One Man's Trash

by Yolanda Allen

  It was dark when she reached JT’s apartment. He waited for her outside. She opened the car door.

  “Hey, the fare is twenty dollars,” she said.

  “Oh, I don’t have any cash on me. Can you get this and I’ll get it the next time.”

  Well this was a first. He invited her over, insisted she took a cab, but then expected her to pay the fare. Interesting. Diamond didn’t say anything. She paid the fare with her credit card and exited the cab. JT kissed her on the cheek and led her down the concrete stairs into the basement. A few bugs buzzed around the light above their head.

  They stepped into the small entryway with a white tiled floor and removed their shoes. A huge air conditioner rattled above her head in the only window in the apartment. She followed JT down the short hallway, passed a bedroom, and entered the living room slash kitchen. The floor was carpeted in this area with the type of carpet that you would find in an office building. It wasn’t plush like the kind in her bedroom at her parents’ home, that she would bury her toes in but it was clean enough that she didn’t mind walking around barefoot.

  “Welcome to my humble abode. Have a seat.”

  Diamond sat on the black futon. This was your typical bachelor pad. Minimum furniture and no decorations. Her mom would love to get her hands on this blank canvas. Instead of a big screen T.V. like most guys would have, JT had a big computer desk set up with two monitors.

  “Why do you have two computer monitors?” Diamond asked as JT fumbled around in the kitchen.

  “Oh, it’s my work station for my music. My little home studio. Would you like some wine?”

  “Yes, sure. Thanks.”

  JT held out a wine glass filled close to the brim. Was he trying to get her drunk? He winked when she took the glass from his hand. Yeah, he was trying to get her drunk.

  “Thanks, JT. So tell me more about your music.” Diamond placed the wine glass on the floor beside her foot after taking a small sip. She had no intentions of drinking too much, she didn’t know JT that well.

  He entered the living room. “Well what would you like to know, Miss DeeAye? How did you come up with that name anyway?”

  “It was easy actually. My name is Diamond Anderson, so I just spelled out my initials. D.E.E for D and A.Y.E for A. DeeAye.”

  “I like that. Smart and beautiful. Not to mention very talented.” He brushed her cheek with his finger. Diamond’s face tingled with his touch.

  “How long have you been singing?” he asked.

  She wet her lips. “Since I was a little girl. I’ve been writing my own songs since I was fourteen. The night at Pink Baby was my first time performing solo. I normally have my best-friend perform with me.”

  “Who? The girl that was with you that night?”

  “Kimmy? No. My best-friend, Ryan.”

  “Your best-friend, Ryan. Is this an ex turned best-friend?”

  “No. We grew up together. Strictly platonic.” JT gave her a yeah-alright-if-you-say-so look. “Seriously.” She smiled.

  “I didn’t say nothing. I just know I would have a hard time just being your friend.” He flashed a devilish smile. “So you told me that you work for a record label, how is that coming along?”

  “It’s going well. I’m hoping that I can get some of my songs into some of their artists’ hands. That would definitely put me on the map.”

  “Are they looking for new talent?”

  “I’m sure they are. I work on the artist management side, so I have close relationships with the newly signed artists.”

  “What would I need to do to get a meeting with the head huncho?”

  “They normally ask for a demo. You should try to get a least three good songs. Original songs. It would also help if you have a huge following of your own like on Youtube or something. They have to know that they can make money on you.”

  “Do you think that you can help get me a meeting?” He inched closer to her.

  “I can try.”

  JT inched a little closer. They were hip to hip. Diamond held her breath. He leaned in until his face was inches from hers. “Diamond.”

  “Yes?” she whispered. She moistened her lips, preparing for his kiss.

  “I would like you to sing for me. Do you mind?” He stood from the futon and held out his hand.

  She released a slow breath. Normally the guy serenaded the girl but okay. She took his hand and joined him at his computer desk. “What do you want me to sing?”

  “Whatever is in your heart.” JT pushed a few buttons on his computer. Different screens popped up. “I’m going to record it and we can play it back. You ever recorded yourself?”

  She had a long time ago, for a very special someone. “Yeah, once,” she said.

  “Okay, whenever you’re ready.”

  Diamond inhaled deeply. She let the words caress her tongue as they flowed out of her mouth.

  I have a desire for you

  Built up inside

  A passion for you

  That I try to hide

  I have this feeling that just won’t go away

  A feeling, I admit, I want to stay

  I become overjoyed

  whenever you speak

  My heart aches for the love

  only you can give me

  I have a desire for you

  Built up inside

  A passion for you

  That I try to hide

  The feeling came so quickly

  No warning, no sign

  After only minutes

  You were locked into my mind

  No matter how hard

  I try to

  I just can’t deny my love for you

  JT stopped the recording once Diamond finished singing. He hit the play back button. Her sultry tone filled the air. “Wow, that’s crazy,” she said. It sounded better than when she recorded herself in her bedroom. Not to mention her voice had matured from the seventeen-year-old version of that song.

