One Man's Trash

by Yolanda Allen

  “Well baby, don’t let this get you down. I know it hurts but trust me the pain does not last forever. There will be another guy that will be 100 times better than JT. That guy will love you and cherish you and never hurt you. One man’s trash, is another man’s treasure.”

  “Thank you, Mom. I love you. Please don’t tell Dad, he didn’t really like JT anyway. If he asks how we’re doing, just tell him that I broke up with him but don’t tell him why. It’s embarrassing.” Diamond waved down the livery cab coming down the street.

  “I’m getting in a cab now and going home. I’ll talk to you later, Mom.” She hung up the phone as she hopped into the backseat. The driver sped off after she gave him directions to her apartment. She let her head fall back against the seat. Her phone rung. JT’s photo appeared on her screen. She rejected the call and blocked his number. Her mom’s words replayed in her mind, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. She’d always heard that statement, but today it had a whole new meaning.

  # # # #

  Diamond waited for JT in front of the coffee shop not far from her job. He arrived fifteen minutes after the time they’d agreed upon.

  “Hey,” he said and leaned in for a kiss.

  Diamond turned her head. He kissed her cheek.

  “Are you going to let me explain?” he asked.

  As if there was anything to explain. Seeing a man naked in bed with a woman was pretty much self-explanatory. “Can I please have my key back?”

  “So you’re not going to let me explain?” He put her house key in her hand. “It wasn’t what it looked like, Diamond.”

  “Did you get your phone turned over to someone else’s name?”

  He folded his arms. “So it’s all about business with you I see.” He stared at her for a minute. “Yes, I did get the phone turned over from your name.”

  “Good. Then it looks like we’re done here.”

  “So that’s it? It’s like that, Diamond?”

  “What did you expect, JT? That I would forget what you done just because you can come up with some bogus excuse as to why you were naked in bed with another girl?”

  “You didn’t even let me explain to you.”

  “There’s nothing to explain!” she spat. “I caught you! Point blank period. You can’t explain.” People stared at them. She was done being his fool. “Have fun with Stephanie.”

  JT called after her. She kept her head held high and walked down into the train station. She rarely took the subway but she needed to get out of sight. He wanted to explain. Explain what? Explain how Stephanie had come onto him and he was too weak to say no? Explain what position he had sex with her in? Explain what? How about explaining how he could purposely hurt someone that he said he loved.

  She loved JT. She couldn’t deny that. She coudn’t deny that not having him around wouldn’t hurt. It would hurt. It did hurt. It wasn’t regular pain. It was the someone-just-cut-your-heart-in-half-with-dull-scissors type pain.

  Diamond curled up on her couch. “I blocked his cell number so he’s been calling my phone at work for a week now. I keep sending him straight to voicemail.”

  “What is he saying?” Kimmy put a spoonful of cookies and cream ice cream into her mouth.

  “Just the same thing over and over again. Baby I’m sorry, I messed up, please forgive me, please call me back.”

  Kimmy laughed. “I like your JT voice. You know you actually sound like him.”

  “I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Either I sound like a dude or he sounds like a girl.” Diamond managed to smile. Something she’d rarely done since the breakup.

  “I never did ask you and you definitely didn’t volunteer the info, but did you have sex with him?”

  “Nope. I mean we were moving fast but not that fast. That’s probably why he cheated. But he never talked to me about having sex. I thought he was cool with us just doing the other stuff.”

  “Maybe he never said anything because he was getting the real deal from other chicks the whole time.”

  “Ewww. Just the thought that I could’ve been going behind some other chick. Gosh, Kimmy why did you have to put that thought in my head.”

  “I’m just sayin’.”

  “I’ll be making a doctor’s appointment soon. Who knows what he was doing.” She shook her head. “He’s not giving up though. He’s been waiting for me outside of work wanting to talk, begging for another chance. I keep telling him there’s nothing to talk about and in life you’re not guaranteed a second chance so you have to do right with the one chance you do get.”

  “Exactly. I’m sure he’ll give up eventually though.”

  She took the ice cream from Kimmy and ate a spoonful. “I hope you’re right or I’m going to have to find another place to work.”

  EIGHT

  Diamond walked into her apartment. She locked the deadbolt and put the chain on the door. She placed her two grocery bags on the floor in front of the fridge and headed to her bedroom to get out of her work clothes.

  “Oh. My. Gosh. What the hell?” She put her hand up to her mouth in disbelief. Had the Tasmanian devil come through her bedroom? Her clothes were hanging out of her drawers, some were on the floor. Her sheets had long slits in them like Freddy Kruger had made a surprise visit. Her desk drawers had been turned upside down. Somebody was definitely looking for something. But what?

  She stepped over her pillows and stood in front of her closet. Someone had opened her fire safe and taken all of her music journals. A lifetime of music. The key to the safe was still in the lock. There was only one person who knew where she hid that key. JT. Did he break in and steal her music journals? Who else would have…could have done it? There was no one else who knew about the key, no one else who would benefit from taking her journals.

