Successfully Troubled {Rated M} (On Hold)

Chapter Twenty Six.

*Next day*

Lashelle looked out of the window of the car as her driver switched lanes on the road momentarily to pass a slow moving car in front of them. She had a big day ahead of her. She had a busy week and month ahead of her, in fact. Her album came out today and she had many appearances to make.

First stop, an interview and performance on Ellen. Afterwards, she had a performance in New York. She had to begin working on a tour, auditioning dancers and band members and thinking of who she would choose to open up for her. Things were already busy for her and they were about to get worse. But she adored that. She loved being busy.

Relaxation would come in due time. Right now, she wanted to take every opportunity she could.

She hadn't spoken to Trey or seen him since that stressful night. She knew the two of them would probably run into each other at some point.

That thought alone made her scoff.

"The two of us just 'running' into each other because we're in the same place and not because we're together is so pathetic. If he wants to leave, that's fine with me. It just shows he's just like every other man who promises a woman that they'll stick by their side through whatever and end up copping out. I was living without him in the beginning and I can live without him now." She thought to herself.

She repeated that to herself every day, every minute and every second.

"I was Lashelle D'Cruz before him and I will be regardless. Let him have fun with Helen or whatever hoes he has." She thought again.

Her thoughts were interrupted once the car arrived to the studio where Ellen's show was being taped. She sucked up whatever emotions were trying to invade her mind and blocked them out. She placed her Ray-Ban shades over her eyes as her driver opened the car door for her and she stepped out of the car.

Nude Manolos graced her feet and she wore a flowing white v-cut sun dress with a light brown sun hat that had a white cloth tied around it. She placed her handbag on her arm and held her iced chai latte from Starbucks in her hand. She walked into the studio and she was immediately greeted by the director's assistant.

"Lashelle, welcome. So glad to have you here." She told her, "Now we're gonna have you in dressing room three. You can relax there and we'll call you three minutes before you have to go on. Anything you need, just let me know. I'm Robin."

"Ok, thank you." Lashelle replied, sipping on her latte.

She followed Robin to her dressing room and got herself settled. Robin reminded her again to call her if she needed anything before leaving Lashelle by herself. Lashelle plopped down on the couch in the dressing room and grabbed her phone from her purse. She got onto her Snapchat and took a picture of the room with the caption, "Ellen".

She went onto her recent stories by others she followed and first to pop up was Trey. Just because, she decided to look at his story to see what he was up to. One of his earlier snaps was from 11 hours ago and it showed a video of him in the club with his friends. They were dancing and acting silly, dancing to the throwback song U Don't Have To Call by Usher. There were photos and videos of him with Helen, Tanaya Henry, Miguel, Sevyn and Tank.

After a few more club videos and club photos, his latest snaps were an hour ago and it showed other videos of him riding in the back of an SUV.

"What's up, Snapchat? Last night in Vegas was crazy, but hella fun. Y'all know how your boy Trigga does it. But I'm in Atlanta now. Got some appearances and interviews to do while I'm here. Got a show tonight, too. So if you're in the ATL, come see me at Sutra tonight at 10:30. It's gonna be a lot of fun and I'd love to see y'all there. Um, I got some recordings to finish up when I get back to Cali. Trying to get this album right, so it can be released for y'all to hear. Speaking of albums, make sure y'all pick up a copy of Lashelle's album. It's called ShelleDay. Shoutout to her. But yeah, that's it for now. Let's get this work in." He explained and held up his two fingers, signaling the peace sign.