Fireworks 1 and 2

Jungle: Chapter Twenty-Six

    Early as fuck in the morning and her phone was ringing already. Mia expected the phone call to be from Nicki, maybe. Or Bey. A friendly reminder kind of call. Instead, it was a representative of a New York radio station, Hot97. The representative stated that his station caught wind of her being in New York for work with Nicki Minaj and Beyonce, and wanted to know if she was willing to interview with them. "Not a full length, half-hour interview or anything like that," the representative said in a rush. "Just a quick check-in with you, to see what you're working on, how you and Drake are doing."

    "How you and Drake are doing," he says. He threw it in there so casually, too, like it's not the main thing they want to know. It's too early for me to make a smart decision on this, she thought sleepily while raising up on her elbows in bed. And my last radio interview...in no way makes me feel warm and fuzzy about radio station interviews. At the end of the day, though, Hot97 would be good exposure for her. Turning down the interview would not be a smart move, so she agreed.

    The representative advised that the station would run a set of commercials, come back, play some songs, go back to commercial, and the second time they returned on the air is when her interview was scheduled. She had time to shower, order breakfast to be delivered to her room and blow dry her hair while waiting. The hotel was too posh to equip its hotel rooms with ugly digital alarm clock radios, so she had to use her laptop and hotel Wi-Fi to listen to the radio show while eating breakfast.

    "What's up, what's up, what's up, you're listening to Ebro in the Morning," the radio show deejay greeted. His voice was deep and smooth. "I've got Rosenberg and the lovely Miss Laura Stylez with me, and we actually have a surprise guest for the show this morning. Now...she's not in the studio with us today. This is kind of an impromptu thing. We heard she was in town and wanted to touch base. We have Miss Mia Thomas on the line, everyone." The sounds of applause was cued up.

    Mia sat on the edge of her bed with her phone to her ear. "Hello, hello," she greeted.

    "Imagine my surprise when I heard from someone else that you were in my city," Ebro chastised. "Shame on you. I should have heard that from you. We could have had you in here for a real interview."

    "Next time, I'll make sure you hear it first," she assured him. The few times she had met him, she hadn't taken a liking to him. He had an abrasive, imposing disposition and tended to invite himself into conversations that didn't concern him. Those were only her first impressions of him, but she didn't know why after those limited meetings, he expected for her to open up to him about her relationship with one of the top selling artists of our time.

    Ebro chuckled. The chuckle sounded a bit forced. "The word on the street is that you're in town because you're working with, not one, but two queens in the music industry. Nicki and Beyonce. Is there any truth to that?"

    "Yes, I am working with both of them," she confirmed, looking down at the tray of food sitting on her bed and briefly wondering if she had time to cram a piece of croissant in her mouth while he asked his next question. Wisely, she decided against it.

    "Can you give any more information about the projects you're working on?" Ebro asked her. Before she could answer, he directed to the radio listeners, "For those of you who have been living under a rock, Mia Thomas is known for the music she wrote and performed with Drake on his latest album. The track featuring your vocals is actually deemed one of the best tracks on the entire album. She was coming into her own before that, though. I don't know if you know this, Mia, but I'm a subscriber to your YouTube channel. I have been since even before you got on stage with your boy Drake at OVOFest."

    God, that seems so long ago. "Thank you," she told him.

    "It sounds like you're flirting, Ebro," a female voice said. Mia was guessing it was Laura Stylez, the radio show co-host. "Do you have a little crush?"