T-L-C , T-L-C, T-L-C. , that was the Chant of the crowd before we hit the stage. wow just thinking we have millions of fans now and it's our first tour and our album has been out for six months and has reached #14 on the charts. ME Lisa Nicole Lopes being a member of a inspirational girl group !!!! Putting the L in TLC with my cool rapping style. I can see myself in days beyond now still giving that kick to the music industry for female rappers.

enough of that .….

Pebbles knocks on our dressing room door and sticks her head in "you girl's ready ?"

"yeah me and Lisa is ready but I don't know about chilli though she been ill all afternoon"  t-boz stated looking towards the bathroom.

pebbles walks in through the dressing room and knocks on the door "chilli ... (knocks but no answer) .. rozonda .. you in there  you have to answer you and your band mates have a show to do and time is ticking" 

still there wasn't an answer 

"aye pebbles me and T got this we'll see what's wrong" I said as pebbles was sweating more then bobby brown in concert 

" well you girls need to be out on that stage in10 or you can forget your career."

"me and T got this"  

pebbles then gives a half smile and leaves 

"yo it's me and Lisa come on chilli you need to stop playing and come out"  T-boz says

I then look to tionne and say, "I know this girl ain't crying in there"

"well if you ain't gonna let's us In chilli ima have to go hood and and break this door down. "  soon as I was about to tionne stops me 

"girl we can't pay for that door"

 " here" , tionne then picks the lock and is successful

in the bathroom is a whimpering chilli sitting in a feetal position 

we both come and console her while wonder what the hell is going on

 "chilli what the matter" , tionne say always babying someone

"yeah whatever's wrong chilli we can get through it together because everything is a MTB thing" as I say that a smile lights up on her face. 

"so you gonna tell ya girls what's wrong before we hit the stage"

chilli then looks up at us her eyes looking back and forth at us 

"my period hasn't came" 

me and t-boz both roll our eyes 

"so you meaning to tell me your upset because your period is late, gurrrrl mine is always irregular " , I say 

" no I mean it's been a couple weeks now and I don't know what to do... I bought this pregnancy test" chilli holding it up in our face

"eww get that pee stick out our face"  all three of began to laugh while holding our noise

" no but seriously I bought this and it's positive what am I going to do you guys I can't tell Dallas or pebbles I can't mess stuff up for everybody else" 

Pebbles then knocks on the door again "girls you go out in one minute y'all going to do this ?"

we then look at chilli and give her a hug

"everything is gonna be ok " t-boz says

"yeah chills everything is gonna be ok " I say to her as I help her up

"yeah peb, we ready!"  we all three say in unison

 1,2,3,4 M-T-B   T-L-C ! M-T-B  T-LC  ooooh on the TLC tip !!!

we run out on stage hyped as ever and the crowd goes stir crazy

1, 2, 3

Yo it's me Left Eye not about to settle for anybody wit'

A thang about me havin' to party

My life's havin' fun takin' a reason addin' season makin'

It he's in what is pleasin' 'cause yo I gots one

I am unordinary the more balls the merry

Not two hangin' hairy wit' dairy airy

'Cause to impress me is not to undress me

That's only unless we agree you down wit' OPP

And bein' honestly is what I want you to be

You wanna control me you need much authority

Understanding the depths of the '90's women

That is the way that I'm livin'

Das da way we like 'em

After the concert we met fans,signed autographs, and took pictures. After all of our group duties were done we were ushered to a tented Window  limo. pebbles blew a kiss and waved us good bye saying that she would meet up with us tonight over dinner. We would of went right now with me, T-boz and chilli being hungry n all (for god sake she's eating for two now :) ) but pebbles said she had some 'important" manager things to handle. yeah right her husband is her boss I know what they're doing :)

on our way to not just any hotel but MGM GRAND HOTEL ! :

"so chilli you wanna talk about what we talked about before the show ?" t-boz looking concerned but caring 

" what is there to talk about I'm carrying Dallas's baby, that's all" chilli says as not looking at either one of us but instead out the window.

