Love U Down

1. Myome Ross

MYOME ROSS

Itapped my pen on the boardroom table in front of me and did my best not to seem uninterested.

Charm, Retta, and I had heard all of this before.

We were amazing artists and people loved our work ethic but there was something missing.

Our manager Allison gave us the same rundown every time we were about to get into something that could potentially be huge for our girl group, Radiant Reverie.

“Look, I’m not sure why you ladies aren’t making the noise you should be making with your talent but I think this next song can change everything.”

“What’s the next song?” Retta crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her seat. “We submitted like six.”

“None of them. I was actually hoping to get you in the studio and have you work on something completely new.”

“What?” Retta sat up in her seat. “Allison, our album is due—”

“I know when your album is due and it’s going to come out on time, but unfortunately this is the only time we could get Drix in the studio.”

I paused and looked at Charm and Retta who were just as shocked as me.

Drix was somewhat of a legend to us. At age nineteen, he’d released a ten-song rap album with one singular feature— his younger brother Rome—and had taken the charts by storm.

Everyone had been amazed that not only had he written all of his lyrics but he’d produced, mixed, and mastered his entire album at such a young age.

Then, the album had gone diamond. He did one tour, twenty-two dates, collected his check and stopped rapping, just like that.

A decade had already come and gone and he was still only producing music for others.

Even then it was hard to get ahold of him when people were fighting to get in the studio with him and he was in and out of jail somewhat frequently for his temper that he was known for just as much as the slick lyrics and how hard it was to get him to sign off on a song he didn’t fully back.

Everyone called him a hit maker and the running rumor was if he couldn’t produce a hit for someone, they didn’t need to be in the industry.

We’d all heard horror stories about how anal he was with every meticulous piece of music he put his name on, but even if those rumors were true, I wasn’t tripping about it.

Shit. I hadn’t heard a flop come out of his studio yet.

“Drix?” Charm repeated. “You’re fucking joking, right?”

“Nope.” Allison smirked. “I had to move a lot of things around but I was able to get you an appointment; so you’re welcome.”

“Thank you, Allison,” we said in sync.

“If you want to thank me, please just make sure this meeting goes well.”

“We’ve got this,” Retta assured her. “Don’t worry.”

“Okay. Good. Because the money we’re pouring into this is eating our budget alive. I had to move a lot of stuff around to make this happen. We can’t afford to fumble this opportunity. Just be your usual professional and hardworking selves and don’t get starstruck.”

“We’ve got this,” Charm said. “Relax.”

“Okay, okay.”

“When is the session?” I asked.

“In about”—Allison looked at her watch—“An hour and a half.” She exhaled. “So, go ahead and get a move on. It’s better to be early than late.”

“We’ll be there on time.” Retta waved her off.

“Alright and call me immediately after the session.”

“Yes ma’am,” Charm giggled. “We’ll keep you up to date on everything.”

“Good. Thank you.” Allison grabbed her phone the second it rang and put it to her ear. “Hello? Yeah. I can talk.” She spun and headed out of the room, leaving us at the table.

The second the door closed, Retta danced in her seat and squealed.

“We’re meeting Drix today!”

“For a song,” I reminded her. “Not to be social.”

“Girl, how are we supposed to work with the man and not talk to him?”

I pursed my lips but didn’t respond because I didn’t want to be offensive and tell her that she definitely had groupie behavior sometimes. The last thing I needed was to have to lay in her ass today when we were heading toward a high.

Retta and I were both from well off families but she treated this entire group like a side project. She didn’t have the same drive as Charm and me.

I was fighting to make my dream come true and didn’t have a backup plan to fall on if this didn’t work.

I couldn't afford for it to not work. That wasn’t even an option at this point.

My family would ultimately make sure I didn’t end up homeless but the pressure to succeed pushed me to keep at this until I made it or lost my ability to sing, rap, and perform.

Charm understood that. She’d been in the foster system young and had gotten recruited while she was performing at a talent event just trying to make quick cash for a motel.

“You know that’s not what Myome is trying to say,” Charm offered. “All we’re saying is we have to be professional.” She climbed to her feet without giving Retta a chance to respond. “Let’s go, in case we get stuck in traffic.”

“Alright.” Retta rolled her eyes but pushed up from her seat and I followed suit.

