He is actually trying to avoid that very thing. It feels too much like a date to end the night that way. And now all he can think is that she wants him to kiss her, which is more about how much he wants to kiss her but knows he shouldn’t. As they walk to the front door, he gets anxious thinking of what he wants versus what he knows he should do. When they get to the door, she turns to face him and thanks him for a fun evening and gives him a hug and then pulls back and just looks at him. At this point he’s sure she wants a kiss and he does too but he shouldn’t. In what he feels is him fighting the temptation the best he can, he simply goes to give her a kiss on the cheek. Monique, however, has other plans turning her head to meet his lips with her own. French kissing him in a way that, to him, feels like a preview of what she has to offer. With a slight grin he tells her to have a good evening and she goes into the house. Mike returns to his car and sits for a moment in thought before saying out loud to himself “I’m in trouble” and shaking his head before starting the car and pulling off.
The next morning Mike wakes up on a mission to find that application from Jazzy Belles. Digging through the pile of clothes in a corner of his room he finally finds the jeans he had on that day and gets the application out of the back pocket. Relieved he is able to find it, he goes and has breakfast with his family who are already up before coming back to complete the application. He has some time before Jazzy Belles opens for lunch, but he is anxious to get the application turned in, hopeful that this is somewhere he has a shot at getting a job since it just opened. His hopefulness is more rooted in this being the first place that he is really excited about the possibility of working there. When he finally makes his way over to the restaurant lounge just after noon, he is very deflated to hear them meet his enthusiasm with a pessimistic outlook. Since they just staffed up, it is unlikely they will need anyone else but will take his resume and get back to him. He is thankful that they at least take the application and decides to order some wings to go since he enjoyed them so much the night before. As he is waiting the manager on that shift comes to the front desk and is handed the application. Unaware that Mike is the candidate, he watches them scan over his application and ask the hostess a question or two that he can’t hear. When the hostess gestures over to Mike, to let the manager know it is his application, he gets excited when she starts walking towards him. She introduces herself as Angie and asks him if he has time to talk right then. Of course, his response is yes, and he informs her he is waiting for the food order he just placed.
They go to a table on the empty side of the restaurant and begin to talk. Angie is very interested in the fact that he is a college student at the Atlanta University Center known as The AUC. She tells him that they hope the college crowd will be attracted to their establishment once school starts back in January and that outside of promotion, they feel the best way to attract that crowd will be through word of mouth. If they have college students working there, they will spread the word to others and be recognized by their peers when working. Angie asks Mike some questions about his college background, and she can tell how enthusiastic Mike is about working there. That sells him even more for her. So much so, that she tells him to come back the next day to fill out paperwork and he can start that upcoming weekend, after the Christmas holiday. Angie even gives him his wings for free. He can’t believe everything is falling into place so perfectly. He never feels like things go this well for him. But he makes damn sure that he is there the next day to fill out all the paperwork. He isn’t going to be the reason this doesn’t work out. And just as promised, he starts work shadowing one of the experienced waiters on the Friday lunch shift that week. He has never been a waiter before so he has to go through a couple of weeks of training before he will start making tips, but it isn’t going to kill his joy. Mike is elated to have the job and with Ovaughn returning that same weekend for the basketball team he can’t wait to tell him about it. Although Ovaughn will have other things on his mind to talk about as well.
Ovaughn returns that Saturday after Mike’s first day on the job. He has to be back in time to attend Sunday practice before the next game that Monday evening. When Ovaughn calls Mike and informs him that he has arrived and now has his car on campus, Mike immediately tells him to come over to his house to hang out. Ovaughn gets there late that afternoon with a bag of fast food and sits and talks with Mike’s mom while he eats his food. He shares general information with her about his holiday break and the ride from N.C. When he finishes eating, Mike suggests going to play video games in his room and ushers Ovaughn off so that they can talk in private. He has plenty to share and is now intrigued by what Ovaughn did over the holiday. The main thing being the story about how he now has his car at school.
