THE MAHOGANY EFFECT

CHAPTER EIGHT - THE STUDIO

My head shot up off my pillow at the shrill of my ringing telephone startling me out of my sleep. In reaching for the phone, my hand knocked over the empty glass on the night table and frightened Snarfette out of her nap.

"Hello," I answered, sounding exactly how I felt, completely out of it. My voice came over the phone in a throaty rumble.

"Yo, we doing this shit or what?" he asked. His voice boomed into my ear from the other end of the line and his background was noisy with loud music.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"It's me, fool. Did some female fuck you and your mind last night?" he asked.

"Oh shit, what's up, man?" I scooted up, propping myself against the headboard. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and sniffled. It was Hous' on the other end.

"I'm on my way to your place right now. Make sure you're dressed and ready to go. Can't afford to be late," he ordered. "And brush your teeth," he added sternly, then hung up.

I looked at the phone in my hand confused. "Yes sir," I mumbled quietly to myself.

I dropped the phone in the bed next to me and made myself comfortable again, but as the seconds ticked by I remembered why my cousin was on his way over so early on a Sunday morning. It was 11:08 A.M. Tired was kicking my ass but I had to make it to the studio. We had two more days of recording to do before the studio would be occupied by paying clients, which meant literally; time was money.

I pushed my tired body out of bed feeling sluggish and drained of energy from last night's fuck-down with Karen. I had a good mind to return to the comfort of my nice, warm bed but as I dragged my cumbrous body to the bathroom I reminded myself that Hous' was on his way over and there was no way I would get any rest with him here.

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror brushing my teeth with my other hand down the front of my shorts when I became aware that Mr. Ego was stuck to my left thigh. I was too tired last night, or should I have said, this morning, when I got home to jump in the shower. I spat, rinsed my mouth, hopped in the shower, and was out again in five minutes flat. I shuffled through the hanging garments in my closet for something to wear when the doorbell rang.

"A pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt will do nicely," I muttered quietly.

The doorbell rang again just as I had tied the drawstrings on my sweatpants. "Who is it," I called out, snatching my shirt from the bed.

"It's me," Hous' answered.

I opened the door to my cousin who struck a silly pose with a cheesy grin. He had a Dunkin' Donuts bag in one hand and a cup holder made from recycled cardboard with two cups in the other.

"Breakfast?" he said, shoving the bag to my chest as he stepped by me.

Inside the bag was a lightly toasted cinnamon raisin bagel, smeared with cream cheese and grape jelly, my favorite in-a-rush breakfast.

"Thanks, man," I said as I flung my T-shirt over my shoulder.

"Where's that damn cat of yours?" Hous' asked, looking around my living room for my feline companion.

"Man, leave my cat alone," I answered, biting into my bagel.

"That's what the fuck I'm saying. Your cat stays its quiet ass where the fuck its at, and I'll stay where I'm at, away from the little sneaky motherfucker," he said, handing me one of the two cups. "Caution customer contents may still be hot," he added casually, as I took the cup from him.

I peeled the tear-away from the lid and brought the cup to my mouth when my eyes made notice of the warning embossed on the lid which read: Caution Customer, Contents May Still Be Hot. I glanced back at Hous' and smiled to myself.