Chapter 7
“Why’d you wanna be my friend?” I asked. I was lying on the floor in my gym room, phone on my chest as I tossed a soccer ball into the air and caught it. “Ain’t you already got a ton of famous friends? Like Big South?”
“South is more than a friend. He’s closer to an uncle to me, a mentor. He’s helped me a lot with some big business decisions. Other than him, I do have some celebrity acquaintances, people I talk to from time to time. I don’t know if I’d call them friends, though. Celebrities can be weird,” she replied, her voice floating from my phone’s tiny speakers.
“But you’re a celebrity.”
“Yes, and I’m weird. You know, the whole not speaking to you in person and then calling you thing?”
“Riiiiight. What about your friends from before you became famous?”
“Casualties of success. I had two close friends when I started out, but the more successful I became, the stranger things got with them. They started accusing me of changing, but shit, how can a person go from broke to millions like overnight and stay the same? Plus, I was a kid. Of course, I was going to evolve.”
“True. So…you saying you don’t have friends?”
“Not many. Mostly just the people who work for me…and you, Orlando.”
The way she said my name? Damn!
“No industry friends, fellow rappers?”
“No. It’s very hard to know who to trust in this business.”
“Really? Not even the female rappers?”
“Nope.”
“Any female friends at all?”
“Other than Bubbles, my assistant? Not really.”
“Why me and not some female then?”
“I honestly don’t know. I guess you seemed like you’d be a good friend. Are you a good friend, Orlando?”
“I…I think so. I try to be. What makes a person a good friend in your eyes, Ishmia?”
“Hmmm, loyalty, consistency, transparency…”
“Yeah, I got all that.”
“I like your accent, by the way.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks. You can take the boy outta New Orleans, but you can’t take the New Orleans out the boy. Where’s yours? Ain’t you from Louisiana?”
“Shreveport. Big difference between Shreveport and NOLA.”
“Yeah, but you don’t even sound southern no more. You did when you were younger.”
“Ahhh, you’re a real fan. I see you! But yeah, I worked hard to drop that accent.”
“Why?”
“My old manager told me to.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Yeah, so…tell me. When should we hang out in person…friend?”
“Whenever you want to.”