CELEBRITY CRUSH

“Everything was fine, or at least I was trying to convince myself it was. He had just finished another great night on his tour. He always was an amazing performer that’s partially what drew me to him.”

There was a long pause.

“Ms. April, please continue.”

“Oh, right, sorry. Tyler and I. That’s his real name by the way, most of you only know him by his stage name. We share that kind of bond. Only I, and his mother, call him Tyler.

“Ms. April, can we stick to the meat and potatoes of the story?”

“Fine. I started off as just me being a typical fan.”

“Just to clarify, what started off, Ms. April?”

“Our relationship.”

“Okay. Please continue.”

“I know what everyone is thinking. I’m some crazy fan girl who didn’t actually know Tyler. I’ve seen the blogs, the news articles, and the fan comments, but it’s not true. We were in love, we ARE in love.”

“Understood, Ms. April.”

“Like I was saying, it started off as just me being a fan. I loved his songs and music videos, and then I started asking my parents to buy me CDs, posters, and other merch. I had every magazine that he was on the cover of, and I still have them all these years later. A magazine interview is how I found out that Tyler is only half a year older than me, plus he's an Aquarius and I’m a Gemini, our signs are very compatible. It’s like it was literally written in the stars for us. That’s why I insisted on being called by my husband’s last name, Mrs. Cooper.

“Ms. April, there is no legal record of Mr. Cooper and you being married.”

“Oh, that minor detail. Is that why you guys insist on using my maiden name? Because we don’t want to jinx it. You guys are so thoughtful, but trust me, I have it all planned out. I didn’t keep all those magazines of his for nothing. I’ve tapped our pictures together on manifestation boards for years now. Our wedding, the honeymoon, us consummating the marriage. The only reason I haven’t added our children is because we haven’t decided if we want to go the whole Jay-Z and Beyonce’ route yet.”

The only response that could be uttered was, “Right.”

“Sorry, I’m getting distracted again. Where was I? Oh, right! After I was old enough to start purchasing things on my own and had graduated college. I started going to as many shows as I could. I was at his show in Vegas, the one in Miami, Houston, Detroit, and I had bought tickets to the show in Chicago but it was cancelled because Tyler got sick. By then we had already met though.”

“And when did this meeting happen Ms. April?”

“You know how famous men are with their groupies and partying, and like I said, I was out of school and living on my own so I didn’t have to worry about my parent’s curfew or class the next day. Tyler partied after every show, so I made sure I was at every party.

“There has to be some sort of higher level security when dealing with celebrities though, right? You couldn’t have been allowed to just walk in.”

“Many women wait years for their dream guy, and then wait even longer for their dream guy to finally propose. Waiting after a few concerts was nothing.”

“So how did you get in?”

“In the first couple cities I didn’t have much luck. The third city I finally made it into the party, and in the fourth city I made it into his section. You know what they say, true love will prevail. From there it was easy once we were actually introduced. He followed me back on instagram, and even invited me back to his room. Of course, I didn’t want to scare him off, so I let him entertain those whores, excuse me, I mean young ladies, for the time being, but that didn’t last long.”

“And why didn’t it last long Ms. April?”

“Well to put it simply, it didn’t last long because they didn’t last long. At that point I was basically traveling on tour with Tyler. It was a new city with new girls every night. I was the only constant, but I was meant to be the only one, period. I started introducing the whor-, uh, ladies, to the other guys on the tour. The drummer, the bass player, the sound guy. A blind woman could see what Tyler and I have, but clearly not these women, because there was always one that couldn’t take a hint.”

“So what did you do then?”

“I wouldn’t say I did anything per say, but incidents started happening. An entire tray of drinks fell on a girl. She was so embarrassed she left. One girl got into a fight with another girl because someone started a rumor that she told Tyler she had crabs. Then there was the girl that tripped right in front of Tyler and I, falling flat on her face. If only you could see how much blood was coming from her nose, and if only she had seen whose foot it was she tripped over. Ugh! The things we do for the ones we love, am I right?”

Everyone in the room looked at April in disbelief.

“Ms. April, would you mind skipping to the night of the fight between you and Mr. Cooper? The night that everything went wrong.”

“You guys and the media are so dramatic. Couples fight. It’s perfectly normal.”

“Okay, so tell us what transpired from your point of view.”

“Well, we were on the last few dates of Tyler’s tour. There was this one fan that was in the front row. You couldn’t miss her because she was dressed like a complete slut. She was dancing all around ruining the show for everyone.”

“Witnesses say the young lady was dancing and enjoying the show the same as everyone else. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“You know everyone is so woke these days. They were probably just trying to be politically correct. Trust me, it was clear she was desperate for attention. It was to the point Tyler brought her up on stage and gave her the attention she clearly didn’t get as a child so she would stop making a fool of herself. Tyler has always been considerate of his fans in that way.”

“Then what caused the fight between you?”

“After the show Tyler was saying how tired he was, and how he wasn’t going to the club tonight, he was just going to head back to the hotel and get some rest. He told everyone else they should still go have fun. I only found this out later when I showed up to the club and he wasn’t there, and asked Tommy, the drummer, where he was.”

“This is when you went to the hotel by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“You must’ve already had a key to the room then?”

“Well, I said I was basically travelling with them, not actually travelling as a part of the tour.”

“In other words, you were just following them around the country.”

“Tomato, tomato. I got to the hotel and acquired the number and key to Tyler’s room. I truly am a caring girlfriend so I just wanted to check on my baby, but when I walked in…”

“Ms. April, go on.”

“That whore from the front row was straddling my fiance in the bed!” A fire only described in the bible flashed in April’s eyes.

“And then?” There was a pause. “Ms. April, and then what happened?”

“I blanked. I only recall Tyler yelling at me, ‘What did you do? What did you do?’ over and over. The first thing I noticed was a stinging sensation all over my arms and then the bruises on my hands. Then I finally focused my eyes on what was right below my hands. There she was half naked with the cord from the hotel phone wrapped around her neck, arms still stretched out reaching behind her, scratching at my arms, similar marks on my hands from the cord as on her neck. She was as still as a stone. In my opinion, she should’ve sat that still in her seat at the concert.”

“Are you saying that you killed the girl Ms. April? Is that a confession?”

“What I’m saying is, all is fair in love and war.” April looked down to the cuffs around her wrist, then back to the prosecutor. “I guess there’s truth to the saying.”

“What saying Ms. April?”

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”

“I’ve heard enough,” Inserts the judge. “Alicia April, you have been found guilty, and are sentenced to 15 years for voluntary manslaughter.”

April smirks as says, “Anything for my love.”

Ezell DeJon Jones is from Flint, Michigan. He's currently pursuing his BFA in Creative Writing at Full Sail University. When he’s not working on his storytelling as an author, you can find him doing it in the form of songwriting, singing, and rapping. Follow him on Instagram @dejon.duh