Loud

Chaper Six

A/N: Name that clipping song! Enjoy!

Somehow, Malik and I manage to get to Vinyl thirty minutes before showtime. We have time to do a quick sound check so we can be really prepared for the show. Malik is way too excited while I'm freaking out of my mind. I'm not even the one performing.

"You wanna hit the the bar, Diggs? I see a cute bartender over there," Malik says, nodding toward the bar.

"Not before the show. Especially you. You'll fuck everything up," I say, grabbing his arm as he walks in the direction of the alcohol.

"That's not true."

"Are you sure? If you have one drink, you're faded, Malik. I don't know why you drink at all."

"You know what, Diggs?" Malik begins.

I raise an eyebrow and he rolls his eyes. He shakes his arm out of my grip and I know I've won. That's basically his way of admitting I'm right without telling me.

"Wanna walk around and see who we pick up?" he finally suggests.

I laugh to myself and agree. We don't have anything better to do.

"How's that Jessimae chick?" Malik asks as we manage our way through the crowd of dancing and mingling people.

"She's fine. I think she's supposed to come out tonight."

"You for real?!"

His voice is so loud, I can hear him clearly even with the music at full volume.

"Yes, I'm for real," I reply, subtly scanning the area for her face.

"That means I get see her sexy ass in person! Let's go!" he cries clapping his hands.

"You're so childish," I tell him.

"Yo, Diggs! Look!" Malik begins to aggressively poke and prod at me.

"What? What?"

"Krizelle Washington is in the VIP section!"

"Krizelle Washington? Like the founder-of-Bay-Pop-Records Krizelle Washington?"

"Hell yeah! Let's go talk to her!"

"No!"

"Why not? Maybe she'll give us a deal!"

"She wouldn't sign us, Malik. We're not worth it," I say as I feel a buzz in my front pocket. Jessimae has arrived.

"Did Jess text you?" Malik jokes.

"Shut up. She said she's here so I just have to look for her."

"Is that her?"

Malik points to girl in a racy little dress on her phone. "That's not Jessimae," I claim.

"Boy, she's the only black bitch with blonde hair up in here. I think that's her," Malik counters.  "You go talk to her while I go talk to Krizelle. Bye."

Malik leaves before I have the chance to ask any questions. I pray he doesn't get himself into any deep trouble and make my way over to Jessimae.

"Hey," I say, lightly tapping her bare shoulder.

"Daveed!" she cries, throwing her arms around me.

"Hey! I'm so happy you made it."

"I wouldn't miss this for the world. When are you guys going on?"

"Hopefully in a while so we can get it over with," I sigh, adjusting my Oaklandish hat. "You look really good, by the way."

"Thanks. I bought this dress a long time ago and never wore it because I didn't want to come off as a hoe," she laughs. "But I'm at the club so I can wear whatever I want."

"Does Terrence know you're here?"

"No," she laughs. She laughs almost a little too sarcastically.

"Is that gonna be a problem?" I start to think of the things he might say or do to me.

"No, it's fine. He's out with some friends so as long as I get home before him, he shouldn't know," she claims.

I don't like that idea. If I got home at midnight and my girl wasn't home, I'd be scared straight. I also wouldn't be very happy with the guy she happened to be out with.

"So this is Jessimae," Malik says, barging into our conversation. "Praise the Lord."

"This is my thirsty friend, Malik," I tell Jessimae. "He's severely dehydrated."

"Maybe we can hit the bar and I'll buy you a drink," Malik suggests with lustful eyes.

"You need to sit down," I snap, trying not to get upset in front of Jessimae.

"We can sit down at that bar."

"No. She has a boyfriend, remember. It's very serious."

"You're jealous," Malik sings with his eyes still on Jessimae.

"I'm not jealous. Stop looking at her like that!"

"We'll talk later, Jess. Diggs and I have to get ready for the show," Malik brags.

"Well, good luck. I'll be right here cheering as loud as I possibly can!" Jessimae says smiling wide. Her hazel eyes shine under the neon lighting.

"Cool. We'll talk to you after the show I guess." I smile at her just to see her smile back.

Malik and I turn and walk toward the stage. My heart is racing so fast I think I might have a heart attack. I'm not even doing anything but Malik told me I have to introduce the song and I don't know if I can handle it.

We get onstage and my shaky hand grabs a microphone off a stand. Malik mouths "you got this" and smiles slightly.

"Um...I'm Daveed Diggs," I stutter, instantly gaining the crowds attention.

Someone screams and I know for a fact it's Jessimae.

"This is my friend Malik Williams and he's gonna perform a song called 'bout that' for y'all tonight. And-"

"Daveed wrote it," Malik interjects. "Just so y'all know."

More applause erupts from the crowd. A woman in a black dress with big, curly hair gets closer to the stage and I see "Bay Pop" written on her bomber jacket. Krizelle Washington.

"So...enjoy."

There's more applause as the music starts. Krizelle smiles when the beat drops.

"This is for the quarter wad of penny candy poor ventilation, broken freezer, broke and freezing with a heater and a ring..."