~~Haters and Rumors~~
"Miss Garcia, you're on in five," Said Fredrick, the assistant stage manager, called out, his head ducked into a clipboard, tapping the Bluetooth in his ear as he passed by her on the small vanity backstage of the set of Morning Manhattan with Yvonne Pembrooke. Without skipping a beat, he continued barking directions to whoever was on the other line of the Bluetooth as he carried on down the catwalk.
Aaliyah turned around in her seat to say thanks, but before she could even get a word out, Fredrick Robertson had already disappeared down the catwalk. She stared at the dust he left in his wake with a raised brow, observing the bustling of the set as the stage workers went around setting this up for the show, yelling at each other from opposite sides of the room. If it wasn't for Aaliyah's earphones, she would have sunk into her spiraling anxiety being overwhelmed by everything that was going on.
She had been here from as early as seven AM this morning to be ready for the airing of the show for nine o'clock. Aaliyah had been more or less used to the routine, this being the fourth interview she's been to, including a radio show and a magazine shoot with Weekly Hot Topics that Blair managed to wrangle the editor of the magazine into making an exclusive on Aaliyah as Soul Fusion's rising star. Aaliyah was becoming increasingly intimidated by Blair's tenacity and relentless skills with managing and booking so many interviews with prestigious celebrity personalities, especially since she was a seventeen-year-old Junior talking to seasoned veterans of their field. It was impressive and slightly terrifying.
The buzzing sound of backstage dulled the sound of SZA's voice when she felt someone take her earphones out and she jumped in her seat turning around to see Blair with a smile. Aaliyah sagged relaxing with a soft smile. "Hey," She greeted, "Don't creep up on me like that. It's working on my nerves."
Blair looked at her incredulously. "This is your fourth interview," She pointed out like it was obvious, "You can't tell me that you're still nervous about this."
Aaliyah sighed resisting the urge to run a hand through her slicked and laid hair. She kept the extensions in her hair from Saturday and had styled her hair so that her curls were more tightly coiled and had a damp sheen to their waves. The hair and makeup team on the set were even more intense than any other guest appearance she had made since Saturday, no one seemed to be as vigorous as the team from The Sound of Bachata though, but she took that as a good thing. She still couldn't lie and say that they didn't work miracles with what they were given, not as though they had their work cut out for them, but Aaliyah knew that left to her own devices she couldn't make herself look nearly half as good.
Her wardrobe choice was also impeccable but Aaliyah had Blair to thank for that. She had argued relentlessly with the wardrobe team about the right colors for her skin tone and the type of clothes that Aaliyah was comfortable with. The team eventually gave in and just let Blair take control, and she ended up in russet-colored pegged wide-leg pants that just about brushed the floor in the small heeled sandals and a ribbed tan bandeau top showing off her brown stomach and most of her chest. Aaliyah didn't really mind, especially since she had started working out with Blair most mornings since she finally had enough of Blair going on about her health regime, her lack thereof in particular.
It was probably the most amount of skin she had shown at one time. The color scheme was complemented perfectly with her gold chain and hoop earrings and Aaliyah had to admit. She looked hot.
"I don't think this could ever really become normal for me, Blair," She replied tiredly. She hadn't got enough sleep last night having, staying up late last night to fit in another late-night rehearsal for the Winter Showcase happening in the next two weeks before winter break.
Blair smiled sympathetically pushing a plate filled with lots of fruits, like melons and grapes and mango. "Maybe this will curb the nerves," She offered, "I know you haven't eaten yet, and I read online that eating high water content fruits are good before singing."
Aaliyah smiled graciously breathing out a nervous laugh before taking the plate of fruits before popping a melon ball into her mouth, savoring the sweet taste of trying to relax. "This is some good melon," She moaned relaxing into the seat as she swallowed.
"It better be," Blair snorted, crossing her arms over her chest, "I stole the bowl from Yvonne's personal snack table."
Aaliyah widened her eyes in disbelief. "You didn't!"
Blair waved a dismissive hand. "Oh relax," She said, not paying much mind, sliding her phone out of her pocket to check her notifications, "Yvonne has a whole breakfast bar at her disposal she's not going to miss a bowl's worth of fruit. Oh shit," She blurted, her eyes widening for a moment.
Aaliyah's stomach bottomed out at Blair's look. "What?" She demanded, her voice tight, "Blair what's going on?"
Blair lifted her gaze to Aaliyah's and her look disappeared, smiling widely. "It's nothing, don't worry," She replied, "There was an update about the whole Kai Baker and Orla beef. Orla sent for Kai's. She posted receipts from her sister's birthday parties. He fought with her boyfriend at the time, it's blowing up."
