I Wanna Be Where You Are

Chapter 1

“Denise!” Oh ma gosh what does he want now “Yes daddy?” “Didn’t I tell you not to move from that piano?” No you said you better put your three hours in but let me keep my mouth shut “Lil girl I know you hear me talkin to ya” “Yes daddy. I was just taking a break” “You don’t need no damn break! You need to brush up on those chords” “Yes daddy” oh I can’t stand daddy when he’s like this. He’s annoying as hell. “And you wonder why mama left you” “WHAT YOU JUST SAY?” “Nothing daddy” “Yea just what I thought” sometimes I feel like he’s livin his dream through me but then I just think and I realize that he just wants the best for me. I mean maybe he could cut me some slack or something. I’m only 16 and my birthday is a few days away but I’m still young. Can’t fame wait? “I don’t hear playing!” I guess that’s my answer. I started to touch the keys but I wasn’t really playing. I really only played when there was a song that inspired me to touch these keys and play any notes. Don’t get me wrong I am really driven and really passionate about my art but I don’t like being too over worked. I’ve been to auditions non-stop and rehearsals with my teacher and I have been getting ahead on school work from now so that when it’s time for school I have more time to practice than just sitting down for hours doing homework. He just doesn’t get it. I wish he was more like mama. “Okay baby girl take a break” “Thanks daddy” “Here take a seat we need to talk” okay now he wants to talk. I don’t like this it never end well “Daddy has been working on getting you to LA in a week for a competition” “Wow that’s, well that’s actually really good news dad” Now wait for it “And well” here it comes “You see baby girl” In three “in order to do this” two “We have to make a giant sacrifice” “Um what sacrifice is that exactly?” and BOOM cue the heart attack “We have to move there and, you have to live there permanently which means no more new York.” Was he nuts? Does he not get how much this house means to me how much Houston means to me? O-or Don Don! I’d have to leave Don Don and mama and lil kit at home. Where the heart is. “No!” “Now baby I know your mama understands” Because of you I had to leave this place and now you are making me leave again? “No she won’t” “But she does baby and she thinks that if this is what you really want then she thinks you should go for it” oh well isn’t this great mama and daddy have been talking about this without me knowing “Did you tell her that this is ya dream and NOT mine?” “Oh come on Denise you write songs you are a great pianist and an even better singer. You are a prodigy. Why would you sleep on talent like that?” “Because daddy for once at home I have friends. People that like me. I didn’t have that here. Please daddy let me live please” “This is more than just some friend” And that was it. The day I decided that maybe Don Don was more than just “some friend” he was everything to me. Absolutely everything. So sitting here right now looking at him eat his pizza before he takes me to rehearsal is killing me. He doesn’t know yet that I agreed with my dad and decided to go to LA. But I daddy agreed to let me spend one more year at school. So junior year is where it ends the last real year I’ll have with my best friend. I told him to apply to a school next year in LA so that he could be close to me but he doesn’t know that’s the reason. “Don Don?” “Yea Ness” “What if I told you that I was leaving for a while?” I watched his face change from one emotion to another then back to calm. I think he just shrugged off my question. He really shouldn’t have “Well. I’ll just wait for you to come back” I sighed. I knew he would say that. “No Don I mean gone for good like I’m not gone be here no more. Well until you go to college” He understood now. He finally had the expression I hopped for. Scared.

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She can’t be serious. Is she seriously serious? “Well where the hell are you going? I wanna go too” “Oh I wished that you could Don I really do” “So you’d leave me alone by myself in New York?” Is this real right now I must be dreaming “Don’t you dare make it seem like I don’t want to stay here with you”- I could care less at this point I’m just done now. “Look baby girl we have to get you to rehearsal ok? We’ll deal with this later iight Ness?” “You sure Brandon?” I looked her in the eyes and I knew she didn’t want this. She was sincerely worried about me. That’s the only time she actually used my full name. I stared at her for a long time. Every curve of her face, the small dimple that formed when she smirked and grew when she blushed. The light brown skin and long hair and beautiful smile were all things that were gonna be missed about her. But the person inside this beauty was what I’d miss the most. She was like no other girl out here man. And she would be gone just as fast as she came.