Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
I expected to find the Sugar team in good spirits the next morning after the triumphant cover release party.
Instead, our side of the NuVoices floor was strangely quiet, and no one would look at me as I wobbled down the hallway, late and nursing a pounding headache.
I’d dunked my head under a frigid shower and mainlined two cups of coffee, but it had still taken all my strength to pull on a Juicy Couture tracksuit, gather my hair into a bun, and schlep to the subway.
That rapturous Page Six write-up had declared that it had been the “event of the season.” But the fact that I had woken up on top of my bed, dizzy and dehydrated, still in my yellow dress and fake eyelashes—and the total silence from Teresa and my other girls—told a different story.
Von’s head was in his hands when I shuffled over to his desk to ask what was going on. He pointed to Sondra, who was lurking by my office door. Her hard-driving energy and staccato delivery would be taxing for my barely functional brain, but clearly something was up.
“That was quite an event, Nik. I can honestly name more celebs who were there than who weren’t, so Sugar will for sure be the topic of conversation today. And you too, girl. None of us knew that you were going to end up being the life of the party!”
“Yeah, well, neither did I,” I groaned as I sank into my sofa cushions, not yet able to face my desk.
“Von, would you please, please get me some coffee,” I called out, rousing him from his stupor.
Normally, I would have gotten it myself, but the room suddenly listed to the side like a sailboat in a swell, so I figured I’d better not move.
“I am so not surprised that you need coffee. You were dancing your ass off when I left.” Sondra plopped down next to me, then ruefully added, “I wished so hard that I’d stayed until the end when I read in Page Six that Jennifer Lopez showed up.”
“Well, right now I’m wishing that I’d walked out with you,” I replied, rubbing my temples.
“Well, you may need to add some hair of the dog to that cup when I tell you what’s going on.
” Sondra turned to face me, her expression shifting from amused to serious.
“It’s about Betty Brown.” I’d forgotten Luna’s ominous statement about Betty at the party, but it came flooding back now.
She continued, “I got a call from her label, and they’re pushing her album release from August to December.
They’re even pulling her first single back so it won’t have any airplay until November. ”
That would explain the six two-way messages I’d received from Kiara that morning that I hadn’t read because I was too busy forcing myself to get ready to work.
“But why would they do that?” I wailed. “The market in December will be full of major artists’ releases that will totally swallow up her little album.
And her single was supposed to go to radio tomorrow. ”
“I know, it was crazy to me too.” Sondra shook her head. “I mean, all of her promotion is on deck, including our August issue.”
Shit, Sugar’s August issue with Betty’s cover was supposed to hit stores the week before her album was released.
I was banking on her single being in heavy radio rotation along with the music video and all the accompanying marketing to drive our newsstand sales.
Without it, our relatively unknown magazine with a totally unknown cover subject would be competing on newsstands with other established magazines and their very famous cover subjects.
Groove’s August issue with Destiny’s Child was starting to appear on newsstands in anticipation of their lead single from the Charlie’s Angels soundtrack, “Independent Women”; it would eclipse Sugar’s sales even more than usual.
“Wait, what reason did the label give?” I asked.
“Apparently, the CEO of the label is cool with Alonzo Griffin.” Sondra looked out toward the floor, her chest visibly rising as she took a deep breath.
“I’m not supposed to know this, but it was Alonzo who convinced his buddy to push Betty’s release.
He wanted to time it with the holiday cover they’re giving Betty and promised all kinds of special promotional stuff to seal the deal. ”
So, Luna had been gloating last night. I rolled my shoulders back and forth as I tried to think of a solve for the unmitigated disaster that Sugar’s August 2000 issue was about to become.
It was made worse by the fact that Barbara had warned me about this exact thing.
What Barbara said to me after she’d heard about Betty covering the August issue now rang in my ears: “Okay, newbie, you can’t say that you don’t know how cover sales work, so whatever happens as a result of this decision is on you.
” And it had turned out that putting a new artist on the cover had been a gamble that would now tank a critical issue.
I asked Sondra to leave so I could think. Fingers trembling, I called Kiara. She picked up after one ring. “Girl,” she uttered.
