Xavier slowly woke up, on the couch, to hear Naomi pouring cereal in the kitchen.
"What time is it?" Xavier asked.
"9:03."
"WHAT!?"
"9:04 now."
"I'm supposed to be at work at 9."
"A little too late for that." Naomi said, with a laugh.
Xavier started to leave.
"Wait, Naomi, can I, uh... can I borrow $30?"
"For what?"
"Uh... for uh... I got, like... something important..."
"No."
Xavier nodded and left.
Alexa stood behind a kiosk, watching Apollo stand in the middle of the airport.
"Sir, do you have a moment to talk about your cellphone plan?" Apollo asked, approaching a man, walking with his two kids.
"No thanks."
Apollo simply sighed. Alexa immediately came over.
"Umm... sir?"
The man stopped and turned around.
"It'll be really quick and you can save up to $120 a year." Alexa said.
The man sighed.
"Okay, fine."
Apollo smiled at Alexa, as she walked away.
"Well it's pretty simple, you see..." Apollo said, beginning to explain.
Alexa walked back over to their kiosk, to see Xavier standing there.
"You're late."
"A little bit." Xavier shrugged.
"25 minutes."
"Overslept. Hey, can I borrow $30?"
"Why?"
"I got a date tonight. I'll pay you back Friday."
Alexa sighed, rolling her eyes, and reaching into her pocket.
"Kofi, this is Tyler, Tyler, this is Kofi." Big E said, as they walked into the recording studio, to see Becky and Tyler, already sitting behind the mixing console.
Kofi shook his hand, and then Becky's.
"And you are?"
"Becky."
"Nice to meet you. I'm not sure where my producer is, he's supposed to be here. Lemme hit him up on-"
"I'm right here." Becky said, with a laugh.
"Wait, what?"
"I'm Soulless Senpai."
Big E raised his eyebrows.
"Oh! Okay! That's weird, cause you're... you know... a girl... and white... and British." Kofi said.
"Irish."
"Yeah, something like that."
Becky sighed, and began playing one of her beats.
"Too Drake-ish." Kofi said almost immediately.
She hit a button and another one came on.
"Aw yeah. I fuck with this one. This the one. That old school Gucci type shit. I already got a hook for it too, lemme find it in my phone." Kofi said, stepping into the recording booth and putting on the headphones.
"So what should I wear?" Sasha asked, nervously looking through her clothes.
"...it's Five Guys." Bayley said.
Sasha rolled her eyes.
"It's still a date."
"I'd wear some socks, some underwear, some pants, shoes, probably a shirt and bra."
"Bayley, I'm serious."
Just then, Sasha's phone vibrated.
"Who's that?" Sasha asked, inside of her closet.
Bayley picked up Sasha's phone.
"It's a Snapchat from 'K Da King'."
Sasha groaned.
"It's the SoundCloud dude from the bar. Open it and don't respond."
Bayley hit play, and a video of Kofi, in the studio, sitting next to Tyler appeared, with a song playing in the background.
"FLY YOUNG GENTLEMAN, MY NICKNAME F.Y.G., BAPE HOODIE ZIPPED DOWN, X.Y.Z., HA, MORE LIKE FLEX-Y-Z, YUH! MORE LIKE FLEX-Y-Z, AYE!, MORE LIKE LIKE FLE-"
The video cut off.
"That was kinda lit." Bayley said.
"Replay it." Sasha said.
Bayley held down the message, in order to use the option to replay it once more, before it disappeared forever.
"FLY YOUNG GENTLEMAN, MY NICKNAME F.Y.G., BAPE HOODIE ZIPPED DOWN, XYZ, HA, MORE LIKE FLEX-Y-Z, YUH! MORE LIKE FLEX-Y-Z, AYE!, MORE LIKE LIKE FLE-"
"Wow. I actually kinda like that. Send a fire emoji... just one though."
Tyler worked on arranging all of the vocals, and putting together the best takes, while Kofi, Big E, and Becky sat down next to him, bored.
"Alright, so me and E were debating our Top 5 rappers of all time. This nigga said Tupac, J. Cole, Biggie, Kendrick, and Drake. I said Wayne, Gucci, Jeezy, Andre 3000, and T.I., who you got?"
Becky thought for a second.
"Eminem, Tupac, Jay-Z, Kendrick, and Kanye."
Before Big E and Kofi could respond, Kofi's song started playing through the speakers.
"This is the best song you've ever done." Tyler said.
Tyler played with different reverb effects on Kofi's vocals.
"Meh."
"Ain't no meh. This the one." Big E said. Kofi shrugged again.
"I guess you could say the song was a Flexcess." Becky laughed.
"...wait what you just say?" Kofi asked.
"I... nothing. It was a dumb joke. I like puns." Becky said, slightly embarrassed.
"But Flexcess? Like... like success?"
"Yeah?"
"Here we go." Big E sighed.
"Turn on another beat. I gotta use that."
Kofi got up and walked back into the recording booth, mumbling the word Flexcess to himself.
Xavier walked into his parents' house, where his father was sitting on the couch.
"Hey, Dad."
"You and that girl still arguing?" He asked, sounding annoyed.
"Nice to see you too."
Xavier went into the fridge and pulled out a can of soda.
"Hey can I use the car tonight?"
"No. We're going on a date."
Xavier sighed and nodded.
"You took a soda out of the fridge, the least you could do is put a warm one back in. It ain't rocket science."
Xavier reached into the cabinet, grabbing a soda, and putting it in the fridge.
Kofi was driving, with Big E in the passenger seat.
"He said the mixes should be done by tomorrow." Big E said.
