5. Myome
MYOME
When I woke up, memories of the night before rushed through my head.
I lay for a little before I yawned and rolled onto my other side to get a better look at the room.
I vividly remembered going to the studio with Drix and him asking if I was okay with staying at his place.
That meant I was somewhere in his house and noted the bed in his guest room was even softer than the bed in my actual bedroom.
I grabbed my phone, checked the screen, and jolted up.
Shit. I had practice with Retta and Charm in two hours.
I wasn’t going to make it. Even if I called an iDrive at this second, I still had to wait for it to pick me up, bring me to my house to take care of my hygiene and get dressed, then drive out to rehearsal.
Fuck.
I hopped out of bed and rushed out of the bedroom. I looked around for Drix’s primary bedroom to see if maybe he could just take me home. I’d still be late but every moment counted.
I knocked lightly on his bedroom door and waited… and waited. Then, I knocked harder.
“What’s up?”
I pushed the door open and peered inside.
Drix was on his side, blanket at his waist and his bare chest on display. He yawned as he lifted onto his arm.
“What’s up?” he repeated.
“I need a ride home to get clothes and my car for practice.”
“My sister got you clothes downstairs.” He collapsed back on his pillow. “Take a set of keys off the hook.” He rolled over, so his back was to me.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yeah, man. Just don’t wreck my shit.”
“Okay.” I took a step back. “Goodnight.”
He didn’t respond but I stepped out and closed the door behind me.
I rushed down his stairs, looking both ways as I hit the bottom. I paused when I saw Chandler. When he said that she’d brought me clothes, I hadn’t realized she would still be in the house.
She gave me a small smile as our gazes met.
“Good morning,” she greeted.
“Good morning,” I echoed as I closed in on her.
She gestured toward the several bags sitting on the kitchen counter.
“I got these for you.”
I whistled.
“That looks like a lot, Chandler.”
“Yeah, well, the last thing we need is you consistently bringing clothes back and forth from your spot to your supposed husband. It makes sense for you to have clothes and stuff here.” She picked the bags up and offered them to me.
“I got you a little bit of everything, so hopefully you can find something to wear for today at the bare minimum.”
“I’m sure I can.” I nodded. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
I headed toward the stairs and Chandler walked over to the pantry.
When I got back to the room I’d slept in, I quickly tossed the bags onto the bed and went through them.
She’d gotten me all the hygiene products I needed and even some I didn’t, a pair of jeans, several sets of leggings, a few pairs of athletic shorts, socks, underwear, sports bras, and a handful of T-shirts.
I settled on leggings and a T-shirt, took a quick shower, and headed back downstairs, where she was now sitting at the island.
“I made eggs, toast, and a smoothie,” she offered. “Drix isn’t usually big on breakfast so I didn’t even think to pick anything up.”
“Oh.” My eyes widened slightly. “Thank you.”
I settled into the seat across from her where she already had a plate waiting. I took a bite of eggs and washed it down with the smoothie before looking up at Chandler.
She was even prettier up closer, her eyes focused on her phone as she absently scrolled with one hand, the other holding her smoothie. She took a slow sip then looked up at me.
“Thank you,” I blurted. “For whatever it is you said to Drix to get him to agree to help out my career like this.”
“Trust me, I am being completely selfish in trying to help him have a clean image.” She set her phone on the table. “I’m glad this can help both of you though.”
“Me too.” I exhaled.
“Drix is a little…”
“Rude?” I guessed.
“Sure.” She giggled. “He’s a little rude but he’s good people. He’s never done fucked up shit to anyone who hasn’t done it to him first.”
I nodded.
“He told me something similar.” I picked up my piece of toast and took a bite.
“Believe him,” Chandler said. “As long as you respect him, he’ll respect you and we can keep this thing going for as long as we both need.”
“That’s the plan.” I nodded.
“Good.”
Chandler exhaled and took another drink of her smoothie. I took a drink of mine in response.
“So, what are you and the team working on?”
“Today?” I asked. “Endurance. We’ll be singing, rapping, and dancing all morning.” I looked at the time on my phone and immediately started eating a little faster.
Chandler must have noticed I was now rushing because she didn’t ask a follow up question. She went back to tapping on her phone for a few minutes before a call came through and she excused herself from the room.
