Music.Lust.Odyssey, Pt. 6

(O.K i know i haven't been posting this story the way i should be but it's only 3 more parts so let me knock em out. here's part 6. be happy and hush. LOL)

The weather provided for a great outdoor occasion. It was a Saturday, fairly warm in Los Angeles. Lloyd had been in and out of interviews and television stations with Yung Berg for the past three days. They were in a very good place with one another developmentally. Currently, they both were due to the red carpet for an award ceremony at which the two were nominated individually.

With about 50 feet between himself and his partner, Lloyd stopped for a moment to take pictures. After about 15 flashes, his attention turned to an interviewer, who also happened to be one of his friends. “Hey hun, so tell me, back when you were first releasing this album did you expect it to generate this much success?” she asked quizzically, with a smile. “Well you know, I was kind of experimenting a little more. You know, trying something somewhat out of the box for myself. I didn’t wanna stray too far from my comfort zone and what I’m used to. But, people seem to appreciate it and at the end of the day if I love it and they enjoy it that’s all I’m going for,” he replied. “OK that’s good to hear. You just celebrated your birthday not too long ago, right?” “Yea, I definitely did. It was pretty fun; I’m just feeling really blessed at 23 right now,” he said, sporting a genuine smile. “OK, that’s good to hear. Will we be seeing a performance from you this evening?”

“Well I don’t wanna give anything away but I won’t say you won’t” he said in return. “Alrighty then! That sounds good to me. So this should turn out to be a very eventful gathering today. Thanks for chatting with us, honey!” she said. “Anytime, sweetie,” he said as he made his way forward. Yung Berg was out of sight at this point, so he continued on his way down the carpet. It was about another few hours before they found each other again, coincidentally just before Lloyd was up for his performance.

“There you go, boy!” said Yung Berg, placing a hand around his waist as they walked into the dressing room. “Wassup, baby,” said Lloyd. It was his first time addressing him as such, and he liked the sound of it. “I know something you don’t know…” said Yung Berg, grinning mischievously. “What? What happened?” asked Lloyd, struck with curiosity. “Well I’ll save it as a surprise for you,” said Berg. “Well I been liking yo’ surprises lately; I’m not sure if I can wait,” said Lloyd, placing on his silver and gold Chrome Hearts brand frames. “You’ll be ‘iight” said Berg, kissing him once before he turned to leave. Just as he did, one of Lloyd’s bodyguards as well as his personal assistant, Nic entered the room. Nic gave him a nasty look as they passed one another. He was distrustful of him, almost disliking, and it showed. “OK, you on in 10 bruh. Ear piece, mic, essentials waiting for you at the stage. Let’s do it,” he said, gesturing Lloyd toward the door.

Lloyd delivered a stellar performance, to which the crowd was incredibly receptive. So much so, that he even decided to let them have his shirt. After the performance, he returned to his dressing room, with good news awaiting him. His typical entourage of backup dancers, friends, and bodyguards, excitedly delivered him the good news. “You won two awards already! Best Male R&B and Best Collaboration, with Ludacris!” said his manager. He was ecstatic as if it were one of his first awards, and very appreciative. From behind him, Yung Berg grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to give him a reasonably sized black case. “What’s this for?” Lloyd asked, taking it from him to open it. “Well I knew about your winning a li’l ahead of time, so I felt it was only necessary,” Berg replied.

Lloyd opened the box, and inside was a diamond-emblazoned chain. The large, sparkling, diamond and ruby letters spelled “Polite” with a smaller “Baby, You’re A Winner” atop. “Damn, son! I didn’t expect nothin’ like this,” said Lloyd, placing it around his neck, fascinated by the unexpected gift. “Nothin’ major,” said Yung Berg, examining how his young lover looked wearing his new chain. Others in the room generally kept to themselves, gazing upon it occasionally. Other than Nic, who stopped to comment. “That’s a real friend. Bought you something, WOOOW. That musta ran you sum’n nice,” he said speaking sarcastically to Berg but not looking at him. “Nothin’ MAJOR. Just a gift for my hard working best friend” he replied. Nic scoffed under his breath at the comment. “I gotta go knock out this photo shoot. I’ll probably catch you at Mr. Chow later,” Berg said to Lloyd before his departure from the room. Lloyd had a party to attend after the event, and began to change attire accordingly.

