Baby
You sho' is, bumpin'
You sho' is somethin'
See I won't, trade you, for nothin'
See err'thang, you to do me
You got me trippin'
And I'm satisfied
And that's guaranteed
-Total

She was so happy Donnie had time to come to Atlanta and stay a whole week. They did not get to spend a lot of time with each other. They had gotten very close though. Now that she was eighteen, she felt she didn't have to be under her mother so much. At first, she had no issues staying in her mother's home, but now that she was with Donnie, she was thinking of having her own place.

Of course, she could not bring that up with her mother. She would have to ease into that conversation. Besides, their home was huge and she had lots of privacy. Her bedroom was the size of a mal apartment. It even had a sitting room area with sofas and a gigantic flat-screen TV. Her walk-in closet was a bedroom turned into a closet. She had lots of designer clothes and shoes that designers loved to send her. Of course, everything was specially made because she was only five feet even.

Her bathroom was connected to Ginger's old room, which was also huge. They had to tear down a wall to combine two bedrooms to make hers just about as big as M'Liyah's. Ginger would have never liked to feel as if she was treated less than. Her mother did treat her like one of her own, M'Liyah just wished Ginger could see that.

Their friendship meant a lot to her, but lately, both of the girls were giving her the cold shoulder.

She couldn't think about that much, she had things to do. Today she was hosting a gathering for the preview of Tempo's second single and video he was releasing soon. It was the song she wrote about Donnie. He was coming over to see it as well, along with the girls and some other friends.

She dressed in a long black dress, three-inch heels and pulled her locs up into a ponytail. She did her own make0up and just her eyes and a bit of blush for her cheeks.

She went downstairs to their basement where they had a movie room complete with twelve heated recliner-style seats. She had caterers who were setting out refreshments and snacks, Of course, lots of popcorn and movie-style candy. The video was only four minutes, but after the video, she was also going o play one of Donnie's movies.

She snacked on a few Mike-n-Ikes before any guests arrived.

"Don't eat them all up."

"Donnie!" She gave him a big hug. "You're first to arrive."

"You know I wanted to spend as much time with you as I could," he said, kissing her. "Man, look at all this candy!"

"I couldn't help myself," she said, eating more Mike-n-Ikes. "Here." She fed him some.

"Still the best tasting candy in the world when you feed it to me."

She giggled. "I can't wait for you to hear the song, Donnie. It's my favorite song I've written in a long time."

"I'm excited to hear it, but can we make out in here before everyone comes," he said, kissing her neck. "We need another movie night, just us."

"You're here all week, you can just come here and we can watch whatever."

"Bet."

They sat in the back row and kissed and held each other till her mother and Tempo walked in.

"Excuse you two," her mother said.

"Hey mom," she said, hopping up. "We were just-"

"I saw what you were just doing. Your guests will be coming shortly. Why don't you and Tempo greet them? This video is going to do great things for both of you," her mother said.

Of course, her mother was at the video shoot and okayed everything in the video. It was nice to do something on her own and not with the girls. She hoped they would not feel some kind of way about it.

"Girl, you looking too fine in this dress," Tempo said, looking her over. "If Donnie didn't snatch you up, I would have."

"Boy, aren't you ga-ga over Ginger? She likes you too."

"We just friends, she still got some things to work out in her situation before we take it any further."

"What situation?" she asked.

"Ask her," he said, just as Ginger walked in with Spitfire.

Did they come together? Now that was interesting.

"Hey you two," she said, hugging Ginger then Spitfire. "Thanks for coming Spit, I know you didn't work on this song."

"But I heard it, it's dope. Looking forward to seeing what y'all did with the video."

"Hey Tempo," Ginger said.

"Don't hey me, girl," he said, hugging her and kissing her. "I miss yo ass. You need to call a bruh."

"Whatever."

Spitfire walked over to the refreshments getting popcorn and drinks.

"You gone sit next to me girl, right over there by Donnie. I mean, if you can stand those lovebirds making out and err'thang," he said.

"No, we won't!" M'Liyah said. "But yes Gin, sit next to me. I can't wait for you to see my video."

"You mean...Tempo's video," she said, staring at her with squinted eyes.

"You know I mean that," she said, looking toward Spitfire.

"Aye, let me get some of dat shit! Liy, you got the hookup. Mike-n-Ikes and Lemonheads. Man!

Ginger went over to the snacks, pushing Spitfire out the way. Melodie came in with Anthony and she was surprised. She thought they broke up. Why was he still around? Maybe they made up, but Melodie didn't tell her.

"Umm, hi guys, thanks for coming."

"Gotta see Ms. LiyLiy do her thing," Anthony said, hugging her.

"Boy, get off my girl," Melodie said, pulling him away. "I mean, it's just a music video, why we up in here acting like we about to see a Hollywood premiere."

"We will watch Donnie's movie after the video, so-"

"I've seen all his movies," Melodie said.

Once everyone was there she and Tempo stood in front to welcome everyone.

"Guys, this song is special to me, I hope you all like it. And I think we did good with the video. Tempo, anything you want to add?"

"Naw baby, just," he said, taking her hand. "We 'bout to show da world who I am, right?"

"Okay, the song is called Happily Ever After and it's on Tempos album and being released soon, like this week. Okay, I'll stop talking."

She went to her seat between Ginger and Donnie.

Donnie leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Why he calling you baby and holding your hand?"

