ALEXANDRA ANDY AYANNA BOYD BRODY BROTHER CARLOTTA CONGREGATION COTTON CROWD DEREK FISHER GIGI HARRIS JAHIL KAREN MAN MAURICE MEEKA MEN MISS_BRUCE NICK NOAH PAPARAZZI RACHEL RUBY SHOP_ASSISTANT SIMONE SORAYA STAR WOMAN CARLOTTA This is what you missed on Star. AYANNA I'm going to have a very public competition amongst the label's best artists. STAR A musical Hunger Games? AYANNA It's what the public wants. STAR This is what desperation looks like. SIMONE So, are you gonna post it on your site? RACHEL A kiss from the little mama and you got yourself a deal. MEEKA I'm Meeka. COTTON Omari's sister? MEEKA He wanted me to check in on you. He's getting out early. SHOP ASSISTANT What did I do with that bracelet? DEREK Is that new? ALEXANDRA No, my mom got this for me a while ago. KAREN Dee was gonna wait for me. We was supposed to kill ourselves together. STAR Our mother was a junkie, and she died because of it. CARLOTTA What the hell are you doing here, Brody? BRODY I thought I'd come say hello to my daughter. Hey, Star. BRODY Hey, Carlotta. You look good, Star. I saw you on TV. It's amazing how much you sound like your mom. I told everybody how proud I was of you. That was my baby girl up there. STAR So, you think I got money now? 'Cause I'm on TV? BRODY Nah. I came here 'cause I owe you an explanation. STAR Ten years. BRODY Yeah, I know. I'm a different man now. I'm gonna prove that to you. I got a room over at the Georgian Terrace hotel. I'm gonna stay there as long as it takes. Come on, honey. STAR What? BRODY Come on, Star. STAR BRODY Star. Star! CARLOTTA You left that girl and her mother for dead. BRODY She's my daughter, Carlotta. I ain't going nowhere. CARLOTTA Well, neither am I. BRODY Good to see you, Carlotta. DEREK ALEXANDRA What? DEREK Nothing. I just love it when you smile. ALEXANDRA I just still cannot believe this crazy lady is letting me produce our music! DEREK 'Cause you, like, in your zone now. And it's super sexy. ALEXANDRA And you're super sweaty. ALEXANDRA What about you? Hmm? DEREK I already know I'm sexy. What? ALEXANDRA I meant when are you going to get back in your zone, Derek? You haven't been to a BLM meeting. DEREK Yes, I have. ALEXANDRA You need to get out of the house. DEREK What are you talking about? I go to therapy every damn day. I'm gonna walk again! I don't care about what they say. ALEXANDRA I know you will, but you cannot let this get in your head anymore. DEREK Looks like you got to go now. ALEXANDRA Lucky for you. I mean it, Derek. Okay? DEREK All right. WOMAN Section B, report to the cafeteria. KAREN What's wrong with you. Why you watching me in my sleep? SIMONE Nothing. KAREN You been up all night? SIMONE I was just trying to make sure you were okay. KAREN Look, last night I was tripping, a'ight? Don't report me. I ain't gonna do nothing. SIMONE You know I lost my mother? I mean, she didn't kill herself, but I know how it feels. KAREN Look, I don't need your pity, superstar. Don't you got a party to go to? JAHIL Check out my new house! MISS BRUCE Jahil, move this trash box out Carlotta's yard. COTTON And where you get the money to buy that? JAHIL Friend of mine owed me a favor. MISS BRUCE Nah, you done stole it from a friend of yours. COTTON You need to move it. MISS BRUCE Bitch, we got five minutes, and I got lacefronts that need to be prepped. JAHIL Listen, Cott, maybe you can help me out. Maybe talk your mother into letting me park it here. COTTON You got a lot of nerve. You don't need my help. You done lied to me for the last five months. JAHIL Look, I know, and that's on me, okay? That's my bad, but I'm gonna make it up to you, sweetheart. COTTON Man, whatever. JAHIL Yeah, can you tell Ayanna Floyd it's Jahil Rivera? Yes, again. AYANNA Is everything set for the