“I will. I definitely will call her, first thing in the morning.”
“You have to finish your demo,” Sunny reminded me. “Joey won’t be available after tomorrow.”
“I know.”
Sunny wrapped her arms tightly around my waist and buried her face into my shirt. I held her back, rubbing her back as she cried.
Sunny rarely cries. I’m not even sure what to do. I just held her against my chest until I heard Tracy shuffling around the living room.
“Sunny, I’ll be right back.”
She let me go and I walked back into the living room. Tracy was sitting on the couch flipping through the television channels. She looked bored.
“Let’s go,” I told her. “Gotta take you back to your cousin’s.”
“What do you mean?” Tracy asked.
“Something happened. Sunny needs me.”
Tracy huffed and tossed the remote on the sofa.
“I swear, Aiden, you and Sunny must have something going on. You drop everything for her. I mean, damn, Julie is on her way over and the three of us were going to have a good time. But because Sunny ‘needs you’ you’re just going to forget about us.”
My other head started screaming in protest. Doing Tracy and Julie at the same time has been a fantasy of mine since I met Tracy in Valdosta, but I can’t do it. Sunny is a wreck. I can’t just let her stay in her room and cry.
“Don’t worry about me,” Tracy continued to rant. “I’ll just wait until Julie gets here and go home with her. Go see about your friend.” She rolled her eyes and picked up the remote. She started flipping through the channels again. I walked down the hallway.
Sunny was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling when I walked into her room. Her tiny cotton shorts were tight around her muscular thighs. Her tight tank top was rolled up over her belly. Her silver belly button ring glistened in the moonlight.
“When did you get your belly button pierced?” I asked when I sat down next to her. She scooted over to make room for me.
“While you were in New Orleans. You like it?”
“Yeah, it’s kind of sexy.”
We were quiet for a few minutes.
“Why aren’t you in your room with your groupie?” Sunny finally asked.
“You were crying,” I admitted. “I thought you needed me.”
Sunny snuggled up to me and rested her head on my chest. She mumbled something that sounded like ‘more than you know’ but I could be mistaken.
“Did Roxy ask you to come work for her?” I wondered. “How are you going to work for her and finish your line? You’re so close to getting it done.”
“I know,” she mumbled against my chest. “But you’re pretty damn close to getting a deal. With Roxy getting sick, I can’t just sit back and watch you start all over. So I told her I’d take over managing you and Mike until she gets better.”
“You volunteered?”
Sunny nodded.
“Sunny, I can’t let you do this.”
She’s my best friend. I really can’t let her put her business on the backburner. She’s been working on her clothing line for years. I can’t just sit back and let her put her dream on hold...not for me.
“You don’t have a choice, Aiden.”
I sighed. “Sunny, why are you doing this?”
I felt her body shift against me as her hand lightly tugged at the end of my shirt. Sunny lifted her head and looked up at me.
“I’ll tell you later.”
****
“Aiden, your cell phone’s ringing,” Erica nudged me. I glanced over at the alarm clock on my nightstand. No wonder my room is so bright. It’s damn near two.
I untangled Erica’s long legs from around me and reached for my cell phone.
“Hello.”
“Aiden,” Sunny’s voice was so full of excitement that she was practically yelling in my ear.
“Guess what!”
“What, Sunny?”
“You are headlining at The Varsity Theater, and at The Masquerade, and at The Atrium in two weeks!”
I sat up. “Headlining? Are you serious? How the hell did you manage that?”
“Your girl’s got skills,” Sunny laughed. “But that means we have a shit load of promotion to do until then. I’ve got a lot of work to do. I promised these guys that you’d sell out the venue so we have to get started ASAP!”
Leave it to Sunny to guarantee a sold out venue in order to get the booking.
“So, I need you to call Paulie, Eddie, and Mike and anyone else you can think of,” Sunny ordered. “We need to make flyers and prep you for the radio interviews I’m in the process of getting you. You have to rehearse,” she rattled off her mental checklist. “Oh my God! I’m so excited!”
