Love Don't Cost A Thing

Author's Note: This story is completely fictional and did not happen. All characters and names are fictional and were made up. I do not make money from these stories. Please do not copy and plagiarize my work.

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Miami, Florida

A deep sigh was heard through the room while the ceiling fan blades were spinning from the center of the ceiling. Across the room sat a man at a desk with rays of light seeping through the opened curtains of the hotel room. Fingers were heard moving across the keys attached to a silver laptop in front of the man's eyes. Over his lap sat a small keyboard, detached from the work station that it belonged to on the left side of the room. A USB cable was plugged in, powering it through the laptop with the use of a studio software opened up. With the door locked shut and a large pair of pink headphones over his ears, there was nothing to interfere with his determined concentration. He wore nothing but a pair of simple purple shorts and a yellow shirt over his skinny body. Over his face was something of short black stubble as he had yet to shave in the last twenty four hours. His hair was a shade of brown, overflowing beyond his shoulders when it wasn't curled up in a pony tail. With his right hand resting over the keyboard in his lap, he used his left to click the mouse to begin recording just before clicking again to play the track.

His line of sight was set directly over what was a line of frequency displayed on on the opened software. The line had low and high points to demonstrate the pitch and flow of the instrumental track as it progressed. Moving his hands down below to the small keyboard, he pushed down on time a few simple chords. The keyboard itself went with a synth work station. The keys were set for playing bass into what was a dance oriented track to make up for the lack of any bass guitar in the mix. This was nothing short of a small practice session with a song that was in the making. His hand shifted on time moving to a different set of keys that he pressed down to match the flow of the song. After running a few seconds after a three whole minutes, silence fell upon his ears as the song cut off. With a bass layer finished, it would need proper placement into the song mix itself. Letting out a sigh of relief, he grabbed the headphones and removed them from his ears, allowing them to slip down his neck. Through the room, his cellphone began to ring but he didn't pay it any mind. After a minute of ringing, the automated voice mail called out in the tone of a robotic female voice.

"I'm sorry, Prince Zeke isn't answering the phone right now. Please leave a message."

After a beep, a male voice was heard speaking as the speaker-phone feature was activated anytime the cellphone went to voice mail.

"Hey man, it's Johnny here! I've gotta talk to you about something. It would be nice if you actually answered your phone from time to time. Call me whenever you get the chance. I got that Mac book you wanted, you need to check it out before tonight's show, just to make sure I bought the right thing."

Regardless of what seemed like an urgent message, Ezekiel wasn't phased by the noise whatsoever. He was a man of concentration and did not like to stray away from whatever task he currently had in hand. To him, focus was a matter of deciding what you're not going to do. If distractions were allowed to hinder his thoughts, he wouldn't accomplish anything throughout the day. This was a mindset that had dominated his youth crossing over into his now adulthood as he worked as a musician. By this point he was twenty-five years old and had been working in music now for six years, starting around his twenty birthday back home in Chicago. His main job as a musician was that of a DJ and producer, performing at a local club in Downtown, Miami. The choice of music genre went by the name of 'Synth Wave' or 'Retro Wave' as he found his calling in the current new crop of musicians creating new songs inspired by an era of synth driven pop music from the eighties. Of his fellow companions and few friends in the Miami music scene, little was known of Ezekiel's past or how a Chicago DJ had ended up all the way down in southern Florida.

He was a man of few words, not willing to discuss his past or childhood. All that was known of Ezekiel was that his stage name of 'Prince Zeke' had been given to him by a local Chicago musician he played bass guitar for back home. The nickname of 'Prince' had to do with his young age at the time, playing alongside musicians who had ruled the Chicago dance scene for decades. He was now twenty-five years old, living off almost a whole decade of experience in music going back to his teen years. After spending one summer in Miami, he was discovered by Johnny Green. A local agent turned manager associated with a nightclub that went by the name Club Esmeralda. The club was prominent in the city for running a string of DJ's whom had become something of local celebrities in the Miami music scene. Club Esmeralda used a streaming service online as well as receiving local airplay from a radio station. For the past seven years, it was considered to be the hot spot club in Miami for up and coming musicians. Ezekiel found himself a spot as a one man DJ show after submitting a CD of 80's pop remixes to the club. Johnny Green listened to the disc and was impressed by the skill put forth by the man.

