25. Myome
MYOME
Iexhaled and shifted on my feet and Drix gave me a sympathetic smile because he could see the wheels turning in my head.
“You gon’ kill shit,” he assured me.
“You think so?”
“I know so.” His hands went to my ass then trailed down a little further and his thumb coasted beneath my left ass cheek.
He traced the tattoo I’d gotten of his name in a little cursive script and the thought made me wash the sadness off my face and force a smile instead.
I loved my music and performing. Touring was a part of the job these days, especially as a new artist. I also knew Drix would be right here when I came back.
I was more nervous about the group surviving tour than I was about being away from Drix and his family.
Although he’d accidentally become a safety net of sorts, he’d just be a phone call away.
“I’m proud of you, alright? No matter how the tour goes or how it looks, I’m proud of you,” Drix said. “I’ve watched you practice and put in the work and I know whatever you give is your best. That’s all you can do, baby, and if it doesn’t go how you want, we’ll pivot together, alright?”
I nodded. “Alright.”
“Alright,” he repeated, leaning down and kissing me. “Go ahead.” He nudged his head toward the line I needed to be in at the airport and I nodded.
“Okay.” I kissed him again. “Good luck working on your features and your album.”
“Thanks.” He took a step back. “Go ahead,” he repeated.
He knew I was procrastinating. I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and spun.
“Ready?” Charm pushed Rome away from her, both of them laughing, and I nodded.
“I’m ready.”
“Good luck.” Rome hit me on the shoulder. “You got this, sister-in-law.”
“I know.”
He chuckled and nodded. “There we go.”
I hugged him then Drix’s parents who demanded they be allowed to come to the airport too. It was sweet how supportive they were and it meant a lot to me that they wanted to see me and Charm off.
Once we said our goodbyes, Charm linked our arms together and we headed into the security line.
The line flew by and once we made it through I let myself look back at where I’d left Drix. He was still there, both hands on the back of his dad’s wheelchair but his eyes already on me. I waved and blew him a kiss. He grinned and his parents waved back.
“You ready?” Charm danced a little beside me.
“I’m ready.” I pulled my eyes from my family and nodded. “Let’s do this.”
“Let’s do it.”
We waded through the airport together and were already settled in our seats and buckled when Retta made her way onto the plane. Of course, they’d seated us together but thankfully Charm was in the middle.
I put my headphones on, leaned my head back, and did my best to silence my brain enough to fall asleep.
Allison had flown ahead to make sure everything was taken care of for our first stop and negotiated to get us a bigger tour bus so we wouldn’t be losing money staying in hotels.
She met us at the airport and helped us put our suitcases in the car.
All the clothes we’d gotten thanks to Drix had already been loaded into our bus thankfully, so we just had a few casual clothes and personal items. None of us had packed too much because we already knew we’d be buying things at our stops.
We checked in at our hotel then were immediately ushered to the venue so we could do a quick soundcheck. We had a late lunch in the venue then got hair and makeup done and put our outfits on. I looked at myself one way then the other and exhaled.
I smiled when Charm hummed the first song in our lineup and joined her.
It took a minute but Retta joined in and we practiced harmonizing a little before we pulled our sweatshirts on and went to explore the venue.
The sweatshirts we wore were part of the merch we’d agreed on, and honestly, it was probably my favorite thing on the lineup.
There were surprisingly a few people already lined up to head into the venue, so the three of us went out, took pictures, and briefly talked to them about how excited we were to be on tour.
Afterwards, we hydrated, worked out our last minute jitters, and headed to the stage. We watched our opening acts from the side, bobbing to the music and getting more excited as time went on.
Performing in front of a live audience hit me like a high—and I probably looked stupid with how much I smiled between singing and choreography—but I couldn’t stop myself.
The last time I performed at a venue I’d ended up on the ground and was rushed to the hospital afterwards.
This was different. I was more in shape, confident, and happier than I’d been then, even if not that much time had gone by.
When we walked off stage to the sound of cheering I bounced up and down and hugged Charm who screamed excitedly.
