A Love Conflicted

15 | The only love there is...

"Nothing's wrong" I lied, my eyes glazing over trying not to relive the painful memories that always flooded my brain this time of year.

"Didn't I tell you that you're a terrible liar" he joked. I wanted to laugh, but I couldn't joke about this

"Please" I whispered "Can we talk about something else" I begged him, my pleading tone warned him that this wasn't something to take lightly and it wasn't going to be spoken of any time soon.

"Sure" he assured me before kissing my forehead. I was grateful that he dropped it, although I knew sooner or later it was a conversation we'd end up having at some point. That is, if this were to go any further. "Can I do anything?" He asked. His concern was endearing, just knowing he cared to ask was enough. I managed to form a gentle smile

"You're already doing enough" I told him honestly. He brought his hand up to my cheek and caressed it tenderly with his thumb. He leaned in to give me what I thought was another kiss on the cheek but instead he pressed a gentle kiss on my lips. My heart soared; It had only been less than a week since I last felt his lips upon mine, but it felt like eternity.

Hours later, I watched from the side of the stage in awe. At this point I'd pretty much seen him perform in every way possible, except for on the stage. His persona was even more electrifying being that close to him as he did what he does best. I looked out into the crowd and watched as every eye was on him. Every man looked at him in envy and amazement, and every woman looked at him with love and excitement. I wondered what he saw when he looked at his fans...or even when he looked at me.

He ripped into Endorphinmachine and the crowd went wild. Even I got a little too excited as The Gold Experience is one of my favorite albums. Before I knew it, Cass had made his way over to me and stood beside me with his arms folded, surveying the area as I'm sure he does at every show. He was trying to be cool, but I could tell he wanted to dance just as much as anyone else. I stood in front of him and started to sing and dance obnoxiously in his face to get a reaction out of him

"Would you please look at this mother next to me, frontin' more booty than Peru got keys! Damn, If I don't get that. Wait right here and I'll be right back!"

He shook his head at me with a smile trying to hold back his laughter. I shook his arms as I tried to get him to loosen up to no avail. Giving up, I stuck my tongue out at him as I continued to dance on my own. I sang just as loud as the rest of the crowd when suddenly Cass broke out into an epic air guitar. I almost fell over in gut wrenching laughter. Something about seeing this 6ft, take-no-mess black man lose his shit playing air guitar was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. Prince happened to look over and saw me whipping my hair around while Cass did his thing on his "guitar". He almost lost focus when he saw us and couldn't help but laugh himself. Prince being Prince, he took a dig at us on stage unbeknownst to the crowd

"Hey Cass, wait a minute. Ain't no good unless somebody else is in it. Riley, with the cynical disposition perhaps you'd like to join us in a mission"

Once Cass realized he was caught he stopped and playfully shoved me. I shoved him back before continuing to dance in my own little world and he walked off behind me. Alex was right, I did need this and I would have regretted it if I decided not to come.

Prince was on fire tonight, and the crowd was feeding off his every move. He decided to slow it down a bit as he switched guitars. I was working up a sweat with all this excitement so I was actually happy he wanted to take it slow now. Before he began to play his next song he pulled the mic closer to him, looking down at the floor as he collected his thoughts

"I want to dedicate this song to a Dear friend..." he said softly and the crowd listened intently, hanging onto every word "and anyone else who may be in need of this message tonight."