1 Night Stand

by Amaleka McCall

  “So what’s been done—” Melody was saying until she noticed her sister. Melody froze, swallowing the rest of her words.

  “Harmony.” Melody was wide-eyed. Her stomach muscles immediately clenched.

  “Melody.” Harmony nodded politely. The sisters both stood in the middle of their childhood home like two cowboys in a standoff preparing for a duel. The silence was so heavy they seemed to struggle under the weight of it.

  “Murray didn’t say you were here, and frankly, after everything, I didn’t think you’d be coming.” Melody was the first to break the silence.

  “That’s the past,” Harmony said tightly.

  “Mmm. That’s the past. We’ve come a long way now, haven’t we?” Melody replied smartly.

  Melody was making reference to the fact that Harmony had also sued Murray, Ava, and essentially the group for back royalties, song-writing credit, and to have her name added to publishing for the group’s catalog of music. That little stunt had caused the record company to owe Harmony a couple million dollars, and it had cut Melody’s checks from the record company significantly. Melody assumed the money was how Harmony ran off, never to be seen again.

  “Actually, I have come a long way,” Harmony shot back. “Can you say the same?”

  Melody opened her mouth to say something, but Murray interrupted.

  “Girls, girls. Let’s not go down this road right now. This is about burying Ava,” Murray said feebly, standing in the space between them with his shaking arms out in both directions like a boxing referee.

  “You damn right it is, or else I wouldn’t be here,” Harmony mumbled.

  Melody scoffed at her sister’s comment.

  “Remember the first tour you girls sold out?” Murray asked. “You all had packed the Garden when no one expected you to. You all were the headliners, no more an opening act. One of the proudest moments,” he recalled with a smile. Melody and Harmony both softened at the thought, each trying hard to stifle their smiles just thinking about it. “Those were the good times,” Murray said.

  He walked over and took a picture from Ava’s coffee table and held it up so that they could see. “I took this one of you girls backstage while you all listened to the crowd chanting your names. ‘Sista Love! Sista Love!’ they screamed. Melts my heart just thinking about it.”

  Melody looked over at Harmony. Melody didn’t even realize she was smiling, and so was Harmony.

  Madison Square Garden

  New York, NY

  August, 2007

  “Sista Love! Sista Love! Sista Love!”

  “Oh my God. I cannot believe the entire Madison Square Garden is sold out for us,” Melody said excitedly as she twirled in front of the floor-length mirror, staring at the beautiful silver-sequined hot shorts and one-sleeved crop top she was wearing.

  “Yes. I have chills just listening to that,” Harmony replied. She wore a one-piece silver sequined mini-dress with a high neck.

  “We are going to blow it out of the water tonight,” Lyric added, shimmying her hips in her silver sequined leggings and bra top.

  “Did I not say this day was coming?” Ava interjected from behind them. All three girls whirled around nervously. “Be easy, now. I didn’t come to yell or play warden right now. I came to say I am proud of you girls,” Ava beamed.

  Harmony was the first to let out a sigh of relief. Lyric followed, and then the tension in Melody’s shoulders eased.

  “You did say this day was coming, and you made good on your promise, Ava.” Melody rushed over and threw her arms around her mother’s neck.

  Ava stumbled back a few steps, caught off guard by the show of affection. Ava’s arm stayed stiff at her sides. She wasn’t good at being, as she called it, touchy-feely, but she did at least crack an awkward, weak smile.

  “All this mushy stuff ain’t for me. Besides, you can’t smear that beautiful makeup job Troy did,” Ava said in response.

  Harmony and Lyric didn’t dare try that stunt, but they were both smiling as they watched.

  “Okay, ladies. Showtime in six minutes,” Abe, one of the stage managers, stuck his head in and announced.

  Lyric fanned her hands in front of her. “Oh my goodness. I am so nervous.”

  “We’ve performed a million times. We got this,” Melody told her.

  They all came together and locked arms in a team huddle.

  Melody led the chant. “All we need is each other.”

