He fidgeted through a guest book perched on a podium near the door.
"134 B, is that the first floor sir?"
Junya asked while he looked down the
hall.
"Oh, sorry to disappoint you sir, but this party is all the way up!" The
man said as he pointed straight up in the air.
"You mean the 134th floor?"
Junya said with a look of exhaustion.
"Yes, the 134th floor, as you folk would call it the uh, „baller suite.!"
The
man said with a medium smile.
"Thank you..."
Junya said as he headed towards the elevator.
"Oh, don't thank me as of yet, you mustn.t pass through those doors
without my authorization!"
"Authorization?"
"Yes sir, I am quite sure you understand..."
Junya reached into his front pants pocket and pulled out the wadd of
money that Lani left on the truck seat. He peeled off $60.00 from the knot of
money and stuffed it in the breast pocket of the man.
"Consider yourself authorized!"
Junya said with confidence.
"Authorized indeed sir...continue with the rest of your evening!"
The
man said. The man then pushed a button and buzzed Junya through the doors
to get to the elevators.
Junya walked up to the elevator and pressed the button to go up. He
heard sounds as the elevator came down. He figured if Khevasiah was on the
elevator, she would not expect him to be anywhere near the building. Junya
waited for the elevator to come down, to notice that it was a couple of women;
not even cute. They were not even sisters. Junya parted them way and got on
the elevator. He noticed that the apartment building counted floors in tens, and
not by ones. So in essence, he went to the 10th floor.
Junya rode the elevator all the way up to the 10th floor by himself and got off.
He walked throughout the floor, looking for door number 34 B. As he approached the higher numbers,
there was a large cackling of sounds coming from a room down the hall from
where Junya was standing. Junya looked and noticed he had approached the
suite.
As Junya contemplated about opening the door, the door opened and two
men walked out, laughing loudly. The men looked familiar to Junya; some of the
same faces he made out when he was at the club? Or just some New York black
dudes in a VIP suite. Junya realized he was being paranoid, and acknowledged
the men as they walked past.
"Yo, that.s where the party is at?"
Junya asked diligently.
"Who you is, police or some shit? You don't hear all that mother fucking
noise; niggas eating, having fun, living and shit? Why you out here holms? Go
on in, have a good time!"
"You sure? Junya said shyly. I do not need a..."
"Need a wha? The other man interrupted. Get you a mother fucking
drink when you get in there...your ass is stiff!"
"Get a couple bitches while you at it too!"
The first man said. The two
men walked down the hall and entered another suite.
Junya waited until the door closed of the suite where the other men were.
He looked through the creaked door and noticed a lot of people were sitting
down. There was no loud music, no ridiculous noise, it just seemed really
private and quaint. Junya pulled the door open and stepped inside.