One Man's Trash

by Yolanda Allen

  “Well, I want you to move back home.”

  “Dad! No, I’m not allowing some lowlife to run me out of town. I’m fine there. He’s not a threat to me. He’s just a loser that will do anything to make it.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of. He’ll do anything to make it.”

  Diamond huffed. “I’m not moving, Dad. I have a great opportunity to pursue my music career. I can’t just throw that away now. Once I get everything settled with this theft business then I can move on. I’m sure the label will drop him after I prove that he’s a no good lying piece of trash. I can sue him, right Dad?

  “You can’t really sue him because as you said you don’t have the song copyrighted by the Library of Congress.”

  “But I have proof that it was written years ago. I mean I will pay for a handwriting analyst to verify that I’m not lying about the date it was written if I have to.”

  “What did your boss say about the matter?” her mom asked.

  “He won’t allow JT to sing the song until I can prove that I wrote it.”

  “Well that’s a good thing. We shouldn’t have anything to worry about once you have the proof. I suggest that you copyright that song as soon as you find that CD,” her dad said.

  If she found the CD.

  TWELVE

  Diamond’s feet pounded the pavement. She loved running in the early morning. Just her and nature, well that’s if you didn’t count the never-ending thoughts of Ryder that kept barging their way into her head. She ran her third lap around the track. Her feelings for Ryder had come back as if they’d never left. She’d just gotten to the place where she didn’t think about him every day. She was just being able to date someone without comparing every single gesture, word, or action to Ryder. Well to her ‘Fantasy Ryder’. Considering that she’d never dated him she just assumed that he would do everything perfectly.

  She laughed at herself for her foolish girlish thoughts. Only a teenager would think a guy is perfect. Even though she hadn’t dated many guys, she learned quickly that no one was perfect. Her fantasy of the perfect life with Ryder was something that she revisited often when she wanted to escape her reality.

  Sometimes fantasy was a lot better than reality. It was easy to pretend that they were together living happily ever after with their two point five kids, a little dog and the white picket fence. Fantasy Ryder thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He brought her flowers every day when he got home from work, just because.

  Fantasy Ryder was happy and content being with her and only her. She never felt like she was competing for his attention.

  She was enough.

  But now Ryder was actually back in her life. And it scared her. What if her lifelong dream finally came true and she ended up being Mrs. Ryder Gillian and he was completely different from Fantasy Ryder. She realized that she’d only known of him. They never had any deep meaningful, get-to-know-you conversations before. By the time she was old enough to date, he was being hauled off to prison.

  She’d only saw two sides of Ryder growing up. The loving brother to her best-friend side and the lead singer in the band side. Who was Ryder the boyfriend? She’d never heard any bad things about his relationship with Erica, but that doesn’t mean anything. You never know what’s really going on in someone’s relationship. You’re just on the outside looking in. What if he was so far from what she’d created in her mind? What if he was a jerk like JT?

  She ran harder at the thought of JT. Ryder could never be a JT even on his worst day and she didn’t need to have a deep meaningful, get-to-know-you conversation to know that about him.

  She didn’t know why she was even entertaining these thoughts. Ryder hadn’t even said anything to her to give her the idea that there was even a possibility that she would ever be more to him than just his brother’s best-friend.

  Diamond put the Brita water pitcher back into the fridge. “Hello.” She grabbed her cup off the counter and took a sip.

  “Diamond, it’s Ryder.”

  Water spewed out of her mouth. She coughed. Ryder? She placed the cup onto the counter near the sink, yanked off a piece of paper towel and wiped off the water from her chin. “Ryder. Hey. Hi, how’s it going?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Oh, yeah.” She wiped up the small puddle of water on the floor. “I just came back from a run and was dying of thirst, so I was drinking a little too fast.” She did just come from a run. She was dying of thirst. But it was the sound of his name that choked her up. “What’s up? Any good news?”

  “Unfortunately, no. Ryan checked the attic. Nothing. We found out that my parents put a lot of my stuff in storage too, so we spent all day yesterday and this morning going through everything. Nothing.”

  Diamond sighed. “Is there any where else it could possibly be? Did you only listen to it in your room? Did you stash it somewhere secretly?” She was grasping for straws.

  Ryder remained silent for a minute. “You know what. I do remember packing up a box of my best-friend, Daniel’s things and taking it over to his family. You remember Daniel, right?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Yea, well, maybe I accidentally put the CD in that box.”

  “Can you call them? Do you think they still have it?”

  “I can call them to see if I can come over to look through his things. It’s been five years since he died, so I’m not sure if they even kept his things. Some people can’t handle having constant reminders around.”

  “I can go with you. I mean, if you want me to.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Yeah?” She realized she sounded a little too excited. “I mean, okay, cool.”

  A little laugh came through the phone. “I’ll come by and scoop you up in about fifteen minutes.

