Caught Up in the Drama (5 page)

I covered myself tighter. “Well . . . this dress. It's kinda revealing. I'm a little classier than this.”

“You don't like the outfit? Why didn't you say so?” He turned back to Taraji. “Get baby girl something else to wear.”

“What?” she snapped.

“I said, find her something else,” he said casually.

“Sisco, we don't have time for this,” Taraji protested. “The director is on a tight schedule.”

“Come on, Taraji. If the girl ain't comfortable, she's not gonna do her best, and I need her game to be tight.”

Taraji gritted her teeth and shot me an evil look, which Sisco noticed right away.

“And don't start trippin' with her. She didn't ask me to change it. I could just tell she was uncomfortable.”

Taraji groaned and rolled her eyes. “Fine. Come on,” she said, stomping off. “This is exactly why I didn't want to fool with these stupid high school girls,” she muttered.

Mona's words rang in my head, and I knew I was now on Taraji's bad side.

Alexis

I couldn't tell everything that was going on, but judging from the way Camille was covering herself and the scowl on that Taraji lady's face, I could tell it wasn't good.

When Camille emerged from the dressing room ten minutes later, she looked a whole lot better. Granted, the dress she had changed into was still short, but it wasn't so hoochie. It was a short-sleeve royal blue silk number that hung off one shoulder. A rope belt was tied around the waist, and the back was cut low and dipped down to the small of her back, stopping at the top of her behind. But at least the front was covered.

I gave Camille a thumbs-up and mouthed “Much better.” I nudged Jasmine, who gave her a smile as well. Camille seemed to relax as she made her way back over to Sisco.

“Is that better?” Sisco asked her.

“Much,” Camille replied with a smile.

“Do you need anything else, Princess Camille?” Taraji snapped.

“No, I'm fine,” Camille said.

“Then do you think we can get started now?”

Camille took a deep breath. I hoped she wasn't letting that Taraji woman get to her. This was her time to shine, and I wanted her to be on top of her game.

Camille loosened up when Sisco took her hand and led her onto the set. I glanced over at Xavier. Maybe his being here wasn't such a good idea, because he stood with his lips awfully tight. I could tell it was taking everything in his power not to get upset.

Jasmine must've noticed it too, because she looked at me and nodded. Angel was too giddy to notice a thing.

The music started up, bringing our attention back to the set. Camille was in place, and honestly, she looked like she was born for this.

The song was a slow, up-tempo melody called “Just One More Chance.” I could tell right away that it was going to be a hit.

Sisco finished up his solo part, then turned to Camille, who was doing a sexy strut like she was just passing in front of him. Sisco sang something about being sorry, and Camille, with attitude in full force, sang back, asking why she should give him another chance.

Angel clutched my arm, trying to contain her excitement. She was doing what I call a quiet scream.

“Girl, chill,” I whispered.

“Okay, okay,” she said. “I'm just so proud of her.”

“She is doing good,” Jasmine said, nodding with a big smile across her face.

Someone standing in front of us holding a clipboard turned around and hissed, “Ssshhhh.”

We all covered our mouths and continued watching Camille. Sisco sang some more before Camille finally decided to go ahead and give him a chance. When she sang about “loving her right or not loving her at all,” I thought I was going to cry. My girl nailed it.

Sisco closed up the song promising to love her forever as he leaned in close. He was a good actor, because he sure looked like he was about to plant a deep kiss on her. I was expecting the director to yell “cut” at any moment. My eyes suddenly grew wide when their lips met. He pulled her close and kissed her as the music died down. I don't know if Camille had known the kiss was coming—she sure hadn't said anything to us about it—but she didn't miss a beat as she got into the kiss.

Only when Sisco pulled away from Camille did I see the stunned look on her face. “Can your man kiss you like that?” Sisco said, smiling mischievously.

Before Camille could respond, Xavier rushed toward the set.

The grin left Sisco's face as Xavier tackled him to the floor.

