' 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗘 𝗦𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗜𝗡 ' › D. SWING

14.

Once I had made it outside, meeting up with the rest of the girls, they were all leaning against the brick wall with looks of disappointment and anger. I felt bad but it wasn't like I didn't warn them from jump. However, I wasn't the type to say I told you so I stuffed my hands into my front pockets, looking around awkwardly as traffic continued on the busy streets of NYC.

Melissa placed her hands on her hips, "Alright so now are you goin' tell us why you left Uptown? We're runnin' out of options, Rhonda. You need to see if you can get your job back."

"I'm not going back there, Mel", I stated.

The rest of the girls started to say things all at once as they gave me the side-eye.

"Why not? Are you sayin' this because you got fired and you too embarrassed to tell us?", Chonita asked with an attitude.

I scoffed, releasing a dry laugh while I shook my head, "No."

"Then what is it?", Melissa asked.

"I was dating an artist there and he cheated on me with an A-list artist. I couldn't work around him anymore so I left", I finally said.

La'Shawn chuckled a bit as she smirked, "Maybe you shouldn't mix business with pleasure."

I just nodded my head, having no energy to argue with her. She always thought she knew everything. Annoyed the hell out of me. "Yeah, you're right", I said, shrugging it off.

La'Shawn grew upset when she didn't get the reaction that she wanted, continuing to poke at me, "Who was it? Heavy D?" Chonita and Radiah giggled amongst each other and Melissa made a face at them.

"No, actually it was Donald." They all looked at me without saying anything, probably trying to figure out who I was talking about. "DeVante Swing", I added reluctantly.

Immediately, they all burst into fits of laughter except Melissa, who just stared at the tattoo my wrist, trying to piece it all together.

"Yeah, right. You wish", La'Shawn said.

Chonita ran her fingers through her ponytail and popped the gum that was in her mouth throughout her sentence, "If that's the case, why don't you call him right now and get him to sign us."

"He can't sign you. He doesn't have a label", I said, looking at her blankly. I swear sometimes I wonder what goes through that small brain of hers.

"You just makin' excuses because you ain't got his number", Radiah said, glancing down at her nails.

I laughed and rolled my eyes, "Y'all ain't that important to try to impress. I could give two fucks if you believe me or not. I'm only puttin' up with your asses because y'all are tight with my cousin." I mumbled a few more things under my breath while Melissa stepped in to calm everyone down.

"Rhonda, can you just...call him and see if he can help us at least?", she asked as she walked over to me, clasping her hands together, "Pleaseeeee? For me?"

I huffed and nodded my head, dragging my feet over to the payphone. Oddly enough, I still remembered his number. I just hoped he didn't get a new one or this would be embarrassing. Here goes nothing.

I pressed the buttons in the correct order after I put my change in the slot, the phone to my ear as I wrapped the spiraled cord around my other hand's index finger. The phone rang twice before someone picked up.