Fly Girl | [Novel] (Wattpad Version)

18| A New Set Of Pressures

October 1995 :

Ava -

Night after night; hit the stage, sing and dance our asses off, and repeat. Sleep was officially non-existent, and it was all because we took Chauncey's harsh and unnecessary words and used them against him.

Not only had we stepped up our performances, surprising ourselves, we'd stepped it up enough to have members of the audience spreading the entertainment gospel about four teenage girls shutting things down before Keith Sweat could even get on stage to do his begging and whining. So dang good, they'd begun extending our set and adding more tour dates for us. From August, to September, to October; you could find us on various Ladies' Night type tours, warming up the crowds. We'd gotten to perform before and alongside some of the best; SWV, H-Town, TROOP, Tevin Campbell. We'd even met a few of our official peers; Aaliyah, Brandy, Monica, Usher, Immature, and so many others. And meeting the queen herself, Whitney Houston; the icing on what was literally, the most delicious cake ever in life. It was insane.

Then, once we released our second single; that was all she wrote for Fly Girl. We shot straight to number one within three days with limited airplay, after Chauncey pissed off four of the hottest radio DJs, and no music video.

After a two-month break, and what I'm sure was a much needed time to reflect and focus on herself, her sons, and her own life outside of work, Brandy came back and rejoined us. This time, there was nothing Chauncey could say that didn't warrant him either getting the piss slapped out of him, or being told off to the point of no return. A man who had a comeback for everything, had been silenced by a woman he tried so hard to break.

Not only that, we'd gotten to meet Mr. Monroe, Brandy's husband, in the most unexpected way. I guess you could say that Chauncey had his ass handed to him. Not only did Brandy's husband beat him down, he made it painfully clear that disrespect towards his wife, or any female he knew would not be tolerated any longer. That extended to us, now that he'd met the four of us finally, and Chauncey had begun to watch himself and how he spoke to us just a little more.

With Brandy's return, of course came extra work; so much that we had to catch up on and pull together because there'd been so much trouble trying to find someone who'd work as hard as she has for us. There was honestly no way for us to show just how much we appreciated her.

The extra work was welcomed, at least for me. Though we had talked things out, it still wasn't enough to make me feel comfortable with being at home with Sean while on my short breaks. Every chance he got; there was mention of me quitting, him being able to take care of me again now that he'd found a job that was willing to pay him double what he was making before he was laid off. I tried explaining that money had nothing to do with it. He and I could have been broke and struggling; I just wanted to sing, and now that I had the chance, I wasn't giving it up. He was mad, but for the time being, he'd just have to be mad.

Sitting in the studio, I was looking over the lyrics I had just been given when my name got called. One of the latest producers to hop on board for our project, known simply as Bishop, called out to me again and I got up, setting my lyrics down as I excused myself, walking past Troy and Torii as they went over their own parts.

Escorting me out of the room, down the hall, and into one of the empty offices, Bishop closed the door behind us and offered me a seat. Naturally, I took one in front of the desk, while he sat behind the desk in a large black chair that looked as if it had been through a few years of wear and tear. "How are you feeling this afternoon, Ava?"