I Bet

"I bet you start loving me soon as I start loving someone else, somebody better than you..."

The winds blew in her face as she sat in the near empty park, staring blankly at the lake. She only had one thought and it was him. The him she let slip away from right within her grasp. She had finally had him after denying him for 6 years. 6 years full of excuses, 6 years full of buried emotions ready to erupt at any moment.

She had always wondered why she had chosen to disregard the feelings she felt for him. She however come to the conclusion that she couldn't betray her then fiancé’s loyalty, little did she know that he was doing just fine on the betrayal part.

She felt herself getting angry at the thought of her fiancé cheating on her - in her house - in her bed. "He would have never done that to me even if he hated me" Nicki thought as she brushed the single fallen tear from her face.

The anger she was feeling soon turn to guilt ridden sadness as the water in the lake turned from the deep, unclear calmness to a little reflective TV screen that replayed a memory of last year's Summer Jam. One of her most recent encounters with him...where things were starting to fall into place...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was after her set backstage and Drake had come to congratulate her...

"Hey Ms. Minaj, that was one epic ass set, thank you for bringing me out" he smiled

Nicki returned his smile 

"Boy shut all the way up with that 'Ms Minaj' bullshit. Why all the sudden formality? Also it was a pleasure boo, you know I can't not bring out the fam when we all here, what Da Kid look like?" she giggled the last part causing him to chuckle.

"My bad, don't wanna step over boundaries since your man was there and all...” "Boundaries?" Nicki interrupted him "you wanna talk about boundaries when you had me all up in the air and shit? Get real!" they both laughed at her statement.

"OK point taken, lemme rephrase. I didn't want to disrespect him further though he is on the fuckboy side lately" just as he said that Nicki let out a hearty laugh displaying her deep dimples prompting Grizz to seize the moment with a picture. As they noticed, they posed for another and once Grizz was done Drake spoke up

"Nic, were you serious about not letting any girls get in my pants" he asked

"I was dead serious, why? You got somebody in your sights playboy?" Nicki returned with a cheeky smile.

"I know of this one female who I wouldn't mind getting lost in them"

Nicki caught on to what he was implying making her heart flutter and added "Maybe she might"

"Maybe she should" they both smirked and flirted not noticing the film crew filming their little moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nicki smiled with tears on the brim of her eyes as the vision dissolved from the water and the lake went back to its normal dark, unmoving nothingness. It was a clear description of how she was feeling at that very moment. "I should have told him right then in that moment what I meant by that comment instead of playing the games" Nicki said in a meek voice to no one in particular. It was killing her holding this secret, the secret that she guess the world knew but couldn't bring herself to say.  She loved him. She loved him hard. She loved him deep. 

"I am sorry Aubrey, I lied. I do love you but you are not here anymore” she whispered the last bit to herself while wiping her fallen tears.

"...And I Know that it hurts, you know that it hurts your pride, but you thought the grass greener on the other side..."

Drake

It was a cold winter night and Drake was chilling the in studio with Noah. They were going through some tracks for the album, most of it was finalized. They were only now just focused on which song would be more suitable to close off the album. This particular song's importance was as great as that of the song that was selected to introduce the listener to the new story. Like any great novel, the conclusion had to leave the readers wanting more. They were currently listening to a song that Drake had randomly decided to get in the booth and freestyled over the beat. He had left it untitled as he was yet to figure out what was really suitable to call it since he was mostly on his cocky shit throughout the song.

"...Fuck all the blushin', fuck all the discussions and Fuck all the judgement..."

The song had reached that point and all Drake had in his mind was her. No matter how hard he tried he could never understand her. One minute she was all for them being together and the next she would revert to the platonic friendship status. She was a constant conundrum to him, when he thought he finally understood her, she would switch it up and confuse him further. The music in the studio seemed to slowly fade into a whisper as her voice filled his head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Drake, I got something to tell you."

"Oh really, does it have anything to do with my good looks" Drake smiled

"Seriously?" Nicki asked with a blank face

"Ok no I got it, you finally ready for this tongue lashing" Drake wiggled his eyebrows as he asked

"HEY WEIRDO! Maybe if you listened to what I have to say you wouldn't be on pervert mode" she giggled

"Whatever you know you want this" Drake teased and Nicki blushed at his response.

"Well yes, but not...” "Hold Up!" Drake interrupted "You said you ready well let’s go then" he motioned to stand up to go scoop her up.

