***Angel's POV***
"You're not staying?" Luis asked me as I was getting off of his bed. I'm not actually even sure if that's his name, but it's my best guess. He looks like a Luis at least.
"I have work tomorrow." I said putting on my red tube top and matching skirt.
"Well couldn't you just leave from here in the morning?"
I rolled my eyes as I fixed my jet black hair in the mirror. "No, sorry."
"Can I have your number at least?"
I gave him a tight lipped smile. "Give me your number and I'll call you later maybe."
He quickly grabbed a pen and a napkin off of his side table and wrote down his number. I put my black heels back on and walked over to grab the napkin from his hand. "Thanks. I'll call you." I smiled at him again and made my way out of his bedroom.
"Do you want me to walk you out?" He yelled from his room.
"No thanks!" I yelled back.
I let myself out of his apartment and checked my watch. Fuck, two am already. I was going to be so exhausted for work tomorrow. Not to mention hungover. I still felt tipsy from all the drinking I had done earlier in the night.
I got outside, chucked the napkin in the garbage and flagged down a cab. I told the driver my address to the house I was renting in Brooklyn and then remained pretty silent the rest of the way. I didn't imagine cab drivers liked it when their passengers talked too much, so I usually just shut up.
The cab pulled up to my house and I quickly handed him some cash. I got out and started making my way to my stairs.
"Angel! Why you gettin' home so late?" Bert yelled at me from across the street. He was homeless and always hung out around my house, so I had gotten to know him pretty well. We would drink beers on my steps sometimes, or whenever I had weed I would bring him some to smoke as well.
"Another night another dick, Bert!" I yelled walking up my steps and I could hear him laugh. I unlocked my door and said goodnight to Bert. I went to my room and threw on some old sweats and a tiny tank top. I wanted to just get right into bed but I knew Zoe would kill me if I didn't call her and tell her I got home okay.
I walked out to my kitchen and picked up my landline. I dialed Zoe's number in and waited for her to pick up.
"Hey! Home safe and sound I presume?"
"Yeah, just got back." I replied while I played with the phone cord.
"How was that guy you went home with?"
"Ugh, trash. I threw out his number." We both giggled.
"So he's not gonna become a regular booty call then?"
I scoffed. "Definitely not. He was just all show. Like he looked like he would be a good fuck, but he was awful."
Zoe laughed again. "Fuck you're cold."
"Hey, I got expectations."
She sighed after she was done laughing. "So you work tomorrow?"
"Yeah I do. I should actually be going to bed now, I gotta get up at ten."
"Okay. Call me when you're done work, maybe we can do something."
"Alright, sounds good. Love you!"
"Love you too! Night." She hung up and I put the phone back on its hook. Zoe was my neighbour when I was kid, and we had been best friends ever since we first met. Not much had actually changed till this day, we both grew up in Brooklyn and we both still lived here. We weren't neighbours anymore, but she only lived a few blocks away from me. So, essentially neighbours.
I walked back to my room and finally plopped myself down on my bed. I grabbed my bong from the floor and packed a bowl quickly to help me sleep better. After I was done smoking I set my alarm for ten am and curled myself up with my warm comfy blankets. Before I knew it, I drifted off into my weed induced beauty sleep.
********
The next morning I woke up to my clock violently beeping at me but surprisingly, I wasn't feeling nearly as bad as I thought I was going to.
I turned my alarm off and struggled to get up. Not because I was tired, but because my mattress was on the floor, so it was always hard to get up. Once I found my balance and could stand up, I made my way to the bathroom to start getting ready for work.
I got in the shower, washed my hair, face, and body and then quickly jumped out. I dried myself off, and did my make up while I let my hair dry. I did it very minimally, and then threw my pretty much dry hair up into a pony with my scrunchie. I work as a waitress in a shitty bar, so there was never any point in putting a lot of effort into looking nice. I got dressed in my favourite Adidas button up track pants and my white Adidas crop top and then made my way out to my kitchen.
