Nouveau

Chapter 7: Modified

                   
Laive

"York zzzaddy!" Laive answered with an innocent smirk on her face.

"You're a hard person to catch up to these days," Laughing, his silky voice echoed in her ear buds.

"Stop playing with me! You're the one who changed your number!"

"But did you have to go message my mother on facebook though?"

Laive fell over on her bed and shed a heavy laugh. "Yep, I did."

"She almost killed me when she found out I hadn't been talking to you. It's a new year, I was trying to start fresh"

"Well try again lover boy. You can't get rid of me that easy!"

"Obviously. I've tried..." York loosened his tie and unclasped the first button underneath his collar.

"Don't look at me like that," he chuckled. Laive was giving him one of the stiffest side eyes he had ever seen in his life.

"Whatever. You need new friends or new hoes. What grown man has to change his number twice because he wants to get rid of fake friends? That's some of that crazy Virgo BS. Y'all swear y'all important."

"Y'all?" York picked at her. He loved her country twang. With his father being the head Navy Admiral and his mother being HR manager for the Pentagon, they were strict on him about speech and etiquette.  After all, He was a city boy from Maryland---by way of D.C. "That's not even English."

"You understood me though. And it is English. It's a contraction for you all."

"Ok. Now you're just saying anything."

"I am not," Laive giggled. "It is."

"That's some hick town stuff in Louisiana."

"Don't start! Your first degree is from here."

"Touché. So where's your music at?" York saw Laive roll her eyes. He knew first-hand how talented she was. "Did you write anything today?"

She stiff eyed him.

"I don't care Laive. You're always talking about how you're working on this, going to put this out, and then you don't do it. Time isn't even waiting on you. You are waiting on YOU."

"That's not true!"

"It is."

"...," Laive's eyes went from frustrated to heartbroken.

"Laive I---," York couldn't take the look he had put on her face.

"It's cool. I get it."

"I don't think you do. You're holding yourself back. You'd be unstoppable if you put as much of yourself into your music as you do into school and everyone else's dreams."

"That's not it! It's not! Stop think--"

"Listen to me," York calmly interrupted.

"-ing you know. Because you don't. I have real life happening to me right now! I have to figure out where to stay and how to make more money, before I can even attempt to do music full time like I wa-"

"LISTEN to me," York pressed.

"-nt. I can't afford to mak-"

"LISTEN TO ME," York slammed his fist on his desk.

"..."

York was fuming in frustration as he looked at her.

"....."

"Lai....Come on Laive...Stop it."

She felt out of control. It was so frustrating that she could not pull herself together. None of her friends had ever seen her do it. But here she was, ripping at the seams.

Laive was crying.

"I'm not trying to hurt you. Stop that..."

York wanted so badly to just give in and apologize, but he couldn't do that. This was something she needed to hear. The jet-black curls from her hair were covering her eyes, but he could still see her tears running down the lower part of her face and neck.

"Start living for you...." York soothed. "You're killing yourself going above and beyond for all these people who wouldn't even attempt a "try" for you. You're exhausted Laive..."

York was fighting to remain strong. His heart broke a thousand times for Laive. She was always so willing to drop anything she was doing to help someone, her family being her first priority. He recalled when two of her sisters were pregnant around the same time with her nephews. The girl planned their baby shower all the way from Nola. She was buying little trinkets here and there for the center pieces, she sketched the designs for their cakes, and she was sending detailed diagrams of what everything should look like. It was a joint baby shower with a royalty and sailor theme. Now, how in the hell did the girl make two different baby shower themes look extravagant and make sense? He had no idea. Laive's ass even designed the invitations, place cards, and Menu Cards on Photoshop.

And How did she get there?

Greyhound.

They didn't even have the decency to pick her up. He remembered being so pissed to drive her to the bus station. It was literally a 4-hour drive to her home town in northern Louisiana from Nola. The damn Greyhound was going to take her 8 hours to get there. Laive did it anyway. She didn't want to miss that baby shower for anything in the world.

York heard her sniffles subsiding and attempted to change the subject.

"So....have you talked to your betrothed? You know, the one that's in Atlanta, that got you a house and a car. Or should I say your little Wanna-be fiancé?" His head leaned back as held a tight smirk on his face.

Laive choked on her laughter. "You know what?!!"

York begin to laugh. He was laughing so hard, tears were starting to form.

"It is not that funny!" Laive screamed in giggles. Her tears were dry. They both knew the back story on that one. It was nothing but divine intervention that helped her dodge that bullet.

York's phone vibrated as an email came through.

To Whom It May Concern:

Thank you for your submission. Songbook Entertainment requests your presence immediately. Please see pending flight arrangements attached. For rescheduling or cancellations, see contact information below.

York forgot to breathe for a moment. Honestly, he forgot that he submitted some of Laive's songs to the Songbook camp without her permission. York's eyes almost popped out of his head, and he grinned from ear to ear.

"What little girl got you smiling so hard?"

York ignored her petty statement. He was burning up with excitement for his friend. She freaking deserved this.

"What are you doing next weekend?" York's grin was a full-on smile exposing all of his teeth.

"You know what I'm doing. I'm supposed to be coming to your showcase." Laive was smirking and rolling her eyes. "Don't tell me you've gone Hollywood on me already?"

"I've always been Hollywood. Anyway, I just have some minor modifications here," He smiled. "Let me go change your flight."