"Aubrey" Nicki whined midair "I am trying to tell you something"

"I'm sorry, I'm all ears" they both smiled wide after he said that trying to hold in their laughter "I made that one too easy" and they erupted into a fit for loud laughter.

They were relaxing at Nicki's apartment on a Saturday evening. Neither wanted to go out so they opted to just have Nic cook them something and stay in for the night

"Anyway" Nicki caught her breath "remember I told you about my PR team planning something for the American leg of my tour?"

"Yes I believe you mentioned that, did they finally let you know what they had planned."

"Yes, well they want me and a certain someone to go on a sorta joint tour but with me mostly as the main act. They are calling it killing to birds with one stone. Promoting both of us at the same time I guess..."

"OK I get that but you do not need promotion to that extent since almost everyone was anticipating your album and therefore by default want to witness the greatness live. Who are the trying to help with sales because I know it is not me, I have enough star power to pull my own audience"

"Cockiness IS NOT cute. Quit."

"Woman please, we all know it’s cute when I do it, answer my question though" Nicki rolled her eyes at his comment.

"It’s Meek" "Meek? As in Meek Mill"

"Yeah him..." Nicki responded apprehensively

"Ok, he good people, just got outta jail, tryna get back in the game, it makes sense. Why the apprehension though?

"Coz I aint finished telling you the rest of the deal" she answered slowly scared of his reaction. Why? She doesn’t know either, it’s not like she and him were doing anything anyway...or were they...?

"Ok tell me, it can’t be that bad" Drake coaxed

"They want us to pretend to be a couple until the end of the complete tour, they say it will..."

"Stop, don't continue...COME AGAIN?" Drake half yelled with confusion.

"I said they want us to...” "I didn't mean it Nic" Drake groaned "I heard you loud and clear the first time. I am trying to process why this is even an option right now, why are you telling me this?" Nicki drew in a deep breath trying to stay calm and went on to explain

"I think it’s a good idea and I want your honest opinion"

"My honest opinion..?"

"Yes please, Honesty is all I need at the moment"

"OK I got your honest. This arrangement is crazy, stupid and reckless." 

Nicki looked at him to elaborate and he did just that without having her ask him what he meant. He was going to let her know that this entire set up was insane and wouldn't stop until she understood his reasoning.

"It is crazy because What The FUCK?, stupid because this is some dumbshit that you dont need at the moment and most of all, it is reckless because you recently just got out of a 10 year engagement that ended badly and Publicly and yet they think that it will be a good idea for you to parade around with a new man not even months after your break-up. How will that make you look? Trust me, this will not end well." Drake huffed getting a little frustrated

"Aubrey I moved on from SB and I don't think any harm will come from this, it’s just a few months of IG pics and random appearances. I dont see why this is a big deal" Nicki tried to reason.

"First of all, you don't mourn a 10 year relationship in 2 months. I don't care the type of relationship or the people involved. You just don't so drop that 'moved on' shit" he stated bluntly and before she could respond he continued "secondly, THIS is a big deal to me, where does this leave me? Us? Onika I thought we were finally working on something" Drake said feeling his frustration levels rising by the second as this conversation didn't seem to have an end anytime soon.

"Well yes baby we are, but I want to wait until the end of summer"

"To wait? Until the end of summer? Onika you can't be serious now" now he was getting angry.

"Well yes, it won't be long baby, just a few more months" Nicki tried to soothe while holding both sides of his face so that she could make him understand where she was coming from.

"After making me wait for 6 years? You thought that wasn't enough, you want me to wait some more?

"Drake this is for my career and Barbs, quit being selfish" Nicki regretted saying that the minute it left her mouth as he detached himself from her embrace. The rage that was slowly building in Drake's eyes finally became a fire that was set ablaze by her statement. 

"SELFISH? After making me wait all these years? After making me listen to your selfish ass discussions and selfish ass reasons, YOU have the nerve to call ME Selfish? No Onika I am not the one who is selfish, YOU ARE, YOU THINK OF NO ONE BUT YOURSELF!" he ranted

"Brey, please listen, let’s discuss this babe." 

"FUCK YOUR DISCUSSIONS NIC!"  

“LOOK NIGGA! I was just letting you know what the label had planned and that I...” 

