The Come Up

Chapter 55 - Beef

After winning the BET award for best new artist, my album sales skyrocketed. If the numbers were good before, they were more than amazing now. I've been cashing checks every other day. Not even checks for the album necessarily, checks from designers whose clothes I've worn on the red carpet events, checks from talk show hosts and performance venues, checks for things I've done that I don't even remember. My money has been growing so fast that Mom has given up on dealing with it all together and has given Mac permission to hire me an accountant. I like the way the checks smell. Kinda like freshly printed paper. Sometimes I can smell it before I even open the envelope. And each one brings a different joy, a different feeling of accomplishment.

Mom works closely with our new accountant, her name is Adia. She is brown skin, with neat dreadlocks about shoulder length. Her face is stern and her cheekbones are high. They give her face a serious and professional look but she manages to still be beautiful. Until she laughs, I forget that she can. Mac brags about how many celebrities she has worked with and I thank him, as always, for getting me the best there is. 

The first thing Adia did when she took control of all the bread I was making, was start up a savings account. I found out that I was actually not spending much at all. 

"You're the only upcoming artist I've met that has gained this much success and bought basically nothing." Adia's eyes scanned my bank statements as she looked over past activity. 

"I'm not much of a spender." I shifted my eyes from hers and then returned it back to the papers before her. 

"How long ago did you make your first million?" She questioned. 

I really had to think back to the party that made me well aware that I was now making really good money. It took me a few seconds. 

"About four months ago." I replied. 

"Do you know how much you have now?" Adia questioned. 

I shook my head. Ma was dealing with all that, I rarely even bothered to ask her about the actual number. I only had an estimate. 

"Guess." Adia had said. 

"Uhm.. around two million?" I asked. 

Adia chuckled. 

"five point four." She corrected. 

I remember feeling the slight thump of excitement in my stomach. I remember mouthing the word 'shit', then apologizing to the professional sitting a few feet away from me. I remember that was one of the first times I saw her smile. 

"Do you know how much you have spent since you made that million?" She questioned again. 

I shook my head, definitely clueless about that. 

"Ten thousand dollars. And most of that money...was you giving other people your money. I see a few hundred taken out the account every couple weeks. You send that back to Brooklyn?" Adia asked. 

"Yea, I'm helping a family down there." I answered, thinking of Trevon's Mom and sister. 

"Okay. As of last week, your savings account contains 3.5 million dollars. I am tracking your album sales, streaming, and outside appearances that you will be getting paid for as well as the upcoming tour. Your five million will at least double in the next 10 months, so you have room to spend. I mean, what do you want to do? Haven't you dreamt about having so much money you can do whatever you want?" Adia looked at me clueless. Like I was some rare type of human, unaffected by wealth. 

I thought for a moment, staring into space, I felt her odd glance at me and after a moment she turned away to give me some time. About a minute passed. I asked her nicely.