What had truly impressed Johnny was the level of determination and commitment presented to him by Ezekiel's work ethic. He was the type of musician who liked to do it all by himself and had the talent to succeed on his own. His main piece of hardware was a synth work station that involved three keyboards and a sampler. The work station went along with a laptop or a Mac book as he preferred. Ezekiel often recorded live bass and guitar tracks to be mixed in with his instrumental backing tracks. In his hotel room, a cheap blonde painted standard Telecaster guitar sat in the corner next to a red Stratocaster. They were rarely used on stage, as he always brought out his work station instead and had only played live guitar a handful of times. There was something about having live keys on stage that was of most importance to Ezekiel. He found this to be important going back to his days in Chicago where he played keyboards or bass guitar and sometimes rhythm guitar live on stage. While the other DJ's at Club Esmeralda worked exclusively with laptops and mix tables, he was the one exception to have a large work station of a rig when he was sitting or standing behind the table in control. It was a key detail that made him stand out from the local competition.

Over his first year of gigging in the club, Ezekiel had earned enough money to rent a local apartment but decided not to. Johnny watched him move into a cheap hotel where the man would go on to isolate himself with something of a mini-studio where he produced his tracks digitally. According to Ezekiel, he did this so he could focus without anyway of the outside world bothering him. Most of his money was spent solely on equipment for recording and performing live, sacrificing what would make for stable living in favor of his artistic abilities. Though he came across as antisocial at times, this was only the side-effect of how determined he was through focusing on his music. His demeanor completely changed on stage as he took up the mantle of his stage name 'Prince Zeke'. Behind the DJ table overlooking the dance floor, he felt in control of his domain. It was his duty to put on the beats, the synths and give off the music that would make the audience jump and feel the energy that only his music could produce.

After three years within the Miami dance scene, Prince Zeke was quickly becoming one of the hottest DJ's within the underground music scene. Ezekiel felt that he had reached something of a peak when a few of his remixes had made local radio stations. Club Esmeralda would stream music online, where his DJ sessions would bring in thousands of stream listeners through the weekends. With growing popularity, he began to slowly distance himself from remixes of pop songs and moved more into his direction of writing his own music. The style under the artist name of Prince Zeke was something of Hi-NRG based Italo Disco. Stories ran in local Miami media about the intense energy of the dance floors when Prince Zeke put on his encore numbers. This was the product of his musical upbringing in Chicago with the House scene.

In the early days, producers like Marshall Jefferson and Frankie Knuckles had drawn Ezekiel to the House style. It was the discovery of a band called Aleph and Dave Rodgers along with Fred Ventura that would influence his sound into that of Italo-Disco and Hi-NRG style. This high tempo synth sound made Zeke stand out significantly from the competition he faced from the other DJ's performing at Club Esmeralda. It all began one night when he decided to mix in Aleph's song 'Big Brother' into a set. When the beat dropped and the bridge and chorus sections of the song began to play, the dance floor erupted into people wildly jumping up in down and clapping their hands in sync to the fast tempo beat. The next time he used the same song in a set one night later, the crowd was chanting 'Big Brother!', singing along with the chorus while Zeke pushed his fingers over the keyboard to play the main lead riffs to the song. This was the start of him setting fire to the dance floor of Club Esmeralda with his high energy performances.

