Spin it Like That

by Chandra Sparks Taylor

  I smiled, too, realizing that T would be happy that I’d finally made things right with Mama.

  “So tell me about this boy you’ve been seeing,” she said, as though reading my mind.

  I looked at her in surprise.

  “Now, you couldn’t possibly think that I haven’t been keeping up with what’s going on in your life,” she said.

  “But who told you?” I said, highly doubting it was my brother.

  “Kyle called here complaining about you seeing this grown man.”

  I groaned. “He has been driving me crazy,” I said, our kiss flashing through my mind. I quickly erased the thought.

  “He’s in love with you,” Mama said matter-of-factly.

  “You think so?” I asked, and my heart sped up in a way it never did when I thought about T.

  “Of course. That boy has been in love with you for years, and although you probably won’t admit it to yourself, you’re in love with him, too.”

  I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I drank some milk.

  “So this T fellow is almost twenty?”

  I nodded.

  “You know, Jas, that’s really too old for you,” she began, but then she looked at me. “But I’m going to let you make your own decision.”

  “Thanks, Mama,” I said, getting up to give her a hug.

  “So when are you moving back?” she asked.

  “Why not today?” I said.

  “Sounds good.”

  After breakfast, I went to get my keys so I could go get my stuff from Loretta’s. I finally found them in my purse. As I was grabbing my purse, my phone vibrated, indicating I had a message—actually, a few of them. T had called a few times, sounding worried as had Loretta and Kyle. I decided I’d swing by T’s house, then head to Loretta’s. I’d figure out what to do about Kyle on the way.

  When I let myself into T’s house, the place was dark, so I figured he was out. I was trying to find a piece of paper and a pen to leave him a note when I heard voices coming from his recording studio.

  I smiled, realizing that T was home, and I was suddenly excited to see him.

  I threw the door open, and it took a second for the pungent odor of marijuana to hit me.

  At the same time, I caught sight of T and Loretta tangled on the sofa. They were so into what they were doing that they didn’t notice me—until I walked up and slapped the fool out of Loretta, whose big breasts were swinging all in T’s face.

  She was so into the kiss that it took a while for her to react. When she finally opened her desire-filled eyes and looked at me, her eyes widened in shock. By then, T was pushing her off him.

  I was so angry I couldn’t speak. I turned to walk out of the room, but then the image of what I had seen five minutes before flashed before my eyes. I swung back around and hauled off and punched Loretta in her face again. T tried to step between us, and I swung on him, too.

  “Y’all can have each other,” I screamed. “I can’t believe this.”

  As much as I wanted to collapse on the floor, I didn’t want to give them the privilege of seeing me that way. With all the dignity I could muster, I removed T’s heart-shaped key chain from my key ring and handed it to him. “Looks like your heart really doesn’t belong to me,” I said quietly.

  “Baby, don’t do this,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

  I didn’t even bother to respond.

  I headed out to my car and drove to Loretta’s, determined to have all my stuff moved out before she got there.

  I went in to find her mother lying across the sofa, drunk. I just shook my head and started gathering my things. It took me two trips to my house, but I finally moved everything—and I realized if I had left anything behind, it wasn’t worth having.

  After deciding I’d unload my car later, I headed to my room. I met Mama coming out of the bathroom. She must have seen the pain on my face because she grabbed me and didn’t let go, and that was when the tears came. She didn’t say a word. She just rocked me for what seemed like hours. When I felt as though I couldn’t cry anymore, she tucked me into bed, pulled the covers up to my chin and kissed my forehead.

  I didn’t think I would be able to sleep, but the past few days had finally caught up with me. When I woke up, the sun was shining.

  I went to the bathroom, then headed to the kitchen, where my brother was sitting at the table.

  “Girl, I was just about to come check on you.”

  “I’m okay,” I said. “I was just a little tired.”

  “I guess so. You’ve been asleep since yesterday morning.”

  I looked at him like he was crazy. “What?” I finally managed to say.

  “Yeah,” he said. He looked at me. “You okay?”

  The image of T and Loretta together flashed through my mind. “I’ll be fine,” I said quietly.

  He just nodded. “Welcome home,” he finally said.

  I smiled, liking the sound of that.

  “What do you have planned today?” I asked.

  “I’m going to try and finish packing.”

  It took me a while to remember what he was talking about. “Oh, yeah. I forgot school starts next week. When are you leaving?”

  “Friday,” he said.

  I looked at him curiously, and he read my question on my face.

  “I have the symposium this weekend.”

  I nodded.

  “You know, Jas, it’s not too late for you to go to school with me.”

  I thought about what he said. “I know,” I finally said, “but that’s not what I want to do.”

  “So what are you going to do?” he asked. He got up to grab a bowl of cereal, holding up his bowl to silently ask if I wanted some, too. I nodded.

  “I don’t know yet. I guess I figured I would be cutting my album.” I thought about all the money I had been saving. “Maybe I can do it myself,” I said.

  “You can do that while you go to school,” he said, passing me a bowl of Froot Loops and some milk.