The three of us slipped into the backseat of the company car and Retta immediately connected her phone to the Bluetooth and played Drix’s music. I rapped and bobbed along while we rode through the city toward the studio.

When we got to the location, we were dropped off at the front door and walked straight to the front desk.

“Hi. We’re here looking for Drix,” Retta said proudly.

The receptionist looked us up and down, rolled her eyes, and looked at the computer screen. I looked over at Charm who met my gaze.

“Should I curse her out?” I whispered.

“What happened to being professional?” Retta teased.

“Yeah, okay.” I checked my phone while the receptionist typed away on the computer.

“He’s in room three,” she announced. “Have a good session.”

“We will,” Retta sang.

Charm walked down the hall and we followed her. Retta took her phone out, put the front camera on, and started looking at different angles of her face.

I wiped my hands on the thighs of my jeans.

Even though I was trying to play it cool, I had to admit that not only was this exciting but it was a little nerve-wracking. One shoutout from Drix could change a lot for us. I was getting more nervous the further down the hall we got.

When we made it to the correct studio door, Retta knocked twice before pushing it open. Music blasted so loudly I immediately knew they hadn’t heard Retta knocking. There was weed smoke in the air and at least seven people sitting around.

A man sat on the couch with two women leaning into him.

Drix’s brother, singer and songwriter Rome, sat on the other couch with the other half of his professional duo, Merch.

At least four women danced in the middle of the room together, and although he was facing away from us, I was sure Drix sat at the soundboard with a woman seated beside him, a hand on Drix’s knee.

Everyone outside of Drix and the woman beside him turned to look at us.

Retta’s confidence seemed to slip immediately and she took half a step back.

“Hey.” I lifted my hand awkwardly. “I’m Myome and we’re Radiant Reverie.” I gestured between the three of us. “We have an appointment with Drix.”

“Ay, Drix. Yo’ appointment is here,” the man wedged between the two women announced.

My breathing hitched when Drix spun around with a blunt resting in his mouth.

He shifted it and blew smoke out. Even sitting down it was obvious that he was tall and well built.

He had hair that was cut short on the sides but left to grow at the top and the prettiest, light brown eyes I’d ever seen.

Tattoos littered both of his arms and one of his hands.

He wore a plain black shirt and gray joggers with matching black and gray kicks, a blinged out watch on one arm, and two nice-sized chains around his neck.

He gave us a onceover and small smirk. Then he plucked his blunt out of his mouth.

“What’s up?” he greeted us. “Y’all ready to work now or need a minute?”

“We’re ready now,” Charm said immediately.

“Cool.” Drix climbed to his feet and I immediately realized he was much taller than he looked in photos. He hit a button and the music stopped. “Everybody who ain’t in the girl group, get the fuck out,” he said simply.

The dancing women looked around like they were shocked by that statement but Merch and the other man hopped up immediately.

The one wedged between the two women said something to them that had them climbing up with him and we moved aside so they could file out.

“Ay, I’m not going to repeat myself. I’ve got work to do.”

“But Drix—”

“Move yo’ mouth less and them ashy ass feet more, lil mama.” He turned back toward the soundboard and started pressing buttons.

“We thought—”

“Rome, get yo’ homegirl before shit goes left,” he warned without looking back.

Rome hopped up and closed in on them.

“Ay, come on, y’all. It’s always a pleasure to see y’all but y’all heard my brother. He has work he needs to do and the last thing we want is for him to start tripping.”

The women grumbled but headed out. Rome collapsed onto the couch and got back to doing what he was doing.

Drix finished then turned back toward us.

“I heard y’all old shit and narrowed the choices down to three different beat options for y’all to hop on,” he announced. “Go ahead and have a seat while I cue up the first one.”

“You listened to our music?” Retta asked as we walked further inside and sat on the couch together.

“I don’t work with nobody I don’t research. I don’t have time to waste.”

“So, you liked our work?”

Drix lifted an eyebrow. “It was alright but that shit can use some work for sure.” He looked between us. “Who is who?”

“I’m Retta,” she said immediately. “And this is Charm and Myome.”

He nodded at that. “Alright. Well, Retta, you can get yo’ verse off and shit but don’t put yo’ ass on this mothafuckin’ chorus.”

“We haven’t even written the song yet.” Charm forced a lil smile.