Crash and Burn (Eminem Love Story)

Chapter 2

Tonight was the night, Marshall borrowed a track suit from Deshaun and took some money out of his account for the day. He got in the car and heard his pager beep. He looked down and saw 143 on the screen. He knew it wasn't from Lo so he ignored it. As he drove into Lo's apartment complex something was definitely different about her now. She didn't live in this side of the city before. The apartments were brand new, people had the fanciest cars.
'This isn't a place for someone who works at K-Mart and is a waitress' he thought as he got out the car. He walked to her door on the third floor. He knocked and heard someone yell come in. He opened the door, walking down the small hallway and saw a woman in the kitchen washing dishes. He saw another girl vacuuming the television area.
"Don't be shy, we know you." The dishwater one said.
"Hey, do you know where Lolita is?" He asked and they smiled.
"Yeah she's in the back room, straight ahead." They said and he followed their directions. He knocked on the door and she opened it. Her room was spotless, however college textbooks were spread all across her bed.
"Hey M, I didn't think you'd be here so soon. Come sit down." She was wearing a sweatshirt that said California Babe on it and pajama pants. She walked into her closet and grabbed some jeans and a plain white t-shirt. Marshall watched as she changed and then did her makeup quickly.
"Who were them girls?" He asked and she smiled.
"They are my roommates. I've been living here for a year, it's a big place. I keep to myself, they like me. I share this room with Jenny but the other two girls they have their own." She said and he looked at her with amazement.
"How much do you pay?" He asked and she smirked.
"350 a month and I help pay the electric bill." She said and he nodded.
"That's good."
"Yeah, you ready to go? I'm gonna introduce you to the girls." She asked and he stood up.
He was heading towards the door when she stopped him.
"What?" He asked and she kissed his cheek. His cheeks reddened and he opened the door. The girls were all sitting in different parts of the house, sweating.
"So Lolita, are you gonna introduce us to your friend?" One of them questioned and Lolita laughed.
"Alright, Jenny. Y'all come here." The girls all stood up and walked over to her.
"Okay Marshall, this is Rebecca, Jenny, and Tatiana." Rebecca was a skinny white woman with golden brown hair and natural curls, she had hazel eyes. She was a girl that focused always on learning something new and keeping the peace. Jenny was a light skinned woman, pregnant with her first child. She had green eyes and a big white smile. Jenny was the girl who stayed with the same dude since high school and just gotten pregnant after a night of drinking, roughly eight months ago. Lastly, Tatiana, she was a dark skinned girl with curves for days. She was more like Lolita more than anybody else because she was in an on and off relationship with a guy that was constantly trying to two time her. She was a smart girl as well who was working her way through life and focused on living everyday to the fullest. 
"Nice to meet you." They said in unison.  Lolita grinned and went to open the door. They walked down to the car and he opened her door. She slid in her thoughts racing. He got in on the opposite side and smirked at her.
"You know where we're going?" He asked and she shook her head.
"I don't care as long as I'm with you, you know." He laughed softly and started the drive.
"Lo, close your eyes." He said and she smacked her lips. He checked to see if they were really closed and then he parked the car. He assisted her in the walk and then he opened a door for her to walk through. He tapped her back and she opened her eyes. Once her eyes had adjusted, she gasped.
"Oh Marshall, it's the aquarium." She looked at him, a childlike wonder in her eyes and he grinned. They walked in and started floating around the exhibits. He took pictures of her and had this feeling in his heart like never before. After they had finished their exploration they walked back to the car. She looked at him with amazement and was also scared to tell him that she was hungry.
"Yo, are you hungry, Lo?" He asked. She nodded and then started talking.
"Yeah. Marshall, do you remember that house party we went to during my senior year?"
"Yeah, the twenty year old white dude hanging with the eighteen year old black girl and they were so mad." She laughed and then started thinking.
"And the two girls stuck up for me were like 'Hey dudes, it's the nineties, we don't give a fuck about who another girl dates, yeahhhhh'." She said reenacting the drunk girls behavior. He laughed loudly and they both started crying they were laughing so hard. When they stopped they found themselves at a White Castle wiping the tears away again while in the line.
"Marshall, why didn't you call after that?" She asked as they moved up in the line. 
"I thought you hated me, when you left it was like the world was over so I never gave a fuck about anything else until a few months later when Hailie was born. Why didn't you call?" He asked softly in efforts to sound less defensive.
