🌎 🌎 “Path to Manhood” by Dane C. Hawkins

The pair walked across campus and arrived just after the cafeteria had opened so there weren’t a lot of people there yet. The lines are small and they easily find a small table for them to eat and talk. Duc automatically starts talking about the party he went to the night before as Ovaughn casually nods his head between bites to let him know he is listening. It’s not that abnormal for these two as Duc is much more of a talker between the two but one on one is normally Ovaughn’s comfort zone. So, when Duc asks how Ovaughn likes the mobile phone and only gets a short “it’s cool” in response he knows something is up. He generally is good at reading people as he works the crowd, and he can tell his friends body language is off. “Aye, you good?” As simple of a question as it is, Ovaughn has been avoiding it all day. He could brush it off with a short response with most people but with his closest friends he knows it will only be more of an indication that something is wrong. So he tries to make it seem like a personal matter by responding with “Just some shit with my father.” hoping it will be enough for Duc to assume it is the same old stuff with parents they always complain about. Unfortunately for Ovaughn he is in the mood for empathizing and Duc responds “I understand man. You want to talk about it. I’m here bruh. If anyone understands having a complicated ass relationship with your pops it’s me. I thought y’all would be good after he bought the mobile phone and met your girl though.”

Now Ovaughn is intrigued by what Duc means by “a complicated ass relationship” and is a little surprised at the response. He thought Duc’s father was one of the coolest parents he’d ever met and has always been a bit envious of what he thought was a great relationship between them. Ovaughn can’t fight the intrigue. “Man, I never would have thought you had a complicated relationship with your father. He was cool as shit when we met him this summer. He wasn’t all in your business like mine is with me.” Duc’s eyebrows raise at the comment with a look that says “you just don’t know.” He’s generally not a complainer but he has no problem explaining what he means if Ovaughn really wants to know and responds by saying, “I get why you think my father is so cool. Everyone thinks he’s fun to be around. He is fun to be around. I get that honest.” He flashes a grin and then continues, “But it’s frustrating when he always just wants to be my friend and I need him to be there for more than that. My pops working in the music industry always kept him traveling and working late hours doing something with some artist or building some studio or producing some show. He has a million stories about his adventures and it’s cool. But I bet you a million bucks he can’t tell you the name of my first girlfriend. Hell! He didn’t even give me the talk or teach me how to talk to women. I figured all that shit out on my own...well, with my sister’s help. Man, I can’t tell you how many games, contests and performances I had growing up. I tried everything! I remember him at three events. Three! And anytime my mother complained about stuff it was always about putting the roof over our heads and he bought me everything I wanted so it wasn’t like I was going to say anything. I knew the answer. But he always seemed to make time for my sister when she needed him. I think he felt the need to make up for not being there when she was younger and I was supposed to be good because he was there, so to speak.” There’s a moment of silence as Duc gathers his thoughts. “I mean, I have a lot so I don’t want to complain. It could be worse. He could just call a little bit more to make sure I’m good. Ninety percent of the time we only talk when I call for something. Man... He’d probably buy me a mobile phone like you and then forget the number,” he laughs as he completes his sentence.

Ovaughn, somewhat in shock by what Duc just shared, started to really wonder why he is so shaken by his father’s visit now. “I guess I never would have thought about how you having your freedom could be a negative. My dad is up my ass about everything. He’s always been some rendition of a boss or a drill sergeant for as long as I can remember. We haven’t ever just hung out like we are cool. If it isn’t school, it’s sports, or chores, or my first job. He shows up at my job in the mall to make sure I wasn’t slacking off once and told my actual boss to let him know if he had any issues with me. When I told him I wanted to play basketball in middle school he immediately started waking me up early morning before school to put up shots or work on something. He has been pushing hard work and discipline for everything I do ever since. And don’t let me tell him about a girl. It’s a full-on interrogation and him telling me I have time for that later in life. My dad is tough. If not for my mom I probably wouldn’t have done anything fun in school. If my brothers had still been at home maybe he wouldn’t have been so focused on me but it was like he was trying to force me to do what he wished he had done at my age. I wish my father was fun to hang around and gave me some freedom.”

Duc shakes his head. “At least your pops wants to call you. You know he cares.”

A statement that gets to the root of Ovaughn’s current mood. “Yeah, you’d think that was obvious but that’s the reason I’m tripping now. He gets me a mobile phone...which is really a leash as much as it is for me to just use for myself but that’s cool. But when he left, he told me he loved me and I realized I don’t think I have ever heard him say it before. So now it feels weird and emotional and I’m walking around sad like I’m never going to see him again.”

