A Year Later...

I rolled over, reaching for the warmth of Safaree's body next to me. Instead I felt nothing but cold, stiff, and sheets that hadn't been slept on in a year. I sat up and jerked back to reality. I remembered that morning like it was yesterday. 

A year ago...

"Wakey, wakey sleeping beauty." he whispered softly in my ear. I pretended to be aggravated. Though much pretending was not really needed. "Safaree you know this is my only day off. I'ma need you to sit ya' oss down somewhere." I said forcefully. 

"Get up," he said reaching over me and grabbing my Barbieberry. "We going out. No cell phones. No barbz. No distractions. Just me and you." 
"Safareeeeeeee," I whined. "You're so annoying. Why you act like that?" 
He kissed my forehead and headed towards the door. Just as he was about to exit my room I called him, "SB, you really meant no Drake. Didn't you?" 
He stopped and stared at me. "Nicki, you are a work of art you know that." he said and stepped into the hallway closing the door behind him.

Present day...

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. That was the last day... The last day I had allowed myself to be carefree and reckless. I got up and headed to the bathroom. I got in the shower and allowed myself to be taken back to that day. The smell of his hair, the touch of his skin, the sound of his voice. It all came rushing back to me. How it felt to be in his arms, how perfect everything was. I guess you wouldn't understand unless you lived that day. You wouldn't understand the guilt that plagued me. I knew it wasn't my fault, but wasn't it? I grabbed the handle of the door and took a step out of the shower. A gust of cold air hit me...

A year ago... 

"No wigs Nic. No make up. Just you in raw form." Safaree called as I stepped out of the shower. Whatever he had planned for the day was meant to be low key, or so I hoped. I couldn't risk paparazzi catching me off guard. I put my hair in a bun and threw on a pair of sweat pants. "Safareeeeee." I called, as I walked through the house barefoot. "Where are you?" I stepped into the kitchen and a gust of cold air coming from the open garage doors hit me. As I went to go close them I noticed a car in the driveway that was definitely not mine. "Fareee?" I called again. He snuck up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Today, we are normal people. No money. No fame. Just two best friends." he whispered in my ear. Another cold gust of wind hit me in the face.

Present day....

It was freezing. I hadn't had the courage to turn the thermostat up since an entire year ago. You figure you'd never need to in California. I walked on the floor barefoot, eager to feel something other than the pain in my chest.I walked down the hallway to the end bedroom. I hadn't heard a thing all night. Usually that would be a relief to me, but on this day, it just saddened me. I stopped just outside the door, not eager to see what awaited me inside. I leaned against the door, listening, and waiting. Then I heard it, it was a soft stirring. My legs suddenly couldn't handle the weight that was bestowed upon them and I slid slowly down the doorway, I hit the floor, and I began to weep. 

Phoneless In The Morning

It has been a few weeks since the party and me and Drake have been texting and hanging out non stop. Safaree is always looking over my shoulder trying to get a glimpse of what we are talking about. I constantly dodge his questions and accusations about me dating Drake. We aren't dating, but I love to get under Safaree's skin. He is just so cute when he is mad. The way his eyebrow furrows in frustration kind of turns me on. But you will never catch me admitting that. I rolled over and looked at my Barbieberry. It was 5:00am. Today was my day off and I valued my sleep. Just as I rolled over though, SB came and leaped into my bed. He snuggled up under the covers and held my body close to his. "Wakey, wakey sleeping beauty." he whispered softly in my ear. I pretended to be aggravated. Though much pretending was not really needed. "Safaree you know this is my only day off. I'ma need you to sit ya' oss down somewhere." I said forcefully.
"Get up," he said reaching over me and grabbing my Barbieberry. "We going out. No cell phones. No barbz. No distractions. Just me and you."
"Safareeeeeeee," I whined. "Your so annoying. Why you act like that?"
He kissed my forhead and headed towards the door. Just as he was about to exit my room I called him, "SB, you really meant no Drake. Didn't you?"
He stopped and stared at me. "Nicki you are a work of art you know that." he said and stepped into the hallway closing the door behind him. Only Safaree could get me worked up early in the morning. I rolled over to the spot where he had laid just a few seconds ago trying to savor in every last feeling of warmth and smell of cologne he left behind. I reached for my phone to tweet my barbz good morning suddenly realizing Safaree had stolen my phone. I grimaced. My babies were gonna be mad at me. But as Safaree would say they'll just have to deal. Just as I was falling asleep, I remembered I had to drag myself out of bed for whatever outting Safaree was taking me on. I crawled out of bed. Not only would my barbz get a good morning tweet from me, Drake wouldn't get a response to his good morning text. If Safaree was trying to make life easier for me today, him stealing my phone was not a good start.

