In the limo Wop yelled to Petey, “Yo, Crack, let’s pass by Divine’s new joint to see what type of * they got there tonight!”
“A’ight! Driver, to Sunset south, please!” I thought we were supposed to be headed to some party but was down for the ride, my buzz had settled in and I was easy.
As we pulled up to Cobalt I saw a line stretching from around the corner. The marquee read “Welcome to Hollywood! Happy Birthday, Divine.” The guys started howling and giving me dap. All I could murmur was, “Oh, shit. Y’all got me, man.”
We pulled up front where there were photographers and a bellman who greeted us at the door with glasses of Dom Perignon and Ace of Spades. Wop and a couple of other dudes grabbed whole bottles. When I walked through the doors everyone yelled happy birthday. They flew the D.J. in from the Big Apple; a big dawg pitbull. There was a montage of pictures of me projected on one of the walls. The waitresses were all dressed in corsets and daisy-dukes with high heels. There was a cage hanging from the ceiling in one of the corners with women in see-through plastic costumes dancing erotically with each other.
The sounds were off the chain. I had people I hadn’t seen in years come up and show me love. The place was so packed that I didn’t think a quarter of the people outside would be able to get in. The NBA, NFL, and MBL were in the house. There were a couple of my Hollywood friends, rappers, R&B singers and even local government figures in the building. The level of celebrity in the room was bananas! It made me realize how solid my connections were.
Tara was there, too, with a pregnant belly and all. She didn’t play the role of wifey but I’m sure she fed off the fact that most people assumed she still was. I saw a few friends from the BK and Chi-town. I chatted with as many as I could. Another thing I noticed was so many of my former lovers and friends. That was crazy. I thought of Rayna but figured she probably didn’t know about it. I idly wondered if she would have enjoyed it. She was so low key, so I wasn’t too sure. I knew I’d possibly see her later so I decided to live in the moment. I was so high off surprise.
After being there nearly an hour I ran across Petey and howled, “You got me, Ock! I know this was all you,” while giving him dap.
“Why it gotta be on me, huhn?” he said with a big ass smile on his face.
“I just wanna say thanks, man. This was a much needed surprise…much love to you, my ace. That’s from here, man,” I said pounding my chest referring to my heart.
“Anything for my number one…only ‘da best,” he said screaming over the crowd.
We split up and I continued mingling. Eventually I ended up by Tara. She waved for me to come over. It was a happy occasion so I did. She said happy birthday in my ear and smiled. I thanked her and kept it moving. I could tell she wanted more because she came out to celebrate me. That night was my night…I didn’t give a fuck. Photographers were everywhere taking pictures. It seemed like every three minutes one was calling my name asking me to smile. The others took shots with no warning.