Love is just 4 letters - 1. Chapter 1

Love is Just 4 Letters
Chapter 1
Rayne
My name is Rayne, Rayne Walters to be exact. My mother said I was born while the rain was falling outside the window of the hospital I was born in; she just altered the letters. I have no idea who my father was as he left us before I was even born; personally I never worried about him much.
I’m about 6’0, 180 lbs, and muscular. I have dreads going down to my waist, even though I am not Jamaican. Straight white teeth, thanks to two years of the hell they call braces, and light brown skin. Birthday was June 29, 1981. I was born in Richmond, VA, which seems to have a lot of talent coming from there. Did I mention I was an R&B artist? Most people just know me by the name of Rayne, multi-talented singer/dancer who’s been basically everywhere in the U.S of A. People love to hear me sing, especially at night because I sing those smooth, sexy slow jams that the women just go crazy over. Every time I’m on tour, we have to have extra security just to keep the women, and some men, away from me. Now don’t get me wrong, I can take care of myself, hell, I have a third degree black belt in karate. But extra protection is needed for how many crazed fans I have out there.
That’s right, I’m right up there with Usher and Mario. I even did a song with Usher last year called Got It Made. The song was on my second album, which went multi-platinum. My self-titled debut album came out a year before that, which also went multi-platinum. At the moment, I’m on the same track that Ginuwine was on when his first three albums went multi-platinum, but I plan to stay on there longer than he did. So far I’ve been to one awards assembly, the BET awards. I was nominated for best male artist of the year for my song Love You Around the World, which I won. Chris Brown won best new artist of the year, and I got the privilege to sit by him and we hi-fived each other as we each won our respective awards. The woman I took with me to the ceremony was actually a good friend of mine, her name was Cree. I’ve known Cree since kindergarten, and we’ve been close ever since. There was also one very important thing I had forgotten to mention.
I’m gay.
I didn’t exactly come to terms with it until I was in college. All throughout high-school, I was confused about my sexual identity. I tried to date girls, mainly because I had to look good since I was on the basketball team. It really didn’t help though. Most girls threw themselves at me because of my muscles, not to mention my grass green eyes and sparkling smile.
I remember a couple of girls talking about me as I walked past them…
“Would you look at that fine piece of a man over there.” One of them said.
“Yeah, I would love to bite me off a piece of that.” Another one of them replied, giving the other girl a high-five.
The three girls laughed as I kept going past them.
When I went to college, I had my first gay experience. I went to college on a basketball scholarship, also because of the fact that my grades were high, I had a 3.5 GPA. The first party I went to got me wasted enough that I had to spend the night in the people’s dorm room. The owner was just as drunk as I was when he stumbled his way into the bedroom and fell on the bed.
He said to me, “Man, I haven’t gotten off in a few weeks. Could you help me?”
I don’t know what the hell propelled me to say yes, but I did anyway. I was taken from the back, and the only way that I knew that was the dull ache in my backside the next afternoon. The only thing was though, is the fact that it felt good to me.
After that encounter, I sort of drew away from everyone. My friends started to worry about me. My grades started slipping, all because of that one night.
My mother called me about a week after my grades started slipping. She said, “Is something wrong baby? Do you need mama to come see you?”
I smiled as she said this, but I replied solemnly, “No ma. I’ll be alright; I just need to get some stuff out of my head.”
I could hear the remorse in her voice as she said, “Alright, but don’t let yo’ grades fall anymore. Or I will come up there. Bye baby.”
“Bye ma.” I hung up the phone. I then shook my head, turned around, and went to bed.
After my talk with my mother, my grades started to improve. Either because of the fact that my mother had threatened to come up here and tell embarrassing stories of when I was a kid. Or because of the fact that I heard her words of comfort, I did better. My friends stopped worrying over me like I was a little child, and finally started treating me like they used to. They must have sensed something was troubling me though, so they let me have my space.
A few years after the incident, I got my first chance at my singing career. My mother and my friends always told me I had a very beautiful singing voice, and I never actually excersized it until we had the college talent show. My friends pressured me enough about the show that I actually signed up. They picked the song out for me, which was Back at One by Brian McKnight.
I won the talent show, and went back stage. The thing that surprised me, though, was the fact that Keno was there.
He told me, “Man you were great up there on stage.” He shook my hand.
I stood there a little bewildered, and replied shakily, “Thanks. I guess I did do pretty good to be able to get this.” I looked at the trophy, and continued, “But why do you want talk to me?”
He smiled and replied, “I wanted to talk to you about a record deal with Emerging Records.”
My jaw practically dropped to the floor, and I somehow stammered a reply. “You…want me to…sign up with you?!”
He smiled again, and nodded.
I eagerly said, “Yes! Yes, of course I’ll sign with you!”
This man smiled again as we shook hands again to seal the deal.
“I’ll draw the contract up tomorrow. Meet me at the Italian bistro down the street.”
I nodded, and he walked away. As soon as he left the room, my friends swarmed around me asking questions.
One of them, Shannon, asked me, “Was that Keno?! What did he want?”
“Yeah! Tell us!!” The others chanted.
I smiled, and said, “Well…”
“Well what?!?!?!?!” they all shouted. A few people around us started to stare.
I saved the situation by telling them what had just happened between Keno and me.
Brandon, another one of my friends who was on his way to getting his law degree, who I’ve also had a crush on since I found out I was gay, exclaimed, “Damn boy! You just got the luckiest break of your life right there.”
“Yeah!” Brandon’s girlfriend, Jodi, who I secretly hated because I wanted Brandon that bad, said along with him, “I’m so glad that you took the opportunity Rayne. Now I can say in the future ‘I knew him when…’”
We had a good laugh at that.
The next day, I went to the Italian bistro that Keno suggested. I looked around for a quick moment, before I spotted him over by a window. I really don’t see how I could miss him; he was the only one with a very big man, probably a bodyguard, standing over him.
He looked at me, and smiled that smile that I have come to know and love.
He said casually, as if no one was staring at him, “Well then, I was afraid that nerves were going to prevent you from coming here.”
“You're kidding?” I said just as nonchalantly, “The last time I had nerves was when I played my first basketball game.”
He nodded, and got right down to business. “Well, we both know why we’re here.” He took a piece of paper out of his pocket, which I assumed was the contract. “If you don’t mind signing this.”
I looked over the contract carefully, making sure there were no chains. When I decided there were none, I took the pen that he offered, and signed on the dotted line at the bottom of the paper. He smiled and put it away.
“Now before anything else, you have to come up with a name, do you have any suggestions?”
“Yes,” I replied, “one.”
He looked me straight in the eye, and said, “Well, what is it?”
“Rayne,” I replied, “just Rayne.”
The rest was history.