One Man's Trash (4 page)

SIX
The next morning Diamond and JT waited inside Philip’s office. She decided
before they arrived to let bygones be bygones and not hold a grudge for his
misbehavior last night. She was there to be a supportive girlfriend. She placed
her hand on JT’s bouncing knee.
“Don’t be nervous.” She gave him an encouraging smile.
Philip walked in. They both stood. “Sorry to keep you waiting. My meeting went
a little longer than I expected. JT, nice to meet you.” They exchanged a
handshake and Philip sat at his desk. “So JT, Diamond has been raving about
you. Glad you were able to come in to meet with me.”
“Thank you Mr. James, for the opportunity.”
Philip smiled. “So, let’s hear what you got.”
JT handed him the CD with the two tracks he produced. The first track that
Philip played was the one Diamond wrote. “I like this. Very single worthy.” He
bobbed his head to the beat. “Loving that hook. Is that you, Diamond?”
“Yes, sir.”
Philip gave her a thumbs up. She looked over at JT and he winked.
“Track one, is off the chain. I love that. So you wrote the lyrics?” He
addressed Diamond.
“We co-wrote it.” JT interjected.
She nodded.
They listened to the second track. The one that Stephanie and JT worked on
together.
“I wrote this one,” JT boasted.
Philip nodded. He listened intently to the words. He didn’t respond the same as
he did with the first song. “Who’s singing on the track?” Philip asked JT.
“Oh, a girl named Stephanie.”
“I see.” Philip stopped the CD before the song finished playing. “Well, JT you
are talented. I give you that. The first song, a smash hit. The second song,
not so much. I loved the beat, the lady’s voice needs a little fine tuning, but
the part that didn’t sit well with me was the lyrics. They were
too….elementary. However, I think with the right guidance we could really work
with you. I’m going to set up a meeting with the board and present your demo.”
JT literally jumped out of his seat with excitement.
“But”, Philip continued, “I’m going to need you to produce two more songs.
Preferably as good as the first track.”
“Not a problem, Mr. James, not a problem.” JT assured him.
“If the Board likes you, then you will get signed to the label and we will
debut you at our new artist listening party that’s coming up shortly.”
“Awesome, thank you so much, Mr. James.”
Philip rose and shook JT’s hand. “I’ll speak with you soon then. Nice meeting
you. And thank you, Diamond for introducing us.”
“Yes, thank you, Diamond.” JT kissed her cheek.
“Oh,” she said, surprised by his display of affection in front of her boss.
“You’re both welcome.”
She escorted JT downstairs to the lobby. “So how are you feeling?” she asked.
“I’m feeling pretty good. I was a little bummed when he didn’t like the song
that I wrote, but at least he liked me overall.”
“Well you know I’ll help you with the other two songs. This is our shot, JT. He
loved my song. He was really feeling it.” Diamond clapped her palms together in
excitement. If she wasn’t at a place of business she would’ve did her happy
dance.
“
Our
song. He loved
our
song.” JT corrected her.
“You know what I meant. Anyway, I should get back to work. We should go
celebrate.”
“Cool I’ll see what Trey and his girl are doing tonight.”
“Okay let me know and I’ll meet up with you guys.”
They hugged goodbye. Diamond floated to the elevator. Philip James of Tri
Records loved
her
song. She was on cloud nine right now and no one could
take her off her high. One step closer to reaching her dream. As soon as the
elevator doors closed, she did her happy dance.
“You can pull over to the right, sir. Right there where that tall guy is
standing. Thanks.”
The cab driver double parked in front of the restaurant. JT, Trey and Nina
stood near the entrance. JT opened the car door and helped her out. She wrapped
her arms around his neck. A familiar scent filled her nostrils. Tangelo. She
held on a little longer and sniffed again. Definitely, Tangelo. JT suddenly
pulled back. What the hell was that all about? Where was he before he showed up
tonight?
Diamond kept her smile glued to her face trying to hide her suspicions.
“Hey girl!” Nina grabbed her attention.
“Hey Nina, honey. Thanks for coming out.” She air kissed her on both cheeks.
Trey stretched out his arms. “Give me some love, girl.”
Trey embraced her. “Hey Trey, you know I got nothing but love for you.” He
slowly pulled away.
“You look nice by the way.”
“Thanks.”
