Aliyah saw it happen in the corner of her eye. The paper disappeared around the building, flying into the shrubs with an audible crinkle. Her fan tried to pin it to the wall but missed.
She stepped in front of him before he turned back. She cleared her throat to get his attention. He snapped around like she poked him. The look on his face was a twisted mess. He seemed disappointed, confused, and starstruck all at once.
“Should I sign the folder?” she asked.
The marker drooped in his hand. He soon remembered his hat and ripped it off his head. He spun it around to offer her the bill. It wasn’t exactly clean.
Aliyah smirked, feeling nostalgic. Signing hats reminded her of her teens. As she autographed, he held onto it like he was ready to fight her for it.
“Don’t freak,” he whispered.
She overheard and replied, “Oh, I won’t.”
She couldn’t help teasing her fans sometimes. They blushed so easily. She loved being sarcastic, especially with the cute ones.
Aliyah was famous for her sarcasm both on screen and off. Her TV boyfriends were often dumb and got the sharpest side of her tongue. Her best lines always came after they did something stupid.
While she signed, the boy whispered something to himself. It put her on alert for a second. It sounded like he was hyping himself up.
“I don’t mean to interrupt the ink,” he said, rapping for her, “But the thing is, you really make it tough to think. It’s like the instincts stink, you so much as blink. So much as swing? And I bet you bust my kitchen sink. Yeah, you already struck hard enough to kink—” His voice cracked. “What you think?”
Aliyah stopped signing halfway through. She never made it to her last name. In her career, male fans were known to flatter, hit on her, or declare their love outright. Nobody ever rapped. Her actor side told her to smile and brush it off. Her real side spoke instead.
“Stick around a minute, yeah?”
The boy nearly collapsed. Every muscle in his face went limp. He was able to nod before mumbling, “Absolutely.” Aliyah thought he might pass out.
Neither took their eyes off the other. She handed back his marker. He grabbed it by the tip, getting ink on his palm.
She nudged her bodyguard afterward. Markus was watching the crowd when she elbowed him. He bent down with a grunt.
“Change of plans,” she said in his ear, “Take this last guy around back. I want to talk to him a minute.”
“Who? Paperboy?”
She snickered. “Yeah. Tiff and Jamal can walk me back. We’ll meet you with the car.”
“You got it.”
They bumped fists. Markus stayed close to signal their team. The other two members waited back at the exit.
It was no secret Aliyah Gavins liked hip-hop. Her circle overlapped with several people in the industry. She loved going to concerts and mingling with the artists. The paparazzi caught her with a rapper once. She acted in his music video, and fans thought they hooked up.
Last year, she helped a rapper get a record deal, accidentally. Her name was Aja Je. Aliyah posted a video with one of her songs in the background, and it went viral among her fans. Aja signed with a label in L.A. the following week. She moved in with Aliyah days later.
EJShaun.com 