When they get to Mike’s room, they turn on the video game and jump on the sticks. Mike throws on the radio to avoid his family hearing what they talk about and immediately asks, “How the hell did you end up bringing your car back to Atlanta?” Ovaughn, with a smirk on his face, tells Mike the story of how his Christmas holiday has gone while he was in N.C. for that short time. “When I got home, everything went better than I expected. Kennedy dropped me off in Charlotte and spent a couple of hours at my house to get off the road. She finally met mom, and they even hit it off well. Hell, they got to the point of cracking jokes about me together, when we ate lunch.” Mike is happy to hear his friend sound so happy telling the story and doesn’t want to break his flow. So, he just sits back and listens because he knows Ovaughn needs to get it all out when he gets excited. “My father was even happy to see her again. Kept telling me how much he liked her. I think my mom called my brother to come meet her because my sister-in-law and niece stopped by briefly before Kennedy left too. It was cool though. I want her to meet as much of my family as possible. It got late though so she had to leave to get home before she met my brother.” He also tells Mike that his time home was very relaxing since he was able to have time to just do nothing with no obligations of the team looming. On Christmas day both of his brothers and their families were at his parents’ house to celebrate together. Topped off by a lot of new clothes and his favorite dishes made by his mother. He couldn’t have asked for more at Christmas. Spending quality time with his family was all he really needed. His father being in New Orleans most of the time makes the ability to have those moments even more rare, especially with him also being away in college.
The next day at home he is in shock when his parents sat him down and tell him they will be permanently relocating to New Orleans because his father has been offered a promotion to a front office position with the NBA team. It is bittersweet for Ovaughn and a bit of a shock. Charlotte is his home. Now he feels like he won’t have a home to come back to, but he always loves the perks of his father working for the NBA and the idea of traveling to New Orleans is cool. His family, anticipating his disappointment and bewilderment, devised a plan to help him maintain some normalcy while he adjusts to such a big change. His oldest brother, Oscar Jr., and his family still lives in Charlotte and talks to him about being welcome to stay with them if he wants to come home. His other brother is still in N.C. as well and is located closer to Kennedy, which has him instantly plotting on visiting her on future trips home. The most immediate change that will need to occur is that Ovaughn will now be taking his car back to school with him. He will be farther from his parents now and they want him to have his own means of transportation to get home since they will no longer be a simple road trip to Atlanta away.
Mike is surprised at hearing that Ovaughn’s parents will be relocating, and he tries to ask him if he is going to be okay after such a big change. But it just ends up coming out in the most awkwardly non-emotional way. “I mean...you good though, right? You gonna be a’ight.” Even though Mike is days away from being the first of their group to hit 20 years old, he is still just an emotionally immature 19-year-old at times. And to avoid that awkwardness he wastes no time jumping into the story about everything that has been going on with him since Ovaughn left just over a week ago. He talks about the results of the job hunt leading to Jazzy Belles, his grandmother letting him borrow her Altima, starting his new job the day before, and most of all the situation with Monique. Ovaughn is not as surprised at the news about Monique as Mike expects him to be. He said that he figured something was going to happen between them eventually but jokingly advises him to make sure he doesn’t let Jairus find out. On a more serious note, he says, “I know you like that girl a lot. But you gotta be careful with her. Even if you get everything you want, whatever that is, are you ever going to be able to trust her?”
Mike doesn’t have any response to the question. Or at least not one he actually wants to say out loud. He sits there quietly with a look of being deep in thought for a moment, until Ovaughn interjects to break the tension. “So, what you trying to do on your birthday? I should be here on Friday since it’s no game that day.” That automatically pulls Mike out of it. He is excited because his birthday falls at the end of Christmas break before everyone comes back to school, so this is the first time one of his college friends will be around to celebrate.
As they were talking about possible things to do Carlos shows up to come hang out with them as well. They continue brainstorming cheap ways to celebrate Mike’s twentieth and chat about other typical topics, such as rap music and sports while playing video games and eating junk. This carries on through the evening until Ovaughn decides to head to campus to get some rest to be ready for an early practice the next day followed by a road trip to an away game with the team.
9
“So What Actually Happened Between You?”
Christmas break is coming to an end, and everyone is making their way back to school. And on this Sunday morning Duc is arriving at Jairus’ apartment in D.C. bright and early just after 5:00 a.m. to hit the road back to school. Their plan is to get the 10-hour ride done as early as possible, hopefully, not having to stop much and getting to school well before dinner at the caf.
