"Better?"
She nodded and stepped inside, pausing a few feet from him while he locked the door. She lifted the bag which he collected and brought to the kitchen. She followed, watching as he unloaded the contents. His turkey sub and her sweet potato fries.
"I assume this is you?"
"Yep, thank you." He pushed them across the counter since she remained on the side lined with wooden stools while he was inside the kitchen. She watched as he unwrapped the kraft paper and inhaled his first bite.
"These shits are the truth. You tried it before?"
She shook her head. "No, I usually get Italian."
"Wanna try?"
She grinned as he smiled but took a bite instead of extending it to her. "No, do your thing. Looks like you're enjoying that too much."
She pulled open the rolled bag made of kraft paper that held her fries and reached across the counter to grab the cinnamon icing before lifting onto one of the stools.
"You eat there a lot?" he asked, turning away from her to open the refrigerator.
"No, I cook more than I eat out but I like their food when I'm feeling lazy. I used to perform there too, so I really like the owners."
His eyes lifted as he leaned into the refrigerator. "Word, I've never seen you there. Not performing. I have water, soda, and Henny."
"Water is good."
He removed two bottles of water and a soda, moving toward her. He took one water and a soda, giving her the other.
"I've only performed a few times. It was right before I was signed then I went on tour. After my tour, things were bad, so I stopped performing altogether, but I still go see Charlie and May every once in a while."
"They're good people," he said with a smile.Shit, his smile.
"They are."
"You said things got bad after the tour, what happened?"
She shrugged. "I was supposed to record another album but it never happened. They kept giving me excuses. I got frustrated and asked them to let me do it on my own since they wouldn't pay for it, but Cobra refused. A few months after that they had a new artist."
"Nefatari."
"Yep. She can barely sing but they took my sound and gave it to her."
"Y'all are not the same."
"No, we're not. I can actually sing but she lets them sexualize her. I wouldn't. I wanted it to be about talent. They wanted it to be about visuals. Sex sells."
"So the fuck does talent." Asao looked angry.
"Not with Cobra Records. And my deal was bullshit. They gave me two point four million when I signed but…"
"You blew all that on budgeted shit you didn't even use."
"Yeah. And my royalties are shit. Something about me being new so my percentage was only five percent, but the way they explained it, I should be making more. I wrote all of my lyrics, my album went platinum, and I had a fifteen-city, sold out tour. My last check was for six grand. The most I've ever gotten was twelve and that was sales, streaming, and money from the tour combined. The only reason I’m still surviving is I had a hundred thousand from my advance that they said I didn’t have to pay back."
"Damn, they fucked you."
"I had a lawyer go over the contract for me. They told me it was good. Explained everything in detail."
"What firm?"
