Drama 99 FM by Janine A. Morris Page B

do with his department or his job—that will at least get the ball rolling, and most likely he will want to brag about himself.”
    â€œYeah, well, he comes over to me to ask me about where one of my coworkers is, but then he just runs right off after getting an answer. No ‘thank you,’ no nothing.”
    â€œMaybe he was just in a hurry.”
    â€œYeah, he’s always in a rush, but I just want to at least get to know him a little.”
    â€œYou sound so young, like he’s a crush from eighth grade.”
    â€œIt’s just I’ve been here for seven months already, and I have no male friends, and it would be nice.”
    â€œWhy him?”
    â€œI guess because I work with him. There are no other options, and I think he is cute.”
    â€œThat’s a good enough reason,” Devora replied, laughing. “Well, for starters, try to consider some other options as well, just in case he’s out of your league.”
    â€œDevora!”
    â€œWhat? I’m just saying, just in case.”
    â€œYeah, yeah. Well, I guess you coming out with me this Friday then.”
    â€œI can go out with you, that’s fine. I don’t want you looking all desperate around your office trying to get that boy’s attention, I know that for sure.”
    â€œShut up, ain’t no one looking desperate. I just said I wanted to get to know him.”
    â€œWell, maybe it’s time you start making yourself more noticeable,” Devora said.
    â€œWhat is that supposed to mean?”
    â€œLike wearing different clothes, changing your hair—you know, catching up to New York trends around here. Tyreek is probably accustomed to a certain type of girl. You can at least try to step up your game some.”
    Naomi looked down at the purple knit sweater and Mossimo jeans she was wearing.
    â€œWell, then, I guess you’re going shopping with me this Friday.”
    â€œI guess you’re going to pay me for all my services rendered,” Devora replied.
    They both laughed.
    â€œGood-bye, crazy,” Naomi said. “The Wicked Witch of the East will be back soon.”
    â€œLata,” Devora said.
    Naomi hung up and got back to work, sorting through the SoundScan files. SoundScan was the report of all the albums sold for the week; it was released to the industry every Tuesday, and careers were made and lost because of this report sometimes. At the end of the day, no matter how many bottles got popped in a video or how many Bentleys were driven to the clubs, album sales were all that really mattered. A part of Naomi’s job was extracting all the sales figures for all the urban artists and keeping them in a spreadsheet alongside the information on the amount of spins that week. The promotion department where Naomi worked dealt with the artists’ visibility and popularity. Her department promoted the music to radio stations all across the world in hopes of getting records played, and they arranged in-store signings and other events and opportunities to help make the artists more popular. Naomi enjoyed her job; although she wasn’t a big part of the program yet, she believed that, in time, she could be.
    She sat there, doing her work and randomly thinking about Tyreek and all the other cute guys she worked with who never paid her any mind. She wasn’t sure if Devora was right about her needing to update her look—all she knew was that she was tired of spending all her nights and weekends alone at home. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but she knew she had to make stronger efforts to get some attention. Just the thought of talking to Tyreek made her nervous. What should she say to a guy like him? He was a mover and shaker in the business. He seemed like the type of guy who was interested in only money and power—two things Naomi knew nothing about. She knew if she was going to try to find the courage to speak, she had to take advantage