By spring of 2018, he had moved his way up the ladder to become the top featured DJ of the club. Envy grew among his competition, but it was certain that very few of them could compete with Zeke lighting the dance floor in flames, forcing the audience to jump and burst into energy. He didn't have to rely on modern dance songs or radio hits like his competition did. From time to time, he would break out an old House anthem to cherish his roots back home to the Chicago scene. Usually his set lists worked with his own instrumental songs that he wrote and would perform live keyboards along to and then mix in a cover song. Zeke had began distancing himself from using pop songs and more into obscure Italo-Disco tunes to try and draw attention towards the artists whom influenced him the most. By this point, the only time he used a popular radio song was in his own Hi-NRG dance style remixes.

After getting up from his chair, he took the headphones off and walked over to the refrigerator to grab a can of Dr. Pepper. It was his preference to drink a few sodas along with a bottle of water from time to time. The last thing Ezekiel was truly worried about was calling Johnny back. The Mac book was something he asked for to make up for the use of his current laptop that he didn't like to bring outside the hotel. His main laptop was set for recording use and did not work to it's fullest potential while it was operated on stage. The Mac book was meant to go alongside his synth work station to be used solely for performances on stage. There were still a few hours to go in the day before the sun dipped down into the ocean and the night life awakened. For the time being, Ezekiel could get a shower, shave his face and prepare himself. He already had his set list ready for tonight, only needing to dub a few more bass layers into the mix since he would be playing live synths as the leads over his songs.

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10 HOURS LATER

The entrance into Club Esmeralda was guarded by a line of bodyguards outside where small fence rails created a linear path to the small steps that reached glass door. Gold lining surrounded the glass, offering the visitor something of a touch of grandiose luxury when they pushed the door in and were greeted to the loud booming of music. The walls were painted white with a similar gold frame lining inside. Black tiles were the floor until the visitor had crossed over into the large round space that was the main area of the club. The dance floor was massive, requiring a few short steps down below into what was a large round space with a white floor. The rail around the dance floor was gold, matching the other lining decor among the walls. Club Esmeralda had something of a rich history since it's grand opening in 2009. If all things went well, the next year would be a commemorative celebration of ten years. The midnight hour was closing in and by now, the club was packed and ready for it's most precious minutes of raw energetic dance music.

Music was the major focus of the club, as much funding had been poured through to give customers something of a live experience with the DJ musicians who performed. In the years so far of Club Esmeralda's existence, this had been proven as the night club was considered a hot spot for the local dance. Another club in Downtown Miami was seen as competition but the two were so drastically different, no one truly compared them. Disco Fever was more of a place for socialites while Club Esmeralda was considered the place for the local music scene. Two staircases to the left and right side near the bar and lunge area led to an upper floor with a balcony. Some people preferred to stand around and socialize while they could look down upon the dance floor. It was from this elevated height where one could truly witness the immense size of the floor. Beyond the dance floor circle was a small stage sealed off and raised up like an altar for special occasions. This was the stage sealed off where the DJ musicians had all control over the music they performed to their audience down below.

Back downstairs in the main floor, there was a guarded door leading into what was considered the V.I.P. section of the club. It served for a long dark red painted hallway leading to a backstage area with several rooms of equipment and where the house performers could sit patiently waiting for their turn to go out on stage. Because Club Esmeralda ran a streaming service online and a local radio station giving the club performers airtime, one special room served for the soundboard recordings. Only the audio engineers of the club were allowed entry beyond the black door. Off to one room, Ezekiel stood alone in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest. Before leaving his hotel, he had taken a shower, shaved his face and put on a proper outfit for tonight. His long hair hung down his shoulders, covering the light grey jacket he wore. A purple shirt was visible beneath the blazer while he had on a pair of stone washed blue jeans down below. He stood next to his good friend Tracy who wore a similar outfit of blue jeans and a white shirt. In her hands, she pushed her thumbs over the flat screen of her cellphone.

