Through the mirror’s reflection, I saw Quintin ease up behind me and peer into the booth. The smile he’d brought downstairs was gone when he saw Simone, but then his attention turned to Skye.
“What’s up, beautiful one,” Quintin said.
I was just about to motion to him to be quiet, when Skye did it for me.
“I’m listening to my sister,” she said, waving Quintin away, even as her eyes stayed on the recording booth.
But there had never been a female, or a male for that matter, who’d ever been able to shut Quintin up.
“That’s your sister?”
Skye’s forehead creased with wrinkles. She squinted. “Please!” she exclaimed, though her mouth hardly moved. That was as polite a “be quiet” that Quintin was going to get.
Quintin did shut up, but only for the moment. Without an invitation, he rested on the arm of the chair where Skye sat. She moved to the edge, but that didn’t bother my brother. Quintin stayed, staring at Skye now, while Skye just kept watching Simone.
Then, Simone hit that last note again. This time, she made all of us, including Quintin, stand up like we were at a concert or something.
Miles and I clapped as Skye pushed past us. Simone hadn’t taken one step out of the booth before her sister was all over her.
“Oh my God. You were wonderful,” Skye cried.
“So it was okay?” she asked. The question was supposed to be for Skye, but Simone was looking straight at me.
Okay? Please! I wanted to give her my own hug, but I stood back as Skye held on to her sister like she planned to never let her go.
“You were great,” I said.
“So, I don’t have to do it again?”
“There’s no way you could do it any better.” This time, it was Miles who reassured her. “Trust me, you were off the charts the first time. And what you just did . . .” Miles shook his head like he had no other words. “Trust me,” he repeated, “you don’t have to do it again.” Then, he turned to me. “Am I right or am I right?”
I grinned. Without even knowing it, Miles had just given his approval for our first song.
I was basking in the celebration . . . and then I remembered Quintin. He was standing off to the side, leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed. He was smiling, but it had nothing to do with Simone. His eyes were on Skye–on Skye’s butt, to be specific.
Oh, Lord! I hoped he wasn’t going to try to hit that. Not that I thought he had a chance. I’d just met Skye, but I already knew that she wouldn’t be impressed by Quintin’s smooth talk and suave walk.
Simone grabbed her bag. “May I use your restroom?”
“Sure,” Miles said. “I’ll take you up.”
“I’m going with you,” Skye said, following the two.
I shook my head. With the way Simone had rocked that song, I wondered if we should record another one. Neither one of us had expected Simone’s very first session to go this well, but since we had the time, I figured we should move forward. Hell, with the way we were going, I thought we might have a whole CD by the end of the day. That idea made me chuckle.
“So, what were you guys doing down here?”
My mind was so into the recording session that I’d forgotten about Quintin. Though I had wanted to wait until I had Simone ready as a whole package, there was no reason not to tell him now. He’d just heard her; there couldn’t be any doubts that she was going to be a star.
“You just heard the first single that’ll be released by Tru Harmony.”
“What?”
I was so proud of my discovery that I wanted to beat my chest. “I signed Simone as our first artist.” I grinned.
Quintin waved his hand in the air like he was trying to wipe away my words and my smile. “Man, you’ve got to be kidding me. You want to sign Simone?”
Okay, hadn’t he just heard what I’d heard? “What’s your problem, Q? You just heard her sing.”
“Yeah, I heard her and I saw her. Have you looked at that girl?” he yelled.
“Bring it down,” I warned with an edge in my voice. I was pissed. I couldn’t believe that Quintin was coming out of his mouth like this. What did it matter that Simone wasn’t some pencil-thin model type? She looked better than any of those anorexic-looking women on magazine covers. “There’s nothing wrong with the way she looks,” I whispered, not wanting Simone to hear any of this craziness.
“She’s fat,” he said.
I wanted to punch him just for saying that. But now that we were businessmen, I had to find a better way to handle our disagreements. “What does her dress size have to do with singing? She can rock any song.” I paused so that he could remember what he’d just heard. “And she’s gorgeous.”
“She’s fat,” he repeated as if he was trying to drill that fact into my mind. “She may have a pretty face, but with that body she’s unattractive and, therefore, ineligible. Now, her sister . . . What’s her name?”
“Her sister’s not a singer,” I said, fighting to hold back my anger. There was no way I wanted Simone and Skye to come back down here and see the two of us duking it out, but this fool was about to take me there. “And, anyway, it’s done. We’re signing Simone.”
“No. We’re not. There’s no way I’m gonna sign on to something that will make us the laughingstock of Atlanta.”
I snapped. “What are you talking about!” Now, I was the one yelling. “There are plenty of big girls, gorgeous girls, who sing. Ever heard of Jennifer Hudson, Jill Scott–”
He didn’t let me go on. “And for every one of those, there are a hundred girls who are right and tight.”
For a second, I wondered how Quintin and I had ever become friends, because, right about now, I was embarrassed to even know anyone this ignorant.
“Man, we’re the new kids on the block,” Quintin kept on. “When we step out, we gotta step correct or we’ll find ourselves right back in L.A. working for the man for the rest of our lives.”