“I can see that,” I laughed. “I’ll call the guys. See you in a minute.” I tossed the phone back on the floor and looked at Erica.
“What the hell happened last night?”
She smiled. “You finally succumbed to the essence of Erica.”
I stared at the naked brown skinned chick lying in my bed. I should have felt differently after weeks of nonstop flirting and Erica’s constant and not so subtle insinuations that she wanted to sleep with me. Instead of feeling great, I feel kind of guilty.
“This is not good, E,” I groaned.
“Yes, it is. In fact...” she ran a manicured hand over my bare chest, “it was very good.”
I could not deny that. Erica is more of a freak than her “take no shit’ attitude suggests.
“So, let’s do it again,” she whispered.
“Not right now. Sunny’s on her way home.”
Erica slid her hand under the sheet and gripped my slight erection.
“I think right now is perfect,” she whispered as she stroked me to a full erection. Satisfied, she climbed on top of me and I carefully guided myself into her.
“Shit, Aiden!” Erica moaned and closed her eyes. I pumped a little harder.
Ten minutes later, the apartment door opened and I heard Sunny come in.
“Aiden!”
“Hold on!” I called. The last thing I need is Sunny bursting into my room and seeing me and Erica having sex.
“Damn, that was fast,” Erica moaned. She slid off of me. “We’ll finish this at my house later.”
She tossed my jeans to me and slipped on her shorts.
Shirtless and barefoot, I walked down the hallway. Sunny’s grin left her face as soon as she caught a glimpse of my after sex appearance.
“Really, Aiden? It’s 2:30 and you already smell like coochie. Go tell your little groupie to leave because we have work to do.”
“What do we have to do?” Erica said. Her voice was more animated than the situation called for.
Sunny’s mouth fell open as she stared coldly at me and Erica. She shook her head back in forth. Then her jaw clenched in disgust.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” she yelled. “My best friend? You’re fucking my best friend? What the fuck is wrong with you!” she hollered at me.
“It’s cool, Sunny, damn,” Erica insisted. Sunny looked like she wanted to punch her.
“It’s not enough that you play in his band, you gotta be in his bed too?” The look she gave both of us spelled murder.
“Oh please, Sunny, it’s just Aiden. It was a onetime thing,” Erica said nonchalantly. “It’s not like we’re getting married or nothing.”
“Groupie ass hooker,” Sunny mumbled. “Y’all are disgusting.”
I knew when I put on the condom last night that Sunny would be pissed if she ever found out. I should have known better to sleep with Erica in this apartment. Sunny had flipped out over Julie coming over a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t brought a girl home since then, but Erica was over last night and we were drinking. One thing led to another. What was I supposed to do? Stop and say, ‘let’s go to your place?’ Not when I pay rent here too.
“Girl, stop trippin,” Erica said. “What do you need me
to do?”
Sunny gritted her teeth. This is a no win situation. She needs our help but she doesn’t want to talk to us at all.
“Your boyfriend’s headlining three shows. We have two weeks to promote them,” she said. “Can you please get on the computer and make some flyers? I mean, if it’s not too much to ask. I don’t want to infringe on your extracurricular activities,” she added spitefully.
Erica rolled her eyes. “I asked what you needed me to do, right?”
“What do you need me to do” I spoke up.
“Getting the hell out of my face is the first thing I need you to do,” Sunny replied. Erica laughed.
“Why are you laughing?” I asked. “She’s pissed at you too.”
“Yeah, but Sunny loves me. A piece of dick is not going to mess up our friendship,” Erica replied.
“Whatever. I’ll be down at Rabbit’s.” I grabbed my guitars and left.
On the way to Rabbit’s, I stopped by Emory and picked up Paulie. When I told him about me and Erica, he wasn’t surprised.
“I knew you were going to hit that sooner or later,” He laughed. “She’s been begging for it for months.”