After the remainder of the show had concluded, he was soon on his way to the party; at which he didn’t plan on staying very long. It was about 10 PM when he arrived. The club was moderately active, with majority of the crowd being celebrities and associates of. With his bodyguards and close friends nearby, Lloyd took to his table and ordered himself a drink before socializing with whomever brought themselves in his direction. The party was hardly peaking, and it was obvious. A rep for an ad campaign he’d been in talks with took a moment out to speak with him about the business side. “It’s been a moment; but I spoke with your assistant about a week ago about the whole deal we’ve been trying to work out. At this point it’s looking as if we’d have you on about three different photo shoots, and maybe five to seven commercials, since it’s such a big thing and we’d need a lot of material to work with from every artist. If we committed about two weeks to the entire thing, we could probably get this done sooner than expected. I don’t wanna throw too much at you immediately, so how’s this all sound to you?” he finished. “Well I’m definitely in agreement with you for the most part. I’m sure once we get me officially signed on getting it done will be like nothing. I’m just wondering about the timing,” said Lloyd, thinking about how he’d be able to see Yung Berg while working, since he only had the coming week to spare time; since he’d be going overseas soon. “I hate to sound abrasive but with so many other people involved I’m not really sure if too many changes will work. I know you probably have a very demanding schedule right about now,” he responded. “Not necessarily, but—” said Lloyd, cutting his sentence short and wishing he could take it back all together. He knew he’d said too much already. “Well, if this is a social matter I can only wonder how that will work into your professional agenda. I understand we all have personal lives but I think it’s an all-around beneficial opportunity for many of us if you were involved as soon as possible. I mean, it was lucky I even got a hold of you here. I don’t want to make the decision for you, but I just want you to be aware. Your personal endeavors will always be there,” he said. Lloyd wondered how he gathered all that just from ‘Not necessarily’, but nevertheless, he was right. It was a personal matter, and sooner or later he had to realize he couldn’t spend every waking moment with Yung Berg. He didn’t imagine the situation would begin to consume him to the point it threatened his professional life. This worried him slightly. He also couldn’t imagine neglecting his new relationship, for it had become one of his biggest priorities as of late.

In somewhat of a dilemma, he followed his mind. It was hard for him to do, because his heart spoke so loudly. He focused his attention back to the representative and Nic, who’d taken on the conversation himself. “We should go for it. The scheduling won’t be a problem at all,” Lloyd interjected between the two. “Good to hear, I’m sure by Monday morning we can have it all worked out, and no later than Thursday we can get to work. Thanks for speaking with me, by the way,” he said as he got up to leave the table. After he left them, Nic turned to Lloyd, lost and curious. “What’s going on that you need to have so much free time, bruh?” he asked. “Nothin’ really. Just, tired I guess man,” Lloyd lied. “Oh OK. Understandable,” Nic said, though he wanted to say more. He wanted to tell Lloyd how unusual it was for him to not immediately pounce on a deal as big as this. In most cases, he was very business savvy and grabbed an offer by the horns as quickly as possible. However, he left the situation alone and said no more.

More people began to arrive, and the party had just begun to become lively. There was no way he’d be able to make it to Mr. Chow to see Yung Berg, and he hadn’t gotten a call so he figured he would just enjoy himself for the rest of the night. He continuted to drink, speak on occassion with associates and friends, and even made his way onto the dance floor more than once. The atmosphere was most definitely alive and loud. After a long while of laughter and enjoyment, Lloyd’s personal phone rang. The idea of who it might be gave him a jolt to his stomach. Maybe he was wrong and he’d left Berg waiting for nothing. There was only one way to find out. He answered the phone, retreating to an area closer to the entrance, where he wasn’t drastically close to the music. “HELLO?” he said over the still-loud music. “I been tryna call you for the longest, kid. I almost started to think you was avoiding me. Why you been under the radar li’l one?” asked the caller. The voice was too deep to be Berg’s and he didn’t quite recognize it. He lifted the phone from his face to see the contact’s name. “Wayne! What’s good. You know how it be fam, we just get busy from time to time,” said Lloyd. He’d nearly casted aside the whole event that took place at Wayne’s house since he confessed it to Berg, so he wasn’t too nervous or ashamed to be speaking with him. “I’m understanding that. You kinda bailed on me a few nights back. And technically back on ya birthday I did say you owed me a night out. We spent that whole day and night inside. So uh, it’s only right that I get what’s owed to me. Don’t you agree?” said Wayne, suave and mild.