“So, you’d rather have some model in here who can’t sing?”
“You don’t have to know how to sing to be a singer. Not with all the equipment we have,” he said, waving his hand over our studio. “We can fix anybody’s voice.”
“So, you just want a studio artist?” I said in a tone that would let him know that was ridiculous.
He shrugged. “As long as she looks good.”
“What about concerts? Personal appearances?”
“She can lip-sync.”
I shook my head. “We’re not passing on Simone.”
“What? You screwing her?”
My fingers curled, turning my hands into two tight fists.
He said, “Simone is never going to be part of Tru Harmony. She’s too fat for us to put our name behind her.”
Just when I was about to deck him, I heard the slow, soft tap of footsteps on the stairs. I froze, wanting to close my eyes and pray, but there was no need to bring God into this mess.
“Hey,” I said with too much enthusiasm as I rushed to meet Simone and Skye at the landing. “I was wondering what happened to you guys.”
Neither Simone nor Skye said a word; both just glared across the room at Quintin. And he stared right back at them.
The air was so thick with tension that I wasn’t sure Simone was going to hear me through the fog, but I talked anyway. “I was thinking we should do another song.”
“I thought we were only going to do one,” she whispered with her eyes still on Quintin.
I swear it looked like she was about to cry. And if she did, I was gonna kill Q, right here, right now. “Yeah, but you did so well,” I said, wanting to reassure her, “that I was thinking we may want to do two tracks.”
She shook her head. “I . . . I . . .” she stuttered, as if she was trying to come up with the right thing to say. “I have to go . . . for a study group.”
I knew that was a lie, but how could I stop her from leaving? And, anyway, it was probably better that she left. Then Quintin an
d I could have it out, because there was no way that I was giving up on Simone.
“Okay,” I said as Skye stomped past me. For a moment, I thought Simone’s sister was going after Quintin. But all she did was grab her purse from the chair. She did pause for a moment, and stare Quintin down, but my frat brother was too arrogant to care.
She swung her purse over her shoulder, just missing Quintin’s nose by inches. Then, she marched back across the room, took her sister’s hand, and trudged up the stairs. Silently, I followed the two, wondering if I should say something to Simone. But I didn’t want to embarrass her any further. I would catch up with her later, take her out to dinner, and tell her to ignore the idiot who fronted as my business partner.
I opened the front door for them and gave Simone a tight hug. “You were fantastic!” I whispered into her ear. “I’ll call you later.”
Her head was down as she nodded and spun away from me. All Skye did was look at me with a stare that told me that if I didn’t take care of my friend, she would. I nodded slightly, and with my eyes told her that I had this whole situation under control.
Usually, I stood and watched Simone pull her car out of the driveway. But not today. I couldn’t wait to close the door. I couldn’t wait to go back downstairs and have it out with Quintin!
Chapter 17
“Code Red! Code Red!”
That was the special signal out among our friends–whenever there was an emergency, Chyanne, Devin, Skye, or I sent out a Code Red. And that’s what Skye had been yelling into her cell from the moment we backed out of Jaylen’s driveway. I wasn’t sure what had come first, her cries out to our friends or my tears that just wouldn’t stop.
She s fat! There was a lot more that Quintin had said, but those two words were the ones that were stuck in my mind. I’d had a lifetime of people saying mean things about my weight, but at least most pretended that they weren’t trying to hurt my feelings. No one had ever been so straight in my face the way Quintin was this morning. Sure, I wasn’t exactly standing in front of him when he went off about how I would never be a Tru Harmony artist, but he knew I was in the house. He knew I would hear him.
I was beyond grateful when Skye found a parking space right in front of my dorm. It was going to be hard enough hiding my tearstained face without having to walk halfway across campus with my head down. I jumped out of her BMW, and was able to keep my cries inside until we rushed into my room and I fell across my bed. Then, I really let it rip.
“Come on,” Skye said as she sat on the edge of the bed and tried to soothe me. “You can’t let this guy get to you.”
“How can I not let him get to me?” I said in a tone that sounded like my sister was crazy. “Quintin is one of Jaylen’s partners. And if he says that he doesn’t want me, then I’ll never be part of Tru Harmony,” I wailed.
“That’s not true. Jaylen wants you. And so does Miles–”
“But not Quintin!”
“Quintin is an ass!”
I was so shocked by my sister’s declaration that, for a moment, I stopped crying.
“Well, he is,” she continued when she saw my expression. She stood up and began to pace the length of my room. “After the way you sang, Quintin should be on his knees thanking God for bringing you into their pitiful company.”
Yeah, I thought. That’s what he should have been doing. But Quintin wasn’t anywhere close to talking to the Lord about me, and just thinking about what he was probably saying to Jaylen at this moment had me crying all over again.
For the last three weeks, I’d been so hyped, walking around actually believing that I was going to be a real singer. But it looked like my dreams were ending before they started.
Why did I keep doing this to myself? Why did I keep getting my hopes up so high? My father tried to tell me, but, no, I wouldn’t listen. Well, Quintin had done what my father wasn’t able to do: Quintin took that dream right out of my heart, grabbed it, tossed it on the floor, and stomped on it. I wasn’t about to put myself in a situation like that ever again. The days of dreaming, of believing, were over.
