Whirlwind

4

[Lamarr]

"Yo can y'all turn my ear piece up some?" 

I was trying my best to ask the question as politely as possible, but these bright ass lights over the stage had me squinting which was only adding to the pressure building up in my head. I was also dealing with a lack of sleep and just too many tasks at the moment to even properly think straight. To say the least, I was just exhausted and a bit grouchy.

My flight to Toronto had just landed literally three hours ago and before I was even able to thank God for a safe arrival, my phone was being blown up about heading directly to the Air Canada Centre to begin rehearsals for the show tonight. The plan was for me to come yesterday so it didn't feel like I was pushing close with time, but that fell through completely. There were no open flights and a nigga wasn't quite a member of some private jet club. Maybe in a few years I'll have that privilege, but as of now I was still flying commercial. I was realizing more and more that this all was just a part of the come up and just dealt with it. Well, tried.

"Yo! Can somebody fix this shit?" I belted out once again and more perturbed than before.

"Calm down fam," Ib stressed. He then took it upon himself to grab one of the stage manager's attention before my temper rose any more than it had. He could sense that I was in a irritable state at the moment and the disregard these dudes were giving my simple ass request was making it worse. The last thing I needed was word getting around to Jay or anyone from Roc Nation that I was being some kind of diva on the tour. I hadn't had any problems before now and I didn't want to start with only a few more shows left.

"Aight, I'll start the track over and the problem with your ear piece should be fixed." I nodded over at Ib, adjusting the piece in my ear and bobbed my head to the beat as it began playing. Through the lights I could see the outline of someone's body moving toward the stage, but I couldn't exactly see their face. Figuring it was just someone who worked at the venue, I shrugged it off only hoping it wasn't management here to cut my rehearsal time short. I then tried my best to hype my self up as if there were a crowd and began rapping my verse as it approached.

"And could I be a star? Does fame in this game have to change who you are? Or could I be the same one who came from a far away life just to make it in these Broadway lights. Now I'm shining in the broad day light, go figure. A slow transition from a lil' broke nigga from the Ville. Got a deal a real life saver, dreams of being behind the Will like Jada. I chill now, cop a lil' ice later, Cole you go the glow like a lil' lightsaber so..."

The more I squinted my eyes to get a clearer view ahead of me, the more my tongue twisted and my words became tied. Either this headache and these lights were really fuckin' with me or I was just that done for. There was no way I could visualize an entire person in front of me, not like this. She looked too real, like I could reach out and touch her. And even though I should probably be happy to see her, I was shocked and for the wrong reasons.

"Melanie?" I questioned out loud, hoping the voice that answered proved my assumptions wrong.

"In the flesh baby!" I cleared my throat and glanced over at Ib as he stopped the track and stared back just as shocked.

"What are you doing here? I mean, I thought you were in Chicago for a trip with your job?"

"I was but I had a few days off so I decided to surprise you since I missed the other shows." She answered with a bright smile.

"Yeah? Well I'm surprised," I said, chuckling uneasily as we both met each other half way on the stairs near the side of the stage.

Melanie wasn't meant to be here, at least it wasn't in her set of plans we both talked about. She was supposed to be in Chicago right now but she was instead here, in Canada. Though I didn't mind seeing her physically compared to a Skype call, the issue with it was the fact Riley was going to be here physically too. The last thing I wanted was for the two to cross paths, at least not right now. If Melanie knew Riley then maybe, but I hadn't quite introduced Riley to her the proper way. She knew of her as Omen's cousin, not my female friend that I had grown extremely close to; equivalent to a best friend. Those words would only set off alarms in her head, have her reacting and in no way was Riley a threat.