Duc listens and feels the mood get a bit awkward as Ovaughn finishes his last statement. Neither of them is good at talking about emotions with their friends. It’s not something they have ever really done outside of talking to a female family member. Duc, trying to break the tension says “Man, I am not qualified to handle the emotional stuff. You gotta holla at your girl about that part nigga.” They both laugh at his ‘not really a joke’ joke and Ovaughn once again thinks about Duc’s change of opinion about Kennedy and takes the opportunity to finally ask him. “So what made you suddenly change your mind about Kennedy so much? It’s like suddenly you are her biggest cheerleader when you were the main one telling me to be a playa at first.” Duc didn’t hesitate. “One. You were trying to avoid a girlfriend at first. I assumed that’s what you wanted and supported your bad habits like all friends should. Two. None of us have a woman down for us the way she is for you. I’d be a terrible friend to let you leave her. Fuck kinda friend I look like. Three. You are not finding anyone tighter than her. Nigga, you might as well shut down shop.” Finding himself humorous, Duc bursts out in laughter before he gets serious. “But for real, go holla at your girl man. That’s why you have one. Don’t be like me out here emotionally dead inside. I’m sure she can make you feel better.”

At this point Duc felt like he had done all he could to help his friend and give him advice so to lighten the mood he changed the subject by telling Ovaughn to let him see the phone again. With a quick “oh I’m definitely getting my pops to buy me one of these” he breaks the tension and they start laughing and talking about other casual things while they finish their lunch. It doesn’t take long before they are on their way out of the cafeteria just as it is starting to get more and more crowded. As usual there is also a crowd congregating outside of the caf as it gets closer to the busier time of lunch service. They sit outside on the steps of the cafeteria greeting people that pass by and still chatting about nothing until Jairus, Mike, and Rob walk up to them on their way to get lunch. They ask if they’re trying to go inside to eat, not realizing Duc and Ovaughn have already eaten. Ovaughn wonders what happened to Chris but they blow it off as “Chris being Chris” as he always goes off to do his own thing. And almost on queue Chris appears from the crowd but surprisingly he isn’t alone when he arrives, and his companion immediately yells out Mike’s name in the crowd and they greet each other with a very exaggerated dap and hug. Everyone assumes it’s a close high school friend since he is with Chris, but they come to find out that this is Mike’s high school best friend Carlos who they have never met because he is always off at college for football. According to the stories Carlos is on a full ride to play football at a big university in Virginia. Even Mike is shocked to see him back in Atlanta in the middle of the semester. He tells Mike how he was chilling on campus trying to holla at girls until he ran into Chris and found out he was going to meet Mike for lunch. Mike is ecstatic to see his friend and finally put a face to some of the stories he has told the fellas. Ovaughn is a little put off by how hype Carlos is, so even though Duc decides to go back into the caf with his friends and hang out, Ovaughn still chooses to leave. He wants to try to catch up with Kennedy anyway.

So, as Ovaughn heads back across campus the rest of the guys go into the caf to eat lunch. They easily get Carlos in and find a spot for all of them to sit together. Everyone except Duc and Carlos jump in line to get food and Carlos automatically starts comparing notes with Duc knowing that he is Mike’s roommate. He has jokes about all the little quirks and habits Duc has noticed and some things he didn’t know about. Duc quickly realizes by the time everyone is back at the table that Carlos is probably the only person there who knows his roommate better than him. A part of him starts to feel a bit territorial, like he has to prove he’s as much a friend to Mike as Carlos. But Carlos, although only 5’9 in stature, has a huge personality and is one of those naturally loud people. He always seems to have a joke for anything you say and is the type of person who draws your attention with his presence. He sucks all of the air out of the room or in this case the lunchroom table and Duc hates it. Duc is a natural networker. He makes everyone comfortable around him and picks their brains. Carlos has to be the center of attention and it means no one is paying attention to Duc. He’s definitely feeling a little jealous even though he would never admit it. Not even to himself. All he can think is why Mike once told him he kinda reminds him of this guy in some ways. He doesn’t want to see it even if they are both charismatic and both very extraverted and only talk about women half the time and close in height with similar complexions. It isn’t until Carlos asks Duc when he is throwing his next party that Duc is forced to join the group conversation. He is quick to talk about having the gym lined up after the fall break and Carlos quickly responds that he will definitely be in attendance. This sends Mike into even more confusion about why his friend is home, and he finally just blurts out to Carlos, “Dog, why the fuck are you home and not in school?” Carlos quickly mumbles something about coaches tripping and said he will tell him about it later. Mike knows something isn’t right. He knows that Carlos always tries to dance around tough questions rather than dealing with his difficult issues. He isn’t going to call him out in front of all these unfamiliar faces anymore, but he is going to revisit the topic later. Carlos just carries on with joke-filled stories of him and Mike growing up mixed in with a couple of stories that include Chris in high school.

