CHAPTER 27
Xylina
Icouldn’t stop the smile from forming on my face as I stood backstage watching Simone on stage. Today was the first day of the R&B festival and it was finally her set. We’d gotten here a little over two hours ago and had been on the move since. Her hair ended up taking longer than it was supposed to, which threw everything else off schedule, but we figured it out. Figuring out the right look for the occasion was a bit of a challenge. Simone had a certain vision in mind for when she got on stage, but I was up for the task.
The past two months working with her had been a learning curve, but I was enjoying it. Thankfully she wasn’t a diva and was open to the looks I presented to her. With her new album preparing to drop, everything had to be on point. Next week, we left for London and I would be there for a week while Simone was staying a bit longer. It had been a while since I’d been out of the country, so I was looking forward to it. With everything that went down with my dad last month, I was looking forward to a change in scenery.
Things at home couldn’t have been better. Instead of dwelling on the situation with my dad, me and Yosiah had been working on our relationship. Between date nights and intimatetalks, I feel we’d grown closer than we once were. Everything in my life was starting to align in the best way. My pregnancy was starting to show a bit more, causing me to be more sensitive to certain foods and smells, but so far it hadn’t been anything I couldn’t deal with. At my last appointment, Yosiah arrivedon timeand was present for everything, even asking questions I didn’t think to ask. It was a complete one-eighty from my first appointment, but it brought me security seeing how engaged and excited he was.
Once the heat started to get to me, I left my position backstage and headed to the food and drinks set up for the talent and crew.
“Xylina, hey girl!” A feminine voice sounded from behind me just as I got my bottle of water. Turning around, I saw Kinsley and her twin sister Kayleigh. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“Why, what’s up?” I asked, uncapping my water and bringing the bottle to my mouth. It was so refreshing to my dry throat that I could have moaned.
“My sister’s been wanting to get in contact with you. She?—”
Kayleigh cut her twin off and said, “Girl, I don’t need you to speak for me. I got this.”
“Well excuse the fuck outta me.”
“You’re excused.”
“Girl, fuck you.”
Their banter caused me to snicker. It was clearly all in good faith.
“Anyway,” Kayleigh dragged and popped her lips. “Twin wasn’t lying when she said I’ve been wanting to get in contact with you. I saw what you’ve been doing with Simone and I wanted to know if you’d be open to working with me too.”
I had been a fan of Kayleigh aka Lady K’s music since she was anonymously releasing. Once she revealed herself and startedreleasing more original songs, I became even more of a fan. Hearing that she wanted to work with me was a blessing.
Simone approached us, saying, “Hold on now, K, I know you’re not tryna poach my stylist.” I hadn’t even realized her set was close to being done when I walked off.
“Don’t be stingy with her, Simone, damn. You can’t be the only one experiencing her talents.”
“I’m just saying. I found her first.” Simone shrugged. “But since you’re my girl, I guess I don’t mind loaning her to you from time to time.”
“Oh how generous of you.” Kayleigh rolled her eyes.
Simone faced me. “When you’re done talking to her, meet me in my changing room please.” I nodded as she waved to the twins and walked off.
“Back to business. I’m doing a small, local, pop-up event in August, and before then I have a couple promo shoots. Normally I dress myself, but between the studio, my daughter, my man, and having a social life, I don’t have time to always go shopping. Plus, I feel like I don’t have a signature look. I see you’re starting to help Simone find hers and I was hoping you could do the same with me. My PR swears it’ll help expand my brand.” She rolled her eyes and used her fingers to put the last part of her sentence in quotations.
“There you are. We’ve been looking all over for you.” Legend walked up with their daughter clinging to him in his arms.
“I told you that I had some business to talk.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his side, kissing her cheek. “You still could have let me know where you were going.”
I watched Kayleigh turn into a blushing schoolgirl right before my eyes.
“Y’all are annoying.” Kinsley’s eyes left her phone temporarily and she balled her face up.
“Don’t be a hater, twin. It doesn’t look good on you.” Kayleigh faced me again. “Back to what I was saying. I’m hoping you can help me.”
I thought for a second before nodding. “I think we can make it work. Simone has some things going on and she’s my first priority, but as long as your stuff doesn’t interfere with my work for her, I’m down to help.”
Since connecting with Simone, I had worked with a couple of other people for single day events, mainly just giving my input or opinion.
