*Brrriiinnggg.....Brrriiinnggg.....Brriiinnggg*
"Yo holla at yo boii", Shawn Corey Carter answered his cell in his permanent casual tone, forgetting, as usual, to notice the caller ID.
"Jay? Uhm...hey...its Beyoncé." Beyoncé Knowles spoke shyly through the receiver, debating on whether she should just hang up now before she embarrassed herself. She was a confident, sexy goddess who could sing for goodness sake! So why was she feeling so flustered?
At this Jay sat up a little straighter and hastily motioned for Ty Ty to lower the 808 beat pounding through the studio where he was currently located. "Oh Bey what's up baby girl?" He wondered if his usual cool facade was keeping true, because if he was honest Beyoncé Knowles made him nervous. Good nervous....always good nervous.
Beyoncé smiled at the use of her nickname, "So me and my sistas are in New York for New Years...and it is the millenium. Anythin hot on your turf Mr. Carter?" She grimaced at her attempt at subtle flirting with one of the biggest rap moguls of the 20th century.
Jay simply laughed at Beyoncé's flirting attempt and decided that recriprocating would only be polite, "You know Bey, just cause you so damn cute imma take y'all to a spot in Soho with me and some friends. Y'all think you can handle that?" Jay asked smugly as he resumed his previous nonchalant demeanor as he employed what men refer to as 'game'.
"Yeah I think we got it Jay," she laughed casually, as her father - and manager - called her for rehearsals, "I gotta go but..text me the details later?" she suggested.
"Aiight baby girl, go be...I would say bitchin' but you got tha down cold." He grinned when she laughed down the receiver. "Damn, that laugh," he thought.
"Goodbye...Mr. Carter." She stated smugly, abruptly ending the call, before heading down to the hotel gym for her scheduled dance rehearsal with Kelly and Michelle.
With that Jay returned to the control dashboard mixing and remixing some of his preliminary tracks for his next album. Ty Ty looked over with a smug look on his face, then began to laugh. "Wha you laughin' at giggles" Jay asked defensively, thoroughly confused by his friends' outburst.
"You, my boii, have it bad." He stated before laughing again, wholeheartedly.
"Yeah, yeah. Bey and me..were just friends dog. I respect her...she ain't no hoe. She's young, ya know, she needs somebody lookin' out for her in this game." He pondered out loud with true conviction.
"What? You mean the industry?" He asked incredulously. "Jay we've been around tha block, man and I ain't ever seen you act like that round no otha' chick. Y'all ain't friends, it's definitely somat more man...I ain't blind."
"Ty man. She's jus' startin' out, I'm beefin' her street cred." Jay stated. The two men laughed at Jay's statement, bumped fists, then fell into a comfortable working silence they had maintained over the years.
As the silence invaded Jay's mind he thought about Bey, if he was being honest he had been thinking about her alot recently when he had a moment. She was his best friend, she just understood him. With the women he had been involved with before, they had done all the talking and he had gained the attribute of being 'listener' in the relationship. He wondered if that was the reason those relationships had failed. Bey, on the other hand, genuinely wanted to hear stories about his past, despite his ugly background - a childhood smuggling and selling drugs, carrying a glock, no father and a high school drop out. Not to mention his recent accusation of stabbing Lance Rivera. Bullshit. Beyoncé Knowles wanted to know it all. She had said once that she had no right to judge what made him who he was , the streets had gave birth to Shawn Carter which in turn created Jay Z - and she liked Jay Z. Her exact words if he recalled, Jay smiled as he recounted that conversation. From that the two had formed a relationship based profoundly on his respect for her. To Jay, Bey was a perfect woman - she understood music, she took time to actually listen to him, she had an unbelievable work ethic, she could laugh and she was undoubtedly true to herself despite being typically shy in nature. "Wow...maybe Ty's right...No she's too good, you have her as a friend, don't screw it up just cause your horny" he internalised.
"Aiight Jay we gonna bounce dog, I is starvin' and I gotta get back to ma baby mama man." Ty stated, breaking Jay from his internal reverie.
"Wha..yeah man let's grab food before I pick up tha ladies" He smirked.
With that they hopped in their black SUV, stopped at In N' Out for food, Jay dropped Ty home before returning to his condo in Lower Manhattan to get ready for the New Years Eve party.