Aaliyah scowled at her. "The way you manage to be on top of my career and social media brawls scares me," She muttered turning back to look at herself in the mirror, using her pinkie to pull back a stray curl from her face, without ruining her makeup.
"Staying on top of social media brawls is part of my job," Blair pointed out, scrolling through her phone, "How else would I be able to plan your next move. Everything you do has to be planned to the letter, you're every post, caption, the number of characters in your tweet. All done to cater to the exact conditions the media is in right now. It's how you earn your following, how you gain attention," She explained, somehow wonderfully making Aaliyah more understanding and also regretting asking to begin with at the same time, "L.O.L," She added at the end, grinning widely at her phone screen before swiping back a rapid reply.
Aaliyah raised a suspicious brow at her. "Are you even allowed phones on set?"
"I'm your manager, it's ridiculous to assume that I would ever turn my phone off for any reason," Blair replied not looking up from her screen continuing to shoot messages to every point of the globe. Aaliyah couldn't help but worry though and wonder if one of those messages was directed to Maddox. She made a noise that brought Blair's attention back to her and she sighed pressing her lips together as though trying to suppress agitation, "And as your sister, I assure you. I haven't seen or talked to Maddox in a few weeks, so if that's what you're worried about. Don't."
Aaliyah opened her mouth to argue to no avail when Fredrick came back to her, his expression impatient. "You're on in a minute, Garcia," He announced to her, and with that, she slid off her chair, "Follow me."
She started off after him, moving as quickly as she could in heels before turning back over her shoulder to see Blair smiling with a thumbs up wishing her good luck.
Have a good show!
Jacks waited a moment or two before he received a message from Aaliyah of two purple heart emojis, and he couldn't help but smile at it before sliding his phone back into his pocket, adjusting his bag strap. This was the third day of the week of school Aaliyah was skipping, and though this usually would have bothered him, he knew he had to understand. This was her career and it was just starting to take off, she had to make sure she stayed on the scene and all he wanted for her was to get what she wanted. Plus they texted all the time, whenever they could, so even if they couldn't see each other all the time, they were still together.
He was also pretty busy with dance practice and classes anyway so that definitely played as a good distraction.
He was just about to get to his locker when he noticed the looks people were giving him. He cast a second glance over his shoulder at the group of Junior girls he supposed were friends of Blair, who were giggling and sneaking not-so-discrete looks in his direction. He frowned at them but tried not to pay too much attention to it, but he couldn't help but think back to a couple of months ago when Madison's first single was released and she created that stupid love triangle plot between him, Xavier, and Aaliyah. Nothing really came out of it especially since Aaliyah and Xavier were never really seen out in public together, but there was often the hashtag on the socials saying teamXavier or teamJackson. He tried not to let it bother him, but it was hard. Aaliyah and Xavier had gotten a little closer since they started working together.
"Dude, have you heard the shit Madison's been saying about Aaliyah?"
Jacks' interest was piqued as he turned around slowly after opening his locker to see Christian with now dark red curls around his head like a bloody crown, stalking after him with his phone in his hand. He hadn't heard much from Madison in a while, probably because she had been busy doing album promotions. He listened to some of the songs from REALISM and enjoyed them, but he didn't think he was the right one to judge good music. There was very little music he couldn't dance to, and if he could dance to it, he pretty much loved it.
He had heard even less about Madison and Aaliyah. In the few times they had been together in the last month, Aaliyah hadn't really complained about Madison, and Madison's social media had been quiet on all accounts about Aaliyah. He supposed they had been staying out of each other's way, especially since Aaliyah was either in the studio working on her single or in the music room in school working on her performance for The Winter Showcase. He was very supportive of both, especially since she had managed to weasel Mrs. Brodeur into allowing Light 'Em Up a slot in the showcase to perform, which is also what kept him from thinking too much about Aaliyah in the last month, especially after the Bonfire.
He knew he fucked up big time at the Bonfire and after she left, he tried calling her repeatedly to apologize for acting like a total dick, but she hadn't picked up or responded to any of his messages until the next morning. Meanwhile, he saw a new post on her Instagram, a side profile of Xavier fiddling with the soundboard in front of him with headphones over his ears captioned FOCUSED. It was fair to say that he wasn't really in the mood to party after that.
She always seemed to run to Xavier, he had thought anxiously, remembering the way she hung up on him after he told her about Madison accusing Aaliyah of sleeping with Malcolm. She'd been with Xavier then, and somehow it was Xavier that helped her through it. She hadn't talked much about the situation with Jacks, or Blair for that matter either.
"I really thought she'd gotten over Aaliyah by now," Jacks mused now, a little distantly, trying for a laugh, as Christian made it to his side, "What's she saying?"
