One Man's Trash (5 page)

EIGHT
Diamond walked into her apartment. She locked the deadbolt and put the chain on
the door. She placed her two grocery bags on the floor in front of the fridge
and headed to her bedroom to get out of her work clothes.
“Oh. My. Gosh. What the hell?” She put her hand up to her mouth in disbelief.
Had the Tasmanian devil come through her bedroom? Her clothes were hanging out
of her drawers, some were on the floor. Her sheets had long slits in them like
Freddy Kruger had made a surprise visit. Her desk drawers had been turned
upside down. Somebody was definitely looking for something. But what?
She stepped over her pillows and stood in front of her closet. Someone had
opened her fire safe and taken all of her music journals. A lifetime of music. The
key to the safe was still in the lock. There was only one person who knew where
she hid that key. JT. Did he break in and steal her music journals? Who else
would have…could have done it? There was no one else who knew about the key, no
one else who would benefit from taking her journals.
How did he get in? The door was locked when she got home. She smacked her palm
against her forehead. The key. He made a copy of the key. She shook her head.
Get locks changed. Another thing to add to the list. Diamond pulled herself up
from the floor. She checked her room to make sure that nothing else was taken. Her
journals were the only thing missing. This was definitely JT’s doing. He was
mad because she wouldn’t give him those songs for his demo.
What did he think was going to happen now? That she would come crawling back to
him just to get her music back? What he didn’t know was that she had all her
songs copied onto a flash drive stashed at her mom’s house and she has the
copyrights to all her music. Let him try to use any of her music, she would sue
his ass so fast!
After she cleaned up everything, she put her food away, invited Kimmy over and
they ordered pizza. She had lost the energy to cook dinner.
“I can’t believe he did this, Diamond.” Kimmy cut JT’s face out of the photo
the three of them had taken in Times Square. “Are you going to call the cops?”
“No need.” Diamond smiled to herself as Kimmy nonchalantly butchered every
photo with JT in it as if she was working on an arts and crafts project for
class.
“I don’t know why you didn’t change your locks after you broke up with him.”
“I honestly didn’t think that fool would have made a copy of my key. What was
the point of that? Was he anticipating us breaking up or something?” Diamond
picked up a photo of her and JT at the park. She took an extra pair of scissors
and cut the picture in half. “I was nothing but good to him. I can’t believe
he’s doing this to me as if I was the one that cheated. He forced me to break
up with him.”
Kimmy gathered all the little JT heads scattered across the floor and tossed
them into a plastic bag. “So what are you going to do about working with him?”
Diamond shrugged. “I haven’t thought about that yet. They haven’t signed him
yet so it’s a possibility that they won’t. He still has to come up with two
songs to present to the Board. But if they do end up signing him then…I don’t
know.”
“Diamond, you are too calm about this. It’s almost scary.”
She laughed. “Kimmy, if I don’t force myself to be calm about this madness that
has happened in the past few weeks, I will lose my mind. I may even kill this
dude. He is trying his best to drive me crazy. But like my mom always told me,
focus on the things that you can change. I can’t change the fact that he
cheated, I can’t change the fact that he stole my music but I can change how I
react to the things that he does to me. And I can change my damn locks.” They
both laughed.
“In all seriousness, he can’t use my music without legal issues. I have proof
that every song he has is written by me. So this little stunt right here, it
won’t get him nowhere. I’m not worried about it. He’ll get his, in due time.”
# # # #
The next few days went by in a blur. Diamond decided not to tell her parents. She
didn’t want them to worry about her. She had new locks and a security system
now. Besides she hadn’t seen or heard from JT. Apparently he thought he had gotten
what he wanted so she was the last thing on his mind. She guessed Stephanie was
busy keeping him entertained anyway.
She loved JT but she was by no means in love with him. She knew what being in
love was like. When you’re in love you wake up every day hoping to get the
chance to breathe the same air as that person. You go out of your way to make
sure that they are happy and that their needs are met. You cry for weeks
because they have a girlfriend and don’t even know that you exist. You make
them a homemade copy of a love song that you wrote specifically for them.
You give them said love song in hopes that it will spark a desire for you in
their hearts like you have for them. Each day you wait, hopeful that it will be
the day when they tell you that they want to be with you. Five years and she
was still waiting. Still hopeful.
A familiar laugh knocked Diamond back into reality. She stood to look over her
cubicle. JT walked out of Phillip’s office with the biggest grin on his face
