One Way Out

Chapter 4

One Year Ago

"Aye yo P, come on girl. I'm not tryna be out here all night," Brooklyn says. She is impatiently waiting for her friend to get out of the mirror. "That's the whole point Brook.. To be there all night," Paris laughs.

She continues to flick the mascara brush on her eyelashes. This party is going to be big. Brian is throwing it for a reason, and she has a job to do. They're a team and he needs her. "I'm almost done. You know I have to get dolled up"

"For what.." Brooklyn responds dryly, "'Cause if its just for your man then-"

"It's not," Paris puts her mascara away and comes out of the bathroom, "It's for everyone else." She winks at her then continues to zip on her combat boots, "Brian knows I look good. I don't have to prove that to him."

"So wait, let me guess, you're working tonight?" Brooklyn crosses her arms. "What did you think? I'm always working baby," Paris stands up and adjusts her grey crop top and black thigh high socks, "What time is it?"

"Almost 11:30. Can we go?" Brooklyn's voice is getting pitchy. Paris squints at her, "Look, you're going to a party. You're about to have a good time. I'm trying to make sure I get this MONEY. So shut that complaining shit up."

"Ok well I'm leaving. If it's too early for you, you can sit in the car and wait," Brooklyn grabs her keys and steps out of the house into the warm summer night air. Paris sighs, annoyed, and follows her to her car. The girls sit in the car in silence, Paris scheming her movements through the party and Brooklyn just looking to have a good time. They finally pull up to a medium sized house, but theyre forced to park down the street because the cars are lined up. Brooklyn takes her keys out of the car, "Let me know when you're ready to go. Stay safe." And with that she gets out the car and hikes to the house.

The music is so loud, Paris can hear it from the car, which is parked about 5 doors down. She looks at herself in the mirror. Eyebrows good. Eyes good. Lipstick good. Outfit good. She checks the time on her phone. Ten minutes until midnight. The boys should be buzzed up by now, making this whole process a lot easier for her.

She gets out of the car and walks down the sidewalk to the house. There are a couple guys by the steps rolling dice and a couple more trying to bag a few girls for the night. They seem to already be buying so she continues past them. "Hey P. Lookin goooood. See it sitting pretty," one says and whistles as she steps onto the step by him. "Thanks," she opens the door and is immediately smacked with the sound and smell of loudness.

She scans the area for where Brian might be. Somewhere secluded with a couple new boys getting high and telling some story. A bedroom. She walks up the steps through the crowd and tries to look down the hall. She nudges the nearest person and says, "Hey, you seen Tap?" She knows never to let the public know his, or her own, real name. The person points down the hallway. She continues to make her way down the crowded hall of drunk and high people until she gets to a closed door on her right. She knocks once before opening the door.

Just as she expected, she finds Brian with a group of four other guys sitting around, smoking and talking. She walks over to him, "Hey baby." She kisses him on the cheek. "Hey. This my girl, P. P, these some niggas that's chill enough to cool it," he says. He never introduced the new kids he spoke with, they weren't close enough to his level to have names.

"Hi, nice to meet y'all," Paris smiles. She bends over to whisper something to Brian, both to entice their new potential sellers, and to get the point across that Brian doesn't run this on his own. They run it together. "Baby, you got somewhere you want me to start?"

He takes a long draw of the blunt, holds it, then blows out. "Yea I saw some clean ones down by the pool table. Look outta place. Try to see what you can get them to do. Anything's good," Brian whispers back. Paris stands up and waves sweetly to the group, "Bye boys. Welcome to the team. I'll see you around." She grins then steps out of the room.