The Choice is Yours

8

      I  had  to take a step back. I felt like all the air had been knocked out of me. I blinked a few times trying to make sure that what had just happened was real. When I saw him lean forward and kiss Lyric on the lips, I lost it. "Your what? I know you did not just say your fiancé! You're freakin' fiancé Chase? And she's pregnant?" I screamed in complete shock and irritation.

     "Apparently she is deaf and blind, because I know we just spelled it out for her," Lyric responded with her words dripping with venom.

      I have had just about enough of this broad. "Look here you home wrecking dirt bag. Nobody asked you to speak or even exist. Trust me, by the looks of you, your mom should have swallowed that one or at least let it hit the sheets. Now I advise you to shut all the way up or you won't make it to see the next five minutes!"

      We were so caught up in the drama unfolding before us, that we didn't notice the manager of the restaurant show up. "Excuse me, is there a problem here?" He asked. It was clear that his temper was starting rise.

      "Everything is fine sir. She was just getting ready to leave," Chase responded calmly.

     "I will leave when I am good and ready, not when you tell me to," I screamed at Chase.

      "Salem you are seriously testing my patience and you're upsetting my fiancé. Now, I'm only going to ask you one more time to leave." Chase responded, letting his temper fill his voice.

       "And if I don't?" I asked eager to see what he was going to do. He gave Lyric and look and I noticed he jaw clench.

      "Baby I got this," Lyric responded. I watched her stand up from her seat and grab the plate in front of her. She attempted to hit me with it, but was a little too slow. I grabbed her by her neck and slammed her on the table.

      "I wish you would," was all I could get out before I felt someone pull me off of her. I turned around to see Jay restraining both me and Reese. Lyric was staring back at me in complete terror.

       "Let me go Jay!" I screamed. "So now you get this trick to handle your dirty work Chase? I'm supposed to be your girl. You're supposed to have my back!"

      "Salem, I'm really tired of your drama. If you haven't realized it by now, this relationship is over!" Chase screamed from his seat, his eyes were black as coal. I couldn't believe my ears. Apparently neither could Jay because he let me go the minute Chase started talking. I walked up to him and crouched low until Chase and I were eye to eye. "I hope you rot in hell," I said as I threw a nearby glass of Sprite in his face.

       The ride home was completely silent.  The tension and anger in the confined space was so thick, we had to let all of the windows down just to get some form of fresh air. I was fuming with anger and by the looks on Jay and Reese's faces; I could tell the feeling was definitely mutual. The only sounds that could be heard were the music from the car stopped at the light next to us, and the rev of the engine when we took off down the street. Every place that we passed on the way home made me want to go back to the restaurant and rip Chase limb from limb. Even seeing pedestrians on the street fueled my anger. It couldn't possibly be healthy for anyone to be this angry, but at this point all I saw was red. 

      We pulled up to the house still reeling off of what just happened. I walked in and went straight to my room. I had to do something to let out all of this pinned up tension. I searched the room for every single thing I had that even remotely reminded me of Chase. I didn't realize it, but over the past three years I had collected enough Chase memorabilia to furnish and supply clothes for a small studio apartment. I looked across the room and smiled maliciously.  I grabbed a pair of scissors that were lying on my dresser and began cutting everything in sight. After about 30 minutes of shredding, I still didn't feel relieved. I had to do something else. "Reese, can you come here please?" I screamed through the house.

      "Wassup?" she asked as she entered my room. She took one look at the mess I made and instantly knew what my next step was. "Wanna have a barbecue?" I smiled loving our connection.

      "Exactly!" I responded. We both grabbed handfuls of scraps and loaded it all on the grill. Whatever didn't make it on the grill, was thrown in a pile on the lawn. I grabbed the lighter fluid and dowsed everything until the bottle was empty. "Would you like me to do the honors?" I asked Reese with a mischievous grin. I handed her the lighter, ready to see a show. She walked over and within seconds, everything was covered in flames. We both stood back and watched everything burn. I felt a little better knowing that every memory, in the physical sense, would be gone, but I needed to feel completely drained. I knew the only way to become completely done. I had to go write.

*****

      I hadn't realized how tumultuous my relationship with Chase was. One good thing that I can say is that the song I wrote about it put me on the map. I distinctly remember being so depressed weeks after that heart break. I remember a new artist named Isabelle coming to me one day asking for a song. At the time, I was so drowned in my sorrow that I didn't realize who she was. If I was really in my right mind  I would have realized that this girl was extremely famous on YouTube and Twitter. When she came to the house with Reese, she asked me if I had any material that she could use for her debut single on her album. Not putting too much thought into it, I handed her my song book with a simple "Look in here and see if anything sparks your interest."

     After maybe an hour or two, she smiled at me and told me she had the perfect one. Once she called her people and made arrangements, I e-mailed her the song and she left. I had all of my songs typed, written out, and in its own folder, for copyright purposes, so it took little to no effort to give her everything she needed. She said that I would get a call from her people with payment information, and with that she left. Weeks later, I was driving in my car and I heard something that sounded familiar.

      "Salem, turn up the radio!" Reese was staring at the radio in complete surprise. I turned up the radio and realized that Isabelle was singing one of my songs. I pulled over to the side of the road so I wouldn't crash. Reese and I both looked at each other with smiles as big as the sun. We both screamed like mad women as realization settled. My song was actually on the radio and Isabelle was doing an amazing job singing it. As I started to really listen to the song, the words made my eyes grow huge.

"Reese this is the song I wrote about Chase." Reese's smile grew almost three times.

      "I guess his good for nothing, slum bucket, cheating rump was good for something. " All I could do was sit back and smile at my work. I had never been so proud of work. My heart was growing every second that the song was playing. I felt on top of the world.

      Before I knew it, the song had hit #1 on the R&B and Pop charts. After about a month of the song's popularity, I got a call from got a call from Genius Life Records. They were offering me a job as one of their writers and producers. I was more than happy to accept their off and really begin my career in the music industry. That one song for Isabelle led to three other managers contacting me for material for their artists. I figured with all the songs I had saved in my notebook, there was plenty of material to go around. Even if I didn't currently have the material, the checks rolling made me more than happy to write more. I made sure to supply each artist with my best work. With my song, every artist hit top of the charts with the records ranging from #1 to #5. Honestly, I couldn't be more proud of myself.