Chapter 6 - Lollapalooza

Sadé's POV:

— Day Of Lollapalooza

It was the first of four days to kick off Lollapalooza! I'm super excited because some of my favorite artists are performing, like Doja Cat, Latto, Megan Thee Stallion, Polo G, Lil Durk, Dua Lipa, and Chance The Rapper. Marshall is also performing today, which I'm excited for. I did a little listening party of some of his songs and... they're dark, but I kinda like it. It's just how he describes everything in such a raunchy way. My favorite song of his has to be tied between "Framed" and "Guns Blazing".

Hailie, Brittany, and Evan arrived last night sometime after I left the game. She texted me that she had met up with her had at the hotel since that's where they were all staying, but I offered that I would pick everyone up/drive in my car the day of the festival.  So that's what I was getting for. I had already gotten up, brushed my teeth, showered my body, and washed my face. I got out the shower, did my skincare routine, and moisturized my body, wrapping a silk robe around myself. I went into the kitchen to make myself some coffee and breakfast. Just as I was about to eat I got a text message. It was just Hailie asking me for advice on what she would wear.

After I finished up my food, cleaned up a bit, edited one of my videos to post today, and did some PR box openings for IG Reels and TikTok, I decided to start getting ready. I did my makeup - just something natural, and pulled my hair into a high ponytail, doing my edges and wrapping a red bandanna around it. For my outfit, I paired together a white bodysuit with some bleach-splattered jeans, and some blue jean converse. I accessorized with a Cartier bracelet, Vivienne Westwood necklace, and a white purse even though it would just be left in the car. I went out to my balcony and set my phone up to snap a quick picture for my Instagram feed to update to all of my supporters.

I check my phone to see that it was already 4:34 in the afternoon. I also had a few text messages. One from Marshall from about an hour ago that I replied to:

Marshall

YoI have to be at Lolla early since I'm an act but can't wait to see you

Super excited, thanks againGood luck!

No problemI'll send security for you and Hai when it's near time for my performance Have fun

He responded immediately so just assumed he was in his dressing room or something. The group chat also texted me just now:

Bama, Brittany, Evan, Hailie 🪅

Brittany: Pregame energy *1 attachment* (picture of her drinking white claw)Bama: You already know the vibes*1 attachment* (sends picture back of her drinking shots)

Lol 😂 You guys are a mess

Hailie: *1 attachment* (Also a picture of her with white claw)I guess I'm a mess too 🥳Evan: 🧍🏻

LmaoI'll  be there in 15Hailie what hotel are y'all at?

Hailie: Loews HotelBama: Me too! LolHailie: Girl, come to our room!*sends room number*

I just laugh to myself as I grab my things and head out, confused on how everyone was at the same hotel.

— At The Festival

We had all been at the festival now for about 4 hours. The sun has began to set, and everyone was having a great time, including myself. We were all eating good food, drinking, and dancing & singing to all the musicians! We all hit it off well and were becoming a great group of friends.

A little while later I get a phone call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Sadé? This is Paul." An unknown man speaks.

"Who?" I ask confused.

"Paul Rosenberg - Marshall's manager." The man confirms.

"Oh, Hi! I'm Sadé Myers. How are you?"

"I'm doing well, thanks." He lightly laughs, "I called because the security is having a hard time finding you and Hailie. Where are you?"

"We're by the... Discord stage!" I reply having to look around for a second to see exactly where we were at.

"Okay, me and some security will be over there in a minute. Stay put."

"Thanks Paul."

"No problem."

And with that he hung up.

"Hailie, Paul and some of your dads security are going to be coming for us soon." I yell in her ear so she can hear me over the loud music and all the festival goers.

"Okay, okay cool!"

I then tell the rest of the group that we'll be separating soon but everyone doesn't mind. Evan, Brittany, and Bama actually run off to go find another food spot. They are definitely some foodies, and I don't blame them! The food was delicious.

