Page 100 of Love U Down II

I looked to my left where Allison sat then to my right at Charm. Both of them were focused on Genie. I did my best to pay attention as well but she was just going into her fourth song when my eyes dropped back to my phone.

It was hard for me to concentrate when most of the world was talking shit about the song my last label had put out under Radiant Reverie. It was flopping. Hard. I hated it and hated that I was second guessing all of my musical decisions now. I hadn’t thought it was a number one hit record but I definitely hadn’t thought we’d be outside of the top two hundred either.

It didn’t help that Retta refused to do any press with me and Charm. While I was struggling to even get it shared, Drix had five songs in the top ten, seven in the top twenty, and a full twelve in the top fifty. Out of the four that hadn’t made the cut, two of those were his intro and outro and the other two were comfortably in the top one hundred as number fifty-five and sixty-two.

I hadn’t expected anything less and I was happy for my husband. Genuinely. I’d seen all the work he’d put into his album and every particular note and lyric. He deserved all the praise but damn I couldn’t say that standing beside his success didn’t make my failure seem that much more prominent.

Hell. Dashawn and Shade both had songs in the top fifty themselves. Kevo had just gone number one with the single he’d pulled from his vault. Rome and Merch were fresh off of a mostly sold out tour. Genie had just defended her rap battle title and won and Sundaze had a snippet of their upcoming song going viral on social media.

Everyone seemed to be making waves but me.

Even Charm, who hadn’t recorded a new song, was being pulled by a rapper by the name of Zion to do background vocals for his upcoming album.

I was feeling the pressure and the failure associated with it.

Drix and I hadn’t spoken about it, my feelings or the song. I was sure he knew the song had flopped but neither of us brought it up, and for some reason, I felt like I should have.

Even though I knew I shouldn’t have, I found myself going to the old Radiant Reverie page on Skroll. The last post was of the song and I let my finger hover over it for a while before I actually tapped it. I took a breath before I scrolled down to read some of the comments.

“So what do you think?” Charm’s voice had my head snapping up and I forced a little smile.

“Hm?”

Allison lifted an eyebrow but didn’t call me out.

“I think she has great lyrics but her stage presence can use some work,” she stated.

“I agree.” Charm nodded.

We all looked toward the door as two hard knocks echoed through the room. Genie paused her performance. Steven peered around the door then pushed it open and Drix walked right in. He made his way to me with two bags in his hand and leaned down so we could kiss.

“Hey, baby. What are you doing here?”

He lifted the bags in his hand.

“We missed each other this morning and I knew you’d be checking out performances through lunch so I wanted to make sure you got some food in you.” He set the bag on the table in front of me. “Rome and I stopped at my favorite spot so I just got you our usual.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He looked around the table, then at Genie.

“What’s up, Genie?”

“Hey, Drix.” She cleared her throat. “Do uhm… Do y’all want me to finish or…?”

“My bad.” He chuckled and dapped Charm then Allison. “I’ll let y’all get back to it.”

“Do you want to sit in?” I asked.

“Nah, baby. This is yo’ shit.”

“Except for the part where I don’t know what I’m doing,” I whispered up at him.

“If they have good music and lyrics, approve them, and we can bootcamp them into becoming performance ready. If the music ain’t ready, they ain’t ready.”

“And what if I think they’re ready and they aren’t?”

“We haven’t signed anyone whose shit is going to get them booed off the stage, Myome.” His eyes locked on mine and I turned away almost immediately. I hated how easily he could read me. “Can we get a five minute break actually?” he asked the room.