Christian laughed with him shaking his head. "It only got worse after Friday," He said, showing his Twitter feed basically filled with snarky tweets from Madison firing shots over Aaliyah's new song. Either talking about how Aaliyah's fifteen minutes of fame basically bounced off of Madison's already flourishing career and Aaliyah hasn't paid any homage to her or trashing the song in general. They already had over a hundred retweets. He widened his eyes at one where she claimed that Aaliyah may or may not have stolen the drumline from her song cursing, "Is she really going that far? With that accusation? She knows that that's not true."
"I think she's scraping for any reason to give Aaliyah bad clout, especially after all the promotion she's been getting," Chris speculated, with a smirk, "Did you hear that Aaliyah's getting a magazine cover? Madison didn't get that so soon."
Jacks felt a smile pull across his lips in thought. "Madison didn't have a manager like Blair."
"She's threatened," Christian pointed out with a laugh, "She pretty much admitted it on the first week, remember?
Jacks read through some of the replies and couldn't help but snort. "Clearly, it's not working," He said showing Christian the screen, "Give it up, Mads. 'It's getting sad now #boobookitty.' People aren't believing her."
Christian laughed, throwing his head back. "No one's really taking the bait. I guess it's pretty clear she's desperate. Especially after the Malcolm mess, she's just digging herself a deeper hole. The responses are kind of hilarious honestly. Nothing gives me greater joy."
Jacks could only laugh as he continued scrolling through Christian's feed until he stopped, the color completely drained from his face, a pit forming in his stomach when he saw a series of photos with both Aaliyah and Jacks' tagged in it. It had been them at the Bonfire, almost indistinguishable by the trees and the night, but the light from the fire had made it obvious that it had been the pair of them arguing. His mouth dried up when he stared at the next photo, her storming away from him, and in that one, you could tell it was her, her dark curls flouncing around her shoulders and an unreadable expression painted over her face. "Chris," He finally managed to say, though forcing the word out was like dragging fishhooks from his throat, "Did you know about this?"
Christian looked at the tweet over his shoulder and, Jacks watched as his eyes widened in surprise and then he looked to him shaking his head firmly. "First time I'm seeing this," He said with a frown then he pointed to the caption, "It says it was only posted by some random an hour ago. Madison retweeted it a few minutes ago though. It's got thousands of retweets already."
Jacks started to panic. Madison had over twenty million followers on Twitter and so many of them follow Aaliyah too. No wonder everyone was looking at him weirdly today, they had all seen this. "Do you think Aaliyah's seen it yet?"
"Maybe," Chris shrugged, "Aaliyah isn't in her phone like that, but Blair definitely is, and she's basically her handler..."
Jacks handed back Chris's phone, taking his own phone out of his pocket, bringing up Blair's contact, and calling her. The phone rang three times before Blair picked it up. "You realize that we're in the middle of a show right now, this better be good."
"Did you know about those photos of me and Aaliyah, Madison retweeted?" He demanded, trying to reel back his frustration and panic. He knew Blair if she thought she was being confronted she would instantly go on offense.
A silence passed and that gave Jacks the answer she needed. "Look, it's not that serious anyway, everyone power couple fights. You know Beyoncé and Jay-Z, you think that they were in paradise when those cheating accusations came out."
Jacks gritted his teeth. "Did you also see Beyoncé and Jay-Z openly fighting?" He shot back in frustration. Why wouldn't Blair tell him something like this? "Does Aaliyah know about this? Why didn't you tell me?"
"No, I haven't told Aaliyah. She was about to go on set when I saw that Madison retweeted them. I'm already handling it, but I wasn't about to ruin her mood, she was already anxious as it is. I knew she'd make a bigger deal than it actually is like you are right now," Blair snapped back, and then she sighed, "And Aaliyah told me about your fight Jacks. If I told you, you would have called Aaliyah straight away, and she doesn't need that."
"What the fuck do you think I would have said—?"
"Hey guys," It was Solana, and he and Chris whipped their head in her direction as she hurried towards them with a frown staring at her iPad, "Are you seeing this? Yvonne Pembrooke is totally psychoanalyzing your relationship with Aaliyah, right now."
"Well psychoanalyzing sounds like a little of an exaggeration—" Jacks scowled at his phone before ending the call. He was having enough of Blair's patronizing. If she couldn't understand why this was such a problem, maybe talking to her wasn't the right choice.
"What's she saying?" Chris asked.
"Watch," Sol said holding her tablet out towards them to show the set of the Morning Manhattan with Pembrooke show, with Aaliyah and Yvonne sitting prettily on the orange sofa. Aaliyah seemed to be growing increasingly irritated, but somehow maintaining her smile like Yvonne. Behind them where the backdrop of Manhattan was, was replaced by the photos Jacks had just seen on Twitter and he felt sick.