"Roz it can't just be that's it does Dallas even know ?" t-boz says realizing that she's annoying chilli

"no and why does he need to know he's gonna make me choose my career I just know and I want this baby,but at the same time what about TLC ? it can't be no TLC without Me being C." I just don't know"   chilli says while getting a little teary eyed. 

"well I think you need to start by telling Dallas chill I think he has the right to know that your carrying his baby ."

"Tionne didn't I tell you tha..... "

I had to make them laugh before the conversation took a wrong turn.I then find one of the pretty plush pillows from the  limo and stuck it under my shirt.

" ooooh Baby-baby-babyyyy , chilli's having a baybeee, baby - baby- babyyyy chilli gonna have a baby and she gonna give it all 

all the  love iit needdsss.

all three of us joins in singing the parody of our song baby baby baby

that's the way we like it ,smiles on our face, I'm always the one to act silly :)

soon as we get inside the hotel we run straight to the elevator.

"WHOAH WOAH WOAH  guys where do you think you're going ?", a old man that was looking like he had worked in the hotel since the hotel was first built.

me being me I said, "umm number one we're not "guys" (I hate when older people try to use slang) we're dignified women. number two we're TLC and we we're told we would be rooming on the top floor... the 38th floor to be exact in the penthouse suite.Thank you very much sir."

we all three began to laugh and high five as the man slowly when through the booking book. 

" oh I'm sorry there is no TLC listed,just as I thought hoodlums raiding our hotel we always get this on Saturday night in Vegas."

" I know he did just call us hoodlums" I turn and say to Roz and tionne

" I can't believe pebbles set us up . " tionne says

" wait wait wait let's see if pebbles just booked the room under her name." "sir can you check under the name Reid , R-E-I-D." ,chilli asks

"Reid oh yes Reid your on floor  3 room 300 , so your going to take the elevator turn right and go all the way down the hall to the corner room.

 "I can't believe pebbles would do that to us she told us we would be in the top room not on no 3rd floor." "we are TLC we don't deserve this shit  from pebbles. first she take our money, lie about our contracts and now she lies about where we staying soon as we get to our room I'm  calling that hef....."

tionne then covers my mouth before I can say anything else.

"come on let's just go up to our room and just check it out", tionne says to me and rozanda

We get up to our hotel room and count to three before opening. that's just something we do for good luck.

As soon as we open the door our face grew in  awe. There were what seems like millions of flowers sitting on the floor, on the beds,on the drawers. EVERYWHERE 

We couldn't believe it our fans loved us so much. Tboz picks up one of the flower tags and reads whos it to and from.

"Oh My Fucking gosh"  ,tboz says "what let me see T " I say as both me and chilli run over to the bed of bouquets. "This says it's from MICHAEL JACKSON !." 

we all try to read the small piece of paper at once. 

 "wait there's more" tionne beings to read the rest of the cursive-print handwriting on the  paper. 

                                                                                     October 5, 1992

Dear TLC,

I have grown fond of your story and background of how each three of you young ladies have made it to stardom. Im a huge fan of your songs and their messages. I wish for one day when I have a daughter she can listen to your music and  achieve empowerment from your lyrics.

sincerely, Michael J Jackson

" I can't believe Michael Jackson , like Michael here-hee triple spin on toes Michael Jackson. He  enjoys our music !", chilli says with dreamy eyes 

"yo I can't believe it I wonder if he'll like to manage us then we could get paid right" I say 

"Lisa is that all u think bout ?", tionne says rolling her eyes 

"No I just know where we came from and we still haven't rose from it financially."

"I wonder what all these other flowers say" chilli says walking to the biggest flower arrangement. 

It was huge, it was taller than all the others which I had really took a liking to because it had my favorite flowers arranged in it, Daisies. 

I quickly picked up the card and read it aloud.

"Dear Lisa, 

I know this is urgent, but I want u to join me for dinner tonight at 8. Meet me down in the lobby and I'll take care of the rest.

p.s enjoy the flowers."

