Unedited.
Normani Kordei Hamilton.
"Whatcha doin?" Dinah Jane asks in a childlike manner as she rocks back and forth on her heels, her hands behind her back.
"Working." I reply the same way, only with a slight eye roll, and sarcasm dripping from my voice as I now, with expertise because of the other ten pages, fling the newly crumpled up page across the room to come to rest in the paper bin.
"Well if that's what work looks like..." she raises her eyebrows with a smile on her face. "Anyway." She changes the subject as she moves closer towards me, her hands still behind her back. "I come bearing gifts." She announces as she slowly brings her arms from behind her back, and reveals what she's been hiding this whole time.
A silver USB stick rests between the puffy cushions in the bottom of her hand.
"The Dinah Jane mastered version?" I ask, accepting the offer.
"Yup." She grins proudly. "I hope you like it."
"You're good at what you do." I inform her. "I have no reason to doubt you."
"I hope not." She says as she leans against the wall, obviously not being able to stay long. "I included a few other things there." She adds, folding her arms over her chest. "But don't worry, I didn't delete the pyjama audition tape." She says, making me roll my eyes at her poking fun of me. "In fact, I backed it up. Just for in case."
"In case what?"
"In case MTV wants a special on how my girl came to be." She says, her words accompanied by a toothy smile.
That made me smile. The reference that I was hers. But it made me frown soon after as well. I hadn't told her about Tinashe's drunk revelation yet. To be honest, I don't even think Tinashe remembers. But maybe she knew. Maybe Dinah knew about Zayn having a wife - he was her best friend after all. But she didn't know that I knew.
Man. Everything is just a mess, and is causing me a headache.
"You okay there?" Dinah asks, her eyebrows meeting her hairline as she comes closer.
"Perfect." I lie, forcing a smile on my face as the blonde settles on my answer, brushing it off with a shrug before coming to press her lips against my face.
"Hopefully you can work with what I gave you." She adds, before wiggling the fingers on her right hand at me, giving me a small wave, before disappearing out of the room, giving me space.
I may be overreacting, but I'm just not big on lying. I wasn't raised in a house with liars.
I decide to push the burning thought of Zayn to the back of my mind, where it can fry the cells there, and decide to focus on work. It had been nearly two months since I was under Zayn's mentorship, and I had nothing to prove myself with. And there the thought pops up again.
I'm not sure if this entire thing is eating away at me because he's my boss, and it genuinely bothers me, or because he's cheating on a woman I've never seen with a poor slice of bread, or because he's been eyeing me strangely lately, or maybe just because I hate the idea of cheating. But one thing is clear. It does bother me.
It bothers me a lot.
But it shouldn't.
I sigh as I locate my phone, unlock it, and slide the side of the USB down before popping it into my phone, locating my headphones while waiting for the files to show.
Because the files were unnamed, I just clicked on the first audio file, giving it a blind listen as I leaned back, causing the chair to creak, and closed my eyes. The song took long to begin, but I was pretty into it by the time that the beat had dropped, and bobbed my head along.