  “Yeah, I could,” I said thoughtfully, “but to get things jumping I need to stay in New York.”

  “Well, I guess I can come home a couple of weekends and make a guest appearance on the album,” he said.

  “Thank you,” I said, getting up to give him a hug.

  “For what?” he asked.

  “For being my big brother,” I said.

  “Girl, go somewhere with that mess,” he said, pushing me away, but I saw him smiling.

  I headed back to my room to get dressed. I had just gotten out of the shower when my cell phone rang. I figured it was probably T or Loretta, so I decided to let it go to voice mail.

  I figured I would have a whole bunch of e-mails from both T and Loretta apologizing. There were only three messages—one from Kyle, another from the guy who had paid me to DJ his party and another from Jessica, DC’s assistant.

  Jessica sounded busy as usual when I called, but she brightened up when she heard my voice. “Hey, Jasmine,” she said. “DC told me to put you right through. Hang on.” She put me on hold, and I listened to one of the latest top ten hits by one of DC Records’ artists before DC came on the line.

  “Good morning,” he said, and I wondered if he had a cigar in his mouth.

  “Good morning,” I said.

  “So, you ready to get started on your album?”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  He laughed. “Oh, you get so many offers to record an album that you’ve forgotten all about mine?”

  “You were serious about that?” I said.

  He laughed again. “Look, I don’t have time to play games,” he said. “I’m serious about changing my company’s image, and I think you’re just the person to do it.”

  I grinned, realizing my dreams of landing a record deal were going to come true despite losing All-City.

  “Cool,” I said.

  “So when can you guys come in so we can negotiate this deal?”

  “You guys?” I sa
id.

  “You and your brother. Word is you guys are a package deal.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to worry about him,” I said.

  “I’ve heard him. He needs to be on the album,” DC said.

  I knew Derrick didn’t really like DC, but he had just offered to be on my album if I did it myself, so I didn’t think he would mind.

  “When do you want us there?” I asked.

  “Tomorrow morning,” he said.

  We wrapped up the details for the next day; then I went to find my brother, who was in his room packing. He must have felt my presence, because he looked up. “What?” he said.

  “I got a record deal.”

  His mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?” he said.

  “DC just offered it to me,” I said.

  He rolled his eyes and turned away. “I know you’re not going to record with that man,” he said, his back to me.

  “Derrick, come on. He’s trying to change the image of the label.”

  “But that’s not going to change his image. The man is slime, Jas. You know that. Just stick with your plan of doing the album yourself. Your boyfriend and Kyle can help you with it.”

  His mention of T brought tears to my eyes, but I refused to focus on him. “Why should I spend my own money for an album when DC’s willing to spend his? Besides, he wants you on the album, too. With the money you’ll make, you can pay for school.”

  “I am not going to be on your album if you sign with DC.”

  “Derrick, why are you tripping?” I asked.

  “No, Jas, why are you tripping?”

  “Fine,” I said. I realized there was no point in arguing with him, although I had already decided I was going to convince him to be on the album.

  I spent the rest of the day waiting to hear from T or Loretta. T finally called, but I didn’t want to speak to him. It was enough for me to know that he at least felt a little sorry for what had happened.

  When Mama and Daddy got home, we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate everyone being home.

  “I’m going to enjoy this moment while I can,” Mama said as we were walking out the door. “Both my babies will be gone next week.”

  I guess she thought everything was really back to normal, but I had to quickly set her straight.

  “Mama,” I said, “I’m still not going to school.”

  I saw the anger in her eyes, but before she could say anything, Daddy touched her hand, silently asking her to be quiet.

  “Let’s talk about this later,” he said. “It’s been a little while since we’ve gone out together as a family, and I want to enjoy it.”

  Everyone agreed, although there was a tense quietness all the way to the restaurant.

  After we ordered, I decided to bring up me not going to college. I figured there wasn’t much yelling Mama would do in a restaurant.

  I was wrong.

  After I told Mama and Daddy about my deal with DC Records, Mama really lost it.

  “You will not be signing with that man,” she said. She glared at me, daring me to say something, and I looked back at her just as hard.

  “Yes, I will be,” I said. “He’s offering me a chance at my dream, and I’m not going to let you or anyone else stop me.”

  “Little girl, you forget that you’re living under my roof—”

  “But that can change,” I said. “I moved out before, and I can do it again.”

  People were starting to look at us, but I didn’t care.

  “Why don’t we finish this conversation at home?” Daddy said quietly.

  “Don’t bother,” I said. I pushed back my chair.

  “Don’t you move,” Daddy said. It was very rare that he got angry with me, but when he did, I knew not to cross him. This was one of those times. “I’m not going to put up with you running away again. We are going to work through this as a family. Now, we’re going to sit here and finish our dinner like we have some sense. Derrick, pass me the salt.”

  Derrick and I both did as we were told.

  Somehow we made it through dinner. Daddy tried to make polite conversation, but it didn’t work. When we finally got home, I expected Mama to go off.

  Instead, she looked at me and shook her head.