Meanwhile, Ovaughn walks across campus intent on going to see Kennedy, but he realizes that she is probably trying to make her way to lunch as well. He tries to walk in the direction of her dorm room hoping that if she is heading to the caf he will see her along the path but there’s so many people out that he quickly determines he may not see her through all the people. So, for the first time he pulls out his mobile phone and makes a call to her dorm room. He knows he can’t make this a habit but after the conversation with Duc he is a bit anxious to see her, so he uses some of his daytime minutes to make the call before 7 pm. Unfortunately for him she isn’t home, and no one answers the phone. He feels dejected but doesn’t give up. He figures if he posts up outside of the campus store along the path she will travel, it will be his best way to catch her or at least be visible to her with him being taller than average. But after less than 10 minutes of sitting outside he grows impatient and gives up on that plan because he’s not really one to be out in a crowd alone. He decides it’s best to head back to his room and wait to hear from her after she eats. He really doesn’t have any other options at this point. But he gets the urge for something sweet, so he decides to swing over to the student union to go grab some of the gummy candy he likes out of the one spot in the student union that sold food that isn’t a fast-food chain called the Union Grille. He walks into the grill and looks around to find Kennedy in line to get food for lunch. It never dawned on him that she may not go to the caf at all choosing one of the other options for lunch on campus. He is instantly happy to see her although he tries not to show it too much but that’s suddenly all he can see. When she sees him, she cracks a big grin and motions him over to greet him with a peck on the lips. “You looking for me?”

“Am I that obvious?” She smiles a little bit harder as she looks at him and then it dawns on her and she says, “nigga, you in here for them gummies you like?” Her teammates, who are in line with her, start laughing as he flashes a guilty grin. He hadn’t even noticed them until that point and quickly runs over and grabs a couple of packs of candy then comes back to the line with Kennedy as she gives him a side eye. As she gets up to the register to pay for her food Kennedy reaches over and grabs the candy out of Ovaughn’s hand. He tries to get the candy back from her, but she won’t let him as she has them ring it up with her food. “Just don’t forget that everything you’re ever looking for is right here” as she goes for her purse to get money. He smiles and quickly pulls money out of his pocket, handing it to the man at the register to pay for all their stuff, adding another drink in the process. She then turns to him and jokingly says, “I’ll run your pockets if you start trying to buy my love. First clothes and now food. Don’t think I owe you some.” He just laughs at her joke but now that she put the thought in his mind it’s all he’s thinking about now and he is becoming extremely nervous. He knows that it must mean she’s thought about it and since they haven’t, and he cares so much about her his nerves take over. When she tells him she’s going back to her room to eat and asks if he is coming over it doesn’t help at all. He tells her he wants to talk anyway and tries his best to put it out of his mind as they walk back to her dorm.

They arrive at Kennedy’s dorm, and she signs Ovaughn in. She lives in some of the campus suites so although she shares the common area and bathroom with three other girls, she has her own bedroom with a TV for them to watch. They get inside and sit on her bed watching TV as she eats her lunch, and he snacks on his candy and a drink. They watch something funny making small talk through the occasional laughs. He asks how her practice was after breakfast. She asks what he’s been up to since they talked this morning. But not much more is said and after her lunch is finished, they just enjoy each other's company as they enjoy the movie eventually dozing off after about an hour.

A short time later they are woken up by knocking at Kennedy’s bedroom door. Her roommate's are heading out and want to know if she wants to go across ‘the yard’ with them. Naturally she declines but they are now awake nevertheless and the movie they were watching is off and another has started. Ovaughn, still half asleep, asks what time it is, which prompts Kennedy to look at her clock right next to the phone on her desk. That in turn prompts her to look through her caller ID to see what calls she may have missed earlier in the day. She is immediately confused by an Atlanta phone number that doesn’t look like an on-campus number, but she doesn’t have any messages. Realizing that it was his cell phone, Ovaughn plays dumb until she starts to put it together based on him being so quiet about it. She eventually grabs the paper where she wrote down his new number. “So was I the first person you called on your new phone?” He just starts grinning from ear to ear to which she responds “Aaaaaawwwww!” Then she pauses at another thought and humbly asked him, “So you really were looking for me?” and he again responds “Am I that obvious?” The only response she has to that is to lean into him and give him a long passionate kiss before she pulls herself away saying “Hold up. Is everything okay? When we talked this morning you seemed distant and you’ve been pretty quiet since we’ve been in here. What’s up?”

