Kissing the Opps (Hot Mic #3)

Romi Dulce is the undisputed Queen of hip hop. She has ended careers with a single verse. She tried it with Cam Wolfe too: right there on stage, eye contact and everything.

Cam didn't stay down. Romi hasn't decided how she feels about that yet.

The beef is real. The diss tracks are real.

The way Romi's pulse does something she doesn't like every time Cam walks into a room is irrelevant.

Not a thing. Definitely not something Cam needs to know about.

Romi is handling it. She is handling it so well that she has thought about it every single day for weeks.

Cam Wolfe is not here for Romi's crown. She just wants her music and the validation she's been chasing since she was a teen listening to Romi's albums on repeat.

She came into the industry swinging at her idol anyway.

She told herself it was competition. She ran out of things to tell herself somewhere around the time they ended up alone in a room together and almost did something about a want neither of them can afford.

Their feud is good for headlines. Cam can't stop paying attention to Romi.

Romi can't stop paying attention to Cam.

They call it annoyance. A grudge. An unresolved problem.

They tell themselves they're keeping score, staying vigilant, refusing to let things go.

But most people don't take up that much space in your head.

Most people don't make your pulse jump before they've even spoken.

The pull is already there, running underneath every argument and every dirty look.

Neither woman recognizes it for what it is. Yet.