A few minutes later this tall bald guy with a salt & pepper beard comes walking towards us with 2 huge men, wearing black shirts with the words "Staff Security" written on it. I'm assuming this is Paul.

"Hey Hailie! Long time no see." He says as he bends down, kissing each of her cheeks.

"What's up, Paul!" She exclaims.

"Hey, Sadé. It's nice to finally meet you." He says, giving me a small smile as he shakes my hand.

"You as well." I say confidently.

Must be all the drinks I've had so far since I'm usually shy. I have social anxiety so meeting new people is never easy for me. He seems nice though.

We walk a bit and get on the back of a golf cart. We ride for about 5 minutes before we get off to go backstage of the T-Mobile stage. We walk through the corridors until we reach a door that says "EMINEM" in golden letters inside of a black star. I guess we're here!

Paul knocks on the door before opening it. We all go inside, finding seats. Inside is Marshall sat on one couch with a brown skin dude that has a tattoo saying "MR.PORTER". He's about the same height as Marshall and has a tapper cut. He looks familiar. I think he was in some of the music videos I watched a few weeks back. On another couch is a white guy with glasses and a buzz cut. Next to him is actually someone I recognize from the music videos as well. I think his name is Royce.

Marshall gets up from his seat and greets us both, introducing me to everyone in the process. I was right, one of them was named Royce, and the one I couldn't quite put my finger on is Denaun, his hype man, and former group mate. There was also Alchemist. Hai and I took a seat on the other couch.

"So what you girls got there?" Marshall refers to our drinks.

"Oh these are frozen strawberry lemonade vodka slushies in a super long cup." I reply.

"Yea isn't this thing cool?! I can't believe they had these." Hailie says with such shock.

Marshall laughs.

"No way? I've been trying to find one of those things all day, man." Alchemist says.

I offer him some of mines, knowing I probably wouldn't finish it. He takes some in a cup and says,

"OH MY GOD THIS IS AWSOME!"

"Yo, you act like you've never had a drink before dawg." Denaun interjects.

"No Naunie, you don't understand. It's like the cup makes it taste different. Better if you will." Al replies, trying to get him to understand.

"You know what? I think you have a point. It's like a secret ingredient." I side with Al, laughing uncontrollably.

Yeaaaaaa, this drink is going straight to the head.

"You guys are unbelievable." Marshall snickers.

We all converse for another hour or so until it's time for Marshall to go on stage. Me and Al even ended up going to get another one of those drinks together.

We all walk to the stage, Hai & I staying on the sideline.

Marshall goes out there and absolutely crushes it! It was super cool to see him performing live. It was nothing like I've ever seen before since it was my first time back stage at a concert. He performed:

Medicine ManTill I collapse 3 AMSquare DanceKill YouWhite AmericaRap GodSing For The MomentSoldier Don't Give A FuckFramedCriminal The Way I AmWalk On WaterStanI Get MoneyIn Da ClubCrack A BottleMonster My Name IsReal Slim ShadyStill DreG ThangForgot About DreCalifornia LoveNowhere FastNot AfraidLose Yourself

He even performed some songs with Skylar Grey, 50 Cent, and Dr. Dre. He glanced backstage a few time while Hailie and I were rapping along to the words and doing little dances. At that point we were drunk beyond coming back.

The concert came to an end and so did Lollapalooza as he was the headliner, closing the show. He gave one final hoorah, flipping everyone in the crowd the bird, and saying his last words while everyone went berserk.

Marshall's POV:

I walked off stage and made my way over to my girls. The show was hella dope! I hadn't been to Chicago since 2014, but they were one of the best crowds I've ever performed to.

"Hey, ladies! How'd you all enjoy the show?" I asked downing an entire bottle of water in seconds.

"It was great, you did so good dad! I'm proud of you!" Hailie beamed, cheesing from ear to ear.

"It was so cool! I've never seen anything like it." Sadé smiled as well.

