Fireworks 3 and 4

Chapter Twenty-Two

    Nelson Randall, a well-established photographer, had two A-list female entertainers ready to claw his throat out. Running a hand through his dark, shoulder-length hair, he shouted out, "Ladies!"

    Nicki stopped in mid-sentence and pursed her lips shut.

    Mia folded her arms across her chest and looked at the photographer expectantly.

    "Give me a chance to explain my vision to you," Nelson pleaded.

    The look on Nicki's face was intimidating enough to cause him to shit his pants.

    "You two are the top leading ladies right now," he started off. "You're household names. Everyone is talking about you, everyone is still buzzing about why your collab never saw the light of day. There are beefing rumors, and there's even a tension that I can feel in this studio right now, between the two of you. And not to make either of you feel a type of way, but you even resemble each other a bit. This uncanny resemblance, along with the fact that you're both after the same top spot in rap/pop music...I don't know, it just got me to thinking. Careerwise it seems that you're in a standoff, a face-off, so to speak. So I figured that this should could be a face-off between the two of you. You're both competing for the top spot and-"

    "Excuse you?" Nicki interjected, holding up a perfectly manicured hand. "You said that as if this girl is even in the same league as me."

    Mia arched an eyebrow at Nicki.

    "She doesn't deserve to have her name spoken in the same sentence as mine, let alone be compared to me. Let her put in a decade of work. Let her have collaborations from some of the greats without even having secured a record deal - oh, wait - that would be easy for her to get, right? Since she's fucked herself to the top of the food chain?" Nicki raised a hand to her hip as she steered herself around to face Mia.

    "I'm not competing with you," Mia spat out.

    "Good," Nicki quipped, "because you can't."

    Mia took a step closer to her. "But what we not gonna do is pretend that you didn't use multiple men to boost your own career. Those early years and that fake-ass romance you had going on with my man? The endless cosigning he gave you throughout the beginning of your career, praising you onstage? Swearing allegiance to you and speaking out against Lil Kim just to help give you a little bit of clout?"

    Nicki drew back, a fist balling at her side.

    Nelson looked between them, picked up his camera, and started shooting.

    "You're right," Mia allowed. "Being linked with Aubrey has helped my career. It wasn't even deliberate, not on my part. He wanted to help me, and the media can't stop linking us together for the sake of clickbait. I can't help that. But you act like I didn't have to hustle as much and therefore I can never be on your level."

    "You can't ever be on my level, because I helped to pave the way for you," Nicki stated. "You think the industry was checking for female rappers before I came onto the scene? I mean really check for them? Do you think modern female rappers were getting the same chances as men, were being taken seriously in this industry before I came on the scene and demanded to have their motherfucking respect? You want to talk about what you think you know about my career early on. You want to accuse me of using Drake, but just know that he used me just as much, if not more than I used him. Because that is what your man fucking is: a user. It won't take long for him to ride your wave, believe me. He can't even help himself."

    Mia saw red. "If he's so much of a fucking user, then why do you text him to come over whenever you're fighting with your man?" she demanded.

     Nicki's eyes widened.

    "Huh?" Mia shrilled, taking a step closer.

    The photographer was still there, snapping away. Nicki leveled a menacing glare at him. "Do you want to learn the hard way that fucking around with me will result in you losing your motherfucking job? I demand to know why I wasn't informed she would be here. No one informed me that I was sharing this shoot. Why?"

    Nelson lowered his camera and started babbling.

    She held her hand up to him. "I'm done talking with you. Get me the editor-in-chief on the phone. Now."

    "It sounds to me like someone is afraid of a little competition," Mia said, smoothing down her hair. She told the photographer, "I'm ready for my close-up."

    Nicki narrowed her eyes at Mia just as a phone was being thrust in her face. She waved the phone away and stalked over to where Mia stood. Then she hoisted an expected look in the photographer's direction. "Well, are you ready? A bitch doesn't have all day."

    There had been anger and threats. That, Nelson had expected. But at the end of the day, artists want acknowledgement and recognition. They wanted their props, that front cover shot - even if shared. So despite knowing that he would anger two pretty established artists, he decided to take the risk that they would still want to complete the shoot with him. And it seemed that it was a risk well worth taking. He circled around the two women and told them where he wanted them to stand. Then, when he had them facing each other in powerful stances, he started snapping away.

    During the first wardrobe change, he handed a media cartridge to his assistant. "This is the camera roll with the candid shots from before the shoot. Choose the best few photos and leak them. TMZ. E! Online. I don't care. Get it out there and into circulation and hint at there being beef between them. It will help to make the photoshoot more of a surprise once the photos hit the stands."

    The petite brunette bobbed her head and ran off with the cartridge.

    Nelson withdrew a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket and flipped the top open. Just another hard day's work, he thought with mischievous grin.