  Diamond hung up the phone and raced upstairs to get out of her running clothes. She needed to take a shower. She had to cut the shower down to five minutes, tops. She hopped in, let the warm water run all over her body and washed under her arms, her cooch, and her butt. The important parts.

  Five minutes later she was out and slipping into a pair of black shorts, an army print tank top and black flip flops. She sprayed her hair with a refresher and pulled it back into a messy bun. Earrings. Lip gloss. Eyeliner. Mascara. She was ready to go.

  She took the stairs two at a time. She looked out the window to see Ryder’s Range Rover pulling up. She didn’t want to seem anxious so she waited for him to honk the horn. He didn’t honk. He got out the car and headed toward her front door. She swung open the door. “Hey, Ryder. You didn’t have to get out the car.”

  They stood in the middle of the driveway. “I didn’t want to honk. My mom always told me that it was rude to honk your horn when you are going to pick up a lady for a date. I guess it just stuck with me.” His mouth turned up into a sexy grin.

  “Well this is not a date, so you could’ve honked.”

  “You are a lady, so no, I couldn’t have.” He bit down on his bottom lip and scanned her from head to toe unapologetically. His gaze finally made it back to her face. “I guess we should get going.”

  She guessed so too. He didn’t move until she started walking in front of him. She swayed a little harder just in case he was admiring her walk. She laughed at herself. Sexy women swayed. She reached for the door handle.

  “I got that.” He opened the passenger’s side door.

  “Thanks.” Once she was settled in he closed the door gently and hurried around to the driver’s side. She was in Ryder Gillian’s car. Countless times she had dreamed of riding in the front seat of his car. As his girlfriend, of course. The few times that she had ridden in the car with him she was always in the backseat because Ryan always called shotgun.

  He started the ignition and adjusted the air. “If it gets too cold in here for you, let me know.”

  “Thanks.”

  His green eyes squinted as his face lit up into a smile. “I watched you grow up. Literally.” He pulled
out into the street. “You really grew up.”

  Diamond smoothed her hair back. “Well that’s normally what kids do. Grow up.”

  Ryder laughed. “True. True. I guess what I’m trying to say is that you blossomed.”

  Blossomed? He thought she’d blossomed. Like from ugly duckling to a beautiful swan type blossomed. Or from a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly type blossomed. Many people don’t use the term blossomed unless they are trying to call you beautiful. Right? She hoped she was right.

  “Thank you Ryder, that’s nice of you to say.” She looked straight ahead but could see him staring at her out the corner of her eye. She glanced over to catch him but he was looking at the road. She turned her attention to the road ahead. Blossomed. She bit down into a smile.

  They arrived at Daniel’s parents’ house. A young lady opened the door. “Ryder, so nice to see you.” They hugged.

  “Pamela, this is Diamond Anderson, she’s my brother’s best-friend. The one I mentioned to you on the phone.”

  “Yes, of course. Nice to meet you, Diamond.” They shook hands.

  They followed Pamela into the living room. Her parents weren’t home. She mentioned that they were on vacation. “Ryder, his room is still the same. My parents won’t touch it. You can go in there and look around to see if you can find what you’re looking for.”

  He touched Diamond’s shoulder. “I’ll be back. And don’t worry Pamela doesn’t bite.”

  “Not hard anyway,” Pamela teased.

  Ryder walked down the hallway.

  “Have a seat, Diamond.”

  Diamond sat on the couch adjacent to Pamela. She looked at the family photo on the table. Pamela, Daniel, their mom and dad and a small white dog. Pamela noticed her staring.

  “That was taken a year before Daniel died.” She picked up the frame. “Him and Ryder were inseparable. He took it hard when Daniel was killed. Extremely hard.” She placed the picture frame back in its place. “After Daniel’s death, Ryder spiraled. No one could talk to him. Next thing you know, he was going to jail.”

  Pamela looked at Diamond. Hurt from the past lived in her eyes. “He’s like a brother to me. A son to my parents. It was like they had lost Daniel all over again when Ryder went to jail. They’re going to be happy to know he’s out now.” She managed a smile. “I’m sorry. I just get emotional sometimes thinking about my brother.”

  “Pamela, please, you don’t have to apologize. I understand.”

  “Did you ever meet him? Daniel?”

  Diamond laughed at the memory. “I used to sneak into the garage and listen to them play. They rarely let Ryan and me in there since we were younger. They always told us, ‘this is for big kids.’ But we snuck in. They were awesome. They inspired Ryan and me to start performing. The things that Daniel did with that guitar. Nothing short of amazing.”

  Pamela wiped a tear away. “My brother.” She let out a shaky breath and tried to smile away her tears.

  Diamond stood. “Can I please give you a hug?”

  Pamela laughed. “Yes. Yes you can.” They squeezed each other tightly as if they were long lost friends being reunited. Just as they broke away Ryder waltzed into the room.

  “Bingo!” He held a plastic case in his hands.