like he had just hit the lottery. He and Philip exchanged a handshake. He sent
JT away with a congratulatory pat on the back like a proud father would his
son.
Diamond stood outside her cubicle with her arms folded. She had hoped this day
would never come. From the look on both their faces, Tri Records had agreed to
sign JT to the label. He walked toward her, never losing his smile. He stopped
in front of her and rested his arm on her cubicle.
“Diamond, it’s nice to see you.”
“What are you doing here?” She already knew the answer.
“Tri Records just signed me to their label. Aren’t you happy for me?” A wicked
grin was etched across his conniving face.
“Thrilled.”
“And I owe it all to you. So thank you for all that you did for me. You really
know how to take care of your man.” His evil laugh made her skin crawl. “See
you around.” He walked past her.
“Oh JT, I know it was you. And while you’re walking around here with that smile
on your face, you should know, I have backups and everything is with the Library
of Congress.”
The joy drained from his face. Take that, jerk! He turned around and slithered
down the hall like the snake that he was.
“Congratulations!” She called after him before he rounded the corner out of
sight. Now it was time for Diamond to sport a wicked grin. She did a one two
punch in the air.
Team DeeAye 1, Team JT 0.
Her phone beeped. “Yes, Mr. James,” she said into the receiver.
“Diamond, can you please come into my office. I want to speak with you about
the listening party.”
“Sure.” Diamond hung up the phone and walked into Philip’s office.
“Have a seat.” He waited for her to be seated before continuing. “I wanted to
share some good news with you which I’m sure you may already know. We signed JT
to the label! He’s a part of the Tri Records family now.”
If only he knew the truth, he probably wouldn’t have been so enthusiastic.
“That’s awesome and yes, I did know.” She faked a smile.
“We have three new artists, including JT, that we are showcasing at the
listening party next week. I know that you have been putting in extra time
making sure things are set up. I want the staff to arrive two hours early to
help the artists to do their final sound check. Everything else should be taken
care of. Are you bringing anyone with you? Friends? Family? Boyfriend?” A
fatherly smile spread across his face.
“No family or boyfriend. Just my best-friend, Kimmy.”
“Oh, okay. Well at least you have someone to keep you company.”
Diamond nodded. “Mr. James, I wanted to ask, did the Board give any specific
feedback on JT’s demo?” She wrung her hands in her lap.
“It was okay. Honestly, the song that the Board really liked was the one that
he co-wrote with you.”
Did that mean he didn’t use any of her other music?
“Which brings me to my second topic of discussion,” Philip continued. “I know
that you minored in music and you have a passion for songwriting. That song you
did with JT, was extremely good. I could hear that song being played on the
radio.”
“Really?” He definitely had her attention now.
“Really. I discussed things with the Board and we would like to see more of
your work. We love your originality and your sound. With the new artists that
we just signed, we’re open to hearing new material that may be featured on
their debut albums. The more options we have the better.”
Her heart did a somersault. Did she just die and go to music heaven? Did he
just say that he wanted to see some of her music?
Philip leaned forward and propped his elbows on his desk. “I want to give you
an opportunity to present some music to us. No promises that we’ll use it but I
believe you have something there worth exploring.”
Diamond pinched her wrist. Nope she wasn’t dreaming. “Mr. James, I don’t know
what to say…I. Yes, yes, of course. I would love to show you some of my work.
This is such an honor, just to be considered. This is so awesome. I would say
that I’m speechless but I can’t really be speechless because I just keep
rambling on. But I don’t know what to say. Thank you. Thank you.” She nodded
forcing her mouth to stay shut.
Her right leg bounced with excitement. She had to get out of there and run into
the bathroom where she could cry. Or scream. Or do her happy dance. Or cry,
scream and do her happy dance all at the same time. 
“This is a really big opportunity and I’m excited for you.” He stood from his
desk and outstretched his hand. “Keep up the good work, Diamond and no matter
what comes of this, keep writing. Okay?”
“Yes sir, I will. Thank you again for…everything.”
She made a beeline for the bathroom. She checked every stall. Empty. She stared
at her reflection. As if an imaginary DJ had turned on her favorite song, she
happy danced in the middle of the floor.
“Diamond Rochelle Anderson,” she said breathless, “you are on your way girl!”
She high fived herself in the mirror, and blew a kiss up to heaven. She
straightened her clothes, took a few deep breaths to calm her excitement and
exited the restroom.

built
up inside

A
passion for you

that
I try to hide
Diamond’s
mouth dropped open. Her heart sank into her tummy.
She held onto Kimmy’s
arm to steady herself.
“Diamond, what’s wrong?” Kimmy whispered.
JT made eye contact. Her tummy danced in circles. A warmth ran through her
body.