"Well I'm glad you girls had fun." I said in contemptness.

We all made our way back to the dressing room so I could have a quick shower and change. When I came out, the girls were hammered. They couldn't stop laughing. So much so that they had tears in their eyes, not even making complete sentences. Hell, they couldn't even say complete words to each other, which only made them crack up even more. It was definitely a sight to see. I shake my head in both bemusement and entertainment. I've seen my daughter like this a few time, seeing her grow up and going out with friends, and having to pick her up a few times from the club. However, I've never seen Sadé like this. Granted, I haven't known her for long nor have we hung out enough times.

"Sadé, did you drive here?" I ask, already knowing I'd have to drive her back home. I didn't mind, I'd rather them be safe than sorry.

"YEA! I drove everyone." She said slurring her words a bit.

Shit.

"Ight. Ima drive you girls back."

"What about our friendsssss" Hailie asked.

"Them too. Call them up and see where they're at."

"Okie dokie, daddio."

"Yo what?" I ask, laughing my ass off, snapping me head to Hailie. I know my daughter did not just say that corny ass shit, "Don't ever say that again. It was so wack."

Everyone else just laughs at their distress as well. I give the girls a minute to get themselves together before heading out to the parking lot with some body guards. They surrounded us so that nobody would know who exactly was coming through. Both girls were being held by guards to make sure they wouldn't fall flat on their asses.

"Sae, what car is yours?" I whisper in her ear.

"Ummm, the pink rover." She says barely understanding the question.

She can't be serious. A pink car? That's so extra. I look up and surely enough, there goes a pink Range Rover, sitting looking pretty. She was deadass.

"Told you." She says so matter of factly as if she could read my mind.

She throws her keys my way. I catch them with both hands. Even the keys have pink little decorations on it. And safety gadgets too. This girl is prepared in case some shit goes down because she even has a little pocket knife on it too! Damn.

"Ight I got it from here, boys. Thanks." I say to the guards as I put Hailie in the backseat by the window and Sadé in the passenger seat.

I get in and strap both girls in before I do myself. They tell me where their friends are at and thank God Evan isn't that fucked up. He helps me put Sadé's friend in, who I learn is Alabama, but is also Travis Barker's daughter. I remembered her from when I did a song with him way back in the early 2000s. She was like a little girl back then. Everything always comes back full circle, huh? Brittany just ended up being squished between Alabama and Evan since there wasn't enough seats.

I get ready to drive but before I do I ask Alabama where her hotel is. She just said that it was apparently the same one the rest of the group was staying at. I decided that there wasn't even a point in dropping Sadé off at her house since the majority of us are going back to the same place anyways. So I put the address of the hotel into the gps and start the drive there. It was only 5 minutes away so it wouldn't take long at all. I turn on the radio and play some music as I enjoy the scenery. Not even 2 minutes in though I get a small tap on my shoulder. I look to the side trying not to take my eyes off the road for too long to see that it's sadé, with her hands clasped.

"What's up?"

"Can we get some food? I'm kind of hungry..." she says in the smallest voice possible.

It was actually kind of cute. As if she was afraid I would say no or something.

"Of course. What do you want?" I ask, pulling over so I can put it into the gps along the route.

"Ummm... I don't know. Maybe Taco Bell."

"Ight."

I put it into the gps and drove again. I got everyone's order, including mines, and paid for the food. Sadé tried to pay for it, but I wouldn't let her. It was no big deal.

— At The Hotel

I got everyone situated and in their respective rooms with the help of Evan. Hailie & Evan in one room, Brittany in her own room, and Bama & Sadé in another.

I ate my food and was just chilling in the living room watching some TV. Around 45 minutes later there was a knock at the door. I was confused because I wasn't expecting anyone as it was already almost midnight. Maybe if I don't respond they'll go away. The person knocked again though. I groaned and got up answering the door. To my surprise, it was Sadé.

"Sae, what are you doing here? Everything good?" I ask.

