*NOT EDITED*
Fatima watched Von talk to the head of the Bleu Magazine across the room. Von was being asked questions for a mini interview in the magazine and was doing well so far. He was asked questions like "What was your childhood like" and "What makes you work so hard" Fatima was intrigued by the conversation, sadly she couldn't hear much.
She wanted to learn more about Von. The more she thought about it, she realized she knew little to nothing about her client and it made her wonder.
Her eyes drifted to the pieces they had hung up for him to wear and the little details like jewelry they had laid out for him.
"Hello Ms.Jaleh, I'm Stacy, and I'm the head of the style department here at Bleu Magazine. I have a few outfits that I'd like Mr.Dayvon to see and get his opinions on it. Because he's busy right now and we're a bit crunched on time, I decided to come to the next best thing, his manager. Would you mind following me this way?" A tall, slim, white lady said coming to Fatima.
Slightly gawking at the supermodel-looking woman's appearance, she nodded her head yes before clearing her throat. "Yes of course. Lead the way" she smiled standing from her chair.
Stacy grabbed the rack of hanging clothes, dragging it along as she led them to a dressing room. Fatima sat back and watched as the lady put the pieces together, thinking about how well she could try and guess what he would like.
A phone call came through, snapping both ladies out of their thoughts. Fatima looked at the caller ID, seeing it was an unknown caller. She sighed hard squeezing her eyes shut.
"Hello?" She gritted.
"Wassup lil mama" a familiar voice chuckled and Fatima grimaced feeling an immediate annoyance take over her. "Track," she said blandly, rolling her eyes.
"You recognize my voice huh, pretty girl?" He said laughing obnoxiously as if he said the funniest thing in the world. "Why are you calling my phone," she asked in the same dry tone.
"My client wants your lil man to be in her music video," he said emphasizing "lil man".
"I'd appreciate it if you'd talk to me professionally like adults and not adolescents." Fatima spat back in a sarcastic happy tone.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't fuck clients," he said making her choke on air. Track laughed extremely hard on the phone as Fatima fell into a coughing fit, shocked at what she just heard.
"Excuse me, but I'm not you sir. And I don't have time to argue with you" she spoke looking up to Stacy who put a thumbs up, signaling she was ready for Fatima to see the outfits.
Fatima walked up, looking at all the outfits that were laid out neatly on a long table. She pointed to the best ones, nodding her head 'yes' and mouthed 'no' to the ones she didn't like much.
"I'm just playing witchu sweet pea. I know you'll never let him touch dat. Anyway, Asian want Von to be in her 'Lame Niggas' part 2 music video. The internet likes them together, and it'll for sure run up the views and streams." Track said and Fatima chuckled bitterly.
Her tongue poked the inside of her cheek as she shook her head in distaste. "So what I'm hearing is that you wanna use Von for views and he gets nothing out of it?" She insisted.
"No he is getting something out of it," Track said sincerely.
"And what's that?"
"Publicity."
Once again, Fatima rolled her eyes at his nonprofessionalism. For one, it was not a good offer and for two there were no long-term benefits for Von in it. What it sounded like to her was "Let's let the internet think they're together because it'll boost Asian's career" and her mind never leads her wrong.
"Well, I don't appreciate you wasting my time and this conversation was completely useless-"
"Is it useless? Or do you just want little lover boy to yourself" Track reiterated making air get caught in Fatima's throat. She was confused as to why Track kept throwing that whole 'Von and her' idea around. In her mind, it couldn't be farther from the truth.
"Stop with that accusation first if all" she sighed as she touched the material of the white button-down shirt, that looked to be tailored to perfection to fit only Von's body. She nodded her head 'yes' at the stylist with a slight smile as she continued to talk on the phone.
"I'll have a conversation with my client and see what he says" is all she said before hanging up the phone, feeling a headache coming on.
"Who dat was?" Von asked coming behind her. Fatima jumped, whipping her head around. "The interview is done?" She asked and he nodded eyeing her down.
"Who was that?" He repeated taking note of the aggravation that showed on Fatima's face. "Track" she responded, holding a shirt up to Von's chest to get a feel of how it would look on him.
"What he wanted," Von asked with his eyebrows furrowed and lips turned down in disgust. He couldn't stand Track for the life of him and already knew the man was on foul timing.
"I'll tell you later. What you need to be worried about is this photoshoot. Come try this stuff on"...
