5. Myome #2
Me: Hey. I was just wondering if you could share Radiant Reverie’s latest single on your socials? If not, it’s okay.
I watched as Drix read the message, but after he didn’t text back in three minutes, I locked my phone and popped my food container open.
I took three bites and hummed at how good it was.
“You’re an angel and so is that man.” Allison shimmied in place.
I lifted an eyebrow. “What?”
“That post is perfect.”
I unlocked my phone again and went to my socials. Drix had actually tagged me in a post. My followers were jumping up so quickly my phone was glitching. I did my best to get to my settings and turned all notifications off. Then I went to Drix’s page to see what he’d tagged me in.
He’d actually posted the video of us that had been shared on his story the night we’d gotten married. The video was muted and Radiant Reverie’s song played over it instead.
He’d put a simple caption.
Get wifey’s new shit.
He put a ring emoji after the caption and tagged my page and the official Radiant Reverie page.
I liked the post and shared it to my story with a simple ring emoji as well.
Shit. We’d had other people post us before but this was our first time posting things ourselves. Damn. We were social media official.
“Look at how our numbers are jumping on the official page.” Allison held her phone toward us and I glanced at the notifications popping up on her phone while I shoveled food into my mouth.
“Damn. Share one of my pictures to your page.” Retta sucked her teeth.
Charm giggled.
I shook my head, took another bite, and damn near choked when I saw Drix’s name pop up on my phone. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion and I waited a beat to see if he’d called on accident but he didn’t hang up after three rings so I answered.
“Hello?”
“You saw yo’ post?” he asked.
“I did. Thank you so much. Me and the girls appreciate it for real.”
“So you got what you need?”
“Yep.”
“Good. Chandler put the song on that video. She’s good at that whole social media shit.” He didn’t pause. “Since we’re fanning the flames and shit and I did you a favor, I need something in return.”
“Okay. Yeah, sure. What do you need?”
“My family does dinner at seven on Sunday every week. You’re family now, so I need you to show up and act like a wife because Chan has it in her head that somebody gon’ notice if you’re not there.”
“Okay.” I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. “I can do that. Just let me know what to wear and how you want to show up.”
“You can wear whatever. Shit. Stupid ass Rome will probably be in sweatpants. Just show up to my spot and we can ride together or I’ll pick you up at your spot.”
“Okay. Sounds good. Uhm, what do your parents like? Flowers? Cigars?”
“For what? You trying to kiss up to them?”
“Yep. That’s what wives do,” I snipped.
“Oh word?” He laughed. “Man, my mom likes flowers and shit. My pops likes whiskey. I can pick some shit up and slap your name on it.”
“I’m capable of getting whiskey and flowers, Drix.”
“Alright. Talk yo’ shit then, Yo.”
“Yo?” I repeated and laughed. “Nobody has ever called me that shit.”
“Good. Then I’m gon’ know if you share my shit with another nigga and bat him in his fucking mouth the second he say it.”
I laughed, unable to stop myself.
“Bye Drix. I’m still with the group.”
“Tell them they better be prepping they mothafuckin’ verses for when we get back in that studio.”
“Will do.”
“And take care of my damn car.”
“Yes, dear,” I teased.
Drix laughed. “Bye, man.”
“Bye.” I hung up and shook my head.
I took another bite of food and realized three sets of eyes were focused on me.
“What was that?” Allison lifted an eyebrow.
“I apparently have to go to family dinner,” I offered. “And Drix said our verses better be right when we get back in the studio.”
“Tell him we’re going to be ready,” Retta said.
“I went over my verse at least ten times yesterday,” Charm said. “I’m feeling confident.”
“I’m not going to lie. I’m not, but I’m also not super stressed about it because I know Drix isn’t going to let us put out something that sounds like bullshit.”
“True.” Charm pointed at me and snickered.
“So, how is everything looking with this performance?” I asked as I took another bite of food.
“Good.” Allison locked her phone and looked at us. “Ticket sales have gone up, and if we sell the show out, we get a nice bonus from the venue.”
“We as in us, the performers, or we as in the company?” Retta asked.
“We as in the company,” Allison said. “But look, if you keep selling out, eventually the money will come to y’all.
Right now it’s covering promo, choreographers, producers, and everything we need to make sure this album is a success.
It’s you guys’ first studio album and the money we’re pouring in isn’t guaranteed to be made back.
We have to get cash flow any way we can, especially after the cash we poured into Drix’s production.
” She shrugged. “That’s just the name of the game sometimes. ”
None of us responded and Allison sighed.