“Alright let’s go inside. I’m ready to eat!” Trey opened the door, Nina went in
first and he entered behind her.
JT let the door close. He pulled Diamond to the side. “That was a long hug.”
“What?”
“Trey.”
Diamond rolled her eyes with annoyance. “JT, I always hug Trey. Why are you
tripping?”
“You don’t
ever
hug him like that. And then he’s telling you how nice
you look.”
“So now it’s against the rules to hug your friend and for your friends to give
me a compliment? Thanks for letting me know.”
He walked back to the restaurant’s door. “Just watch those damn hugs.”
Diamond followed close behind. “Are you serious?”
He opened the door and faced her. “Dead ass.” He walked ahead of her into the
restaurant. Diamond couldn’t believe this guy was tripping over a hug. Trey was
his close friend. Why was he getting his panties all in a wad over Trey hugging
her and giving her a compliment?
He
damn sure didn’t bother to tell her
that she looked nice.
Diamond sat next to Nina and across from JT.
“Diamond, you alright? You look a little upset.”
“Oh. No, I’m fine. I just got a little headache. Nothing serious. I probably
just need to eat.” Diamond opened her menu.
“Are you sure?” Trey persisted. “I have some headache medicine in my car. I can
go get it for you—”
“She’s fine,” JT interrupted.
She looked at JT. “Thanks, Trey. But I’m fine,” she said without looking his
way. Trey dropped the matter.
Diamond felt her temperature rise. She took controlled breaths. She never knew
she had a temper until she met JT. He brought out the worst in her sometimes.
She glared at him but he never made eye contact. He studied his menu as if he
hadn’t seen it for the millionth time. If looks could kill hers would be an
oozy and JT, well, there would be no JT.

# # # #
Diamond dialed JT’s number for the third time. It went straight to his voicemail
like the first two times. What the hell was he doing? His phone was never off.
It went straight to voicemail again. Was he hurt? Was he on the train with no
service? She dialed his number again. Ringing. Thank goodness.
JT picked up on the fourth ring. “Hello.”
“Hey. What were you doing? You sound out of breath.” Diamond stopped pacing the
floor.
“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “Nothing. I’m not doing nothing.”
Liar. Diamond sat on the couch. Since when did doing nothing make you winded?
“So I wanted to come over to work on these songs for Philip. When are you
free?”
“About that. Why don’t you just email me the lyrics.”
“Email you? Why would I email you when I can just come over? JT, what’s going
on?”
“Nothing’s going on. Just email me the two songs. I’m going to get Stephanie to
sing on them.”
Stephanie. Diamond sucked her teeth. “Stephanie? Phillip didn’t even like her.
Why don’t you want me to sing on the tracks? I thought we were doing this
together?”
“Babe, it’s not that I don’t want you to sing on the tracks, it’s just that I
don’t want Phillip to think that we are together. It could jeopardize some
things if they think that we are in a relationship. What if they sign me? I’m
sure they have a non-fraternization policy or something.”
Diamond pulled at her bottom lip. She stared out the window. She hadn’t thought
about a non-fraternization policy. She was a better singer than Stephanie,
there was no question about that. She was in this to be a songwriter not a
singer. As long as Phillip knew that she wrote the song, did it really matter
who sung them?
“Ok fine, Stephanie can sing on the tracks I don’t care. The next question is,
why do you want me to email you the songs? I can still bring them to you. I
want to sit in on the recording sessions to make sure Stephanie does my music
right, anyway.”
“Babe, trust me. Stephanie is better than what you heard. The reason I said
email the songs is because I knew that you would want to be at the recording
session and Stephanie says that you make her nervous. That’s why she didn’t do
so well the last time.”
“I make her nervous? Get the hell outta here with that. If Stephanie was a
professional then she could sing in front of anyone. It’s not like I’m a freaking
judge on American Idol.”
“You make her nervous. Actually uncomfortable was the word she used. What can I
say.”
“What you can say is…my girlfriend wrote the damn song and she’s going to be
here to hear you sing it. That’s what you can say.”
“Diamond, it’s not a big deal. Stop blowing things out of proportion. You want
me to make it right?”
Diamond pinched the bridge of her nose. “Of course I want you to make it, JT.”
“Then you shouldn’t have a problem with me working with Stephanie. This is for
us baby. We are a team right?”
“Yes, JT, we are a team.”
