Synergy (11 page)

“
Jason
Taylor
?”

Dee
shrugged. She wasn’t sure whether Shaneeka was asking a question or
simply expressing her surprise.

“Girl
, he’s like mad famous, and you
hitting that
!”

“
Shut
up
!” Dee growled, elbowing her friend
again to keep quiet, but as they looked at each other they both
began to laugh excitedly. It did feel weird to know he was so well
known and she was messaging him right now.

Before
Shaneeka could get a chance to start stalking his profile, Dee
pulled her phone from her friend’s hand.

Chapter 9 – Friends

Jason

After
spending a week quietly at home, Jason felt like he was going to
pop from all the food his mother and grandmother were feeding him
with. He knew it was their way of showing their love, and he
appreciated it so much, but he knew by the time he got back on the
road, his stomach would thank him for the break. Today, his
grandmother had come over to make him a stack of pancakes with
bacon and maple syrup. It looked delicious. Before he started to
eat, he took a picture of it and uploaded it to the internet, like
most people did these days. It was kind of normal now to show
people your meals, especially one this good. Today, he could excuse
all the calories he was going to consume for his breakfast as he
had a full day planned on the golf course with his friends and
stepdad. When he was a kid, his stepfather had always took him to
play golf and taught him everything he knew. He always thought his
stepfather could have gone pro, but he always said things were
better enjoyed as a hobby than a career; otherwise they wouldn’t be
a hobby anymore. Jason didn’t think that was true, after all, he
loved his job more than anything, and singing had of course started
off as a hobby.

His
biological father had also played golf, and sometimes he had taken
him as a kid too. However, when his father got remarried and had
another two sons of his own, he started to take them out onto the
golf course instead, sometimes forgetting about Jason. His
stepfather Paul had never let him miss out. Whenever he was upset
that his father hadn’t shown up to take him out, or had spent the
day with his other two sons, Paul would take Jason out himself.
Paul was like a real dad to Jason, and he never forgot what he did
for him growing up. Having no children of his own, Paul treated
Jason like his own and they had a special bond, half father/son and
half friend. Taking his stepfather out with his friends wasn’t
weird in his book; they all got on like a house on fire. One of
Jason’s good friends was actually his cousin anyway, so family was
always involved with his friends.

Tom had
already rang him twice this morning to check it was still on today.
The first time he rang Jason’s phone that morning, he was convinced
they had organised it for the next day. As his wife had planned to
go out herself, it meant he had Lydia to look after. He had told
Jason to leave it with him and he would figure something out. The
second time he had rang, he told Jason not to worry as Carmen was
now going to change her plans so she could stay in with Lydia.
Personally, Jason didn’t understand how Tom was so unorganised when
it came to his personal life, when he was a personal assistant as a
career. He was a good one, at that. Tom had never, ever messed up
any of Jason’s meetings, shows, interviews or the like. However,
ask him to schedule a haircut for himself and he was sure to turn
up on the wrong day. Jason found it funny, really.

As Jason
devoured his pancakes and bacon, his grandmother kept topping up
his orange juice and asking him personal questions, such as when
was he going to find a nice lady to bring home? And when would she
have great-grandbabies? Jason knew his grandmother meant well, but
he honestly wanted to answer with it was probably never going to
happen in her life time. She was already in her late seventies and
he hadn’t even met a woman yet, let alone got married or got
someone pregnant. He didn’t imagine it would ever happen for him,
he was far too focused on his career, and as bad as that may sound
as an excuse, that was just the way it was and nothing could really
change it, unless someone extremely special came along. He already
had a high profile romance when he was younger with a fellow
musician, and it proved to be too hard. They hardly saw each other,
and the longer they spent apart, the more they grew apart. They
began to get jealous of the other if they spent any amount of time
with someone of the opposite sex, and in the end, the trust just
wasn’t there. If anything, the break up had helped his career. It
gave him new avenues to explore, new songs to write on heartbreak,
more racy videos to film now that no one could get jealous from it.
He just wasn’t sure how someone would handle him and his career
now, he felt like he would probably have to choose.

At
around 12 in the afternoon, Jason, Tom, Paul, and three of their
friends made their way onto the golf course. They had all stopped
by the bar first to get some beers for the course, and were
chatting as they made their way to their first hole. Jason loved
coming to his golf course, mainly because he now owned it. Using it
avidly as a child and a teenager, once he had money and had already
done all the things he should do, buying his family houses and
cars, he bought his favourite golf course. It meant the staff here
were like family, they all knew him and his family and the drinks
were free. When he was working, his stepfather would come here
often with his friends and fans would also often come to play,
hoping to see a glimpse of Jason. It was great for the clubs
revenue, and meant more people were coming to the area. He was
happy for it, and appreciative that even when they did come to see
him, they never bothered him. They would take pictures from afar
and watch him play, but never interrupt his time with his family.
He loved that about his fans.

As the
game began, he felt at ease, relaxed. The sun was shining down
heavily and his sunglasses were protecting his eyes from the rays.
The sun felt good on his skin and the cold beer soothed his thirst.
He planned to stay most of the day, and he knew after they headed
home with a suntan, slightly tipsy, his mother would have cooked
them something delicious for dinner. It really was the perfect
life, he couldn’t complain.

Dee

As
Tushaun heard the click on the opening of the front door, he turned
to see who entered.

“
What up, what
up
” a man’s voice said, before the
silhouette of his body came into view from the door. As he came
closer, Tushaun and Dee saw a man’s face come into view as the door
was pushed open. Thomas Ivan Palmer, or Tip to those who knew him,
had been friends with Dee since their teen years. Over the years as
they’d grown older, she could now call him her best friend
alongside Shaneeka. As he entered the room, Tip smiled and bent
down to avoid hitting his head on the door frame.

