Slipping Away

Chapter 48

May 8th, 1996

Michael fixed his collar while Mariah was brushing her now dark auburn hair. She had gone with a sleek look for the night's award show, their first official public appearance. Despite still being officially married to Lisa Marie, he was completely invested in his relationship with Mariah. He rarely thought of Lisa, until one of his lawyers came back with terms that her lawyers were demanding. The divorce proceedings were taking much longer than he liked, but there was little he could do about it.

He had asked his lawyers if there was anyway to expedite the divorce proceedings, but they warned him not to agitate Lisa too much, despite the prenup, he was openly living with Mariah and pushing her could make her sue for some of his wealth, which she was entitled to due to infidelity on his part. However, Lisa seemed to be just as eager to move on with her life as he was.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Mariah asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"Well, because you're still married to Lisa." She pointed out.

He shrugged. "I think we've all made it pretty clear that you have nothing to do with us getting a divorce. Why does it matter what people think anyway?"

She sighed. "I don't know. I'm just not sure if this is right, should we be doing this now?"

"Well, we're in love right?" He asked.

She nodded. "Right..."

"Then why would we let the tabloids get in the way of that?"  He took her hand. "Come on, let's go."

May 8th, 1996

Mariah hated being nervous. She hated that the press could make her feel so uncomfortable over her relationship with the man she loved. As they walked the red carpet, the shouts from photographers made her shrink behind Michael for protection. Being in public made her nervous, and she knew they were judging her. They thought she was sleeping with a married man, than she had broken up two marriages to be with Michael. 

Stop it Mariah.

She was mentally torturing herself, she knew she was, but she didn't know how to stop it. She was relieved when Michael and his entourage decided to enter the venue and take their seats. Mariah was sitting between Michael and Princess Stephanie of Monaco, while Shania Twain sat on Michael's other side. 

Mariah had another reason to be nervous, as Diana Ross would be performing that night and she knew how he felt about Diana. She felt like Michael was growing impatient with her, that he might even be rethinking marrying her because of her nervous disposition. 

He rubbed her hand, bringing her out of his thoughts. "So, are you excited? It's going to be a good show."

"I'm excited for your performance." She said. That much was true, Michael was to perform Earth Song that night and Mariah knew he had come up with something amazing.

They sat together as the show started, Michael holding on to her hand tightly. She knew he wasn't nervous so she couldn't understand why he was being so attentive towards her. It seemed that he always knew when she was second guessing herself or nervous, he knew her well, better than she knew herself at time.

Diana Ross took the stage and Mariah was enjoying the performance. She had complicated feelings towards Diana. She was Mariah's idol, but she was also Michael's first love, which he had made quite clear. She frowned remembering when he dedicated one of his singles to her, and recently, his History album had also been dedicated to her. She had a hold over Michael, making Mariah feel insecure.