“Look ladies, when we make the money, you’ll get the money. We just have to even out first.”
“Alright.” Charm nodded first. “I get it.”
“Thank you, Charm.”
“I get it too,” Retta said. “I just don’t like it.”
“Which is understandable but this is the name of the game.”
“Doesn’t mean we have to like it,” Retta reiterated. “But now that things are picking up, we should be seeing some better cash flow for us anyway.”
“That’s right. The better each song goes, the more we can afford to give you.”
“I like the sound of that.” Charm clapped.
Allison smiled. “Good. Well, I just dropped by to give y’all the update and make sure you were eating. I have another meeting in…” She looked at her wrist. “An hour so I’m going to head out. If you need me, call me.”
“Alright.” We all nodded and acknowledged her before watching as she grabbed her things and headed out of the building.
“Want to run it again?” I asked.
“Yep.” Retta didn’t hesitate, just jumped to her feet.
I took another bite of my food then climbed up myself. The three of us moved our things to one of the tables then ran through our performance two more times before deciding we felt comfortable and confident. Afterwards, we sat around and finished eating before splitting up.
I went straight to an upscale liquor store and picked up a bottle of whiskey then to a florist I frequented to get a nice vase of flowers before heading home to shower.
My body was slightly sore from rehearsal but nothing too bad. I collapsed across my couch after moisturizing and getting dressed, easily falling asleep after my busy day and the fact that I hadn’t gotten the best sleep the night before when I was at the studio with Drix.
My phone ringing jerked out of my sleep, panicked. I saw it was Drix and answered with a yawn.
“Hm?” I said, still on the couch half asleep.
“You in there sleeping, Yo?” Drix asked.
“Mhm.”
“Well, wake up and come on. I’m outside.”
“M’kay.” I stretched and groaned. “I’m coming.”
“Make it quick.”
“Mhm.” I hung up the call and felt my eyes flutter shut. I didn’t even fight them. I just slipped out of consciousness. “Ahh!” I screamed and yelped as I jerked up on the couch.
My hand automatically went to my chest and I felt my heart hammering as I stared up at Drix.
“The fuck you doing?” he asked.
“How did you get in here?” I looked around my living room briefly before my eyes landed back on him.
“Man, I popped that lock,” he said nonchalantly. “Let’s go.” He nudged his head toward the entrance.
“Uh, just give me five minutes.”
He glared down at me. “So you’re in here napping and not even ready?”
“I need to brush my teeth,” I argued.
“Yeah. Alright. Go.”
I climbed to my feet still partially in a daze and quickly rushed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash and moisturize my face.
Then, I grabbed the flowers and whiskey I’d gotten for his parents before following him to the front door.
I took a look at my lock and it looked fine from the outside.
I didn’t get a lot of time to inspect it closely before heading out though. I hopped into his truck and he waited for me to situate all of my things before pulling off. I stared out of the window the entire drive.
Drix’s parents lived in a comfortable ranch in a cute, middle class part of town. There were two cars and two trucks already parked outside.
“How many people are going to be here?” I asked.
“Just the family. So Moms, Pops, Rome, Chandler, her husband, her kids, you, and me.” Drix parked behind one of the trucks. “Why? You nervous?”
“Nope.” I glanced at him.
“Good. If you were, they’d eat you alive.”
I rolled my eyes while Drix threw the car in park.
We climbed out and headed to the front door where Drix pushed it open without knocking.
“Yo, yo, yo!” He announced our presence and slid out of the way for me to walk inside.
A huge smile took over his face and he took a knee as a little girl ran up to him.
“Indy!” He cheered as he grabbed her in a tight hug and tilted her back and forth before climbing to his feet. “Myome, this is my niece India. Indy, this is my wife, Myome.”
“Wife?” Indy repeated.
“Yep.”
Drix didn’t give her time to ask questions. He tickled her lightly and walked further inside, leading me to the kitchen where Chandler and his mother stood at the stove talking to each other.
His mom turned and jumped when her eyes landed on me.
“Oh! I wasn’t expecting guests.” She gave me a small smile.
“What do you mean? We come here every Sunday.” Drix leaned down and kissed her cheek.
“But you don’t usually bring someone.” She hit him with the back of her hand and closed in on me.
“Moms, this is Myome. Myome, this is my mama, Josephine.”
“Joe is just fine,” she corrected.
“Nice to meet you.” I met her where she was. “I got these for you.” I offered her the flowers.
“You did? Well, they’re beautiful.” She gave me a half hug, shocking me in place, then took the flowers from me.