ch22: nothing without you
song1: nothing without you by tanerelle
song2: all of your love by luke james

<evan adebanjo>

Monday
June 19
5:45 AM

𝕱𝖊𝖇𝖗𝖚𝖆𝖗𝖞 14 , the crowd had grown quiet between sets. Lights, red, filled the stage and illuminated the stands while a semi-thick fog seeped out onto the black top of the stage floor, slowly climbing up into the air. There was a light romantic jazz being played while the next performer readied themselves. No one in the audience knew who it would be. They were promoted as a surprise special guest.

amongst the red fog, a white screen descended from above, stopping just before it hit the floor. The music stopped abruptly and a VHS remedied video began to show. A distant, nostalgic laughter echoed in the stadium as the camera panned from meadow to sky and back to find the source of the laughter. two lovers laid in the center of a blanket. One rose, readying to run but the other grabbed their hand lifting himself off of the blanket.

"all, all of your love" an eloquent, soulful male voice serenaded the mic from a distance. The singer had yet to show himself. no music had been played either. It was just the sultry voice of a man in falsetto against the backdrop of this nostalgic laughter and romantic sequences on the screen then silence.

Two rows from the front sat a young couple, pushing thirty. The two stood close. The shorter taking the space in front of the taller wrapped in the arms of the other. Swaying together to the piano and synthesizer that created a soothing, sultry melody. "All of your love. Please?" The voiced echoed, begging from a wing of the stage. A shadowed figure emerged from the darkness on the edge of the stage, crossing over into the midst of the thick fog. The crowd began to go wild as he sat down the stool he carried with him. "How y'all feeling?" he said into the mic, taking a seat. It was then the world stopped for one individual in the audience. "Make some noise if you gettin' some lovin' tonight." He swooned. The crowd "ow'd" and hooted and screamed in response. The spotlight was now illuminating his face. His large toothy smile was now clear to whomever may not have been familiar with is voice. Now, his face had replaced the sequences on the screen. He glowed from the inside, dark brown skin twinkling underneath the stage lights.

The piano had been playing in the background. Then a voice not belonging to anyone on the stage rang about, "ladies and gentlemen, Luke James."

He sang passionately for all of the couples in the audience spending their Valentine's Day at this show. He sang one other song which he stood up for. He danced across the stage on beat, watching the crowd as he serenaded them with his sultry, vocals. He danced from the left of the stage to the right where he clocked a familiar face near the front of the stands. He stayed on this end, singing to the folks in this area while watching the familiar face. He thought he might've been hallucinating or dreaming, maybe wishing he'd saw who he thought.

The familiar face in the audience belonged to the taller of the young couple two rows from the front. When he finished his set, he'd figured out a way to check, "home team, where y'all at? If you from Detroit, make some noise for ya boy." He looked right at the familiar stranger who hesitantly cheered. "Yeah, alright. I see you, home team. Y'all enjoy your night."

Cole sprang from his sleep, clutching his chest, breathing heavy with sweat covering his forehead and back. He barely caught his breath, "he was there." He got out. It was six in the morning in the city of Warren, Michigan. The sun had been up almost an hour but that wasn't what woke Cole from his sleep, it was the confirmation.

Barely wiping the sleep from his eyes, he got up and walked to the bathroom. He sat on the toilet calling Evan. The phone rang a few times before he answered. "Cole, what up doe?"

"You sleep?"

Evan groaned, stretching his bones after only sleeping for approximately two hours before Cole's call woke him. "You know I don't sleep, bruh. What up?"

"I just had a dream."

"Mm Mm." Evan protested, "Don't tell me no more of your dreams, bro. I can't even take it no more."

Cole laughed, "It ain't one of those dreams. It was about Lonnie. It was a memory actually." His raspy, tired voice echoed through out the mostly porcelain bathroom, "Remember the Valentine's Day show I did last year? The one you came to? You was backstage. I was a surprise guest."

"Yep."

