APPLE
PRESS PLAY
I put the last picture frame up on my wall. It was the last piece I added to my dorm room décor. This semester, I had the pleasure of having my own room. The opportunity to serve as an RA for Laureaux Hall was exciting. Although it was nice for now, I wondered how long this feeling would last before I began to feel lonely. Having a dormmate held its pros and cons, but the one thing I never had to worry about was being alone. Even though my aunt offered to pay rent for me over at the King’s Apartments, I declined. It wasn’t because I couldn’t handle being on my own, but it was the fear of missing out on the full on-campus experience during my remaining time here that deterred me.
I sat on my bed and glanced at the flyer they had posted in the dean’s office for the upcoming internship. I knew this was a great opportunity for me to not only add to my resume and possibly explore a different major, but to also get closer to the August family. Jesaiah’s aunt worked there, and if I could get close to the special lady in his life, maybe it would bring us closer.
As the idea played in my head, there was a knock at my door. I setthe flyer on my nightstand as I got up to answer it. When I opened the door, a grin eased on my face.
“Sup, girl?” Jesaiah said.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you before tomorrow,” I told him.
He tapped my chin as he made his way into my room. I quickly poked my head out my door before closing and locking it. I turned toward him. “I thought you were coming to Hoodoo’s last night. Your girls were there, but you weren’t.”
That was the plan, but by the time I got to Covana, I was tired and didn’t feel like going. Not to mention I felt like he was going to be on some bullshit, and I didn’t even want to think about dealing with it.
I smiled as I approached him. “I was but got here late, so I called it an early night. I heard it was a time.”
He slowly nodded. “Something like that,” he said as he extended his hand and stroked my cheek.
I pulled away slightly. “Don’t,” I mumbled. “We can’t do that here.”
He looked at me like I had given him a math problem and he was trying to calculate the answer in his head. “We’ve done it before, and you had a roommate. What makes this any different?”
What made it different was that I wanted to be his girlfriend, not just his fuck buddy. I nervously ran my hand over my arm. “I want more. With you and me,” I shared.
He ran his hand over the back of his neck. “What? Like a title?”
“Yeah. I deserved to be courted.”
“What we have doesn’t need to be explained. What do we need a title for?”
There it was. He didn’t want the same things I did. Jesaiah stared at me, then smirked. “I see you're on a different type of time. I’m going to head out,” he said as he walked past me toward the door.
I didn’t want him to leave. I wanted him to stay andfigure this shit out with me. I had given Jesaiah something I had never given anyone else, and that was my virginity. I felt stuck, and it messed with my head. I appeared perfect on the outside, but internally I was struggling with accepting who I truly was.
“Wait!” I shouted. “Don’t leave,” I muttered as my eyes rose to him. I mustered up a smile on my face. “Stay with me,” I said as I held my hand out for his.
He took my hand and pulled me in before gripping my ass tightly. I had the beauty and brains, but somehow, I had been lured by lust, and because the fear of the unknown settled in me, I felt like I couldn’t let him go.
PERCY
Iwatched as that nigga Xavier dozed off. Who was he to judge me? The nigga was lying there with a fucking boot on his leg from an injury. I knew he was probably angry, but I wasn’t the nigga he thought I was. It was nothing for me to rumble with his ass in this room, but I was trying to think smart. What star player wanted to be injured in the height of the season? I had a moment like his last year and worked my ass off on the field to get back in good standing and back in the scouts’ eyes. Then shit changed for me: football was still there, but my mind had shifted from the potential of making the league to needing a backup plan.
I snatched up my bag and my coat and left the room. The party had somewhat died down, leaving some niggas drunk, barely holding on to the wall, while girls crept from dorm rooms, taking their walk of shame. Once I was out of Avery Hall, my first thought was to chill with my niggas, but instead, I decided to take these final hours and try to get ahead of some of my coursework in the library.
When I got inside, the silence that filled the space was damn near spooky. It was a shame that I had been at this school all this time, and this was the first time I had set foot in this muhfucka. I movedthrough the library, and I could tell the bones of the building were sound, but the age it held made it time for a facelift. I got so caught up in looking at the building's structure that I tripped over a chair someone had left out.
“Shit!”I shouted.
The few people who were in here gave me dirty looks. “My bad,” I said.
One of the nerdy-looking niggas shook his head and put his headphones back on, while a girl in the corner snarled at me like she smelled something funky. I waved them off as I found an empty table and sat. I swung my bag onto the table and began pulling out what I needed.
Suddenly, the smell of soft perfume wrapped around me. “Can you please be quiet? You're disturbing those who are trying to study,” she said as she leaned on the side of me, showing her face.
My eyes narrowed in on her pretty brown face and fluffy hair. Her glasses sat on the tip of her nose as her stare became deeper.