They start off the ride blasting some of their favorite rap music too loud with Duc driving too fast in the early morning darkness. As they get into the road trip, they begin to catch up with each other calling attention to the fact that they hadn’t heard from one another since they got back home. They share stories about their respective Christmas breaks and Jairus tells him all about his time spent with his family. How his aunt baked his favorite cake recipe that she got from his grandmother. How he just kicked it with his sister and cousins most of the time but did get a chance to see some of his neighborhood friends he grew up with when he was out with Russell. How his cousin Tammy is finally about to start college in D.C. this semester now that her child is older, even though it’s later than she originally planned. He’s really excited every time he talks about Tammy’s son Marlon. Duc jokes that he doesn’t know why he’s eager to have kids so badly. Jairus loves the idea of having a big family one day when he finally starts one. He loves the idea of being a father, probably in part because he wants to give his kids what he didn’t have. Wanting kids one day isn’t something he broadcasts to everyone, but it definitely isn’t something that he keeps hidden either. It is one of the things that stands out about him to those who know him well because most guys his age don’t focus on wanting kids.
Duc’s Christmas break story isn’t nearly as happy and cheerful as what Jairus had to tell him. Because Duc lost focus on school over the semester, distracted by his aspirations to promote better parties to make more money and him overloading his schedule to catch up after changing majors, his grades took a dip. Finishing a freshman year he found easy to handle with a 4.0 GPA, his parents are far from happy when he comes home with a 2.875 GPA for the first semester of his second year. They aren’t necessarily crazy about him switching majors and having to stay in school longer because of it. Now they are worried about him not being able to handle his new major at all. And the excuses he gives them for why his grades slipped only make them more upset with him because it feels less like the classes are hard and more like he doesn’t care enough. His father is so pissed that on Christmas instead of simply surprising him with the cell phone he has been talking about wanting for months now, he tells Duc that in order to keep it he will not only have to pull his grades up but he will have to use the money he is so pressed to make on the monthly phone bill. He thinks it could be much worse, but his time at home is bittersweet with him coming back to school with two things he has never had in life—mobile phone and a phone bill.
Jairus thinks he is lucky to get any gifts over the holiday. He stopped getting Christmas gifts as soon as his mother started paying for his college education. Not that they don’t still try to do little things on the holiday for him. But definitely nothing like a cell phone. He doesn’t say it to Duc, but he definitely thinks to himself that Duc should be grateful to get that cell phone even if he has to pick up the monthly bill after the first month. Especially since he can probably cover the cost for the semester with his earnings from one campus party.
As they cross the South Carolina border they stop and get lunch for their first meal of the day. They take time to get out of the SUV to stretch their legs and make pitstops in the bathroom of the fast-food spot they choose for lunch but hurry to get food and get back on the road, anxious to hurry up and get the trip over. By the time they finally reach campus they realize they cut their trip down by almost an hour than what they expected, making record time for themselves. They park the car near the dorm and begin unpacking their things and Duc is automatically distracted by people calling out to get his attention. He yells something out to greet one of the hundreds of people he has become acquainted with on campus and instantly feels back in his element. Jairus just shakes his head knowing his friend has already stopped worrying about the issue with his parents and his grades. Duc is like a force of nature on campus. Financial obligations won’t slow him down; it is only going to make him more creative.
When the fellas finally got into the dorm, they find Ovaughn, Chris, and Mike all in Duc’s room with the PlayStation 2 going while Mike is getting dressed for work. Duc instantly starts questioning what Mike is getting dressed for not realizing yet that he is now a working man. Mike quickly explains how he got his job over the holiday and that he is getting dressed so that Chris can give him a ride to work for the evening. Jairus congratulates him on finding a job they know he badly needs for financial reasons. Duc starts trying to get him to skip work since it is the first day they are all back. He wants his friends to all go hang out at the caf and catch up on the holidays and that won’t be complete without Mike. As much as Mike wants to hang out with his friends as well, he is no stranger to having to sacrifice things in life. He is tempted but he’s always been the most focused and knows he can’t let peer pressure stop him from taking care of his new responsibility. Plus, he explains how the free food he is going to get for dinner at work is going to be better than the food in the caf anyway. Feeling dejected once he realizes there is no convincing Mike to skip work, Duc asks to ride with Chris to drop him off so he can at least see where he works. Ovaughn passes on the group trip anxious to go see Kennedy who has already called him to let him know she is back at school plus he already has the opportunity to see Jazzy Belles earlier that week. That gives Jairus his out as he is more interested in finding his girlfriend, Lisa, than riding to work with Mike. Especially after spending the last 10 hours in a car. That doesn’t stop his friends from giving him hell for wanting to go see Lisa first thing after he got back on campus. He expects as much, and he ignores it as usual and tells them he will meet them at the caf at the agreed upon time they chose before parting ways.