“Xavier!” Camille screamed.

Total chaos broke out. Two big, burly guys came out of nowhere. They jumped on Xavier and pinned him on the floor. Sisco was screaming and cursing as he struggled to get up. Taraji was yelling that this was exactly why she “wanted to keep the set closed.” And my heart dropped when I noticed tears streaming down Camille's face.

Jasmine and Angel must've known exactly what I was thinking, because we all raced to Camille's side.

“Please don't hurt him,” she cried when Sisco kicked Xavier in the side.

“Who is this boy, and why is he attacking my artist?” the director bellowed.

“He's my boyfriend,” Camille whimpered. “I don't know what happened.”

“Get him out of here before I catch a case,” Sisco snapped, trying to calm himself down.

Xavier was still struggling, although it wasn't doing him any good. The big bodyguard had Xavier's arms pinned behind his back.

They pulled him up, then dragged him out toward the back. Camille immediately began to follow him.

“And just where do you think you're going?” Taraji hissed.

“I . . . I need to go check on my—on Xavier,” she sniffed.

“Little girl, you have been more trouble than you're worth.” Taraji stepped closer. “Right about now, the only person you need to be trying to pacify is Sisco, because I guarantee you, you don't want to make him mad. If you go after that thug, you can forget about this video.”

Camille paused and looked helplessly at us. I knew she wanted to go after Xavier, but I understood her dilemma.

“Look, we'll go check on Xavier,” Jasmine said, stepping forward. “You just go handle your business.”

“If I were you, I'd listen to your friends,” Taraji said before stomping off.

“Seriously,” I said. “We'll go after Xavier, make sure he calms down. That lady is right. Sisco is not going to like getting embarrassed like that, so you might need to go smooth that over.”

Camille glanced over at Sisco, who was pacing back and
forth, his hands clenched. Several people were trying to calm him down.

“Go on, we got your back,” Angel said.

Camille took a deep breath. “Okay, thank you so much. Please tell Xavier I didn't know he was gonna kiss me. I'll call you guys later, okay?”

We all gave her a quick hug. I only hoped that she could get through to Sisco, because Xavier might've just ruined her one chance at stardom.

Alexis

I was so sick of what had become a normal day in my household.

“I said I don't want to talk about it anymore,” my dad screamed right before I heard a door slam.

“Fine!” I heard my mother say as another door slammed.

I was on the phone with Camille, lying on my bed listening to the daily ritual of my parents fighting. Camille was talking about her hair, of all things. I was finding it hard to concentrate on what she was saying while the commotion was going on in the other room.

“Earth to Alexis! Hel-lo! Are you even listening to me? I was trying to ask for your advice about what to do,” Camille whined on the other end of the phone.

I shook off the tears building behind my eyelids. “I'm sorry, girl, my parents are at it again, and it's driving me crazy. I just don't know what to do at this point.”

I was about to tell Camille what was going on at my house, but as usual, she quickly turned the conversation back to her.

“Girl, your parents will work it out, but what should I do? The stylist said my hair needs to be spiced up. She thought I should go honey brown like Tyra Banks. Come to think of it, all the stars have that blondish, honey brown flavor— Beyoncé, Christina Milian. So maybe that is the way to go.”

I was too through. She'd been talking about her hair for the past thirty minutes. She'd gotten rid of that crazy weave and was trying to figure out what else to do.

Right about now, though, Camille's hair was the least of my problems. I had drama of my own that she obviously didn't seem to care about.

“So what do you think?” she asked again.

“I think I'm getting off the phone.”

I hung up on Camille before she could say another word. My head was buzzing as I lay back on my bed and thought about the fighting going on between my parents.

The house was eerily quiet. My dad must have stormed out into the night. It wasn't the first time that had happened. I could hear my mom walking down the hall on her way past my room. I heard her sniffling, which concerned me a lot more than the usual dramatic, fit-for-Hollywood crying spells that she usually had.

I jumped off the bed and flung open my door. “Mom, are you okay?”