"So you have no comment on these photos at all," Yvonne continued, with a raised brow, "It really looks like more than just a normal quarrel to me, and I'm sure the people would agree."
Aaliyah laughed straightening up, but even Jacks could see from here how strained it was, "Those photos were from weeks ago, Yvonne," She said in a light voice waving a dismissive hand, "I had a little too much to drink, you know how it is. He was trying to take care of me, I suppose, so maybe I was being a little overdramatic too, but we're totally fine now."
"She is totally making herself look bad for you," Chris said looking at him, as Yvonne continued talking, "She's making herself look like she was in the wrong."
"Shut up." Solana snapped at him, with fierce eyes, but Jacks felt sick realizing that he was right.
"Are you sure?" Yvonne asked, a look of feigned concern. Jacks scowled, "There were films where it looked like he was hurting you—"
"Definitely not," Aaliyah said with a reassuring smile. Jacks remembered that night in clear detail, the incredulous look in his eyes as she yanked her arm out of his grip. "Let go, you're hurting me." She remembered the way she rubbed her arm, the slight reddish bruise appearing ringed around her upper arm. He remembered a pang of guilt, but it was only short-lived. He had no idea what was wrong with him that night. He was sure he hadn't drunk that much, "Things look worse than they were, but Jacks and I are great, better than ever."
"Oh I'm such an ass," Jacks muttered to himself.
"No kidding," Sol replied, her brows shot up at him.
"So you did hurt her that night?" Chris demanded, a cocked brow in his direction. He looked between him and Sol, who was staring at him the same, startling her with how weirdly they looked alike despite not having any blood relation. Not in appearance at least, but in some of their gestures, their expressions. He supposed living day in, and day out with one person had a way of making you alike.
Jacks sniffed looking back at Solana's iPad. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have, ever.
"—Who chose to remain anonymous say that you and Jackson have barely had time for each other since the night these photos were taken," Yvonne said tilting her head to the side, "Is it possible that this fight you had may be the reason?"
Aaliyah shook her head. "Of course not," She answered with a smile, "We've both been so busy with our careers, me working on my new single, and Jacks with his dancing. In fact, I don't think anyone is really more supportive of my career than Jacks."
"Are you sure? Because our source has also heard that Jackson has also been complaining about how you never have time for him anymore."
Aaliyah laughed. "I'm assuming this source is supposed to be close to me, right?" She said with a cocked brow, Yvonne said nothing, but Aaliyah just rolled her eyes, "The truth is, is that there aren't many close enough to me. Even fewer know the ins and outs of my relationship. And I'm sure you've seen the other tweets people are posting. I'm incredibly aware that fame is a breeding ground for hate and rumors, and a lot of people aren't above them either. Aren't above tearing others down for sport or their own success. I wouldn't take half of what you hear seriously."
Yvonne leaned in as though her interest was more piqued. "Scanning through those tweets, you see that Madison Strong is the ringleader of those negative tweets. Including a few outrageous ones, if you recall the accusation she made about your relationship with record producer and Soul Fusion's CEO Malcolm Waters. Are you saying that Madison is out for your career?"
"I'm saying that I'm sure that many people would be inciting terrible uproars about other people because they feel threatened for one reason or another, but that's between them and their conscience," Aaliyah said leaning back in her seat, and the audience clapped at that. "It has nothing to do with me or my relationship, and I'm sure you understand that."
Yvonne nodded quickly glancing at the audience with a smile. "Of course, you are a hundred percent right," She said and then smiled pleased with her, "I do feel obligated to ask though. You haven't spoken much about Madison's accusation in the past. Do you have any comment on it now? Especially after all the noise being made since your single-release"
Aaliyah smiled sitting up in her seat. "My relationship with Madison is limited, I'll be honest. But I still stand by what I've said before. There's enough space in this industry for success for both of us, whether or not she believes that too has nothing to do with me," She said in a cool voice, "I do not tolerate any of the things she said about me, they were awful and untrue, but I do believe that I don't have to tear her down in public for that to be clear. So no, Yvonne, I don't have any comment."
The audience cheered at that again and Aaliyah flushed smiling at her audience, though Jacks could definitely see the relief in her shoulders, he felt it too. Glad that it was over, Solana turned off her iPad and looked at Jacks evenly. "I hope you're planning some grand gesture for your girlfriend right now because she pretty much took out all the fires your fight had started by herself."
Jacks looked to her with a raised brow. "It wasn't our fight that started all this bullshit, it was Madison," He pointed out, looking to Chris then back to Solana, "In fact, I'm almost certain she was the mystery source Yvonne was talking about."
"Sure, but if you weren't so in your feelings about shit, you wouldn't have even fought to begin with," She said, and then with that, she tucked her iPad under her shoulder and walked away, her blue curls free from her bun flouncing about her neck before giving Jacks the opportunity to reply.