When Ovaughn starts to make his way over to Kennedy’s dorm all he can think about is the last time they were together at school and how they were finally “together.” As he has been prone to, he gets a little anxious in hopes that their physical relationship will continue as soon as that day but isn’t sure how she feels about it yet. When he finally arrives at Kennedy's dorm she comes down and greets him with a huge hug and kiss telling him how much she misses him as he smiles from ear to ear. They go up to her suite room and he camps out on her bed as comfortably as if it is his own. Just being in her presence has a calming effect on him. He forgets all about the pressure he is placing on himself wrapped in her arms on the bed watching TV together. That’s all he really needs from her. Comfort. Intimacy. Love.
Jairus, on the other hand, has a totally different experience. He has to track down Lisa after not getting an answer on her room phone and having to call Ashley and Shana before he finds her. She is at Ashley’s room who gives him a hard time before Lisa takes the phone from her and tells him to come on over. Absolutely self-assured about his expectations with Lisa, Jairus never finds himself anxious or worried about things with Lisa. He has nothing to second guess or wonder about and it isn’t his personality to question what he is already sure about in his mind. He arrives and she simply opens the door to the dorm and lets him in asking him how his ride from D.C. was that day. It isn’t until they get to her room that she actually makes any physical contact to greet him. As soon as they walk through her door, she turns to him and starts kissing him and pulling his clothes off breaking only to make sure he brought some condoms and for him to ask where her roommate is. She is gone because Lisa planned ahead and asked her to give them some space for a while, but she doesn’t waste any time explaining it. At this point they are hot and heavy, and it really doesn’t matter much to him. They have plenty of time to talk after they take care of the important things. They both have been waiting all Christmas break to get back to one another for this very moment. They have an intense energy between them that is not going to calm down at any point in the foreseeable future. They both feel like they worked for them to get to this point in the relationship and neither wants to waste another moment not enjoying what they have.
Meanwhile, on the ride to take Mike to work Duc had a ton of questions about his new job. So many questions that the 20-minute ride began to feel like another interview for Mike. “Damn! I thought I already had the job.”
Chris laughs as he shakes his head at Duc acting like an untrusting girlfriend who doesn’t believe Mike is really going to work. Duc doesn’t find that sentiment funny either. By the time they reach Jazzy Belles, Mike has told the story of how he found the restaurant in the strip mall during his search, that he will be waiting tables for tips on the days he works, how the place has just opened up over the holidays so they are still trying to draw people in, and how he went to the restaurant for an open mic special they had on opening week. Upon arrival Mike has about seven minutes before he is supposed to start working, always one to be prompt. Duc hops out of the car to check the place out. Chris thinks he is getting carried away at this point especially when he starts to downplay the look of Jazzy Belles as just another restaurant at the end of a strip mall.
A part of the over critique Duc was giving had to do with the fact that he didn’t know how to deal with the change in lifestyle Mike’s job meant for him. In his mind, no job was going to be worth his roll dog missing out on all the times the fellas would hang out and experience things in his absence. Jairus was the type of guy that everyone knew and felt like they were cool with but for him there had only been one person that was with him doing everything since the first day he stepped into his dorm room in Atlanta. Mike was his first friend in college. His roommate for nearly two school years now. The one person that had never gone missing while Duc got caught up on his many escapades trying to find or create a party. Now he knows Jairus and Ovaughn will always be there for him if needed but he also knows they are “nose deep” in their relationships. Both Paul and Rob are now gone, and Chris is always going to be Chris. Tim is cool but he isn’t close to him like the others and Carlos... he is taking Mike’s advice with Carlos for the time being. He doesn’t even realize why he is having this reaction but a part of him feels like he is going to be losing his friend to the workforce. And even though he understands why Mike needs to work and supports him doing what is necessary to stay in school, he doesn’t like the change.
That all goes out the window the moment Mike and Duc walk inside of Jazzy Belles. Mike is instantly greeted by his boss Angie and a couple of other coworkers. He speaks to them about something briefly, but it all turns into background noise for Duc as he is now wide eyed looking at the layout of Jazzy Belles. A small stage towards the back right side of the restaurant, a floorplan that is deceptively larger than it looks from outside, even a small area to purchase art, music and clothing from local people trying to find somewhere to sell their products, and based on the to go menu he grabbed what looked to be good food by description. Duc’s wheels are turning now. He is dying to find a place off campus to promote a party and possibly increase his market to something broader. Just as he begins to gather his thoughts to ask Mike who he can talk with, he is startled out of his daze by Angie. She always moves in a smooth manner that makes you feel like she’s calculated and in control but still puts you at ease. Like a hypnotist with alluring eyes and a soothing voice but was all business and ready to sniff out any bullshit. “So you’re the friend that Mike has told me about, huh?”