“Okay then. You can email the songs or you can drop them off. Whatever makes
you happy. But Stephanie is going to sing on the track and we need her to be
comfortable. So that means?”
Diamond blew out an irritated breath. “That means that I
can’t
sit in on
the session.”
“Good girl.”
“JT…are we really in this together? I just feel like you’re trying to do this
on your own and you know I want us both to succeed. This is my life too, you
know.”
“Babe, we are a team. I got you. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“So I got to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
Diamond hung up the phone. It didn’t feel like he had her. She needed a drink
but she couldn’t drink alone. Her mom always said, only drunks drink alone.
She texted Kimmy:
Drinks. Paradise….NOW!
She could always count on her road dog. She walked into the lounge. Kimmy waved
at her from the bar. 
“Thanks for meeting me.” Diamond kissed her cheek.
“What’s the T, girl?”
Diamond sat on the stool and ordered a white Russian. “The T is, JT.” She
didn’t have to look at Kimmy to know that she had rolled her eyes at the sound
of his name. She always rolled her eyes at the sound of his name.
“What he do now?”
Diamond rested her head in her hands. She peeked over at Kimmy. “I got him a
meeting with my boss. My boss loved the track that I wrote and sung on. JT
produced a track that he wrote and had Miss Booty Shorts sing on.”
“Wait. Miss Booty Shorts? Who is that?”
“Stephanie. The chick from the other night. Anyway, my boss told us that he
didn’t really like the song that JT and Stephanie did, he said the lyrics were
too elementary. So I told JT that I would help him with the two songs that
Philip wants so he can present the demo to the Board.”
The bartender placed her drink on a white square napkin. “Thanks.” Diamond
swirled the liquid around in the glass with her straw. “So long story short, JT
doesn’t want me to sit in on the recording session with Stephanie anymore
because she told him I make her feel
uncomfortable
which is why she
didn’t do so well on the last track.”
“I call bullshit. JT is a total bullshitter. B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T Bullshit.”
“Tell me how you really feel, Kimmy.”
“Seriously. You make her feel uncomfortable? Why? Because you’re cock-blocking?
Is that why Miss Booty Shorts is feeling
uncomfortable
? I don’t trust
him, Diamond. I’m sorry but I just don’t.”
“It’s no big deal really. I’ll just take him the songs tomorrow and let them do
their thing. As long as he’s not changing my lyrics, then it’s cool. My goal in
all this is to be a songwriter, not a singer. I already know that Philip likes
my writing.” Diamond shrugged.
“I will never be that friend to say, I told you so, but Diamond…watch him.
Watch him.”
She nodded. Kimmy had never been this serious about anyone before. Maybe her
“feeling” was something to pay attention to. Diamond always believed anything
done in the dark would soon come to light. Karma’s a true bitch. If JT had any
ill intentions toward her, he would definitely get his. She came to New York
with one goal in mind, to become a successful songwriter. If allowing Stephanie
a few seconds of shine got her one step closer to achieving that goal then so
be it.

SEVEN
Always trust your female intuition, her mother always said. Well today Diamond’s
female intuition told her to not call JT before showing up at his place. Unlike
him, although she had a key to his apartment, she always called or texted him
to let him know that she would be coming by. Today she decided against it.
She descended the stairs to JT’s apartment. The door was ajar. That’s
interesting. Was he home? Did he forget to close the door behind him? She
stepped inside. His sneakers and a pair of yellow flip flops with a flower in
the center were near the door. Those weren’t
her
flip flops.
She listened. No music played. No talking. No singing. So why was there a pair
of flip flops here? Obviously they didn’t belong to JT.
Diamond didn’t bother to take off her shoes. She tiptoed down the hallway. She
reached the bedroom first. The door was halfway closed. JT laid butt naked on
top of the sheets, on his back. Miss Booty Shorts lay beside him, curled up
underneath the sheets. They were sound asleep.
Diamond pushed the door open. She crept up to JT. His mouth was slightly
opened. His hand rested peacefully on his hairy chest. She used to watch him
sleep sometimes when they first met and would giggle when his mouth twitched at
the corners. It was cute.  
Was
being the keyword right now. She raised her hand back. Lord forgive her.
She came down with a force she didn’t even know she had. His silky caramel skin
met with the palm of her hand. Shit. That stung! She’d never hit anyone before.
