Coming Home -Miami

Part 1

“Thank you, Miami! Thank you for all your support! I always love coming home; thank you! Goodnight, everyone!” Selena finally ran off the stage after performing her second on-call.
“Great show Lena!”
“You were amazing, Ma’am!”
“Thank you. Thanks, guys!” She took the water handed to her as she made her way through the crew backstage to the familiar dressing room.
“Great show!”
“Thanks.” She reached the door, followed by her bodyguard. “Thanks, Tony.” That was his cue to wait outside the door. Opening it, she saw those familiar faces.
“Ahh!” The three women screamed, pulling each other into hugs.
“You were amazing!”
“Yeah, I can’t believe how big your crowds are; it’s insane!”
“I know, right!” Selena took a seat, finally glad to kick her shoes off.
“I’m so proud of you!” Amy wrapped her arms around her old now-famous friend. “Who knew you would be this big?!” “I still can’t believe it!” Kerianne took the seat beside her. “I feel like I need to ask for your autograph.” Lena laughed, turning to her oldest friend.
“You must introduce me to your cute backup dancer; he’s so hot!”
“Oh, and your bass player, now he’s hot!”
“Isn’t he?..” Lena looked at their reflections in the dressing room mirror. Her old friends had never changed, which was the one good thing in her life. Coming home was coming home. Except someone was missing.
Kerianne caught Lena taking a glimpse at her phone.
“Speaking of cuteness, how is that handsome Marcus Ray you are rumoured to be dating?” Lena’s reflection met hers, and Amy knitted her brow.
“Wait, I thought you were going out with Ajay from Midnight Mess?”
“Pff,” Kerianne added. “Amz, you so need to keep up with Social media! When was the last time you saw a pic of them together?”
“Just last week!” Selena shook her head, watching them beside her. This was part of her fame she hated. Everyone wanted to know her business. She couldn’t just hang out with anyone anymore.
“Did Lani get her to pass?” She interrupted them, and Amy glanced at their reflection.
“Yeah, she did. She wanted me to tell you she couldn’t make it. She had some business up in New York she couldn’t get out of.”
“Yeah, her career is going well, Lena. Who knew the two of you would be so successful in such different ways!”
“Yeah,” Amy laughed. “Remember when you would drag her around with you when you two first got sighed. I always thought you guys would still be performing stadiums together.”
“I did go see her play at The AM’S Charity Concert last week. She did a few sets. Man, can she still pull a crowd! Not like you, though.” They laughed. “Oh well, she missed a great show. You are amazing, Lena!” Amy hugged her again.
“Yeah.” Kerianne joined in. “She doesn’t know what she’s missing!”

~~~

“Thank you, Miami! Thank you for all your support! I always love coming home; thank you! Goodnight, everyone!”
Lani watched the brunette run off the stage again. She leaned forward, dragging the mouse over the bar rewinding the video that had been uploaded to Youtube an hour ago. She knew the songs; she’d heard them all before. She wasn’t interested in them. It was the young woman on the stage. The way she was moving. The little looks towards the camera.
The success was taking its toll on her once closest friend. The fine lines of back-to-back tours, sleepless nights, and endless performances were written all over her once-youthful face. Selena looked tired.
She had everything she wanted, everything she told her she had dreamt of and had signed up for.
Lani tapped the mouse, starting the video again. Hearing the crowd’s screams as the Singer came out on stage, she sat back, taking in the brown eyes in the closeup.
It had been almost a year since they’d seen each other briefly at the NCA Music Awards. If it hadn’t been for Selena’s Mama catching Lani’s eye, they would have walked past each other. Sula had been like a second mother to her. It was too hard to ignore the woman. The three of them had stopped for a brief moment in in-kind exchange. Selena gave her a well-practised fan experience greeting—a habit she could see hiding the girl who had now lost all her privacy. There was no mistaking the emptiness she was picking up on. Lani hadn’t wanted that kind of success for herself. She was happy being a low-key pop diva. Selena’s level of success was too much invasion for her liking.
