Ashly
It's been two months since everything happened, like we said we had a graduation party for Kaylan & Miracle and they really enjoyed & appreciated it.
The girls & I were currently on tour with Monica & R. Kelly for his After Party tour. Right now we were all in our hotel room before it was time to head to the venue and rehearse.
Keith & I haven't talked every since he made his comment on twitter about me. A lot of people are saying "oh he didn't mean he was just very upset you know he doesn't think of you in that way" and if all that was true Keith would've been called by now and he would've apologized but guess what he didn't. 🤷🏾♀️ but hey I'm not worried about it I'm just trying to make this money & make myself happy.
"Hey mommy." I said into the phone as my mother called me.
"Hey baby how are you?"
"I'm good just working, how are you? What y'all been doing?"
"Oh I've been good baby and nothing ya sister is getting ready to leave for college soon & ya daddy is still the same, always working on something."
"Well that's good."
"Where y'all performing at tonight?"
"L.A, y'all gone be able to come?"
"I'm sorry baby I don't think so. There's a lot going on with trying to help ya sister out & you know Janice needs help with her two month old son so we won't be able to make it."
"Oh well it's okay I understand."
"Alright I love you baby and you sing your heart out on the stage tonight you hear me?"
"Yes ma'am & I love you too." I smiled
I got off the phone with my mom and next thing I know it was time to rehearse.
Keith
"So let me get this straight it's been two months and y'all still ain't talked to each other?" Luke asked me
I nodded my head as I turned in the swivel chair at his studio.
"We told him that he was stupid & childish." Dominque said on his phone twisting his hair as Darius nodded his head.
I stopped twisted in the chair and mugged him.
"What nigxa? Yeah I said it you stupid & childish."
I sighed and waved him off.
"Look Keith you & Mel been friends every since y'all was little kids, she already felt about what happened and you tweeting what you tweeted didn't do nothing but make her feel worst, the least you could do is apologize." Algee said
"I tried."
"No you didn't." A female voice said from the doorway.
(I didn't feel like cropping Keith out or finding another picture of Pepi sooo yeah but this is Tameka)
"Tameka what you doing here?" Woody said going over to hug her.
"Well at first I came down here to lay down some tracks with my big bro Luke but I overheard dummy over here telling some false statements so I had to come correct him." She said as slipped her shades off and placed them in her bag.
"Man gone Meka today is not the day."
"Okay well make tonight the night then. Go to R. Kelly's show tonight and go apologize to my girl."
"Mek she ain't trying to listen to me."
"Because you ain't trying to talk Keith. Look you're my friend and you know I'll never steer you wrong. Just talk to her, apologize & listen to her. That's all I'm asking. She went through some things in these past couple of months and she really needs a listening ear and a shoulder to lean/cry on."
Keith licked his lips, sighed & threw his head back. "Alright I'll go to the show tonight."
"Yayyy." Tameka clapped and hugged Keith.
"Alright now that that's over with y'all need to leave. It's time for my recording session and I need peace & quiet." She said pushing everyone except Luke out.
"Wait wait we'll be quiet." Woody said
"Boy please y'all boys don't know the definition of quiet if it hit you in the face, now bye bye."
~~~~
Omniscient
It was time for the show to begin and Monica just got off stage. Before June's Diary went on they prayed and then they got ready behind the stage.
When they walked on stage the crowd was screaming so loud for them that they could hardly hear each other.
June's Diary started off with an acapella of Rolling on the River with a little bit Lips are Moving and then one of their songs It's Alright.
After they performed those two songs they introduced themselves and talked about how they got started and then they proceeded with performing All of Us, Wrap Around & If I Ever Fall in Love & also covers from Mariah Carey, Destiny's Child, Xscape & Lady Marmalade by Patti Labelle & Hotline Blinge by Drake.
"Hey ladies can I have a moment with L.A righ quick?" Ashly asked the girls
"Sure." They all gave her a hug & a kiss on the cheek then they waved to the crowd & walked back stage.
"Alright so I wanted a minute with you guys alone. I wanted to talk to y'all about something, the girls already know but I wanted to say this to y'all on stage by myself." She explained as she walked from one end of the stage to the other.
"Can I have a stool please." She spoke into the mic asking the people in the back and they brought her one.
"Thank you Adam." She sat down and placed her left foot on top of one of the speakers as the right one was on the bottom of the stool.
"Okay so I know previously you guys have seen June's Diary out in public and you'll see four members." She said holding up four fingers. "Now JD has five members so one member was missing. Anybody wanna guess who that one member was?" Everybody screamed out her name and some say Brienna since she was out sometimes for school.