,Michael

Tboz and chilli both looked at me with an envied look and I was shock by the words I had just read.  Me going out for a glamorous night with the king of pop. I must be on candid camera.

"ooooh girl just don't stand there we gotta get you ready for your date." , chilli says grabbing my hand 

"what do you mean ,Lisa looks fine how she is now", tboz says in my defense.

" she's going out for a glamorous night with a superstar not to the burger shack with some homeboy. we need her looking good ,looking sexy so she can get a second date in one night."

we all start laughing at chilli's little joke.,but still I thought what I was wearing was OK plus earlier today Michael saw me in my cross colur outfit and baggy jeans and he was liking what he saw.

But I insisted and let chilli make me over.

when we were done I felt like Cinderella. chilli had let me borrow one of her dresses. It was tight,short and black. It had a cut out back, cut out sides to show off my fit body and a v neck line traced with rhinestones. The problem was the shoes.

Chilli didn't know that she had forgot to pack the shoes before we left Georgia. we were in a huge dilemma.

"yo, I leave in the next hour and I ain't got any shoes. y'all gonna hook a girl up or what?"

Then Tboz says "hold on a second.", she walks out of the room and five minutes later she comes back with diamond encrusted 4 inch pumps.

Chilli then says, "tionne where did you get those sexy ass shoes from? don't tell me you stole them from Cher's dressing room while she was on stage."

tboz, then laughs ,"no , actually I borrowed them from pebbles good thing she's the same size as you." 

Then she hands the shoes to me. I slipped them on and they fitted perfectly.

I walk over to the big mirror and look at myself , I was beautiful. The image I saw in the mirror looking back at me reminded me of the days I used to compete and model in my school pageants.

Tboz quick get the camcorder, I want to remember this night. 

The bewitching hour came . I grabbed my jacket and my purse and headed towards the door while chilli and Tboz wasn't far behind me. I stood in the hallway and turned around. I gave my girls one last hug. 

Then Tboz says wait hold on. She then runs back into the hotel room and comes back with a hand full of condoms.

"Hey you gotta be safe, that's TLC's message.'" She then drops them in my purse and I we give each other a dirty grin. 

we all say goodbye for one last time and they watch to make sure I'm on the elevator.

That was the longest elevator ride I had ever took (only for it being three floors down). Before I stepped off the elevator I took one big breath and strutted out passed all the drunk,card gambling men from the casino taking a cigar break..

I nervously waited for Michael to show up. Hopeing that I wouldn't have to pull out my pocket knife for the drunk men that where hitting on me with old used pickup lines.

Soon as I had lost hope I see a black limousine pull up. I see black tuxedo pant legs step out out of the limo. Of course it's Michael legs nobody else has long dancer legs like that. Michael then approaches the lobby doors,waving the cigar smoke out of his face. 

Michael greets me with a smile then a kiss on the hand. You look like a million of dollars tonight Lisa. "Thank you."I then turn around and let him see my whole outfit. Michael bites his lip. "Michael you're looking pretty damn good yourself."  "Thank you", he says. " well are you ready to go my love ?", he says while gazing into my eyes.

I take his hand and say yes.   "wait !" Michael says 

I get a rage of terror through my body as Michael says that.

"what is it Michael?" 

"A girl like you doesn't need to walk out in beautiful shoes like those , I'll carry you to the limousine."

A sigh of relief hits me. " Michael you don't have to carry me"

"but I insist.", Michael then picks me up easily and puts me in the limo.  

The restaurant      

Michael apologize to me for having to walk through the back entrance of the restaurant to get to the reservated upstairs area.

" I'm so sorry I had to make you walk back through there especially with that beautiful dress on" , Michael says as helping me get seated in the booth area.

" It's cool mike, plus I like your taste of restaurants", I say smiling trying to break the ice.

Michael choose this beautifully decorated Chinese restaurant. The restaurant's déco consisted of huge fountains for the centerpiece of the room and origami paper lanterns that were on each table to light the dim area.

We're the only ones there, which in this case makes me nervous and I don't get nervous really ever. I had to pinch my self a few times to even believe where I was and who I was with.

