You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb [ruby da cherry]

Mother Coconuts

     The elevator opened to the lobby and we walked out. I was shitting bricks thinking of what Ruby needed to talk to me about. We left the building and began walking down the sidewalk.

     "Alright, look, promise me not to get mad," Ruby said. My hands tingled with nerves.

     "I promise. What's up?" I asked. Jeez, just get it over with.

     "Me an' Slick are shootin' a music video in the hotel, and we wanted you to be in it," he started. I twirled the ends of my hair and let out a nervous 'mhm'.

     "I'd be down," I said. I looked ahead as we walked and focused on the buildings that surrounded us. "Don't know why I'd be mad at that."

     "Well, the thing is, and we wanted a pretty girl for this so I figured 'why not Vivi?', but uhh... you're not gonna be in a lot o' clothes. You're pretty much gonna be a stripper," he said, stumbling over his own words. A huge wave of relief washed over me.

     "I'll do it. But just so you know," I stopped and put a hand on his arm. He looked down at me in anticipation. "That's not really what I mean when I say I used to be an actress."

     Ruby stared at me for a second and didn't say anything. His eyebrows were raised, obviously not expecting me to say that. "Yo, I really did not mean it like that, I swear."

     I laughed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm messing with you, old man."

     "Alright, alright, you got me... pornstar," he teased. We continued walking and he told me all the details for the shoot.

     "Do I need to provide my own stripper clothes or are yous gonna buy some for me?" I asked. I was half joking, I really didn't know if I had any clothes that would be fit for the video.

     "Come on, you think I don't notice your closet? You always be wearin' some sexy ass outfit onstage," he said. Bitch. What in the fuck is this sweaty man doing to me. Of course, my face heated up and I'm sure I looked flustered.

     "That might not be enough, though. Concert outfits aren't the same as stripper outfits. If I walked into a strip club for an audition in my concert clothes I'd be laughed outta the place," I said, surprising myself with how calm I sounded.

     "You seem to know more 'bout this shit than me. What were ya thinking?" he asked.

     I cleared my throat. "You buy me some clothes for this shit. It's your video, might as well invest in it."

     "Alright, fine. But you better give the performance of a lifetime. I'm talkin' Oscar worthy," he playfully hit my shoulder as we completed our lap around the block.

     "If that's all you needed to talk about, how come we had to have some private conversation?" I asked. We stood near the entrance of the hotel, out of the way of the doors.

     Ruby shrugged. "I figured it'd save us both any potential embarrassment. Like, imagine if Max heard that pornstar comment. He'd never let it go."

     "Yeah, he's a special one. But let's face it, he's the videographer, he's probably gonna call me a pornstar anyway," I said. We went back into the hotel and Ruby followed me back to my room.

     When I opened the door, all the guys were in there, wearing my bras on their chests and my t-shirts on their heads, presumably as wigs.

     "Honestly, we thought you'd be gone longer," Kevin said. Ruby pushed past me, recording the scene with his phone.

     "I- bruh, we walked around the block," I laughed. My hands were on the sides of my head in disbelief. "You gotta be smokin' that strong. What goes through ya minds and makes you think to play pretend with my fucking clothes?"