7. Myome
MYOME
Istared at my ringing phone until Chandler hung up then rolled my eyes, lifted my margarita, and took another sip.
She’d been reaching out at least once a day since I’d ditched Drix and I was sure she was the one who’d sent flowers to Radiant Reverie’s performance for the optics.
Our show had nearly sold out and I honestly felt it went great.
We’d sounded good and none of us messed up the choreography.
Allison told us it was one of the best performances we’d ever had in terms of looks, performance, and reception.
Now, we were practicing for the actual tour and had gotten booked for another gig.
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk to her?” Charm asked.
“For what? I told Drix I was done.”
“Have you told Allison you’re done?”
“Nope.” I took a longer sip from my drink then set it down and turned toward Charm. “But I mean, look at my socials. Drix is the one being accused of cheating and I’m the one being called a bird brain bitch in any variation available. That shit ain’t cute and it’s not good for a brand.”
“Which is probably why Chandler is calling. She probably knows how to spin this whole thing.” Charm took a sip from her drink. “Look, they say all publicity is good publicity. Traffic to your page has probably gone up a lot and I bet our song streams are going up too.”
“Probably.” I rolled my eyes. “They’re dissecting every verse I’ve ever written for signs that I have low confidence as we speak.
” I exhaled. “Drix is the bigger artist, so I was already going to be known as ‘Drix’s wife’ for a while, but now I’m going to be known as the woman who got cheated on after a one-month marriage if I walk.
And if I don’t walk, I’ll be known for having low self-esteem and letting a man play in my face.
Either way I lose and men are going to clap when Drix walks by. ”
Charm sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, My-My.” She set a hand on mine. “What did Drix say?”
“I didn’t give him much of a chance to say anything,” I admitted.
“Well maybe you should have. I mean, he made it clear he wasn’t really fucking with Niecy from the way he talked to her when we were all in the studio.
Then, after the fight outside that party, I can’t see them just sweeping that shit under the rug.
” Charm pursed her lips. “Drix doesn’t look like the type who can just let shit go. ”
“Maybe not, but if he wasn’t fucking with her, how’d she even get that close to him to take a picture?”
“You won’t know unless you ask him.” She shrugged.
“Well, I’m not so…” I picked my glass up and finished the rest.
I could admit that not only was I embarrassed, but my feelings were hurt. I didn’t think me and Drix were in love or anything, but we’d started building a friendship. Shit. I thought we were close enough for him to not let me be blindsided.
I glanced at my phone then did a double take when I saw Drix calling. I hadn’t expected him to reach out. I’d expected him to shrug it off and have the papers for our annulment sent over.
I automatically reached for the phone but drew my hand back before I could answer.
“This is for you.” Our waitress set two glasses in front of us.
I lifted an eyebrow.
“We didn’t order this.”
“No. They’re from the man over there.” She turned and pointed toward the bar.
“Thank you,” I told the waitress who smiled and nodded before leaving our table.
I looked over and couldn’t believe my eyes when they landed on Emmett, a man I’d gone to college with and dated for a little while. My mouth fell open and he chuckled as he stood and walked toward me. I climbed to my feet.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I gave him a quick hug.
“I just moved back home.” He smiled. “How are you?”
“I’m good.” I nodded.
“Can I sit?”
“Sure.” I gestured at the booth. “Take a seat.” I sat back down and Emmett slipped into the booth beside me. “Emmett, this is my best friend, Charm. Charm, this is my old classmate, Emmett.”
“Ex-boyfriend,” he corrected.
“Is that what we’d call what happened?”
“Nice to meet you.” He addressed Charm first and reached over to shake her hand. “What would you call it?” He looked back at me.
“I don’t know.” I forced a little laugh.
“You know you were the love of my life, Myome.”
“Then what happened?” Charm asked.
“Emmett thought he was going to go pro, declared for the draft, and dipped out on the school and me.”
“That’s not what happened,” he argued.
“Okay.” I shrugged and grabbed the drink he’d sent, taking a slow sip.
He chuckled and shook his head. “That’s not what happened,” he repeated.
Charm giggled. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure.” He glanced back at me. “But I guess shit worked out, right? I got drafted and you went on to make pretty good music I hear, locked down a famous rich nigga.”
“Accidentally,” I said.
He chuckled. “All jokes aside. How is married life treating you?”
“It’s… complicated.”
“All relationships are these days.”
“You’re right about that,” Charm cosigned.
“What about you, Charm? You married?”
“Nope.”
“Looking?”
“You offering?” She batted her eyelashes at him.
He grinned and looked between the two of us.
“Just making polite conversation.”
“Good because you’re not my type.” Charm smirked and took another drink from her glass.
“Damn. Well I respect it.” He lifted his hands in surrender. “That’s real.”
“Be serious though, Emmett. What do you want?” I asked.
“Nothing. Really.” He shrugged. “I saw your familiar face, and shit, I have social media. I know stuff hasn’t been all that great and just wanted to check on you.
I know you may think I don’t give a fuck about you because of how shit ended between us but I don’t know. I genuinely want you to be happy.”
“Thanks.” I took another sip. “And how’s your love life?”
“Divorced.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Don’t be. It wasn’t meant to be but it was mutual. We’re still good friends.”
“That’s a good way for things to end.”
“Yeah. It is.” Emmett lifted his hand to get the attention of our waitress. “Can I get another beer?”
“Sure.” She nodded. “Can I get anything else for the table?”
“I think I’m good,” Charm said.
“Me too.”
“Alright. I’ll be right back with that beer.”
“Thank you.” Emmett looked between the two of us. “So how is the music and shit going? There’s an album coming soon, right?”
“Hopefully.”
The three of us drifted into safer territory talking about our music, upcoming album, and tour while Emmett told us about what he was most excited about for the upcoming season.
We ended up ordering an appetizer and dessert to share while the three of us just talked, joked, and laughed. At the end of the night, Emmett stood with the two of us while we waited for our iDrives. When I got home, I headed straight inside, took a shower, and collapsed into bed.
Once snuggled into my blankets, I finally checked my phone and my eyebrows dipped together at the sight of Emmett messaging me on my Skroll account.
I’d gotten rid of all of my notifications unless they came from people I followed, so it wasn’t hard to find.
I still had hundreds of messages consistently popping up on different posts on my page but they weren’t creating notifications for me to fight my way through which I appreciated.
I glanced at the message, swiped it off my screen, and rolled over to go to bed.
Then I rolled back over only a few seconds later and opened the message.
Emmett: I’m heading out of town for a few games but I’ll be back in two weeks and I’d love to see you then too.
Me: We’ll see.
Emmett: You’ll think about it?
Me: Yes.
Emmett: Good enough.
I scoffed, locked my phone, and rolled over again to finally get actual rest and hopefully drown out the rest of the world along the way.