The waiter introduces himself, he looks like master from the karate kid movies with a long foo man chu beard, looks like he was the real deal. Not like the fake little joints that were on every corner of Atlanta.

The man introduces himself as Mr.Chang and bows to me he then give me and michael the menus and disappears.

Michael casually looks threw his menu and reasonably finds what he wants. Now me on the other hand I'm sitting here panicking cause I ain't never heard of none of this shit in my life that was on this menu, I show wasn't in Atlanta no more.

Michael then puts his hand on top of mind and says " are you OK Lisa ?" I then look at him embarrassed and say "actually mike I have no clue what to order."  Michael then chuckles and says "oh that's ok I'll order everything and let you choose what you like."

I was astonished by Michael's offer but I didn't want any special treatment. " Michael that's OK I don't want Mr.Chang to have go through all that trouble."  " No,No it wouldn't be a problem me and Mr.Chang are real longtime friends"

well I couldn't argue with the king so I gave in.
As we waited on our food me and Michael talked. he told me about all the places he had seen,all the people he have met. we both talked lightly about our abusive fathers and the perks of having siblings.
I learned so much about Michael that I would had never learned just by reading a jet interview on him.

our food arrived plates and plates we served out. one by one Michael spoon fed me these ethnic Chinese dishes.  I gotta say I loved every single one.

"well ms. Lisa which one dish did u like the most?"

gosh I really wanted to say he's my favorite dish, if he would let me taste ,but I quickly shot those thoughts out of my head.

I then point at the the dish with the sesame chicken wraped in seaweed. "Those where on point, ima have to teach chilli and T how to fix those" then me and Michael laugh playfully.

Michael signs the bill. I show didn't wanna look cause it seem like it wasn't non of my business. Michael then hands the bill and check to Mr.Chang.

"so mike this whole time we've been here we've talked about almost everything but not to sound rude , but why did you ask me out tonight ?"

Michael then looks me in the eye and scoots closer to me. He then takes my hand and says "your the flyest girl ive seen", i want you to be mine".  I am literally awe strucked as I try to process what Michael had just said.

It just doesn't stop right there, he then gracefully lands his hand on my thigh, and whispers to me " you have the most beautiful eyes and the most enjoyable voice ever. "

Michael sees that's it isn't any expression on my face and assumes I don't approve. even though in the inside I'm screaming with joy a thousand times.

Michael embarrassly clears his throat , "are you ready to leave darling i need to return you before your group members are worried about you"

"yeah" I laugh

The limo Ride

Me and Michael sat comfortably in the limo, across from each other. Michael continues to talk but I don’t really listen. I’m lost in the glow of the Vegas lights and in deep thought about the conversation me and Michael had previously.

I am then woke back into reality as I see flashing lights.                                                                                                                               The limo stopped a block before the MGM Grand.                                                                                                                                        The limo driver rolled down the window as the police officer approached the car.

Michael looked nervous as he looked out of the window to see what all the commotion was about.                                         After the police officer left, Michael asked the driver about what was going on.

“Mr. Jackson, the officer told me that no one can enter the MGM hotel right now”, Michael looked concerned at the driver.

“what, why, I exclaimed to the driver

I began to feel a slight feeling of panic. What if chili and Tboz wasn’t ok. I couldn’t let my homegirls down like that. Also where the hell was I going to go if I couldn’t get back to the hotel.

“ma’am like I just said their not letting people enter the MGM, nothing more nothing less “

I turned and looked at Michael for assurance.

“its ok Lisa I’ll take care of it don’t worry.”

“can you take us to my condo in Reno”

The driver replied , “sure Mr. Jackson “

The car did a U-turn and headed for Reno.

I must of fell asleep during the ride. Michael woke me up by shaking me gently on the shoulder.

I was greeted with a smile. “ were here”, Michael said extending his hand out to help me out of the limo.

The condo was huge, there were fountains in front and the view of the desert was on point. Michael really had good taste in houses too.