He blinked at her disappearing figure incredulously before turning to Christian with a sheepish smile on his lips. "You told her about what our fight was about?"
Christian shrugged guilelessly running a hand through his newly dyed curls, "I live with her, Jacks and you know I can't keep a secret for shit."
The bell signaling the next period rang and he glared at Chris before slamming his locker shut. "I have calculus." He muttered before stalking off to his next lesson, with Solana's words ringing in his ears. Fuck her, he thought angrily, tightening his grip on his bag strap, what would she even know?
"Why would the board want to meet with me?" Aaliyah asked, twisting her chain anxiously around her neck sitting in the passenger seat beside Malcolm as they drove through Park Avenue at eight-thirty AM Saturday morning. When Malcolm had come to her the night before telling her that she would need to be up early for a meeting with the board.
Malcolm didn't seem to share her anxiety though and was instead smiling. "Aaliyah, your song hit the billboard one hundred chart on the billboard in a week," He said, looking over to her proudly, "Over ten million streams in a week, and your performance at the festival has been trending at number three on YouTube. You're getting your own magazine cover, Aaliyah! If the board isn't calling you here to be singing your praises, then the world is backward."
Aaliyah blushed. "Well it's not like I've sold over a hundred million streams," She replied, "Like Madison on her album."
"Madison has been in the industry for almost three years. Of course, she would sell more impressively," Malcolm replied with a soft smile, "And Madison is an incredibly talented artist, but I assure you when she started out she didn't sale as impressively as you are right now."
Aaliyah nodded slowly, unable to keep the slow smile off her lips. She wanted to keep her humility, she didn't want to become another Madison Strong, but she couldn't lie that it was difficult when everyone was retweeting lyrics from her song or posting videos of them lip-syncing it, or when interviewers would sing her praises. It was fuelling her almost insatiable ego.
Her confidence had been knocked a little bit over the week, thanks to Madison's fired shots on Twitter, especially on Wednesday when photos of her and Jacks' fight at the Bonfire were leaked. She still had no clue as to who posted the photos, Blair was tracing back to the source of the original tweet, but it was to no avail. It had to be someone in her grade, and it made her sick that someone that close to her would do something like this and she had no idea who it was. She was angry at Blair when she realized that she had known about the photos before she found out about them herself whilst she was on the air, but she had to understand her logic. She couldn't think about it for long anyway since she had to call Jacks' as well who hadn't been all that happy about the photos either, understandably, of course, no one wants to see their business on the internet to be scrutinized and judged.
Malcolm had said that she was proud of the way she handled the rumors as well, especially after all the mess Madison's put her through already, but she couldn't lie and say it didn't bother her at night when she would scroll through her Twitter feed and see the occasional hateful comment, one person calling her an overdramatic drunk, another calling her a bitch for coming at Madison the way she did, or someone just who didn't like her song. She tried to take it in stride, they were just a few negative comments in a sea of positive. Blair said that if they were tweeting it meant that they were paying attention to you and that only does her good.
When she got to the conference room, she was surprised to see Madison's angry scowl with her arms crossed over her chest sitting beside Oliver Pearson on the other end of the table.
"Good morning," She greeted in a quiet voice taking her usual seat beside Malcolm.
"For a few of us," Uriah started, glancing at Madison and Oliver for a moment before looking back to Aaliyah, "It isn't a good morning."
Aaliyah raised a brow glancing at Madison who was glaring openly at her. "Okay..." She said slowly not knowing what's going on.
"Uriah, is everything okay?" Malcolm asked, "Madison?"
Uriah opened his mouth to reply, but Madison beat him to it. "No, everything's not okay, Malcolm," She replied in a freezing tone looking at Aaliyah accusingly, "Since her little appearance on Pembrooke's show, my sales have gone down dramatically. Clearly, there's a correlation. She deliberately made me look like a spiteful threatened bitch."
"Madison—" Malcolm started appalled.
Aaliyah was outraged. "Madison, you're crazy. You're the one who's been firing shots at me all week. You retweeted those photos of me and Jacks to millions of people. You're the one who accused me of sleeping with my boss on social media, the one who has over and over tried to come after my career before I could even get it launched and now you have the nerve to be upset because your sales have gone down?"
"Yes, I do," Madison snapped leaning forward in her seat, gripping the arms of her chair with a sneer, "Because after everything you've done since you got here, stealing my role in the showcase, I can be upset about what I want."
Aaliyah felt like she was going crazy. "Steal your role?" She exclaimed, "Are you crazy, Madison, I didn't steal anything—"
"Aaliyah," It was Uriah, his voice firm, and when she turned her glare on him, he cocked a brow, "I understand your frustration, but how negatively are you really impacted by what Madison has done since you dropped your song?"
