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ERA

“I need you to sing from your stomach, Era. Your voice is flat.” I held back the need to roll my eyes. It was nearing ten o’clock at night and I was ready to go home and close my eyes. I recorded four songs and each one took about a hour in a half to complete. I kept yawning in the middle of singing then having the engineer delete shit just to do it all over again.

My nerves and patience were gone, I was over the entire day. I felt a little bit relieved when Shelby stood up and walked next to the sound board motioning for me to come out. The look on her face kind of scared me. I never saw her look so disturbed.

I didn’t want to appear like I was hard to work with. Even though this pregnancy was starting to wear me out and down, I still showed up to the studio and all my rehearsals with the same ambition that I had when I first started. I came along way and was proud of that. The fact that I would be having my first baby, with a thriving career meant the world to me.

I took slow steps out of the booth, the closer I got the more my stomach started to churn and do back flips. Shelby asked for the entire room to clear out and they all did exactly what she instructed. I braced myself, Shelby was older and seasoned well with wisdom. She never had a problem with telling me exactly like it was.

“Now, Era… I don’t want you to panic but…” I was already panicking. A strong feeling of dread and fear started hitting me all at once.

“What is it, Shelby.” I took in slow deep breaths.

“The media is outside the studio, due to the blogs. Your well-kept secret is now out and their going bananas about you and star football player Soulful Hurtz.” She said his name as if he wasn’t her friend. I start getting heart palpitations as I swallowed the spit in my mouth down and tried to pace my breathing.

“Where’s my phone?” I calmly asked a question that I already knew the answer to.

“Now Era, don’t go scrolling on the internet just yet. If you not prepared to see negativity and all the things, they are saying then just don’t get on there. I recommend staying off of it babe.” I heard exactly what Shelby was saying, and as bad as I wanted to listen to her good advice, the stubborn hardheaded side of me didn’t want to obey. I looked at my phone that was sitting on the arm of the couch charging.

Picking it up, I saw thousands of notifications mainly from Instagram and Twitter. People were tagging me back-to-back; my phone was piping hot from all the notifications pouring through.

“Era.” Shelby calmly stated my name, I heard her but couldn’t respond. I slowly sat down on the couch, I ignored the call from Soulful and clicked on Instagram.

“Me and my husband will work all of this out. I just broke his heart by not being faithful. I won’t stop fighting hard for my family and...” My phone started ringing again interrupting me from seeing the video. I saw that it was Soulful and hit ignore again. I was so angry that my hands shook.

“My husband and I are asking for a DNA test! I’m a hundred percent sure that he is not the father to her bastard-ass baby! Soulful and I have been working things out, he comes by every day to make sure I’m good. Last night he spent the night and promised me that we can work on all of our problems and get help.” She dramatically paused from talking to sob into the camera.

“I hate what I did to us, I was wrong and I’m apologizing publicly. This home-wrecking bitch is just trying to get in my husband’s head while he is weak…” My phone started ringing again and I just tossed it, leaning my head back against the sofa, I willed myself to think logical. It was like a demon on my shoulder telling me to snap.

I could hear Shelby talking but she sounded far away. My phone kept pinging and I kept trying to ignore but it was becoming impossible. My phone start ringing again and this time, I picked it back up. It was from an unknown account from Instagram actually calling through the app.

I looked over at Shelby who was now typing fast on her phone and shaking her head no looking up at me. I guess that meant for me not to answer whoever was calling but I did anyway.

“Hello?” I looked at the call and it came from a fake profile from Instagram.

“Era, how do you feel as a woman being a nigga’s back up.” I chuckled angrily into the phone and held it just a little tighter.

“I don’t know, Jocelyn. I guess it feels good.” I yawned into the phone, feeling my stomach flutter. I smiled momentarily knowing it was my baby up and kicking. Now I knew that I would keep my anger down to a minimum. I didn’t have to be told or ask if it was Jocelyn. I would hear her voice from the phone when she was talking to Soulful whenever he was around me. She was nothing to me, not even a threat. Jocelyn was a mad ass gold digger pissed that I now had what she deemed as hers.

“Soulful will come back to me, when he do… I’ll make sure he cuts you and that baby off.” My anger came back fast and now I was ready to hurt somebody.

“Let me tell you some shit Jocelyn, I’m only gonna say this shit once… because the next time, since I’m pregnant and can’t fight. I’m gone have my best bitch fuck you up. Soulful and I is working on getting to know each other. We most likely will end up being a family. I thank God, he has no ties to you. Meaning, eventually you will be cut off. I haven’t even known my man that long, but from what I do know is this lil act of attention shit that you're doing all on the internet is going to piss him off bad. So bad that I’m going to have to calm him down, by sucking the skin off of his dick then telling him it's okay and to not cut off your faucet just yet. See, you done fucked up bad, Jocelyn. So bad, that I plan on letting your faucet of water run until its dried all up. You better save that weekly allowance lil bitch, cause when me and Soulful baby gets here, it’s over for you.”

I now was the one smiling while Jocelyn yelled and called me all type of fat bitches. It was good that we were having this little conversation. Jocelyn wasn’t nothing but a bitter hating ass bitch. This shit would eventually pass, it wasn’t shit an interview or two couldn’t fix. At this point I didn’t give a fuck what the media thought. My music was good, my voice pure. Soulful was a damn good football player and his divorce was already finalized meaning he couldn’t face anything severe for the matter.

I yawned into the phone again then cut Jocelyn off mid rant.

“Do whatever that makes you feel happy and satisfied girl. Cause when it’s all said and done, you lost a good ass nigga, I can vouch for that. You just encouraged me, to put my pregnant hormones to the side and tend to my nigga. Help him see all the things he didn’t see when he was with you. All of them times you left him craving for intimacy and a deep connection. He’s now going to get all of that and more.” I paused from talking and looked at my phone to see that it was Ju’well calling. I knew she was ready to beat this bitch ass.

“I’m going to make a real connection with not just him but his sisters that has already accepted me. Cook for him, tell him to save money by cleaning and folding that niggas clothes. Listen to him when he stressed and massage him after he done ran up and down the field. Shit, I can buy him gifts and take him out on cute lil dates and swipe my card cause I’m a boss ass bitch. By the end of the year, I’ll have a big ass ring on my finger. You won’t be shit but a memory you lame ass bitch. You the one that got to live with your decisions, not me. Go find you another paid nigga to take advantage of. You won’t win against me though baby.”

“How you got him is how you lose him!” She shouted showing her raw emotions.

“Nah, I doubt that in me and Soulful’s case.” I giggled and sat up a little, preparing myself to get off the couch.

“But think and feel however you please boo.” I was loud enough for her to hear me, but I also sounded polite and calm. I wasn’t about to give her the energy she thought she could receive up out of me. I knew Soulful, these couple of months that we spent getting to know each other. I felt it deep in my core that he was a good man. He was patient and always showed his good qualities without having to say or brag about them. If I fucked up like Jocelyn, I’d become desperate to get a man like Soulful back too.

“I hope you hear and understand me well Jocelyn. You stay blessed.” I hung up and blocked her fake account. I was already prepared now to finish my album and listen to Shelby by staying my ass off of social media. I was considered a new artist and right about now, I could use Shelby guidance and direction on what next steps to take to smooth all the bullshit over.