  “All we need is each other,” Harmony and Lyric repeated.

  They all said it together in unison three times before they got the cue that it was showtime. Right before they exited their dressing room to head to the stage, Melody looked back over her shoulder and saw Ava with her face in her hands, sobbing.

  The crowd roared as Melody, Harmony, and Lyric popped up from the stage floor on the special platforms. They stood in a triangle formation, with Melody at the point, like always. The beat to “Liar, Liar,” their first hit single, dropped and the girls immediately moved their bodies in response. Arms up and out. Kick step and left. Pose. Turn. Kick step right. Pose. Hip sway. Hip sway. Twerk. Twerk. Turn.

  The crowd roared. The energy in the Garden was electrifying. All of the nervousness was out of the window. The girls’ movements were fluid. Each step went off without a hitch. Melody, Harmony, and Lyric were flawless; their execution perfect.

  “For the last time!” Melody huffed into the microphone as she got to the last line of their first song.

  The crowd went so wild the sound vibrated the stage.

  “How y’all doing tonight, New York City?” Melody screamed into her microphone. That sent the crowd into an even louder frenzy.

  “I said how y’all doing tonight, New York City?”

  More screams of, “We love you!” erupted from the crowd. When the beat to their next song started, the lights dropped mysteriously. A hush fell over the crowd as everyone tried to figure out what was going on.

  “Heeey,” Melody crooned. Suddenly big flumes of fire flew up at either end of the stage, and Melody and her sisters were in the spotlight. “Ladies, we gotta fight.” Melody held her note.

  “Fight for our rights,” Harmony and Lyric harmonized in the back.

  This time the crowd simply lost it. Girls screamed so much they fainted. Even the guys in the crowd flailed their arms, and some jumped up and down.

  Melody, Harmony, and Lyric gave a perfect performance. They flowed through their costume changes without one hiccup. It was one of their proudest and happiest moments. After their last set, they were lowered down into the stage floor to raucous cheers and chants from their fans. Once they were out of the spotlight, they stepped off of their stage spots and ran to one another. They all hugged each other excitedly.

  “We did it!” Melody squealed.

  “Oh my God. I live for this,” Lyric said, smiling so hard her cheeks hurt.

  “Yes. We killed it,” Harmony added, locking arms with her sisters.

  “Bravo. Bravo. Perfect,” Ava complimented as they bustled into their dressing room amid laughter.

  “Thank you,” Melody said. “We could’ve never done it if it wasn’t for you.”

  Ava’s face flushed red and she waved Melody off. “No. No. It was all of your hard work,” Ava finally acknowledged.

  All of their hard work had finally paid off. It was one of the rare occasions, after their first record deal, that they all seemed genuinely happy.

  * * *

  “Well, good times fade just like beauty, fame, and everything else.” Melody fanned her hand dismissively as if she could fan away the memories too.

  Harmony looked at her watch. “Murray, did you ever get in contact with Lyric?”

  “I sent my guy down to Harlem where she was staying. No luck. He left the message that we would all be meeting here today,” Murray replied, shrugging his shoulders. “I can’t promise that she’ll even get that message. He said she’s around some pretty shady characters.”

 
“I spoke to her. I don’t think she took the news so well. I told her I’d be here today too,” Harmony said.

  Melody chortled. “If either one of you think that Lyric, the wild child, is coming here after what she did to Ava the last time she was here, think again,” Melody said, looking over the rim of her dark shades that she still hadn’t taken off in the house.

  Harmony tilted her head quizzically.

  “Oh, what? You didn’t know about the assault and the attempted murder?” Melody asked with her eyebrows arched.

  Murray began coughing uncontrollably. Harmony looked at Murray and back to Melody.

  “Oh, yes. Your baby sister is completely off her little rocker. I won’t even get into the half-shaved head, purple dyed hair on the side of the head that still has hair, piercings in the face, neck, and everywhere else. Oh, and the totally insane behavior. I had to send the police over here more than once when she was living here with Ava. Now, you and I may have told Ava we wished her dead—you even had a little scuffle with Ava, but your baby sister, Miss Wild ’n Crazy, actually tried to kill her. It wasn’t a fight; it was attempted murder,” Melody reported.