"Do you pay any attention to Twitter, Uriah? I still get tagged in awful posts. My DMs blow-up none stop with invasive questions about my sex life. And I did nothing to deserve that. I couldn't give a single damn about Madison's sales," Aaliyah sneered, turning her glare on Madison yet again, "Maybe next time she'd think twice before single-handedly trying to ruin someone else's career and failing."
Trevor cleared his throat. "With all due respect, Aaliyah," He said cutting into the silence. Aaliyah raised her gaze to the ceiling in an effort to compose herself. She swore she would kill all of these people if she could, "I think Uriah meant in terms of physical assets. Since your debut release, you have raked in a substantial amount of business and capital. Impressive for someone of your status. How bad could any of what Madison has done if you've managed to achieve this amount of success in such little time ?"
Aaliyah felt as though she was slapped across her face. What was she to these people? Just a product they can mold and shape however they see fit. Not a person, who creates the music they need so much for their label. She was a machine to them, not a person with emotion and thoughts and feelings. Not someone capable of pain and mental anguish. She remembered what Xavier had told her a week ago"No one sees that we're not invulnerable."
She supposed she shouldn't be surprised, but still. The fact that her livelihood meant so little to these people that they were willing to measure the damage Madison's actions have done to the success she attained for the Label to protect her and keep Aaliyah quiet. What had she actually gotten herself into? And why wasn't Malcolm speaking? "Yet, Madison's album has been insanely received in the weeks since it dropped. So why does one conversation, where I didn't even mention her by name myself warrant a meeting? Why am I being punished for this, whilst Madison can get away with her bullshit? Answer quickly," She snapped in a freezing tone.
Silence. Aaliyah expected nothing else, all it did was confirm the double standard that was already so clear when it came to her and Madison. She was tired.
Madison's cheeks were flushed bright red, and she opened her mouth to argue when Oliver placed a hand on her shoulder reeling her back in. "All Madison wants is for some type of compensation for her loss," He said in a calm voice looking at Malcolm with a cocked brow, "Is that possible?"
"What's the percentage of her loss?" He asked wearily.
"Three-point four percent."
Malcolm blinked once and then twice. "Madison, you've had over a hundred million streams in a month, that's incredible for an artist selling a second studio album, and you're upset about a three percent decline?"
"If the reason for that decline was a planned attack then most definitely," She replied with a tight nod, her lips pressed tightly together.
"Planned attack my ass," Aaliyah snapped back angrily, glaring back at Madison, "I didn't even know about those photos you leaked until I was on the show. You're just doing whatever you can to sabotage my career, you think we're competing for some deluded reason, but I refuse to take your bait. Not for a second."
"Is that a direct quote?" Oliver asked, taking his notepad out.
Aaliyah was incredulous. "Are you insane?"
Madison narrowed her eyes at Aaliyah, opening her mouth to reply when Uriah beat her to it. "Aaliyah," He said and Aaliyah looked at him with a raised brow. She definitely knew what side he was on, "Where is your manager?"
"Blair was busy this morning," Malcolm answered for her, his eyes squinted at Uriah. He had the same thought Aaliyah was having, this felt like a coup, "She didn't think that this meeting would be all that important, and to be honest neither did I. Why wasn't I told prior about the objective of this meeting?"
There was no response, not a word, complete silence. She looked around the room and no one had anything to say about it, not even Uriah who seemed to love the sound of his own voice. Aaliyah looked to Malcolm who pursed his lips nodding tightly, "Right," He said in a calm voice, "If something like this happens again. I will be taking the necessary action."
Silence. Aaliyah swallowed looking around at the stoic and defiant expressions across the room. Malcolm could be scary when he wanted to. Uriah cleared his throat after a moment nodding at him. "Duly noted, Malcolm."
Malcolm nodded before turning to Madison with a sincere expression. "I'm sorry for your loss regardless of the amount and it will most definitely be taken into account with the financial team on account of your next paycheck."
Madison nodded, though she still didn't seem satisfied with anything, and she took another chance to glare at Aaliyah. "Thank you, Malcolm."
"Now is that all?" He asked raising his eyebrow to the rest of the board.
"No," Trevor started, sitting up in his chair to look at Aaliyah with a smile, "Upon Aaliyah's release of her song hidden sales have skyrocketed incredibly," He explained, "We wanted to discuss the release of another song of yours before your album release."
After the meeting, Aaliyah wandered over to the Red Room in a daze, pushing open the door to find Xavier sitting up, arched over his controller, his gaze fixated on the screen as he played a game of basketball. She followed his gaze on the screen taking note of the teams playing, she squinted, figuring he was playing as the Lakers. He was always the Lakers, as far as Aaliyah knew anyway. Since Kobe died, he declared that would only ever play as the Lakers out of respect.
