Crash and Burn (Eminem Love Story)

Chapter 4

November 2 1997
Marshall and Lolita had returned from their trip a few days ago. After the phone call that interrupted their night, he took her out around the town to make it up to her.
When they returned they agreed that he would sleep over until he got a new place.
Lolita woke up in bed and looked around. The light hit her face and illuminated all of her perfections and flaws. She turned around to see Jenny but not Marshall. Jenny was on the other side of the room on her bed, rubbing her belly and groaning.
"Hey Jenny." She mumbled and Jenny smiled.
"Hey girl, Marshall's in the kitchen with Tatiana and Rebecca." She said and Lolita checked her watch. It was seven and she had to go to work at eight-thirty. She started getting ready and was grabbing her bag at eight on the dot. Marshall looked at her as she came out and smiled.
"Morning gorgeous." He said and kissed her quickly.
"Hey, what are y'all doing?" She asked and he grinned.
"Washin' dishes." He said and Rebecca nodded.
"And I'm mopping the floor." She added. Lolita kissed Marshall one more time and was at the door.
"Marshall, what time are you coming in?" She asked and he looked up to think.
"Um, I don't start until ten." He said and she nodded,
"Alright, I'll see you at ten." She said and kissed him goodbye. She walked out the door and locked it walking down to her car. She got in and started the drive.
Gilbert's Lodge
She got out her car and walked into the building.
"Hey Lo." Her co-worker Joe said and she smiled.
"Hey Joe, busy?"
"Today, not yet. What time do you get off?"
"I get off at four, then I gotta go to job number two for six hours." 
"You know Marshall still works here right?"
"I know that, we're on more than speaking terms right now. I'm just happy that Bossman was kind enough to either fire Marshall or put him on the opposite shifts as me until we could get along." She said and Joe laughed.
"So what is he like your boyfriend now?" Joe questioned with an eyebrow raised.
"Marshall is my boyfriend yes. Don't we have jobs to do." Lo stated.
"You're on the schedule for tables one, three, and six." Joe said as he smoothed out his apron and they got to work. A few hours into her shift she saw Deshaun, Denaun, Rufus, and Von walk in. She felt her heart start beating faster. They were seated at table one and they were laughing, cracking off jokes. When she stopped being friends with Marshall, she never saw them again. The only exception is Deshaun, she went to a freestyle competition to watch and it was his turn. After his show they reconciled but never saw each other again. She walked over and looked down at her notebook.
"Hello, welcome to Gilbert's." she said and they all stopped their conversation and looked at her.
"Hey Lo, how ya been?" Deshaun asked.
"Good, how are you guys." She said letting them know that she had no problems with them.
"We're alright, you know as okay as you can be when the girl of the group never calls and her ex not really ex boyfriend decides to go off on his own and try and leave us behind." Denaun said and Von looked down.
"Guys, I didn't know about that."
"We don't talk to Em right now, the only one that does is Deshaun."
"Y'all should talk to him. Y'all are his best friends." She said and they rolled their eyes.
"He's still in the group, he didn't leave guys. He's just been working and trying to get his name out. Y'all would do the same. Now can I take your order?" She asked and they nodded. Each of them ordered a burger with fries and when it was Rufus' turn to order he ordered damn near everything on the menu.
She walked to the back and placed their orders. When she came back out Marshall was coming in. He looked at her and she looked at him and then she looked at the boys. He followed her eyes and walked swiftly to the back, grabbing her arm gently. She followed him and he kissed her quickly. She hugged him and placed his face in her hands.
"Marshall."
"I didn't leave the group behind, their mad cause I'm trying to better myself for me and my daughter first."
"Go talk to them." She said and he nodded.
"Only if you come with me." He said and she could see his face turning red.
They walked out together and went to the table. She took their drink requests and left Marshall there to handle it. She made sure to drop by her other tables and took an extra ten minutes to come back to the table. Marshall and the boys were all cracking up and when she returned Marshall got up from the table and flipped them off before starting his shift officially.
K-Mart
After she got off of work she checked her phone and just as she was checking a call came in. She answered and put it up to her ear and looked around.
"Hey Jenny, what's up?"
"Hey, I had to come in for an emergency c-section. I'm going in in about ten minutes. They're gonna put me in room 213."
"Alright, I'm on my way." She said and ran to her car. She unlocked her door and then started the drive to the hospital. She called Marshall along the way.
"Hey."
"Hey my love, where are you?" She asked and he cleared his throat.