At 6”6,
he stood taller than most people in any room. He had always towered
over his friends, even as a teenager, and just when he thought he
couldn’t grow any taller, he kept growing. He’d once read that
basketball player Michael Jordan’s recorded height was 6”6 and it
made him regretful that he never ended up in the same
career. 

In
school, Tip was always playing sports. He felt like he didn’t even
have to try that hard sometimes, like his natural height gave him
the advantage he needed over the other kids who maybe had the same
skill as him. When he was around thirteen, he decided he would get
himself a scholarship to play basketball in college, but he never
got there. Like many in his school, he fell victim to the peer
pressure of the streets. It only took one car crash when he was
fifteen and he shattered his knee into tiny pieces. Though he had
surgery, the orthopaedic surgeon told him the break was so bad, it
couldn’t be pinned or screwed, and so he had a pallectomy; an
almost full removal of his kneecap as it was so badly shattered.
From then, his dream was over. He had some physical therapy, but
his knee was never the same, and so without an actual scholarship
or hope of continuing, he quit sports pretty much
altogether.

As Dee
watched her friend duck through the door, she smiled as her son ran
over to him in excitement. Tip bent down to pick Tushaun up and as
he pulled him to his shoulders, Tushaun squealed in excitement. Tip
was tall to a lot of people, but to the two-year-old, it was like
taking a trip to the moon.

“
How you doing
lil’ man?”
 Tip asked, as Tushaun
rested his hands on his shaved head as he sat contently on his
shoulders, going along for the ride.

“Good
,” Tushaun replied, as Tip
moved across the room to where Dee stood.

Dee was
prepared for his arrival, wearing some of her highest heels so she
didn’t feel as dwarfed by him. She was used to feeling short
generally anyway, but with Tip it was always to another level.
Wearing flat shoes around him just wasn’t doable. She remembered
the first time she met him, when they were thirteen, and he’d
called her a short ass. It was safe to say they didn’t get onto the
greatest start, but soon their words were used more for fun than
insult, and they became best friends. Most people thought they were
a couple, but they both always had other partners, and they saw
each other more like brother and sister as they grew up. Tip was
the first boy she felt she could talk to because he actually wanted
to listen to what she had to say, and wasn’t just interested in
what was in her pants.

“Hey Beautiful
,” Tip said as he
moved to her small frame, bending down the best he could as Tushaun
balanced on his shoulders. Dee reached up and received the kiss he
planted on her cheek and smiled.

“
Hey yourself stranger, where you
been at?”

Tip rolled his eyes in reply. “
Baby
mama drama
”

Dee
nodded in understanding, and moved to the kitchen, gesturing for
Tip to follow. As she went to the fridge to look for them some
beers, she asked him what had been happening. Tip had four baby
mamas in total, and they all had their own issues, so when he told
her he was having baby mama drama, it really could be any one of
them, for any number of reasons.

Tip
always looked bad to people when he told them he had five kids to
four moms, but people didn’t know the history behind it. He had
actually had his first son when he was only fourteen. It was a case
of horny teenagers that didn’t know about protection. It was stupid
but it had happened and he couldn’t go back and change it. He
wasn’t a father to the child when he was a teenager; he really
wasn’t in that frame of mind. The mother wasn’t either, and so her
parents had taken responsibility of the child. From then, the
baby’s mother stopped talking to him and got into a bad crowd.
Consequently, Tip had only got in touch with his child when he was
seventeen and he had got a third lady pregnant. It wasn’t easy
trying to get access to Tyson; by that time he was already three
and didn’t know Tip from anybody, but luckily, his grandparents
were understanding. They were actually pleased that he’d made the
effort, as sadly, the child’s mother Janelle didn’t. She saw him on
the odd occasion but by the time she got heavily into drugs, her
visits became more sporadic and her parents banned her from seeing
the child.

Tip’s
second child came along when he was sixteen to an older woman, a
woman ten years his senior. They’d met at a party, and he was in
awe that an older girl was interested. Technically, it was probably
rape since he was still fifteen at the time, but he made no
complaints. His second son Makai allowed him to grow up a little
bit, as he took responsibility for his actions, and was part of his
life. While the woman moved on and got married, she allowed him to
see his son on occasions and made the time for him to come over,
something he appreciated as he grew older. By the time he was
eighteen, Kara, Tip’s on/off girlfriend through school had twin
girls by him. Lovelle and Lilly sealed the deal for him, and he
moved in together with Kara. He really did fall for her, and the
two of them raised the twins happily.  Two years ago, they had
another daughter, but Sienna was stillborn. Tip had heard of
couples who broke up after suffering tragedy with children, but he
never understood it. After all, he loved Kara with all his heart.
He thought she was his beginning and his end, but something changed
in her when Sienna died. She became different, distant. They went
through all the usual stages of grief together. The denial, the
heartache, the anger and confusion, but when all was said and done,
Kara didn’t want to know him anymore. She said she loved him but
she never kissed him, never hugged him, she was never intimate. He
couldn’t live with it anymore so he had to leave. He could still be
a dad to his girls in another house.

As Dee
pulled two cold bottles of beer out of the fridge and proceeded to
open them, Tip told her of his latest drama. Dee listened intently
as she handed him a beer and then bribed Tushaun with the TV remote
so he would leave the room for the remainder of the conversation.
She didn’t want her young son listening into something that was
bound to be messy. Tip leaned against the kitchen counter after he
put Tushaun down and swigged on his beer before
starting.