Fireworks 3 and 4

Chapter Fifty-Two

    "This is afternoon entertainment news with your favorite hosts, Justin Credible and we've got Demi filling in for Letty today on Power 106." A lanky, dark-haired man with an olive complexion flipped through a stack of papers. "We have a lot of entertainment news to get through today, I-" He stopped in mid-sentence and squinted his eyes, peering through a pane of glass to the hall outside of their small recording studio.

    Mia Thomas was standing outside of the window with a hand pressed to the glass. Once she gained his attention, she formed her hand into a fist and lightly knocked on the window.

    Justin gave his co-host Demi a confused sideglance. "I'm...sorry, everyone," he apologized into the mic, giving Mia an encouraging gesture. "We actually have a surprise guest for you...that is, if you intended to go on the air today?"

    "I'd like to, yes," Mia stated upon entering.

    Throwing a look at the show's producer, Justin cleared his throat and gestured for Mia to have a seat. Into the mic he said, "I know we just got back from a commercial break and I wouldn't put another one on you guys so soon - but what I will do is play the new Bryson Tiller record while we speak to Mia and get her mic'ed up so she can talk you guys, alright? We'll be back after this jam." He made a circular hand motion towards the show's producer, then removed his headset and turned to face Mia. "You've never dropped in on us like this before. What's up?"

    "I have a breaking story for you," Mia said, seating herself and crossing one leg over the other. "I came to you first."

    Justin's brows shot up and he tried desperately not to salivate in front of her. In this day and age, competition on radio shows was an all-time high. He didn't just have other local radio shows to compete with; now, he had the likes of Apple Music radio shows and nationally syndicated shows to compete with. That was if someone was even willing to listen to a radio show, instead of downloading a digital album and listening to it without the added dialogue and ad breaks. He had three things in his arsenal to help him compete: his undeniably good taste in music, the credibility he'd gained from his LA Leakers venture with DJ SourMilk, and entertainment news. Deep down, everyone loved to gossip and be in the know - even those who pretended not to care. The truth of the matter was, a grocery shopping housewife who claimed not to care about gossip was still going to perk up when she heard the name Drake in the supermarket. That was just facts. Everyone, from the 9 to 5 worker to the A-list celebrities wanted to know what was going on between Mia and Drake...if not for the sake of gossip, so they could be next in line. "I'm listening," Justin said.

    "So am I," Demi said, leaning forward excitedly. She swept her long, dark hair back from her face and gave Mia her full attention.

    Approximately three minutes later, Justin cleared his throat into the mic. "Like I promised, Demi and I are back with a surprise guest. And when I say surprise, I also mean a surprise to me and Demi. Mia Thomas walked into our studio and...Mia, you weren't on schedule to come in today or anything like that, you just showed up."

    Mia now wore a headset and had a microphone clipped to her shirt collar. "I did, yes," she responded cordially.

    "What is your reason for coming in today?"

    Her eyes darted over to the glass window she'd been on the other side of just minutes ago. Maybe she was wishing she hadn't come here? Could she be having second thoughts about busting the lid wide open on this industry scandal? She took a deep breath and said, "I thought long and hard about coming in today."

    Justin nodded encouragingly. The last thing he wanted was for her to change her mind and back down from this.

    "There is a message that I need to spread today, and this is something I could have done on Instagram Live. I could have done it on Twitter. There are a number of ways I could have done this, but this situation is so ugly that I didn't want it on any of my social media pages."

    "So you brought it to us?" Justin asked, laughing.

    She had the grace to laugh along with him, although her laughter sounded a bit forced. Laughter born from nervousness. "Yeah. I had to."

    "What is on your mind, Mia?" Demi queried. "What is this situation you're talking about? I know our listeners probably think they're about to hear an update on what's going on between you and Drake."

    "To be determined," Mia said, and she didn't laugh this time.

    Demi nodded quietly.

    "As far as the situation I experienced earlier today, I had a recording session at a studio," Mia began. "This recording session was with a talented and very well-known producer. A deal had been worked out with this producer, as far as what he would be paid. But during this session, the producer was very unprofessional. He...propositioned me and touched me without my consent."

    Demi gasped into the mic as if she hadn't been told about the incident several minutes prior. "Oh my God."

    "Foul," Justin commented. He kept his response brief so Mia would feel an urge to continue. 

    "It was," Mia confirmed. "It's no secret that I've had a past history with assault. Not that I expect everyone to treat me with kid gloves or anything, but I was just...disgusted by what he did. I was equally disgusted by my own reaction to it, because although I slapped the shit out of him in the moment, I still paused to think about what my next actions would be. I factored in how well-known he was and how he wouldn't want to work with me, how he might go to the press and slander my name because I rejected him. The way I reacted to this made me sick to my stomach."

    Justin tilted his head to the side. His excitement over getting the first word of gossip was giving way to genuine concern. "Your reaction was natural and understandable," he told her. "You aren't just Mia anymore. You're a brand. A business. It's smart to evaluate how your actions will affect the business side of things. There's nothing wrong with that."

   She wrapped her arms around herself and avoided his gaze. "It felt wrong," she said, her voice just above a whisper. "Because there's no telling how many women he's done this to, or how many more women he'll attempt this with. That is what drove me to come here today. That is why I didn't stay quiet about it. We have young artists coming up, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen year old artists who are being thrown into this giant arena with these big shot players who are used to getting what they want from whoever they want. Some of these players have lost their moral compass and we can't keep sweeping trauma like this under the rug, or hiding it. When incidents like this happen, we should be talking about them out in the open so the cycle won't continue. For that reason, I want to make sure I'm one hundred percent clear in this... impromptu interview. The producer who was unprofessional with me, propositioned me, and touched me without my consent is Real Ish. My label has been made aware of his actions and I've informed them that I want to press charges. But I wanted to make sure to tell my people first because if you have studio time booked with him, you just might want to bring your entire crew with you." With that being said, she sat back in her seat and stared at Justin without blinking.

    Justin leaned back in his chair as well, shaking his head.

    The show producer had come out of his narrow booth, just so he could gawk at Mia with his hands raised to his hips. 

    Seeing that Justin was too stunned to speak, Demi remarked into her mic, "Well, there's one way to kick off the entertainment news segment."