Symone let out a laugh as she watched a few of her dancers' freestyle in the middle of the floor. She and her team were finally past the planning stages of her tour and were now getting down to the good parts. They gathered together a band, dancers, and a couple of her favorite choreographers to make the actual show come to life.
"Okay, okay, okay." Symone nodded her head as she made her way into the middle of the circle, starting to fool around. She finished off with a dramatic spin and a laugh, stopping when she noticed guests observing the scene from the door. "Get over here." She encouraged with a smile, waving them over.
Chance, Alex, Vante, and Omari made their way over, joining in on all the fun, making for entertaining videos and laughs.
"Y'all, we can take five. Lemme see what these guys want from me." Symone told the dancers. Usually, they remained hyper-focused on strictly learning and rehearsing, but, it was one of their review days, and that allowed more room for messing around.
Everyone dispersed, leaving the group of five with some privacy. "What's up?" She questioned. "I know y'all didn't come all the way over here to gloat about Miami in my face."
The boys recently went on a trip to Miami and didn't extend her an invitation, leading her to conclude it was an all-boys trip. It was apparent from their endless social media posts of all of them just fucking around.
"We brought you a keychain." Vante smiled, pulling the trinket out of his pocket.
"Boy." She snapped, snatching it from his grasp. "What do y'all want?"
"You know what today is, right?" Omari asked, giving her a look.
"Your birthday party even though your birthday was three days ago," Symone responded back knowingly. "Yeah, I'm aware."
"Good. So I expect you to bring along every female in your phone and not go overboard like you did last time." Omari instructed. "I'm saying this in person, so you know I care."
"Bitch, I'm not an alcoholic. I'm gonna go. Have a good time and sleep in Vante's guest house." Mo responded.
"I love how you just don't even ask me," Vante commented.
"Nigga, I still have the keys. What do I need to ask you about?"
"Why don't I have keys to your place?"
"You never asked me."
"Ight bet so if I ask you right now."
"I just gotta make a Home Depot trip, and we set."
"Ight bet."
"Bet."
Chance just looked between the two. "Y'all are annoying, oh my God."
"Why are you here?" Symone demanded, frowning as she crossed her arms.
"I didn't wanna feel left out." He simply responded, making her smile. "And I'm tryna know if you bringing her." He pointed to one of her female dancers across the room.
"No. Chance, no. You are not-"
Chance started to make his way over, ignoring Symone's words. "So who's tryna go to a party tonight?" He loudly proclaimed, making Symone's eyes widening, turning to the rest of the boys.
"Is he serious?"
"I mean if he actually gets them to come through I'm not about to be mad," Omari spoke, looking over and licking his lips softly. "I am the birthday boy."
"Ain't y'all getting a little too old for all this?" Symone couldn't help but ask.
"You only turn 27 once."
"Get out of my rehearsal space." She commanded at that.
"Looks like everything's coming together," Alex said.
"Yeah, sure." She waved off, taking her hair out of the ponytail it was in and redoing it. "Thank y'all for stopping by. But y'all niggas ain't shit so... bye."
"Chance, we out," Vante called out to him.
"Alright." Chance clapped his hands enthusiastically. "Everybody keep up the good work. And I'll see y'all tonight." He followed behind the boys to the exit, passing by Symone with a smile as she couldn't resist the temptation to slap the back of his head.
"Stupid ass." She muttered under her breath while Alex just laughed, closing the door behind him as they all laugh. "Alright." She turned back to her dancers. "We all ready to get back to it?"
"Yeah, yeah. I like it." Michael smiled as she sat in the makeup chair, getting her face retouched after putting on her outfit for the dance scene they were filming. "I think the color compliments me well."
"It really does." The makeup artist agreed.
"What y'all doing?" Rome asked, making his way over. "Is that glitter?"
"What? No." Michael let out a laugh. "Stop acting like you know stuff."
"She's done anyway." The makeup artist smiled, taking a step back.
"Good, 'cause we gotta get on this set," Romeo spoke with a happy smile as Michael stood up from her seat. "But before we do that. Look over there." He pointed behind her, making her turn around.
A smile came on her face when she spotted Chance, Vante, Omari, and Alex standing a couple feet back. The group instantly started to yell and make noises once she noticed them.
"Y'all." She smiled, making her way over and greeting them with hugs. "What's up? What are y'all doing here?"
"We heard you were shooting your video. And we were out doing whatever the fuck anyway. So we decided to support." Alex smiled.
"And extend an invitation to my birthday party, it's gonna be lit," Omari added.
"Wasn't your birthday a couple days ago?" Michael asked, remembering seeing a big fuss about it on Instagram. "Wait, weren't you just in Miami?"
"Does that really matter? I'm celebrating tonight. And I want you to come." Omari smiled. "You know you want to." He poked her playfully.
Michael just smiled as she swatted his hand away from her. "I wish I could, but, I'm flying home tonight. So, unless you're ready for me to pull up in some sweats, slippers, and a hoodie for five minutes, I'mma have to decline."
"You just don't love me." Omari pulled out the childish act, turning away from her, making her let out a laugh.