I was a little shocked at my mother's appearance. Her hair
was smashed to one side of her face, and her eyes were red and puffy. I could tell she had been crying a while.

She pulled her robe tighter and looked at me with sad eyes. “I'm okay, Lexi.”

As I looked at her, the tears I'd been fighting back found their way out. This was not the woman I knew as my mom. That woman was always confident, poised, and well put together. She would never let anyone disrespect her, and she definitely didn't get upset and cry because things weren't going her way. She just found a way to make them work how she wanted them to work. It broke my heart to see her so defeated.

“Mom, I can tell you've been crying. I know we've grown apart over the past few years, but I am still your daughter,” I said, easing toward her. “Plus, I hear you and Dad arguing all the time. I'm not a little girl anymore. I know what's going on.”

My mom took a deep breath. “Lexi, don't worry about it. This is between your dad and me. You're too young to understand.”

“Actually, no, I'm not,” I replied firmly. “I'm seventeen years old, so I am well aware of what's going on. I'm not a kid anymore, and I deserve to know what's happening in my own family.”

“Sweetheart, I can't deal with this right now,” she said, turning to walk away from me.

“Are you and Dad getting a divorce?”

The question stopped her in her tracks. She was silent for too long. Now I wasn't sure I was ready to hear the answer.

She turned back around to face me. “To be honest with you, baby, it is an option,” she said tearfully. She walked me into my room, and we sat down on my bed.

“I don't want you to worry, but your dad and I have talked about it. You know that things have not been good for a long time, but we are trying to work through our problems. We both know how hard a divorce would be on you and your . . .” She let her words trail off. My mom always had a hard time talking about my sister. “Well, tomorrow, when your dad is home, the three of us will all sit down and talk about some things. But for now, I want you to try to get some sleep and try not to worry.”

“I could say the same thing to you,” I said softly. I was trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my parents might actually be divorcing. No, I told myself, that's not what they wanted to talk about. I convinced myself that they wanted to apologize for the way things had been and talk about how we could all make it right.

My mom kissed me on my forehead. “I'll try to sleep if you will,” she promised. She attempted a smile as she backed out of my room.

I lay back down on my bed and contemplated calling one of my girls. As I reached for the phone, though, I changed my mind. Jasmine couldn't talk on the phone this late. Angel was probably putting Angelica to sleep, and Camille was too caught up in her own drama to worry about mine. I looked at my bedroom window, hoping to see headlights that would tell me my father had decided to turn around and come back home. I watched for a long time, but it stayed dark. I had never felt so all alone.

Camille

Today we were going to be shooting the last part of the video over, because Sisco hadn't wanted to do anything after yesterday's disaster with Xavier. The director had said we'd just start fresh today.

I was so glad my girls decided to come, though for some reason Alexis didn't seem her usual self. I was still a little bummed out. Xavier had broken up with me by text. I'd tried to call him, but he'd slammed the phone down in my face. Normally, I would've called him back and gone off, but I was going to give him a pass, since I knew he was pretty upset about Sisco kissing me.

Speaking of the kiss, I'd been thinking about it all night long. Yeah, I knew it was all part of Sisco's act, but if this time
a month ago someone had told me I'd be kissing Sisco, I'd have thought they were crazy.

“Are you all right?” Angel asked. We'd just made our way into the parking lot. I'd been pretty much quiet the whole way over here.

“I'm okay. I just hope me and Xavier can get through this, because he's a good guy.”

“He is,” Angel added. “And he'll get over the whole kissing thing.”

“I don't know,” Jasmine said doubtfully. Alexis and Angel shot her the evil eye, and she turned her lip up.

“All I know is when everything is said and done, Xavier is the one who will be there for you,” Jasmine retorted. “Sisco will be gone on to his next video vixen. So don't kick Xavier to the curb.”

“I am not a video vixen,” I protested.

“I'm just saying, Sisco has a million girls throwing themselves at him.”