  “You know what? Do what you want to do. I’m tired. I’m done. If you want to ruin your life, I’m not going to stop you.”

  “Baby, don’t say that,” Daddy said.

  “No, Daddy, it’s okay. We all know how Mama really feels. She doesn’t like me doing the music. I get it. It’s cool. I won’t sign with DC Records,” I said.

  I turned around and walked to my room, not really caring anymore. In a few short days, I had lost not one but two record deals. There was no way life could get any worse.

  chapter 10

  I was awake most of the night thinking about the last few days. It was around daybreak when I decided that I was not going to let Mama kill my dream. DC was offering me the opportunity of a lifetime, and I was going to take it.

  I was up by seven so I could make into the city for my eleven o’clock meeting with DC.

  I had just sat down to eat a bowl of cereal when Derrick walked into the kitchen. “What are you doing up so early?” he asked.

  I had decided I wasn’t going to tell anyone about accepting the record deal until after the contracts were signed, so I said, “I’m going to check out NYU. Maybe I’ll go to school there.”

  “For real?” he said, looking excited. “You want me to go with you?”

  “Nah, it’s okay,” I said quickly. I had never lied to my brother, and I knew he was going to see straight through it, but he didn’t.

  “No, I’ll go with you,” he insisted. “I see Mama finally got to you.”

  I just smiled. I thought about leaving without my brother while he was getting dressed, but I decided not to. Even if he didn’t agree with what I was doing, I knew he’d have my back. I was running late, so Derrick said he’d drive me.

  Derrick looked at me crazy when I told him to park on the same block as DC Records, but he didn’t say a word. As we approached the office, he stopped me.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “What does it look like?” I said.

  “Jas, you are not signing with these people.”

  “Watch me,” I said, pulling open the glass door so I could head into the building.

  “I can’t let you do this.”

  “Look, I’ve made up my mind that I’m signing with DC, so if you have a problem with that, you need to go wait in the car.”

  He must have seen the determination on my face, because he just sighed and followed me inside.

  I wasn’t sure what kind of office to expect, but what greeted me was actually very nice. After being ushered past the receptionist’s desk, I made it to DC’s inner office, which had comfortable leather furniture, as well as copies of what looked like hundreds of gold records.

  I spotted Jessica immediately, although she hadn’t said a word. She looked like I had pictured her—a younger version of Halle Berry.

  She seemed stressed, kind of the way she always sounded, but her face brightened when she saw me.

  “Hey, Jasmine,” she said as though we saw each other every day. It was kind of hard to believe it was our first time meeting.

  “Hi, Jessica,” I said. I turned to Derrick. “This is my brother.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Jessica said.

  Derrick just nodded.

  “So today’s the big day, huh?” she said, turning to me.

  “Yeah. It looks that way,” I said.

  We all looked up when the door behind Jessica opened and DC walked out. He was wearing a red suit with a black shirt and a red tie along with a red hat.

  “Hey, Jasmine,” he said, sticking his trademark cigar in his mouth, then extending his arms for a hug.

  I hugged him then turned to Derrick. “Do you remember my brother?” I said.

  “Derrick, nice seeing you
again.” DC extended his hand.

  I could tell Derrick didn’t want to speak, but he knew better than to be disrespectful. “How are you?” he said.

  “You guys come on in.” DC led us into the biggest office I had ever seen. It looked bigger than our whole house.

  Derrick and I settled into two chairs in front of DC’s desk and waited while he shuffled through some papers. He was just about to speak when a knock sounded on the door. Before DC could respond, the door swung open and in walked his partner, Ron.

  “Hey, guys,” he said, shaking Derrick’s hand, then leaning over to give me a hug.

  “Hi,” I said, excited. For some reason, his presence made the record deal more real to me.

  “Let’s get down to business,” DC said after Ron was seated.

  I sat up straight, trying to look as professional as possible, while Derrick slumped in his seat, looking bored. I gave him the eye, but he ignored me.

  “Jasmine, we really believe you have a future with this company. We are committed to taking you all the way to the top. As you know, we’ve had some trouble with some of our artists in the past, but we want to change our image, and we believe you are the person to help us do that. I know the best producers in the business, and I know we’re going to produce a chart-topping album.

  “I’ve taken the liberty of drawing up a contract for you. It’s our standard new-artist agreement. We believe in you so much, we want to sign you for five albums.” DC slid the contract and a pen toward me, and as I started to sign my name, Derrick grabbed my arm.

  “You need to have Uncle Henry look that over,” he said.

  I ignored him. What was my uncle going to do? DC had said it was the standard new-artist contract, so it wasn’t like I could make changes to it. Plus, if I told my uncle, he would tell my parents, and I didn’t want them to know anything about my deal until the contract was signed.

  I finished signing my name and slid the contract back to DC, who grinned and stuck out his hand. “Welcome to DC Records,” he said before he began talking about recording, going on tour and promoting my album.

  I heard everything he was saying, but at the same time, I was daydreaming about taking center stage before a crowd screaming my name as I stood in the spotlight.