“No problem at all. Trying to fix the problem is the first step,” she replied, gathering her things. She was finally done for the day, that is, until she got home. She already knew she would have some orders to look over and send out invoices for.
Walking out of the library together, being sure to duck Nate, Brix jumped in her car. Nicole was headed to pick Amani up from her afternoon program and head home. Mrs. Tamika had Nya and she was waiting until she called to pick her up. Brix rested her head back on the seat and exhaled. “Another day, another dollar,” she said before pulling off.
Five
Walking in the club, bobbing his head to Travis Scott “3500”, Shemel took a hit of his blunt, then passed it to Pierre. They had been smoking all day and he had lost count of what number they were on. The place was packed, but that was to be expected. They had been promoting the show for almost two months now. Mel didn't really need to promo, but he wouldn't knock the other niggas who did. Shit, that was how he made it this far.
His bodyguard Larry, that his brother Omar requested be in attendance, tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. Nodding his head toward the section that was marked off for him and the fam, he walked in that direction. That was after multiple people wanting to take pictures and females who couldn’t seem to keep their hands to themselves stopped him. He was rocking some red True Religion jeans, a simple black tee, with his black Nike boots. His dreads were tucked underneath a skully cap and the only jewelry he had on was his Rollie and rope chain.
Glancing around the venue, he saw a bunch of familiar faces, mainly females. They were dressed in little to nothing, even though the temperature outside was freeze-yo-ass-off cold. That’s what it was all about for them though, the attention. A few niggas were giving him mean mugs, but he wasn't tripping. A nigga will never prosper hating on the next man, and he couldn't give less of a fuck about ‘em.
Stepping into the roped off section, everybody started piling in. The section was big enough to hold at least twenty-five people, but it was only about fifteen of them. All family. He knew his cousins would be trying to bring chicks up there, if they weren't already on their way, so he wasn't tripping. Grabbing the bottle of D’Usse out the ice, he poured a cup and started sipping. He had been getting high since this morning and needed something to balance him out. Shemel didn't know where the blunt he passed Pierre earlier had gone and wasn't even bout to look for it.
“Aye nigga! Don't be over here getting fucked up and you can't perform,” Laron yelled over the music.
“Like that’ll happen,” Mel said, chuckling. It didn't matter how much he drank or smoked, his ass was performing. As soon as he hit the stage, he’d sober up a little bit, but for right now, he was chilling. He didn't go on until one and it had just hit eleven-thirty.
A group of females walked into their section and Mel immediately sat up. He wasn't checking for none of ‘em, but he wasn’t comfortable with random people in his section. Especially females. Touching his waist, he made sure his gun was there, just in case anything popped off. Looking over at Pierre, he saw him do the same thing. They were on the same shit. Bitches would be quick to set a nigga up, no matter how fine they were.
A Spanish looking chick walked over and stood in front of him. She wasn't bad looking. A little on the chubby side from eating all the tamales, but she was pretty. She was wearing some white high-waist jeans and a lace bralette that had her nipples on display. Mel shook his head at how underdressed she was and knew he wouldn't dare fuck with her, especially coming out the house dressed like that. Nah, he wasn't feeling little Selena at all.
“Hey Young Mel,” she said seductively.
“What's good?” Mel replied nonchalantly.
“I can't wait to see you perform later on. I know you gone kill it.”
“Yeah. I appreciate that,” he replied, taking another sip of his drink.
This Spanish chick reached down to grab the bottle and before Shemel could respond, Ricky was going in.
“Yo, what is you doing?” he said, swatting her hand away.
“I was just getting me a drink. Y’all got us up here, but ain’t offering nothing.”
“I ain’t invite you up here, that was them niggas,” he said, pointing towards Fatz nem. “We gotta save these drinks for the bad bitches.”
“What you tryna say nigga? I am bad,” she said with her hand on her hip.
“You bad alright. Bad body as fuck. You ain’t make the cut ma. You gotta go,” he said, chuckling. Ricky didn’t like chubby girls at all. He liked his women skinny, with just enough ass to grip. Plus, little mama’s attitude was about to piss him off. She looked over at Shemel and all he did was shrug his shoulders. He didn’t care what happened.