Hidden Valley (D. SWING)

III. Tag

"Man, Joe, you wasn't there!"

JoJo stands up from his seat on the end of my bed and turns around to look at me. Ceasing the chewing of my pen, I stand up and shoot him a deadpan that only increases his confusion. "What's the problem, D?" JoJo's arms raise in the air for a second prior to collapsing at his sides with an exasperated sigh. The sigh is mine, not his. I'm tired of this shit.

"That's the third time you was a no-show! If I can't count on you then what the fuck we doing? I'm serious about my shit and you just wanna' play part time knuckle head!"

"Hey, hey, hey now!"

JoJo's head whips around to the basement's entrance as Cedric comes easing down the stairs, a bag of pork rinds in his hand. A baseball cap on his head with its brim facing behind him as his jolly energy fights the tension between JoJo and I. His walkman hangs out of the pocket of his jeans, connected to the earphones hanging around his neck. It isn't until I stare at him a little that I realize he's wearing my hat. I recognize that wasp logo anywhere. I took it from Dalvin when he realized what school he was going to and accepted his scholarship. I look better in it.

I got bigger pieces of cornbread to fry anyway.

JoJo's my boy but he's far from reliable. All he wants to do is chase skirts and get rough with his boys. When it comes to my music, I don't got time to be playing. I'm going to make it. I'm going to be known all of over the world. You see, I got dreams, goals, aspirations, all that shit. JoJo said he felt the same way but he's not focused enough and that's exactly why I brought in my back up plan.

"D, I listened to that tape like you asked. Shit's fresh, man. I can dig it. Let me lay something on alla' that." Cedric digs in his pocket as he speaks. The motion is swift. I blink and he is tossing the tape at me, allowing me to catch it with a single hand. "Track four is my favorite though!"

JoJo's eyes narrow. "You putting him on the tape? D, you serious, man?"

"You always fucking around! I got a whole job and still get more shit done than you." I glance over at Cedric. He stands with a smirk on his face, sticking his hand in his bag and smacking on his snack loudly. "I don't know what you smiling for! This ain't your shit. I'm still in charge." Cedric's smile drops, his expression now matching his brother's.

Cedric boisterously yells back an inquiry. "Whatchu' mean?"

"I mean this ain't K-Ci and The Hailey Sangers. This is DeVante's shit." I toss my notebook to the other side of my bed as I rise. "I mean... We a group, you know what I'm saying?" Walking closer to them, I try my best to make my point as clear as day. "We're a group but I run shit. Besides, JoJo, I don't know why you got ya' rope in a knot like Cedric ain't been singing with his at all the shows."

JoJo replies, "As back up."

"Nigga, I don't do back up," snaps Cedric. "The only back up is Dalvin on them rusty ass drums."

He was right. I'd usually let Cedric have a solo because JoJo got a solo and I always had my keyboard shine. The times I let Dalvin tag along, his only job was to stay in pocket and only that. Nothing else. No flares and no fills... unless I give the signal. It's only that way because he gets too cocky to easily. Sometimes... No, all the time, you got to keep him in check. He puts his all in it though. That's why I let him come back.

"Man, whatever. D, I don't think you know what you doing. Do you hear yourself?"

The only reason JoJo is putting up this big of a fight in because he don't want to be on board with Cedric having an official say in what we do because like I said, Cedric's basically been in the group for a while now. I'll tell you what it is, JoJo's scared that Cedric is gone take over like he always does. I ain't no psychologist or nothing but I attract people who like attention, I don't know why. A big part of why JoJo liked fucking with me and my music was because it was just us. Cedric wasn't there to take his shine. I know it's probably annoying for Cedric to be having his hand up in everything but I need JoJo to trust me on this. I know what I'm doing. I never did it before but I just got this gut feeling. They sound better together than they think. If I can suck it up and let Dalvin ride every now and then, he can let Ced sing when his unreliable ass doesn't show up.