“That sound good to me, dog. If only you were in LA. I’m at this party and I could use a quick exit right about now,” said Lloyd, assuming he was in the clear. “There are perks to being worth millions,” said Wayne. “What you mean?” asked Lloyd. The call ended abruptly. Lloyd immediately assumed Wayne had to be in LA, judging from his last remark. Almost paranoid at the idea of being in the same city with Wayne and Berg together, he even began to consider the idea of Lil Wayne even being at this very party with him at that moment. He had to stay as low-key as possible and wait it out. He was almost 100% sure that he’d be caught if he was to attempt to leave. Being a high-profile singer like he was, catching groupies was a task all too easy. Slowly snaking his way through the crowd, he latched onto the first interesting shorty he passed. She was a good conversation, and the easiest cover up for him at the moment. Once they reached his table, he sat with his back to the crowd and let her begin to chat away. He’d snagged a long-winded one, and he hoped she could go on for quite a while because he had a feeling he’d be sitting there for a long moment.

She proved to be much better than he thought, one full hour had passed. People were beginning to leave but the life hadn’t died in the party. He was sure the coast was clear of any possible Wayne appearance, and yet she still continued on, talking his ear off about just about anything she could. Without a doubt, she could have gone on for at least another day or so but she was useless to him any longer. He located Nic, rounded up his body guards, which were just about the only people left of the group he’d showed up to the party with from the awards. He then prepared to leave. They were headed back to the hotel. Unknown to the rest, he and Yung Berg were staying in the same suite that night, alone. He sort of figured there would be tension when he got there, but nothing he was especially worried about. It was a regularly busy day, so he wasn’t unusually tired as they headed back in the truck. The fact that Wayne hadn’t showed up that night made him wonder even more about what he really meant, if not that. He didn’t burden his mind with it however, because he didn’t feel it was all that important anymore.

3:11 read the time as he walked into the hotel, dead-set on going up to his suite and relaxing for the night. After assuring everyone else that he didn’t require anything else of them, he finally went into his suite and was granted peace and quiet. Yung Berg hadn’t made it in yet, but Lloyd made nothing of it as he undressed to get into bed. Before he knew it, he began to drift off to sleep. Before doing so, he put his phone on its charger and turned the power off as he did so. The last thing he was looking forward to was any unexpected calls while he tried to sleep. It was times like this he wished he could just turn his mind off. When he actually made an attempt to get to sleep, he simply couldn’t. Things kept racing through his mind. Even the most unimportant of things, yet whatever it was, he just couldn’t stop thinking about everything. To distract himself until his body forced him to sleep, he turned on the television. To his relief, it finally worked. After a while of watching TV in silence, he managed to fall asleep.

Though he went to sleep alone, he awoke next to someone. Yung Berg, of course. The first time he woke up, he checked the time before he went back to sleep. It was 12:07 noon. That made for a very abnormal day. He usually was up and out long before 10 AM, but this was one of the few odd days they’d have to themselves. He figured once he finally got up, they could go exercise together and talk. He laid back down with him, and slept for about another hour.

“Baby….. Ladi…. Wake up, bay,” said Yung Berg quietly in his ear. It was now well into 1 PM, and it was a wonder that no one had come to the room to wake Lloyd up by now. Lloyd sat upright with Berg, at the end of the bed. Lloyd smiled coyly as their eyes met, once he’d fully awoken and adjusted. Yung Berg kissed him before he spoke again. “You the only person I know that don’t wake up with morning breath,” he said. “Wish I could say the same, but damn baby,” said Lloyd, laughing. “Funny. But look, are you needed today?” asked Berg.

“How come?”

“Because I wanted to plan my day around you today,”

“Not really. What you had in mind? I kind of wanted to exercise today, ‘cuz you know I haven’t been putting in enough hours with Steve lately,” said Lloyd referring to his trainer. “Bet! You can do that. I want to take you lunch afterwards tho’,” said Berg.

“OK, but I get to pick the place, right?”

“Of course,”

“Cool, then as soon as I get done we can do that,” said Lloyd.

“In the meantime, I got a little shopping to do, and I also have to meet with my publicist at 2:30,” said Berg. They proceeded to get themselves fresh and ready. Lloyd left to the hotel’s gym as Berg left the hotel to handle his business. Lloyd took a moment to check up on everyone else, since they hadn’t contacted him yet. He called Nic, who answered immediately. “Hey what’s going on. I thought you all would have been came for me by now,” said Lloyd. “Nah, we just wanted to let you do you, get some rest or whatever you needed. But I’ll make a note of it for next time,” Nic responded.

“No, thats not necessary. I was just wondering, but yea, that was uh… thoughtful. Thanks,”

“No problem. So just let us know if you need anything, and other than that you’re basically clear until The View tomorrow. So yea, i’ll be available,”

“Alright, I’ll touch bases with you a li’l later Nic,”

“Cool,”

“One”

Lloyd hung up the phone and began his workout. He pushed hard, as he always did. It was incredibly invigorating and stress-relieving for him. The gym was mostly empty, other than him and a few others. They kept to themselves, which made it much easier for him to focus on himself. After about two hours on machine after machine, he finally concluded his exercise tangent. He’d built up a sweat, and left for his suite to take a shower.