party? ANDY Yes. AYANNA Did we fix the sound issue on the stage? ANDY Yes, we fixed the sound issue on stage. The caterers are here. The decorations are here. I got you, Ayanna. AYANNA I don't want to be got. I want everything to be great. ANDY It's gonna be lit. Everybody's gonna be there. Do you not remember? I studied your father. He's the reason I went to Harvard. It's gonna be good. Or "great." AYANNA Where are we on GiGi Nixon? ANDY GiGi Nixon's on The Shade Room this morning. MAN GiGi, when's the new album coming out? GIGI That's what the hell I would like to know! My ass hurt, my head hurt, my hurt, 'cause I been working this to . 'Cause a lot of them ain't doing jack. ANDY Is that a raincoat or a condom? GIGI Interstate Records is the one that's supposed to be hustling these records for me. Let's go! that. no! ANDY Wait a minute. Wasn't she on your father's label? AYANNA Get her to the party. Whatever it takes. FISHER Hi. Excuse me. Ayanna wants to see your looks for the party. ALEXANDRA We're about to go into the studio right now. CARLOTTA We clean up just fine. We trying to concentrate on the competition. FISHER You won't even be in the competition if you don't shine at this party. Charles Floyd is coming through. STAR We don't care who's rolling through! Okay, we look great. Bye! CARLOTTA Did you tell Simone he was in town? STAR She can't handle that. FISHER Change of plans. Ayanna wants to see your group after hair and makeup in her office, wearing these. RACHEL I'm just not sure if I get them. ALEXANDRA Rachel, what are you. What is she doing here? AYANNA Ms. Wells is our new social media strategist. She's going to help me sort through the best artists to promote at today's event. RACHEL I mean, what's the narrative here? Murder victim's girlfriend, rock star's daughter, foster care reject? It's just a mess. Really not sure if this is what you want for your label or for you. CARLOTTA Ms. Floyd, now, you know if there's any group on this label that should be performing at this party. RACHEL Hey. CARLOTTA it's my girls. You know how good they are live. AYANNA I still don't know what you girls represent as a group. STAR You realize she don't know anything, right? You got a girl in here telling you what to do who was freelancing for B-list producers last year. RACHEL God, do you ever get tired of being a cliché, white trash, wannabe diva? It's getting old, girl. STAR Nope. SIMONE Star! AYANNA Whoa. SIMONE CARLOTTA Star! STAR AYANNA Whoa! Whoa! Get off of her! RACHEL STAR You bitch! AYANNA Are you out of your damn mind? CARLOTTA Go! AYANNA Are you out of your damn mind? Are you okay? RACHEL CARLOTTA I'm sorry. I-I'm so sorry. We get it. AYANNA You're not coming to my party. And the competition might be off the table, too. You're crazy! Get out. Get them out! SIMONE Star, why you always got to drag a bitch? Why you always trying to kill somebody? STAR Nobody wanted to perform at that party anyway. I was. ALEXANDRA Yeah, but this is. CARLOTTA Enough. Enough! I said enough! You two go back in there and work on the music. Oh, no, no, no. Let me howl at you for a minute. Okay, it's obvious we need to talk about your dad. STAR Why would we need to talk about Brody? CARLOTTA 'Cause you've been pissed off ever since he popped up last night. STAR What happened in there had nothing to do with him. CARLOTTA I know you got issues with him. I got issues with him, too. STAR Carlotta, you know he left me to watch my mother die. CARLOTTA All right. Well, then say what you need to say to him and move on. STAR I'm not ever moving on from that. Hold on. Stop. We got to fix this hook before the party, man. ALEXANDRA The hook isn't the problem. It's the verse. NOAH Oh, my God. Didn't I ask you to lock the door, man? What, the stunt girl's sidekick got tips for me now? ALEXANDRA I'm nobody's sidekick. But, you know, you could use one to fix this wack track. NOAH So, what, you're a producer now? ALEXANDRA Actually, yeah. And I'm up next in the booth, so I'm-a need you to get out. It should go like this. NOAH Okay, okay, okay, okay. Stop, stop, stop. All right. First of all, let me apologize for ten seconds ago. ALEXANDRA As you should. NOAH Can we try this? Just follow me right quick. Yeah? Just follow me. NOAH Oh! Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Help me lay this down right quick. ALEXANDRA No. NOAH ALEXANDRA Why would I help you, Noah? NOAH It sounds good. You want me out of here or not? Please? ALEXANDRA Play it back? NOAH Mm-hmm. NOAH Yeah. DEREK Hey. You-you going somewhere? RUBY Yeah, I'm, uh, going to pay the electric bill before they shut the lights out. DEREK Alex is acting up. And I wanted to, like, make some dinner or something for her. You mind stopping at, like, the ki RUBY Yes, I mind. DEREK Huh? RUBY Alex is right. You don't want to go no damn place. DEREK Grandma, what are you? RUBY Yeah, I heard. What happened to your activism, huh? What happened to that boy who told me that he wanted to be the man of the house? Your life did not end that night. Stop acting like it did. DEREK You stop acting like it didn't! RUBY All the people we laid in the ground? Your daddy, his brother, both my boys? There are black men in jail, in prison right now who can't go nowhere, but you can. You want to get your girlfriend something, roll your ass out and get it your damn self. CARLOTTA Why are you here, Brody? 'Cause we both know you ain't nothing but a taker. That's all you ever did with Mary. I'm not about to let you do that with your daughter. BRODY You don't know me anymore, Carlotta. CARLOTTA I know once a hustler, always a hustler. BRODY Man, you got a selective memory, don't you? CARLOTTA Oh, no, my memory is clear. That's all I watched you do, was drag Mary down like a damn riptide. BRODY You know, you stand there wearing that cross around your neck. Looking a little different than you did back in the day, I'll give you that. But we both know what went down. She was your best friend. What about what you did to Mary? Hmm? CARLOTTA I made peace with my mistakes. BRODY How long you been telling yourself that lie, honey? JAHIL Yeah, I produced it myself. Hello? JAHIL Look, I know the track is a little rough, but you got to admit something's there, right? I mean, there's-there's something in it. Connie? JAHIL COTTON Hey, I need to ask you some. I don't even know why I came in here. Go on and get high. JAHIL No, no, wait, wait, wait. Don't go. COTTON What, you want me to get high with you? Come on, let's just do a little bit. JAHIL But, Cotton, are you crazy? If your parole officer catches you positive, you're going away for good. Okay? COTTON You would have had a stroke doing all that blow at your age. JAHIL I wasn't even gonna. It's not even mine. I wasn't I wasn't gonna do it. Oh, Cotton, they got me by the balls. I mean, no one in the music industry wants to touch me or my music. COTTON Why not? It's dope. JAHIL Yeah, it is, but it ain't mine. It's your cousin's. COTTON Wait, I have a cousin? JAHIL Long story. My track needs work. COTTON So work on it. I met this dude in jail, and he's about to come home. JAHIL Is there a problem? COTTON I'm just a little nervous. JAHIL Don't be. I'm here. Whoa, whoa, whoa. What the hell are you doing? We could sell that on the street, stupid. COTTON Let's both clean up our lives. Dad. MAURICE I heard the girls are out of the party. CARLOTTA I don't care about no damn party. All I care about is the competition. MAURICE You're a mess. Look, I've seen managers, take