"Well, I thought I saw Lonnie there. I thought I was trippin'. I was watching this couple the whole time and in my head I'm like, 'he's dead, he's dead.' You know? Like, 'fucking Cole, it ain't him', right?"

"Mhm."

"Then I got off stage and you was there and you was like, Cole, you good? It look like—

"You seen a ghost." They said at the same time, but Evan gave it more emphasis, exclaiming his understanding of the story.

"So, now I know I wasn't trippin'"

"Damn, that's crazy, fr."

"It just pissed me off though. The more I think about it."

"What you mean?"

"If he wasn't dead, then why the fuck he never reached out. Then, he was at my fucking show and ain't even say shit to me?"

"How was he s'pose to get back stage?"

"That's beyond the point, Ev. The point is, I—" he put his hand over his mouth wiping the anger away, "Never mind."

There was a silence building between the two on the phone. Shuffling could be heard on Evan's end of the call. Once he settled, he opened his mouth to speak, "Well..." Ev started hesitantly, "you ain't gone believe this, Cole."

"What?"

"I saw that Nigga back in Detroit."

"What? Where? You went to the cook out?"

"What cookout?" He asked, "No, he came to the loft looking for you."

"To the loft? When was this?"

"Like, I guess almost two weeks ago." He responded, "I was getting up from the couch to get something to drink and I saw this folded up sheet of paper slid under the door. So I picked it up and opened the door and he was walking away."

Cole interrupted the recollection of the story asking, "So, did you talk to him?"

"Nigga, I did more than talk to him." Evan said proudly, insinuating that it wasn't just a casual conversation. But, Cole heard something else in that 'more'.

"What?" Cole asked confused and slightly disgusted.

"What? No! No! Cole, seriously?" He stared at Cole through the phone, "I mean, I got some information that you need to know." He explained, shaking his head.

"Like what?"

"Where he been at. Why he left."

"I already know why he left. Because of what he did."

"It's more to the story, though. You gotta hear it from him."

"Why I can't hear it from you?"

"Because it ain't my story to tell, Nigga. Plus, he kinda crazy. You ain't tell me that Nigga was crazy."

Cole cocked his head to the side and asked Evan what he meant. He wondered what he could've done or said and how long he would've had to been at the loft for Ev to come to the conclusion that Lonnie was crazy. Ev Didn't give him much more information other than he needed to go talk to Lonnie which Cole continuously objected to.

"Cole," Evan started, "I don't give a shit what you think about this nigga and what you think you know about this nigga. You need to see him and watch him as he tells you what happened to him. I promise you, you have no idea."

"Why would he trust you to tell you where he been and what happened? He don't even know you."

"I think he just really needed somebody to listen. But, he didn't tell me everything. I know it's much more to the story which isn't my business, that's why you need to see him. And I told him that."

"You told him what?"

"I told him to go see you and you was gone talk to him."

"Man, what?" Cole disapproved, "How long ago was this?"

"I said it was like two weeks ago."

"But we talked since then." Cole told him, receiving a nod from the other end, "What you think? You think the dream mean something? Should I call him or something?"

"Ion know, Cole. How about I see if he wanna come up with Sam and get back witchu later?"

"Appreciate it. Get some sleep." He ended the call, flushing the toilet. He rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands, then stared at himself in the mirror that sat across from the toilet. He could feel the anxiety creeping up on him as he thought about the upcoming day. He felt it last night and he felt it as he laid down to go to sleep. After washing his hands, he went back to the bedroom where he laid down on the bed, belly up, staring at the ceiling. He rolled over, snuggling up to the warm sleeping body on the other side of the bed.

The person hummed, relaxing into Cole's embrace and he fell back to sleep just as quickly as he'd awakened not ten minutes ago. He woke up again a few hours later, alone, and to text messages from Evan letting him know the details of was coming in today and his schedule for the Juneteenth event he was performing at later on in the day. What stood out to him, though, was that Lonnie's name was not on the list.

p: 07.03.2021
e/rp:12.05.2024