Casting Down Imaginations by LaShanda Michelle

for the food.
As she was giving him his change a female came behind him and gave him a hug.
He turned around to see who she was, then his eyes darted in my direction to
see if I was watching. I didn’t divert my attention. Whoever this tramp was,
she needed to let go of him before I jumped up from this table. They didn’t
know me in Daytown. I would act a fool over what was mine.
    After he
got rid of the girl, he got our food and drinks and came back to the table.
    “Who was
that?” I asked him. Neither one of us was in the mood to argue, but I had to
let him know I didn’t like what I saw.
    “Just
some groupie,” he answered nonchalantly.
    I
nodded. I was discovering there were a lot of them around. But my man couldn’t
help it. They came along with the territory. Any girl would do anything to get
the privilege of being with him. He was a local celebrity. He was always
working with different people, getting his name out there. He did shows in
Dallas and Houston all the time, and he was even talking to someone to get
statewide air play on the radio. My baby was about to blow up. And when he did,
I was gonna be right there with him. These other girls didn’t have a chance.
    I
decided to change the subject. “So, how’s that song you were working on the
other night? Are you getting anywhere with it?”
    He
stuffed a fry in his mouth. “Awh, man,” he said. “Adam and I stayed up so late
working on that track. But we got it done though. Hopefully it’ll be ready so
we can do it at the show in Dallas this weekend. You still coming with me,
right?”
    Here we
go again. I’d been telling him I had to study this weekend for the past three
days.
    “You
know I have to study.”
    “Come
on, girl,” he whined. “I need you there with me.”
    “Baby…”
    He
reached over and took my hand. “Come on, girl. I need you to be there for me.”
    As bad
as I wanted to go, I just couldn’t. I’d been to those concerts before, and I
was sure it would be just like all the others. It was going to start about ten
thirty and end around two, and then everyone would go to the after party and
drink and act a fool until they passed out, which was usually around six a.m.
    “It’s
not that I don’t want to go,” I told him. “I just got too much work to catch up
on. You know I told you I skipped the first two weeks of class. I’m lucky I’m
still in school. I can’t afford to mess up, baby.”
    He shook
his head, not wanting to give up. “You know I won’t be able to rock the crowd
unless you’re in my corner.”
    “Yes you
will,” I assured him.
    “No I
won’t.”
    “Listen
baby, when you do your next show in Daytown, I will be right there for you. I
just got too much riding on next week and I can’t mess up.”
    He
grunted. “Come on, girl…”
    “What
about all of the times you rocked the show before you met me?”
    “I
wasn’t nothing without you.”
    I was
flattered. It felt good to be desired by a man of his caliber.
    “Come on, Nya…”
    “Alright,
fine,” I surrendered. Maybe if I stayed up late Friday night studying I could
stay backstage and study while Reese did his thing. That way I could make him
happy and take care of my study needs at the same time.
    He
stuffed food in his mouth, grinning from ear to ear.
    “But I’m
going to be studying backstage. And no after party.”
    He
gulped down some of his soda. “Hey, that’s fine with me baby,” he said. “As
long as you there with me, I don’t care.”
    I felt
someone’s eyes burning my back. I turned to see who was starring at me. Two
girls sat at a table in the back of the restaurant by the door, and one of them
watched me like she knew me.
    “What is
her problem?” I asked aloud.
    He
looked up. “Oh. That’s just Tasha.”
    “Tasha?
Who the hell is Tasha, and why is she looking over here at me like she wanna do
something?”
    He
shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    He was
lying.
    “Reese,
who is she? And don’t say you don’t know