"What?" She smiled at him. "Boy, that was nothing."

The video started and the song was about falling in love and wanting to be with the guy/girl forever and live happily ever after. General love song she knew, but they took it a step further in the video with her and Tempo as a couple singing together.

It starts with her waking in bed with him having left breakfast for her and a note that leads her on a scavenger hunt. She goes off to a spa and gets pampered and delivered a dozen red dozens and a box of chocolate-covered strawberries. Another note arrives and she is whisked off to a dress store and tries on several elegant dresses. Then she is whisked off in a limo to a large ballroom with nothing but a table in it. As she walks up to it, a small box is there and she opens it and it's a diamond rings.

Tempo comes behind her and she turns and he drops to his knee and proposes to her. She doesn't say yes, but they hug and kiss and the video ends.

She was so happy with how great the video turned out she clapped and smiled and turned to Donnie. He had a snarl on his face as if something was bothering him. His hands were clenching the armrests.

"Donnie, did you like it? I really wanted you to-"

He jumped up and walked toward the door, pushing them open so hard they swung and crash loudly to the wall. She jumped up.

"That was some bullshit, you know that Liy," Ginger said.

She didn't care what her friend thought, she only cared what Donnie thought. She ran after him. He was heading upstairs and was in the foyer before she caught up with him.

"Donnie, what's wrong?"

He turned to her with a face she had never seen on him.

"How the fuck do you think I feel watching my girlfriend get proposed to by another man?"

"What? Donnie, you do know it's acting...like, what you do."

"I don't give a damn what you call it, he proposed to you. Another man, confessing his love for you and asking you to marry him."

"Why are you upset? It's not real Donnie," she said, trying to take his hands, but he moved away.

"You don't even get it, do you?"

"Obviously I don't."

"Liy, you're my girl."

"I know that."

"Everyone knows you are my girl."

"Yes."

"And now, you're singing about being in love with another dude, and that dude calling you baby. What the fuck am I supposed to think? Just tell me."

"You're jealous."

"Damn right I'm jealous!" He stormed out of the house. She followed him.

"Donnie, wait! Nothing is going on with me and Tempo. Why would you even think that? It's just a song!"

"You told him you love him."

"No...I wrote the song about you..." She looked down at her hands. "So I guess I'm telling you I love you."

"In a song? Singing it to another man? That's how you want to tell me you love me?"

Well, maybe she didn't think that through all the way. She never felt this way about anyone before.

"I didn't think you would get upset about it. I just...sometimes it's better for me to express how I feel with my music." She wiped away a tear. She could lose Donnie if he hated her for this.

"Baby, no, stop," he said, wiping the tear away with his thumb. "I wish you would have just told me, before. Warned me about the song, what the video was going to be about."

"I wanted it to be a surprise."

"You surprised the hell out of me," he said, kissing her forehead. "That shit hurt M'Liyah, it hurt me a lot."

"I'm sorry."

"I'll never watch that video again."

"Was it that bad?"

"Seeing you, look that beautiful and happy...with another man...saying everything I want to say to you...proposing to you? I mean, it's like watching a guy propose to the woman he wants to marry first."

She looked up at him with a smile.

"You want to marry me?"

"See, here we go. You ruin everything," he said, kissing her. "Of course I do, one day. I knew I wanted to marry you the very first day I laid eyes on you."

She was speechless. Like, her dream guy, her dream everything, and he wanted to be with her forever like she wanted to be with him forever.

"It's like he took away a first from me. The first man to tell you I love you. The first man to ask you to be his wife."

"No! But it's not real!"

He grinned. "Fine. Well, I love you, M'Liyah Wilson. Shit just don't sound the same now."

She smiled. "It sounds good to me."

"And when I'm ready to propose to you, I will top that lil amateur stuff," he said.

She hugged him. "You can have your own first."

"What's that?"

"First man that makes love to me."

He looked down at her. She bit her lip. Oh, she was ready. What was she waiting on? She was not a kid, and she had desires just like any woman her age. Donnie was sexy and she could only imagine sex with him would be better than any sex she'd watched on a movie screen.

"Baby, what are you saying?"

"I'm ready for us to...have sex. You want to?"

He chuckled at her. "You just take the romance outta everything, huh?"

"Well?"

"Look babe, I love you, that ain't gonna change. We don't have to rush anything because you think that's the next step. I'm willing to wait."

"Have you talked to my mother about this? What did she say, wait for marriage?" She groaned, slapping her hand on her forehead. "Nooo! Who knows when that happens because I'm not ready for marriage any time soon."

"No she did not say that...but I'm supposed to wait a year before we do."

"A year! A year from what? I can't believe she told you that!"

"I signed paperwork and everything."

"Oh my God! My mother amazes me with that bullshit!"

"Whoa! Baby girl, it's okay, I told you I'm willing to wait."

"If I were any other girl, would you wait that long to have sex with her?" Donnie's non-answer to the question was her answer. "My mom can not dictate my life like that! We will be having sex before then."

"Well uh...do I have a say so in this?"

"Actually, no. It's time I take charge of my life."

A/N: So I took the song title and video from Case's song "Happily Ever After" from 1999, so go look that up. It has a 17-year-old Beyoncé in it and the rumor is Jay-Z feels some kind of way about it and had it taken off YouTube (you can still find it in other places).

So you think Donnie is right in feeling like he does about the song and video? She should have at least warned him.