━━━━━━
FATIMAJALEH
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FATIMJALEH plain jane⭐
Getyourlondonlook all mine😍
1𝐡 3𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲
Mariahthescientist phattima🙌🏾🙌🏾
↳@mariahthescientist goodbyee mariah😭😭
20𝗺𝐢𝐧𝐬 3𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲
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5𝗺𝐢𝐧𝐬 1𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲
——————
"Everything's finalized. Mama's ready to be put to rest" Nahtims sighed blinking away the tears that filled her eyes. Fatima sighed putting her attention on her nails as she sipped on her margarita. She was ready for the whole little meeting to be over. There were too many emotions surrounding the cause and too much unspoken animosity between Fatima and her sister.
It was uncomfortable, to say the least, the drink was the only thing making it tolerable.
Nahtims's constant reminiscing on "good times" and bringing up how much Fatima 'missed' within the last few months was getting old. "Are we done?" Fatima asked, clearing her throat awkwardly.
Nahtims wiped the few tears that fell down her face, sniffling obnoxiously. "I mean, I wanted to do a little more catching up with you but, if that's what you want." Nahtims shrugged.
Without another word, Fatima stood up grabbed her purse, and snickered at the deep frown that appeared on Nahtims's face. "See you when I see you" she smiled waving goodbye as she slipped on her sunglasses.
Fatima took a deep breath of relief finally being free from the awkward tension. She made her way to the parking lot, hurrying to her car.
As soon as she opened the door, her phone rang in her hand making her bring it to her face.
MIKE
OTF Records Exec
She answered quickly, bringing the phone to her ear as she got in the car. "Hello?" She chirped.
"Hey, Ms.Fatima. We're having a meeting scheduled to start at 4 pm. We know it's late notice which is why I called you. Von will be in attendance as well as a few others" Mike informed.
Fatima fought the eye roll that she felt coming on and closed her eyes inhaling sharply. "Alright, thank you for letting me know. I'll be there" she spoke before hanging up the phone.
She had one more thing to do before she went to the label meeting. It was roughly 2 pm and she hoped that she'd be done by the time the meeting started.
_________
Fatima sat across from the middle-aged white woman with her head in her hands as her leg bounced up and down. Her throat and chest felt warm as she felt the bile build up in her chest. Beads of sweat covered her forehead as she had another thing to add to her stress.
"So because he had a tiny scratch on his face, I have to be supervised every time I have him? What the fuck!" She groaned sitting up and throwing her head back on the couch cushions.
Stacy watched feeling sympathy for the young girl but there was nothing she could do. "I mean— he has long nails as plays around a lot. I swear I— I would never even p-put my hands on—"
She burst into tears before she could finish her statement. Her head began throbbing and her body felt like she was in an oven. Being overwhelmed with stress and going through withdrawals had to be the worst combination ever.
Stacy's eyebrows furrowed and she sat up quickly as Fatima hopped up from her spot, stumbling over her own feet. She stood to her feet, running after Fatima who ran to the restroom, not bothering to turn on the light.
She lifted the top of the toilet, vomiting violently. "Oh, my" Stacy sighed turning on the lights. She got on the floor next to Fatima, gently rubbing her back as she pulled her hair back.
Fatima sobbed between hurls never moving her head from the toilet bowl. "Fatima sweetie, tell me what's going on" Stacy spat sternly feeling her own eyes filling with tears.
Fatima turned to look at the older woman, ashamed of what she was about to tell her. She felt embarrassed to admit that it was her fault that she was in this situation. But did so nonetheless.
By the end of her story, her face was buried into Stacy's shoulder as they engulfed each other in tight hugs. Stacy couldn't help but shed a few tears of her own after hearing everything Fatima was going through. It was one thing after another and understandably was becoming too much for the young girl.
Hearing Fatima express that she dedicated her whole existence to Nassim broke Stacy's heart. "Fatima honey, you can't keep doing this to yourself."
"D-Doing what?" Fatima hiccuped moving her face from Stacy's neck. She wiped her nose with a tissue as she faced the older woman. "Putting everything above yourself. It's perfectly fine to get help. Professional help."
"Find some hobbies outside of work and find something that makes you happy outside of Nassim. Find a love different from what you had with Brent and heal from that. I promise you once you get yourself together, everything else will fall in place" Stacy coached wiping Fatima's tears.
She nodded taking in everything Stacy told her. Though she didn't feel good, she still had something to do so she had to suck it up for now.
"I gotta go to work Stace" she sighed pushing herself off the floor. "Okay sweetheart. Don't forget to call me and remember what I said".
_________
Fatima made it to the OTF records building with a sigh. She was nearly 30 minutes late and was rushing to the room where the meeting was being held. Her black sandals clacked against the floor with each step she took.
