The Come Up (Book II) : PRODIGY

Chapter 14 - We needed Time

"Start the song." I say to the dark skinned beauty pouting at me from her big cream colored bed sheets. 

"You gotta get back in the bed first." She says in a small voice. 

"No, cause you gon hug me up and go right back to sleep. You not slick." I say as I brush my hair. 

"But babe, I-" 

We are interrupted by our doorbell. For a slight second, both of us freeze as if we were possibly imagining the sound. Chanel's forehead holds a crease and she gets to her feet, a worried look on her face. 

"More paparazzi?" She questions. 

"I don't know, but I'm bout to go check." I say pulling my shirt over my head and dragging on the grey sweats Chanel had tossed in a corner last night. 

She walks over to her balcony, places her hands on the railing and glances over, her tippy toes giving her some height. 

"Ay! Move from there, you tryna fall off?" I question as I open the room door. 

"Just trying to see who it is." She complains. 

"I got it." I respond, headed downstairs. 

Suddenly, I hear the latch on the door turning, I stop in my tracks. Whoever it is, has a key. 

The door opens with intent, not much aggression as it was haste. The alarm goes off momentarily but as I come down the stairs slow and cautious, big black hands are typing the security code into the monitor. The alarm stops and Flex stares me up and down, a nonchalant look on his face. 

"Ayyy! What's good homie. You got a key for here?" I ask, confused. 

"Of course I got a key for here." He says in his deep voice. 

I hear Chanel's footsteps run down the stairs and into his big arms. She looks like a small child against him. 

"Flex!" She yells. 

Flex hugs back, and though his face appears to be frustrated with us, Chanel easily crumbles that. He kisses her on the forehead. 

"Well thank God, y'all got your clothes on. I was about to kick the damn door down. Why have you disappeared off the face of the earth like y'all don't got shit to do?" He sounds annoyed and Chanel and I stand side by side like children getting scolded. 

"We just needed some time to work things out and get ourselves together." I answer so she won't have to. 

"It's not like you guys didn't know where we were." Chanel responds. 

"Well we only guessed where y'all were. Why you not responding to your Mother's calls?" Flex turns to Chanel. 

"Our phones are off." She says. 

Flex scoffs. "Y'all phones been off this whole time?" He shakes his head and rubs his eyes with his thumb and index finger. 

"I wanna strangle you both." He says calmly. 

"Nah Flex, on some real, we really needed time to figure everything out. It's been a tough few days." I say firmly. 

"I understand that but at the end of the day, y'all running a business. Chanel you missed the meeting with SONY, we got it rescheduled but you not in good standing with them right now. Trev, you got two songs on the Billboards, this is prime time for interviews and radio appearances. Ain't this what you wanted? Y'all gotta heal on the move. Both your managers calling you, can't get you, Mothers callin me, Mac callin me. What are y'all doin?" I never understood how Flex was able to sound mad and caring at the same time but he did it often and we always listened.