Tough Love

Chap 48. • "Carpe Diem"

Christopher Brown

"Chris, this isn't safe. Aya is gonna murder yo' ass when she wakes up." Della shook her head as I slid into the booth.

"That's why we're gonna make this quick and hope she doesn't wake up. Now give me some ideas, go." I snapped and opened my notes on my phone.

"I say you do it at one of your shows. That way she can't say no because she knows that'll embarrass you." Johnny took a bite of his breakfast sandwich.

"Nigga, Aya does not give a single fuck about my embarrassment. She don't owe it to me to make sure I don't look stupid." I scoffed and trashed his idea.

"I say buy her roses, maybe some jewelry, take her out to dinner, something romantic." Lance suggested.

"That's cliche. She doesn't like material shit anyway." Tacir disagreed, and I nodded, knowing she was right.

"How about you do something cute? Something that people think would only happen in the movies." Lindsay spoke up.

"Like what?" I pondered.

"I say we go to the mall, then a group of singers that you hired will sing her one of your songs, cause you know how much she loves your music, then you do what you gotta do." Della wrapped up her plan quickly.

"That's really a good idea, but where am I gonna find—" I stopped in my tracks when my phone began to vibrate on the table. I glanced at the contract to see Aya's name across the screen.

"She has risen." Fefe said dramatically.

Once my phone stopped ringing, next was Della's. After Della was Lindsay and so on, and so forth until it translated to text messages.

where are you?
why ain't none of y'all answering the phone?
wtf bro.
chris, ik you see me texting you.
did y'all mfs leave me?!
istg if you don't call me back...
chris, this isn't funny, seriously. where are you all?
you're really making me worried bro
omfg

After that, she didn't text back any longer. She didn't try calling again, it was just silent. Seeing how she seemed mad, but then progressively got worried made me feel bad.

"I think we should head back before she does anything drastic." Lance suggested. We all agreed and left the restaurant and got back on the tour bus.

When I got back into the room, I immediately saw Aya stand up and rush over to me. Instead of hitting me or cussing me out like I was expecting, she wrapped her arms around my torso tightly and buried her face into my chest. With my free hand, I guided it down her back, assuring her that I was okay.

"Chris, you can't be going ghost like that, you had me worried sick." Her voice muffled into my chest, but she sounded genuinely upset.

"I'm sorry, baby, I didn't mean to scare you," I chuckled unintentionally. "Were you crying?" I took notice to her occasional sniffles.

"No.." She trailed off. "Where did you run off to that was so important that you felt the need to turn off your phone?" She pushed herself off of me and looked up, an ounce of worry still in her eyes.

"We were getting in some early morning rehearsals. I was going to see if you wanted to go, but you wouldn't wake up when I called you. We turned off our phones to prevent any distractions." I lied straight through my teeth.

"Please don't do that again, okay?" She said with a frown before taking a seat on her bed.

"Aww, poor baby. You want a kiss to feel better?" I puckered up my lips and leaned in. She chuckled and mushed my head away. For a moment, she just stared up at me with a certain look in her eyes. Then she laughed to herself, and looked away.