Deviation
“Marquise, relax. You gotta take time for yourself.
You always taking care of others, but you need
To take care of what matters the most. You.
At least let me baby you for a little bit,
You thick-headed fuck.”
Liz smiles and chuckles through her words.
Marquise, who is lying face down
On Liz’s sofa, muffles out a response.
“Lish, uh affresheate chu,
Buh uh em nuh eh behbe.”
-
“Sit the hell up, I can’t understand a damn
Thing you saying because you eating
My sofa cushion.”
Bridges slowly, gently, sits himself up on the sofa.
Now that there is ample space, his dog Baxter
Hops up on the seat next to him, leaving Liz
Without a spot on her sofa.
“I said that I appreciate you,
But I’m not a baby. I know when
I need to relax, and this isn’t the right time for that.”
-
“I watched you get almost every part of
Your body either kicked, chopped, or punched in
By that Cali girl. You have so many bruises that
You remind me of a banana someone forgot
About in a box at the bodega. Pero now you
Went and accepted another fight with a guy
That I wouldn’t trust with a pair
Of kiddy safety scissors. And you
Want me to believe you know when it’s
Time to relax? Lo que creo es que estás loco.”
-
“Haha, I’m not crazy. What can I say,
I’m all about fighting through the struggle.
Liz, thank you for looking after Baxter,
Thank you for caring about me and
Making sure I’m okay the last few days.
I apologize for the impression I’m probably
Leaving on your sofa permanently.”
Liz folds her arms in front of her, looking
Upset. She lets out a heavy breath and stares
At Marquise until he feels the tension.
“W-what?”
-
“So is this where you leave and forget
About me again until you need me to watch
Baxter? Or until you feel like giving me
More wise words and life advice?”
-
“Liz…”
-
“Don’t ‘Liz’ me. Marquise, you know this hurts me.
We both know how we feel about each other.
But because you doing so well in your life,
You can’t fucks with me like that, right?
You better than me, and I just have to suck it up
And keep being all bright and happy.”
-
“Eliza…listen. You’re right, I don’t treat you fairly.
But you know why we can’t…well why we can’t.”
-
“Because the people I chill with don’t like you?
Because I have a reputation?
Oh, is it that I still live that hood life and
That I struggle to get money and get by?
You don’t think I try everyday to be and do better
And get up outta here, Marquise?
And I know you going to try and talk about
The org, but save it. That ain’t gunna work for me.
I’m not a kid, I’m not homeless, I’m not an immigrant,
And I’m not looking for a handout. I don’t want
Building Bridges. I want Marquise Bridges.
I want to be happy. I don’t want your money
Or anything like that, like any other bitch would.
You know this, you want what I want too, but
You fight against it every-fucking-day, Marquise.
No matter what you say or do or how much
Goodwill comes out of you, you ain’t happy either.”
Marquise stares at Liz, who has tears coming out
Of her eyes at this point. Baxter, feeling the
Emotion, hops off the sofa and goes over to her.
She picks him up and holds him close.
“Liz, I’m…I’m sorry. Look, maybe…
Maybe things can…I don’t know…
I don’t want to promise you anything that
I can’t deliver. I don’t want to hurt you or see you scared
Ever again.”
-
“I’m not the one that’s scared. Stop being scared of love.
And what you talking about happened a long time ago,
We may not be far away from it, but we… you
Can’t let it control your feelings and how you do things.
I love what you’ve done, I love the person you’ve become,
But ‘The Solution’ needs to take a break from
Solving problems every once in a while.
I’m not saying you should be what you were,
But you need to take care of who you are…
I’m sorry for blowing up on you like this, you don’t need this,
You right, you was always right-“
Marquise stands up and stops her from
Talking by giving her a quick kiss…which she
Then turns into a much longer smooch before pulling
Away and laughing.
“Okay, you wasn’t about to get away with that
Tap kiss playground bullshit.”
-
“Should’ve figured that, haha.”
-
“Uhm, I just realized something… ain’t you supposed
To talk some smack about the weird guy that’s crazy
About Cali? Are you a little late on that?”
Marquise’s eyes widen as he realizes he entirely
Forgot to promote his match with Christopher McMichaels.
“Crap, you’re right, Liz I have to g-“
-
“I want to help!”
-
“What?”
-
“I’ll record it on your phone and be like your producer and
Director from behind the scenes.”
Liz reaches over and snatches Marquise’s
Phone out of his jacket pocket. She puts in
His passcode, because of course she knows
It without even needing to ask, to which
Marquise doesn’t even think twice about.
“You know what, screw it, sure, let’s do it.”
-
“Hell yeah!”
Liz stands in front of Marquise, who is still
Sitting on the sofa, and begins recording him.