I finished eating, washed my plate and cup, grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, and glanced at the magnetic calendar on Drix’s fridge. I plucked up the dry erase marker and wrote him a quick note.
Thanks for everything. I’ll bring your car back in one piece. Promise.
I drew a heart then scribbled my name beside it and headed out.
I picked the first keys my hand touched and was thankful they were for his little sports car instead of his truck or the bigger car.
I loved small vehicles because despite the fact that I’d gotten my license as soon as I was legally able, I didn’t trust my parking to save my life and driving someone else’s vehicle was already stressful enough.
The car was cleaner than I expected and there was a charger already plugged into the middle console with an adapter for three different phone types.
I connected my phone to the Bluetooth then backed out carefully and hit the road.
When I walked into rehearsal, Charm was still sitting on the stage stretching and Retta was walking through an eight count while our choreographer sat in front of where we would line up. I quickly walked over to Charm and collapsed onto the ground in front of her to start stretching.
“And where have you been, ma’am?” she teased.
“I fucking slept in,” I groaned.
“Late night last night?”
“Something like that.”
“Doing what?” Retta looked back at us.
“Whatever the fuck I want,” I snapped then looked back at Charm. “I was at the studio till four this morning with Drix.” I stretched to the right.
“You got him to cut a track?”
“No. Hell no. That man is not getting on anyone’s track.” I giggled. “He was producing for Trapp.” I switched to the left.
“After the shit that went down outside of his party?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “I guess Trapp was cool with getting his ass whooped.” I leaned to the front and took a few deep breaths before sitting up again and pulling one of my legs.
“So, what happened after the studio?” Charm asked.
“Nothing. We went back to his place and went to sleep.”
“In separate beds?” Retta asked.
I shrugged and stretched my other leg.
I would have told Charm we slept separately without a second thought, but I wasn’t telling Retta that kind of information, especially when she was fishing for it.
Charm and I were friends. Retta and I were coworkers. I could talk to and laugh with the latter but I wouldn’t pretend we were close or give her ammo to ruin my career or reputation.
It was bad enough she knew Drix and I had agreed to stay married for appearances. I wouldn’t give her specifics. I would probably lie occasionally, just to keep her on her toes. I lived by the whole “confuse the enemy” thing.
“Please tell me you’re not sleeping with that man when he’s barely washed the last groupie bitch out of his sheets,” Retta scoffed.
“I’m not worried about the last groupie when I’m the first and only wife.” I plastered a fake smile on my face. “And if I’m not worried about my husband, you shouldn’t be either.”
Husband. The fact that I even had the ability to call Drix my husband still blew my mind.
“Alright, ladies.” Our choreographer clapped her hands and climbed to her feet. “Are you ready to roll? I have ideas I want to try, so grab your microphones and get in formation. I want Charm in the middle to start.”
We all nodded and Charm and I climbed up. I stretched my arms as we walked to the microphones.
We plucked them up and made our way to the center of the stage while the choreographer took the space in front of us and counted us in.
She ran us through all of the songs we already had. Then she made us go through them two more times before turning on the music and attempting to perform our songs and lip sync.
We wouldn’t be rehearsing with real vocals for at least a few weeks.
By the time rehearsal finished, I felt dehydrated, which wasn’t surprising considering I was drenched in sweat.
“Fuel,” Allison announced as she walked inside the room, two plastic bags in hand.
Charm clapped as Allison closed the space between us. She set the bags on a little table, ripped it open, and collected the containers inside. She handed one to each of us then perched at the edge of the stage.
“Alright, ladies. I know your schedule has been jam packed and I’m sorry about that.
Genuinely. It’ll be much less work tomorrow.
Those schedules have already been sent to all of you and can be found on our shared calendar.
” She pulled her phone out and tapped the screen a few times.
“Your last single is doing amazing numbers. It’s spiked two hundred and sixty-four percent per the last update and people are dying to get Myome in interviews. ”
“But you can spin that for the group, right?” Retta asked.
“Of course.” Allison nodded without looking up from her phone. “Do you think you could get Drix to share the single?” she asked.
“Uh. I can try.”
“Great. Get on that for me please.”
I nodded and tapped my pockets briefly before I realized I didn’t have any. I grabbed my phone from the far side of the stage and texted Drix.