Ovaughn thinks to himself “damn, am I really that obvious?” but at the same time is impressed and endeared by how perceptive Kennedy is with him. He feels like Duc was correct in sending him that direction for him to trust her with his feelings. And he begins to explain to her how he has been feeling since his father dropped him off the night before. How he has been feeling his absence even though he felt foolish since he is never around his father at school anyway. How he had just wanted to be alone all day until he was cornered by Duc and how that eventually led him to her that day. She mostly just listens and tries to comfort him, helping him realize that his feelings are a perfectly normal reaction. She is glad that he is willing to open up to her because she knows that most guys don’t share their emotions easily. She rubs her fingers along the back of his neck trying to comfort him and tells him that anytime he needs to get something personal off his chest that she is there for him. He tells her that he’s never usually like this but appreciates that she made him feel comfortable to talk about stuff like this. She could tell he was trying not to seem weak, but it only made her feel closer to him. In that moment her emotional attachment to him grew right before her eyes and being someone who uses sarcasm and wit as a defense mechanism, she suddenly felt very vulnerable. And the thing that scared her the most about it was that she liked it despite having a fear of getting hurt like she had been previously in her past. This intimate moment between the two then turned to silence as Kennedy simply hugged Ovaughn tightly as they silently watched TV for a while longer.

Across campus, the fellas are still out on the yard sitting and talking trying to kill the time between lunch and dinner. Jairus and Rob are entertained by the stories that Carlos has about growing up with Mike while Duc and Chris are mingling amongst people they do and don’t know who walk past. Eventually the crowds of people out and about following lunch begin to die down and the group starts discussing heading to the dorms to play spades and video games and Carlos uses that as the perfect time for him to make his exit. He took public transportation to get to campus from his mother’s house and couldn’t stay too late or else the bus system in Atlanta would have him stranded. He made a point to hide that fact as he didn’t want them to know he didn’t have a car. In his mind, they all had their shit together and he didn’t, so he wasn’t trying to show another self-perceived flaw. Mike made sure he had the phone number to their dorm room, and they talked about linking up again soon before he departed and then Rob, Duc, Chris, Jairus, and Mike started towards the dorms. Just as they started walking Jairus saw Lisa and some of her friends walking ahead of them and automatically did a “b-line” to go try to talk with her, telling his boys he would catch up with them at the dorm room.

Jairus approaches Lisa and her two friends from behind calling out her name to get their attention. They all look back and Lisa doesn’t break stride as her friends start commenting on her not wasting her time. He was afraid she wasn’t going to make it easy for him after almost two months of keeping distance between them. Realizing that her friends were aware of the situation was a clear sign of her frustrations with him. He asks “Aye, can we talk for a minute?” to which she responds, “I’ve already heard what you got to say nigga.” She doesn’t even look in his direction as she responds. He realizes that the direct approach is not going to break down her defenses. She’s a New Yorker and she will give him the cold shoulder all the way to her dorm room to make her point. So instead, he speaks to her two friends calling them by name and saying, “How are y’all doing today?” Both give him awkward looks that say, “don’t bring me into this” and ‘please leave us alone’ respectively. “My bad I didn’t speak at first but I don’t want to keep being rude since I’m going to be walking with you until you get to the dorm.” Lisa turns her gaze to him with a look of disbelief that he isn’t going to leave them alone. He notices and ignores the look and continues to converse with her friends. “I guess I could just wait until we are in class tomorrow to try to talk to Lisa but then there will be an entire class in our business. I guess I’ll just have to settle for two people instead of 25 unless y’all want to let me talk to her alone. Please.” One of the girls starts to move away to give them space and the other friend grabs her and pulls her back. “You can say whatever you have to say in front of us. We already know all your business anyway.” That response gets another sudden look from Lisa only this time it’s more shock at her friend mixed with a fear that it may be misinterpreted. Which is exactly where Jairus’ mind goes instantly. “You told them what happened to me last year? About this summer?” He confided in her about the situation with his ex-girlfriend Tania and everything he went through with her and now is thinking that may be what her friend is talking about. Lisa stops in her tracks and instantly responds “No! I wouldn’t...Y’all, let me talk to him.”

Her friends make sure that’s really what she wants, and she simply gives them a head nod to affirm they can leave. As her friends begin to walk off, she sees his entire body language begin to change. He is becoming defensive at the thought of her telling his personal business. He automatically starts to feel that sense of betrayal he has dreaded so much, and it makes him feel like he was right to avoid a relationship this whole time and she can tell. In this moment she realizes that this simple miscommunication could end any chances of the thing she really wants from him…More. Because she knows that if the roles were reversed, she’d be looking for the exit too with no explanation needed. So now she is completely ready to talk to him because she doesn’t want to let him walk away like this.

Lisa doesn’t even give Jairus a chance to ask the question. “I did not tell my friends about anything you told me about your ex. I would not have them all up in your business like that. I don’t get down like that.” She waits through a tough moment of silence for him to respond. He composes his thoughts and tries to calm himself down. “So what business is she talking about?” Still not sure if he can believe what she’s telling him. She assures him that it’s just about her friend knowing that she is frustrated with the current state of things between them. Jairus wants to believe her and what she tells him makes sense. He knows people always dwell on the bad things they hear about relationships. “So if you were that frustrated to be complaining to your friends about how things were then why did you tell me you understood me and why I wanted to take it slow? Why didn’t you say something? What good is not talking to me going to do?”

