Limelight

Chapter Twenty-Seven

~~Lingering~~

Xavier might actually be getting tired of hearing Hidden on the radio.

          Not that he hated the song, in the beginning, he loved listening to it. When he was alone he hummed along to Aaliyah's mezzo-soprano whenever he heard it, but if he was being honest it was becoming incredibly overplayed and kind of overshadowed Four walls, which he thought was a better song. Maybe it was his minor inferiority complex telling him that the work he put in Hidden with Aaliyah wasn't all that compared to Four walls, which was a song already written by her.

          Or maybe it was because Four walls just felt a little more like Aaliyah to him. In all the songs they created together, there was always a piece of her in it and Hidden was no exception, but her older songs which had a slight echo of loneliness and macabre that he saw a peak of in Aaliyah when she thought no one was looking, the darkness that lurked behind her pretty hazel eyes. Something about it was attractive to him, though he supposed that, that probably would be something his therapist once warded him away from before he stopped seeing him as per his hospital mandated ninety-hour therapy session demanded. He probably should go back to see him in all honesty.

          Halfway through the song playing softly from his car radio, it cut off and a loud obnoxious ring blared through the speakers. And he swore underneath his breath before looking to the caller ID on the stereo only for it to say UNKNOWN in bright orange lights. Xavier scowled, it was only seven AM and winter was still at full force so sunrise was barely breaking through the night. He pressed the answer button and sighed. "Who is it?" He called out slowing down before he reached a stoplight.

          There was no answer, which aggravated him a little more. This was the fifth time this was happening to him and it was starting to get ridiculous. At first, he thought it was just like some type of crazed stalker fan. He had, had one of those before when he was sixteen when he was still in the center of media attention. He was still pretty popular being one of Hip-Hop's biggest sons, but his year-long hiatus had taken the spotlight off him a little. He didn't get stopped in the street as much as he used to before, which he supposed was an upside, and as disturbing as it was to have a stalker, he was able to mostly brush it off with a witty comment on his Twitter feed like he did with most of the crazy shit his fame attracted. But he couldn't lie that it wasn't annoying. He thought about calling the police about it, but Xavier had been taught by experience and his mother a long time ago that the police weren't to be trusted. So he thought he'd just weather the storm, it couldn't be that bad. "Hello."

          The heavy breathing continued as the stoplight switched to green again. He continued down the street, rolling his eyes. "Continue with this bullshit and you'll regret it," He said aloud, shooting the dash above the glovebox a look, "That's a threat, not a warning." He said and then he hung up the call continuing the drive over to the label.

Of course, his mind found its way back to Aaliyah. As it usually did, to be honest. Hidden was coming to a close and the radio host continued with their usual overwhelmingly excessive content and Xavier found himself tuning into what was being said.

"Well, that was again hidden sung and produced by New York's controversial rising artist, Lia Garcia."

Xavier grimaced at the word 'controversial.' They hadn't ever called Aaliyah that before Weekly Hot Topic's cover release on Monday. Aaliyah was probably the most unproblematic person, he knew, and sure she definitely had her own flaws, but she didn't deserve any of the fire she'd been under because of this cover. Xavier had seen a lot of hateful tweets and posts on Instagram. Gossip sites were ruthless, and if he was being honest it was the people who came to Aaliyah's defense that made him the most nauseous.