The Come Up (Book II) : PRODIGY

Chapter 35 - Penthouse Malibu

Emil laughs something evil.

"Yup, we startin!" Monty clarifies.

Emil whips out shot glasses and Monty pours out 4 servings of deadly Patron. I knew its taste so well. I hadn't drank in forever. Mainly because when I was so depressed while me and Chanel were fighting, all I did was drink. For a few months, the thought of alcohol made me sick.

But this weekend had to be done right.

I hold my shot glass to the car ceiling.

"Cheers to this very special occasion. I couldn't be any happier for you. My nigga is getting married!" Cheers erupts in the car.

The glass clinks and we throw the shots back. The taste burns the back of my throat. I shake off it off, my face in a scowl.

Music blasts and we spend the car ride debating the greats of music. A debate that gets so heated Flex asks the driver to turn off the music completely to drive his point in.

Emil pours us the 4th shot in the last hour but we also had spiked smoothies from some popular bar Monty loves. By the second hour, everyone in the car is drunk singing Yo by Chris Brown.

"Chris was hittin them classics young too, nobody be giving him his flowers." Emil says.

"You know why they don't be giving him flowers." Monty gives Emil the side eye.

"That shit happened so long ago." Emil says.

"It's still gonna be talked about for the rest of his career. Even though he's apologized for it, had a daughter, been a good dad, ain't done shit else. It's never gonna leave him." I add on.

"Yea, when people wanna tear you down, ain't shit you can do to get the image they see of you out they head." Flex slurs.

"Nigga, you talkin mad slow and mad weird." Monty says between laughter.

"Nigga said when people tear you down you can't do shit with the shit-when they tear you down- ain't shit" Emil mocks.

The car chuckles in unison. 

Another hour of drunken antics continues until we pull up to our Malibu hotel. It's night now but the hotel looks so huge and expensive from the outside. You can tell this was no ordinary hotel. One room for a night might have been close to $5,000 and we were in the penthouse for the weekend. Thank God I wasn't paying. My money ain't that long yet. The only person who had any real money here was Flex. Did he pay for his own Bachelor Party suit? Even though I'm best man, I've barely been in any of the plans.

"Damn, Mac really hooked us up." Emil says, his eyes in wonder.

I nod understanding. Of course. Mac paid for everything. That makes sense.

"Is he coming?" I ask.

Someone takes our suitcases up to the penthouse and security walks us in.

" I don't know, he didn't exactly say, which means he could show up." Emil answers.

I hope he does. I haven't seen Mac in some time aside from Zoom calls with the team. We get up to the penthouse and the doors alone are large and luxurious. They open to marble floors and the penthouse almost looks like it was pulled straight out of a magazine.

Fully decorated with red and black accents, off-white marble floors, 2 stripper poles, a large living room with a view and big TV, full windows from ceiling to floor that exposes the most beautiful view. One side of the suite overlooking the beach and the other turned towards the city.

Multiple bottles in buckets of ice are set on one of the tables with some flowers and a note.

"Wow, this is sexy." Flex says walking in.

"Sheeeeesh." Emil stares in the frame of the door.

Flex picks up the note and reads it out loud.

"To the soon-to-be Groom. One more night of ignorance and bliss never killed anyone. I love you, brother. Mac."

"One more night of ignorance and bliss?" I question.

Flex sets the note down and realizes a weirdly shaped envelope.

"Yea, that note sounds fishy." Flex laughs.

"What's in that envelope?" Monty questions.

Flex opens it and his eyes widen before he laughs and shakes his head.

I move closer to see it.

Small pink pills with odd symbols on them. Four pills for the four of us.

"What is that?" I ask.

Emil laughs with Flex.

"Nigga left us ecstacy." Emil answers.

"I don't be doing all that. Y'all can have fun with that." Flex retorts.

"Word, where's the weed at?" Monty questions chuckling.

"There's weed over there it looks like." I say pointing to another table.

"Why Mac leave all these drugs in here like I'm a college student on spring break?" Flex questions confused.

"He wants us to have fun!" Emil answers, dragging out his words. "Because clearly - " Emil takes a pink pill and throws it back with a shot of Patron. "Clearly, y'all don't know how to do that." He ends after he swallows.

I stare at him, my eyes wide.

"Wow, you really don't care about shit." I say to him.

He smiles with all his teeth and I laugh.

"Let's have a fun fucking Bachelor weekend! Everybody take the damn pill. It's not crack, it's ecstasy. The most you'll wanna do is God forbid have fun and dance at a party." Emil rolls his eyes and walks into one of the bedrooms.

The three of us look at each other.

"I know y'all not thinking about taking them damn pills." Flex says surprised.

Monty shrugs and throws one back. "Congrats on the marriage." He says after he swallows. "Let's see."

A part of me was curious. But me and Flex seem to be on the same page.

"No?" I ask Flex. Still unsure.

Flex is silent for a moment.

"No." He says. Seeming sure.

I look around at the penthouse and the view and the bottles in ice. This was my first night living like this, my first time in Malibu and my first time partying with Flex ever.

"No?" I ask again, picking the pill up and staring at it in the palm of my hand.

Flex laughs.

"Ay!" He calls, trying to snap me out of it.

"I'm not taking it until you take it. It's your Bachelor party." I say with a hint of peer pressure.

"Nigga.." Flex says low.

Emil comes back out of his room and rolls his eyes annoyed with us both.

I watch Flex's face change from skepticism to curiosity.

"Fuck it." He says.

We take it together.