jacket. Mariah was proudly holding two Grammys while he giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"This was when we went to the Grammys back in '91."

"Wow, that was almost three years ago. How do you two keep it all together with the fame and all?" Evan inquired.

Michael shrugged. "It's not easy. Sometimes, I just have to remind myself that I love that girl."

"I can tell and she's definitely protective over you. One joke and she looked like she was ready to kill me." Evan laughed. "I can't see Nathalie, my wife, doing that. She's too quiet. June would though."

"Why did you and June divorce?" 

June never brought up anything to do with Evan, so it had surprised him when she suggested that Michael meet Evan.

Evan sighed. "Now, that's a story for another day. Long story short, she met Dave. He's a nice guy, I don't mind him around Jordie."

"That's rough." Michael said.

Evan shrugged. "That was almost ten years ago, now. I still can't believe June's trying to get rid of Dave because he's working too much. How else is he going to support the family? She doesn't work."

"Well, I did the same with Mariah once. Never again." He shook his head, remembering how angry Mariah had been.

Evan raised an eyebrow. "You're both entertainers though, you guys are the busiest kind of people. I know, I work for them."

"Yeah, I always make sure I call if I'm out though. Even if it's just to say good night, I call. It's the little things sometimes." Michael pointed out.

Evan curled his lip. "June's been talking to you, hasn't she? Don't trust a word she says."

May 21st, 1993

Michael had dropped Mariah off at the recording studio on his way to meet with Evan at the condo in Century City. Michael rarely went there, he hadn't been there since he and Mariah had been together so she couldn't understand why he decided to go meet with Evan there. She couldn't understand why Michael would even want to see the man again at all. 

Walter was waiting for her in the booth. "So what's"going on with my favorite pregnant lady?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm annoyed."

"Is a certain person being a bad word today?" He asked, eyebrow raised.

Mariah nodded. "Big time. Like, this might be his stupidest move of all time."

"How stupid are we talking?"

Mariah pulled her notebook out of her bag. "Let's see. Someone who you don't know accuses you of one of the sickest crimes ever within ten minutes of meeting you and you decide that this is someone you'd like to befriend."

Walter wrinkled his nose. "Wait, what? When did this happen?"

"Yesterday and he's hanging out with this person as we speak." She rolled her eyes again. "Sometimes, I think Michael is one of the smartest people in the world, then he does shit like this."

"What was said?"

Mariah closed her eyes. "I don't even want to repeat it, dahling."

Walter's eyes widened."That bad?" 

"I don't even want to talk about it anymore, let's get this music done." Mariah said, going into the booth.

May 28th, 1993

The tension in the car was so thick, one could cut it with a knife. Bill was driving, Michael was in the backseat reading while Mariah was looking at her nails. She was pissed and he knew it. Michael successfully managed to convince her to come with him to Evan's house for Memorial Day, but he had hoped she wouldn't be mad at him the entire ride there.

"Baby?" He said.

She sighed. "What?"

He set his book down. "Why are you so upset?"

"I'm upset because Nixon isn't president anymore, why do you think I'm upset?" Mariah retorted.

Michael frowned. "You can at least pretend to be happy."

"I''m going to have to pretend to be happy when I get there. Can I be real around you at least?" She asked.

Michael reached over and held her hand. "I'm not trying to upset you, baby."

Mariah arched an eyebrow. "I'm finding it harder and harder to believe that."

"I'm really not, I just want to have some friends outside the business and as my future wife, I want you around for this type of stuff."

Mariah nodded. "I get all of that, but when I say I don't like someone there's a reason for it. These people are shady and when it comes back to bite you in the ass don't come crying to me."

Shout out to NicsLilSis, MichaelandMariah, DestiniGravely17, and Bookeater1997 for voting/commenting last chapter.