Fireworks 3 and 4

Chapter Forty-Seven

    When Chubbs opened the front door of Drake's manor to reveal Mia, his eyebrows shot up into his hairline. To say that he looked surprised would have been an understatement. "Look who it is!" he shouted, and proceeded to wrap her up in a bear hug.

    Mia offered him a sheepish smile. "Is he in?"

    "Surprise pop-up? What are you schemin'?"

    She laughed. "Nothing, I just... I was close by and-"

    "Just driving through the neighborhood and shit, and realized that we were a block over or some shit?" The way he was arching his brow at her said that he was having trouble believing her story. But instead of giving her more grief, he took a few steps back, opening the door wide enough to allow her inside. "If you're looking for Aubs, yes he happens to be in. He's been in the studio ever since he got back in last night."

    Mia's mouth formed a small "o" of surprise.

    Chubbs chuckled. "Everyone in this house knows he's back in the studio because of you," he told her. "We haven't seen him this happy in years. Trust, we were worried about the boy but from the sounds coming out of the studio, he's back."

    Mia hesitated before stepping further into the house. "If he's working, I can just check with him later."

    "Girl, if you don't take your ass to that studio righ nah," Chubbs threatened. "If you even remember where the damned studio is. Have the nerve to go on years without visiting and shit like phone check-ins are enough." He started muttering under his breath.

    She held up both hands in a defensive gesture. "I remember where the studio is."

    "Take your ass on then," Chubbs told her, nodding his head in the general direction of the studio. The look in his eyes was a lot warmer than the tone of his voice. She could've even sworn she saw a smile curve his lips as she turned away from him.

~~~~~~

"Always been known as the artist who takes no days off...
As everyone knows, though, lately I fell some ways off.
I dropped an album, she dropped a baby.
I guessed the outcome, prematurely maybe.
Lashed out at my son's mother because my heart belonged to another.
I was dumb enough to lend it out when I had no permission to send it out.
By denying paternity, I was playing the victim,
Love my baby boy for eternity, I now know I would've picked him.
Apologies to my little boy, but I just had to grow, dawg.
After getting to know you a little, it's clear to me that Scorpion was just the prologue."

    Slow music flooded the studio space from huge speakers placed throughout the room. Seated at a table at the back of the studio in an area clouded with hookah smoke, Drake shook his head and hit the backspace button on the phone he'd been reading.

    Mia hesitated in the doorway, too moved to move.

    He took a puff from the hookah pipe, set the pipe down, and contemplatively stroked his bottom lip before typing something else in the phone dwarfed by his hand.

Apologies to my little boy, but I just had to grow, dawg.
It's now clear to me that Scorpion was just the prologue."

    The smallest of pensive frowns. "I like that a little better, yeah," he murmured to himself.

    I should turn around, Mia thought. Go back home. He's in the middle of his creative process and probably doesn't want me hearing any of this yet. Listening in isn't fair to him.

    Completely oblivious to her, he alternated between bobbing his head to the music, puffing from the pipe, and adjusting what he'd typed into the phone. Lines that had sounded completely fine to her, he revised and restructured and perfected.

    Just as she'd convinced herself to leave, he glanced over and saw her. He almost dropped the phone he was holding, which made her feel a pang of guilt.

    "I didn't mean to eavesdrop," she said lamely. "Chubbs said you were here. I was nearby, so... I thought I would just... But you're obviously... So I can come back later."

    He stared at her through the haze of smoke beginning to clear. "What did you think about it?"

    The question threw her off. No guilt trip. No bullshit. He was in work mode. Straight to the point. Wah, wah, wah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I acknowledge your feelings but what did you think about my song? She almost laughed out loud. "I...liked it."

    His face screwed up in disgust. "Liked it." He shook his head. "Not good enough then."

    "It was very good," she argued.

    "You didn't say that, though." He ran a hand over the top of his head. "Some of the syllables are off. Lines too long here and there, not an even match. It's throwing the entire flow off."

    "You'll make it amazing," she told him. "You always do."

    "Not lately," he contradicted. "Lately it's nothing but criticism. I give everyone a piece of me and it's not good enough. They want old me, old sound, the me they're used to. Less foreign accents, more of the sound I had when I was writing in Houston." Drumming his fingers on the arm of the couch, he stood up. "Sometimes I just want to do it. Give them what they want, so they stop asking for it. But it's like going out with an ex just because your friends think you're good together. My heart is somewhere else, my life is taking me to all of these places..." He paused and turned to look at her.

    Leaning with her hip against the wall, she looked back at him.

    "Mia."

    This time she did laugh, because he said her name as if he'd just realized she was there. "Hi."

    There was that boyish smile, the one that allowed him to get away with most things. "You're here."

    "Yeah."

    "Why?"

    "I was nearby," she repeated.

    "Where?" he probed, and the look on his face said he wasn't trying to be a dick. "Nothing is near here."

    She laughed again and looked away from him. "I...don't know. I just..." She blew out a puff of air and nearly erupted into a coughing fit after the bit of smoke she sucked in. "I... wanted to see you. I guess." I...sound...pathetic...I guess. Covering her face with both hands, she blurted out, "I'm just going to turn around and walk out and we're going to pretend like this never happened."

    Before she could do any such thing, though, he was there blocking her exit. "You find your way all the way to my hidden hills and you think I'm going to just let you walk out of here?" With those words, he grabbed her hands and gently lowered them from her face. "Why leave in such a hurry? Stay a while."