JT jumped out of his sleep startling Stephanie. His right hand braced his fall.
He looked up at her with dazed eyes. Stephanie sat up in the bed with the
sheets gathered at her neck. A deer in headlights.
“What the fuck, Diamond?”
“Exactly, JT. What the fuck?” She stood over him with her hands on her hip.
“This doesn’t look like a recording session to me.”
Stephanie sat motionless and speechless. Diamond saw stuff like this on T.V. or
read about it in books. Never did she think that she would be experiencing it
in real life. Her first boyfriend. Her first breakup. It definitely wasn’t her
first heartbreak. No. She’d experienced her first heartbreak when she was
sixteen and found out that her life-long crush, Ryder Gillian was dating Erica
Strange. She had cried for two weeks.
This was heartbreak number two. And it was just as painful as the first. Maybe
even more painful. She didn’t have words. She couldn’t think of anything to
say. What do you say when you catch your boyfriend in the bed with another
woman? What amount of yelling and screaming and cussing would take away the
pain? Even releasing her frustration in a slap caused her more pain.
JT sat on the floor. His big brown eyes stared up at her. “Diamond, I can
explain.”
And that was her cue. She spun around on her heels and bolted out the front
door. There was no need to explain. There was no reasoning or justification for
his actions. He was the ultimate loser. Damnit, Kimmy, of all the times to be
right. Shit.
Diamond power walked down the sidewalk. She fumbled in her purse for her phone.
Vision blurred with tears. She pressed the number two button.
“Mom.”
“Diamond, what’s the matter sweetheart? What’s wrong? Are you crying?”
Diamond reached the end of the street and squatted to the ground, holding her
body up with one hand. Her legs were like jello. She didn’t know what hurt
worse, the pounding in her head or the breaking of her heart. She held the
phone to her ear. She wanted to answer her mom’s questions but the only thing
that came out of her mouth was sobs. The ugly cry. The uncontrollable sobbing
that you would expect from a baby not a grown woman standing on the corner near
a bus stop.
“Diamond, baby, calm down and tell me what happened.”
Diamond inhaled deeply and let out the breath slowly. She repeated this two
more times before she was able to speak without crying. “Mom…I just caught JT
in bed with another woman. I can barely breathe right now.”
There was silence on the phone. Her mom let out a huge sigh. “I wish I was
there right now to comfort you baby. I’m so sorry. Where are you now?”
Diamond stood. Of course today she wouldn’t have any tissue with her. She
looked around. A ninety-nine cent store was two doors down from where she
stood. “I’m still in Brooklyn, Mom. A block from his house. I need some tissues.
I’m going into this store to buy some now.”
“What did JT say? I mean, tell me what happened?”
Diamond grabbed a pocketbook sized pack of Kleenex tissue from the counter.
“One dollar please,” said the cashier.
“Hold on, Mom. I need to pay for this.” Diamond handed the clerk a dollar bill.
She stepped outside and blew her nose. Three tissues later she could breathe
through her nose again.
“Hello.”
“Yes, baby, I’m still here.”
She sighed. “I came to JT’s house, I have a key, he didn’t know I was coming.
The door was cracked open so I just walked in. I didn’t say anything. I saw a
pair of female flip flops, so I tiptoed to his bedroom and found him and this
girl asleep. And…I slapped him. Hard. Real hard. So hard I hurt my hand.”
Surprisingly her mom giggled. “Well he deserved it. Hurting my baby. If I had a
son I would send him up there to beat his butt.”
“Mom!” Diamond laughed. “Don’t make me laugh, I’m upset.”
“I’m serious. There is never a reason to cheat on anyone. If you are not happy
in a relationship then just leave. Did you have any signs that he was unhappy?”
“No, I didn’t. I mean I just got him a meeting with my boss so that they could
listen to his demo and possibly sign him to the label. I was even helping him
with his songs. Which they loved by the way. But no, Mom, I did not see this
coming. At all.”
Or maybe she just ignored the signs. Now that she thought about it, he did show
some cheater tendencies. The other night she smelled Stephanie’s perfume on his
clothing. The fact that he didn’t want her to come to any of the recording
sessions anymore. How he insisted on using Stephanie on the tracks although
Philip wasn’t that happy with her voice.
Denial. That’s what she was living in. Denial. But she was always taught to
never jump to conclusions. Ask the right questions to get the right answers.
