Fireworks 1 and 2

Jungle: Chapter Fifty-One

    The order of the songs Drake would perform tonight had been changed. "Soul Cry" was generally one of the last songs that was performed. Because Mia would be providing background vocals throughout his other songs, he wanted her surprise appearance to be in the beginning. He opened with the song "Legend," from his "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" mixtape-turned-album. That song, at his request, would bleed into "Soul Cry." The second song into the show, and she was up.

    Changing up the order of songs performed when there were light shows synchronized with the music and pyrotechnics involved was no easy feat, but he checked with all of the engineers involved. Before the concert attendees were granted admittance into the arena, he double-checked to make sure everything would work out.

    Mia stood offstage, gripping a plain black microphone in both hands while listening to him sing the hook to "Legend." She remembered her first time performing after OVOFest. It was during a PartyNextDoor concert in Los Angeles, and she'd been terrified - so terrified that she'd missed her first cue. Tonight, she didn't feel any nervousness. She wasn't even anxious, anymore. Excitement vibrated through her body at the sound of the crowd.

    Onstage, Drake turned his head with the most subtle of motions and winked at her while singing.

    Her cheeks flushed and she lowered her eyes.

    Future the Prince, wearing a hoodie and bobbing his head while switching up the music, danced in his booth.

    Drake adjusted the microphone stand while the music for "Legend" blended into "Soul Cry." With his trademark grin, he asked, "How are you all doing tonight?"

    The audience cheered in response.

    "All I want is for you to enjoy yourself tonight. I'm going to do my best to make sure that happens. It's been awhile since I've been to D.C. It has been way too long, but tonight I'm going to make up for lost time." He paused dramatically, then said into the mic, "I mean...if that's all right with you."

    More cheers.

    Future the Prince looped the music from "Soul Cry" back to the beginning of the song.

    "This next song is very important, very special to me," Drake said into the microphone. "And I think most of you know why that is." He bowed his head and tapped one foot to the beat of the music.

    Mia lifted her microphone to her mouth and started to sing.

    The crowd started to scream at the top of their lungs, as if they could tell from the sound of her voice that her vocals were live and not recorded.

    Drake smiled and turned his head, looking at her expectantly.

    Meeting his gaze and flashing him a flirty smile, she walked out onto the stage while singing. The lights flashed overhead, and the crowd lost their collective minds, all making for a natural high. The concert hall was overflowing with positive energy and happiness. Complete elation. For her first entire verse, she kept her eyes on Drake as she approached him. She sang beside him, then walked away from him and moved to the front of the stage. She sang her heart out, waved one arm from side to side, and the audience was right with her. They sang the song word for word and waved their arms along with her. When her verse was over, she smiled at the crowd and cast a glance over her shoulder at Drake.

    He detached the microphone from its stand and moved to join her at the front of the stage, launching into the rap verse he penned for the song.

    She danced beside him while he rapped, then strutted down the stage, intermittently chiming in with the last word of each of his lines. When the song was over, she gave a pageant wave to the audience and returned to center stage, where Drake was standing.

    He slung an arm around her shoulders. "Give it up for Mia one time," he told the audience. Then he turned his head and kissed her on the temple. "You were amazing."

    She wrapped an arm around his waist and buried her face into his chest. The crowd cheered and shouted, and then started to chant her name.

    "Mia, Mia, Mia, Mia!"

    He laughed and raised the microphone to his mouth again. "I take it you liked seeing her, then?"

    Behind them, Future the Prince allowed the music to fade out while Drake took a moment to speak with the audience.

    "Because if you liked seeing her, I might be able to convince her to come back out and serenade us with that angelic voice of hers," Drake said into the microphone. "This is my baby right here, you know that."

    More screams of approval from the audience.

    He turned his head again and said into Mia's ear, "Take a minute, rest up backstage. You're back up after the next song."

    She nodded. "I know, I got it."

    He kissed her on the temple again, and lifted her hand into the air. "One more time, for Ms. Mia Thomas." He lowered her hand to his lips and kissed it, then released it.

    She gave the audience one more wave, then turned and walked off of the stage.

    "She deserves every bit of love you just gave her and then some," she heard him tell the audience.

    She returned to the corridor behind the stage.

    Chubbs appeared a minute later. He handed her a towel and a bottled water. "You killed it."

    She beamed at him. "Thank you, Chubbs." She dabbed at her face with the towel and exhaled.

    The music from "Portland" flowed back to the backstage area. High-energy. It was a song that made him jump up and down and bounce around the stage whenever he performed it. The sounds of the flute carried behind the stage and into the corridor where multiple crew and staff members convened.

    She resorted to pacing the length of corridor while sipping from her bottled water, wanting to check the messages on her phone but knowing that if she did, she'd probably end up missing her next cue.

    After throwing away her empty water bottle, she returned to her spot just off of the stage, out of view of the audience. In fascination, she watched Drake move around the stage, taking whatever energy the crowd gave him and sending it back to them tenfold. He was truly electrifying to watch. When he wasn't singing, he was talking to them as if they were old friends of his. He talked to them about life and love, and goals. She watched him in awe. It was one of those moments when she had to remind herself that this was the man she was dating, this larger than life being whose words had the power to inspire and motivate people across the globe.

    The music from "From Time" started to play and Drake said into the microphone, "Jhene Aiko is family to me, but unfortunately she couldn't join me on tour this year. I'm hoping that my angel, my love, will come back out on stage and help me with this."

    Mia smiled at his words. That's my man, she thought as she stepped back out onto stage. As she walked out this time, instead of anticipating the crowd's reaction, she drank in every moment, every element of being onstage: the flashing lights, the screaming crowd, the energy, the music, the freedom to dance however she wanted to and use singing as a form of expression, and most important of all...her baby, standing over near the mic stand, wearing the proudest smile she'd ever seen him wear...a smile that was reserved for her and her only.