He entered his room, in a very good mood looking forward to a a shower and a calm afternoon with Yung Berg. He took off his shirt on the way to the bathroom, but his shower plans came to a screeching halt as he did so. There on his bed, sat Lil Wayne, browsing through his phone. “Just the li’l dude I been waiting for,” he said as he got up from the bed to shake his hand. Lloyd was shocked, wondering how he got in and what he even came for.

“Wassup?” Wayne said, shaking his hand and patting him on his back. Lloyd was quite perplexed, but played it off immediately. “How you get in man?” he asked.

“I mean, it is me after all. I know who you roll with. If I didn’t know better I might think you ain’t wanna see me,”

“Naw, nothin’ like that. Just surprised,”

“So it look like I might have been interrupting you in the middle of somethin’. But if it’s all the same to you, I think I might be feeling a like a shower right about now too,”

“You know I would, but I’m kind of in a rush,”

“To be where? Ya boy said you ain’t gon’ be too busy today. The door locked, we alone. You ain’t gotta be afraid, li’l one,”

‘Nic need to learn to shut his damn mouth’ Lloyd thought to himself

“Truth be told, I’m just tired,” Lloyd lied again, trying desperately to avoid him.

“Then let me put you to bed,” said Wayne, laughing slightly afterward.

‘This nigga is not leaving,’ Lloyd thought again.

“Ok that sounds good. Right when I hop out this shower, it’s me and you,”

Wayne tried to kiss him. For a split second, he almost pulled his face away. However he caught himself and accepted the kiss.

He stepped into the bathroom alone and locked the door behind him.

“Shit!” he whispered. He leaned against the door, wondering how to get himself out of this potentially disastrous situation. A million question began to fly through his mind. At this point all he wanted was to just disappear and make this whole thing go away. Leaving was out of the option, because he’d promised he’d be there when Berg returned, and was sure that Wayne would keep him out well into the night if they did leave. He got into the shower, hoping that he would be gone from the room by the time he was done. He knew that wouldn’t happen…

Even after he was done, he stayed in the bathroom and let the shower run for an additional 10 minutes, practically screaming out for a last minute miracle. He also worried that if he wasted too much time, Berg would return. He opened the door, dressed in his wife beater and a pair of light jogging pants.

“So you fresh for me?” asked Wayne, sitting on the bed again.

“Yeah, somethin’ like that,” Lloyd said grabbing his phone to procrastinate.

Just then, to both of their surprise, in walked Yung Berg.

“Ladi?” he said, taken aback by Wayne’ s presence.

“Chris!” exclaimed Lloyd.

“Wayne!?” said Berg.

“Berg?” said Wayne.

“OK, now that we all know who we are…” said Berg, placing his bag on a table.

“What’s going on, li’l dude. I came by to–” Wayne stopped mid-sentence as he witnessed Yung Berg grab a hold of Lloyd and kiss him immediately.

“Chris!?” said Lloyd, almost forgetting that he’d told him about what happened with Wayne. “Yo, what was that?” Wayne asked.

“Fuck you mean? A kiss, maybe?” Berg retorted.

“Nigga I mean why did you do it?” Wayne said.

“Maybe ‘cuz that’s my nigga. Why the fuck do you care? Nigga you know what’s up,” said Berg, apparently referencing the incident.

“Apparently I don’t. You got somethin’ you haven’t told me?” said Wayne, now talking to Lloyd.

Lloyd kept an extremely straight face and manner, but was completely frozen in fear. He dismissed his scared emotion, and had to talk his way out of this situation.

“No. Nothin’ I feel you should know,” he said.

“Oh, so here I am thinkin’ I’m helpin’ yo ass, ‘cuz you don’t know what the fuck you doin’ or what the fuck you wanna be; all the while you just tryna fuck any nigga you can?” Wayne shot back at him.

“Hold up, I think it’s a lot that ain’t been said and ain’t being said right now. And i’m tired of it. I need some clarity right about now, or shit’s about to get hectic,” said Berg, growing upset.

Lloyd had a lot of explaining to do in a very short period of time, and if he didn’t start soon, things were bound to hit an explosive peak.

“Watch yo’ tone, kid!” spat Wayne.

“Watch yo’ back, nigga!” said Berg.

Things were taking a turn for the worst, and it would only get worse before it got better….