Duc looks over at Mike to find him grinning at their interaction almost as if he set the whole thing up. “Oh don’t worry baby, we love Mike around here and based on what he tells me about those parties you throw on campus we might love you, too.”
Duc realizes now why Mike was smiling. In his almost two weeks at the restaurant Mike realized that Angie was actively searching for new ideas to fill up her newly opened place and she was more than happy to feed college kids spending mom and dad’s hard-earned money. Mike had put 2 and 2 together but never expected this to happen so quickly.
Duc goes into sales mode. “Well, if you’re going to love me you should probably start by getting my name first. I’m Ducron. And I love when business is done well but I try not to mix it with pleasure. So you’re going to have to make a decision.” Always confident in himself, Angie is instantly impressed with Duc as most people tend to be intimidated by her presence. Even if Duc is intimidated, he knows better than to let someone see him sweat. Especially when he could possibly be negotiating with them.
“Well, I’m Angie, sweetheart. And I have the feeling that you are already having the same thoughts I was when Mike told me about you. I guess he wasn’t just hyping you up, huh?”
Duc then starts to throw out some of the questions he has off the top of his head. How late do you stay open on the weekends? What’s the max capacity for the restaurant? What type of events are you open to having at the restaurant? What are you opposed to doing there? Is the open mic night something you want to do regularly? Angie realizes Duc is ready to go but calms him down and tells him that they can talk when she has a better opportunity but gets his contact information so that she can set up a better time to talk about what he’s already done on campus and what she envisions for Jazzy Belles. That new mobile phone is already coming in hand as he thinks it makes him seem more suited for the situation.
Duc is ecstatic but keeping his composure in front of Angie. She saw through his masking of his excitement but knows that means he will be committed to the same goals she has. So, she has every intention of finding out if he can indeed help her to bring in clientele. All in all, it is only about a ten-minute interaction. Mike comes back over briefly, having now clocked in to start working, and says his goodbye to Duc and reminds him to tell Chris what time to pick him up. Duc is now void of any negative remarks about Jazzy Belles as he and Chris ride back to campus. Chris finds it hilarious how he suddenly changes his tone, but he also thinks Duc is going to be Duc. When they get back to campus, they still have about 40 minutes before they need to head to the caf to meet Jairus and Ovaughn but Duc can’t stop talking about the possibilities crossing his mind for Jazzy Belles. As they play video games to pass the time, he speaks about it so much he starts to get Chris excited by the idea of him throwing parties there. When they finally get to the caf with the rest of the fellas it is the same thing. Duc can’t stop talking about Jazzy Belles and meeting Angie. He has all the ideas in the world for trying to promote an off-campus party because he has wanted to do one for months now with no options. Ovaughn, fully aware that Mike had mentioned Duc to his boss, can't help but think that happened fast. Jairus isn’t at all surprised since he knows that Duc was just waiting for an opportunity like this to come up for him to take advantage of.
Even through all of Duc’s excitement over Jazzy Belles Ovaughn keeps wondering if Mike had the opportunity to tell Duc about the situation with Monique yet. When Jairus leaves the table to refill his drink at the soda fountain Ovaughn jumps at the opportunity to ask Duc if he knows about Mike and Monique yet. A comment that is met with a complete look of shock from Duc.
“So I guess not.”
“Young, what happened?!” But Chris saw Jairus getting close to the table and put his hand out to stop them fervently shaking his head so they would stop talking about it. They got the point. If Chris was good at anything he was good at playing things close to the vest and keeping his business his own. The same couldn’t always be said about these two even if they never had bad intentions. So, until it is time for Mike to get off work Duc has to stew in this ambiguous bit of knowledge wondering how much really did or didn’t happen. Is it just Ovaughn hyping things as usual or was there really something going on that Duc needs to hear about. Mike implies there is more story he needs to tell Duc when they were taking him to work. Now Duc has decided to cut down on the wait to hear the Monique story. He is going to go with Chris to pick up Mike that evening. That turns into Ovaughn wanting to go in part to make sure Mike knows he didn’t actually spill the beans. And now Jairus wants to go since he is now the only person who hasn’t seen where Mike’s new job is, even if he can’t go in at this point. This ruins Duc’s idea, realizing Mike isn’t going to talk about the Monique situation with Jairus since they had been at odds about it up to that point. But that doesn’t matter because Chris shut down the idea of them piling into his car for fear of five young black men riding around Atlanta late on a Sunday night. He feels they will be begging to get pulled over by some overzealous cop. And he isn’t one to renege on a promise, so he doesn’t give up the responsibility of picking Mike up when Duc suggests it. There is nothing more to it. Duc will just have to be patient. Not one of his best qualities at all.
