Fireworks 1 and 2

Chapter Forty

    The minute Bri and Mia walked into the studio, music was blasting. Infectious music. It was the kind of music that stayed with you, that you couldn't get out of your head once you let it in. Hypnotic beats, an enchanting instrumental. Bri walked in ahead of Mia, but Mia started dancing immediately, timing her steps to the beats that dropped from the speakers in the room.

    A nice-looking brown-man wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a black hoodie sat next to Noah, talking to him in a low voice. The room was filled with hazy layers of smoke. Drake sat in the back of the studio, on the couch with one foot resting on the knee of his other leg. He watched Mia's dancey entrance as he puffed on a beautifully crafted hookah pipe. With his eyes still on her, he blew out perfectly ringlets of smoke.

    Hush and Noah turned and looked at Mia, who was still dancing, only partially aware that she wasn't alone in the room.

    Noah grinned. "I love this girl."

    A corner of Drake's mouth lifted. He set down the hookah pipe and beckoned for Mia and Bri to join him.

    Bri sat beside him with hesitation.

    Mia approached him a bit more slowly.

    "Are you going to dance for me?" he asked her, grinning.

    "You wish." She sat on the other side of him and set her notebook on the low table in front of the couch.

    He waved a hand in the air. "I'm sorry for all of the smoke," he said. "Hookah relaxes me. Helps me think."

    "It's fine," Mia said, leaning forward and opening her notebook.

    He looked at the long slope of her back and the curve of her rear end, licking his lips.

    Bri laughed. "I saw that, bruh."

    Mia looked at them over her shoulder. "Saw what?"

    Bri was narrowing her eyes at Drake, trying to hide a smile. "Nothing," she said.

    "I don't know what you're talking about," Drake insisted jokingly, sitting back further on the couch and rubbing his jaw. "So Mia, where do you want to start today?"

    "The second track we listened to," she said, flipping to another page in her notebook.

    Drake cupped his hands around his mouth so he could be heard over the music. "40. Track 2 from yesterday."

    Noah nodded and queued up the track.

    Drake and Mia got to work. At some points, he'd smoke during their brainstorming. Bopped his head while thinking up lines and while adding to her notes in the notebook. She stood up from the couch and started dancing in a straight line, singing words to herself and snapping her fingers to the beat while waiting for more words to come to her.

    In the beginning, Bri texted and Internet surfed her little heart out, but gradually she lowered her phone and watched the two of them in fascination.

    Drake got up and danced with Mia, and they sang words they'd written back and forth. While he danced and sang, he read words that he'd typed into his Blackberry. The Blackberry stayed glued to his hand for the majority of the session. As he sang, he would make revisions to what he'd typed in as he danced.

    He spat bars over some of the tracks that played.

    "Come over here, Bri," Mia urged, gesturing her friend over. "Dance with me."

    "No, this show is yours and his," Bri said, pointing her cell phone at the two of them.

    "Come over here," Mia demanded, stomping her foot.

    Bri laughed. "Well when you stomp your foot like a three year old, how can I resist?" She set her phone on the table and started dancing. "This beat is so hot."

    "40 is a genius," Drake said as he paced the length of the studio, his strides matching the beat of the song.

    "Success made me want love less," Mia sang out, swaying her hips to the music.

    Drake stopped in mid-stride. "What did you say?"

    "Success made me want love less," she said, stopping her dancing movements.

    "I think you just came up with a part of the hook," he said. He turned his head and closed his eyes. He sang out, "Success made me want love less."

    "It wasn't worth the stress," Mia continued singing, and stopped, squinting in concentration. "But now here's the test, cause I...want you. This feeling is so new. But what am I to do? When I..." She snapped her fingers and growled in frustration, pressing her hands to each temple. "Ugh, I'm so close."

    "You're on fire," he praised.

    "When I'm still riding for my crew?" Bri supplied.

    "Not quite, almost," Drake said. He called over his shoulder. "I think Bri is gunning for writing credits, Hush. You might want to bring your ass over here!" He laughed.

    Mia shook her head. "Damn, I'm stuck," she said.

    "I like it though, I like where it's going," he told her, grabbing her by the waist and picking her up. He kissed her cheek. "You're a fucking master. I love it. Write it down." He set her back on the floor.

    She walked over to the table and sat on the couch, penning the lines she'd just come up with.

    Hush sauntered over, peering at all three of them over his glasses. "What am I missing out on?"

    "Gold," Drake told him, clapping him on the back.

    They went at it for a few more hours, tossing potential lines back and forth, revising the lines they had tossed back and forth. Dancing, singing, filling the room with positive vibes. Hush joined in and proved to be clever and witty with lines and the words he put together.

    They broke for lunch by the pool. After they were done eating, Drake stood behind Mia and massaged her neck and shoulders. And then they were back at it.

    At the end of the session, Drake grinned and walked up to Mia, who was still dancing. She went still when she realized that he was standing in front of her. He grabbed her face in his hands, looking into her eyes. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You're an angel," he said. "An angel."

    Noah turned down the music. "What's on the agenda for tonight? Are we partying or what?"

    Hush turned back and looked at Drake.

    "I think we've had enough parties for awhile," Drake said, looking down at Mia. No doubt, he was remembering Vanessa's attempted sabotage. "I say we have a movie night. The theater room. Tell the boys."