all the blows and burn out because they ain't taking care of themselves. I want you to meet me somewhere this afternoon. CARLOTTA Don't you have to be at that damn party, kissing Charles Floyd's ass? MAURICE Yeah, Ayanna knows I have something way more important to do, and I want you to come with me. I'll text you the address. SIMONE Yo, what is going on with you today? And I know you ain't on your period. STAR Nothing. SIMONE Yeah, that's a lie. STAR You're early. Brody showed up last night. SIMONE Yo, Brody? Brody, your father, Brody? STAR He's not my father, Simone. He's just a bitch who came in and out of our life, looking for a fix or a piece of ass from our mother. He is not my father. SIMONE Yeah. Why didn't you tell me? STAR Because I didn't want you tripping like you are right now. First thing out of his mouth was how he saw me on TV. His broke ass wants a piece of the pie. That's it. SIMONE Yeah, we ain't got a pie. STAR Yeah, but we will. And he's not getting any of it. Let's start this over and stop talking about this. SIMONE Hey, Star. STAR What? SIMONE We should try to get back into that party. STAR Simone Davis, now you talking like my sister. SIMONE Make Ayanna's dad happy, make her happy. STAR And we're back in the game. SIMONE How are we gonna get back in? STAR How did we get into any party? SIMONE I mean, we could bust into the party without an invitation, but that's really rude. STAR We can't help it. We wasn't raised right. SIMONE STAR PAPARAZZI ANDY This right here is the head of business affairs at your company. AYANNA Don't forget our meeting on Wednesday. MAN Yes, ma'am. AYANNA Cancel it on Tuesday. ANDY Mm-hmm. That's done. AYANNA Save that seat for my father. SIMONE STAR That's security back there. SIMONE Okay. STAR ALEXANDRA You guys. STAR Huh. SIMONE STAR Still took you longer, though. ALEXANDRA Y'all are extra. STAR Simone, go get those ugly dresses. SIMONE Okay. ALEXANDRA We'll have to slip the engineer our music. MAURICE Welcome. CARLOTTA You invited me to church? MAURICE I heard you were a spiritual woman. Unless I misread you, I figured you'd be down for it. CARLOTTA Oh, I grew up in a church. It's just it stopped being an outlet for me. HARRIS Say it. Say it. COTTON HARRIS "I am a man." COTTON I'm a I'm a man, Mommy. Am I a man? HARRIS You asked for my help! You did! Both of y'all are confused. CARLOTTA Not God, just the people in it. MAURICE Well, it's not like that around here. BOYD Maurice Jetter. No, you didn't. Hey. MAURICE Pastor Boyd. BOYD Good to see you. MAURICE Good to see you. Oh, let me introduce you. This is. BOYD Carlotta Brown. Mixed Harmony was my jam, okay? I mean, God, you and Mary were the perfect blend. CARLOTTA Thank you. We were lucky like that. BOYD No, my sister. You were blessed. And we're blessed to have you join us for worship. Y'all come on in. Let me introduce you. AYANNA Get the social media campaign ready. I mean, pictures, all of it. RACHEL Just do us both a favor and don't act too desperate, okay? AYANNA No, desperate? No. No, she's coming to Midtown. I'm not desperate. STAR We're good. ALEXANDRA Okay. STAR Yeah, we good. SIMONE Yo, did you just cut layers in your hair? ALEXANDRA Okay, when we come in with the hook we need to make sure we push these vocals. SIMONE We know, Alex. ALEXANDRA This is Ayanna's first time hearing our new music. Charles Floyd has a pitch-perfect ear, so we have to be on. STAR Don't you worry. I'm not leaving that party until Charles Floyd loves us. ALEXANDRA Do not use your vagina. STAR No promises whatsoever. SIMONE Please don't encourage that little monster. ALEXANDRA I cannot stand this dress. STAR It's hideous. Oh. ALEXANDRA Oh. STAR Well, that's cute. It's kind of therapeutic. ALEXANDRA Yes. STAR Y'all