Drama 99 FM

by Janine A. Morris

  Madison laughed. “Well, that’s very true. I thought the same thing, but I figured he was trying to get a few moments of fame in all the entertainment news reports.”

  “Yeah, he may have been, but he realized how it backfired.”

  “Well, I just wanted you to know how to handle it discreetly. The business department gave the tapes the police were asking for. Lucky for you, the tapes didn’t catch everything, but it did show some stuff. I don’t think you have much to worry about, but I just need you to be easy for a bit.”

  “No problem, I’m over it. People is talking, he is looking like a herb, I am done with it. He will drop the charges if he knows what’s good for him, and if not, I have a very well-paid attorney. I’m not all that concerned,” KD said.

  “OK, well, then good. Let’s talk about the other thing I have you in for.”

  KD looked at her with his eyebrows raised.

  “Your talk breaks—they are too long, and you—” A beeping noise came from her phone; she looked over, and it was her intercom. “Hold up,” she said to KD. She answered the phone.

  “You have a call from someone who says it is very important. He said you know who it is, but he won’t tell me,” Alexis said.

  “You know better than to call me with this nonsense. If he doesn’t give a name, he must not want to speak with me. I have to go.”

  She hung up the phone and looked back at KD. He was just shaking his head.

  “You are so hard on that poor girl,” he said.

  “Come on now, how is she going to expect me to get on a call without knowing who it is? For all I know, it’s some unsigned rapper trying to get my ear about radio spins, and she’s trying to put them through.”

  KD’s bass-filled laugh filled the room.

  The beeping sound started again. Madison answered it. “Yes, Alexis.”

  “It’s Clarence,” she replied.

  Madison froze. A piece of her wanted to take the call just to see what he had to say, but she knew she shouldn’t talk to him in front of KD. Besides, she didn’t want him calling her at the station making things look too comfortable between the two of them. She knew Alexis might have recognized his voice, so his secret-admirer game he played was not helping anything. She knew she might be paranoid—maybe no one would notice anything. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have a lot of artists as associates and friends. It was just that if this even raised one eyebrow in the industry, and it got out of control, she could lose her job. Polytics, on the other hand, would be a multiplatinum-selling artist.

  “Tell him I am in a meeting and I will call him when I am done,” she said.

  She hung up the phone and could see that KD was glued to his BlackBerry, pushing buttons. She was glad because she figured he wouldn’t ask any questions; she only prayed he didn’t know Polytics’s real name because she didn’t feel like having to come up with an excuse for avoiding his call. When artists took the time to call personally, it was very rare that she didn’t take the call. That is, if she wasn’t fucking them, of course.

  “An important call from Clarence? Who is that, a secret admirer?” KD asked as he looked up from his BlackBerry.

  Damn, he was paying attention, she said to herself.

  “No, just a colleague,” she replied. “But back to what I was saying…”

  “Yeah, I have been cutting my talk breaks a lot. I will have Vice give you an air check,” he said.

  “Yes, I will need that. I will also need you to give me your topic points before each show—e-mail them to me.”

  “Give you my topic points? Are you serious? I don’t know my topic points in advance. I just talk.”

  “That’s the problem, you just talk.”

  “You are killing me. You can’t actually expect me to send you topic points before my shifts.”

  “Alright, well, how about this? You work on keeping your talk breaks under three minutes, keep your beef off the air, and cover the relevant entertainment news, and I won’t need the topic lists…but I will want air checks for a month straight to make sure you are working on it,” she said.

  “A’ight, that’s fair.”

  “OK, so then we are done. You can run off and make your next meeting,” she said.

  KD pulled his jacket back on.

  “Alright, I will see you later, boss lady.”

  KD headed out and left the office door open behind him. She looked over at her phone for a second, contemplating if she should call Polytics back, but instead she turned around and began checking e-mails. She was tempted, but she didn’t want to give him the idea it was OK to call up to the station. She was hoping that despite what had happened between them, things could remain business as usual. Her concern was that maybe this was just wishful thinking, and maybe he was the wrong guy to take this risk with. So far, it didn’t seem as though he was playing his cards right.

  Chapter 16

  The job was still considerably new, and it hadn’t come with a handbook, but Sereeta was learning quickly that at times she was meant to be seen and not heard. The ballplayers were used to carrying on with their regular course of business regardless of who was around or where they were—at least, that was the impression Sereeta had. In the first couple weeks she had been introduced to everyone as Corey’s assistant, and since then they had treated her like a teammate. They spoke freely in front of her, changed in front of her, and several times acted as if she weren’t there. Sereeta couldn’t help but wonder if Corey was supposed to give her a 101 on what to expect with the job because it seemed like an adventure each day.

  She reminded herself that this was a job. She wasn’t going to get emotionally attached to anyone in her work because it would only backfire. She also realized it was best that she mind her own business as to the things going on around her. Being around the girls, the drugs, the plotting…Sereeta felt as if she were a fly on the wall. It seemed just because she worked for Corey Cox, people didn’t care what they said or did in front of her. It made her extremely uncomfortable, but the more time that had passed, the more she was getting used to it.