"I was scared that you wouldn't want to talk to me. That you were focused on her now and so I wasn't needed anymore."
"Welcome to White Castle, can I take ya order?" The cashier asked, popping her gum like it was on her job description.
"Can we get two burgers, one with pickles, the other without, a medium fries, and medium drink please?" Marshall asked and she placed the order. Marshall and Lolita floated over to a table and he looked at her. She was staring down at her lap and thinking about everything that happened.
"Marshall, why do this?"
"Do what?"
"Take me out, I could be just like your other girl friends over the years- fuck 'em and break up or go back to Kim. Why the effort?"
"I never wanted to use you for sex, Lolita. I don't look at you like that, that day you asked me to I couldn't. I knew I would end up going to Kim anyways. The effort I'm putting in is because I want you to love me again and I want you to trust me again. I want to show you that one day, I'll be what you're looking for." She stood up and came to his side of the table. She wrapped her hands around his neck and kissed him tenderly before sitting back down.
"For old times sake." She said grinning. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a video camera.
"What's that for?" She asked, her beautiful eyes pondering.
"I've recorded things my whole life, most of the tapes from when I was a teenager are gone but I've been making up for it with Lanie and Hailie." He said and turned on the video camera before pointing it at her.
"Now you." He added and she turned red, overly flattered by his comments of the day.
He kept it focused on her as they talked for a few minutes and then he turned it off.
"You know I regret everything I did." He said and she looked up from the fries she was playing with.
"You regret...everything? You don't need to lie to get to my heart. I think you made a decision based on temporary feelings and when that didn't work out for you, you had an added burden and wanted something more permanent." She said and he smirked.
"That doesn't mean I don't regret not having you in my life. Deshaun was pretty much there but he wasn't you, he's in the same boat just different fish." Marshall said and she looked him in the eye before smiling.
"Promise me that I'll be the woman you marry someday." She said and he cringed.
"I don't ever want to get married." He said and she shook her head.
"You don't? If she told you to marry her today, you would." She said sipping on her drink.
"I promise I will always love you and never purposely try to hurt you." He said and she looked at him and shook her head.
"Look, Lo, she has my daughter. I want to know my daughter and be with her all the time. I can't tell you where we'll be when it's time for that." He stated and she sighed.
"You should come over for the night at least. I missed you too much to forget about our movie nights." She said and he grinned knowing she wasn't mad. Back in the day they used to come over to each other's houses and watch all the movies Marshall had gotten from a bootlegger, now they could slightly afford to rent from Blockbuster.
"I will if that's what you want." He said and she nodded.
"We could head out now then." She said and they stood up. They walked out of the fast food joint and to his car. As they started the drive she remembered the first fight they ever had about Kim. She felt the irritation from that day picking at her and she just brushed it off. She turned on the radio and faded into her own world. She felt a tap on her leg and she looked over at Marshall. He was tapping to Hypnotize by Biggie and smiling at her. She felt her heart flutter and she looked away.
"Are you still coming with me?" He asked referring to the Rap Olympics.
"Yeah, Jenny and I paid for the ticket yesterday."
"Jenny helped you get a ticket?" He questioned and she nodded.
"I'm paying her back when we get back." She said and he nodded back. He pulled into the blockbuster parking lot and she went in to pick the movie. As he was in the car his phones started ringing. He pulled it out and saw it was Kim, he answered it sighing deeply.
"Yo." He said and she breathed.
"Hey Marshall, I'm gonna make this quick if that's okay." She said and he could see Lolita at the register with two movies in her hand.
"Please do." He said softly.
"Basically, I wanted to know if you wanted to see Hailie and Alaina before you leave." She stated and he let some air slip out before responding.
"Yeah, I want them for my birthday." He said and Lolita started skipping toward the car.
"Alright, you know where I stay." She said.
"Yeah." He said as Lo got into the car. She passed him the movies and smiled.
"Marshall, who's in the car?" She asked and he was between lying and telling the truth.
"A friend. Kim, I'm gonna call you later and I'll see you on the seventeenth for my girls." He said before hanging up.
"Okay lets see what Lo got us." He opened the bag and saw The Devil's Advocate and Lolita. She grinned and he started tickling her.
"You're crazy." He said and started driving to the apartments. The next song that came on was On & On by Erykah Badu and Marshall watched as Lo got so into it.