"Man that's 4 BANGERS. In one day. Two more days of work and we got a mixtape."
"I think you should just drop them as singles and blow up like that. Like Kyle."
"Who the fuck is Kyle?" Kofi asked.
"The iSpy nigga."
"Bro why does everybody always gotta find a way to bring up Lil Yachty? That nigga is GARBAGE!"
"Didn't even mention him."
"But he's on iSpy."
"So? He's on everything. iSpy, Broccoli, that Target commerical,-"
"I get it! Damn! Just shut up, turn on the radio or something." Kofi said.
Big E turned on the radio, as Peek A Boo by Lil Yachty featuring Migos started playing.
"PLAY WITH THAT MONEY LIKE PEEK A BOO, OOO, PLAY WITH THESE BITCHES LIKE PEEK A BOO, OOO, BROKE ASS, BITCH ASS NIGGA, I'M NOT FINNA PLAY WITH YOU, THAT'S WHAT THESE RAPPERS DO, PEEK A BOO PEEK A BOO PEE-"
Kofi immediately turned the radio off.
"FUCK LIL YACHTY!" He screamed.
They rode in silence for a bit.
"That song is kinda hard." Big E said.
"...yeah."
Kofi turned it back on.
They pulled up to their apartment, to see Xavier sitting in front of the front door.
"Yo X, what's going on?" Kofi asked, as they got out of the car.
"I got a date, can I borrow the car?" Xavier asked.
"You got a date!? Look at you! Not moping around about Naomi no more! What she look like?"
"Sasha."
Kofi's smile disappeared, as Big E looked confused.
"You found another girl that looks like Sasha?" Big E asked.
"No, he's going on a date with Sasha." Kofi said, rolling his eyes.
He threw Xavier the keys.
"Hey. She said my new song fire. Just saying. Don't be surprised when you come over and she's already here." Kofi said, shrugging.
Xavier ignored him, getting into the car.
"You're welcome!" he said, as Xavier closed the door and started the car.
He typed Sasha's address into the GPS on his phone and began driving.
"Yeah, I went to college at Florida State for a bit. I dropped out." Sasha said.
Xavier nodded, sitting across the table.
"I dropped out of college too."
"Where'd you go?" Sasha asked, taking a bite of her burger.
"Princeton."
Sasha started choking on her burger.
"Sasha! Are you okay!?"
She managed to swallow it.
"You went where!?"
"Princeton."
"Like... Ivy League Princeton!?"
"Yeah."
"You got into Princeton!?"
"Uh..." Xavier began.
"Sorry. Not that you're dumb or anything. Just... only like 10% of people who apply to Princeton get in."
"7%."
"Oh... well... why'd you drop out?"
Just then, his phone started ringing. It was Naomi.
"Sorry, I gotta take this." Xavier said.
Sasha nodded, as Xavier answered it.
"Hello?"
"Val keeps asking for you, just tell her good night." Naomi said, sounding annoyed.
"Uh... okay... hey Val?"
"Dada." she said, as Naomi held the phone up to her ear.
"Hey. Um, it's, it's time to go to bed, okay?... Sorry I can't be there right now but... I'll pick you up tomorrow and we can play, okay?"
Valentine responded in gibberish, while Sasha patiently waited.
"Yup. Mmhmm. That's right, Val. I love you. Goodnight."
Naomi hung up the phone.
"Who was that?" Sasha asked, as Xavier hung up.
"My daughter. Anyway, about Princeton, it's difficult to get into. You gotta have a 3.9 GPA just to-"
"You have kids!?"
"N-no... no! Kids!? Nah, I don't have kids! I just... have A kid. That's not 'kids' necessarily."
Sasha sighed, and looked as if she was thinking for a bit.
"Were you married?"
"No."
"How old is your daughter?"
"16 months old."
"So... when did you and your girlfriend or whatever break up?"
"7 days ago."
"Oh... wow, that's... that's rather recently. Um... why'd you break up?"
"We kinda hate each other. And I'm kinda broke."
"You don't have a job?" Sasha asked.
"I mean, I got a job, it just sucks. It's kinda hard to get like a really really good job cause I don't have a degree, and I spent my entire school career learning stuff to help me through college so I don't have any actual skill, but... between my on-again, off-again anxiety and my crippling depression, I find the time to write. I write short stories, screenplays, stuff like that. What do you do?"
"Well... I was a theater major, and after I dropped out, I moved back in with my mom, and I do make-up tutorials on YouTube and my videos are monetized, so I make money off of that, but not that much."
"High-five for dropping out of college and living with our parents." Xavier said, sticking his hand out.
Sasha chuckled and high-fived him.
They finished their date, and continued having small talk, as they walked out of the restaurant, and Xavier drove back to her house.
"Well... here we are." Xavier said.
"Thanks. I had fun."
"Me too."
"You wanna come inside?" Sasha asked.
"Come inside of what?"
Sasha rolled her eyes and chuckled.
"That's up to you."
"Oh really?"
Just then, Bayley came out of the house, waving.
"Woooooow." Sasha said, disappointedly.
"What?"
"I forgot to tell you. Bayley moved in with us. I didn't think she would be here. You'll have to come in another time."
"Alright. See you, Sasha."
"Bye." She smiled, getting out of the car.
Xavier drove off.
"Dude, what the hell are you doing here!?" Sasha exclaimed.
"My friends flaked on me." Bayley shrugged.
"Xavier was gonna come in."
"So?"
Sasha just looked at Bayley for a few seconds.
"...Oh! That's why you wanted me to leave!"
"You're the worst teammate ever." Sasha said, walking past her, into the house.