Page 25 of Call and Response

“Oh damn, I’m your peace? I don’t think a woman has ever said that to me.”

“Shocking.” She laughed. “And I definitely don’t think that’s what I said. Is that what you got from it?”

“Sure the fuck is, don’t backtrack now,” I teased. “Give me a page out of your book, I’m about to write about this shit.”

“Oh, whatever.”

“You think I’m playing?”

I held out a hand and her eyes narrowed in challenge as she ripped out a blank page to give me, then slid me her pen.

I snatched it up with a flourish, immediately putting it to this page.

“She’s saying dick can’t fix her problems, but I think we should try,”I sang, struggling to keep a straight face as I mimicked a talkbox sound from the 90s. “A good distraction never hurt nobody, so come on drop by—”

“Boy if you don’t get the fuck outta my face.” She giggled, shaking her head.

“You don’t like my song?”

“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“Daaaaamn.” I chuckled. “You’re abig-timehater, I see.”

“I’m a woman of many talents,” she mused, taking her headphones fully off now, and dropping them on the counter. She didn’t say anything for a moment as a little smile curled her lips, and then, “Thank you for trying to make me feel better.”

I squinted. “Damn, justtrying, huh?”

“Yeah. Sorry.” She cringed. “You know how I said the comments online wereoverwhelmingly positive?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “But that’s not all of them. You’ve seen some mean shit too, I’m guessing?”

“Themeanest, oh my God!” she mused. “When it would happen to people I wrote for, I would always breeze right past up, and encourage them to focus on the positive comments, ignore the others, but—”

“That shit is about a million times easier to say than do?” I scoffed. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

“It’s wild,” she said. “Like, of course I didn’t think everyone was going to instantly love me or anything, butstick to writing? I hate her voice, it’s like nails on a chalkboard? Everybody ain’t meant for this side of the curtain?And that’s not even thereallynasty ones. These though…”

“They hurt,” I finished for her. “There’s no way around it. You put yourself out there, give it your best, and here comes someone who has probably never done a hard, new, or interesting thing in their lives, trying to tear down your efforts. It fucking sucks.”

She sighed. “Yeah. It does. I’m trying to tell myself not to let it get to me like that, but…damn.”

“Damnisn’t wrong, but I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit,” I said. “That night wasn’t just about your performance. You put together an entire event—”

“I had a team.”

“A team who createdyourvision,” I countered. “That’s not…nothing. And you shouldn’t treat it like it is. You should celebrate.”

“We already celebrated.” She shrugged. “The afterparty, remember?”

“That was the public celebration. What about your private one?”

She shook her head. “There… wasn’t one.”

“Oh nah, we gotta fix that. I’m taking you to dinner.”

“Wow.” She laughed, then sucked her teeth. “If you wanted to take me on a date, you could just say that. Though… I’m a little surprised, coming from you.”

“It’s not a date—a celebration,” I corrected. “And why is it surprising coming from me?”

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