“And that’s how you get it done,” Day stated, giving her a fist bump and biting his lip to contain his excitement. He took the mic. “We’ve got a media room set up for interviews. Y’all heard her. Get to know her first cuz the price going up after tonight. Tomorrow’s price won’t be tonight’s price.”
Charlie made her way to the edge of the stage, where Demi stood with DJ at his side. He picked her up, hands under her armpits, and lowered her off the stage.
“You can unspell a nigga any time, Bird,” he said.
She giggled and then looked at DJ. “How’d I do?”
DJ shrugged. “Can we go now? This is stupid and boring. There aren’t even any kids here.”
Charlie deflated a little. “We can go. This isn’t really something he’d enjoy.”
“Go do your thing with the media. Lot of people want to get to know you in here, Bird. I’ll occupy this guy.” Demi pulled his son under his arm, trapping him as he roughhoused him.
“Come on, little nuts. Let’s go. Let’s see if the DJ will teach you how to spin,” Demi said.
“Really?” DJ asked, perking up.
“You still want to be a DJ when you grow up, right?” Demi challenged. “Or you changed your mind, cuz if you changed your mind, I won’t ask.”
“Come on, Dad! Please! Ask him! Can I go live on my page while I do it?”
Demi chuckled. “Yeah, man, flex on your little friends,” Demi stated. “I’m around if you need me,” he said to Charlie before delivering a quick kiss and walking off with his son.
Charlie was relieved when Stassi broke through the crowd.
“Oh my godddd, you did so good! The album sounds bomb,” Stassi complimented.
“I can’t believe you didn’t give me a heads up about all this.”
“They knew better than to tell me. I have so much to fucking tell you,” Stassi said.
Their time was interrupted as a popular blogger known as Zeewiththetea came walking up. “Charlie, I’d love a minute of your time to give my Z babies first look at you, sis. You’re beautiful, and unlike a lot of these new girls, you can sing!”
Charlie looked at Stassi apologetically. “You want to hang out until I’m done? I won’t be long. I feel like we need to catch up.”
“Do your thing. We’ll catch up later. I’ma grab a drink and then head out. I just wanted to make sure I came through to show you my support. Tonight is your big night, Charlie. You worked hard for this. Shine, sis!” Stassi turned to the blogger. “She’s all yours.”
It was the sisterhood for Charlie. It was the letting bygones be bygones for her. Stassi was the one person who had loved her unconditionally. Just like every other disagreement they had ever had, this one was forgiven.
“So, Charlie, you look beautiful tonight! I’ve got to get a picture of you for my blog!” The camera flashed before she could even prepare and three more cameras from other publications followed suit.
“Thank you,” Charlie answered sweetly. “I still can’t believe any of this.”
“Your songs are so passionate, and when you sing them, you can tell you mean every word. Is ‘Addict 4 U’ about label owner, Demitrius Sky?”
“Oh, you jump right into it, huh?” Charlie asked.
Before Charlie could answer, she heard the DJ take the microphone.
“Yo! Yo! My little homie, DJ, is going to take over the 1’s and 2’s. He’s the underboss, so I got to give him a shot to shout out the crowd and the lady of the evening. Li’l man, you want to show Charlie some love? What you think about the album so far?”
Charlie looked toward DJ and Demi. She smiled as DJ took the mic.
“All these people here are showing her love but she don’t deserve it. She’s out here sleeping with married men, and she broke up our family. She’s trash. Nobody cares about her music.”
Charlie lost air.
“Damn,” Zeewiththetea mumbled. Charlie was mortified. “Do you have a comment for that?” The blogger pushed.