I searched my fridge for food but there wasn't much. I decided on two pop tarts since that was all I kinda had as far as breakfast food goes and sat down with my plate. As I was eating my phone rang.
"Hello?" I answered it and was met with an automated voice.
"Hello. This call is being recorded and monitored. An inmate from Clinton Correctional Facility is trying to reach you. This is a collect call. Would you like to accept?"
"Yes!" I said with a mouth full of pop tart.
A few second laters my brothers voice boomed through the speaker. "Yo."
"Ai! How you doin'?" His full name is Aidan, but everyone just calls him Ai.
"Fuck, I'm aight. I just wanted to give you a call and see what you've been up too?"
"Not a lot, I've just been workin' all week. What have you been doin'?"
"I had a meeting with my lawyer the other day. She said I might be able to get parole soon."
My eyes lit up. "Don't play with me right now Ai! Are you being serious?!" I squealed.
"Hell yeah. I would never joke 'bout gettin' outta the pen." He laughed.
"Did they tell you when?!"
"Nah, no dates yet. Just soon." I lost a bit of my excitement, 'soon' can mean a million different things.
"Okay, well when they ask you where you're going to be staying when you're released you tell them my address, yeah? I'll clear out a room for you."
"Yeah, I know. Thanks Angel."
"Ahh, what are big sisters for?" I laughed.
"I also got somethin' else to tell you, but you can't freak out."
"What did you do Aidan?" My voice got stern. Even though he was nineteen, and only three years younger than me, I was essentially his parent. Our mom died when I was eleven, and our dad became an addict shortly after, which left me with the parental role.
"Nothin'! It's good, I swear."
"Okay, what?"
"I got a friend in here whose got ties to Bad Boy." I raised my eyebrow waiting for him to finish. "So I gave him your demo and he's gonna pass it along to some executive there."
"YOU'RE FUCKIN' LYING!" I screamed into the phone.
"Ay, I told you not to freak out! Nothin's for sure yet, but just don't be screenin' any of your calls."
"Okay okay." I breathed with intention trying to calm myself down. "Thank you so fuckin' much Ai! You are the best brother in the world."
"Yeah, don't gotta tell me twice." He laughed.
"K well I gotta go to work, but I'll come for visitation maybe this week?"
"That'd be dope."
"K, thank you so much again! I love you and I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Aight, love you too." We both hung up and I could barely contain myself with all the excitement I was feeling.
I had been rapping since I was sixteen and I recorded my first demo a year ago. I had sold a few copies, but not many. They mainly sold at the small shows I've been doing here and there in between my work schedule, but that was about it. If someone at Bad Boy got their hands on it, that could be exactly what I needed to start my career.
I had to force myself to start packing my work uniform into my backpack since it was about twelve thirty now and I had to start in half an hour. Thankfully my work was really close and I could walk there in ten minutes.
I threw on some sneakers, slung my backpack over my shoulders and made my way out the door. I put on my headphones, clicked play on my Discman and Da Joint by EPMD started filling my ears. I tried to drown out thoughts about being signed to Bad Boy but I couldn't help myself from smiling like an idiot and fantasizing.
I walked for a short while and then turned onto the street that the bar was on. The bar came into focus and I could make out what looked to be a group of people gathered outside of it. I figured it was probably some of the regulars just stepping out for a smoke.
I got closer and I realized it was in fact none of the regulars, just a group of random guys standing around. I continued walking until I reached the bar and my nose was filled with the smell of weed. Fuck, I should have smoked this morning, I muttered to myself.
I walked past them and felt six pairs of eyes watching my every move. I made sure not to make eye contact and just act like I didn't notice them, until I realized they were all in the way of the door.
I lifted one of my headphones so I wouldn't be screaming from the inability to hear myself and said "Excuse me." I'm sure my tone was a little rude, but I was annoyed they were just standing in the way of the door.
They all shuffled out of the way and one of them opened the door for me. He flashed me a wide smile revealing his gapped front teeth and said "Sorry lil ma." I gave him a half smile back and made my way through the door.