Wait until you have proof before you go accusing anyone of anything. Well she
had followed the rules. And the truth came to light.
“Well baby, don’t let this get you down. I know it hurts but trust me the pain
does not last forever. There will be another guy that will be 100 times better
than JT. That guy will love you and cherish you and never hurt you. One man’s
trash, is another man’s treasure.”
“Thank you, Mom. I love you. Please don’t tell Dad, he didn’t really like JT
anyway. If he asks how we’re doing, just tell him that I broke up with him but
don’t tell him why. It’s embarrassing.” Diamond waved down the livery cab
coming down the street.
“I’m getting in a cab now and going home. I’ll talk to you later, Mom.” She
hung up the phone as she hopped into the backseat. The driver sped off after she
gave him directions to her apartment. She let her head fall back against the
seat. Her phone rung. JT’s photo appeared on her screen. She rejected the call
and blocked his number. Her mom’s words replayed in her mind,
one man’s
trash is another man’s treasure.
She’d always heard that statement, but
today it had a whole new meaning.
# # # #
Diamond waited for JT in front of the coffee shop not far from her job. He
arrived fifteen minutes after the time they’d agreed upon.
“Hey,” he said and leaned in for a kiss.
Diamond turned her head. He kissed her cheek.
“Are you going to let me explain?” he asked.
As if there was anything to explain. Seeing a man naked in bed with a woman was
pretty much self-explanatory. “Can I please have my key back?”
“So you’re not going to let me explain?” He put her house key in her hand. “It
wasn’t what it looked like, Diamond.”
“Did you get your phone turned over to someone else’s name?”
He folded his arms. “So it’s all about business with you I see.” He stared at
her for a minute. “Yes, I did get the phone turned over from your name.”
“Good. Then it looks like we’re done here.”
“So that’s it? It’s like that, Diamond?”
“What did you expect, JT? That I would forget what you done just because you
can come up with some bogus excuse as to why you were naked in bed with another
girl?”
“You didn’t even let me explain to you.”
“There’s nothing to explain!” she spat. “I caught you! Point blank period. You
can’t explain.” People stared at them. She was done being his fool. “Have fun
with Stephanie.”
JT called after her. She kept her head held high and walked down into the train
station. She rarely took the subway but she needed to get out of sight. He
wanted to explain. Explain what? Explain how Stephanie had come onto him and he
was too weak to say no? Explain what position he had sex with her in? Explain
what? How about explaining how he could purposely hurt someone that he said he
loved.
She loved JT. She couldn’t deny that. She coudn’t deny that not having him
around wouldn’t hurt. It would hurt. It did hurt. It wasn’t regular pain. It
was the someone-just-cut-your-heart-in-half-with-dull-scissors type pain. 
Diamond curled up on her couch. “I blocked his cell number so he’s been calling
my phone at work for a week now. I keep sending him straight to voicemail.”
“What is he saying?” Kimmy put a spoonful of cookies and cream ice cream into
her mouth.
“Just the same thing over and over again.
Baby I’m sorry, I messed up,
please forgive me, please call me back
.”
Kimmy laughed. “I like your JT voice. You know you actually sound like him.”
“I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Either I sound like a dude or he sounds
like a girl.” Diamond managed to smile. Something she’d rarely done since the
breakup.
“I never did ask you and you definitely didn’t volunteer the info, but did you
have sex with him?”
“Nope. I mean we were moving fast but not that fast. That’s probably why he
cheated. But he never talked to me about having sex. I thought he was cool with
us just doing the
other
stuff.”
“Maybe he never said anything because he was getting the real deal from other
chicks the whole time.”
“Ewww. Just the thought that I could’ve been going behind some other chick.
Gosh, Kimmy why did you have to put that thought in my head.”
“I’m just sayin’.”
“I’ll be making a doctor’s appointment soon. Who knows what he was doing.” She
shook her head. “He’s not giving up though. He’s been waiting for me outside of
work wanting to talk, begging for another chance. I keep telling him there’s
nothing to talk about and in life you’re not guaranteed a second chance so you
have to do right with the one chance you do get.”
“Exactly. I’m sure he’ll give up eventually though.”
She took the ice cream from Kimmy and ate a spoonful. “I hope you’re right or
I’m going to have to find another place to work.”