"Wha- oh, I'm with Jenny. I got off at seven, came home and she was talking about how much her stomach hurt so I brought her here. Turns out the baby's heartbeat would change for the worst every time she would have a contraction. All your other friends were at work so I took her."
"Okay, well I'm on my way now." She said.
Hospital.
She found Marshall and embraced him. She sat down and pulled a pen out of her purse. She grabbed his hand and started drawing random lines and shapes on it. After thirty minutes or so, the doctor's came into the room and rolled the baby into the room for them to see. It was a girl, she had the biggest eyes, and a pointy nose. Next they rolled Jenny in. She was half sleep but smiling so big.
"Jenny, did you call her dad?" Lo asked and Jenny nodded.
"He said he dropped off some clothes for her at home along with a check." Jenny said looking at her baby girl.
"What's her name?" Lo asked.
"Kalila Aiko Roberts." She said and closed her eyes. Lo walked to the white board and wrote Baby Kalila's name on it. She held the baby and Marshall took pictures of her and him all together.
Home
It was two in the morning when they finally arrived home. Marshall locked the door and carried Lo into the back room placing her on the bed.
"No, no, I have to start moving Jenny's stuff into Tatiana's room." Tatiana was currently moving her bed into the hallway to make room for Jenny's stuff. The girls agreed that Jenny should have a room to herself so that the baby wouldn't disturb the college seniors. Marshall kicked off his shoes and took off Lo's before helping her up. They took down the playpen and moved it in a convenient spot. They moved her bed into the hallway and then placed the bed frame in. After making sure all of Jenny's stuff was in the room they moved stuff around so she could take advantage of the space. They also put the baby stuff in the room so she could sort through it when she returned. Lastly, they put the check from Jenny's baby daddy on top of her dresser so that nobody would take it. Tatiana moved her stuff into Marshall and Lolita's room and collapsed on her bed. Marshall and Lo went out onto the Patio and sat down. They ate strawberries and drank some wine watching the sun come up. They both were off of work for the day so they were just planning on sleeping in. They heard a knock at the door and so Marshall went to go check it out. When he got to the door he saw it was Kim, Hailie, and Alaina. He breathed and Lo was looking at him. He opened the door and Kim walked in with the girls.
"I need to go to work and the babysitter canceled on me." She said and the girls looked up at him with hope in their eyes.
"How long?"
"For the night." Kim said and he turned and looked at Lo. She nodded and he smiled.
"Alright, that's fine."
"Marshall, its funny you can afford this place but you can't afford diapers or Christmas gifts for your daughter and niece."
"Kim-"
"Kim, this isn't his place. He's crashing here for a few weeks." Lolita said and bent down to the girls level.
"Hi girls." She said and they hugged her. Kim walked out of the apartment. Marshall looked down at his little girl and she smiled. He picked her up and sat down on the couch. She readjusted and placed her head on his lap. Alaina moved and sat next to her uncle. Lo cleaned up the patio and then laid down on the couch with the girls and Marshall. Tatiana came out the room and took a picture of them. She then disappeared into their room again, closing the door behind her.
Marshall and the girls fell asleep and Lolita called Deshaun for the first time in a long time.
"Hey." She said and he chuckled.
"Yo, what up."
"Marshall's girls are here." She said cracking up
"Who brought them?" He asked.
"Kim." She said and felt her face frown up.
"I'm sorry to hear that pal. Look when Marshall wakes up- that nigga is always sleep- tell him to come to the club. He's gonna want to see this. He can bring the girls too."
"I'll just watch them." She said and chuckled.
"Alright, thanks for calling Lo. We miss you." He said and hung up.
Proof and Lolita met when she switched schools for a semester. The girls at hers and Marshall's school are were mean to her so she switched in hopes that things would be different. They were for a little while then stuff was still the same. She met Proof at lunch, he was free styling and banging on the lunch room tables. He was the closest thing she had to Marshall and so she stuck with him in a non romantic way and they became close friend. In the semester she was there, that's when Marshall dropped out. She found out that they knew each other when Marshall snuck into her school and was rhyming with Proof. When she came back to Lincoln she had nobody and would only skip with Marshall when she knew she didn't have a bunch of makeup work.
That's all she could think about when they got off the phone.
1 Hour Later
Marshall looked up at the ceiling as he awoke and then at Lolita. She was just staring at the TV. South Park was on and she was just laughing at the little dumb jokes.
"Ah, fuckin' Eric Cartman." She said and he readjusted causing her to snap her head over and look at him.
"Deshaun wants you to go to the club. I'll watch the girls. Don't take too long though." She requested and he shook his head.