I walked behind the bar to go check which section I had today and to say hi to the new bartender they had hired a few days ago. My eyes scanned the paper that had all the assigned sections and I heard the door fly open. My eyes quickly shot up and I saw it was those same guys. I looked down again and pretended like I didn't notice them come in.
Just as I was finishing up with the paper my boss walked by me and yelled, "Angel! This ain't a strip club! Go change!" I groaned and grabbed my backpack to go to the bathroom. Fuck, I miss dealing. After Ai got arrested for a robbery him and his crew did, I quit selling so I wouldn't end up in jail too. There was no way I was gonna let the both of us end up in there.
I quickly changed into my uniform which was just a white low cut tank top with the bars name on it and a black skirt. I'm not sure how this was any less 'strippery' but my boss was always an ass.
I stuffed my backpack into my locker, tied my waitress belt around my waist and went back out to the floor. I grabbed a little notepad and a pencil from behind the bar and started to analyze all the tables in my section to see who I should serve first. As my eyes scanned around the bar I noticed those same guys were sitting in my section. Of fucking course.
I decided to serve them first to just get it out of the way. I walked over with my notepad and felt those same six pairs of eyes scanning my body once again.
"Hey, I'm Angel. I'll be your server today, can I get you guys started with any drinks?"
"You were kinda rude to us earlier, Angel. We're payin' customers." The gap tooth one said. His voice was really smooth.
I involuntarily rolled my eyes and turned on my heels. "I'll get you a different server."
I heard them start to laugh and then what sounded like a smack. "Nah nah nah, he's just jokin!" I turned back around and looked at them, clearly pissed off.
"They're just assholes." The one white boy said with a look of remorse on his face.
"Yeah, I'm sorry." He smiled. "And you don't look like a stripper." I laughed slightly under my breath.
"Okay, drinks? Yes or no?"
"Yeah, please." White boy said again. I took all of their drink orders and told them I'd be back. I went to the bar and asked the new girl to fix them for me while I went and tended to my other tables.
After I was done I came back to their table with the six beers they ordered. I handed them out and then did one last check in. "Okay, do you guys need anything else?"
"Nah, I think we're good, thanks thou-" White boy got cut off by the gapped tooth one.
"Yeah, Em here needs your number." He patted his white friend on the back.
"Not happening."
They all started laughing and I turned to make my way over to my other tables. Twenty minutes later I was sitting at the bar talking to the new girl since all my tables had been waited on and the same white boy from the group of six came and sat beside me.
"Yo, I'm sorry for them. I know you're just tryna do your job and it's probably annoying when dudes act like that."
I nodded. "Yeah it is, but it's alright."
"Honest to god I wasn't tryna get your number, all I said was that I thought you were good looking."
"Thanks." My tone sounded uninterested.
"Yo, if you're interested though, we're goin' out to some club here tonight if you wanna come? We got VIP."
"I thought you just said you weren't trying to get my number?"
"I'm not, I'd rather chill with you than talk to you on the phone." He grinned but my face stayed emotionless.
"Maybe, where are you guys going?"
"Uh, I don't know what it's called, I'm not from here. But it's like 5 blocks down."
"Oh yeah, I know what one you're talking about."
"Yeah, so you gonna come?"
"Mm, I'll see."
"Why? You gotta work?"
I shook my head. "No, I'm off at seven. I'm just not sure if I wanna see you again." I gave his body a once over.
"Shit, you are kinda rude." He smiled.
"Well would you rather me lie to you?" My voice was sultry. I looked him in eyes and he blinked a few times. I think he was unsure of what so say.
He cleared his throat. "Aight, well I'll put your name on the list just in case." He got up from his chair and made his way back to his booth.
I went back to work and after about an hour I brought them their bills. They all paid and I thanked them and turned to walk away.
"Yo Angel! I'll see you tonight?" White boy yelled to me.
"Maybe!" I yelled back still walking away.