They stop walking and sit on one of the park benches near the dorms on campus. Lisa hesitates to answer because she isn’t sure how the truth will be received. “Honestly. I really didn’t get that frustrated until other guys started trying to holla at me. I turned down a few niggas that I would have given my number to. And my friends said I was being stupid because niggas ain’t shit. Then I did it again this week and asked myself why I am doing it for someone that doesn’t even want to be in a relationship. I mean...I am good with you, Jairus. But I’m not with you. So why am I acting like I’m with you? Can you tell me?” Jairus is squirming in his seat now as he realizes that this has turned into a turning point between the two. He knows that they can’t leave this seat in the same situation as when they sat down. Just giving her more attention won’t be enough. She needs a reason to stay around. He feels cornered and at the same time he is afraid that this girl that he has liked since their first week of college is now about to get away. Anxious by his awkward silence Lisa breaks the tension with another question. “Is it better for you to just end it completely and move on?” She is tired of living in this ambiguous space with Jairus. He is in his thoughts and although he came to her this day with every intention of making things better between them, he now feels apprehensive about moving forward but utters the few words that feel truthful under his breath saying, “I don’t want to move on.”

“What does that mean, Jairus? What do you want?”

Jairus thinks for a second and takes a deep breath. “I don’t want to mess with anyone else but you. I haven’t been messing with anyone else. I guess I just didn’t realize you felt this way. I figured I wasn’t messing with anyone else, so we were good. But I wanted to talk to you about spending more time with each other.”

“More time? What is that? Why shouldn’t I go on a date with the nigga with the car that wants to take me out?”

“Because you’re with me,” he nervously blurts out as he turns his head and looks her in the eyes. She slowly starts to smile and looks down at his lips, so he leans in and kisses her. She kisses him back and then she stands up and takes his hand leading him towards her dorm room. They spend the rest of the evening together, just the two of them, only leaving her room for dinner and spending most of their time expressing their physical excitement at the start of their official relationship.

8

“Am I That Obvious?”

As the fall semester of their second school year progressed, the fellas found themselves pulled by different things outside of their schoolwork. After another successful gym party following the brief fall break, Duc has become more motivated to find ways to improve on the parties he currently has going. Especially including new venues that are off campus. He just has to find a way to move into an Atlanta night life that already has major party promoters working all the local clubs. A problem he faces every time he contacts a local club near campus. In his frustrations, he finds himself considering asking Jamie, during their time home for Thanksgiving, for an assist to get him in the door with her connections. But even though she is the biggest supporter of what he wants to do and would likely be willing to help if he asks, he wants to be able to do it on his own. He wants to be able to come to his sister, and father for that matter, and show them what he accomplishes. He tries contacting smaller venues in attempts to find places not working with big promoters regularly but comes across the issue of them not wanting a college crowd. He even starts to look into some of the promoters trying to determine how they got their starts in the city where information is available but nothing much is there for him to learn. Thoughts of reaching out to promoters crossed his mind but his pride and ego got in the way of that in the form of a sense of determination. At times through the semester, he finds himself just as focused on figuring out this problem as he is his schoolwork and it begins to show in his grades. His priorities make the thoughts of a 4.0 GPA a minor concern in comparison.

Ovaughn finds himself with similar priority issues as the semester moves along and basketball season begins. He has worked so hard to be on the basketball team but between practice, Kennedy, and his family changes distracting him he struggles to make time to get enough studying done to maintain his grades as well as he would like. It’s a struggle that he finds is common based on what he sees from his teammates as well as the stories Kennedy tells him. He ends up dropping a class just before the deadline to not have it count against you, putting him at the recommended number of credits for student athletes. Kennedy does her best to help him adjust to balancing being a full-time student and an athlete, but his engineering classes are foreign territory for her to navigate. The best she can do for him is to refer him to the tutors that are provided for all athletes to use if necessary. Like a lot of people, Ovaughn’s pride gets in the way of him getting the help he needs thinking he will eventually get it together. To make it even worse, the sacrifice in his grades feels unjustified at times because his playing time has been minor. He feels like his spot on the team is safe, but he finds himself playing behind the team's highest recruited player of the last couple of years at the 2 spot and Spence, the upperclassman who helped him get on the team, at the 3 spot. Despite the small amount of play, he remains diligent and does see his minutes slowly creep up from week to week as the season progresses. All his friends believe that it will just take a breakout performance for them to finally give him serious playing time. He quietly hopes they are correct and just tries to make sure he can take advantage of the opportunity when it comes. Kennedy makes sure she’s there every minute cheering him on. She understands how important that support can be and it’s just one more thing that continues to bring them closer during the semester.