Tracy had played a key role in Ezekiel's rise to stardom within the underground music scene. The short brunette haired girl had befriended Ezekiel when he had first arrived in Miami over three years ago. They met at a club when he was getting something of a feel of the local music scene. From there, he entrusted Tracy to help him when it came to social media. Ezekiel did not enjoy spending time browsing the internet, let alone socializing with email or any services. Tracy ran every account of the Prince Zeke name brand on social media. To show appreciation for her work, Ezekiel had no problem paying her several hundred dollars a week out of the checks he was earning from working at Club Esmeralda. Every night before he went on, she would get on the social media accounts and create dozens of posts to gain the attention of any fans online who could listen to the club streaming event. The only reason Ezekiel himself didn't bother with social media was because he viewed it as a distraction. From time to time, he would log on and read his fan mail, but he rarely replied. The time was coming for Prince Zeke to take the stage and Tracy was looking over how many listeners were already tuned in for the live stream online. When Ezekiel's hour came, the number always jumped by hundreds.

Johnny lurked outside the hall as the time was fast approaching for the break. The current DJ who went before Ezekiel was another young hot shot going by the name of 'Micky Sixx'. He had become something of a small rival to Prince Zeke, mostly through bitter jealousy since Ezekiel was content with ignoring the man entirely. The precious Mac book that Johnny had called about earlier was sitting on a table in the room, ready to be plugged in with the synth work station and put to proper use. Ezekiel didn't bother doing anything special to the little piece of hardware. He loaded up his studio software and prepared it with the USB plugs that connected back to his three keyboard stack work station. The work station itself was ready to be wheeled out of the room, just like any other night. After Micky Sixx could be heard saying his goodnight to the crowd, Ezekiel uncrossed his arms and was ready to move. It didn't take long for Johnny to come walking through the door, offering a subtle smile over his face beyond the white colored suit he wore.

"Alright, you know what time it is. You ready to go, Zeke? Got the Mac book all set up?"

Ezekiel didn't reply. He simply nodded his head and then grabbed the Mac book from the desk. Tracy stepped around from him, shoving her phone into the left side pocket of her pants. When Johnny stepped into the room, he was followed by two assistants who had the job to wheel out the synth work station. Ezekiel held onto the Mac book himself to prevent it from accidentally slipping off the work station and breaking on the floor like the last one had done. Tracy spoke up to Johnny.

"How's the crowd tonight?"

"The place has been awfully quiet in the past few hours, can't you tell? I'd say that the people are waiting for the best performer to make his entrance. I wouldn't be shocked if they started clapping their hands together and chanting for Prince Zeke before he even comes out.

A sigh was heard from Ezekiel's breath before he replied.

"Spare me the praise. I haven't even stepped out there yet. At least let me give these people their money's worth before you start bragging."

Johnny chuckled as Ezekiel walked past him, ready to make his entrance on stage. It was common for the man to brag as his agent, often telling people that he had the hottest DJ in all of Miami. While Ezekiel would roll his eyes and pay no mind to this kind of talk, Johnny was a genuine believer in his claims. It didn't matter who doubted him. The old man knew talent as an agent and he truly believed Prince Zeke could become a name known in different places beyond the underground music scene of southern Florida. The talent was definitely there, as Johnny didn't believe for one second that his assumption was incorrect. With the tech crew changing equipment out on stage, Prince Zeke was merely minutes away from greeting his audience with his presence before them. Johnny and Tracy knew when he came out due to the loud cheers that were heard from the club's usual visitors. Hanging above the stage was a black row of colored lights, shining down to illuminate the surface before fading off.

This was the moment for Ezekiel where he felt most at ease in life. His stage was like his inner-sanctum. A place where he would perform for the guests before him, almost like a priest blessing a temple. He offered a smile and waved at the audience before finding his seat down at the table. The Mac book was plugged in with a USB cable that went back to multiple cables wiring all three of the small keyboards together on his synth station. Everything else was plugged back to the club's surround sound system, amplified by various speakers around the stage. High above, the lights began to fade into the colors of green and red when Ezekiel bit down on his lower lip to move his left hand over the mouse pad of the Mac book. The lights above began to change as the music processed through the speakers. Ezekiel then moved both of his hands to the main keyboard sitting in the middle of the three row stack. With his right hand fingers, he struck the first synth chords of his opening song.