  It was a Thursday afternoon, and there was a home game that evening. Sereeta showed up at the stadium early to get Corey’s clothes from the cleaners and swap out the clothes in his locker. She was dressed in blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a short black knit cardigan over it. She’d had a late start and hadn’t put much effort into her outfit for the day, but like most days she still looked casually cute. She was hoping it was early enough in the day where she would barely see anyone while she was out and about and that she could get back home at a decent time. Some of the assignments Corey had given her to do for the week consisted of things she could do from home as well, such as a few phone calls and recording some of the ESPN footage.

  She pulled out the access card Corey had bestowed upon her and swiped it to access the locker room. When she walked in, she could hear voices coming from deeper in the room. The locker room had a lobby area, a few lounge areas, and the location with the lockers and seats. When she passed the main lobby area, she could see that a few of the players were sitting around shooting the breeze. They all gave relaxed hellos and went right back to their conversation. Sereeta greeted them in return but continued to Corey’s locker. At first, Sereeta paid them no mind, but as she leaned inside Corey’s locker, she began to pay attention to what they were talking about.

  “Nah, Shorty was official,” Lonnie said. “I saw her when she first got to the hotel.”

  “Oh, you saw her?” France asked.

  “Yeah, the brown-skinned one with the fat ass, right?” Lonnie replied.

  “Yeah, she came back up to the room with me,” France said. “I had to get Tyrone and Nate to go back to Nate’s room. My brother Mark had bagged her friend, so he took her to Tyrone’s room. As soon as the coast was clear, this bitch wasted no time. She just dropped to her knees and started sucking me off.”

  Sereeta was able to tell that he was telling a story about some girl
he had met a couple nights ago and taken to a hotel. They were huddled around in the locker room like they were sharing ghost stories on a camping trip. France went on to tell them how they’d ended up smoking marijuana and all the things the girl was willing to do and did for him. Sereeta was moving along as if she wasn’t paying attention, but although the locker room was spacious, when it wasn’t crowded, voices traveled. So even though she could pretend, there really was no way they could think she didn’t hear them. With the tabloids paying thousands for great stories, she would’ve thought they would be more discreet with their business. It was almost as though they were daring her to say something.

  The players weren’t supposed to smoke marijuana, especially not during the season, and here these guys were talking about it like it was nothing. Sereeta couldn’t tell if they trusted her that much or if they were just too stupid or didn’t care. It wasn’t the first time one of them had said something in front of her that—if she’d wanted to make an easy and quick few thousand dollars—she could’ve shared with the tabloids. They were damn lucky Sereeta was trying to keep her job and didn’t want to get blackballed from the sports world, because she knew quite a bit about the players’ secret lives. She had met a couple of their mistresses; she knew a lot of their tricks as to how they kept their secret lovers secret and all the ways they met the girls and everything. One thing Sereeta learned was these men talked just as much in their locker rooms as women did at nail salons.

  She had zoned out of the conversation for a while—that is, until she heard them talking about Corey.

  “Nah, that bitch Flash bagged was bad, too. Don’t get it twisted,” France said.

  “She was a’ight, the Spanish one?” Mike said.

  “Nah, she was black. She was, like, caramel complexioned, five-five; she had some big-ass titties,” he said.

  “Oh, yeah!” Collins said, jumping out of his seat like he’d just won on a game show. “She was bad as hell.”

  “Yeah, she was leaving the restaurant when we was through eating, and she was trying to get his attention. At first, he wasn’t even checking on her, and I was like, ‘If you don’t bag, I am’—she was definitely a ten,” France said.

  For some reason Sereeta began to feel her heartbeat racing. She wasn’t sure if she was angry or jealous or just nervous to be overhearing something about her boss. She felt like she knew Corey better than all of them. She worked with him almost every day; she saw him when he was upset, tired, happy, energetic; she knew all sides of Corey. She was pretty sure some of them knew him pretty well as well, but she felt like they downplayed her relationship with him. If they had any respect for her, they wouldn’t be talking about him so freely, but, then again, it wasn’t like they were insulting him. She couldn’t tell why she was getting upset, she just felt weird hearing about some girl Corey had bagged on the road.

  “He is always like that, though—he be letting a lot of good ones get away,” France said.

  “Remember last season when that girl was dancing on him all crazy in the club—she was trying to fuck him on the dance floor, and all he did was walk away,” Lonnie said.

  “She was cute, too—a little skinny, but cute,” Collins said.

  “Nah, even worse than that was that time those girls were in front of the hotel rooms, and that Spanish broad took her panties off and handed them to him and he just gave them back. We were on the road for like four nights and he didn’t smash nothing the whole time.”

  “He just seems real picky or real focused,” Mike said.

  “Focused on what? He isn’t married. He doesn’t even have a girlfriend,” France said.

  “Focused on the game, on his career. And he does have a girl, I thought—that brown-skinned joint from where he’s from,” Mike said.

  “I don’t know, but if so, that shit isn’t worth all that. She isn’t even here.”

