The Beat of Love

Chapter Five

It happened. Our song dropped last night and we had the party to celebrate it. Tyler had promised an amazing drop party and he'd succeeded. The party doubled as the video shoot, saving time and making the music video have a fun vibe.

"Damn, Ty." Xavier commented when we walked into the already raging party.

"Told you!" He yelled back. "We've already got some great shots of the crowd. We just need some shots of you two here and during the first few performances, then the director and I can get this video popping." He smiled, dancing ahead of us and off into the crowd.

Grinning, we followed him. Xavier took my hand, to keep track of me in the crowd, then we made our way to the dancefloor where everybody was. Both of our crews were mingling together for the launch. Some execs lounged around and we had to mingle with them a little in the midst of recording. Tyler, and the director he was working with, shot Xavier and me separately and together then pushed for us to just have a normal fun time while they finished getting shots. Since the execs were around and the video was being shot, Ty refrained from inviting Tatiana, which didn't bother me one bit. Xavier and I got to enjoy the party, give some good content for the video - which includes some good PDA to get the tongues wagging - and have the official launch of our song.

After the party, though, the anxiety of the release finally set in. Don't look at your phone. Don't look at your phone. I chanted the same thing to myself over and over again so I wouldn't see how it was doing. Xavier and I were in the middle of practice for our first performance of the song and concentration was the hardest thing.

"Come on, Isis. You missed your mark." My choreographer, Gisele, called out to me. Her blue-streaked box-braids were pulled up and wrapped into a ball on her head and she had her sweater tied around her trimmed waist. Sighing, I took a deep breath and motioned for them to run the track back. "Better!" She called when I hit my mark this time around, leaning back against the wall and crossing her arms. Focusing my mind on a performance, I ignored my fear around the song's success.

For hours, we practiced and the choreography ingrained itself into my brain so that my body knew where to move. I had always been a perfectionist so nobody got a break until we had the performance-ready. Xavier was very similar to me so he worked the entire time. If he wasn't on stage he was up at the production booth, fixing lighting cues and the sound.

For the performance, he matched his shirt and hat to my outfit. When we hit the stage, we looked like we belonged there together. Right as he was doing his verse, he glanced at me and our eyes met for a beat. I didn't miss a step in my choreography, but something shifted in me. I can never explain the feeling that I felt when his eyes met mine while we performed, but it was like the rush of hitting the stage mixed with the feeling of falling straight down. It was scary. It was exhilarating. I never wanted to stop feeling it.

When we were done performing, we were already heading out for the next appearances we were making. We'd had a tour bus for the week we did appearances together. On the bus, heading to the final city we would hit together, Jonathan video called us. When his face popped up, my heart dropped. It flopped. It really flopped, was all I could think.

"Guys," Jonathan sighed. "I told you both if this song flopped I wouldn't be held responsible." He dropped his head. "So I guess it's only fair that I not take credit now that your song has hit number one on the charts." He looked up, smiling.

"Dude, fuck you." Xavier laughed in relief. Jonathan had obviously scared the shit out of both of us.

"Congratulations, you two. You pulled off an amazing collab in a super short time. You guys are all clear to drop the music video when it's ready and send us all the invoices for payment. This industry moves fast but you two move faster." He smirked.