Initially afraid of their emotional connection growing too quickly, Kennedy has now decided to go with it instead of letting fears from past issues affect their relationship. But even though he hasn’t given her any reason to doubt him, and she is very emotionally intimate with him she has still held back completely giving herself to him physically. Although they have done everything but sex, she uses the excuse of him needed to keep all his energy for the basketball season as one of her excuses every time they get close to going all the way, along with other excuses she can think of at times. Fortunately, he hasn’t really been frustrated by things as his focus has been so divided and he honestly finds himself very nervous about sex with Kennedy at this point.

On the flip side, Jairus’ relationship with Lisa has been extremely passionate as it has grown throughout the semester. They have progressed very quickly now that he has finally committed to her. They spend most of their time trying to carve out more time to be alone ignoring their friends' jokes about them having their “noses wide open.” Although they still have meals with their friends and go out to party with their groups of friends they are most assuredly engrossed by the newness of their relationship. They are completely infatuated with one another and can’t keep their hands off one another. Constant public displays of affection are just precursors to the lust-filled moments they spend alone learning how to please one another. They find themselves willing and open to trying new things sexually that they hadn’t done before, adding to the comfort level between the two of them. Neither of them has had a physical connection so strong before this and they find themselves easily mistaking that lust and infatuation for other emotions. Not only are they physically connected, but they also provide one another with their ideals of a significant other. Jairus loves the idea of being so deeply loved and wanted. She gives him a sense of security. Lisa loves the idea of having the man that all the women admired and wanted when he wasn’t interested in entertaining them. He subconsciously gives her a sense of triumph. None of these feelings are actual love but you couldn’t tell that to them even though they are still afraid to say it to one another. All they know is that they can’t get enough of how they make each other feel. Jairus even confides in Ovaughn one night talking in their dorm room that he thinks he’s falling for Lisa knowing that he wouldn’t be judged harshly since he’s also in a very successful relationship.

Along with all the passion and emotions Jairus was experiencing being with Lisa during the semester he also found himself intimidated by her at times. Having the same major and similar schedules he quickly realized just how motivated she was about her college success. And although she never let it keep her away from him, she was clearly better at balancing the two parts of her life. She had a laser focus on her future success that he hadn’t seen anyone display over schoolwork. It puts into his mind that he has to keep up with her or do better if he wants them to work for the long haul. She is very clear about her goals in life and willing to work diligently to reach them while Jairus barely has decent study habits with everything coming easy to him prior to college. She is about her business and making money in the future and success here leads her down the path towards that. She has that classic New York persona about making it anywhere she goes. Jairus wants to be successful in his own right, but he is more driven by competition and trying to prove he doesn’t need certain help to be successful. He is more about his personal feelings of achievement than a monetary gain or an award that doesn’t have personal relevance. Their drives are just different. But he doesn’t want to be outdone by Lisa, so he has to find time for extra studying to keep his grades on par with hers.

Mike’s semester has been the most successful from a school standpoint. He has kept up his end of the bargain as the semester has gone along and is well on his way to achieving the 4.0 GPA that all the guys vowed to get this year. It has not been due to a lack of distractions though as Carlos has now become a regular fixture in his life randomly popping up on campus or trying to hang out on the weekends. Once he gets the opportunity to attend Duc’s party that fall, he wants to party with the guys all the time since he is no longer in school, and he has nothing better to do. He even got the guys to start going to parties around Atlanta more often, although Mike always finds himself having to vet the situations ahead of time. He knows Carlos is a lot more comfortable in certain environments in the city than the others may not be. But that added knowledge of the city draws Duc to Carlos with their mutual appeal to the nightlife scene. That is one of the inspirations for Duc to start looking for places to have parties off campus. Carlos loves being the center of attention in those moments, but Mike always finds he has to reel him in a bit. Especially since he regularly has too much to drink which can turn into minor altercations at parties as a way of him trying to prove his dominance or just a lack of self-control.

One time Carlos convinces the guys to come off campus and party with him at a hole in the wall club just outside of downtown Atlanta near the neighborhood he and Mike are from. Well, he convinces everyone but Mike who now feels obligated by everyone wanting to go after Carlos’ stories about the low cost, cheap drinks, and women who party all night. It is somewhat of a hood spot that has recently been renovated and renamed and is now bringing in a larger crowd. Mike starts to forget about the history of the club in the neighborhood until they arrive, and he remembers exactly why Chris was so quick to turn down the invite to go to the spot. Carlos met them there and is waiting outside running his mouth to some girls when they arrive. As promised, they get in cheap and are able to get a round of drinks at the bar since they don’t bother carding them. The party is jumping, and Duc loves how live it is. It reminds him of some of the go-go’s they have back in Maryland that he would sneak out to with his high school friends.