“Yeah, well, Sunny’s pissed again,” I commented.
“Sunny’s always pissed.”
“Yeah, but I’m the one who has to live with her.”
“Then don’t fuck any more of her friends,” was Paulie’s brilliant suggestion.
I laughed. “After last night,” I laughed, “I can’t make any promises.”
****
Over the next few weeks the Sunny situation got progressively worse. It’s gotten to the point that she gets an attitude whenever my phone rings...every single time. It doesn’t matter who it is. Most of the time it’s just my sisters but it doesn’t matter. She thinks that every time my phone rings, it’s some girl I fucked. I don’t know why she’s acting like this and of course, she’s not offering up any sort of explanation.
I reached my breaking point after The Masquerade show. When she started bitching because I was standing outside in the parking lot talking to a group of girls, I lost it. She’s not my mother. She is not going to run my life. I’m twenty-one years old and I’m going to act like it.
Sunny is driving me insane.
After tonight’s show at a small club called I-20, I decided to stop by Roxy’s and check on her. She started another round of chemo treatments last week. Whenever I talk to her, she seems in good spirits and anxious to get back to work.
When I walked into her house, Roxy was sitting on the sofa with her laptop in her lap. In her sweats and t-shirt, she doesn’t even look sick.
“How was the show?” she asked when I sat down.
“Small but cool,” I told her.
“Good. Has Sunny been shopping your demo? Have you been giving out singles at your shows?”
“Sunny does that. I just play. She gave it to some A&R people from some label last week.”
“Sunny’s a good girl,” Roxy stated. “I heard that things haven’t been that great between the two of you though. What’s going on?”
I shook my head. “Nothing really. It’s just time for me to get my own place.”
Roxy looked concerned when she looked up from her computer.
“Sunny’s your best friend. I thought you liked living with her. What happened?”
“Paulie’s my best friend,” I corrected her. “Sunny is irritating as hell. She’s always bitching and moaning about something, especially the girls I date.”
“Date?” Roxy interrupted. “When was the last time you actually took a girl on a date? Face it, Aiden, those random skanks that you sleep with are enough to piss anyone off, especially the girl who actually would date you.”
I turned my head sharply. I had started to tune Roxy out when her voice took on that mother-like quality that I can’t stand. I caught a piece of what she said and it’s too ridiculous to comprehend. Sunny doesn’t want to date me. She doesn’t want to date anyone except her damn sewing machine and Ben & Jerry.
“Anyway,” Roxy continued, “you don’t need to go there with her, that’s for sure. With me out of commission for a few more months, you need to tread lightly with her.”
“Why?”
“Why?” Roxy repeated. “Because Sunny has been the driving force behind your career, that’s why.”
“She’s not doing anything that you wouldn’t be doing. You’re paying her to “act” like my manager.”
“Aiden,” Roxy’s voice was a warning.
“Don’t ‘Aiden’ me,” I said. “Sunny hasn’t done anything extraordinary. I’m the driving force behind my career. I write the songs. I get on stage and I play them. Every gig that Sunny has gotten me, I could have gotten myself!”
“Wow,” Roxy said, shaking her head back and forth slowly. “What an ungrateful little prick you have become. You need to leave before I say something that you’re going to regret later.”
“What-?” I started to ask.
“Goodbye, Aiden,” Roxy said. “Just leave and pretend that you are grateful that I’m not dropping your ass as my client. Leave now.”
I definitely hadn’t meant to upset Roxy but she’s wrong about Sunny.
Sunny Rain is being a complete bitch. I don’t care what Roxy or anyone else thinks. If she doesn’t stop it, I’m definitely moving out.
Chapter 24
I looked at my cell phone vibrating on the passenger seat.
Sunny.
She’s been calling me every two hours all day. I don’t know why. She knows I’m not speaking to her and she already knows why I haven’t been home in three days.