Michael just wrapped her arms around him. "That's not true, and you know it."
Omari started to fake cry which made her start to laugh. "Omari!" She slapped his back playfully. "Chill out."
"Alright, let's watch this music video." Omari simply responded, cutting the dramatics, making them all chuckle.
Michael just made her way onto the set, waiting to get the green light from the director and hearing the playback of her track before she started dancing with the dancers.
Michael's professionalism truly shined through, seeing they only had to record the full dance four times to get all the different angles. And she nailed it each and every time.
"So what do y'all think?" She asked, making her way back to the boys.
"You not tryna know what I think," Vante responded, making Chance punch his arm.
"She's practically married!" Chance reprimanded.
"I know nigga, so why the fuck did you hit me?!"
"Cause I know what was just running through your head." Chance smiled.
"Y'know this is exactly why Symone kicked our asses out." Vante couldn't help but point out. "You play too much."
"Why do I chose to spend my time with these sensitive ass R&B niggas?" Omari spoke up through their bickering, making Michael winded with laughter, grabbing his arm to steady herself.
"Stop!"
"He not talking about me though." Alex denied with a smile.
"Nigga, weren't you just whining in the car about how your fries weren't hot?" Omari pointed out.
"Nobody likes cold fries!"
"And nobody likes a bitch." Omari quipped back with a smile.
All of this had Michael laughing to the point where she almost had tears in her eyes.
"Stop! My stomach hurts." She breathed out, standing up a little straighter, getting the last of her laughter out of her system as she held her stomach. "Y'all are fucking stupid."
Vante just looked at her with a smile. "What inspired the cut?" He motioned to her hair, which was now a little past her shoulder. It was a drastic change from where it used to be, past the middle of her back.
"Making big moves deserves a little change, right?" She responded back with a smile.
"Well, I'm proud of you." He spoke.
"Me too." Chance added. "You looked great out there."
"Thank you for coming out. It means a lot."
Rome approached the group with a smile. "Yo, the shots look crazy." He informed her while the boys were making moves to dip out.
"We'll see you tonight, right?" Omari asked, pointing to Rome.
"For sure." Rome smiled, dapped him up.
All of them exchanged goodbyes before leaving Michael to get back into work mode.
"Okay, lemme see the shots." She spoke, walking with Rome over to the camera team, wanting to get a good look at everything and see if it met her expectations.
"I can't go," Raya spoke as she held her phone to her ear, moving around the main floor of her home, preparing to leave.
"And why not?"
"Because I'm in New York. Omari, you know you should've told me this, like, last month."
"I'm sorry. I didn't know I had to book an appointment for somebody to care about me."
"Omari, please get the fuck out of your feelings," Raya commanded with a laugh. "You know you're gonna be just fine without me."
"That's why Chance was invited, and your ass wasn't."
"Okay, and?" Raya just pulled a face as she dropped a lipstick in her purse. "You act like that nigga fazes me. We're cool now, it's whatever."
"So why can't you come?!"
Raya laughed at his tone, knowing he was just acting like this to be funny. "Omari, I appreciate the invite. And I love you tryna have us all together again, but I'm just gonna have to sit this one out. You know I still love you, though."
"Uh-huh. Sure."
Raya rolled her eyes. "Nigga, where was my birthday phone call? Out here tryna make me feel bad, where was my love?"
"I threw up a picture of us on the Gram!"
"As if that means something!"
"To every other normal individual on this planet, it does."
"Omari. Go trim your beard and stop worrying about me." She couldn't help but clap back as she put him on speaker to slip on her coat.
"You gon' be real salty you missed out."
"I bet I am."
"That attitude ain't gon get you nowhere."
"It got me a Grammy. I'm good, love."
"Wow."
"Uh-huh. Talk to me nice." She smiled, proud of herself for checking him that quick.
Even though Trinity had two Grammy's under their belt, it was still enough to throw around when people wanted to talk crazy about her. It was an instant shut down to anyone in the industry.
"So, what you gonna do while the rest of us get turnt at Drais?" He wondered.
"Working in the studio." She replied back.
"You gonna let me on a track?"
"I mean, if you talking serious, hell yes."
Omari was a rare breed. He managed to sustain a rap career longer than anyone else in the game with him. He went from radio-friendly tracks to more grown and mature tracks, where he spoke on shit that no one else was brave enough to speak about.
He wasn't always fitting into the industry's standards, and that's what made him special. He knew how to get 'em all hooked with the party records and how to get serious when the time was right.
Bow Wow could've really beat him in his rap game longevity, but he... he got lost in the sauce somewhere down the line.
It was real unfortunate.
"Bet, I'm gonna come out to NY. We throwing me a third birthday party, and, afterward, we'll get down in the studio."
"Third?"
"I spent a lil time in Miami, alright."
"You're a whole mess." Raya smiled. "Have fun, but not too much fun. And tell me how it goes."
"I got you. Have a good studio session."
"Thank you."
They soon got off the phone, and Raya slipping out of her home, making her way to the studio. And if she was honest, she was in a better mood than she was in before.
Omari was a truly special individual.