"Yes Brie was some of the time due to school by the way shout out to my sis she just graduated from college congratulations boo I'm proud of you." She clapped along with everyone else.
"But it was mostly me, I tried to go missing from the paparazzi but unfortunately I got away from you guys too and I'm sorry." Everyone said they forgave her.
"I also want to tell you guys something that y'all probably don't know." She took a deep breath and looked out into the crowd.
"I was in an abusive relationship along with a controlling relationship."
Everyone gasped and replied with "oh no" or "I'm sorry to hear that."
"The abusive relationship last for a year and the controlling relationship started three months ago. For both relationships everything was all good, the guys were charming & kind but after going on three & four dates their true colors started to show and I was in too deep I couldn't get out." She stopped talking before she started crying
"How many of y'all know Kelly Rowland?" Everyone raised their hands
"Okay, on her Talk A Good Game album she has a song on there that explains what she went through with her relationship the song explains my exact situation so I'm going to sing that for y'all, is that alright?" The crowd said yes and then she turned around towards the DJ and told him to cue the music.
The best played and then she started singing.
"Let's do this dirty laundry, this dirty
Laundry
Let's do this dirty laundry, this dirty laundry
When you're soaked in tears for years, it never airs out
When you make pain look this good it
Never wears out
This dirty laundry, this dirty laundry"
"While my sisters was on stage, killing it
Like a MF
I was enraged, feeling it like a MF
Bird in a cage, you would never know what I was dealing with
Went our separate ways, but I was happy they were killing it
Bittersweet, they was up, I was down
No lie, I feel good for them, but what do I do now?
Forget the records, off the record, I was going through some BS
Poor survivor, they on fire, who wanna hear my BS?
Meanwhile this nigxa putting his hands on me
I swear y'all don't know the half of this industry"
"Let's do this dirty laundry, this dirty laundry
Let's do this dirty laundry, this dirty laundry
When you're soaked in tears for years, it never airs out
When you make pain look this good it never wears out
This dirty laundry, this dirty laundry"
"And it's almost been a decade
I'm behind them black shades
Roll up like it's all good, right up out of that escalade
Fix my makeup "get it together, Ashly, get it together"
Then we make up, well get it together nigxa get it together
Kinda lucky, I was in her shadow
Phone call from my sisters, "What's the matter?"
They said "oh nah baby you gotta leave!"
I'm on the kitchen floor, he took the keys
I was mad at everybody, I mean everybody
Yeah, her, her, her, her, everybody
Five years later, I got my shxt down packed
Think I had it good, and they don't know how bad
Fooled everybody, except myself
Soaking in this hurt, bathing in the dirt"
"Let's do this dirty laundry, this dirty laundry
Let's do this dirty laundry, this dirty laundry
When you're soaked in tears for years, it never wears out
When you make pain look this good it never wears out
This dirty laundry, this dirty laundry"
"So here I am in this spin cycle we're
Coming & we're going
Nobody can notice
And I was trapped in his house, lying to my mama
Thought it could get no worse, as we maximize the drama
started to call them people on him
I was battered
He hitting the window, until it shattered
He pulled me out, he said "don't nobody love you but me
Not your mama, not your daddy and especially not Keith"
When she said Keith's name she held her head down as she broke down in tears. Everyone told her it was okay and some still yelled for her.
Keith was backstage with the guys and girls and when he saw Ashly on the screen he decided to walk out on stage and console her. When he came on stage everyone screamed for him, he waved & smiled and then gave his best friend a much needed hug.
Ashly lifted her head up and hugged him back. When she felt like she could sing again she pulled back and finished her song.
"He turned me against my sisters
I missed ya."
"Let's do this dirty laundry, this dirty laundry
Let's do this dirty laundry, this dirty laundry
When you're soaked in tears for years, it never airs out
When you make pain look this good it never wears out
This dirty laundry, this dirty laundry"
"Love is pain and pain is love, he had me fxcked up
Love is pain and pain is love, he had me fxcked up."
When she got down the crowd continued to scream for her and she gave Keith one more hug and whispered in his ear "thank you and that she was sorry." He nodded his head indicating that he understood her.
"Alright y'all before we leave the girls & I wanna do one more song and then we're going to turn the stage over to the main man of the night. Ladies y'all ready?"
"Baby won't you just stay for a little while." The girls sang as they came from back stage with the guys (Luke, Woody, Elijah & Algee).
"You guys give it up for the cast of The New Edition Story, Luke James, Woody McClain, Elijah Kelley, Algee Smith & Keith Powers!" Gabby said
Once again the crowd screamed.