She doesn’t leave messages when she calls either. She’s getting on my nerves! I snatched the phone off the seat and answered it.
“What?”
“Why aren’t you speaking to me?”
“You know why!”
“Because I cussed out Julie? That’s dumb!” she yelled.
“No, because I’m tired of you. You’re always saying something to say about what I do. I’m a grown man, Sunny! I don’t need that shit.”
“You’re an immature asshole,” Sunny shouted. “You need to be put in your place. You should be happy it’s coming from me and not someone else!”
“Whatever, Sunny,” I said. “Is that all you wanted?”
Click.
Sunny hung up on me and I really don’t give a damn. I pulled into the parking lot of the studio and cut the engine.
Mike and I had been asked to play on a couple of tracks for this R&B singer’s new CD that Joey’s producing. It pays more than any gig that Sunny or Roxy has gotten me. At the rate they’re going, playing on someone else’s tracks appears to be the only way I’m going to get on a real CD anyway.
When I walked into studio, I didn’t recognize anyone except Joey. There are way too many people milling around that I can tell aren’t here to do anything.
“Where’s Mike?” I asked when I walked into the control room.
“He’ll be here in a minute.”
I looked around the studio. “Where’s Autumn?”
“Somewhere acting like a diva,” he answered. “Her first album barely went gold and she thinks she’s Beyonce. I like what she’s trying with this new CD,” he added. “The girl’s got a voice, but her people don’t let her use it.”
“How many songs am I playing on?”
“Just two for now,” Joey said. “Probably more, once we really get into it. I can’t stand her guitar player. That’s why I pushed for you. Go ahead and plug in. She should be here in a minute.”
I took my guitar into the studio and plugged in. I strummed out the chords I’d memorized for the first song at a low volume. Then my sound was cut off.
“Who the hell are you?”
I looked at the tall dark skinned man standing by my amp. For a brief second, I felt a little intimidated.
“I’m Aiden. I’m playing guitar for Autumn.”
“I’m pla
yin’ guitar for Autumn,” the guy said angrily. “Get out of here.”
“Take it up with Autumn and her manager. They asked for me.”
I rolled my eyes and turned the amp back on. This guy may be a lot bigger than me but I’m not about to let him bully me into missing out on some money.
The guy reached for the amp again just as Autumn arrived with two other women walking beside her. One of the girls, I’ve never seen before but she’s beautiful! Hispanic, probably Puerto Rican, with short honey blond hair, light eyes, small waist, thick legs, and of course, perfect boobs. To my utter surprise, the other girl was Sunny. I groaned.
Sunny led both of the women over to me, glaring at me the entire time.
“Aiden!” Autumn gushed happily. “Thank you so much for doing this. I love your music! You are going to sound fantastic with my band.”
Sunny nodded and tapped the other girl on her shoulder. She looked up from her Blackberry and pulled out her earbuds.
“Jaicyn, this is Aiden,” Sunny said.
“You’re Aiden Tyler?” Jaicyn asked. She looked shocked. “You’re white.”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I was born that way.”
“Aiden,” Sunny hissed. “This is Jaicyn Jones. She’s part owner of Power Music,” she added, naming one of the most well known hip-hop record labels in Atlanta.
“She’s been listening to your demo for a few days.”
“Yeah,” Jaicyn acknowledged. “You play the hell out of that guitar. Never heard a white boy play the guitar like you before, at least not where I come from.”
I glanced at Sunny then back at Jaicyn. I should have been offended but I wasn’t. She could have said anything about me and I wouldn’t have cared. She’s just too damn cute to care. If she likes the way I sound on a demo, just wait until she sees me play. Chicks go crazy when I play. I’m leaving this studio with her for sure.
I was thinking about where I could take her when her cell phone rang. Jaicyn reached into her Coach bag. When she did, the bright studio lights bounced off the platinum and diamond ring on her finger.
“You’re married?”
“Yes,” she answered. “I’ll be right back. I have to take this call.”
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