Chapter 2: Homecoming

They both hung up. Drake went to finish preparing for the next day, and Nicki went to bed. Although she had a day off the next day, she went to bed early. A pink t-shirt and pink boxers were her night attire. She turned on her playlist of her favorite soft songs by her boyfriend, starting with ‘Hate Sleeping Alone.’ It fit her mood. His soft, sensual, melodic voice unwound her nerves from a day of video shooting with an icon, and celebrating her birthday. She reflected on the past few years. All of her success, the journey that her and her Barbz, the loves of her life (aside from Drake) had been on and will continue to go on, the friends she’d made, all the people she’d met, the places she’d been. She couldn’t believe it was all real, and thanked God for giving her the opportunity. And then, she thought of Drake, her Aubrey.  She remembered the first time they met. The snapbacks she wore that he always loved, and all of the times she rejected him. This made her laugh. She remembered all the  times on the tour bus, touring with the Young Money crew. She could tell back then that he was growing fonder and fonder of her, and the thought of him wasn’t repelling to her, but she didn’t feel anything serious. She really just looked at him as a brother. She never imagined that they would be in the positions they were in. So far in love, extremely successful, a power couple running the game. Never would she have imagined that he would mean the world to her, that her verse in ‘Best I Ever Had’ would ever be true. The thought of him being all hers made her smile. Onika was the happiest girl on earth. By this time, ‘Hate Sleeping Alone’ had ended, ‘Something’ was playing, and before she knew it, his voice had lulled her into a peaceful sleep.

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“Yo, what is taking so long?” Drake complained

“We’re waiting for a cab.” Niko told him

“I want to get there before she wakes up.”

“You’ll get there, chill out.”

The cab pulled up, they hopped in and headed to Nicki’s hotel.

Drake got out of the cab, grabbed his suitcases and headed into her hotel. He opened the door, set his bags down, and found the room she was in. His music was still playing and he smiled at how peaceful and content she looked.  She was lying there, her pink tee pushed up, showing her beautiful waist and pink boxers.

“She’s so beautiful.” Drake thought to himself. Luckily for him, it was almost time for her to wake up. He wanted to surprise her, so he went into the kitchen, fixed her some breakfast, and sat down to watch some TV until she woke up.

She woke up about an hour and a half later, stumbled to the living room, eyes barely open, and collapsed on the couch.

“Um.” She heard a voice say.

“WHAT THE FUCK?” Nicki jumped up and away from the couch. He just looked at her, entertained, until realization hit.

“AUBREEEEEEYYYYY!” She shouted and jumped into his lap. “What are you DOING here, babe?”

He laughed and cradled her to his chest. “I’m doing what I’m supposed to. Spending time with my love.”

“You know what I meant.” She said as she slapped his chest. “I thought you were supposed to be in Africa until Sunday?”

“I was, but things were cancelled, so I decided to come home.”

She looked him in the eyes, and he looked back. They had both missed each other so much. It was almost a physical need for their lips to meet. They kissed for a while, making up for what was missed on her birthday, and then he pulled away, gasping for air.

“You missed me, huh?” She said.

“Nope.”

“Oh, okay, you got jokes.” she said as she got up to get her breakfast.

“Loads.”

“But you hate sleeping alone, you hate sleeping alone. So, now this time we won’t end up fucking, you can’t ask me for nothing, I’ll leave you in the morning, you won’t see me for months, and you’ll just be sleeping alone, you’ll be sleeping alone.” Nicki sang in her Drizzy voice to get back at him.

“Niiiiiicccccccccc.” He groaned. “You know I hate when you sing my shit.”

She laughed. “Shut up. You know that was funny, don’t front.”

“Whatever you say, Onika.”

She side eyed him and continued to eat her breakfast.

“So, I brought something back for you.” He went to his bag and pulled out something wrapped in brown paper. She unwrapped the paper and saw that it was a small statue of a woman with a crown on her head. The woman was very beautiful. Warm brown skin, curly brown hair, a long, smooth gold dress on, and tons of gold bracelets on both arms.  Nicki was in awe.

“She’s beautiful.” She whispered

“I got her from this pottery store next to our hotel. She was hand made. I was in the store looking for something for you, and the woman behind the counter asked who I was shopping for. I told her who you were and she said “Ah, I know just the right thing.” She went into the back, and returned with the statue. She told me it was a one of a kind and said “A queen for a queen.” If you look at the bottom of her platform, I had that engraved. “

Nicki flipped the statue upside down and saw the words written there in gold. She loved it. It was beautiful. More beautiful than any type of jewelry or roses and chocolates that she’d received from most people.

“Thank you, Aubrey. Seriously. She’s beautiful.”

“Just like you.” He said as he wrapped his arms around her waist, knowing how cheesy that was.

“Haha, you’re stupid. I love you.”

He picked her up so that her legs were wrapped around his torso, her arms around his neck.

“I love you too.”

Nicki looked into his eyes and an idea popped into her head at the same time the same idea popped into his. She started to hum to the tune of Birthday Sex, he raised his eyebrows, she nodded her head, and the rest was history.