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sixteen

. . .

“You good?” Staysha asked from where she had perched herself on the vanity counter minutes ago.

She studied how her sister cleansed her face, moisturized, and attempted to tame her mane.

Nerves. Eden had always appeared confident even when the weight of life was so damn heavy.

Staysha always admired that – how Eden carried such heaviness with such grace.

“Yeah,” Eden muttered, as she began detangling her curls, something she should’ve done last night while she was poring over her eight pages of lines. “Why?”

“You seem...antsy,” Staysha pointed as she motioned her over. “They said, wear your natural hair?”

“It’s going to be the easiest thing,” Eden said, moving closer to her sister. “The character has this big curly hair. I can make it like that if I can detangle and diffuse it.”

“Alright, so why the nerves. Like you haven’t been in front of a camera before.”

Eden sighed and bit her tongue. She’d been trying to eliminate the negative self-talk from escaping her lips since learning she got the role. However, it was just as poisonous if she let it fester inside.

“What was it Poppi used to say? Them quiet thoughts will kill you, say that shit and be done with it?” Staysha attempted, recalling their late grandmother’s words.

Eden smirked and then tears pricked her eyes. “That was it, word for word. You know, it’s days like today I miss her the most. When I’m feeling like I'm not enough or that maybe allowing myself to be sold this dream wasn’t the right thing.”

“As opposed to what? Still tricking and trapping in Trae Way? I don’t know about you, but you believing that dream changed my life.

I know everything sucks right now but today might just be the realization that you are really that girl.

Been that girl,” Staysha spoke as she tended to the right side of Eden’s hair. “I’ll be there with you.”

Eden released a sigh of relief.

“Don’t get too hyped. Keon asked me to come on full-time on MB’s team,” Staysha announced.

Eden stopped brushing her hair to look at Staysha in the mirror. “What does that mean?”

“That means that you’re going to have to be okay walking into rooms by yourself and trusting that you’re in the right place. Who knows, maybe a few years from now, you’ll have your own company.”

Eden smirked, recalling the deal Mama made with her. “Make something out of yourself and your sister.”

“What scares me is being without you, but I know you can’t be tied to my hip forever.”

“No, I can’t. The only thing is don’t go getting no new bitches that’ll use you as a scapegoat when shit hits the fan.”

Eden chuckled bitterly and started to finish her hair again. “You’re the only bitch I need to give and soothe the headache.”

“As long as you know.”

“Yeah, that you’ll get us into trouble?”

“Good trouble because we always have fun, don’t we?”

Eden offered Staysha a blank expression. “Can’t recall.”

“You’re right, I got us into some bullshit. Like when I was trying to finesse that undercover detective, and you had to spin around a pole.”

“I will forever be the worst stripper in history because I wasn’t stripping and I damn sure wasn’t letting them niggas touch me,” Eden laughed. “I literally shook some ass and walked around the pole.”

“Thank God that lying ass Natavia popped up when she did because we would have been broke.”

“More than we already were?” Eden asked in laughter.

“Girl, we were broke as hell. Considering our grandmother was a queenpin who died with nothing to her name. Which is why whatever you got planned has to work, I cannot go back to Trae Way as a resident. And I can’t spite Poppi like that. She wanted so much more for us.”

“Trust me. You had me, now I got you.”

Back in Trae Way, back at Midnight, back in the belly of the beast. Eden didn’t at all feel like this was the homecoming worth celebrating.

Standing on the stage, looking at the pole and the camera crew set up, was a stark reminder that if none of this worked, this is where she would end up, again.

The thought made her stomach lurch. Being one of the girls throwing up in the bathroom wasn’t how she wanted to start this day.

Eden took about four steps back before she was back to front with a warm being.

“Oh shit,” she hissed, jumping at the contact and out of the hold. As she spun around, she was face to chest with Maximus. “Trae-MB-Max- I... Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

Somehow, he still had a hold on her. His large hands barely holding her elbows. A slack smirk crossed his face, easing the fear grappling at her stomach. “Max is cool. You good?”

Eden nodded, stepping out of his hold because comfort outside of Staysha hadn’t been something she’d felt since Poppi departed. As she wrapped her arms around herself, she looked around the space. “Yeah, just recalling my time here.”

Maximus squinted under his thick brows, letting the files of his memory flip through until he found the exact moment. His fingers snapped, and his slack smirk turned into a full, charismatic grin.

It was Eden’s turn to squint. “What?”