After a couple of hours and even more drinks Carlos eventually makes his way back to the fellas with the group of women from outside ready to party with them. One that he is interested in and three of her friends that he needs them to distract so he can try to run his game. Jairus automatically recuses himself as he is cool going out but has no interest in even looking like he is entertaining anyone other than Lisa. Ovaughn finds himself doing a two-step at a safe distance with one of the girls who seems to be way more into him than he is her. And Mike and Duc, both being single, are perfectly fine running interference for Carlos and talking to the other girls. Especially since they are attractive. Carlos is in his own world grinding hard with the girl he’s with as they dance. That is until, about ten minutes after he brought them over, the girl he is dancing with leans over to the one Duc is talking with and says, “girl your man just came in here.” Mike, hearing this as well, looks wide eyed at Carlos, who says, “He ain’t doing shit, he good.” And in what seemed like a blink the boyfriend in mention is pushing between them and grabbing his girlfriend asking her what the hell she is doing with them. They go into an argument ignoring everyone else, however they aren’t easily ignored especially when said boyfriend basically pushed Duc aside to get to his girlfriend. Jairus is never one to start trouble, but he is also protective and is now staring hard at the guy who just pushed his friend and his two friends standing behind him take notice. As they begin to point, Jairus taps Mike to make sure he sees what’s going on but before anything could be said Carlos pulls Duc aside and starts to get loud with all three men yelling “you muthafuckas got something you wanna say?” Naturally they responded in kind, shocked he stepped to them but not about to back down.

Mike grabbed Carlos’ arm to try to pull him back and calm him down, but he quickly brushed him off and reaches down to pull up his sagging jeans and Mike sees what looks like something hard poking through his shirt in the small of his back. Carlos continues “If you niggas have a problem, do something” adjusting his jeans yet again. At this point Mike knows he is not mistaken, and he saw exactly what he thought he saw…a gun tucked in Carlos’ jeans. Luckily for everyone involved in the situation Duc is never one to need someone else to speak up for him and he interjects knowing that to de-escalate the situation he has to be deferential to the girl's boyfriend and simply says, “No disrespect intended” after telling Carlos to chill and pulling him back. They all begin to move towards the door trying to get Carlos out as soon as possible as he is still spouting off disrespectful comments under his breath trying to instigate the three guys. When they get outside Mike is pissed, which is heightened even more by Carlos acting like the situation was funny to him. He gives him an earful “Yooo, you wild! This shit ain’t funny. You know how messed up that situation was?” Carlos treats it like a buzz kill shaking his head at Mike’s reaction to his fun. Eventually he replies “Mike, you taking it too serious. Ain’t shit happen...Look. If you need to, we can talk about it later” as he begins to quickly back away from the group to leave. Mike knows from experience just how dangerous that situation could have gotten and feels responsible for having his friends, who are not from the area, in that place and that danger. Especially because his friend is the one that put them there.

After that incident Mike confronts Carlos about everything he has going on. The dropping out of school. Heavy drinking. Not having a plan of what to do next. It is a conversation that Carlos has been trying to avoid since Mike’s known he is back in Atlanta but Mike, being so close to him, doesn’t let him off the hook easily. He finally tells Mike how he ended up leaving Virginia and coming back to Atlanta. He explains how the upperclassmen on the football team would haze the freshmen and how it never sat well with him in large part due to his temper. He puts up with it for the first year even though it is a struggle for him. His hope is that it will end, and he will be accepted and move on past it. But his second year gets off to a rocky start with him still not being slated for any playing time and finding that some of the senior players still try him on the practice field. The more things don’t go his way the less he can take it and one day there are one too many extra nudges and comments during practice and he takes an open hit on a safety who has been giving him shit for over a year. It is started by the Safety, but that’s not what everyone sees. They see his extra hit at the end. That turns into them having to be pulled apart and him being sent to the locker room. When confronted by the assistant coach after practice and asked what he has to say about himself he tells the coach “I don’t have shit to say unless you plan to have a conversation with that muthafucka too. Cause if you don’t, this is going to be a problem all year.” Even with the coach reminding him that he needs his scholarship to be in school Carlos is unaffected, telling the coach “You can’t pay me to take abuse from another man like that.” Once the coach starts yelling, he just leaves his office and goes to his locker. When he gets to his locker the other player in question, as well as a couple of others, walk past with more comments and bump him out of the way walking towards the showers. This leads to Carlos grabbing his helmet off the floor and knocking one of them upside the head and to the floor and punching one other before a coach and others grabbed him. Unfortunately for this coach, Carlos doesn’t realize who it is and tosses him over a seat and into the lockers.

