Synergy (25 page)

“
Anyway
” Jason began.
“
I need to ask you
something
”

“
Shoot
”

“
So, you know my
albums coming out soon. There’s always an album launch party, and
this year I’m gonna have it at home, in
Tennessee
.”

“
Okay
”

“
I want you to
come, like, officially, as my date. As my
girlfriend
.”

“
What like,
announce it
?”

“
Yeah. Nothing
spectacular, just to say, ‘this is my girlfriend Dee, and yeah,
she’s having my child.’
”

“
Really
?”

“
I just think
people probably already know now so there’s no point in
lying
.”

“
I
guess
.”

“
Anyway, I thought
while we’re here we could kill two birds with one stone, and you
could meet my parents.
”

Dee
stayed silent on the other end.

“
They’ve said we
can stay the night before, so you can get to know each other before
the party, and then we all go the next night.
”

“
Okay”

“
Okay, like, okay,
let’s do it
?”

“
Yeah. When is it
though
?”

“
Saturday. So,
Friday we get a flight
?”

“
I’ll have to ask
my mom to take Tushaun Friday night, and Saturday if Trey doesn’t
come
.”

“
Is he not taking
him this weekend
?”

“
I’m just not
holding my breath
.”

“
That’s sad. Well,
let me know what your mom says
.”

“
I will. I’ll call
her now
.”

“
Okay, talk
later
.”

“
Later
”

Chapter 22 – Flight

Dee

As the
end of the week approached, Dee felt more nervous about the meeting
with Jason’s parents. She worried what they would think of her. She
wasn’t sure that she’d have anything in common with them, and she
worried something would offend them, maybe her bad language or her
upbringing. She thought of all the things that were pretty normal
to her but could sound bad to people who didn’t know her or those
that didn’t share the same lifestyle. The fact she was a stripper,
the fact she sold drugs to get by, or the fact her brother was in
prison. In her hometown, she knew plenty of women that made a
living by stripping, it wasn’t something to be shocked about, but
to somebody who didn’t understand why she did it or how hard other
jobs were to come by, they could find it dirty or seedy. Selling
drugs was also common place, mostly with men, but some women too.
She’d been lucky in a way to have an older brother to teach her to
sell properly, to sell safely, and to know how to avoid trouble.
She just wished the same brother wasn’t spending time inside right
now.

There
were plenty of other things in her past that could shock people if
they came up in conversation. Again, maybe not those in her
neighbourhood, but surely those who had a nice upbringing. There
were things that she’d been through, even at her young age, which
had been hard for her to deal with, things that she didn’t like to
talk about. There were plenty of things that Jason didn’t know
about her past, but mainly because it had never come up in
conversation. Dee had never been one to open up about her feelings,
and she’d always carried around trust issues. She felt now that she
did trust Jason, but a nagging feeling in the back of her mind
always stopped her from saying too much. It was nothing against
him, just the way she felt toward anybody and everybody. There were
moments where she realised nothing that had been said or had
happened so far had put him off her, so she wondered if revealing
something to him would have that affect. He hadn’t been fazed by
the fact she stripped for a living, he had met her in the strip
club and had never mentioned it since. While he didn’t approve of
her drug selling, he hadn’t lectured her or forced her to stop, and
he wasn’t put off by the fact she had a son, in fact, he had gotten
along really well with Tushaun.

As Dee
packed her bag for the weekend, she wondered what it would entail.
She was nervous about attending Jason’s album launch party, and
couldn’t stop thinking about who might be there and how she should
act. He was introducing her as his pregnant girlfriend to the
world, she didn’t want to act like some crazed fan the minute
somebody she liked passed by. She was excited too, through the
nerves. She had always dreamed of making it herself in the
entertainment industry, and wondered what it would have been like
to make it as an actress. She thought when she landed the role in
that music video somebody might have noticed her, asked her to
audition for something else, but, alas, she carried on with her
normal life like nothing had happened. She still got excited though
a little embarrassed when it came on the TV, but since it was years
old now, it rarely did.

Though
the plane ride was only a matter of a couple hours, Dee was nervous
– she’d never been on a plane in her life. None of her family had.
She’d not mentioned this to Jason, as she didn’t think it was much
of a big deal, but as the time got closer, she started to feel more
nervous. What if it was something to be afraid of? She knew people
did have fears and phobias of flying, and it couldn’t be for no
reason, right? She thought maybe she should have told Jason
earlier, but what difference would it make. She wasn’t going to
cancel the trip because of it, and she was sure of all the things
she’d been through in life, this wouldn’t be the worst. So, she
waited for Jason to pick her up in his ride. It had become a
routine now that Jason picked her up, whether he was driving his
own car or a chauffeur was driving. He’d asked after the first
couple of times he’d picked her up whether she drove, and she’d
simply said no. It wasn’t a lie after all, and she didn’t feel like
telling him something so personal when they barely knew each other.
Telling someone you got your license suspended only leads the way
for them to ask why, and then you have to tell them about your
‘criminal activity’ –not exactly the best impression. She decided
this would also have to be the answer should his parents
ask.