all eyes in that place are gonna be on us. ALEXANDRA Let's do it. PAPARAZZI Are you coming to Midtown? / GiGi, you're beautiful. / Love the dog! GIGI Somebody take the damn dog. Take him. AYANNA Andy, get the dog. PAPARAZZI GiGi, what are you wearing? / Love the new hair color. / GiGi, are you coming to Midtown? AYANNA Now, that's a star. STAR Damn. SIMONE All eyes on us? ALEXANDRA Somebody's coming. Go, go, go, go. GIGI Y'all pulling out all the stops, huh? AYANNA That's how we roll at Midtown. GIGI That's how every label rolls when they're trying to sign your ass. I wasn't born yesterday. I'm-a need some bomb-ass producers and some good records. AYANNA You'll be the label's marquee artist. Whatever you need, you'll have. GIGI Because of my history with your family, I'm willing to listen. AYANNA My father remains a big fan. GIGI Yeah. That's why I'm here. I'm-a need some serious face time with him after I get my drink on. AYANNA It's a privilege to represent the best in the game, GiGi, and you are the best. GIGI Hold, please, 'cause I just seen my girl Louanna. Girl, I haven't seen you since that video shoot in Tampa. AYANNA Go. Go. Who let you in? JAHIL I'm in tight with the caterer. AYANNA You make even that sound filthy. JAHIL You never called me. AYANNA The song didn't make me want to. JAHIL Well, what if I told you I just got back from Miami and I got a whole new sound? Never been heard here in Atlanta before. AYANNA You're cocky. JAHIL Mmm. I like that word in your mouth. AYANNA BOYD In Isaiah 4318, the Lord tells us not to call to mind the former things or to ponder things of the past. Oh, but, y'all, sometimes we need to go back. Amen? CONGREGATION Amen. BOYD And ask forgiveness. CONGREGATION Amen. BOYD Not just from God, but of ourselves. CONGREGATION Amen. BOYD And I wonder if there's anybody here tonight who wants to testify. If you feel so moved by the spirit. Yes. Yeah, Sister Carlotta, please. We welcome you. Y'all encourage our sister. We're family here. Amen. Yeah. STAR I heard Charles Floyd is coming in right now, so we better hurry up. SIMONE Guys, I got a wedgie. ALEXANDRA Okay, Ayanna is right there, and we need to go. SIMONE Uh. BOYD Yes. ALEXANDRA 'Sup, Midtown? We are Alex, Star, and Simone. STAR We're Midtown's newest group, and we're here repping the best and hottest music coming out of Atlanta right now. Do y'all love Atlanta music? CROWD Yeah. CARLOTTA I haven't been in a church in a while. But somebody thought that this was exactly where I needed to be. ALEXANDRA And we would not be here if it wasn't for the lovely, the gracious Ayanna. CARLOTTA And I see ain't nothing changed 'cause pastors are still trying to get you to sing. So okay. Okay. SIMONE You guys. STAR Oh, my God. We just did that. ALEXANDRA And it it didn't it didn't suck. STAR It didn't suck. ALEXANDRA She looks so mad. WOMAN Great job. You were amazing. STAR Thank you so much. SIMONE Oh, thank you. STAR Thank you. See? ALEXANDRA Did you see Ayanna's face? STAR Oh, she was mad. She might drop us, but it was worth it. ALEXANDRA Yeah. SIMONE Guys, I'll be. STAR Thank you so much. SIMONE I'll be right back. STAR Thank you. Simone, where are you going? ALEXANDRA Wait. Where are you going? STAR No, no, no, no, no. SIMONE Just, I'll be back. STAR We have to talk to Mr. Floyd right now. Let's just split up and find Daddy before Ayanna sics her goons on us. We got, like, five seconds. ALEXANDRA Okay. Be back in, like, ten. STAR Okay. NOAH 'Sup, sexy. Hey, you know, uh, we started something last night. I'm happy to finish. Course, we'd, um, we'd have to do it standing up. STAR You'd have to be a lot taller. SIMONE Are you out of your damn mind? What are you doing here? KAREN Damn, girl, you look fly. SIMONE Okay, they