Stubborn

Chapter Sixteen

"You're late!" Shawn said to Melanie as soon as she entered the studio. She had spent way too much time waiting on Jermaine to come over to her house to be with Julian while she met up with Shawn. When he got there, she had to sit and listen to him frustrate over Ashley and her doings. Honestly, Melanie didn't feel like being involved with their shit. It was their fault that they had to be tied together – not hers. Mel shrugged her shoulders, clearly not in the best of moods anymore.

Shawn looked at her and blinked. "You aaight, Mel?" Shawn was seated at his normal seat. He told her that it made him feel like the king and often referred to it as his throne. Melanie sat her things down and sat next to him. She laughed softly, and shook her head. "What's up with the track?"

Shawn wasn't one to pressure someone to talk about anything, so he shrugged his shoulders. "I put it out and you're gold, Mel. Like, the reviews from this are amazing. I got some people that have been calling me asking to meet you and get you on projects and what not." Melanie was happy to hear that news. She didn't think she'd be happy to hear anything about this project, but knowing that people knew that she had pipes was congratulatory for her.

"But I really want you to think about this. I don't want you getting sucked up in this fame world. You can't be Melanie. You gotta be Bey. I've heard how Melanie can get. Beyoncé can't be Melanie."

Melanie frowned up and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"You can't snap at people. Melanie does that, but Beyoncé can't. When it comes to your brand, you need to make sure that nothing gets in your way. Be determined. You don't have to address every rumor. You don't have to put everybody in their place. Not everything needs to be in the public. Who you're dating is nobody's business. Your private life is just that. I know you got a son. Basically don't put anything out there that you wouldn't want him to know or see."

Melanie thought long and hard about that. She knew that she wouldn't want her son to grow up and know about certain things. There were just certain things that he didn't need to know, and Melanie would do anything to keep them from him. She didn't want to make her son look bad, and she didn't want him in the spotlight. She'd heard how paparazzi could get and it messed with her knowing that people could be so cruel, especially when it came to privacy. In her honest opinion, she feels as though there should be laws about paparazzi.

"That's cool," Mel said before laying back. She had decided to dress casually and comfortably in black and white leggings and a simple white tee shirt. Shawn looked at her and pulled her rolling chair closer to him. "Look Mel, whatever is on your mind, you're in the perfect spot to let it out." Melanie knew that from the last track she laid, singing was like a little therapy for her. Shawn had told her that he could pen a track simply by her telling him how she felt.

"What happens when there was once a unity, and now it's just...nothing. You feel betrayed and you're left with all the pain. But you don't want to cry, because you're a strong woman. You have to be strong for the child." Melanie vented a bit as she looked at Shawn. He looked as though he was thinking about something.

The next day, the two laid the track for Me, Myself, and I.

"Power 105, on the Breakfast Club, we have a new woman here with us today. She's accompanied by a musical legend and genius. We have Ms. Beyonce in the house," DJ Envy spoke with a smile in Melanie's direction. She giggled a bit before saying her greeting into the microphone. She had been coached about this radio station, and knew that they weren't coy about speaking their minds.

It was Charlamagne who decided to take the lead on the first interview with Beyonce and she didn't mind it one bit. It was a mixture of flirting and jokes, and she couldn't help but laugh at things. "So, Bey, the song was put out and you sounded amazing," Charlamagne told her. Melanie nodded, "Thank you.

"Like you got all the girls telling their men how dangerous their love is. It's cool. What was the inspiration for the track?" Melanie looked at him and blinked. She thought it was a rhetorical question, because it was obvious. "Love. Love was the inspiration."

"Are you in love?" DJ Envy asked her simultaneously. Melanie shrugged and shook her head. "Let's just say I know what love is. I know how it feels. I didn't have to be in love at the moment to do that track. I can simply go back to a time when I felt the emotion of being dangerously in love with someone."

Everyone nodded at her answer. "So Bey," Angela Yee said grabbing her attention, "We see that you're here with Jay Z. It is honestly hard to get this man in anybody's radio station. And when we first heard the track, we thought your voice was beautiful and amazing. You sounded like an angel. Then we started hearing rumors that you were under Jay. Then pictures of the two of you started coming out. So we're going to ask now is Dangerously in Love about Jay Z and are you two romantically involved?"

Melanie had never thought about the possibility that people would think she and Jay were together. She thought it was absurd, so she immediately shook her head. "No. Dangerously in Love isn't about Jay and we are not romantically involved. Jay and I are friends and business partners. That's it."

Jay sat back for most of the interview, so she knew that he wouldn't be saying much. He was simply there in case things got out of hand. "Are you signed?" Angela asked her. Melanie shook her head "no". "Dangerously was a buzz single. We recently did another track. So I guess right now, I just want to do the music. The music is more important to me than a label. I understand that major labels are a plus, but I feel like the music is more for me. Jay can handle the labels," she laughed.

"Why doesn't Jay just sign you?" DJ Envy asked. Mel wasn't really informed that Jay had a label. She looked over to Jay and waited for him to answer the question. Jay laughed and threw his hands up in surrender mode. It didn't sit right with Melanie that here she was supposed to be shopping for a record deal, and the man accompanying her had a label that she could simply sign to.

The interview wrapped up and many rumors were put to rest right then and there. Shawn could tell that Melanie was slightly pissed ever since finding out that he had a record label. It was his own label, and he didn't just sign anyone. He wanted to mold Melanie into the perfect artist before signing her to his label – if that ever happened. He also wanted to make sure that nothing got in the way from their personal lives. "Bey," Jay called out to her. They were still in the building, so he needed to make sure he called her Beyonce.

Melanie continued walking. She wanted to simply get in their SUV and leave. She knew that the paparazzi were waiting for them outside and she'd rather not blow up here. Melanie continued walking. She gave a diva walk in front of the paparazzi. Mel didn't crack one smile, but the wanted more. She rolled her eyes in disgust before hopping in the back seat of their black on black Cadillac Escalade.

"So you didn't hear me calling you?" Shawn asked her once he got in.

Melanie laughed in disbelief at him. "Are you serious? Shawn let's start this conversation off with a big fuck you."

Shawn was taken back. He had never witnessed Melanie's anger, but Corey had already given him a head's up about it. When Melanie got heated, she got heated. She didn't hold back and it was scary, seeing as though she was a loving woman. To see a woman go from loving and laughing to straight up acting a fool was a transformation no man wanted to see.

"Is it really that serious, Mel? Is it? You want a deal?" Shawn asked, getting heated himself. He didn't like to be disrespected at all.

"It's not even about a fucking deal. It's about being real. How the fuck do you do tracks with someone and basically tell them they need to be shopped to a record label while they're sitting in front of a fucking label head?!" Melanie yelled at him.

"Okay," Shawn said as he looked around their surroundings. He could see that no paparazzi were in sight. "Aye, driver can you pull over?" Melanie looked at him with anger fueling in her entire body. This man was not about to put her out this truck. Once the truck came to a complete stop, Shawn hopped out. "When you get your mind right, call me. I don't deal with disrespectful ass people at all," Shawn said as he slammed the truck door.