Running Back Into You

Chapter 5. Running Back Into You...

Dawnette continued to speed walk down the hall of the studio building. She knew that Michael was right on her tail. How she knew that? Well, all it took was one glance over her shoulder to see him pleading with her to stop.

"Dawnette, please...just stop..."

He had this look of sadness on his face. And being the stubborn woman that she was, she didn't listen and carried on as if he wasn't behind her. Better yet, as if he didn't exist. Yes, it may seem harsh, but if anyone was to be feeling like she felt right about now, all the emotions that she felt once before and they came back rushing to you, you would say the same thing too.

Anybody would.

She wasn't expecting for it to be him. Michael was the last person on her mind for this. She thought it would be Whitney Houston, Prince or someone else extremely known and famous just not Michael. But here he is, running behind her down the halls of Ocean Way Studios, trying to get her to stop and it wasn't working.

"Dawnette!" He calls out after her once again.

"Michael, just leave me alone. Stop following me, please!" She desperately begs him.

Why couldn't he just get the damn memo? And for her to talk about stubborn. He was just as bad as she was, hell, even worse.

"Netty, just stop for a minute..."

Dawnette finally stopped in her tracks as she spun around on her heels. They were now face to face standing in the middle of the hallway, doors away from Studio A where they left Teddy sitting alone probably confused at what was going on. This part of the hallway was vacant, so if she yells, no one would hear. And trust and believe, she was about to do some yelling today.

"Don't... " she says through clenched teeth, "and I mean don't, call me that. I'm not your Netty, okay? I never was."

Dawnette rolls her eyes at the sight of him. She was tired of him calling her that name. Once upon a time she loved it when he would call her by her nickname he had given her, but... now, that was long gone and over with. She hated it with a big ass passion. A passion so big, a damn whale could fit right in it.

Maybe two, perhaps.

"Net--Dawnette, listen... I know I'm like the last person you want to se-"

"You damn right you are!" She cuts him off by yelling and his mouth closes. "If I would have known it was you, if I would have known, I wouldn't have agreed to this shit. I would have just let Teddy do it himself."

"Dawnette, why are you being this way? I didn't know it was you either. He told me to wait until today for the meeting to meet this girl, so here I am and it's you. I understand you're upset, but I know deep down inside it's not because of this..." He gestures between them with his finger. "I know the real reason why you're so angry with me and it's fine. All I came here is to meet the person who will be helping me with my album and that's you. No one knew this was going to happen, so don't hold any of this against me. I had no clue."

Michael places his hands in the pockets of his black slacks. He knew the real reason why she was so angry, why she stormed out of the room so fast the way she did. It was because of five years ago. He knows and he knows her well to this very day to read her like a book. It was obvious when she told him to stop calling her Netty.

This anger towards him was on a more personal level than professional, although she did say she wouldn't have agreed to help if she would have known it was him. But, besides all of that, he was more than happy to see her in the flesh and not just in his thoughts. She has been all he could think about for so long. She was still the same beautiful girl he met and became friends with, just different in attitude wise, but mostly appearance.