  Harmony’s eyes were stretched and her left hand moved up and down her right arm, squeezing every so often as she listened.

  “Yes. I didn’t want to get into all of that when we spoke the other day,” Murray added.

  “But—” Harmony was saying when a loud crashing noise cut through the air and interrupted her.

  “What the hell?” Melody clutched her chest.

  Harmony snapped her mouth shut and jumped to her feet. “It came from the back, by the kitchen,” she announced.

  Melody’s security team immediately sprang into action. Another rumble of noises made Melody and Harmony move closer together. After a few minutes, they heard the familiar voice.

  “Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear,” Melody murmured.

  Chapter 6

  Lyric

  “Fuck off me, asshole,” Lyric snapped, wrestling her arm away from the huge security guard that had grabbed her breaking into Ava’s back door. Harmony and Melody rushed into the kitchen with Murray slowly bringing up the rear.

  “Fuck y’all hire security around this bitch for?” Lyric shot, still struggling with the seemingly unfazed giant holding her. “And he didn’t do anything, so let him go.” Lyric glared in the direction of the security guard that was holding onto Rebel.

  “It’s okay. You can let her go,” Melody instructed, shaking her head like a disappointed parent.

  Harmony’s mouth hung open like she had just seen a ghost. Lyric rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Melody.

  “Oh, I should’ve known it was you that had security with you. We wouldn’t want something to happen to the world’s biggest superstar, now would we?” Lyric taunted. “Should’ve had some security for your mother,” she mumbled.

  “Hey.” Harmony finally smiled and nervously stepped over to Lyric with outstretched arms.

  Lyric threw her hand up and glared at her eldest sister. “You see what I mean about them? They love to pretend life was just so perfect,” Lyric said to Rebel, who’d flopped down in one of Ava’s kitchen chairs under the looming presence of Melody’s security team.

  “Let’s save all of that. I’m not here for your little phony family reunion. I really came to grab some of my things from my room before y’all toss it out. I know how people do when somebody dies. They pillage shit and throw away the rest. Other than that, I wouldn’t even be here.”

  Harmony dropped her arms and her facial expression flattened. She looked at Melody for help. They both looked at Rebel through disapproving eyes.

  “Oh, and for the record, we would’ve come through the front door like everyone else, but the icon here has her own personal paparazzi SWAT team posted up outside. I could barely walk down the street.”

  Melody shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. “Okay, so if the only reason you’re here is to grab your stuff, no one is stopping you,” she countered, stepping aside. “I just don’t see why you needed to bring him here.”

  “I brought him for the same reason Sly would’ve been here if he wasn’t out there probably with some other singer chick. Unlike you, Melody, some of us are in real love and not the pretend-for-the-paparazzi kind,” Lyric defended.

  What did her sisters know? When they both decided to abandon her and go forward with their happy lives, Lyric had met Rebel at a party and they’d quickly become friends. At first, Lyric just liked hanging out with him because he had a hit song on the radio, always traveled with his own party, and knew how to have a good time. She had escaped the pain of her life just being around Rebel. He hadn’t been the first one to give her a drug, but he certainly had introduced her to heroin.

  “What are you doing?” Lyric had asked him that fateful day.

  She was still rubbing sleep from her eyes after waking up at his Harlem apartment to find him sitting on the side of his bed with a needle in his hand.

  “This is that china-white I be rapping about,” Rebel had told her. “This shit make you forget it all.”

  Lyric’s curiosity was immediately piqued. Anything that would make her forget it all, she was game.

  “That’s scary though. Sticking yourself with a needle,” she said, her eyes wide.

  “Only the first time,” he promised.