"Y'all are all coming too." He said and she looked down. She was in her work uniform from the day before, she felt her head and realized she still had a bun too. She hadn't slept at all since yesterday when she woke up.
"Marshall-"
"Get dressed, I'll wait for you." He said.
After the meeting
As Lolita and Hailie napped in the car, Alaina watched her uncle come out of the club. His face was red and he was frowning hard.
"Lo, my uncle is coming back." She said and Lolita sat up. She examined him and he unlocked his door before sliding in and slamming the door. Hailie popped up and looked around before falling back asleep. Marshall hit his steering wheel several times before calming down and looking at Lo.
"You wanna talk about it?" She asked and he nodded.
"They said I was gonna leave them behind and that I had to give them my word that I wouldn't. If any of us make it that we would come back for the rest of the group." He said and she placed a kiss on his forehead and he sighed. He breathed out tenderly and looked at her. Readjusting his seat, he started the car and headed back to the apartment. They all headed up and into the back room.
Marshall and Lolita laid on the bed, encased in an embrace. The girls embarked on their own mission and played with toys inside the closet. Marshall rubbed up and down Lo's leg and sighed.
"I wish I could fix everything." He blurted out and looked at her.
"Like what?" She questioned and kissed him.
"I wish I could've met you first and fallen for you first, I wish I would've had my baby girl with you. I wish I wouldn't have let you leave." He said and she nodded.
"I wish I wouldn't have left." She said and planted a kiss on his lips. The kids ran out the closet and onto the bed before laying down in between the two.
Later That Night
There was a knock on the door and Marshall answered it. Kim stepped in and the girls ran out to her.
"Marshall, when can I talk to you?" She asked.
"Now."
"Why are you playing house with this bitch?"
"I'm not playing house, Kim."
"So, what are you? Some type of male gold digger? What are you doing here? You should be at work, working for me and your daughters. Not chasing after some dream that's not gonna happen."
"Kim, you know nothing. I work my ass off for you and my daughter and you still left. You still weren't happy enough with me. Can you just leave?" He asked and she looked at him, rather blankly. She grabbed the kids hands and left.
A Few Weeks Later
February 1998
Marshall was in LA for a few days to rap on a radio show. He loved the idea of exposure and when he blew up he was gonna make sure to thank the people that supported him.
After the radio show he had to fly back home. Lolita and Jenny had gotten him set up in an apartment not too far away from theirs and relatively cheap.
One day he went to his recording studio and Jeff Bass was sitting at a table and talking on the phone.
"Oh, yeah he just came in. Can you hold on a second?" Jeff said looking up at Marshall.
"Marshall, there's a doctor on the phone for you." He said and Marshall frowned up for a little bit.
"Jeffery, you little bitch, you know I can't afford a doctor." He said and Jeff laughed.
"You're gonna want to talk to this Doctor, Marshall." Jeff said and Marshall rolled his eyes. He grabbed the phone and sat down.
"This is Marshall Mathers." He said and looked down at the table.
"Hey Man, this is Dr. Dre. I've been looking for you for the past couple of days. I heard you on the radio a few days back and Jimmy played a tape for me the other day- The Slim Shady EP. I think you have some talent kid, do you think you'd be able to fly out here so we can all meet you in person." Marshall felt a lump in his throat and he coughed to clear it.
"Um yeah, there's just a-"
"We can pay for your ticket man, just come see us." Dr. Dre said.
"Thank you so much, sir." Marshall said and heard a door open on the other side of the room. When he looked up Lolita was there talking to Mark.
"Alright Marshall, we'll send Jeff or Paul your flight itinerary and I'm excited to meet you, Mr. Mathers." Marshall thanked him and then hung up and looked at Lolita.
"Lo!" He said. Excitement seeped from his voice and she grinned.
"Did you set your doctor's appointment?" She asked and he lifted her up and kissed her.
"I did, ya fuckin' dick." He said laughing hard. She felt her tears pouring down on his jacket. She was crying happy tears for him and he started crying too. She kissed him and he wiped her tears.
"I'll be back for you in about an hour." She kissed him one more time and he grinned as she walked out.
"Alright guys, what do I do?" Marshall asked.
"First go in that booth and lay a track down." Jeff said and Marshall nodded.
"That I can do." The crew of boys all messed around with beats for the hour. The excitement floated through the air. They joked around feeling complete and laughed. This could be Marshall's big break and they couldn't help but imagine that they would finally be able to support their families. They would look at their wives and girlfriends and their children and just be happy. They would be able to feel like a man for the first time in a long time. Marshall let the music bounce through his fingers, waiting for the feeling of excitement to wear off.