As I was inside the condo I looked around in amazement. The condo was fairly beautiful, I could still smell the fresh coats of paint in the air, and the condo was partly furnished.

Michael shyly laughs and says, “I’m sorry, if I knew I was going to be having company, I would have had the contractors to finish early.”

“it’s ok mike it’s still a beautiful place, you have nice taste”

“thanks, the guestroom is on the right down the hall, the kitchen is on the left around the corner.”

“thanks for everything mike,” I smile at him and walk towards the guestroom

The guestroom was dope, as me and tboz would say. The walls was painted in a sea foam green color. The curtains were white, which gave a sense of peace. The bed was humongous with a wood canopy and the sheets were satin. Damn all this for guestroom I couldn’t even imagine what his bedroom looked like then. Michael sho has great taste.

I let my feet soak into the new plush carpet, I ran my fingers over the satin sheets. Just feeling those made me sleepy. Then I realized that I didn’t have a change of clothes. I didn’t want to have to do it but I made up my mind that I was going to have to sleep naked. I began to take off my beautiful dress, when I heard a knock at the door. Shit, what was I going to do. I ran to answer the door, I used the door as a shield. I was greeted by Michael, “hey I’m sorry for bothering you but here’s a few things you can change into if you want.” I pulled my arm out from behind the door and retrieved the items. “thanks again mike” he chuckles and says “your welcome, left eye.”

I closed the door and began to change into the clothes Michael handed me. He gave a fresh pair of pajama bottoms and a v neck tshirt. The shirt had scent of a light cologne. I searched the room for a phone and dialed chili and tboz hotel room.

“hey its me.”

(“chili quick come to the phone, it’s Lisa”)

“you guys won’t believe where I’m at”

“ where you at L ?”, tboz says

“ I’m at Michael’s condo in Reno.”

Chili grabs the phone and says “see I told you Michael was going to get into them drawls.”

“chili it’s not even like that, actually I was calling to see if you guys where ok because when we headed back they had the street blocked off. They said that nobody was to enter the hotel.”

“awe yeah gurrl,some fool threatened to shoot a guy if he didn’t give up the money from the slot machine.”

“great, I mean that ain’t great for them, but I’m glad my homegirls are ok.”

“aww, you hear that T, she was worried about us.”

Tboz grabs the phone and says “yo leece call us if you get some of that magic mike.”

“gurrl on that note I’m hanging up on y’all asses, I gotta get some sleep.y’all know we got one mo show to do tomorrow night.”

“L, what time you coming back n all.” Chilli says sounding all concerned.

“8 sharp, Ima make sure”

“alright get some sleep kid.”,chilli says and passes the receiver to  Tboz .

“yea stay tight , if you know what I mean”

I laugh at tboz’s dirty joke.

“good night , y’all, love ya”

I hang up the phone and my eyes began to drift to sleep.

While I’m sleep I can hear the noise of a thunderstorm. I began to toss, turn and cry in my sleep.

I am awaken by a comforting pair of arms. “shhhh… it’s ok”, I wake up tonsee Michael’s face

“I got you”, I study Michael’s face as lightning currents flash against the window.

Michael gets up and turns on the lights. “ you ok Lisa?”

A part of me wanted to be tough, but something about Michael just makes you want to tell the truth.

“actually no”

“ hey, you want to go to the kitchen to get a snack ?”

“sure”, I say forcing a smile. Me and Michael sit on the plush couch eating peanut butter cookies and drinking hotchocolate.

The desert show gets cold as fuck at night. I began to shiver since I had a short sleeve tshirt on.

“so Lisa are you really ok, or is that just your tough girl persona.”

Damn he could really see through me, with those big chocolate brown eyes. I began to tell Michael the truth.

“actually I’ve always have been afraid of thunderstorms, ever since I was a little girl. At the time my grandfather had came home late from work and he was fumbling for his keys at the door.while he was looking for his keys he was struck down by the electrical currents and died.”

A tear trickled down my face Michael wiped it gently.

“I’m so sorry I shouldn’t of asked” Michael cuddles me softly.

Soon I fall asleep like that.