gonna send the cops after your ass. We need to go. KAREN No, I didn't skip out just to go back empty. Look, I just came to do some dirt. You know, pour one out for Dee. It ain't like she getting a real funeral, anyway. But you probably wouldn't understand. You ain't like us. SIMONE Yo, Karen. Wait up. NICK Cigs and two packs of chew. SORAYA Can I see some ID? NICK You asking me for my ID? I'm an American. Where's your damn ID? SORAYA I don't want any trouble. I just. NICK Shut up. I lost my damn job over some politically correct bull like this. You people are taking everything from us. That Chinaman fired me. SORAYA I didn't take anything from you, and I suggest that you leave. NICK You leave this country. Leave something for my kid brother. DEREK Hey, yo. It's time to get out of here. Come on. BROTHER Stay out of this, gimp. NICK Attaboy. DEREK I said leave her alone, man. It ain't no. W-What's the issue? No! SORAYA MEN SORAYA Hey! MEN SORAYA Get out! You all right? Can I do anything to help you? Sir. AYANNA Dad, where are you? I thought you were coming. I thought you'd like to see what I've done with the place. I got GiGi Nixon here. I'm probably going to sign GiGi Nixon to Midtown. No, she hasn't signed the deal yet, but. You say I never do anything for the family. I can do this. I have to get back to my party. Good-bye, Dad. STAR Hey. AYANNA How the hell did you get in here? And how did you get on my damn stage? STAR I got on that stage 'cause that's where I belong. You know, you and I are just doing the same thing right now. Jumping through hoops, trying to impress Charles Floyd. But I guess Daddy's not coming? AYANNA That's none of your business. STAR I'm sorry. AYANNA Get the hell out of my party. MAURICE You brought down the church in there. It was good to hear you sing again. You know one of the reasons why artists think I'm a good A&R exec? 'Cause I don't spread no business. CARLOTTA When me and Mary first hit, I knew she was going too far with the drugs. And I ain't do nothing to help her. 'Cause I needed her on that stage just as much as she needed to get high. MAURICE Well, you were young. CARLOTTA I was selfish. That's why I can see it in Star. Hello? AYANNA Star. Alex. GiGi wanted to meet you both. Were you leaving? GIGI Hello. STAR Hey. GIGI So happy to meet you. ALEXANDRA Nice to meet you, too. STAR Nice to meet you. GIGI Oh. ALEXANDRA We just felt like we were overstaying our welcome. AYANNA No. GIGI My girls aren't welcome here? AYANNA No, of course they're welcome. Star and Alex are emerging artists at Midtown. We have a burning passion for our artists. All of them. STAR Burning, like a herpes sore. GIGI Ha! Girl, you got a way with words. STAR Thanks, but that's actually Alex. She wrote the song that you heard us perform tonight. GIGI Come on, sister. You better get them checks. ALEXANDRA GIGI I love that song. It was so nostalgic, but it was still in, like a little one, two. I'm actually thinking of signing to Midtown. What do you guys think of the label? ALEXANDRA GIGI How they been treating you, now? STAR AYANNA ALEXANDRA I think I'd like a glass of champagne. GIGI Ooh. AYANNA Bottle of champagne. ALEXANDRA Mm-hmm. AYANNA The best champagne. GIGI Took the words right out of my mouth. AYANNA There it is. The best for you, GiGi. GIGI Always! AYANNA And you two. STAR Huh. Funny how things work out, right? And I hope you remember it, 'cause I saw you today, and I'm not gonna forget that. AYANNA I don't know who messed you up so badly, Star. But you're lost. STAR I guess we're just two sorry-ass bitches trying to make it. Prove everybody wrong, huh? SIMONE I mean, I can't believe you just took that bottle, though. That's crazy. KAREN I borrowed it while that dork was just staring at your