  How did he get in? The door was locked when she got home. She smacked her palm against her forehead. The key. He made a copy of the key. She shook her head. Get locks changed. Another thing to add to the list. Diamond pulled herself up from the floor. She checked her room to make sure that nothing else was taken. Her journals were the only thing missing. This was definitely JT’s doing. He was mad because she wouldn’t give him those songs for his demo.

  What did he think was going to happen now? That she would come crawling back to him just to get her music back? What he didn’t know was that she had all her songs copied onto a flash drive stashed at her mom’s house and she has the copyrights to all her music. Let him try to use any of her music, she would sue his ass so fast!

  After she cleaned up everything, she put her food away, invited Kimmy over and they ordered pizza. She had lost the energy to cook dinner.

  “I can’t believe he did this, Diamond.” Kimmy cut JT’s face out of the photo the three of them had taken in Times Square. “Are you going to call the cops?”

  “No need.” Diamond smiled to herself as Kimmy nonchalantly butchered every photo with JT in it as if she was working on an arts and crafts project for class.

  “I don’t know why you didn’t change your locks after you broke up with him.”

  “I honestly didn’t think that fool would have made a copy of my key. What was the point of that? Was he anticipating us breaking up or something?” Diamond picked up a photo of her and JT at the park. She took an extra pair of scissors and cut the picture in half. “I was nothing but good to him. I can’t believe he’s doing this to me as if I was the one that cheated. He forced me to break up with him.”

  Kimmy gathered all the little JT heads scattered across the floor and tossed them into a plastic bag. “So what are you going to do about working with him?”

  Diamond shrugged. “I haven’t thought about that yet. They haven’t signed him yet so it’s a possibility that they won’t. He still has to come up with two songs to present to the Board. But if they do end up signing him then…I don’t know.”

  “Diamond, you are too calm about this. It’s almost scary.”

  She laughed. “Kimmy, if I don’t f
orce myself to be calm about this madness that has happened in the past few weeks, I will lose my mind. I may even kill this dude. He is trying his best to drive me crazy. But like my mom always told me, focus on the things that you can change. I can’t change the fact that he cheated, I can’t change the fact that he stole my music but I can change how I react to the things that he does to me. And I can change my damn locks.” They both laughed.

  “In all seriousness, he can’t use my music without legal issues. I have proof that every song he has is written by me. So this little stunt right here, it won’t get him nowhere. I’m not worried about it. He’ll get his, in due time.”

  # # # #

  The next few days went by in a blur. Diamond decided not to tell her parents. She didn’t want them to worry about her. She had new locks and a security system now. Besides she hadn’t seen or heard from JT. Apparently he thought he had gotten what he wanted so she was the last thing on his mind. She guessed Stephanie was busy keeping him entertained anyway.

  She loved JT but she was by no means in love with him. She knew what being in love was like. When you’re in love you wake up every day hoping to get the chance to breathe the same air as that person. You go out of your way to make sure that they are happy and that their needs are met. You cry for weeks because they have a girlfriend and don’t even know that you exist. You make them a homemade copy of a love song that you wrote specifically for them.

  You give them said love song in hopes that it will spark a desire for you in their hearts like you have for them. Each day you wait, hopeful that it will be the day when they tell you that they want to be with you. Five years and she was still waiting. Still hopeful.

  A familiar laugh knocked Diamond back into reality. She stood to look over her cubicle. JT walked out of Phillip’s office with the biggest grin on his face like he had just hit the lottery. He and Philip exchanged a handshake. He sent JT away with a congratulatory pat on the back like a proud father would his son.

  Diamond stood outside her cubicle with her arms folded. She had hoped this day would never come. From the look on both their faces, Tri Records had agreed to sign JT to the label. He walked toward her, never losing his smile. He stopped in front of her and rested his arm on her cubicle.

  “Diamond, it’s nice to see you.”

  “What are you doing here?” She already knew the answer.

  “Tri Records just signed me to their label. Aren’t you happy for me?” A wicked grin was etched across his conniving face.

  “Thrilled.”

  “And I owe it all to you. So thank you for all that you did for me. You really know how to take care of your man.” His evil laugh made her skin crawl. “See you around.” He walked past her.

  “Oh JT, I know it was you. And while you’re walking around here with that smile on your face, you should know, I have backups and everything is with the Library of Congress.”

  The joy drained from his face. Take that, jerk! He turned around and slithered down the hall like the snake that he was.

  “Congratulations!” She called after him before he rounded the corner out of sight. Now it was time for Diamond to sport a wicked grin. She did a one two punch in the air.

  Team DeeAye 1, Team JT 0.

  Her phone beeped. “Yes, Mr. James,” she said into the receiver.

