Abel:
I put my headphones in and leaned back in my lounge chair as I scrolled through twitter. Everyone was talking about my Coachella performance from the night before and how I "cried" over Selena.
I kept watching the video over and over because I didn't even remember crying but the tears were definitely there. It was killing me letting the world see me so vulnerable and I wanted to drink myself into a coma but I've been trying to cut back on alcohol.
I felt someone tap my shoulder and when I turned it was Lamar.
I took my headphones off. "Hey bro."
"You good?" He sat next to me. "You been real quiet since you got off stage last night."
"I'm just tired I guess."
"You not gonna go turn up tonight?"
"I don't really wanna go. I'm not performing or nothing so I think I'm just gonna stay here."
"Hell no, you're coming to 'chella with us tonight. French and Diddy are gonna be there so you have to show out! Plus maybe you can find a girl or something to help you out of your blues."
"I'm not really looking for a girl right now, you know that."
"Why? Is it 'cause you already found one?"
"What? No."
"C'mon bro, the past like week and a half you haven't been as sad as you usually are so I know something's up. Are you talking to Bella?"
"No."
"Then what is it? Or who is it?"
"Okay, I've kind of been talking to this girl but just on some friendly shit."
"For real? What's her name?"
"Um...honestly, I don't know."
"What? You don't know her name?"
"Nope."
"Okay, so what does she look like?"
"I don't know."
"Nigga how have you been talking to this girl and you don't know her name or what she looks like?"
I shrugged. "I kind of like that I don't know. It makes our conversations more interesting."
"What the hell? Dude, she could be like 12 or a fat old man just fucking with you."
"She's not."
"How would you know?! You've never seen her!"
"I know but I just know she isn't. She told me her birthday is next week and I was thinking about inviting her here for weekend two of coachella."
"So you're gonna invite a girl who you've never seen and don't know her name, to our crib to hang with us? What if she's a murderer or what if she robs us or something?"
"You are a real negative nancy bro. It's all for fun."
"Nah, your crazy. Let me know if mystery girl shows up so I can get the fuck up out of here." He shook his head. "You're playing a risky game Abel, you don't even know who this chick is."
"Whatever."
He walked back inside and I put my headphones back on before picking up my phone again.
Since me and "buttercup" had been talking for a little while, we stopped DMing each other and started texting.
We spoke almost daily and for hours and hours. For some reason, I really trusted this girl. I had confided in her told her some things about me and Selena's relationship that I hadn't told anyone else and she could've exposed our conversation to the whole world but she didn't. Instead she told me that anything I say to her will stay confidential which I appreciated. It was comforting having someone I could talk to, other than the crew and Ms.Violet but what Lamar said was starting to make me think.
What if she was young as fuck? I could get in a shit ton of trouble if she's not legal. Or what if she is legal but she's old? Or what if she's not even a she?
My phone vibrating in my hand snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked at my screen and saw a text from her.
Buttercup: Hey, I watched the livestream of your set last night. You did amazing ✨
Abel: Thanks. You busy?
Buttercup: No why?
Abel: I'ma facetime you
I tapped on her name to call her and a few seconds later it said it was connecting then instead of her face popping up on the screen, it was just the sky.
"Damn, you're still not gonna show me your face?"
"Why should I show you?"
"So it'll be easier for me to dream about you."
"Ooh...you dream about me?"
"I would but I don't know what you look like." I shrugged. "Anyway...I know this might sound weird but I told Lamar how I've been talking to you and he thinks your catfishing me or that you might be like twelve or something."
"I promise I'm twenty." She laughed. "You wanna see my ID?"
"Actually yeah, if you don't mind."
"Okay, hold on."
She had the camera pointed toward the ground so I could see her feet as she walked into her house.
"You got some pretty feet."
She laughed. "Do you have a foot fetish Mr.Tesfaye?"
"If I say yes are you gonna stop showing me your feet and show me your face?"
"Nope."
"Damn, I tried."
She laughed and I could hear her moving stuff around for a few seconds.
"See?" She put her ID in front of the camera with her thumb covering her picture but I could clearly see her name and birthday. "I'm really twenty, soon to be twenty-one."
"So your name's Myliah?"
"Damn it, I shoulda covered that up too."
"Why? I like it."
"Thanks. It's Hawaiian and it means a gentle caress from above."
"Like an angel?"
She laughed. "I guess you could say that."
"So, are you doing anything for your birthday next weekend?"
"No, I have to work."
"Really? You're gonna work on your birthday?"
"Yeah, it sucks but I have to."
"Well damn, I was gonna ask if you wanted to come to Coachella next-"
"Shut up! Are you really inviting me to Coachella right now?!"
"I was but since you gotta work, I guess-"
"No, no, no! I'll take off!"
I laughed. "Okay, give me your address and I'll ship you a pass."
"I don't wanna sound ungrateful but could I get another pass for my friend?"
"I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you so much! This is crazy, I can't believe you're gonna give me passes to Coachella! Or that you're even still talking to me."
"Why would I stop talking to you?"
" 'Cause I'm weird and I'm not like other girls...I haven't sent you nudes or anything and we've been talking for like what, two or three weeks and you just found out my name today."
"That's why I like talking to you though, you're not like other girls that slide in my DMs. You're shrouded in mystery and not just trying to seduce me or some shit. You just talk to me like I'm a regular person, it's been forever since I've just had regular conversations. Everyone always talks to me about business and music and marketing so it feels good just talking about movies and shit with you."
"Well to me you are a regular person that just happens to make really good music."
I heard Cash yelling for me. "Abel!"
I sighed. "I gotta go."
"Alright, talk to you later."
I hung up then tucked my phone back into my pocket as I walked inside the house.
"What?"
"What's this I heard about you being involved with a fan?"
"We're not "involved" we just been talking like on some friendly shit."
"That's what you say now, but in two weeks you'll be in love with the girl."
"No, I'm not ready to be in another relationship. Her and I are just cool so drop it, okay?"
He sighed. "Okay, okay."
I wasn't falling for Myliah, she was just a friend and somebody I could talk to. I had no intentions on catching feelings for her because I knew if I did, we'd both end up getting hurt in the end.