18. IN SYNC.
Rolling up to Bossy Media, Cookie's legs lounged lazily on Lucious' lap as she replied to some early emails. His smooth hands massaged her feet decorated in pretty purple nail polish while her pink Chanel heels laid at his feet. Cookie and Lucious had been in a really good space, relationship-wise, since the movie premiere and both intended to keep it that way. So, each morning they'd jumped in the same car to travel up to Bossy to drop Cookie off first, per Lucious' insistence, before taking a U-turn to Empire. Andre wasn't quite ready to return and, secretly, Lucious was enjoying reining over his Kingdom once more but he was more than happy to step off the throne to let his son take back over when he was mentally prepared to do so. Afterall, no Empire meant more time to spend with Cookie, even if that meant pestering her as she tried to do her job.
When the car pulled to a stop, Lucious reached down to slip her heels back onto her feet with a soft but reluctant smile on his face. For some reason, he always felt like an emotional teenager whenever it was time for them to part for the day. Cookie moved her feet from his lap and caressed his cheek for a moment with a tender smile on her face as their driver stepped out of the car to open the passenger door for her. Lucious took the hand on his cheek into his hand, and kissed the back of it, gently.
"We still on for dinner later?" Cookie questioned as she reached down to grab her Chanel bag when her door opened.
"Yeah, baby. I'll come get you from here," he told her, as he reluctantly let her hand go. "See you later."
"See you later," she repeated before stepping out of the car. "Don't be a grumpy ass today!" she chuckled out before sauntering away from the car. Lucious held a hand up to the driver when he went to shut the door in a gesture to wait, as Lucious watched his woman saunter with swaying hips in a fitting pink dress to her building, to get greeted by the security guard who chirped out an overly excited 'hello' as he opened the door for her to step into the establishment. A smile that never seemed to fade whenever in Cookie's presence remained painted on his face on his journey to Empire.
Cookie had completely forgotten about her lunch plans with Lucious as she stressed out in the studio, trying to figure out what a new track needed for a new artist's debut album. Lucious had waited inside the car for a while before getting impatient and sauntering into Bossy headquarters to find his woman. He passed Becky and Porsha laughing about something in the kitchen and sent them a nod of acknowledgment before he went to stroll toward Cookie's office.
"Oh, she isn't in there," Becky called out to him. Lucious turned around to face his old assistant. "She's been in studio A for the past three hours."
Lucious bowed his head in understanding and strode to the studio holding his woman hostage. He could hear the faint beat for a song as he approached the studio. He pushed open the door to see Cookie tapping her temple in deep thought as the music enveloped her being. He took that as an opportunity to sneak up behind her, snaking his arms around her shoulders and kiss the top of her head. Cookie tilted her head up to look at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"What are you doing here?" she questioned as he took the seat beside her, and snagged the cocktail drink in front of her. "Shouldn't you be at Empire?"
A playful smile played on his mouth. "You forget our lunch date, baby?" he questioned.
"No, but that's hours away-" Cookie's eyes widened when she looked at the time on her phone. "Damn," she muttered before glancing at her man, apologetically. "Sorry, Lucious. It's just this damned track," she kissed her teeth as she gestured around the room the music was feeling. "I can't seem to quite nail what it needs."
Lucious, slowly, sipped the cocktail as he listened to the beat, nodding his head along as he pondered. "May I?" he inquired, gesturing to the mixing board. Cookie waved a hand to tell him to go ahead as she slumped back in her chair. Lucious let himself sink back into his element as he played with the dials, messing up the sound until he'd reached perfection.
As he worked, Cookie rested her chin in her hand and watched her man work in awe. She missed watching him do what he loved, instead of handling investors and signing contracts.
"How does that sound?" he questioned, leaning back as a sultry beat thumped through the studio.
"That sounds so," she punched his arm. "Good!" she exclaimed. He chuckled as she threw her head back and let out a heavy sigh of relief. "You know, it's so much easier to make good music with family," she confessed, rolling her head in her man's direction with a sombre smile.
"You can always come back home." Home being Empire.
She flicked her nose. "I'm happy here," she admitted as she peered around with a nod. "Yeah, it's...empowering."
"If it makes you happy..."
"It does." She promised before slowly pushing herself up to her feet. She picked up the cocktail and downed the remaining sweet liquid before she extended her hand out to Lucious. "Come on, let's get lunch."
"Good because I'm starving, baby."
She snorted as he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Fat ass." She muttered underneath her breath with a playful smile before giggling when his fingers tickled her sides. "Stop!" she shrieked with laughter.
In a restaurant in Flatbush, the couple laughed as they ate messy burgers and salty fries. Cookie was currently retelling Lucious her drama with a new, bitchy artist from earlier this morning. She had his undivided attention as he sipped on a strawberry milkshake, his eyes never leaving her face.
"So, I tell this bitch to sing out because she's not hitting the notes and she gon' tell me to sing the song myself before throwing the headset at the glass!" she exclaimed. Lucious chuckled. Some artists could act like toddlers; their youngest had been one of them with his hot-tempered self, Lucious blamed Cookie for Hakeem's short fuse. "I wanted to drag the bitch by her nappy weave. I told that heffa Giselle not to sign the bitch, but she's got 4 million or something followers on social media so Giselle's lazy ass was all for it." Cookie's eyes rolled to the back of her head.
Lucious set the drink down and raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of Giselle, how's that going?"
With a lot of convincing and sweet-talking from Becky, Cookie had been willing to bring Giselle back on a probationary basis. The heffa had a lot to prove and a ton of trust to build back but the threesome worked between them, and Cookie knew a thing or two about making bad decisions.
As she dipped a fry into the sauce, she grunted. "It's going all right, I suppose. She knows to stay outta my way and she and Becky are getting back into that 'Black Girl Magic' nonsense."
"You've grown a lot, baby," Lucious commented. Cookie's eyebrows arched. "You don't like to forgive." Her nose scrunched. "You don't!" he laughed with the corners of his eyes crinkling. She shrugged a shoulder; some people didn't deserve forgiveness. "Hakeem gets his stubbornness from you."
"Oh, no, Hakeem is just like his big-headed Daddy, making all those impulsive decisions. Jumping from girl to girl. Hakeem is all you, Lucious." she retorted, shaking her head with a wrinkled nose.
"You aren't impulsive?" He challenged.
Cookie twisted her lips. "Nope."
He huffed, amused at her denial. "Now, remember that time you barged into my-"
"Aht!" she interrupted him, swiftly. "Let's not focus on the past, huh," she smiled sweetly at him. Lucious dropped his head and chuckled. Slyly, while he was distracted by his rumbling laughter, Cookie snagged a few fries from his plate.
"I saw that, baby."
Playing innocent, she frowned. "Saw what?"
He gently slapped her hand. "Greedy."
"Hey, a lady's gotta eat. How you think I keep this ass fat?"
"From this fat-"
"Waiter! Can we get the check, please!"