It was only when she got here that she realized, who Kobe Bryant was, and how insanely he was loved. Aaliyah didn't follow sports, or social media for that fact much until she got here, but she did have an intrigue for it now, and though she didn't feel that same attachment to the legendary player, she did feel empathetic toward the loss.
When the door closed behind her, Xavier jumped pausing the game and turning a little to meet Aaliyah's gaze. He stared up at her with wide shocked eyes, like he didn't realize that they had a session today, but then after one look at her expression, he was frowning at her. "What's the problem?" He asked, raising a brow at her, "I heard you were having another board meeting today, I'm guessing it didn't go too good?"
Aaliyah felt herself pause as she took in his appearance. He had his afro out. Aaliyah was pretty sure she'd never seen him with an afro, Aaliyah thought it changed his face a little, the sheen to the tight coils that fell over his forehead a little and brushed the tops of his ears made his skin glow a little and made his face look a little rounder, he looked younger, but that wasn't all that had Aaliyah's attention.
He was in a tank top. It was nothing special, Aaliyah had worked out with Blair and Jacks plenty of times, she'd seen Jacks in a tank top, wasn't above making comments about it either, but something about the way Xavier's muscles flexed under his smooth skin as Xavier reached from the sofa to the coffee table to pick up his iPad. Something about the sleeve of tattoos, each one becoming more visible with each turn. Aaliyah never thought about what her type might be like until she got here, she knew she found herself drawn to Xavier, at first she imagined it was because he was the type of boy her foster parents would hate, the tattoos, the piercings, his notoriety, his enigma.
It should have made her feel unsafe, she grew up fairly sheltered despite her circumstances, she didn't know much about people and their nuances, but she knew that there were the type of boys that whether well-intentioned or not, could ruin her if she let them. She knew Xavier was one of them, yet here she was. He looked really good in a tank.
Aaliyah shook her head, trying for a smile, shaking herself out of it. "I— uh," She felt her thoughts come to a halt, and with a curse beneath her breath, she looked away dropping her bag by the sofa, and made her way over to the soundboard, "I don't want to talk about it," She muttered, letting her fingers run across the keyboard, feeling her frustration melt away with only a few chords. Xavier was by her side in a moment. She felt her breath catch in her throat as the smell of his skin invaded her senses. He'd been sweating, Aaliyah clocked as she turned her head a little taking notice of the gleam on his shoulders. Had he been working out? She wondered, the image of Xavier lifting weights crossed her mind and she instantly regretted it. She looked away quickly starting to play La Vie En Rose again, letting it center her thoughts. She had a boyfriend, she reminded herself, "They do want us to release another song before the New Year because of hidden's success."
Xavier sucked in another breath. "I want to say that, that's a good thing, but that means more late-night recordings. I miss my eight hours of sleep."
Aaliyah couldn't help her smile as she turned on the soundboard. "Did you even get eight hours of sleep before we started recording hidden?" She demanded with a cocked brow, "Because I know I didn't."
"That's true," Xavier pointed out, "Then it's probably the idea of spending more time with you that's giving me a headache."
Aaliyah rolled her eyes. "Funny," She said humming the words as she reached a crescendo, "Spending time with your rude ass hasn't been that fun for me either."
Only a few silent moments passed before Xavier came in with a set of chords behind her melody. Despite whatever fake hostility they had toward each other at this point, she knew that whatever music they made together was anything but fake, anything but non-commital. He made her music more dimensional, more tangible. She remembered times in the music store when Mr. Gonzalez would play beside her, how full she felt, how it felt like their music could carry her away, wrapping her up in each note. That's what it felt with Xavier, except she felt entwined somehow, inexplicably wrapped up in Xavier too.
And then suddenly Xavier was singing. "When you press me to your heart/ I'm in a world apart/ A world where roses bloom/ Da, da, da, da—"
"When did you learn this song?" Aaliyah asked with an edge to her voice, "I mean— You know the lyrics?"
Xavier cocked a brow, but they hadn't stopped playing. "I mean it's not like you don't play it like all the time," He answered with a smile, looking back to the keys, "It wasn't too hard to remember some of the words once I looked it up. Well, the English translation at least. I thought you said you learned Italian, not French. I also never pegged you for this type of music either."
Aaliyah flushed looking away, letting the song run to its close. "I'm not," She replied in a low voice, "I mean not usually into old pop songs like that, but I have my guilty pleasures I suppose. It was the first piece I learned, one of the few pieces they had at this rec center I used to go with my tutor. I remember spending hours at the center till closing learning it, and feeling so fulfilled whilst I was. I remembered realizing that if I felt this way learning other people's music, imagine how great it would feel creating my own. And I guess everything else fell into place the way it did from there."