It felt
like forever that she sat waiting, with her weekend bag packed,
playing music on her phone and singing along as she waited. Tushaun
was at her mothers, she’d dropped him off a few hours ago, and
there’d been no communication from Trey, so she assumed he would
stay with her mom for the duration of her trip. She didn’t feel
comfortable letting Tushaun go to Trey’s when she was so far away,
and on such short notice, so she’d left her mom instructions not to
answer the phone should Trey call her, and under no circumstances
to let Tushaun go with him for the weekend. She wanted routine in
her son’s life, for things to be planned in advance, not for his
father to give a damn when he felt like it, and have him switch up
his plans in an instance.

Finally,
she heard a beeping outside of her house, and she cut the music off
her phone. As she picked up her weekend bag, she pulled it to the
front door, picking up her keys off the coffee table on the way.
Before she made it to the door, there was a quiet knock before it
opened and Jason stepped in. He greeted her with a small kiss and
took the bag off her, carrying it outside. The Chauffeur had cut
the engine and walked to the boot of the car, ready to pop Dee’s
bag inside. Once Jason had handed the bag over, he opened the back
passenger side door for Dee to get in, before letting himself in
the other side. After they buckled up, Jason turned to
her.

“
Are you
nervous
?” he asked, knowing she probably
had a big weekend ahead of her, with the album party plus meeting
his parents. However, her answer wasn’t what he
expected.

“
I’ve never flown
before
.” She blurted out, deciding it was
best to get it out in the open now.

Jason’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “
You never said
.”

“
I didn’t really
think about it. Didn’t think it was that much of a big deal but now
I’m nervous
.”

“
Wow. That’s
crazy. You’ll be okay though, it’s not a big deal
really
.”

“
People are scared
of it though
.”

“
Yeah, but, people
are scared of heights, are you
?”

“
No
”

“
Doesn’t mean
what’s scary for one’s gonna be scary for all
.”

“
I
guess
.”

“
I’ll hold your
hand
” he smiled, taking her hand across
the seat and rubbing it gently.

Jason
explained the fact that he had a private jet; so actually, the
experience would be a lot nicer than if she was on a regular
economy flight. It made her feel a little better, knowing there
wouldn’t be anyone else around other than Jason and his team. She
thought about the pilot too, and decided since Jason knew the pilot
as a regular person in his life; it was a better scenario than it
being a total complete stranger on a regular flight. Once they
arrived at the airport, Dee saw the jet and she was surprised by
the noise and how big it was. While she didn’t expect it to be
small, it was different seeing it at eye level than seeing them
flying in the sky, they did look small all the way up there. She
was surprised by the interior too. She decided a regular plane
probably wouldn’t look as nice inside, but Jason’s jet was
decorated nicely. It almost looked like somebody’s house, the
amount of thought that had been put into the design. She suddenly
felt a lot more at ease, and once she sat in the comfortable seat,
she sunk into it, letting her fears subside, for the moment, at
least.

As Jason
took his seat next to her, they waited for everybody to come
onboard. Jason’s PA and best friend Tom was last to board, blaming
his wife for keeping him on the phone. Tom sat in the seat across
from them. It was the first time Tom and Dee had met officially,
despite Tom hearing a lot about her, and remembering her stage
performance the first night they went to the club. Dee and Jason
spoke a lot about their friends when they were together, and though
Jason had now met her two best friends, Dee hadn’t met any of his,
so he was excited for them to finally come together.

“
So here she is,
the woman we’ve all been waiting for
” Tom
announced, smiling at Dee. It was a bold statement in Dee’s eyes
and she wasn’t quite sure how to respond, so she simply smiled
back.

“
It’s her first
time flying today
” Jason announced to his
friend, and Tom responded the same way that Jason
had.

“
What
?” he elongated, looking between
Jason and Dee.

“
I’ve never been
out of Detroit
” Dee explained, suddenly
feeling all eyes on her.

The
three of them made small talk while they waited for the flight to
take off. They spoke about Memphis and what it was like, and Jason
told Dee about his family dogs. He had two, Millie and Milo, a
Golden Retriever and a Black Labrador. Dee had never owned a pet
growing up. It wasn’t that she didn’t like animals, because she
did, but her family had simply never had the time for one. Her
mother worked three jobs, and the kids were either at school or out
of the house, so a pet would be neglected. Even now, she was always
out of the house so a pet still wouldn’t be ideal. Whenever she’d
been around other people’s animals though, she got on well with
them. Tip had a male Akita dog named Buster and her friend Keisha
from the club had two cats.

It
wasn’t long before Dee felt movement below her, and as she looked
out of the window to her left, she saw they were moving on the
ground. She looked at Jason with a look of concern.

“
Is this
it
?”

“
We’re just
getting speed, and then we’ll be going up
”

“
Can you feel
it
?”