Music Heals All Wounds

Chapter 12

Essence

It was officially time to stop hiding. I've been ducked off for the two months trying to avoid any attention, but now I was deliberately exposing myself to it.

Maya and I were over at Morgan's place and the idea for the two of us to record a video together had been brought up again.

Only this time I was actually ready to make it happen. Maya and I sat on the couch in the living room while Morgan prepared a space for us to record.

"Y'all know what song y'all are gonna sing?" Maya asked as she stuffed her face with hot fries.

"We still haven't decided. I think we're doing four or five songs."

"We should play song association." Morgan suggested as she set up some lights for the video. "And for every song we name we can sing about thirty seconds of it and harmonize here and there."

"Sounds good to me." I agreed, trying to play it cool, but I was really freaking out on the inside. I kind of zoned out a little bit, letting my thoughts take over my mind and every thought that I had seemed to be encouraging me to find a way to get out of this shit. Maya's laughter made me snap out of it.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked, looking over at her.

"I'm laughing at you, sis calm down. You don't have to be scared, this is a safe environment, okay?" She joked. "Nobody's here, it's just the three of us. If you can sing in front of a crowd, then you can sing in front of a camera."

"Yeah, just have fun and play the game. Don't overthink it." Morgan stated.

"But they only had a small crowd of people at Escape. Do you know how many people are going to see this video?"

"A lot." Morgan said, making me freak out even more. "But it's okay. Like I said, just have fun."

The two of them were not helping at all, I needed to mentally prepare myself for this. I tried to relax and calm myself down while Maya continued to laugh at my anxiety, she thought I was being dramatic.

"It's just a video." I mumbled to myself repeatedly as I sat back against the couch.

"Oh my goodness! Take a shot sis, damn. Morgan can you give my girl a shot? Something strong."

Morgan glanced over at me and laughed slightly before heading to the kitchen. "I got something for you. It'll make your nerves nice and calm."

"You trying to calm me down or get me drunk?" I asked her after she brought out a bottle of Patron. She poured me up a shot, then poured one for herself and Maya.

"Girl if you don't throw that shit back." Maya said before downing her shot and pouring herself another one. "Being your support system is a little stressful, so I'mma go ahead and throw back another one of these."

I watched as the two of them downed their shots with ease before finally taking mine. Hopefully this would help me to relax.

A half an hour and a few more shots later, Morgan and I were sitting in front of her camera making our video while Maya sat on the couch scrolling through her phone.

"Hey guys, welcome back to my channel and all things Morgan Taylor. Today is gonna be a little different. I have a very special guest with me, a good friend of mine." Morgan said, glancing over at me so I could introduce myself.

"Hey y'all, I'm Essence." I said, and Morgan laughed at how awkward I sounded.

"And we're gonna be playing a game of song association. I'm sure most of y'all know how this game goes. I'mma give her a word, she's gonna give me a word and we have seven seconds to sing a song that has that word."