Xavier nodded, and when Aaliyah met his gaze again she saw how intently he was looking at her, and she couldn't help but find herself locked in his stare, not really wanting to look. What was it about Xavier with an afro, in a tank that had her so... lost in him.
She smiled, lowering her gaze again, feeling her flush creep up along her neck and she felt her gaze catch sight of one of his tattoos; an open scroll torn at the edges, with a script written in calligraphy. She squinted at it. "What's it say?" Aaliyah asked jerking her chin out toward his arm. He looked down with a cocked brow, "A hundred ways to be an insufferable ass?"
Xavier made a face at her. "Funny," He replied, running a hand over the tattoo, a reminiscent look on his face. Aaliyah wondered what he was thinking about, "You, created only a little lower than angels, have crouched too long in the bruising darkness."
Aaliyah made a soft noise. "Pretty," She said, cocking her head a little, "And a little dark. I almost forgot you were a secret poetry nerd."
Xavier rolled his eyes. "I got it from my momma, the poetry obsession," He replied in a low voice, "It was my mom's favorite from Maya Angelou, On the Pulse of Morning, which makes perfect sense, my mom was always pretty radical, but I like that piece more because it's a reminder for me."
"A reminder of what?" Aaliyah asked in a soft voice, holding Xavier's gaze.
Xavier looked at her a little stunned, surprised at how intent her voice came out. She didn't know why she was so curious, or what it was that drove her to ask, why she felt the need to know him, just a little more. Maybe it was because after the hellish meeting she just had, she needed to know that she wasn't entirely alone. That there was someone here, who understood her better than anyone. Someone she knew, and someone who knew her. Someone she felt tied to.
Xavier cleared his throat, furrowing his brows as he looked away. "That we're all works in progress. That I'm not the only one who feels bruised by darkness," He said in a low voice, looking away, "That it's a normal feeling. That it's who we are as humans, to feel imperfect, and not just imperfect, but kind of broken."
Aaliyah swallowed, unable to look away from him. "Whoa," She said after a long silence, not knowing what else to say. It wasn't a stretch to believe that Xavier was damaged, with all he kept to himself, it only seemed natural to think that. But hearing him openly admit it, felt weird like they had just started a new chapter of a book, after being given a new piece of information only to be left hanging. She felt eager to learn more but anxious to know what it is about this boy that had her so drawn to him, "I think we all need that reminder. It can feel awfully lonely otherwise."
Xavier straightened sucking in a deep breath. He turned to look at her, with a grin, masking whatever was haunting him with amusement. "How do you feel about getting high again?" He asked after another moment of silence, and Aaliyah looked to him with a dubious brow, "The guy I know dropped some more of his leftover at my place and I brought them here. I tend to work well stoned, but now, fuck working. Why don't we celebrate the board not giving you the worst time possible? We can even order Delgato's burritos."
Aaliyah smiled at the thought of Delgato's burritos. Somehow they tasted even better when she was high, everything seemed to be a lot better, to some degree, Xavier seemed better. When he wasn't being a grumpy ass of course. Sometimes she thought back to their conversations that blackout on his sofa. They talked for hours in the dark there, until Aaliyah finally fell asleep. The next morning she woke up with a blanket over her, and he had disappeared.
For some reason, they never talked about it again, but something about it made Aaliyah smile. Getting high again with Xavier was a tempting idea, even when she swore she would never take drugs again after that night. Especially after the moment they just had. But she could hear Lauryn's disapproving voice in her ears as she told her about all the health risks of taking drugs continuously, but right now after the ridiculous meeting she just had with Madison, she was too tense to think straight and work anyway.
She pressed her lips together tightly, and she shook her head looking up to his gaze. "As tempting as that sounds, and trust me after this meeting, it's very tempting," She said with a sigh running a hand through her hair, "I can't. I promised Jacks a date later, can't break that promise."
Xavier's expression shuttered and he looked away turning off the soundboard through squinted eyes. His piercing glinted a little as she watched his jaw work, and Aaliyah was suddenly worried. She didn't piss him off, did she? "Xavier?" She called out in a gentle voice.
"It's whatever," He said waving her off, his dark eyes seeming even darker now. She didn't think it was whatever, "So is that why you're here then? To tell me we should start recording Four Walls?"
Aaliyah nodded slowly, narrowing her eyes trying to figure out what was wrong. Xavier nodded, looking at her again with his lips pressed together tightly. "Then why are you still here?" He asked, his dark eyes glittering with malice.
Aaliyah flinched before pressing her lips together and nodding tightly. Back to his default mode then, she thought, refraining from rolling her eyes. "You have a point." She muttered before she turned from the soundboard, taking her bag from the sofa and heading to the door, "I'll see you Monday then."