Fireworks 1 and 2

Chapter Seventeen

TEXT FROM: Aubrey Graham

MESSAGE: I just wanted to wish you a safe flight. I don't like the way we left things, but I hope you still plan to join me in Calabasas.

                                                                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Mia perched a pair of black-framed designer sunglasses on top of her head as she stared down at the text message Drake sent her. She tapped the cell phone screen with her thumb while she thought about how she would respond.

    Bri and Desirae finished checking in their luggage. Once their luggage was checked in, the three of them, hung over and casually dressed, walked down several corridors before reaching the terminal their flight would leave out of.

    Mia collapsed into the nearest seat and leaned forward, bracing her elbows on her knees. Over the past few days, Bri and Desi had given her much more than just two cents' worth of their advice. The both of them agreed that Mia shouldn't compromise her career just because she and Drake hadn't seen eye to eye romantically. What her friends failed to understand is that she was already meeting with record label executives, and already had multiple offers for songwriting deals. Even if she didn't work with Drake, her career would still flourish. Bri would argue that no other record label compared to the the buzz that would come with being signed to OVO.

    Truth be told, she was over him. She was tired of thinking about him, and wondering if they'd ever overcome this misunderstanding. She hadn't intended to compare him to her ex-boyfriend. Drake hadn't done anything to warrant such a comparison, but he chose to take her words the wrong way, without giving her a chance to explain. She would rather deal with the record label executives. Business with them was cut and dry. Drake...not so much.

    "If you were truly over him, you'd be able to go to Calabasas and help him write the album without any issues," Bri had told her back at the hotel, playing the role of Mia's subconscious. "If you don't think you can be around him without feeling some type of way, then you're not over him. Like...at all."

    Bri stared down at Mia's phone now as they waited for their flight to start boarding. "Have you responded yet?"

    "Of course she hasn't," Desirae said from her spot on the other side of Bri. She twirled strands of hair around her finger, examining her split ends.

    "Bitch, give me your phone," Bri ordered, reaching for Mia's phone.

    Mia moved her phone out of Bri's reach. "I'm going to reply to him."

    "Well?" Bri asked, arching a skeptical brow. "What are you waiting for?"

    "She's waiting for the flight to start boarding so she has an excuse to not even send the message," Desirae quipped, still staring down at her hair with a frown.

    "I'm thinking about what I'm going to say," Mia said, chewing on her bottom lip.

    Bri shook her head and lifted her index finger chidingly. She wagged her finger back and forth. "Don't overthink it. Just respond. You can't get overanalytical with this shit."

    Mia rolled her eyes and started to type in a response to Drake's message.

TEXT TO: Aubrey Graham

MESSAGE: Thank you for checking in on me. I appreciate it. I'll still help you write the album. Just let me know when.

                                                                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    "Oh my God, that's her!"

    Bri twisted around in her seat. "Damn, must they be so fucking loud?"

    Desirae perked up in her chair. "Maybe they see someone famous," she pointed out.

    "That's totally her." Two brown-skinned girls with Caribbean accents approached Mia.

    Mia smiled, figuring they'd recognized her from her YouTube videos.

    The taller of the two girls turned her phone around so Mia could see it. "Is this you? I told my friend it's you, but she doesn't believe me."

    Mia frowned and lowered her eyes to the girl's cell phone. Her breath caught in her throat and she grabbed the phone out of the girl's hands, her eyes wide and disbelieving.

    "What is it?" Bri asked, looking worried.

    Mia's eyes moved from left to right as she read the words of the TMZ article. When she was finished, she turned to face her friends. She held the phone up to them so they could see the video still shot of her kissing Drake.

    The taller girl protested, demanding that Mia give her phone back.

    Mia handed the phone back to her and put her face in her hands.

    Desirae and Bri exchanged concerned glances.

    "I mean...so what, you're in a video kissing Drake," Bri said, making the tone of her voice light and dismissive. "He used to pull fans onstage all the time so he could dance with them and kiss them."

    "Oh my God, I remember that," Desirae said, gasping.

    Mia shook her head and looked at them.

    "It's a fucking kiss, girl, calm down," Bri said, rolling her eyes. "It's not like a sex tape leaked or something."

    Mia laughed and nodded. "You're right. No big deal, right?"

    "Right," Bri said.

    "Only..." Desirae started. Then she stopped talking abruptly, deciding not to finish the sentence.

    Bri glared at her. "You know you can't leave us hanging like that."

    Desirae shrugged her shoulders, fidgeting with the strap of her bright blue tank top. "I was just wondering how Drake is taking it. If those people have seen the article and if it's posted on TMZ, then he's probably heard about it by now."

    A voice over the loudspeaker announced that their flight was now boarding. The girls gathered up their carry-on luggage and went to stand in the line that was forming at the gate. Now that Desi had mentioned it, Mia couldn't help but wonder whether or not an article like this one would bother him. For all she knew, he had a whole harem of women across the country just waiting to sink their claws into him after seeing a story like this one plastered all over gossip media sites. If that's the case, it serves him right, she thought to herself, lowering her sunglasses over her eyes as she waited in line.