I noticed she's still in her outfit from the festival. She also had two Starbucks drinks in her hand. Where the fuck did she get that from?! We hadn't even gone to Starbucks. She drinks and magically has super powers because how? I'm so bamboozled right now.

"No. Bama keeps snoring like someone's murdering her, Brit is sleep so she didn't answer the door, and I'd rather give Hailie and Evan their privacy. So can I sleep here with you tonight if that's okay?" She asks in that same small voice.

"Sure. Come on in."

I move to open the door wider so she can slip inside. I close it behind her as she sits on the couch. I walk over and sit next to her. She hands me one of the drinks, and I take it with hesitation because I still don't know where she got this from.

"Thanks? What's this?" I side eye the drink, but sip it anyways.

Suddenly another thought hits me. How did she even find my room. I never told her my room number and only Hailie know it. But she didn't speak to her so...

"Wait, how did you find my room?"

"I may or may not have knocked on a few doors. That's also how I found out there was a Starbucks in the middle of one of the floors a few stories down." She grins, looking satisfied with herself.

"Wow. You must've really not wanted to sleep with her." I chuckle.

She just nods her head, zoning out looking at the TV, sipping her drink. Yup. Definitely still drunk. I grab her a bottle of water to drink so she won't feel as bad. I also walk into my bedroom, grabbing a shirt from my suitcase. She's pretty small so it should fit like a gown on her. I don't bother with the pants for that reason.

I go back to the living room and she's knocked out. I gently shake her to wake her up. To my relief she does. I hand her the shirt and tell her she can wear it tonight. She accepts and goes to the bathroom to change. A few minutes later she comes back out and it looks huge on her. She also took her hair out of its ponytail, and took her makeup off, holding her clothes in her hands. It's a mix between cuteness and attractiveness when I see her. She sets her clothes on the coffee table and makes her way back to me on the couch.

"Hi."

That's all she said as she looks into my eyes. I tilt my head, squinting my eyes a bit trying to read her. Only I couldn't.

"Hi" I reply.

"Can I tell you something?" Before I can even respond she blurts out, "You have really pretty eyes."

"Thank you." I clear my throat.

I know damn well I'm not getting flustered over some young girl telling me my eyes are pretty. Mannnn.

"Can I tell you something else?"

"What's up, girl?"

"You're pretty fine too." She says still staring right into my soul.

I know she's pretty drunk right now so I'm taking everything with a grain of salt. That was until she said this:

"I know you probably think I'm crazy for thinking that since I'm like your daughters friend and all, and you're like 30 years older than me. But it's true." She begin to ramble.

"I get it. I'm attracted to you too. It's cool." I say.

Deep down, I know this shit ain't cool. This is my daughters friend. I shouldn't be thinking like this. I make the dumb decision to grab her knee to try to comfort her. I'm only making this situation  more worse than it has to be. She looks at my hand then back up at me. She just smiles. Then she starts to laugh. Now I'm even more confused.

"What's so funny?" I try to hide my smirk.

"Nothing. It's just that you used to scare the living daylights out of me when I first met you." She confesses.

"WHAT?" No way this girl is saying she used to be afraid of me. I do tend to have that affect on people though. So I understand, "Why?" I ponder.

"Because. You just seem and look intimidating. Big blue eyes, don't really smile when you meet people type of thing that you have going on - "

"Hold up, I smile!"

"No you don't."

"I definitely do."

"Only when you're around people you already know. Other than that, it's a no, love." She responds dead serious.

Wow. I can't believe what my ears are hearing right now. I smile... occasionally.

"Anyways, you're also pretty tall, have tattoos and have this voice that screams dominance. It's a lot. So yea, I was a little uncomfortable by you for a good chunk of time."

"Interesting."

"Yup."

We talk a little more until she finally decides she's tired. I give her the bed while I stay on the couch. I check on her a few times until she falls asleep, then so do I.