She finally made it to the room seeing the 'meeting in progress' sign on the door. She opened her phone immediately going to the camera to see how she looked. Sighing at her puffy face and lips she closed her phone opening the door.
The conversation ceased and everyone acknowledged her presence. "The women of the hour" Track chuckled teasingly as she walked in. Her jaw clenched seeing the only open seat was between him and Mike.
"Fatima, please sit. You need to hear this suggestion Track brought to our attention" Mike smiled making Fatima's eyes cut to Track. She could feel Von's eyes burning the side of her face but refused to tear her eyes away from Track.
"It's about a 'collab' between Asian Doll and King Von. I'm guessing" she spoke sitting down. "How you know?" Von asked in response in an attempt to get her attention. Instead, she stayed focused on Track.
"I received a call" she replied simply. Mike clapped liking what he was hearing. "Perfect. As his manager, what do you think about this?"
Fatima scoffed shaking her head. "From a media standpoint, I think overall there are some benefits but the bad may outweigh the odds. Nothing against you, Asian, as a person, but from an industry standpoint, it could possibly be a bad look. Asian doll is known for getting into it with other artists about petty things they have no control over like getting taken off songs etc.
Connections are great to have in the industry, without none you don't get far. Not to mention she tends to fall out with big mainstream artists who have connections to the connections. Being her 'boyfriend' would tie those problems to Von and could stunt his growth and numbers.
A messy, independent artist who was once signed to 1017 might I add wouldn't mesh well with a growing artist. Von's better off with an Instagram model or social media influencer who does nothing but post 'soft girl' content." Fatima shrugged once she finished her input on the situation.
Her eyes scanned everyone in the room analyzing the looks on their faces. Asian looked offended as the corner of her full lips was tooted up in distaste. Track looked impressed but irritated by the fact she was right. Mike looked impressed and slightly less excited than he was earlier.
Von was already staring at her with a small smile on his face. So small, that it was almost unnoticeable but she noticed. She fought the urge to smile back as she looked him in the eyes feeling something she never felt before.
She cleared her throat, looking away from him.
"Y'know what, I feel like you're absolutely right Fatima" Mike added and Fatima fought her smile even harder. "But, Track may be into something. The media loves them together."
"Yeah well, that's because the media is a bunch of 12-year-olds that are obsessed with the idea of 'hood' love and can't decipher the difference between that and the real thing" she spat back, receiving a shrug from Mike in response.
"That's fine. All publicity is good publicity. Anyways that concludes this meeting. I say we sleep on it and meet again next month. Then the world would already be on its new thing and we can make the best decision we can".
Similar to earlier, Fatima stood up first grabbing her purse. Everyone followed suit, grabbing their things and standing up. Side convos began filling the room as she prepared to leave. "Have a good evening" she added as she walked to the door, and opened it.
Her stomach rumbled making her groan as she made her way out of the room. "Aye Fatima!" She heard a familiar voice call out from behind her.
She looked around briefly before stopping in her tracks and turning around. She stood there for a moment, allowing Von to catch up. "You straight folks? Who been fuckin' witcha?" He asked gently grabbing her chin to make her look at him.
She avoided eye contact trying to ignore the new feeling in her stomach. "Don't be going shy on me Fat, tell me wassup" he said, his soft voice melting the walls she was trying to put up.
"Nothing that I'm willing to discuss here. Too many ears, and eyes." She said lowly, moving Von's hands from her face. He frowned, nodding in understanding.
"Let me take you out then" he suggested pulling up his Amiri jeans. "To eat?"
"Nah to watch people eat, slow-ass girl" he joked mushing her head and making her laugh. "Keep yo hands to yourself before I hit you with the bop bop, bop" she laughed holding her fist up as she sang that Saucy Santana song.
Von laughed at her, licking his lips as his eyes traveled down her body. Different things flashed through his mind as his eyes stopped at her lips.
"When?" She asked ignoring how intensely he stared at her. "Ima be outside yo crib at 8. Be ready by 7" he said walking past her, purposefully bumping her shoulder.
"Almost getcho ass knocked out Von, keep playing" she called out after him making him turn his head and stick the middle finger at her. She chuckled shaking her head and making her way out of the building.
This was the perfect opportunity to get her mind off everything and she was down for it.
_______
FATIMAJALEH 2 mins ago...
"Damn Fat, you look good" Von complimented handing her the phone back. She lazily smiled turning her head to look at him. "Thank you handsome" she yawned looking at the photos he took her.