Just as she starts recording, Baxter jumps into
The lap of The Solution.
“Yeah, let’s get Baxter in here too, go ahead,
Start it off and I’ll jump in to guide you.”
-
“Hey everyone. A cellphone video might be
A little bit unorthodox, but then again, this entire
Situation with knockoff Ron Jeremy is too.
Excuse me for being a little rude, but this guy
Has actually managed to get on my nerves. He-“
-
“Boring, say something different, carajo.”
-
“Alright then…You guys have seen Baxter on social media.
But now he’s making his AMA promo video debut.
Actually, it’s fitting that he’s in this video since
I’m addressing another dog, that being the one
Named Christopher McMichaels. He’s obsessed
With Cali, who is one hell of a competitor
By the way, thanks for the bruises girl, much appreciated.
Then there’s the fact that he got involved in my match against her
And tried to get her to take me out to pasture. She didn’t, and
I’m grateful for that, because that gives me the opportunity to solve
A problem. The problem being a guy with probably enough harassment charges
Against him that he makes Ezra Miller look like Mother Teresa.”
Eliza, still recording, interrupts
Marquise again so she can lend
A hand with his promo.
“Marquise can you just be a little meaner? Like I know that’s not you,
But even though he ain’t worth pissing on if he was on fire,
That creep can at least talk some shit.
We know you can beat him up, but lets light him up.”
Marquise lets out a deep breath, thinking
Of what to say about his opponent.
He takes a look at Baxter in his lap
And then looks back at the camera.
“Christopher…you sleazy, lying, underhanded, good-for-nothing
Waste of air, I want you to listen to me. Perk up your ears
Like you’re trying to listen to Teanna Trump
On ten-percent volume in a mall-changing room.
You hide behind people, whether you call them
Clients, business partners, tag partners, friends,
Or whatever else you can think of to manipulate them
In the moment, because you can’t take care
Of yourself by yourself. You’re a scared little
Man that needs to receive what he gives.
I’m going to do a whole lot of goodwill in the ring
When I throw back at you all of the bad-will
You’ve dished out in your life…”
-
“Keep going, you’re getting it!”
-
“…Normally I’m one to find the good in my opponents.
Despite what people say, I truly believe that
Ninety-nine out of one-hundred times,
There is always something positive to find
Deep within a person, or at least I’m able
To recognize the good qualities of someone.
But you sir have absolutely no redeeming aspects
To scrape from even the bottom of your character.
Actually, no, I’m wrong, sorry about that, I apologize.
You do have one single redeeming aspect to you…
Everybody that gets away from you ends up a better
Person just because they’ve already met and dealt with
The worst type of person, that being you, for an extended
Period of time. So far in AMA I’ve been in either friendly competition
Or I’ve been showcasing my abilities. But with you, I fully intend
On deviating for just a little bit so I can whoop you from
Post-to-post with a smile on my face.”
-
“That’s what I’m talking about, Marquiiiiiiise! Bring it on home,
Hit him with something that you think will really fuck with him.”
-
“If there’s one thing I know about men like Christopher McMichaels,
Is that the one thing they care more about than themselves,
Is making money. So you’ll be happy to know, as well as
All of the wonderful people watching this video when it’s
Posted, that AMA in collaboration with ‘Building Bridges’,
Will be selling plushies of my little guy Baxter right here.
Christopher, my dog is going to make more money for charity by existing,
Than you get in your bank account when you get your money from AMA.
To sum this all up, I can happily say that I think
You are one of the worst types of people on this planet.
And I very much look forward to being The Solution
To the problem that is Christopher McMichaels.”
Eliza turns the camera to herself and
Chimes in with a few words of her own.
“Ain’t nothing gunna save you from
The ass-whoopin’ Marquise is gunna give you!
Baxter ain’t the only dog he boutta be walking,
You hear me you dirty looking fuck?
That’s it, bye, see ya!”
Liz ends the recording and immediately
Posts the video to social media.
“Uhhh, did you just post that without editing it?”
-
“Yeah.”
-
“Uhm, I kind of wanted to cut that down, take some things
Out, maybe not have you in there so much, just out
Of concern for your safety, you know?”
-
“Shut up, It’ll be fine. Go, you need to meet up with Mac
And workout or train or whatever you two do.
I got Baxter, have fun, let me know when we go viral
With the AMA fans.”
Liz playfully hurries Marquise to the door.
Before letting him fully leave, she gives him
A big hug, and takes Baxter from his arms.
“This was fun. I missed us doing things like this.”
-
“Hmph. Me too, Liz.”
They hug one more time before she closes her apartment
Door and Marquise starts walking away down the hall
Towards the staircase.
“Aaaaand my phone has been vibrating nonstop,
Sweet, thanks Liz.”
