A Phonecall From A Friend.

3 AM. The phone rings, waking Drake up.

“Hello?” He answers the phone, his voice coated with sleep and slight irritation.

“Drizzy.” A stern, yet familiar voice spoke.

“Nicki!?” They hadn’t talked in months. The surprise of the phone called knocked the sleep right out of him. He was wide awake.

“Yeah. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“What?” The anger and accusation in her voice surprised him even more.

“You heard me. What the fuck is wrong with you!?”

“Nicki, what are you talking about?”

“I’m tawking about you and your little fight at the club. What the fuck got into you!?”

This whole conversation took him by surprise. He hadn’t even thought of Nicki finding out, let alone her even caring. “Nothing…” He spoke in an embarrassed tone.

“No, not NOTHING. Something OBVIOUSLY got into you for you to do that shit. Was it the alcohol? The weed? I TOLD you to slow down on that shit. Come on, man…”

He cut her off before she could venture any further into her rant. “Nicki, I DIDN’T do anything.”

“OH!? OHHHHHH!?”

“YES!”

“Then what the hell is all this shit about!?”

“I WENT…” He took a deep breath before finishing. “…I went to a club in NY. He just happened to be there. Some shit went down. That’s it, Nicki. Not a big deal.”

“No, Drake. It is a big deal. You don’t understand.”

“What is there not to understand, Nicki!? I did NOTHING wrong. Nothing happened.”

She chuckled without humor at his innocence before getting serious. Taking a deep breath, she told him what he needed to know.

“Baby…You. Are. A. Superstar. And I need you to realize that. I know you did nothing wrong, of course. Rumors are rumors and that’s what it is. But it’s time to remember who you are. Not that you did anything wrong, but sometimes you just might need to go to bed, have a early nap. You know, go to the hotel. It’s nothing wrong with that. I do it all the gahtdamn time.”

He listened to each of her words, taking them all in. Hearing the words from someone who’s in the same position as him made him feel like they were reasonable words and hearing them from Nicki warmed his heart. It warmed him to know that whatever they went through, she would still be there for him. He understood what she was saying and the knowledgeable words cleansed him of all the negativity that had been surrounding him and the situation lately.

He took a deep breath before speaking. “Thank you, Nicki. Thank you. I needed that.”

“You’re welcome, baby. Anytime.”

There was an awkward silence on the phone for a minute and Drake wasn’t ready to hang up yet.

“Why are you calling me so early?” He blurted out.

“Oh, my bad.” She hadn’t realized what time it was. “It’s 9 am here in Amsterdam.”

“Oh, that’s right, you are on tour.” He felt so far away from her now. Literally and figuratively.

“Yep!” She exclaimed

He chuckled at her happiness. “Well, I know you’re probably busy, so I’ll let you go. Thank you, Nicki. Thank you.”

“Anytime, babe. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

“YOUNG MONEY.” She shouted, giggled, then hung up the phone

He laughed. Turning over to go to back to bed, something was different. He had a genuine smile on his face. Something he hadn’t felt in a while.