  “I like your tone. Very sexy and intoxicating.” JT pulled Diamond onto his lap. “Did you freestyle that?”

  She stared into his big brown eyes feeling more comfortable with him than she had expected to be. “I actually wrote that for someone years ago. My first love actually, so it’s very sentimental to me. Which means, you definitely have to delete that. I don’t want that floating around.”

  “Oh, no doubt. Don’t worry about that, I’ll delete it.” He eased her hair behind her ear. “You are so beautiful.”

  Diamond bit down on her lip. JT pulled her face closer to his and kissed her. A tingling sensation traveled from her lips down to her toes. His mouth continued to caress hers as his hands massaged her thighs.

  After what seemed like forever they finally broke for air. “Mmm, beautiful, talented, and a great kisser. I definitely got to keep you around.”

  Diamond grinned. She hadn’t been this attracted to a guy since Ryder.

  “So when do you think you can get me a meeting with your boss?”

  Her grin faded. Weren’t they just setting a mood here? “Oh. Well. I don’t know. I will have to check with my boss and see when he’s available. He’s very busy. But he values my opinion a lot.”

  “Awesome, we should definitely make that happen. Okay?” He kissed her lips smothering any verbal response. He moved from her mouth and covered her neck in hot kisses.

  Her head fell back in response to his mouth’s gentle caresses. An overwhelming heat rushed through her body. His wet tongue traveled from her collarbone to her neck to her chin where it stopped. She opened her eyes and looked into his. “Okay, baby?” It was more of a command than a question. He gently nipped at her earlobe.

  Diamond closed her eyes and tried to hold on to her composure. “Okay,” she breathed.

  # # # #

  In the following weeks Diamond and JT became closer. He called her his girlfriend now. They say it takes, normally, three to six months to really get to know someone and to know if that person would make a great boyfrie
nd or girlfriend. But in her case, for the past month, she’d spent every day with JT, so it was normal for things to move faster. Right?

  Let Kimmy tell it, no it wasn’t normal. Nothing was normal for Kimmy when it came to JT. She still held onto that “bad feeling” she got the first night they met. Right now things were going good with her and JT and she wasn’t about to let Kimmy’s “feeling” keep her from having a guy that was totally into her. Her mother always said, you can’t live your life trying to please everyone.

  JT needed a demo to present to her boss, Philip, at Tri Records so being a great girlfriend she volunteered to help him with the songs. She wrote the lyrics and he sung. He was very good at producing beats for the tracks, but her words brought the songs to life. She carried a sense of pride these days. Her dream of being an award winning songwriter seemed closer than ever.

  Today she would approach Philip about meeting with JT. She waited until now because she wanted to have at least one track done and polished just in case he wanted to meet with him right away.

  Diamond knocked on Philip’s glass door to his office. He motioned for her to come inside.

  “Diamond, what can I do you for?” he asked, as he typed.

  “Sorry to bother you, Mr. James, I wanted to speak with you about a new artist that you may be interested in. A friend of mine.”

  Philip looked up from his computer screen. “Sit and tell me about this friend.”

  Diamond took a seat as instructed. “Well, his name is JT and he’s very talented. I’ve been working with him on a few songs and he’s good. I told him that I would talk to you to see if you were willing to meet with him but I made him no promises. He normally does covers at local spots and he has a large following on YouTube.”

  Philip rubbed his chin. ”Does he write his own songs? We would like to have some original material. But if he’s as good as you say that he is then, we could make an exception.”

  “I’m actually helping him with some songs. We have one track done and we are working on a second one.”

  They sat in silence a few minutes while Philip responded to an email. “Well, I tell you what. I trust your opinion. If you say he’s good, then I’m willing to do him a favor, for you. I will get Patrice to set up a meeting with the both of you in a few days. I’ll listen to his demo and go from there.”

  “Oh, thank you so much, Mr. James! You won’t regret it, I promise!” She shook his hand and hurried out.

  When she reached her desk she texted JT: Hey I got great news! I’ll bring lunch by later when I get off at one o’clock and fill you in! -Dee

  FOUR

  Diamond walked down the concrete stairs leading to the basement door. She unlocked the door and entered into the foyer. Her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the basement. She took off her shoes and walked down the hall.

  “Hey you,” she said as she approached the living room. JT sat at his computer desk messing around with his music production software.

  “Hey babe.” He stood and kissed her hello. “What’s in those bags?”

  Diamond placed the bags on the counter in his small kitchen. “Just some takeout for lunch. I figured you would be hungry by now.”

  “Awesome. You know how to take care of your man, girl.” He smiled and took a bite of his egg roll.