“Girl,” I moaned, our Black girl shorthand conveying heavy emotion.
“Did you see my messages? I’ve been trying to get you all morning.” Kiara sighed. “I got called into Eternal Records first thing. Everyone’s scrambling over here. Betty’s crying. It’s a mess.”
“Trust me, it’s about to be a bigger mess here,” I whispered, figuring there was likely a small crowd outside my office door. “I guess I know what happened … but what happened?”
Kiara hesitated. “What I heard was that ya boy Alonzo told Eternal’s CEO that he’d put Betty on Groove’s winter double issue with a sponsored release party, holiday merch, and everything.
He even said he’d see if his boy who runs the Recording Academy would make an exception on the eligibility window and consider Betty for Best New Artist Grammy next year so she wouldn’t have to wait until 2002. ”
“There’s nothing you can do?” I cried. I knew the answer, but the magnitude of the situation was starting to sink in.
“You don’t think I tried?” she exclaimed.
“I pled our case all the way up to the CEO. Thought I might have a chance because Ricky’s helped him out with venues for last-minute events.
” Kiara paused again and drew in a loud breath.
“The real story is that Alonzo also threatened to withhold coverage of Eternal artists. The CEO probably shared that little tidbit with me so Ricky wouldn’t be too pissed. ”
“That’s the Alonzo playbook, all right. He always told me that it was easier to shake down your friends than your enemies,” I uttered weakly.
“I’m so sorry, girl. I really wish there was more I could do,” Kiara murmured. “I can only imagine the chaos this will cause on your end.”
She had no idea. “Yeah, let me go face that music before it gets any worse.”
The fact that I was freshly showered didn’t make the trek to Barbara’s office feel any less like a walk of shame.
While I could see folks digging elbows into each other’s sides as I passed, no one would look directly at me.
I couldn’t tell whether they felt sorry for me because the news had spread about Betty’s album release or if they were all embarrassed for me after my tabletop shenanigans.
Either way, it was a reminder of how mercurial urban publishing was, and that the vibe could switch from triumphant to tragic in a flash.
Barbara’s back was to me as I approached, so I could only see the expanse of her wide shoulders, the coral leather of her sleeveless sheath dress, and the coiled cord to her desk phone stretched taut with the receiver missing, so I knew she was on a call.
Hearing my soft knock on her door, Barbara spun around, said five words into the phone, “Here she is right now,” and slammed the receiver back onto the base.
“So, newbie, you had quite a night and now you’re having an equally eventful morning, I hear,” she said in a flat tone, her face unreadable.
In gearing myself up to tell Barbara about Betty Brown’s release date, I had almost forgotten that she might have a lot to say about watching her new editor in chief body roll on a table in front of the man she’d cautioned me to avoid.
And it seemed that she’d already heard about Betty.
The pounding in my head got louder as I wished I’d had the presence of mind to come up with an opening gambit during my trek across the NuVoices floor.
“Barbara, I couldn’t have known that Betty’s single and album would get pushed.” I quickly realized that my defensive tone was a mistake.
She blinked several times before responding.
“That’s how you’re going to play this, Nikki?
A’ight, let’s go.” She stood up, her high heels adding four inches, so she towered over me in my sneakers.
“You’re saying that you didn’t think that booking Betty for a cover right after she visited Groove’s offices would make Alonzo retaliate? ”
The glint in her eye told me that her question was rhetorical. “I guess I didn’t know Alonzo could do this,” I replied weakly.
“So, you didn’t possess the good sense that God gave you to know that Alonzo has powerful relationships after two decades in the business, and that he wasn’t about to let himself get scooped by a woman he still blames for getting him kicked out of the ivory tower?”
Another rhetorical question, but this time I stayed silent … because she was right. I was arrogant and presumptuous and na?ve—a bad combination in a cutthroat world whose rules I was only now learning.
“I suppose this is my fault too. I’m the one who should have known better, but I let it slide because I was excited about Betty.
” Barbara heaved a sigh and shook her head.
“And I liked your instinct to try to get her a cover first. Under normal circumstances, it was an aggressive risk that might have paid off big.”
“Right? Betty could have put us on the map,” I started, but Barbara held up her hand.