Dedicated to Nippy

1985 - muscles

1985

"I need a damn break, my vocals are tired and I gotta pee," Janet tossed at her producer, Terry Lewis.

"Hurry up. We have to finish the song."

"Right- right," Janet scurried off the bathroom and quickly relieved herself in a stall. She frowned hearing small sniffling coming from one of the stalls. She washed her hands, deciding whether she should get involved or not. She was rather curious to see who it was. Janet dried her hands with a paper towel and opened the bathroom door like she was leaving put stood in a corner to see who would come out of the stall. Janet gasped seeing Whitney leave the stall.

Whitney wiped her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror. She fluffed her hair and ran her fingers through it.

"Whitney...?" Janet came from the corner.

"Oh, hi Janet," Whitney cracked a fake smile.

"I heard you crying."

"Oh... well I'm fine-"

"Was it my brother?"

Whitney nodded, "I broke up with him."

"Good for you. His dumb ass would never end it."

"He said I made a mistake leaving him."

"Don't even think about listening to him... after my recording session is finished Mike and I are going to hang out. You wanna come?"

"Really? I would've thought you'd—"

"Yes or no?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Alright. I'm just wrapping up a song. Come to my studio and we'll come as soon as I'm finished."

"Can I watch you record?"

"Of course," Janet smiled.

Whitney followed Janet out of the bathroom and to the studio.

"You go to the bathroom and come back with a girl? How professional, Janet," Jimmy rolled her eyes.

"Can we resume tomorrow? Me and my 'girl' need to get going."

"Yeah if you want this album to miss its deadline that's perfectly fine."

"Oh don't do that, I've been busting my ass on this album. I'll be here bright and early tomorrow plus, I'll stay the whole day. I'll see you tomorrow."

Janet grabbed Whitney's hand and quickly pulled her out of the studio.

"I think you should've stayed...."

"I don't. I've been here since 7 AM they're trying to kill me."

"My studio sessions never last that long..."

"I know, you're new. After this album, that will change quickly."

Whitney's brows furrowed after realizing Janet was leading her out of the back of the building. Instead of the front.

"How come we're going this way?"

Janet laughed, "Because of the press... My god, you don't know what you're in for."

"What do you mean?" Whitney asked as she opened the back door for the two of them, Janet still holding on tightly to her left hand.

"After a few interviews, press conferences, the album drops you're going to a household name. Everybody's gonna want a piece of you. Everybody."

Janet leads Whitney to her car, "I don't mean to scare you but, it's reality in our line of work. Do you think you can handle it?" Janet let go of Whitney's hand so she could get in on the passenger's side.

"Yeah, I do. Or at least I hope I can," Whitney answered as she slid in the car.

"You'll be fine. They can take anything they want from you, just don't let them get to your talent," Janet started the car and started driving.

It was a short-lived, quiet drive. Janet left Whitney to ponder over a few things with her words of wisdom and advice. It left Whitney thinking, could she really handle everything that comes with being a singer. Maybe she should've just stuck to modeling. But, she didn't want to model for the rest of her life... She wanted to sing.

"Dunk?!" Michael called as Janet parked.

Michael walked up to the car opened the door for her. A boa constrictor known as Muscles draped around his neck. Whitney screamed as she spotted the green slithering creature around the pop star's shoulders. Janet and Michael both looked at her alarmed for a second and then laughed realizing why she had screamed so suddenly.

"Whitney he won't hurt you," Janet laughed.

"I'm not getting out the car until you get both of them out of here. I don't wanna be near a damned snake."

"Michael, take Muscles inside so she can get out of the car."

"Dunk, I got this. She'll get out of the car." Michael took the snake from around his neck and set it on the driver's seat. Whitney had been playing with her nails and hadn't even noticed until the snake sitting beside her until she heard an "sss" noise. Whitney screamed again and quickly opened the car door and jumped out. Hot tears feel down her face as she cried in terror, running to get away from the snake.

"You freaking asshole, you scared her," Janet scolded and began to run after Whitney.

Janet quickly caught up to her and grabbed her hand, "Calm down, it's just a snake."

"Juuasnak?!" Whitney screamed indistinctively.

"I don't know what you just said but you're going to be fine. Come inside and have a drink of water or something." Whitney nodded.

Janet grabbed her hand and lead her inside the Jackson's home. She sat her down at the kitchen island and got her a glass of water. Whitney gratefully took a sip and took a deep breath and wiped her tears.

"Are you okay now?"

"Yeah- I'm fine."

"Alright. Now, let's go be mean to my brother since he decided to scare you like that," Janet smiled mischievously.