  “JT, I don’t see how you can eat egg rolls without duck sauce.”

  “Easy. See.” He took another huge bite.

  “Whatever.” She playfully rolled her eyes and scooped a large helping of chicken fried rice onto her paper plate. JT didn’t own any real dishes only paper plates and paper cups. Thanks to her, he did have real silverware.

  “So babe,” JT said as he chewed, “what’s the good news?”

  “Well, Mr. James agreed to meet with you in a few days to hear your demo!”

  JT mouth hung open. “Wow…really babe?” He buried a greasy kiss into her cheek. “You’re the best!”

  “Ugh, JT.” Diamond wiped the grease and crumbs from her face with a napkin. “You’re welcome. So he asked me if you have any original music and I told him that I was helping you with your songs. I told him that we have at least one good track that we could bring to the meeting.”

  JT sat on the futon with his plate of chicken fried rice and a beer. “I think it would be best if we say that I wrote all the songs. I mean, they gonna want me to come with some original material.”

  “What?” Diamond coughed. She patted her chest. Some fried rice had gone down the wrong pipe. She washed down the remaining food in her mouth with water before speaking. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, JT.” She cleared her throat. “The reason I’m working at Tri Records is to get my name out there as a songwriter. I can’t just give you my music like that. Where would that leave me?”

  JT took a swig of his beer. “Okay, okay. Well if they choose a song that you wrote then we’ll just say that we co-wrote it. Okay?”

  He wasn’t asking for her permission. “Umm—”

  “Babe, just think about it, if the song pops off then you will still get credit for it. Your name will still be on the track as the writer. I just want to be official, babe. I’ve been writing some songs too. Matter of fact, I have a chick on her way over to lay down a few tracks with me on this hook that I’m working on.” He grinned.

  “Wait, what? You have a girl coming over to sing on a few tracks? What tracks? What girl?” Diamond rested her hand on her hip.

  “I wrote a few songs too and I want to get someone else to sing the hook since you are on the other track. You know, just to give it a new vibe.”

  “A new vibe, huh? So when were you going to tell me that you wanted a new vibe?”

  “I’m telling you now.” He shrugged.

  Diamond pulled at her lower lip. First, he wanted to take credit for writing the songs. Then, he wanted to use another chick on the hook. What happened to being in this as a team? It seemed as if he was trying to push her out of the picture all together. “So how did you find this girl?”

  “I placed an ad on Craigslist and had each person send me an mp3 sample of them singing. I chose three girls altogether. If this girl doesn’t work out then I’ll have some backups.”

  Diamond didn’t like the fact that he had found someone else to sing on the track but maybe he was right. Maybe he did need a different sound to show diversity. “Well, I hope you get what you’re looking for before the meeting with Mr. James.”

  “Oh, no doubt. I think this girl is going to do good. I really liked her voice and her tone matches what I’m looking for on this new song. She has more of a pop voice whereas your voice is more sultry and soulful. I can see this joint being played at the clubs.”

  Diamond stared at him as he finished off his beer. He never asked her if she could do pop. Of course she could do pop. She was a songwriter for Christ sake. Being versatile was mandatory. “JT, I could’ve—“

  A knock on the door interrupted her sentence.

  “That’s her!” JT jumped up from the futon and walked briskly to let the girl in.

  Diamond eyed the door. A petite brown skin girl in denim short shorts, a red tank top and red and white high top sneakers walked in front of him. He wore a sly grin with his gaze glued to her ass. Diamond shook her head. Jerk. She stayed in the kitchen as Miss Booty Shorts entered the living room.

  “Diamond this is Stephanie, Stephanie this is Diamond.”

  Just Diamond? Not my girlfriend, Diamond? Play nice. She extended her hand. “Nice to meet you, Stephanie.”

  “Nice to meet you, too.” Stephanie gave her a weak handshake.

  “Nice perfume. That’s the Tangelo scent, right?”

  “Yeah, how did you know?” Stephanie touched her neck.

  “I used to wear that in high school.”

  “Oh.” An awkward silence filled the room. Stephanie glanced at JT then back to Diamond. “So, Diamond, are you a singer too?”

  Diamond looked at JT. “No. I’m not.” She turned, picked up her pla
te with the half eaten food and placed it in the microwave. Her appetite had disappeared.

  Diamond sat in the living room for over an hour watching Stephanie fawn all over JT and he ate it up. JT needed his ego stroked and Stephanie was just the girl for the job. Look at her. Too short shorts with her ass cheeks practically hanging out. Those red false scratch-up-your-back-while-we-have-sex nails that she kept putting on JT’s arm every time she talked. Diamond rolled her eyes. She would’ve gone into the bedroom while they recorded but she didn’t trust Stephanie. She looked like the type that would give a guy head in the back row at the movie theater so she damn sure would do it if she had the room to herself.