Chapter 3 -

"Safaree, why do you look so nervous. Cut it out. Drake Is Just A Big Nobody." I said squeezing his hand assuringly. We were on our way to the party. SB's face had been void of any expression since our encounter in the bathroom. He had mumbled a "You look nice." when I came out of my room dressed and ready to go. But he hadn't spoken anything for the past hour. "Safaree, are you listening to me," I said in a very audible whisper. He continued to stare out the window. "Why are you acting like the world must revolve around you? What is your problem? SAFAREE SAMUELS ANSWER ME!" I screamed rather annoyed. He looked at me. At first I thought he was going to scream back at me but he didn't. Instead he just stared and shook his head. "How much longer until we get there?" He asked the driver. "We are just around the corner." the driver replied. The scene in front of the club was like a movie. Paparazzi and fans everywhere. We got out the truck and immedeatly all we saw were flashbulbs going off. "Nicki!" I heard Drake's already familiar voice scream out from in front of me. Safaree looked up. Seeing who it was he instinctively grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him. He pulled me so close that I had no choice but to lean into his side. I started to protest but decided that I still loved the way I fit just right in his arms and snuggled into his side. "There's nothing wrong with being held by someone you love." I reasoned with myself. Hand in hand we walked over to Drake. "Drake, right?" I said to him. "This is SB. SB , this is Drake." I had almost called Safaree my boyfriend. Suddenly this hug didn't seem so friendly anymore. His sweet smell of cologne made my throat close up with emotions that started to overwhelm me. Luckily, he let me go as Drake came in for a handshake. I caught Drake glancing at me out the corner of my eye. I cleared my throat a little and flipped my hair. Drake was NOT about to see me turn into an emotional wreck. He smiled at me and my temperature went soaring threw the roof. In that one instance I played out an imaginary life in my head. Dricki. That's what the media would call us. We would get married and have a giant red velvet cake at our reception. We would buy a house on a mountain. Preferably a warm one. My dream started to fizzle when I started to think about kids. I didn't want to think about that topic at the very moment. I looked up and noticed Safaree and Drake walking ahead of me. Safaree looked back and noticed the expression on my face. "Nic, are you okay?" he said jogging back to me. I looked him in the eyes and sighed. He always knew when something was wrong. Even if the rest of the world didn't. I couldn't even lie to him if I tried. "What's wrong?" he asked me again. Instead of answering his question I changed the subject. Slapping him playfully in the arm I said "Don't you ever pull a jealous-boyfriend maneuver like that again." He grinned and grabbed my hand. We stepped into the club and immedeatly the music drowned out my thoughts.

Chapter 2 - Safaree

After the studio session I rushed back to the hotel room that me and my best friend Safaree Samuels shared. "Safareeeeeeee," I screeched as I ran through the door. "Bring ya' ass out here nigga." I raced to my closet. I pulled out dresses, tights, jackets, shoes, and laid them all out on my bed. Safaree a.k.a SB came running into the room. "What is it? You ran up in here like a pack of wild fans was chasing you." he said throwing me onto the bed. He started to tickle me as I tried to wrestle my way from under him. "Safaree STAHP!" I giggled. "This is serious!" I said gasping for air. He let me go and threw his self across my bed. "What tip, guy?" he said. Pulling out my best British accent I spoke. "We have been invited to a party Safaree," I said whirling around in the mirror with an imaginary prince. "Run along and get ready. Hurry up, lets go!" I urged him. He looked at me. "Nic, you have never been this excited to go to a party before. What tip? Who's going to be there?" he asked. I spilled. I told him about meeting Drake and how he left me speechless. Safaree rolled his eyes. "At least somebody finally got you to shut up." he said with a hint of jealousy in his voice. He stood up. "I want to meet this guy." he said giving me a look that I was all to familiar with. "SB," I said, serious once more, "You know we can never go back there again." He didn't say anything. Instead he stared out the window. I headed towards the bathroom and began to run the water in the shower. All the while my heart was doing pitter patters, trying to remeber what it was like to be Safaree's girl. A rush of emotions came over me. I leaned against the sink for support. All the feelings I thought were gone came rushing back and within seconds my eyes were filled with tears. Safaree knocked on the door. "Nicki. I-" seeing the tears rush down my cheeks he walked over and held me. We stood like that for a few moments. As though it was just me and him in the world. Coming back to reality I pushed him away. "Go get dressed," I said gruffly. "We have somewhere to be."

Chapter 1 - Meeting Drake

Whoa. I couldn't believe it. I had finally made it into Young Money. "Lil Wayne signed me. LIL WAYNE! He's a big fucking deal. I knew I couldn't mess this up. This was the oppurtunity of a lifetime." I thought to myself. Suddenly, a tall brooding figure loomed over me. Looking at his shadow I could tell he had broad shoulders.
"Excuse me", he said in an accent I recognized almost immedeatly. I looked up. It couldn't be. But yet here he was. Jimmy from Degrassi in the flesh. He was even more handsome in person. "Excuse me," he said once again. Finding my words I finally spoke. "Can I help you with something?" I said pretending not to recognize him. "Are you Onika? Onika Maraj? Wayne said you would be in the studio recording. I hope I'm not interrupting you," he said politely. "I'm Drake."
"I know who you are!" I said a bit to harshly. Who did he think he was walking up in here and interrupting me while I was tryna get work done. "My name is Nicki. Nicki Minaj. Not Onika." I said.
"Okay, "Nicki" I was just wondering if you wanted to grab something to eat later. Get to know each other." he said.
"I'm busy." I said.
"To busy to eat?"
"To busy to hang out with you. Now if you will excuse me your interrupting my writing process."
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt. It's just that a few if us are going out later. Shanell is also coming and we didn't want her to be the only female. But if your busy I'll jus-"
"Oh. Wait. Its a group thing. I thought- never mind."
"You didn't think it was a date did you?" he said laughing at my mistake. For some reason it made me blush. I finally looked him in the eyes. There was something so genuine about them that made me smile. The innocence of it all. It made me want to know more about this Drake. He interrupted my thoughts by asking me if I was attending once again.
"I will be there." I told him. "Can you leave now?" I said slightly annoyed that he had caused me to lose focus. "Cool," he said. "Guess I will see you there." As he walked out he didn't even look behind him. I sat there in utter disbelief. In those brief five minutes, Drake had managed to turn this badass from Queens into mush with one smile. "Get it together Nic," I said to myself. "The baddest bitch in the game will not be seduced by a silly smile." I pulled the blanket a little tighter around me and cranked up the heat. Tossing some cranberries and almonds in my mouth I continued working on my music, eager to get out that studio and into his arms.