“That was amazing!” Allison clapped as she closed in on us, each of our water bottles in hand. “Y’all looked so good out there.”
“Thank you.”
“If you ladies are up to it, you can meet fans while we load the instruments.”
“I’m down for that.” Charm looked from me to Retta. “Want to?”
“Yeah. Let’s do it.” I took a quick drink from my water bottle, spun, and paused.
A huge smile took over my face and I squealed before running to Drix who had easily six dozen roses in hand. I threw my arms around his neck.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I grabbed his face, kissed him, and laughed.
“I couldn’t miss your first day back on stage.
” He wrapped his free arm around me. “I was on the next flight out behind you,” he admitted.
“And I have to be in the studio early tomorrow to make up for the session I’m missing tonight, so I’ll be flying out in a few hours but… ” He shrugged. “I wanted to see you.”
“And what did you think?”
“I think y’all killed it.”
“Hey, Drix,” Charm greeted.
“What’s up?” He handed me the large array of roses and I realized he also had three smaller bunches. He offered the biggest of the three to Charm. “Congratulations on the first tour date.”
“Thank you.” She took the flowers and did a half bow. “Thank you.”
“Make sure you tell Rome’s ass that I made it clear he put the money up for a dozen on those roses,” he pointed out.
“I’ll let him know.” Charm laughed.
“And give these to Allison and Retta.” He handed the rest of the flowers to Charm who nodded.
“I can’t believe you flew out to see me.”
“I told you I would.”
“Yeah, but not on the first night.”
“Are we going to go say hi to our supporters or not?” Retta asked.
I didn’t even dignify her with a response.
“I’ll be back,” I offered and Drix nodded.
“A’ight.”
I looked back to make sure Charm was on her way back over from giving Allison her flowers before making my way toward the side door that led to the floor.
I squeaked and stumbled when Retta nudged me while reaching to grab the door before I could set my hand on the handle. I got ready to call her the craziest thing I could think of but bit my tongue when the door opened fully and a few people were already there.
We took pictures and answered a few more questions from the people still there then headed back to our dressing room where Allison and Drix waited.
I let Charm and Retta walk in first, and the second the door shut behind me, I grabbed one of the dozens of roses on the little table near the door and started whooping Retta’s ass.
I could only take so much, and if the bitch thought it was cute to play pushy games while I was in heels, she’d lost her mind.
I took a lot of her disrespect, keeping the best interests of our group in mind, but knowing I could have messed up my ankle—and therefore our first tour—had me ready to knock her teeth out.
I kept hitting her while rose petals fell everywhere.
“Oh my—Myome!” Allison rushed over and grabbed my elbow.
I shook my arm free and dropped the flowers to punch Retta’s ass now. I wailed on her, getting a few good hits in.
“Myome!” Charm screeched.
“Ay, don’t touch her!” Drix barked.
Then his muscular arms wrapped around my waist and he lifted me off my feet.
“If you would have broken my ankle, I would have really stomped you, bitch!” I warned.
“Excuse me?” Allison looked between us.
“Retta pushed me and I almost fucking fell!” I yelled. “I don’t know what artist you know performing with a twisted ankle but if Retta wants to play violent games we can take it all the way there.”
“Chill out.” Drix lowered me to my feet but draped an arm over the front of my body across my chest.
“Retta, did you push Myome?”
“It was a slight nudge!” Retta argued. “And it was because she was holding up the line.”
Retta walked over the large mirror on the other side of the room and leaned forward to look at her face up close. I hadn’t done significant damage outside of the fact I’d busted her lip.
“What if you would have injured her?!” Allison’s voice rose.
“Do you know how much is weighing on this tour? Radiant Reverie is a brand, a brand built on the three of you, not one or two of you. If Myome gets hurt, there is no tour. People aren’t paying this money to see a part of a promised group.
” Allison looked at me. “And that goes for you too, Myome. We can’t have Retta out of commission. ”
“A little makeup never hurt anyone.” I forced a smile onto my face and she exhaled and pinched the bridge of her nose.