In the middle of my cries, my cell phone rang. I reached for it, thinking it was Chyanne or Devin, but then pulled my hand back when I looked at the screen.
“Who’s that?” Skye asked.
I didn’t answer her, just switched the phone to vibrate. But even without lifting my head, I knew Skye had figured it out.
“You need to talk to him and get this straightened out.”
I did want to talk to Jaylen. Badly. But what was I supposed to say? And what was he going to say? He would try to make me feel good. Probably even tell me not to listen to Quintin. But my decision was made. There was no way I was going to come between two friends. And there was no way I was going to be the reason why the label wasn’t successful. I was just going to walk away . . . now!
“So, what?” Skye broke through my thoughts. “You’re not going to talk to him?”
I shook my head.
“Why not?”
How could I explain to my strong, beautiful sister that I was so over this drama? How could I tell her that there was no need for me to fight because the fat girl never won? How could I tell her that I wasn’t her?
When I didn’t say anything, Skye threw her hands up in the air. “This is ridiculous,” she shouted, like she was mad at me. “I know you’re not going to give up.”
“Give up what?”
Fresh tears were streaming out of my eyes when I looked up. Chyanne and Devin walked into my room without knocking, like they always did, but today they weren’t wearing smiles.
Skye hadn’t told them what happened. She didn’t have to. When we sent out Code Reds, the only thing we asked was when and where. Knowing my friends, after Skye had told them to meet us at my dorm, Chyanne and Devin had hooked up and then driven here, probably at a hundred miles an hour.
But now that they were here, they wanted to know what was up. Just the thought of repeating what Quintin had said sent me into a new crying frenzy, leaving Skye to fill our friends in.
“Where is he?” Devin demanded to know after Skye finished the story.
“Why?” Chyanne asked with her hands on her hips. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m not gonna do nothin’.” Devin waved his hands in the air. “You think I wanna mess up my fresh manicure?” He leaned back on my bed. “But I got some boys who’ll handle this,” he said. “Trust.”
“Oh, please,” Chyanne said. “Your boys ain’t gonna do a thing.” Then, she turned to me. “But what are you gonna do, honey?” She spoke so sweetly, her tone was filled with such sympathy, that I wanted to cry all over again.
“There’s nothing I can do. I’m just gonna forget all about Jaylen, Tru Harmony, and the recording contract.”
“Why you gonna do that?” the three of them said in unison.
If I weren’t so sad, I would’ve laughed. We really were the best of friends.
’Cause, I began, getting back to the topic, “it’s stupid to keep pursuing this and pursuing this and having my dreams killed all the time.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Skye said. “This is the first time you’ve ever really pursued being a singer. And just because you came up against an ass doesn’t mean that you should give up.”
“Tell it!” Devin raised his hand, as if he was part of Skye’s amen corner. “Preach, sista! When your daddy retires, you’d better jump into that pulpit, ’cause you sure can preach a good word!”
Chyanne shook her head at Devin, but spoke to me. “Skye’s right; you’ve never been a quitter.”
“No, but how am I supposed to fight Quintin? I don’t want Jaylen to have to choose between me and his friend.”
“You’re probably doing the man a favor,” Skye said, before she sucked her teeth. “Because Jaylen doesn’t need to have a friend like Quintin.”
“I agree,” Devin piped in. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to Jaylen. He’s probably over at his hou
se thanking you for showing him what kind of fool he’s in business with.”
“And that’s the key,” I said, sitting up on my bed. “They’re in business together. Quintin has as much to say about this as Jaylen does.”
“That’s why you need to march right back over there and curse Quintin the hell out!” Devin shouted.
Skye gave Devin a high five, but Chyanne shook her head.
With a frown, she said, “That’s not the way to handle it. You should talk to Jaylen and work it out with him.”
Skye said, “That’ll work, because I saw the way Jaylen was looking at you; he has your back.”
“I don’t care what none of you heifers say,” Devin jumped in. “Monnie, you need to get back over there and show Quintin what kind of fighter you are. Kick some ass, baby!” he said, as if I were about to go off to war.
“You don’t need to do that,” Chyanne said.
“She doesn’t have to prove a thing to that fool,” Skye spoke to Devin.
As my sister and friends went back and forth on how I should handle this, I just lay back. My cell vibrated again, and I glanced at the screen. But my crew didn’t even notice, with the way they were arguing back and forth about my life.
My head began to throb as my eyes squeezed out the last of my tears. I’d cried myself right into a headache, and all I wanted to do was lie down and forget about what happened today. But I wouldn’t be able to do that; I wouldn’t get any rest, any peace, while Skye, Chyanne, and Devin debated what was best for me.
My phone vibrated again, and, this time, three pairs of eyes turned to me.
“Is that Jaylen?” Skye demanded to know.
I nodded.
“Take the call,” Chyanne instructed.
That was when I got the idea. “I will call him back later,” I said. “I don’t want to talk to him in front of you guys.”
Skye and Chyanne nodded as if they understood. But not Devin.
“Why can t you talk to him in front of us?” he asked. “Since when do we keep secrets?”
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