  “Diamond, can you please come into my office. I want to speak with you about the listening party.”

  “Sure.” Diamond hung up the phone and walked into Philip’s office.

  “Have a seat.” He waited for her to be seated before continuing. “I wanted to share some good news with you which I’m sure you may already know. We signed JT to the label! He’s a part of the Tri Records family now.”

  If only he knew the truth, he probably wouldn’t have been so enthusiastic.

  “That’s awesome and yes, I did know.” She faked a smile.

  “We have three new artists, including JT, that we are showcasing at the listening party next week. I know that you have been putting in extra time making sure things are set up. I want the staff to arrive two hours early to help the artists to do their final sound check. Everything else should be taken care of. Are you bringing anyone with you? Friends? Family? Boyfriend?” A fatherly smile spread across his face.

  “No family or boyfriend. Just my best-friend, Kimmy.”

  “Oh, okay. Well at least you have someone to keep you company.”

  Diamond nodded. “Mr. James, I wanted to ask, did the Board give any specific feedback on JT’s demo?” She wrung her hands in her lap.

  “It was okay. Honestly, the song that the Board really liked was the one that he co-wrote with you.”

  Did that mean he didn’t use any of her other music?

  “Which brings me to my second topic of discussion,” Philip continued. “I know that you minored in music and you have a passion for songwriting. That song you did with JT, was extremely good. I could hear that song being played on the radio.”

  “Really?” He definitely had her attention now.

  “Really. I discussed things with the Board and we would like to see more of your work. We love your originality and your sound. With the new artists that we just signed, we’re open to hearing new material that may be featured on their debut albums. The more options we have the better.”

  Her heart did a somersault. Did she just die and go to music heaven? Did he just say that he wanted to see some of her music?

  Philip leaned forward and propped his elbows on his desk. “I want to give you an opportunity to present some music to us. No promises that we’ll use it but I believe you have something there worth exploring.”

  Diamond pinched her wrist. Nope she wasn’t dreaming. “Mr. James, I don’t know what to say…I. Yes, yes, of course. I would love to show you some of my work. This is such an honor, just to be considered. This is so awesome. I would say that I’m speechless but I can’t really be speechless because I just keep rambling on. But I don’t know what to say. Thank you. Thank you.” She nodded forcing her mouth to stay shut.

  Her right leg bounced with excitement. She had to get out of there and run into the bathroom where she could cry. Or scream. Or do her happy dance. Or cry, scream and do her happy dance all at the same time.

  “This is a really big opportunity and I’m excited for you.” He stood from his desk and outstretched his hand. “Keep up the good work, Diamond and no matter what comes of this, keep writing. Okay?”

  “Yes sir, I will. Thank you again for…everything.”

  She made a beeline for the bathroom. She checked every stall. Empty. She stared at her reflection. As if an imaginary DJ had turned on her favorite song, she happy danced in the middle of the floor.

  “Diamond Rochelle Anderson,” she said breathless, “you are on your way girl!” She high fived herself in the mirror, and blew a kiss up to heaven. She straightened her clothes, took a few deep breaths to calm her excitement and exited the restroom.

  NINE

  Diamond arrived at the venue for the listening party exactly two hours before the event was scheduled to start. She thought about making up an excuse so that she wouldn’t have to face JT but she knew that wouldn’t be professional. She needed to stay in Philip’s good graces now that he was giving her a shot at showcasing her music.

  Diamond stepped over wires as she walked past the stage into the back of the venue. She opted for flats tonight in case she would be on her feet for the whole show. She spotted Philip standing in the middle of the floor speaking with two guys on the sound crew. He’d finished giving them their orders when she walked up.

  “Diamond, glad you’re here. I need to put you to work.”

  “No problem. What do you need me to do?”

  “I need you to make sure that the artists that are performing tonight are ready to do their sound check and that the DJ has their music. I need to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. Can you do that for me?”

  “Sure, Mr. James, no problem.�
�

  Philip thanked her and walked away. She looked around at the crowd of people hurrying about putting the last minute things together for the show. She walked into a room that had a big glittery star and a handwritten sign that read ‘Dressing Room’ in big black letters on the door. She pushed the door open. The room was bigger than she’d expected and not too shabby. JT, Token, a rapper from LA, and Vendie, a Rihanna look-a-like, were being pampered by wardrobe and makeup people.

  All eyes turned to her as she made her way into the room. “Hi guys!” Everyone spoke except for JT. No surprise there. “Mr. James wanted me to check on everyone to make sure that you are ready to do your sound check.” Nods and “uh huhs” echoed in the room. “Okay, so the DJ has the music for your set, correct?” They gave the same response as before. “Okay, great. So who is set to go first?” JT’s hand went in the air. “Okay.” Diamond checked the time on her phone. “JT, it looks like you have fifteen minutes to be on stage for sound check. Will he be ready guys?” The two stylists assured her that he would.