Forever Never

Chapter Eleven | Rabbit in Headlights

Leroy

If nothing came of this work party thing at least there would be a silver lining in the form of Ty who looked way too good in a midnight blue dress that hugged her figure and stopped just above her knees, like it was aware of the body it was clothing and seized the opportunity. I tried my best not to stare like I'd never seen a person in a dress before when she walked in through the door of the apartment just as I had made my way out of my room and into the hall, but it was hopeless.

In my defense she seemed to have a bit of a staring problem too when our eyes met. My suit jacket hugged me a bit too tight, which to anyone might seem like a stylistic choice, but truthfully it was just a little too small for me now and the only nice one I had so the excuse of stylistic choice didn't seem too bad.

She had her redish dark brown hair styled into a sort of Afro mohawk that worked well with her bright almost shiny beat and highlighted those warm inviting eyes.

"Heard you'd be coming too," she said, breaking the silence I didn't even realize had settled into the air. A faint smile was shadowing on her lips.

"Same," I replied, clearing my throat.

Axe's manager, Ama, arrived earlier and had been waiting in the kitchen for Axe to come out of her room ready. The door opened and finally she stepped out, sprayed her perfume in front of her before stepping into the cascading mist.

Ama came out clapping her hands together. "Finally. Let's get going," she said, taking the lead and we followed her down to a dark grey Mercedes that was waiting on the driveway. Axe sat in the passenger's seat while Ty and I stepped inside the backseat, Ama in the driver's seat.

I listened with half an ear on Axe and Ama's rather confusing conversation about what I could only assume to be relating to what Axe mentioned about a contract. Instead I glanced to my left at Ty who seemed occupied with her phone.

"You working on any songs lately?" I asked and she moved her attention to me. Her fans were dying for more and I wasn't far from getting to that point too.

"I have a bunch of them written down, just can't seem to decide on which to actualise," she said. "I didn't expect the reception my post from the other day would get. I mean I hoped it would be received well, but not like that," she puffed in disbelief.

"I wasn't surprised." I said and she met my gaze as I said that. I wasn't saying that just to say it but simply speaking facts. The only surprising thing was that it took this long for people to recognize her talents.

I lost my bearings over a fleeting moment of staring at each other's lips closely before we suddenly remembered where we were and went back to what we were doing before, her with her phone and me staring out the window. Ama pulled into a parking space before we all stepped out the car and walked up to the entrance of the venue where bouncers stopped us for ID.

Finally we stepped foot inside and the first thing I took note of where the people carrying around finger foods and cocktails on trays. One of them placed one in front of me and I took a moment to study him before taking one of the drinks.

"You look like a rabbit in headlights," Ty said all of a sudden and looked over my shoulder at her amused expression. "Relax a little." she added, taking a drink herself.

The music came from the speakers and added to the posh feeling to the party along with rich folks who mingled around. Axe was right about what she said. I could practically smell it off them. The search for a pet project, an opportunity to throw money at something in an attempt to convince their old money families they were somebody.

"How I wish to have these people's issues." I sighed as I took a sip of my mimosa.

"Well I need to go do what I came here for, so I'm gonna leave you to do the same," she smiled before following after Axe and Ama.

I stopped at an isolated table, resting my elbows against the edge of the table and slightly leaned forward as I scanned the venue for my potential victim. Truth be told I could've used Axe or Ama introducing me since they were far more used to and at home with this environment and knew a lot of these people.

I locked eyes with a man seemingly in his fourties by the way his blonde hair was growing more grey and his mustach and soul patch along with the wrinkles around his eyes and forehead. Reminding myself I've been here before and knew what to do I finally approached him with a confident and measured walk, the kind that somehow always worked on rich folks. Like an extroverted conversation wiz I initiated your standard small talk.

He had funded a business that was now pretty successful and revealed he was always looking for a new challenge. But I realized he didn't mean the kind I was offering so I briefly mentioned it either way just in case before moving along. None of the other people I approached after him were much different to him and I was ready to officially call this night a fail.

I needed some fresh air and headed out one of the side doors. The only other person out here was a woman, roughly around the same age as my mama, sitting on the sill of a tinted window. A cloud of smoke escaped her lips as she took the blunt in between her thumb and index finger. I'd seen her inside and everyone in there treated her like she was Beyoncé herself.

"Hope I'm not disturbing your peace," I told her and she waved her hand dismissively.

"Nah don't worry," she said. After a moment she glanced at me again, gesturing to the blunt and asking if I wanted a puff. I declined. Her eyes lingered on me. "Let me guess, your influencer friend dragged you here?" she asked and I chuckled slightly.

"Close. My sister and she's a youtuber more than an influencer and she didn't really drag me here, invited more like." I responded.

"Ah so you're here for the trust fund babies," she replied in turn. Her voice reminded me of Viola Davis. "Any luck yet?"

I shook my head again. "Nah."

She tossed the cigarette into the trashcan mounted on the dim street lamp. "Try me then," she went all of a sudden.

I hesitated for a moment before pitching my business to her. She looked at me for a long time without saying anything, and the expression on her face couldn't tell me much. The air breezed through her perfectly round and voluminous afro as if someone had trimmed and styled it delicately like a bonsai tree.

I got the sense that this was someone I should know about but I was drawing a blank. She felt like someone big, bigger than a content creator and richer. She looked at me with an expression I couldn't read. How I wish Axe could be here right now to educate my ignorant ass.

"I like that actually," she said finally, taking me by surprise.

"Wait really? So much you'd invest in something like that?" I asked, the hope growing steadily.

"What's your experience with admin work? You ever work as a PA?" she asked instead after a moment's silence.

I nodded. "Yeah I have a ton."

"I've been looking for a PA for a while now and I kinda like you. See a potential here that needs harnessing," she finally got up from the window pane and was digging through her purse. She pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, asking me to write down my contact details and said she'd give me a call sometime this week.

I wrote down my number and handed her the paper before she went back inside while I stayed behind doing breath work to calm my ass down.