"Oh my my my
I'm feeling highhhhhh
My money's gone
I'm all aloneeeee." She sang out to Marshall and he couldn't stop laughing. He pulled into the visitors spot and walked with her and the movies upstairs to the third floor. She unlocked the door and all the girls were there on the couch watching a movie. They looked back and all of them grinned.
"Hey Marshall." They said in unison before laughing. He walked into the back room and waited for Lo to come. Meanwhile she was in the front getting snacks and talking to the girls quietly.
"What was it like?" They asked and she smiled.
"Like reconnecting with my best friend. I've been feeling lonely since he left and today was the first time I didn't feel like that." She said and the girls kissed her cheek. They all returned to what they were previously doing and she walked to the back with the snacks and drinks. She passed them to him and put Lolita in first, she sat down next to him and they watched the events of the movie unfold. When she turned around Marshall was fast asleep with his hand on her hip. She went to move so she could take the movie out but then he pulled her closer. She turned around until she was facing him and felt his soft breath on her neck. She remembered the first time he slept over back when they were still teens, how they were so close to having sex until Kim called and got into an argument with him that sent him flying into a rage and out of her dingy apartment just south of 8 Mile. She unzipped his jacket and tried to make a mental note to get him some clothes for his birthday.
He groaned helping her remove the last of the sleeve. He started snoring softly and she placed a kiss on his temple before maneuvering her way out of his cozy cocoon. She got the disk out and then went to the living room. Jenny was on the floor clutching her stomach, when she saw Lo she smiled and Lo sat down next her.
"Lo, can I ask you something?" Jenny asked and Lo nodded,"would you be my baby's godmother?"
Lolita laughed lightly and grinned.
"Yes." She said hugging her closest friend in the house. Over the course of the year,  the girls had become a little family. It all started at a club a year and a half ago, all the girls had been in the club that night but none of them knew each other. Lolita was at the bar taking pictures with her friends and smiling. The girls all made eye contact with her and came over. It was like it was destiny, they all decided to dance with each other and then as they talked that night they got to know each other. A few weeks after that, they decided they were sick of living on their own and being broke so they came together, had a meeting and agreed that they could all use the money they were wasting on rent on their own for this bigger, safer and better place. The girls all had anything from two to three jobs and so they never had time to argue, they just came home and bonded. None of them drank that much ever so they never had drunken fights, none of them smoked, for work purposes. They talked about everything, they were the perfect match for each other.
When Jenny got pregnant, Lolita and Tatiana went and paid for a playpen and a whole bunch of blankets so the baby could have somewhere to sleep that wouldn't take up too much space all the time. They were just there for each other. When the girls had met, Lolita and Marshall were still dating and then a week or two after they broke up. When Lolita told them about re-meeting Marshall again the girls were supportive and hopeful, that's how Lolita knew that they were truly a family.
As she sat there with Jenny watching the rest of whatever show was on she felt this feeling in her chest, like she was loved truly and wholeheartedly. When she looked over Jenny had fallen asleep. She grabbed her camera and took a quick picture. She walked to her room and saw Marshall stirring around. He woke up and looked at her before smiling.
"Hey." He said his voice cracking. She sat down next to him.
"Hi." She said and he wrapped her in his arms.
"I got to get home, I have work in the morning." He said and she nodded. He kissed her several times and then stood up. She got up with him and put her shoes on. He pulled his jacket on and looked at her with love in his eyes, along with sleep. She grabbed his hand and they walked to the living room.
"Hey guys." She said and they all woke up. They looked over and smiled.
"Marshall, you leaving now?" Rebecca asked and he nodded.
"Yeah, I have work tomorrow so I should head out." He said and Tatiana smiled and looked at Lolita.
"Well it was nice to meet you, you're welcome anytime." Jenny said and Tatiana nodded. He chuckled and then they walked outside. She walked him to his car and he embraced her. His hand rubbing her back and his head on hers. He could still smell her faint perfume and feel her breathing on his chest.
"Okay, I'll call you later." He said and she nodded.
"Page me when you get home, ho." She said and he laughed.
"I will. Goodbye gorgeous." He said and watched her cross the street and climb up the stairs to her apartment. Once he saw she got in safely he pulled off and onto the rode. The whole ride home he just had this stupid grin plastered on his face and this feeling on his heart he couldn't describe. He liked her. He pulled into the driveway and parked the car. He pulled out his pager and sent out the code twenty-four: I'm home.