  Diamond eyes grew wide. She rushed over to Ryder, snatched the CD from his hand. She needed to touch it to know it was real. To Ryder From Diamond aka DeeAye Undeniable Love stared back at her. She swung her arms around his neck. “Oh my gosh! You have no idea what this means to me!” She pulled back and looked into his eyes. “Thank you, Ryder. Wow.”

  “I’m glad I could help.” He touched her lightly on the arm. “So now you have the proof that you need to keep that asshole from stealing your song.”

  “Yep.” She opened the case and read over the lyrics. She met Ryder’s gaze. Moments of silence passed between them. No one looked away.

  “Well, glad you found your CD, Diamond.” Pamela broke the silence. “Ryder, it was so great seeing you.” She hugged him tight. “Make sure you come back to visit when mom and dad are back in town, ya hear?”

  “Most definitely, sis. I’ll be back. And thanks again.” He kissed her goodbye and escorted Diamond to the car.

  She couldn’t stop staring at the CD. Ryder pulled his seatbelt on. “You know what. I think we need to celebrate.”

  She looked over. “Yeah we should! I’ll call Ryan.” She reached into her purse for her phone.

  Ryder put his hand over hers. “We.” He pointed at the two of them. “As in you and me. We should celebrate.”

  Diamond dropped her purse back onto the floor between her feet. We? Us? “How do you want to celebrate?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. Dinner. Drinks. You down?”

  Hells yeah! “Sure.” She shrugged. “Why not?”

  Ryder smiled and pulled off. Diamond stared out her window. Was this considered a date? Her and Ryder Gillian eating and drinking together. Alone. In a restaurant. In public. She happy danced inside.

  Diamond scooted into the booth a Tango’s Steakhouse. Ryder sat across from her.

  “Sorry I couldn’t take you somewhere more classy. I’m a little tight on money since I had to quit my job.”

  Just being in his company was good enough for her. They could’ve been eating in a cave full of bats right now and she wouldn’t have mind. Well maybe she would have since she’s deathly afraid of bats. But anywhere with Ryder was better than anywhere without him.

  She scanned the menu. It was her first time eating at Tango’s but she’d heard great things about it. It had been on her ‘Yelp To Try’ list for a few months but she hadn’t had the chance to go before moving to New York. “I’m actually glad you chose this spot. I’ve been meaning to try it out.”

  “Well good. I’m glad I didn’t disappoint.”

  “You could never disappoint.” The words slid out before she had time to filter them.

  He wore a crooked grin. “Well it’s good to know there’s at least one person I can’t disappoint.”

  “You feel that you disappointed your parents, huh?”

  “I know I did. I let them down. I let myself down.” He stared off into space. “I had a lot going for myself before I went to jail. But I’m determined to get my life back on track. It’s never too late, you know.”

  “No, it’s not.” She accidentally kicked his foot under the table. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to hit your foot. I wasn’t trying to play footsies with you.” She giggled.

  “I wouldn’t mind.” His lips parted showing his beautiful smile.

  His dazzling smile.

  “So…you said that you quit your job? Why was that?

  He lowered his eyes to the menu. “Long story. Maybe one day I’ll fill you in.”

  She smiled. So he planned on seeing her again? “Fair enough.”

  The waitress arrived. Diamond watched Ryder’s lips as he ordered his steak dinner. So yummy. Perfect.

  “Ma’am?”

  Busted.

  Ryder chuckled.

  “Sorry. I’ll have the same, thanks.” They handed the waitress their menus.

  “So, Miss DeeAye, what made you move to New York?” he asked.

  “Music. I’ve always wanted to be this famous songwriter. I was working down at Steel Blue café, and that didn’t pan out so I hopped the next thing smoking to the Big Apple. Not so sure that was the best decision now.”

  “Bob still runs Steel Blue?”

  “Yep. He promised me another position there and at the last minute decided to keep his wife off his tail by hiring her nephew. So I basically had to go with Plan B.”

  “Steel Blue. Bittersweet memories. So why do you say you may not have made the right decision to move to New York?

  “The issue with the song. I never expected something like this to happen. I got involved with the wrong dude and he took advantage of me."

  “Well I’ve learned that hardly ever does life go directly according to plan. So you hav
e to be able to adjust with the detours, the road blocks, and whatever else you run into on this road called life.”

  “I just want to thank you again, Ryder. It was nice of you to even care enough to try to help me with this issue.”

  “You don’t have to keep thanking me.” He smiled. “I’ve known you since you were a little girl, I would be a really horrible person to not help you when you needed me. And I’m not a horrible person. Contrary to popular belief.”

  “Despite what you did, Ryder, I don’t think there’s anyone that would say you’re a horrible person. You were suffering and acted out. Your best-friend had just died in a car wreck. No one blames you for what you did, Ryder. The guy was a known trouble maker. Always starting fights with people. You were provoked.”