  “I respect him for it, but sometimes I be like, ‘Damn, man, you not going to hit that?’” Collins said.

  “Yeah, if we didn’t know any better, you would think he was gay,” Mike said.

  They all began to laugh. Just at that moment Sereeta dropped her purse, and a bunch of her items and some change fell out. She quickly squatted down to pick up the contents from her bag.

  “Don’t worry, your boss isn’t gay,” France said.

  She looked up and saw France standing a few feet away, looking down at her.

  “Huh?” she said, pretending she didn’t know what he was referring to.

  “You was over here listening to us talking about your boss? Flash is our boy—we are just clowning on him, so you can relax. Over here dropping shit,” he said.

  Sereeta finished putting her belongings in her bag and stood up. She grabbed Corey’s athletic bag and headed toward the door. She could hear France laughing and saying something to the guys, and she just assumed they were talking about her. She was so embarrassed and so angry. She was happy to hear that Corey wasn’t such a pig like the rest of them, but having to find out that gossip at the cost of being embarrassed…She wasn’t sure it was worth it. Besides, the girlfriend at home clearly had his heart. She didn’t know why she cared anyway.

  Chapter 17

  The night after Sereeta got back from the locker room, she wanted to tell Corey what had happened. She even started to but then changed the course of her conversation. She wanted him to know how France had treated her, but she realized she didn’t want to ruffle anyone’s feathers. It was awkward enough at times being around the guys—she didn’t want to make it any worse by being labeled a tattletale. She also didn’t want to tell him what the guys were saying about him. Corey seemed like a pretty laid-back guy, but for all she knew he could have an uncontrollable temper.

  Sereeta didn’t want any problems. She was thankful that things had still been going pretty well with the job; she had gotten the hang of her duties and begun a pretty smooth routine. Corey seemed pleased with her work ethic and style, and they seemed to mesh well. He still wasn’t very talkative with her, but she didn’t mind so much. It seemed as if he’d had a bad experience in the past getting too friendly with his employees or something and was trying to keep it professional. Most of the time when the two of them were alone, they sat in silence or they watched television in the car or listened to music. He didn’t seem to care too much about her life outside her job or what her thoughts were about her job. He had a job for her to do, he expected her to do it, and he didn’t seem to expect much more.

  Sereeta didn’t mind their lack of friendship mainly because it kept her on her toes. She was always eager to get her job done efficiently because she didn’t know what to expect from him. She knew it was probably best they kept things this way so that there were no blurry lines as to what was what, and there were no drunken nights after partying where something could happen between the two of them. There were times when she wondered if he didn’t like her, especially when she would see him on the phone laughing and seeming so happy, and then he would hang up and just be quiet around her. Over time, though, she figured if he didn’t like her, he would have let her go a while ago.

  Corey told Sereeta to drop off at his house the clothes he had asked her to pick up at the dry cleaner’s. He would more than likely be gone by the time she got there, but she wasn’t staying long either way. She then had to run to the mall and purchase another iPod for him and some Bose headphones. As far as she knew, that was all he needed her to do for the day, but most days he would call her at the last minute to let her know something else had come up, so she wasn’t getting excited about a free evening just yet.

  The funny thing with her job was she was never technically off the clock. There were days she would have to do things for him till ten o’clock at night, but then there were times she was off for three days straight. She liked the flexibility; she loved not being confined to a desk or an office; she enjoyed being able to shop and travel and get paid for it. She knew most people thought her job was cool because she w
orked for such a rich person and got to hang out with all these rich athletes, but the best part about it had nothing to do with who her boss was.

  She sometimes wished she could have the same job but work for a woman. She didn’t mind working for Corey, but being around so many men all the time was just intimidating. It didn’t help that most of them didn’t have all that much respect for women, so on top of having to hear stories she didn’t care to hear, she had to be subjected to some of their egos. One of the team managers referred to her as “Corey’s groupie” once; another time, a teammate had asked her “When Corey is done, can I be next?” On both occasions, Sereeta had ignored it, almost as if she were walking down the street and would never see these people again. Yet in this situation she saw them all the time. Corey actually spoke to the manager about what the teammate had said. She hadn’t been the one to spill the beans—she didn’t want to start any drama and risk having Corey rethink hiring her, so she let it be. In the end she was happy he had stood up for her.

  When she reached Corey’s house, his driver was waiting outside to bring him to the stadium. Sereeta walked up to the doorstep and noticed the door was cracked open. She slowly pushed the door open and walked inside. At first, she didn’t see Corey or any of his belongings. She walked farther inside the house and closed the door partially behind her, as she had found it. The brown and cream runner carpet that led from the doorway into the living room was a bit crooked, she noticed. She bent down to straighten it up. Just as she went to stand back up, she heard footsteps. Corey was walking toward her.

  “Hey, are you a bit early?” he said.

  “Just a bit. I finished up at the stadium and came straight here.”

  “Why don’t you drop my things upstairs and ride over with me?” he said.

  “Back to the stadium?”

  “Yeah, watch the game. Chill for the night. I’ll put you in the skybox.”

  “Uh…uh…OK,” she said.