"You tired?" He asked pressing the gas once the light turned green. Fatima hummed in response, letting the chair back. "So tired, but I still wanted to go to dinner with you. I haven't been out to just chill in so long" she sighed, looking at the busy city of Atlanta through the window.
"You should've told me that I would've got something to eat and we could've chilled at my crib," he said but she shook her head no.
"No, I need to get out of the house with someone I'm comfortable with and talk about something that's not legal, death, or work-related," she said and he chuckled understanding. "I get it. You bussed the slick back bun on these hoes. Ian even know yo ass had a neck tat" he smiled making her smile.
"I even forget. I felt like getting dressed up tonight. I haven't in so long. Thank you, Von" She smiled as they turned into the restaurant they were supposed to be eating at.
"You welcome ma. If this makes you feel better, I'll start taking you out more" he said finding somewhere to park.
Times like this make her thank God for her beautiful brown skin because of the warmth she felt in her cheeks as she blushed hard. "Thank you," she said again, not knowing how else to thank him for his consistent generosity towards her.
"Stop saying thank you and getcho bald head ass out" he teased, mushing her head as the car came to a complete stop once he pressed the off button. "Damn, you not gonna open the door for me? What happened to common chivalry?" She sighed putting her hand on her chest as if she was hurt.
Von got out of the car silently, jogging to her side of the car. "I was just playing Von" she reiterated, becoming flustered as he pulled the door open for her. He chuckled, grabbing her hand to help her out. "Nah you were right. Leave yo purse in dea'." He smiled.
Fatima sat her purse under the seat, before stepping away to let Von close the door. Her grabbed her hand leading her to the entrance of the restaurant. The two were immediately hit with the mouth-watering smell of the food being cooked in the kitchen.
"Reservations for Dayvon Bennett" he spoke at the googly-eyed girl at the front. The girl was too stunned to speak at the sight of him and stood there with her jaw dropped. Fatima smiled, clearing her throat to catch his attention that was all on his watch.
He looked at Fatima who nodded her head towards the receptionist. His eyes went to the girl and he put a small smile on his face. "Wassup li folks" he chuckled as her eyes watered. Fatima bit her lip looking around the almost empty restaurant.
She was definitely dressed for the occasion.
The restaurant's lighting was very dim, being only illuminated by the huge crystal chandelier that hung from the high ceiling. The marble floors looked clean enough to eat off of, and Fatima's heel clacked loudly against it with each step she took.
"Let's go" Von's voice broke her out of her thoughts. They followed behind the young girl as she led them to their table, which was isolated from the other tables in the restaurant. "Your waiter will be with you shortly" the girl cheesed before scurrying away.
Fatima looked at Von with the biggest smile on her face, seeing the boyish smile displayed on his. "I still gotta get used ta' dat shit."
"I see." Fatima chuckled picking up the menu on the table.
The "date" went by extremely smoothly. Both of them were grateful to finally have someone they could relate to. They were both so wrapped up in their lives, that they'd forgotten to enjoy the little things. Though they were in a big fancy restaurant, they talked and laughed as if they were home alone with each other. The designer and flashy jewelry meant nothing to them. They were simply two people with similar stories having dinner.
Before they knew it, they were outside Fatima's house talking about everything under the sun. "You telling me you used to write for Bernice?" Von asked shocked, staring at the side of her face, which was illuminated by the moonlight. "No, I used to help him write a verse or two. And you know his name not no Bernice" she laughed turning her head to look at him.
As her soft laughter died down, they were left in silence staring deeply into each other's eyes. Fatima could feel herself become shy under his admiring gaze and quickly looked back out the window ahead of her.
"Aye, you still fucking wit dat nigga?" He asked breaking the silence. Fatima snapped to him, jerking her head back as she made a disgusted face. "Fuck no" she spat aggressively, not knowing why she got so defensive.
He nodded silently as he grabbed her jaw. She jumped, a gasp of shock leaving her lips. He wasted no time slamming his lips against hers. His tongue slipped into her mouth, harshly rubbing against her tongue. Fatima moaned into the heated kiss letting him pull her over to his lap.
She pulled away from the kiss, looking at the big smile that graced his face, absentmindedly mirroring it.
"You wanna come in" she panted breathlessly.
He nodded his head yes, carrying her as he got out of the car....
______
3711 words
NOT EDITED
You can just tell I rushed this chapter🤮🤮
I was gone give y'all a lil scene or whatever but nahhh. Next chapter tho!
The main character ends up a singer which is why those are the options unless y'all wanna see someone else....