butt. SIMONE Shut up. He wasn't looking at my butt. KAREN Yeah, he was. SIMONE Yeah? I wouldn't be surprised if he was staring at both of our butts, 'cause he looked like some jacked up version of R. Kelly. KAREN SIMONE Like he tripped and fell or something. Why are you always calling me superstar? KAREN We just left a fancy party at a damn record label. SIMONE Hmm. KAREN You about to blow up, kid. SIMONE No, I ain't no star. I'm about to get in trouble just like you for missing curfew. KAREN Well, we juvies, man. We just throwaways. SIMONE How'd you end up in there? KAREN My mama had me when she was 14. We were like sisters. She got hooked on some hard stuff, so I had to start making money. You know, stealing, boosting. That's how I met Dee. She was like family. SIMONE Do you know your dad? KAREN No. You? SIMONE Uh, well, I have a kind of stepdad. KAREN Mm-hmm. SIMONE But he's actually in town right now, and he didn't even tell me that he was gonna be here. KAREN Sorry. SIMONE It's like I'm invisible sometimes. Maybe I could be your family. KAREN You're corny, superstar. SIMONE I'm so drunk. KAREN SIMONE It just hit me. KAREN Did it? CARLOTTA Get your ass in this car. SIMONE I mean, we had it under control. CARLOTTA Oh, yeah? Which part? The getting lit on Fulton Industrial or-or-or missing curfew? SIMONE I mean, how'd you even find us? CARLOTTA I got apps on your phone. Look, you are only here because the system doesn't have another place to put you. You're not a criminal. But you keep messing up, and they gonna start treating you like one. Just like that girl. SIMONE Karen ain't no criminal. CARLOTTA That girl is in jail. You're not like her. SIMONE Yes, I am. And you know what? I'm just like my mama, too. CARLOTTA Yes, you are. You're smart, and you're beautiful. And you're talented. But I'll be damned if this is the last stop for you. And that's why I'm watching you, 'cause Mary can't. SIMONE Well, then, stop watching me. Because it's my life. Did you know that tonight was the first time I ever actually felt like myself? More than at your damn salon or that stupid label. CARLOTTA I'm not buying you another phone. BRODY Hey. You came. Thanks. STAR Nice room. Who'd you hustle this from? BRODY I got a little money now. Want to come in? STAR No. I want to tell you what I think of you, and then I want to leave. You're not my father. I don't know you. You're a stranger. BRODY Let me just explain. STAR Do you remember the last time you saw me? You said, "I'm so sorry. I'm gonna be back." You left me in an apartment with my mother with a needle in her arm and my little sister on the floor. BRODY I was high. Me and your mom, we were so messed up. But we did something right. We made you. I swear to you, you were always with me. Always STAR Liar. BRODY I'm not leaving Atlanta unless you give me a chance. I got to make this up to you, Star. STAR BRODY Star, I love you. DEREK Hey. ALEXANDRA Hey. Smells good. What'd Miss Ruby make us? DEREK I made it, thank you. ALEXANDRA You? You made this? DEREK Yeah. ALEXANDRA Mac and cheese. I love it. DEREK You'll also love this. So we both have some secrets. Alex, I know what it is. You get stressed, you start shopping. You also haven't been honest with me about your feelings. But neither have I, so. ALEXANDRA Okay. Uh, you go first. DEREK Well, you were right. I do need to get out into the world, get back to my work. 'Cause this chair? It's so hard. But today I actually went out. ALEXANDRA You went out? DEREK I went out. And the world outside ain't changed one bit. I'm not gonna let this chair stop me no more, either. Your turn. Wait. I said it's your turn. ALEXANDRA Okay. DEREK Okay. NOAH You know, you are real hot and cold. STAR Take this off. NOAH Okay. STAR Shut up.