  With that, Rebel plunged the needle into this arm. Lyric winced, but only for a second. When she saw the lazy grin that spread across Rebel’s face as he fell back on his bed, it seemed like an internal happiness she was longing for. She wanted to feel relaxed just like that. The weed she smoked every day, and even the pills she popped, didn’t seem to last long enough anymore.

  “Can I try it?” she had asked Rebel.

  “Nah. You too young and gorgeous to be fucking with this shit. I promise you, I will never let you get fucked up on this shit. Stick to the little girl shit,” Rebel had replied.

  Lyric had stormed out of his house that day with a promise of her own—that she’d never come back, never speak to Rebel again. She hadn’t kept that promise, and neither had he.

  Melody looked like she’d been gut-punched by Lyric’s statement about Sly. Harmony stepped up to break up the tension.

  “Lyric, we are not stopping you from gathering your things, but—”

  “Good.” Lyric cut her off and stormed past both of her sisters.

  “Listen, sweetheart, we—”

  “Save it, Murray. I really don’t care,” Lyric said tightly, brushing past him so hard he stumbled back a few steps.

  Lyric defiantly stomped up the stairs that led to the bedrooms. She was so overwhelmed with a mixture of anger, sadness, loneliness, and hurt that her blood roared in her ears. Lyric swiped angrily at the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She wasn’t going to let them see her get emotional. That would only make them pity her, the one thing she promised she would never allow again.

  Once Lyric made it to the top of the landing, she paused, halted by the sight in front of her. A cold chill shot down her spine when she noticed Ava’s bedroom door sitting wide open. Lyric sucked in her breath as she took in everything that was out of place—the folding chair that was propped right outside of the door, the fallen remnants of police tape still hanging on the side of the doorway, a lone abandoned rubber surgical glove from either EMTs or the medical examiner right at the doorsill. It looked like a crime scene. Lyric knew all about crime scenes. This scene was identical to the one set up when her best friend Ashley Krueger, daughter of a famous rock star and actress, had OD’d and died in her parents’ penthouse suite.

  Lyric moved slowly toward Ava’s room, some unknown force propelling her forward. She didn’t know why she even cared to see or to know how Ava had spent her last few minutes of life.

  Lyric sucked in her breath at the wild tangle of sheets and pillows on Ava’s unmade bed, the shattered vanity mirror, the clothes hanging sloppily out of
the dresser drawers, and all of Ava’s makeup and prized perfumes thrown on the floor, some shattered. Ava would’ve never had people in her house with her room in that condition.

  The reality that Ava was gone hit Lyric like a gust of gale-force wind. She cupped her hand over her mouth to quiet her whimpers. She didn’t want Harmony and Melody to know she was this distraught. Lyric backed out of Ava’s room, turned, and ran down the small hallway to her old bedroom. She busted inside, slammed the door, pressed her back against it, and slid down to the floor. She drew her knees up to her chest and rocked slowly. The memories and the sobs came so hard and fast that Lyric choked.

  Saddle River, New Jersey

  2005

  Lyric, Harmony, and Melody climbed out of their hired Lincoln Town Car in wide-eyed amazement.

  “Now this is a house.” Melody gasped, her eyes lit up.

  “Do you see this driveway? It’s as big as a highway. I have never seen a circular driveway,” Harmony said, awestruck.

  Lyric was quiet. She looked up at the beautiful, pale yellow sandstone mansion with its six regal white Roman columns, smooth white-and-gray speckled marble steps, and what looked like over one thousand windows. Lyric couldn’t get excited because fear gripped her insides like a clenched fist.

  “Andrew Harvey is living like a damn king. I have never seen a fountain like that unless it was in a museum or on TV,” Melody said, still whirling around, taking in the scenery. “And look at the beautiful greenery. It must cost a fortune to have your bushes carved into your initials and little animals like that. This is how I want to live when I grow up.” She shook her head, enchanted.

  “For real. Definitely something to live up to,” Harmony added. “Right?” She nudged Lyric with her elbow. “Why you so quiet? You see this house? Do you understand what it means to get invited to an Andrew Harvey private party?”