Sitting in her dark music studio, she turned up the volume and let herself get lost in the past again.

Selena could see the Taxi driver looking at her through the rearview mirror. It was bugging him why she looked familiar. She pulled her hoodie around her tighter, hoping to make it to Madison Street without anyone noticing her. The cab pulled up next to its destination.
“That will be $14.50.” Selena leaned over the seat, handing him a twenty.
He turned in his seat, looking at the hooded girl with a distinctive mole on her cheek.
“Do I know you?”
“I don’t think so.” She jumped out of the cab before she got any more questioning.
Taking a deep breath, she headed up to the security gate. The older gentleman looked at her a moment.
“Well, well..” He reached over, taking her hand in his. “Miss Lopez? Isn’t it past your bedtime, young lady?” Selena laughed.
“Hi, Mr Johnson.” She smiled. “Is she here?”
“Oh yes, she is. She came back this morning. Should I ring through for you?”
“No, no.” She squeezed his hand. “I’d like to surprise her if that’s ok?” Smiling, he reached down, swiping his card.
“I think I saw the light on in the studio. She will be happy to see you.” Selena smiled, not too sure about that.
“I hope so. Thank you, Mr Johnson.”

Walking along the side path of the home, she remembered the last time she had returned to Miami. Lani didn’t come to her concert then either, but she’d managed to talk Kerianne into taking her to visit Lani at the new family home she’d brought her family. She’d been there for only a few minutes before Lani’s brother’s mates recognized her, and she never really got the chance to talk to her once closest friend.
She passed the lit-up pool area and down to the studio she remembered was opposite the singers’ room. The pathway was on low light, and through the silence, she was sure she could hear her voice coming from the dim-lit dwelling. Seeing the flicking lights of a screen, she stopped outside the window seeing the young woman engrossed in the concert she was watching.
Selena smiled to herself confidently.
She opened the door and slipped into the studio, sitting on the couch just behind Lani at her mixing desk. Tucking her hands in her hoodie, she could see her friend’s eyes studying her closely. She was even quietly harmonizing along with her. Smiling to herself, she hadn’t thought about how she would do this.
Lani felt a shiver.
Her mind withdrew from the screen, sensing a familiar presence. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she could see Selena sitting on the couch. She rubbed her eyes.
She’d been staring at the screen for way too long.
Selena caught her eyes upon her. She had a feeling her old friend could still sense her after all this time. Smiling, she could definitely feel her.
Lani couldn’t shake the feeling off. She pulled the screen down, darkening the room. She blinked a few times before looking hard at the couch and seeing her sitting there again.
“Selena?” Selena smiled.
“Hi, Kehlani.” She waved quietly. Lani blinked a few more times. Embarrassed, she lifted the screen back up, closing the video. “What are you doing? You know you shouldn’t be here.” Selena walked over to her, coming into the dim light.
“You had a pass to that. I thought you’d be there?” Lani looked up at her, seeing those familiar chocolate-brown eyes looking back at her.
“You weren’t enjoying yourself anyway.”
“Trust you to pick up on that.” Selena leaned over the desk, scanning the screen and bringing the video back up. “You can’t tell. I’ve been so moody the last few days.” Lani leaned forward, moving the cursor to the third dance routine. As she played it, her eye fell on the familiar slender fingers next to hers, up the black sleeve of the leather jacket to the baseball cap and hoodie hiding the brunette’s long hair the world knew her by. They hadn’t been alone like this since their last performance.
She took in her features as the now-famous solo artist studied her moneymaker.
Selena shook her head.
“Look, you can tell how tired I am...” She leaned back on her heel, glancing down at those eyes staring up at her, remembering her. Lani’s lip curled a little, feeling her finger brush against her hand. Selena relaxed.
This was worth the risk.