Page 34 of Scoring Chance
Thirteen
Let me pick your Afro, Daddy. One side is flat.
Smell and smoke of patchouli filled the small space in Sydney’s loft while Erykah Badu’s soothing voice boomed from the stereo. Sydney began to sketch another piece for her art show, inspired by the singer. She drew a black couple with a man sitting between his woman’s legs as she carefully picked out his Afro.
She called it, “The Sun and the Moon.”
She remembered how she briefly had her hair in cornrows and Dean helped her take them down with a comb. It was the little things he did that showed her how much he loved and cared about her, despite it all.
While Sydney was being soothed by neo-soul and incense, it didn’t take away from the pressure of her first major art show with a world-renowned gallery. The Ferguson was considered one of the best art museums in the world, constantly pushing the buttons of profane, indecency, classic, and simplistic art.
Many artists who had been toiling at their work for years would often go unnoticed and unrecognized. Sydney was presented the opportunity of a lifetime just by being what she liked to deem as “InstaFamous.”
Now, she needed to put other people’s monies where her mouth was.
She finished working on her piece when she took a break to receive a phone call from Ian. “Hello, King Manager.”
“King Manager?” Ian repeated with a chuckle. “I like that. How are you doing, Sydney Rose?”
“Working away, trying to get these pieces ready for the show.” She mentioned. “How are you?”
“I’m doing well. Just checking to see how my number one artist is doing. I spoke with Quinn the other day and he’s very impressed with the work you’re doing on the mural. He actually stated he might have underpaid you.” Ian replied.
“Yeah, speaking of which,” Sydney took a swig of water, “that’s a lot of money you negotiated on my behalf.”
“Was it too little?” Ian asked.
“Too little?” Sydney realized Ian’s brokering was a bit of a game to him, like how a normal person would haggle a price with a vendor. “The man is paying me six figures.”
“And that’s just the start,” Ian began, “Sydney, you have a lot of talent and people are willing to pay for it. The moment you sell your first painting for a million dollars is when you’re officially in a new game and different tax bracket.”
Her dream was coming true but Sydney wondered at what cost? She’d followed enough artists in different mediums to know once they had a little fame and more money, their art had changed and not necessarily for the better. Everyone wanted to be mainstream without realizing how much soul it took to get there. “I’m afraid with the more money I make, the more people will try to dictate what I should do next.” She worried. “I don’t make art to please the peanut gallery.”
“And you shouldn’t and you won’t,” Ian guaranteed. “I do have another interested buyer in purchasing your art. He wants to buy the one with the little girls that have halos over them.”
Sydney drew a picture of several multiethnic girls with halos over them, while each girl was wrapped in a different country flag. She titled the drawing, “America the Beautiful.” “Ah, that’s a popular one. I was going to put that one in the show, though.”
“It’ll go in the show but we’ll make sure no one else can buy it,” Ian stated. “The buyer is willing to pay sixty thousand to make sure no one buys it.”
Sydney spit out her water. “S-s-s-sixty th-th-th-thousand?”
“When I say you’re about to blow up, Sydney Rose, you’re about to.” Ian stated. “Let’s meet for lunch later this week to work out a few more details regarding your show. We’ll be in touch.” He then hung up.
Sydney stared at her phone for a long while.Sixty freaking thousand dollars???She could remember the day when she didn’t even have sixty dollars in her bank account. Now she had so much money coming in, she truly didn’t know what to do with it.
Was she going to buy designer shoes? Maybe a pair or two. What about that Louis Vuitton? Maybe. She’d always wanted a particular one as well.
After paying off her bills and storing a nice chunk away for savings, Sydney already had an idea what she wanted to do with the money. Dean was about to get the surprise of his life.
~~~~~
“Now this,” Kyle Blake sat back in the VIP section of the Barely Legal nightclub and grill, “this is how you celebrate a marriage.”
Dean treated Jameson to an expensive dinner at one of the best steakhouses in town to celebrate his new marriage to Sarah, inviting their other teammates and friends to join. After the dinner, the men went to a strip club to continue the evening’s festivities.
“Just remember there’s no sex in the champagne room,” Dean mentioned as he became comfortable on the sofa. He briefly double-checked to see if there were any particular stains before he sat down. “And let’s keep it nice and clean tonight, fellas.”
“Bump that noise, bro.” Caleb Swagger sat in a lounge chair across from the men.A mammoth at over six feet tall and built like a linebacker, Caleb had the charm and suave of a thousand men; hence his last name. He was soon joined by a buxom blonde who made sure the carpet matched the drapes. “I don’t have a girlfriend and I’m ready to get as nasty as I wanna be tonight.”
