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1991. DEVANTE SWING.
— "I MISS HOW THINGS WERE BACK THEN. WE JUST AREN'T THE SAME ANYMORE."
DeVante sighed watching the third mouse he had seen in the small apartment stuff it's self into the hole they had yet to fill. The label had had them staying in the hood Brooklyn apartment until the money started rolling in from their first big album. But until DeVante found the perfect words for this song.
It's been so long Since I touched a lady And I'm still waiting For you to come back to me Now will you forgive me For the wrong I've done And let's try again To make it last so long
He harmonized quietly over and over before sighing thinking back to what made him start this song so many years ago. Then it traced back to 'Come And Talk To Me' and 'Gotta Love.'
They sat at the piano in his family room as she brushed her fingers against the piano keys pressing them all as she drug them down the line. He chuckled at her amused smile as she looked over at him briefly before focusing her attention back down at the piano keys.
"I've never touched one of these in real life," she admired quietly, "not even at school."
"Why not?" He asked his golden hazel eyes piercing into the side of her chocolate face as he watched her shrug uneasily.
"Music isn't my thing, I mean I love it...sure! But, singing, playing instruments. I'm not good at that." She chuckled half-heartedly.
"You ever tried to see?" He asked her and she side eyed him before laughing.
"You know I act, not music."
"Okay how bout—how bout I teach you a few notes?" He asked her she bit down on her lip hesitantly before obliging. He moved in closer to her, wrapping his arms around her body so his hands could lay right on top of hers. DeVante felt the familiar tingles in his stomach as he pushed her fingers down on the keys moving them to the next keg and the one after that.
"Did I just play prince...kiss?" She asked him a familiar smirk playing on her lips.
"You got a good ear." He chuckled. She laughed looking at the click above bus fireplace.
"Oh! I gotta go!" She gasped gathering her things, slipping back on her jacket. "'My step dad is gonna kill me, Donny."
"You want me to walk you?" He asked watching her rush to throw her things on.
"I'm not walking...I'm running." She rushed out grabbing her book bag from the couch and then engulfing him in a tight hug. "I'll see you tomorrow, in school okay?"
"Bye Dream.."
He stood right there frozen watching her run out of his front room. Later that night when his mother and father were in their loft, planning the word for Sunday DeVante went up to his room. Grabbing his songbook he kept hidden up under his mattress away from his father and mother. His pen raced over the paper.
It's been so long Since I touched a lady And I'm still waiting For you to come back to me
He pulled his pen back looking down at the paper.
He think he was in love with Dreamy Jones.
"Hello?" Her soft sleepy voice called back from the landline. Biting down on his bottom lip, he spoke.
"I need you. I need your help." He muttered.
"My help? My help with what? De, it's two in the morning.."
"I know." He mumbled. "I need help with a song, and I know you a good writer. Remember you used to help me with those songs back in Baltimore? Silky songs," he chuckled, "but they were good. I just need your help."
It was true, her help would be appreciated but in reality...she was his muse. Her skin, her face, her generous personality. She was the same as she was in high-school, competitive, energetic, generous and caring. With same quirky sense of humor she always had. But, her feeling may have not been the same since high-school, over the past few weeks DeVante didn't even know what was going on with him. Was he falling in love all over again or not? He didn't know, but almost every love song he wrote was about her. About her.
"I'm not a writer anymore De." She sighed tiredly. "But, I guess I could help. You can come by, but seriously hurry. I'm tired."
He got there in the ford focus's the company gave them the shared car to get around.
"They did me the same way," Heavy D told them one day, "but look what I'm ridin' in now! Bentley's baby! I promise you...everything falls in line when the money comes in."
When he got to her upper class apartment, he seen all the hard work she had been putting in. The area looked expensive in itself. She had made herself a cup of coffee, offered some to DeVante, but he requested water instead.
"See?" He told her pressing his fingers into the piano keys she slid in next to him. She had invested into a piano as soon as she had gotten her apartment two years back. What DeVante taught her back in high-school stuck with her, and she ended up teaching herself just for fun. "To make it last so long..." he harmonized. "That's it."
"That's perfect. Thats a perfect first verse." She nodded looking at his open notebook she grabbed his pen humming as she jotted down a few words moments later.
"Don't you think the verse is a lil short though?" He asked her.
"No." She hummed before sweeping his fingers off and playing the same tune he did. "I'm still waiting for you to come back to love... to fulfill this life we're dreaming off!" She sung not perfectly at all but it was perfect. After that, the words just started spilling onto the paper and out of his mouth. All he had to do was look at her. She was truly his muse.
"We don't get to talk much at all," she said to him as she sat criss crossed on the couch, her body facing him, "De, where did you go that night? You never came back, and Dalvin never told."
"Minneapolis...I ran away. I thought I was gon prove my dad wrong, my mom too. I thought that if maybe prince would just listen—anybody out the buildin'. I could prove ev'rybody wrong. But nobody did. I slept in my car, I slept outside the building, for two weeks Dream. Then I drove up to North Carolina where I met K-Ci and Jojo, I stayed with them for a while."
I bit down on my lip looking at him. "I thought about you so long after you left. You didn't come for me like always, I went to your home and your dad slammed the door in my face...I went to church that Sunday and you weren't there. My heart ached, so bad. I would hope everyday you came back but-"
"Im sorry." He mumbled looking at her taking his dark shades off, she fiddled with her fingers in her lap. He lifted her chin looking her in her dark brown eyes. "I'm sorry, love." His thumb caressed the mocha skin of her jaw.