Duc decides it is probably safer for Mike to just get back to the room and wait for everyone to leave so they can talk. He is sure Mike has every intention of telling him what happened anyway. He lets Jairus go with Chris to pick Mike up from work and he stays in his room and catches up with Ovaughn on how the basketball season has been going as they play video games. They are both completely shocked when Jairus and Mike arrive back in the room in the middle of a heated discussion about the forbidden topic. They enter the room, and you can instantly feel the tension between them as they talk over each other. In that initial moment Ovaughn thinks to himself, “how did Jairus find out?”
Duc thinks to himself, “damn, I might as well had gone to pick him up. Now I’m the only one that doesn’t know what happened.”
Jairus turns to both of them. “So did y’all know he was fucking Monique?” To which they both quickly respond “WHAT” in surprise.
“I told you I’m not fucking her,” Mike says.
“Well, you damn sure doing something with another niggas girl!” Jairus says, before Mike can get anything else out. At this point they are getting increasingly louder and Duc, still being in the dark, abruptly yells out “Yo! Chill!....What the fuck happened?!”
Mike explains to them what happened to get Jairus and him to this point. Mike had been going through his workday as he normally had each time he worked the past two weeks. Sunday evenings are actually pretty good for families to come in to eat some soul food after a late church service with no time to cook. The time is flying by when Mike unexpectedly gets a phone call about 45 minutes before the restaurant closes. He initially fears that there is going to be a problem with his ride, but he is even more surprised to hear Monique on the other end of the phone. She knows he is working weekends and is trying on a whim to see if he can give her a ride back to campus with him. Her expected ride still hasn’t gotten home to take her back and even though all of her stuff has been moved over the weekend she doesn’t want to wait any longer for fear of missing class Monday morning, if she risked waiting until then. She knows Mike works very close to her family's house, so it is worth a shot. And with Mike currently caught in her allure after their date he can’t turn her down. As much as he knows he should. About 30 mins later she shows up at Jazzy Belles with what looks like a huge purse, and he asks if she can sit at an empty table to wait for him. For those 15 minutes his coworkers and boss joke about him having his little friend waiting for him to the point that it puts him at ease, and he lets down his guard. But that level of comfort went away as soon as they walk out of the front door of the restaurant, and he sees Jairus standing at the car with Chris. He instantly knows this is going to be an issue and drops his head. When he looks back up all he can see is the look of shock on Jairus’ face.
The ride back to campus is quiet. Jairus is too respectful to say anything out of line with Monique in the car, so he just goes silent and runs away with his thoughts. Chris tries to break the tension by playing some upbeat music, but it doesn’t help. It doesn’t mask the fact that no one is talking at all. Eventually Monique breaks the silence by asking Chris and Jairus how their Christmas break had been. Jairus tries to answer but keeps his responses very short, still trying not to be rude. But Monique has a very engaging personality and is able to eventually get him talking after her and Chris started going back and forth. “I don’t know what it’s like for y'all up there in D.C. but Christmas in Atlanta is magical. Chris will tell you; you can feel the love from the whole city. And there’s nothing like my family’s annual get together and taking the kids to the Aquarium. Yall got any traditions?” She has a way of briefly oversharing to make you feel okay to be open with her and it works on Jairus just as it does on most people. By the time they get back to campus to drop her off you would never know that she has been a source of tension. When Mike gets out of the car to walk her up to the dorm, she reaches to grab his hand and pulled him closer for a hug goodbye and as Jairus watches their body language all the tension comes right back. On the short ride back across campus Jairus asks, “So y’all fucking now?” Which sends Mike into a defensive response which is less about the intrusion and more about the underlying fact that one of his best friends is questioning his integrity. The arguing ensues and that sends Chris running for his room to get away from all the back and forth.
