Fireworks 1 and 2

Chapter Fifty-One

    Drake was having a great night. To show appreciation to the fans who came out, he turned House of Blues into an impromptu club spot and guest deejayed for the people on the floor. His boys were laughing it up and joking around, OB dancing around with ridiculously embellished movements. Drake cracked up at them and looked towards the bar where Mia had been sitting. He didn't see Mia, but he spotted Bri pretty quickly. His brows furrowed, but he returned back to deejaying. He figured that Mia probably had to use the bathroom.

    Fans came up to him, wanting to talk about how much they loved his music. He was gracious, took time and spoke to them. After about twenty minutes, though, he looked up over their heads and realized that the chair next to Bri was still empty. He frowned and excused himself from the fan who was talking in mid-sentence. He gave the fan a pat on the back as he walked away, moving between dancers and those who were mingling on the floor.

    He walked up to Bri. "Hey," he greeted.

    Bri's eyes widened at the sound of his voice. "Hey, Drake," she greeted back, her voice sugary sweet.

    He brought a hand up to the back of his head. "Is Mia around?"

    Bri raised her glass to her lips to prevent having to respond right away. She took a painstakingly long sip. Then she lowered her glass. "Mia stepped away for a bit."

    "Yeah?" he asked. "Where? She doesn't smoke, right?"

    "No. No, she does not."

    He waited for a further explanation but didn't receive one. He nodded, realizing that she wasn't going to be of much help to him. "All right, thank you." He turned and surveyed the main floor. There was a lounge area, complete with couches and televisions mounted into the walls for those who didn't want to be up near the stage for the live performances. The sound of a giggle caught his attention. The giggle was familiar. He glanced at Bri a moment before moving towards the lounge area.

    The colorful flashing lights overhead cast a red hue over his face as he broke through the crowd of dancers. Several groups of people were seated on the couches in the lounge area, but only one pairing caused the muscles in his jaw to twitch. Mia and the professional football player were in deep conversation. He stroked his jaw as he approached them.

    Mia looked up as he approached. "Hi, Aubrey."

    Drake held her gaze for a moment without speaking.

    Trevor stood up and extended a hand towards Drake. "Hey, brother. I was just telling Mia how amazing she was up there."

    Drake's eyes slid over to Trevor once Mia's name left his lips. "Is that what you were telling her?" he asked.

    "Yeah, man," Trevor said, not sensing that anything was amiss. "The whole show, actually was perfection. I'm a huge PND fan myself. And you and I have talked before. You already know how much I love your music."

    "I appreciate that, man," Drake said, shaking Trevor's hand. He turned to Mia. "It's time for us to leave."

    Trevor looked surprised. "Already? Aren't you hosting some kind of after party?"

    "PartyNextDoor's got it from here," Drake said, unable to hide the agitation from his voice.

    Trevor held his hands up. "All right, man." He turned to Mia and helped her stand. "You got my number, right, baby girl?"

    "Yeah," Mia said with a nervous smile.

    Trevor wrapped her up in an embrace. "You've got a good artist here," he told Drake over her shoulder.