"Also shout out to our brother Bryshere Yazz Gray who is always on the go and working we love you baby bro." Ashly said as her & the girls said they love him into the camera & gave kisses.
"Alright so we have a mixtape coming out with us doing covers of 90's male group songs. We've done If I Ever Fall in Love by Shai now we're about to do Stay by Jodeci." Brie said
"Mhm and these four lovely gentlemen will be our special guests for this song. LADIES IS IT ALRIGHT IF WE HAVE THEM AS OUR SPECIAL GUESTS!" Shyann yelled out to the ladies in the crowd and in response they yelled back to her and said yes.
Shy laughed and cued the DJ to play the music. The guys were seated in chairs and Ashly stood by Keith, Kristal stood by Luke, Shyann stood by Woody, Gabby stood by Algee & Briena stood by Elijah.
Shyann started off with singing Pretty Brown Eyes and the girls followed by saying stay with me then Gab followed behind and did the speaking part of Stay and then Ashly began.
"Sorry I left you, I left you crying
Since you've been gone, I've been all alone
Cause all of my tears you know they left me drowning please baby I'm begging for you to stay at home" Ashly sung
"Tonight let's start all love again tonight we can be more than just friends the sun, it's going down
Stay for a little while (ohhhh)
baby want you just stay for a little while
Baby want you you just stay for a little while
Baby want you just stay for a little while
Baby want you just stay for a little while" they sung altogether
"Ooh yeah, so here we are just me & you
Thinking of the things that we used to do baby (tonight is yours)
Tonight is yours (baby)
Yours & mine (oooh yeah)
Let's try again to put our trust on the line
Yeahh" Kristal sung
The chorus repeated
"Forget about yesterday cause I want you so bad (I want you so bad)
Make love to me like you never have
Our love is coming down
Stayyyy
For a little while" they sung altogether and Brie sung
"Baby want just stay
Said I'm down on my bended knees
(Come back)
Said I want you to come back home
Baby want you just stayyyyy yeah." Brie, Kristal & Ashly sung and then she ended it.
While they all sung the song & their verses they grabbed the guys and stood them up from their seats and leaned into them (their backside on their front) as they sung. Then when it was over they all hugged they guys one by one and bowed and thanked L.A and then they went back stage so R. Kelly couple perform.
"Oh my gosh Ashly I am so proud of you." Tamela, her mom said soon as she saw her.
"Oh my gosh mommy I thought y'all couldn't make it." She hugged her.
"Now you know we wouldn't miss your big show and after you performed that song by Kelly I'm glad we didn't miss it." She hugged her daughter and then pulled back so she could look at her.
"Ash you finally opened up about your situations and I am very proud of you. Not only did you do it for yourself but you did it for thousands of other women & young women who went through the same but are to afraid to speak up I'm proud of you baby."
"Thank you mama." They hugged each other then she hugged her sister & father and the girls' family and spoke to them.
All of the families went home because they just wanted to see the girls and the girls & the guys went on stage but towards to the side to watch R. Kelly's performance.
R. Kelly was in the middle of performing Half on a Baby and everyone was singing along and Kristal made an Instagram video and caught Keith & Ashly while she was standing in front of him and his hands were on her waist.
"Y'all two trying to make a baby?" She asked real fast thinking they wouldn't hear her but they did.
Keith threw his head back and laughed while Ashly put her hand up and said "goodbye Kristal."
Kristal laughed and posted the video on her page and then they enjoyed the rest of the show while singing along and dancing to some of his classic songs.
•••
-Next chapter Keith & Ashly aka Melissa will sit down and talk about everything and hopefully rebuild their friendship.
-excuse me if I messed up any lyrics from the songs.
-because I was making this about Ashly and what she went through I switched some of the lyrics of Dirty Laundry around.
-I'm going to post a video of Kelly Rowland's performance of Dirty Laundry & the video to Stay by June's Diary & If I Ever Fall in Love
-I know this chapter is wayyyy over due but I've been writers block for this book so I would spend some time writing chapters for my Just Friends book (Woody McClain) & Love & War (Luke James) that will soon be published and I've also been trying to finish school and I would like to say that I am officially done with high school and I am a graduate of PCHS & will be attending JSU in the fall!!! #TheeILove 🐯💙 y'all when I tell y'all God is so good, he is truly good. My mama always told me if you worry don't pray & if you pray don't worry, and although I was worried this year I also prayed and now all I can do is thank God because he has truly been there for me.
-But enough of my little life since it's been a while since I've updated, I'm going to give y'all this update and probably another one if not tonight, then I'll try to update this upcoming week.