"You what?" now Drake was livid, how could she. How could she continue to put him last? What he had done to deserve this treatment from her, he thought while waiting for her response. "What did you do?" he looked at her and she couldn't bring herself to look at him in the eyes and dropped her head. Drake walked towards her and lifted her head up with his finger. "Please don't tell me you already agreed." she still wouldn't look at him even though he was holding her head up with his finger. "Onika? Baby? Did you?" Drake tried to get a response from her, she did not budge but weakly nodded her head. Drake felt his crushed soul leave his body as his hands left her face and draped along his body loosely. "No, Don't nod, tell me what you did to us." Drake said in a defeated tone. Nicki finally looked up at him with tears in her eyes. They were staring at each other, sketching one another's appearances to memory. Drake wiped her tears that had fallen as she spoke out in a childlike voice "I agreed to the agreement"...Drake simply nodded his head and left a kiss on her forehead he pulled away slowly "Call me when the puppet master cuts his strings" he said walking away from her as he got his phone out to call about a flight booking back home to Toronto at 6pm.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The song ended and Drake was brought back from his depressing thoughts. He shook himself "40, I choose this song as the final track" 40 nodded and agreed with his selection stating that it would be closing off the album with a BANG! This earned an awkward chuckle from Drake. "Yeah I feel you, I feel like this would be a proper closure for a chapter y'know?" 

"Yeah man. But what would you name it?" Drake thought for a while..."6pm in New York"

"Ok that is not random at all but ok, I like it" Noah added his bit while dapping Drake.

To Drake it wasn't random though. It was a reminder of a time and place his heart stopped beating. A time and place his world stopped making sense. A time and place she dealt her final blow. 6pm in her New York apartment.

~ 6 months later ~

Drake’s first set was a success and he was currently preparing for another great one at Coachella. He was a little anxious as he had heard rumors that she would be there as well. He hadn’t spoken to nor seen her since she revealed what she was going to do and sure enough, she did it. He had hoped that she wouldn’t go through with it realizing that he had a point but she didn’t. Instead she was posting pics of them at clubs and chilling randomly. What hurt Drake the most was her actually going to the All-star game with him when he had begged and pleaded for her to go with him. Anyway he wasn’t going to let Onika dampen his mood again so he focused on the crowds of people just beyond the stage that were beyond eager to listen to his set.

As he was getting into his zone he saw her sashaying towards him. It was like looking at the vision of perfection walk closer and closer to him.

“Hi Aubrey” she smiled a smile that made the world around them stop, “how are you doing” he was so lost in her beauty that he couldn’t speak for a moment “umm…hey Nic, I have been great thanks and you” he cleared his throat and managed to croak out a sentence as he hugged her. They were both feeling awkward wondering how they let their epic friendship result to awkward small talk.

“That’s a nice color on you but I prefer you with your black hair” he stated smiling small.

“Thank you, we thought I could switch it up a bit y’know” she answered.

“We? Who is we?” Drake asked forgetting about the shadow that followed her almost everywhere “Wait, never mind, don’t answer that question. You didn’t bring him with you did you?”

“No Aubrey, don’t be silly, he doesn’t follow me around everywhere, and to answer your question, no he is not here.” She answered already feeling glad about her decision. Having Meek around would have made talking to Drake harder than it should have been. “Anyway, I just came out to support you and hang out for a while before the start of my tour…like old times…” she said that quietly fearing his reaction would be that of rejection. Upon hearing that Drake’s mind wanted so badly to flashback but he couldn’t afford that right now. He was doing so well without her clogging his mind that he didn’t need to relapse just before his show. He feared that every single second of every memory they shared would replay around his mind and all the emotions that he had buried deep within would resurface and cause havoc to his heart. He couldn’t afford to let her know that she still had the same effect on him after her continued rejection. He was determined to remain as nonchalant as possible while still maintaining his ‘cool’.

“I see the rumors are true” he asked

“What rumors?” Nicki asked confused.

“The Engagement ones, that is a nice ring” he took her hand and examined the gaudy ring and its nature “not particularly my style, but a nice ring nonetheless” he added while slowly releasing her hand and looking up at her. He noticed that she had been feeling some type of way about this whole arrangement and it was getting to her but for the life of him he couldn’t understand why she didn’t call the whole thing off nor did he want to know.

“Aubrey, it’s not...” before she could finish, Drake stole a kiss. This kiss was different from the ones that he would usually steal from her. This one held a finality. It felt like a goodbye kiss. Nicki didn’t like this feeling at all. Once he pulled away they stared at each other again, committing the way they looked at the very moment to memory “Shhh, you don’t have to explain…you are in too deep now. I just want to congratulate you” Slowly he let go of her, both physically and metaphorically. It was no use holding onto her when she couldn’t bring herself to hang on to him. This was goodbye. For good.

“And right now it’s killing me cause I have to find someone else when all I wanted was you…