ꨄThe Debutanteꨄ

41.

...

Five Days Later

...

The March weather was warmer now, the sun starting to peek more behind the clouds, the snow melting and the spring showers beginning to pour.

It has been five days since Anika and Cookie had returned from their road trip. The moment they stepped back into the Empire building, Lucious had them running around like mad. Assignments piling up and up, going to one location then another. Anika signing paperwork and overseeing music artists, while also keeping track of who was bringing in the most traction to Empire.

Cookie was also occupied filling out paperwork, overseeing rehearsals, and having to produce tracks alone since Anika was far too busy to help her. The women were so busy in the workplace, they didn't have time time to speak throughout the day.

The only form of communication they had were an occasional text, and even after sending one, the other would be too busy for hours to return one in a timely matter. The two women even had so much work, they didn't even have much time to spend time together outside of work. The only time they could was likely the upcoming weekend.

...

Cookie stood in the middle of Leviticus, watching Blake and Tianna rehearse their new upcoming track. She bobbed her head along to the best of the song that she produced herself. "Yess, that's what I'm talkin' about!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands in approval.

Suddenly, her phone went off. She took a brief moment to check it, realizing it was from Lucious. She sighed. "What is it now, man?" She asked, opening the message.

Lucious: "I need to see you in my office."

She rolled her eyes, then turning away. "Hey, where are you going?" Asked Becky. "Lucious is calling me. I'll be back, just tell me how it goes!" She called, waving her hand behind her as she exited out.

She walked down the maze of hallways, then entering into his office. She leaned against the doorway, her arms crossed. "Yes?" She asked. He tilted his head up from his desk.

"I don't know why you standing all the way over there- What is it, man?" Cookie asked. He waved his fingers over to him, motioning for her to come up to his desk. She slowly did so, staring down at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I just hired a new Music Publicist." He said. She gave a single nod. "Okay..." she said. "I'm telling you this because she'll have to work with both you and Anika at times to really get behind the scenes of what goes on here. She'll be gettin' here at 10:30-" He checked his watch for a moment.

"And I want you to introduce yourself. Let the girl who know who you are, cause' I'm too damn busy to be giving tours." He said. "Is that all you had to tell me?" Cookie asked. Lucious furrowed his eyebrows.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked. "Nothin'. I'll introduce myself. Now if there's nothing else, I have work to do." Said Cookie. Lucious stood up from his desk once she turned away. "Wait a minute, man. Since when are you being like this?" He asked.

She turned around, her arms crossed. "Like what?" She asked. "Every-time I say something to you, you give me attitude-" Cookie rolled her eyes at his current whining.

"Look at you- Look, I don't know who you got your side making you switch up on the people you hustled with, but the brotha' needs to get himself in check." Said Lucious, putting his hands up like he was surrendering.

Cookie let out a single chuckle. "You think yet again that this is about a man?" She asked. "Well, I don't know what else to think. But you ain't been actin' the same lately." He said. "And look, I don't mind you dating and all that so it can help you better cope with what happened between us, but he needs to come correct and introduce himself to some damn body." Said Lucious.