Fireworks 1 and 2

Chapter Forty-Seven

    Drake wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to review the clothes Mia had brought along for her stay. He was serious about wanting to make sure she would look presentable for the performance. He reviewed the dresses she laid out with his head tilted to the side. "Hmm," he said, stroking his chin. "They're all nice, but none of them are the dress."

    "What about this one?" she asked, stepping forward and picking up a tight black dress.

    He shook his head. "No. Not for this."

    Her mouth slanted in disappointment.

    He laughed. "It's fine. All it means is we need to make one stop before meeting up with Jahron." He pulled the iPhone out of his pocket and accessed his call log. He touched a fingertip to the screen and lifted the phone to his ear. "Yeah, it's me. Have the car out front and ready to go in twenty. Which car?" He hesitated. "Which car...we're rolling heavy today. The limo. Thanks for checking. Yeah, see you in twenty." He ended the call.

    Mia folded her dresses and packed them back away.

    "If you really want to wear one of these dresses, you can," he said after a moment of silence.

    She shook her head. "You've been at this longer than I have. I trust you."

    "Your song is wistful, romantic," he explained. "There's passion in it. Passion and longing. Wearing a tight black dress won't work. What you wear should complement the music. I loved the sundress you wore at OVOFest, but pictures are out there and floating around. I wouldn't want you pictured in the same dress. Not a good look."

    She nodded in understanding.

    "Would you let Bri know that we're leaving out in twenty?" he asked her. "There are a few things I need to take care of before we leave."

    "Yeah, sure," she said.

    He smiled and turned to leave.

    She closed her suitcase and stowed it away in the corner and rubbed her hands on her jeans. Then she left her room and crossed the hall. She knocked on Bri's door.

    Bri opened the door a moment later, holding her cell phone to her ear. She stepped aside to let Mia in and rolled her eyes. "I miss you too, Shawn. I know, I've been away for a crazy long time. Yeah. Baby...yeah, yeah, I understand." She scratched her head. "Yeah, I love you too. All right. Bye, baby." She pulled the phone away from her ear and ended the call.

    "That sounded...serious," Mia said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

    Bri scratched her head. "Shawn wants me to come back home."

    Mia's eyebrows shot up. "Oh."

    "Yeah." Bri tapped her cell phone against the palm of her hand, staring into space. "It's not like I could stay in paradise for forever."

    "But what am I going to do without you though?" Mia poked her bottom lip out.

    Bri laughed and sat down beside her friend. "Oh, I don't know...something tells me you'll be just fine," she said with a smirk. "I've been feeling like a third wheel lately anyway."

    Mia gasped. "What-"

    "Don't," Bri said. "It's okay. You're the happiest I've ever seen you. So I'm okay with feeling like a third wheel, if it means you being happy. You're advancing in your career. You even have a sex life going on. Finally. I mean..."

    Mia rolled her eyes.

    Bri grinned. "You have a good thing going on here. I'm just a phone call away, if Spoons doesn't gank your phone again."

    "I'll make sure he won't." Mia hesitated before asking what she wanted to ask. "When you get home... are you going to tell Shawn about...about the...are you going to tell him that you're..." The word pregnant always seemed to set Bri off, and the words with child sounded so formal and ancient.

    "Yes, I'm going to tell him," Bri said, laughing. "I'm going to get checked out first. But yeah. I have to tell him, sooner or later." She stared down at her hands. Then, she shook her head and out of her somber thoughts. "Did you have something to tell me?"

    "Oh my God, yeah," Mia said. "I completely forgot. I was supposed to tell you that we're leaving out in twenty minutes. By now, it's probably closer to fifteen or ten minutes. Apparently none of my dresses were good enough for the performance, so we have to go shopping."

    "Oh, brother." Bri stood up and checked her reflection in the dresser mirror. She surveyed her hair, which she'd pulled back into a sleek bun and looked down at her casual outfit. "I look a hot mess and I have no time to get ready. What is Drake trying to do to me? Ugh. Okay, go, go, go. I have to pull off a miracle. If you're in here, you're going to distract me."

    Mia gave her friend some time to get ready and returned to her room. She stood just inside the door and realized that just several hours from now, she would be on stage again. Singing a song she'd written in front of an audience. She almost wished that he'd sprung it on her as a surprise, the way he had in Toronto. At that time, she hadn't had time to worry or freak out or feel anxious. She had to make it to the stage as quickly as possible since he and the crowd had been waiting for her. But now, she had all of the time in the world to freak out.

    She walked over to the dresser in her room and looked at her reflection, much the way Bri had just moments before. Drake believed in her. Enough to want to perform with her on stage, and enough to feature a song she'd written on his album. She had record labels wanting to meet with her to discuss possible contracts so she could work with their artists and help them to write their songs. She had several hundreds of thousands of fans on YouTube who were subscribed to her channel, and yet as she stood there, in front of the mirror, she didn't feel ready. She didn't feel like someone who was worthy of all of the attention she was getting. She felt afraid. She studied her reflection. She could see the fear in her own eyes. She couldn't help but wonder if the audience would see it too.