Fireworks 1 and 2

Jungle: Chapter Five

    "There was no altercation," Mia said, reaching beneath the desk and grabbing Drake's hand. "Just a bit of a misunderstanding that has been cleared up."

    Drake squeezed her hand and gave a slight shake of his head.

    Yesi squealed. "I love this. What was Rih confused on?"

    "It's not important," Mia claimed with a toss of her hair. She gave her hair a pat with the one hand that wasn't clinging to Drake's for dear life. Her eyes were wide and innocent as she looked back at the female personality chomping at the bit to stir up some drama.

    "I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that conversation," Yesi said, leaning back in her chair. 

    "Rihanna and I have a mutual respect for each other. We're both women focused on our business and our bag. You won't catch me shading her or any other female artist on a national radio show." Mia adjusted the microphone mount. "So, back to the album..."

    Yesi chuckled. "Right. What would you say is your favorite song from 6ix?" She picked up the CD case and flipped it over to the back, perusing the track list.

    "There are so many good ones on there," Mia said. "The song I wrote, Soul Cry, is definitely one of my favorites...but I would have to say that my absolute favorite is Mia's Song."

    Yesi nodded with a smile, as if she had expected that response. "We are going to play Mia's Song, and then we are going to go to a quick commercial break. When we come back, we will talk about both Mia's Song and Soul Cry. We'll be right back. Power 106." She turned her head and waited for the "On Air" light to flash off. Once it did, she removed her headphones from her ears and grinned at Drake and Mia. "You're doing great."

    Drake narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you doing, Yesi?"

    Yesi's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

    He maintained eye contact. "The Rihanna question? What the hell was that?"

    The radio personality blinked. "That was an innocent question," she said, drawing out each of her words.

    "That was you trying to stir drama," he amended, adjusting the brim of his baseball cap. "And if you don't want both Mia and me to walk off? You're going to get it together and ask the questions you were authorized to ask."

    Then there was that. The fact that over the past year and a half, Drake had grown increasingly annoyed with the phoniness and backstabbing that went on in the entertainment industry. On some nights, when he and Mia were holding each other, close to the point of falling asleep, he would talk about backing out of the rapping/singing game. He said he could find talent and present that new talent to the public, the way he was doing now, but stay behind the scenes. So he could cut out a good half of the shadiness and fuckery that went on behind the scenes, what music fans didn't get to see that television shows like Empire had shed light on.

    "It's rare that an artist just...gets to make the music they want to make and present it to the public," he had explained to her one night before his album had been released. "There are so many ins and outs to it, so many different processes that it has to go through. A part of why I stopped acting. So many different steps, just to get to the point of doing what you love. Music is a lot better in that regard, but still. There are so many people that have to approve the final product. And unless it's a mixtape I'm offering for free, I can't just make music and release it and let that be that. Because people have to know that the music is out there and exists. Now I'm having to do interviews...which, for the most part, I don't even do anymore. Not after my words have gotten all twisted by the press, twisted to paint me out to be this douchebag asshole. But when you're an artist and you're releasing work, it's kind of a necessary evil. You know?

    "So all year long, you have radio deejays and radio personalities talking shit about you. Making fun of you. Right? Then you get in their studio and it's all smiles. All handshakes and 'I've missed your face,' and 'We should get together more often,' knowing that there is a good reason why we don't get together more often. They kiss your ass and all the while, they're trying to get you to tie a noose around your feet, so you wind up hanging upside down with your dignity lost and your change falling out of your pockets." He had traced patterns into her bare skin while pouring his heart out to her. "There is so much fakeness in this industry. In some ways, you're forced into becoming a little fake yourself. Even the artists people refer to as their rebels, like Rih...she has her moments, believe me. All of us do. You kind of have to, if you want your career to survive.

    "Sometimes I think to myself. I wonder if I could just...successfully fade into the background. Help other artists on their come-up and just...drop out of the game. The more time that passes, the more that I see, the more that I want to do it. It just gets to a point when it's too much, you know?"

    She had lain her head on his chest, his heartbeat the soundtrack for his late-night confessions.

    "You are about to join us in this crazy industry," he had told her. "And what I would tell you, the woman that I love, is to watch your back. Trust yourself. Trust your craft. Trust your instincts. But do not trust these people. Not unless they are people you know one hundred percent sure to be trustworthy. Like... my boys? I can trust them. That's why I wanted them around me. Why pay strangers a percentage of my profits when I can pay that percentage to friends who really have my best interests at heart? Friends who know when I won't give myself a break, to practically force a break on me. Shit like that. You know? Looking out for me, the person, and not just me the artist. You need someone like that around you."

    "I have someone like that around me," she'd informed him.

    "Yeah, you do. I keep forgetting about Bri. How is she?"

    "I wasn't talking about Bri," she had said with a laugh. "I was talking about you."

    He had tightened his hold on her and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Sometimes I wonder to myself what I would do without you," he mused softly. "I think I would go insane."

    "It's a good thing you have me then," she had murmured back then.

    She squeezed his hand now. That moment in time seems like forever ago, she thought while watching him.

    Yesi looked visibly shaken, but she sat back in her seat wordlessly, waiting for the commercials to end.

    His words came rushing back to Mia, and she visualized Yesi attempting to get a noose to tie around her ankles. Visualizing that helped her to put her in the right mindframe to attack the rest of the questions. She turned her head, kissed Drake on the cheek, and assured him, "It's okay, baby. I got this."