' 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗘 𝗦𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡 ' › D. SWING

03.

In a matter of weeks, Donald and JoJo had become best-friends, always hanging with each other and whatnot. Over time, he and I had stopped seeing each other as often. But I understood since I heard he was spending most of his time making music at the local studio, staying the night there on weekends. He began taking the idea of recording his own tracks seriously and K-Ci and Dalvin wanted in on it just as much as JoJo.

"Little did The DeGrates know, their son was no longer creating gospel songs."—

"Man, I ain't letting him join the group", JoJo stated as he shook his head, seeming to be thinking about something that frustrated him.

Donald could sense there was something going on with the two brothers by the change in JoJo's body language and facial expression. "Why not? He's good. I think we should let him join the group. We could use a voice like his for the sound we're trying to achieve. What's the problem?"

"He got his own group. I been singing backup for his ass since I could remember. I'm ready to do something on my own for once", JoJo explained.

Donald sighed and sat quietly for a moment before speaking again, "Look, how about we just use him in two songs? That's it. You can sing the rest of 'em, but whatever y'all got going on needs to be put aside for a minute. Think about how big the group can be if we just add K-Ci. Nobody is singing like him. We can stand out from the rest of 'em." He paused then started again. "Just think about it."

He was right and JoJo knew it. But of course he wasn't going to allow his brother to join if Donald didn't let his.

"Hell na'. For real? You can't be serious", Donald said in response. "Do you know how annoying Dalvin is? Besides, I want to be the ladies' man. He gon' take all my shine."

JoJo sucked his teeth, "Now you see how I feel. Either he joins too or K-Ci ain't comin'."

And with that, Donald had no choice but to comply. With all four boys in the studio, it didn't take long for him to produce and write songs for them to record. The plan was to create a demo and have some material in case an opportunity came along for them.

Mary Jane and Sue just had to be a part of the project, too. That didn't surprise me due to the fact that they were always hanging out at the studio with the guys. To me, I figured they were just sticking around for a big break and once they got it, they were going to steer clear of them and jump to the next.

***

Their mom had sent me to look for them, even though I already knew where they were. It was 8:03pm and Donald and Dalvin were supposed to be home an hour ago since it was a school night. Covering for them was beginning to irritate me. It wasn't like they even bothered to involve me in anything. Why was I even doing this?

Opening the front door to the entrance of the recording studio, I greeted the owner as he sat behind the counter and gave me a quick nod, "They're in 2A today." I thanked him and used the stairs to get to the second floor, quickly finding the suite they were in and turning the knob, pushing the door open and immediately regretting it.

There were two females kneeled down in front of Dalvin and K-Ci while they stood on different sides of the small room, pants at their ankles and hands on the girls' heads. Donald was sitting in front of the soundboard with Mary Jane on his lap, her back toward him with both of their pants and underwear slightly past their pelvis area revealing their upper thighs. JoJo was standing behind a female who was kneeled on the sofa with her back arched and face pushed into the cushions as he stroked her from behind.

I quickly put my hands over my eyes and cleared my throat, but they couldn't hear me since the music was playing at such a high volume. The sounds of moans, groans, and excessive amounts slurps, it was all too much to sit through. Impatient, I kept one hand over my eyes as the other banged against the halfway-opened door.

"Oh shit!" was all I could hear before belts and zippers were fumbled with.

"Dalvin, pull ya' pants up!", I heard Donald say.

"Man, she need to take her ass home. Ain't nobody tell her to come by anyway. Always cock-blockin'", he said in response. I wasn't phased by anything that came out of his mouth. It was just Dalvin being Dalvin.

I could hear K-Ci mumble something and finally the sound of a belt and zipper. I assumed he had decided to listen and quit receiving oral, slowly uncovering my eyes. Once I did, they were all staring at me as if I had ruined everything. Well, I kind of did but it wasn't my fault.

Mary Jane hooked her arm with Donald's and rolled her eyes, "What do you want, girl? Damn."

"Your moms sent me to get you", I simply stated.

They all began to laugh and exchange looks with each other if it was some insider shared between them. Feeling awkward, I gradually turned on the heels of my feet and walked away from the doorway, closing the door back behind me. They were all changing. And I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad one. Either way, I didn't like how they were treating me. After all, I didn't have to cover for them.

I didn't waste much time, eager to get the hell away from them as I jogged down the stairs.

"Rhonda!"

I ignored Donald and kept walking until I was outside, heading down the sidewalk and adjusting the oversized denim jacket over my shoulders. His hand grasped onto the collar of it, pulling me back toward him. I quickly pushed his arm to remove his grip and turned around to face him, my eyes glossy due to the anger from the feeling of betrayal.

"Stop, alright?", he started. "Why you walk out like that?" I couldn't believe he really asked as if he didn't know. I watched his face closely and realized that he was actually clueless. Like he wasn't aware of what was going on.

Taking a deep breath, I sighed and tried to calm down a bit before answering him, "Donny, I don't feel like our friendship is the same anymore. I'm constantly being put on the back-burner and being disrespected. You had always taken up for me and I get it, I should be able to take care of myself but that's not what the problem is. The problem is the simple fact that you've stopped—though I'm more concerned with the reason why." I was sure the reason was Mary Jane. However, if I was dating someone, I would never allow them to disrespect him. Maybe I just valued our friendship more than he did.

He didn't say anything.

"Bye", I said and turned to walk away but once again, he stopped me, his hand wrapped around my wrist.

"I'm sorry", he said lowly. Loosening his grip on my wrist, he soon let go and dropped his hand to his side. "I know we haven't talked much lately but that doesn't change how I feel about you. You my nigga, man. You always will be. I ain't mean to make you feel like I didn't need you anymore because...", he trailed off, clearing his throat. "I do."

I nodded my head in response, out of energy to speak about it anymore. "Um, your homework is done. It's in your room. You got a math test tomorrow so just look over the notes I left you, okay? I'll see you around."

And with that, I left him standing there. It wasn't the easiest thing to do—walking away from him—but I knew I had to. For me.

"That was the night when I realized I was in love with Donald."—

But, I wasn't going to tell him that. He really had a lot of growing up to do and I felt that it was best if I just kept my distance for a while or however long it took. He was finding himself and it could be a possibility that the boy I fell in love with was long gone. Either way, I wasn't going to stick around to find out.