After his dismissal from the team, he loses his scholarship, and his mother doesn’t have money to afford that type of school or any school for that matter. He doesn’t have his father or an extensive family to help so here he is back home trying to navigate things on his own. The one thing that Mike and Carlos have in common from the moment they met is the lack of a father so there is no man there to help guide Carlos through this situation. Their entire lives Mike has been the sensible one that kept them in line and out of trouble and Carlos has been full of energy, always playing the protector and life of the party. They are a matching set and now Mike feels like Carlos needs him even more. But how is he supposed to navigate that while in the process of growing into his own new life. Especially when, for the first time, they are in two completely separate places in life.

Mike can only do so much to help Carlos deal with being out of school and back home. He consistently tries to bounce ideas off him for jobs he thinks of as well as the idea of going to community college. Besides just hanging out on campus and going to parties, he makes a point to invite Carlos to most events that come up for college students hoping to motivate him to want to be back in that environment. Sporting events are one of the major things he’s always inviting his friend to attend by trying to get someone’s badge to try and sneak him into games for free. Carlos doesn’t always take him up on the invite because he doesn’t want to feel like a charity case at times but the last basketball game of the semester before school ends for Christmas is a must-see game. Everyone who doesn’t leave school early or outright hates basketball tries to attend that last game and that is the type of hype atmosphere that Carlos loves. So when Mike was able to get him into the game for free he definitely wasn’t passing it up this time.

Mike made a point to go to every basketball game to support Ovaughn now that he was fully on the team this year. The only other person who did the same was Kennedy, normally with a friend or two in tow. By the end of the semester they already have a system set that whoever gets there first grabs the seats they like behind the bench where they can see Ovaughn. And they normally grab a few extra just in case others decide to show up. But for this game everyone planned to show up so Mike and Carlos alone won’t be able to hold all those seats. Luckily for Mike, when Carlos arrives they get to the game early. Duc, Rob, Tim, and Chris are already there and Kennedy shows up just around the same time with one of her roommates. They only have to save room for Jairus and Lisa who are late as usual but show up just after the start of the game with Lisa’s two friends, who tend to go everywhere with her.

As the teams come into the arena all of Ovaughn’s friends show their support loudly even though they don’t expect him to get too much playing time. Mr. Carter notices it first and makes sure Ovaughn gets a chance to see how many are in their group to support him. Mr. Carter also speaks to some of the familiar faces he knows from his class seated behind the bench, including Duc, Jairus, and Kennedy amongst others. As the game proceeds, you can tell that the team has gotten up for this one. Their energy level is high and they seem to be aggressive like it’s a tournament game. Probably in big part because it will be the last game with a real home crowd for a couple of weeks. The star shooting guard can’t miss early in the first half creating wide open mid-range shots with his handles and hitting catch and shoot 3’s coming off of screens. He’s drawing attention away from Spence who is gutting the defense with back door cuts to the basket for easy layups anytime they try to double team all while the freshman PF cleans up the boards with ferocity on most everything the team does miss. This is one of those games where the team chemistry is at its best and it looks to be an easy path to victory with a 17-point lead with 3 minutes left in the first half. That is until that same star shooting guard puts up a shot that feels off so he follows his shot for a chance at the rebound. It catches the opposing team off guard and he actually secures the rebound around some taller players but as he comes down to the ground, he lands on top of his teammates foot and badly twists his ankle collapsing to the court. As he writhes in pain under the basket the home crowd went silent and fell into a somber mood. He is eventually helped to his feet by his team's coaching staff but he can barely put weight onto his injured ankle and needs help getting to the sideline. He was the leading scorer for the team and it felt like his injury spelled the end of the season, if it was serious. Eventually, the game reconvenes and Ovaughn comes into the game as well as the backup PG at the 2 spot since he was the best pure shooter on the bench. Spence sat the rest of the half, likely to rest for a heavy load in the second half. The half ended without much more production from the team and only a 10-point lead.

After halftime ended and the team returned to the bench the fellas, Lisa, and Kennedy were all anticipating Ovaughn coming out and starting the half at the shooting guard position. The star guard was now on the bench in his street clothes holding crutches. While the rest of the school's fans were concerned with the wellbeing of the star player and what that meant for the season, they were all talking about how this, albeit unfortunate, could be Ovaughn’s shot to really show what he can do. But Ovaughn was nowhere to be found on the bench and the team started the half with the backup point guard at the shooting guard spot again. Everyone was confused as to what was happening and why Ovaughn wasn’t even on the bench with the team. As their team struggled to maintain the lead from halftime, they completely lost concern for the game and grew concerned for their friend. There was no reason for him to not be on the bench even if he wasn’t going to get the playing time, they all hoped he would gain due to the injury. Had something happened in the locker room to prevent him from playing? Kennedy even considered trying to get back to the locker room area to check on him. Then suddenly Ovaughn comes running from the locker room onto the bench a couple of minutes into the half.