“That’s where I know you from.” Maximus wouldn’t tell her that he’d found himself on her page more times than he could count or that listening to her GRWM or ASMR’s helped him fall asleep. Appearing like a stalker wasn’t a way to start anything.

Eden’s brow popped up. “From here?”

Maximus bobbed his head, pushing his hands into his pockets. “You’re Poppi’s Girl.”

Eden nervously laughed. “Wow, yeah. I haven’t been called that in years. It’s still not clicking for me, though. I kinda blocked that whole year out. You know, trauma, grief and shit.”

“Oxygen guy,” Maximus shared.

Eden thought about it before it finally came to her. “Ah yeah. So, what are you doing here?”

“Keon and Staysha got me the part of the DJ. My trailer was too small to focus, so I started wandering. Went from moving packs in and out of here to filming some shit for TV.” Maximus looked around. “This shit is crazy.”

“Indeed,” Eden muttered. “So, you and I should probably figure out the flow of these lines. I’ve been going over them with Stay, and the trailers are definitely too small.”

Maximus’s smirk turned into a smile. “Sure, you ain’t too shy for that?”

Eden rolled her eyes and chuckled as she sauntered over to the leather sectionals brought in by the prop department. “I’m not shy per se, cautious maybe.”

“Heard you,” Maximus buzzed, as he took a seat to her left. He looked down at the script at all the highlighted parts.

“You got them memorized?” Eden asked, earning her a look from Maximus. His eyes were dark but danced like diamonds, suspending her in whatever this was possibly brewing between them. She shook the thoughts away because – no.

“Somewhat, just ain’t that confident with this yet.”

“How do you remember your bars?”

“They play in my head day and night.”

Eden nodded as she pulled out her phone and placed it on the table. With her voice memos were recording, she continued. “Okay so let’s just read through and play it back so you can hear yourself. The first scene is in the parking lot.”

Maximus laid the script on the table and glanced down at his lines.

“Ready?”

He nodded, yielding to her. Eden liked that. Maximus had a way of not overpowering a room, and whether he knew it or not, he was the most powerful in the space. His energy was unexplainable. Comforting?

Eden’s eyes pulled from his and peeked at the script.

Morgan enters the scene from a nearby parked car. She’s been waiting impatiently for DJ Two Tymes to appear. The couple is in the middle of tension and hard decisions around his decision to pursue his music full-time.

DJ Two Tymes’ posture tightens as his girlfriend approaches

DJ Two Tymes: I’ll holla at y’all inside

He gives his two companions a special handshake. They exit to the right. Morgan and DJ Two Tymes are standing in silence.

Morgan: One of us has to say something

DJ Two Tymes looks down at her. In awe of her beauty but disappointed in her lack of support. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and leans his back against his car.

DJ Two Tymes: You said everything you needed to say this morning. All that shit about me throwing my life away and blowing up yours? What the fuck is that about, Morgan?

Morgan: Elias, I-

DJ Two Tymes: What?

His words are sharp and bitter.

Morgan’s eyes water.

Morgan: I was upset. For as long as it’s been me and you, it’s been me and you. This runnin’ off to LO changes it all for us.

DJ Two Tymes: It changes it all for you. Not me. You got mommy and daddy to run back to if some shit falls through. All I got is me, Mo. You either getting on board with me or you’re moving out of the way.

Morgan’s eyes drop. Tears spill. She doesn’t want to lose him.

Morgan: I don’t want that, E. I want us.

DJ Two Tymes: you ain’t fuckin’ actin’ like it

Morgan swipes the tears from her face.

Passing by is a group of giggling women. They’re strippers.

Stripper 1: Heyyyy Deuce

DJ Two Tymes flexes his jaw. He offers them a half nod and focuses on Morgan fully.

Morgan: It’s not that I’ve never supported you. I have. But you’re wrong. It changes it all for us. The lights, the women, the access to whatever, whenever. Where does that leave me? Don’t mistake what I’m saying, I’m proud of you. But I'm scared. And if you leave without me, then what?

DJ Two Tymes: I'm not trying to leave without you, Mo. That’s what I’m telling you and you ain’t hearin’ me.

Baby, it’s been us. You been doing all the shit, you think I like that?

My woman going to work, falling out with her family for me?

Fuck no. This is my time to step up and be the man you need. The nigga you deserve.

Morgan looks up at DJ Two Tymes. She’s taking heed to his words.

DJ Two Tymes: I won’t stay here because you scared of some shit that won’t happen. That I won’t let happen. Fear can’t rule our shit no more. So, what we doing?

Morgan shrugs.

Morgan: I-