I have this feeling that just won’t go away

A
feeling, I admit, I want to stay

I
become overjoyed
whenever you speak

My heart aches for the love
only you can give me
He hadn’t erased it like he said he would. Diamond looked over to Philip and
the execs. They were enjoying the song.
Her
song. He stole her song. She
felt her feet move but she wasn’t sure where she was headed until she landed on
stage yanking the mic from JT’s hand.
“You bastard!” She dropped the mic on the floor. “You stole my song!”
A darkness filled his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
As if he didn’t know. “Don’t try to play me, JT. You stole my song. You thought
I wouldn’t recognize my own music just because you put another beat to it?”
Philip walked up behind her. “What is going on here?”
Diamond turned around. Her and JT yelled over each other trying to get their
point across. “Wait! I can only hear you one at a time. Diamond, what’s going
on?”
“That’s my song, Mr. James. He stole my song. I recorded it at his house one
day and he promised me that he would delete it. He didn’t delete it.” Diamond
tried to gain control over her emotions. Her chin trembled. Do not cry. Do not
cry.
“Mr. James, I did not steal her song. Why would I do that? I know you have all
your songs copyright so why would I steal your song?”
Diamond spun around on her heels. She pushed him hard in the chest. “You know
that is my song. Do you really think I’m going to let you take my song and pass
it off as if it’s yours? I wrote that song when I was seventeen years old. I
told you to erase it because it holds sentimental value to me. How could you do
this, JT? I got you here! You’re here because of me and you want to steal from
me? What did I do to you?” So much for not crying. “What did I do to you?”
“Diamond.” Philip soothed her back “Diamond, sweetie, we can get to the bottom
of this. But we have to do it offstage.”
She faced Philip. Tears streamed down her face. She looked around the room.
Time had stood still. Everyone was frozen, watching them. Cell phones recorded the
moment JT had made an ass out of her. In front of her boss and her co-workers
and other industry folks that she didn’t know. Not to mention the millions of
people that would probably see this on YouTube in the matter of hours.
Philip told them to meet him in the back. He then apologized to the audience
and introduced Token to the stage.
Diamond walked briskly to the backstage area near the dressing room. JT moved
with no urgency. Philip showed up seconds after them.
“Diamond, now please tell me that you have some kind of proof that you wrote
that song? You’re going to need proof that you wrote the song or it’s just his
word against yours.”
“It’s not her song, Mr. James. I wouldn’t do that.”
“Diamond?” Philip didn’t acknowledge JT. “Can you prove it?”
Thoughts whirled through her mind. Could she prove that song was hers? She
pulled at her lower lip. She had proof. She just didn’t
have
the proof.
She looked at Philip. “I can prove it.”
“Okay, JT, you can’t sing that song anymore until this issue is resolved.”
“How can you do that? You’re just going to take her word over mine?”
“JT, there is no reason for Diamond to get this emotional over a song if she
didn’t believe that it was her song. I have to take her reaction into
consideration. I can’t just ignore this accusation. It’s a very serious one. So
for now, you can’t sing that song.”
JT huffed. “So I can’t perform tonight?”
“You can perform. Just pick another song.”
“But—”
“Pick another song,” Philip interrupted. He placed his hand on her shoulder. “Diamond,
are you okay? Do you need me to call you a cab?” He asked with genuine concern.
“No, sir. My friend will see that I get home alright.” Embarrassment settled
in.
“We are going to settle this okay? I take these things very seriously. Go home,
get some rest and we will speak about this on Monday.”
She nodded, texted Kimmy to meet her out front, and exited the side door. She
had to prove that it was in fact her song. There was one person that could put
an end to this whole ordeal. But did he still have the copy of the CD she made
for him in high school? How would she contact him? He hadn’t talked to his
family in five years. He definitely wouldn’t talk to her. But she had to try. He
was her only hope. Ryder Gillian was the last person that she’d ever imagined
needing to come to her rescue. Ever.