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

Jairus and Ovaughn are done with their exams before the others, but Ovaughn is sticking around a little longer to practice basketball with the team and Jairus is catching a ride to D.C. with Duc and must wait for him. Duc is going to be taking exams until Tuesday of next week and Mike is leaving that same Tuesday. Leaving isn’t really that big of a deal to Mike since he isn’t going anywhere. Jairus and Duc can hardly wait. Jairus can’t wait to spend some time with his mother and sister and especially with Tania. When he went home for Thanksgiving, he didn’t even get the chance to see her. It is such a short trip home they only talked on the phone. That made him miss her that much more. Duc just can’t wait to see his older sister who lives in New York. Ovaughn is also looking forward to Christmas because he is the youngest child in his family and gets spoiled for Christmas.

Tuesday comes around and everyone is done with their exams. Mike, Ovaughn, Jairus, and Duc all exchange numbers so they can talk to each other over Christmas break. As they all talk Jairus pulls Mike to the side and asks “So, do you know what you’re going to do about that situation from the other night? How much do you owe them bamas?” “That’s who I got all that weed from for Rob’s birthday. I just haven’t paid for it yet.” Mike says. “Young! Y'all had a lot! Man, maybe Duc or Ovaughn can let you borrow something...” Mike stops Jairus before he gets carried away saying “Nah. They just some niggas from my block that act tougher than they are. You see they ain’t do nothing. I’ll work it out with them.” He tries to act confident but inside he has no idea what to do. He is just too proud to ask his friend for money and prefers to figure it out himself.

Mike goes home right after lunch, anxious to see some of his friends he went to high school with. Duc’s father arrives at the school later that afternoon and after loading the car up they start the trip to D.C. Duc's’ father is an older man in his 50s named James and is very laid back and unbelievably in touch with his son and young adults in general. He asks the two what they think of college so far and begins to question them about all the women they’ve been sleeping around with and the alcohol they’ve been drinking. “You young brothers ain’t fooling me one bit, I was in college for a little bit, and I know what the hell you’re doing down here.” This type of conversation catches Jairus off guard. The only man he is used to talking to is his grandfather and he can’t really talk to him, he usually just asks questions and listens to his advice. Duc, on the other hand, has a special bond with his father. He has the type of relationship that most kids wish they could have with their parents. James and Duc talk about any and everything that Duc wants to talk about. So Jairus immediately envies that relationship because he doesn’t even know his father. They stop after a few hours and get something to eat. James treats everyone and after they finish eating, asks the guys which one wants to start driving. Duc immediately elects Jairus to drive his father's Eddie Bauer edition Ford Explorer. Jairus thinks to himself that he will have to hang around Duc’s father more often. He can’t believe Duc’s father is so cool to be so old, but he probably got a little practice with his older daughter on how to deal with his children. By their conversation you can tell James and Duc are really looking forward to her being home for the holiday. Jairus finds out that Jamie is an executive producer for a major record label in New York. Jairus is also told the story of how Jamie came to be in the record business. She followed in her father's footsteps by going into the music industry. But where he started as a musician who eventually worked his way into partnerships with labels he worked with, she went directly into the executive route of the industry. He proclaims, “she is much smarter than me and learned from my mistakes.” You can tell by how much James gloats about Jamie that she is his pride and joy, which isn’t abnormal for a father with his daughter. Then it is Jairus’ turn to tell a little bit about himself and he tells James about his relationship with his mother and sister and how he doesn’t know his father and how he wishes he could have something like Duc and James have. They start cracking a few jokes to lighten up the mood and talk about everyday life at college for the rest of the trip.

The trio arrives in D.C. and they drop Jairus off at his apartment first. He thanks Mr. Martin for the ride then he and Duc take his things inside. Inside Jairus finds his mother Bernice, his sister Damaris, and his two cousins Tammy and Russell. He introduces everyone to Duc and then Mr. Martin and Duc are on their way home to Maryland. Jairus sits around with his family to catch up with everyone. He spends most of his time telling his three siblings; as he considered his cousins since they all grew up together like brother and sister; about his first semester of college life. Jairus is the second oldest of the four and although he isn’t the first in the family to go to college, he will be the first to graduate if he's successful. Tammy is the oldest although only a little over three months older than Jairus and graduated high school with better grades but found out that past summer that she was pregnant and decided not to go away to college. Despite things not going how she and the family planned for her, she is completely secure and comfortable with herself. She is very intelligent and has well thought out plans about how to eventually continue her education with every intention of starting community college after the birth of her child. Graduating with Jairus and watching him walk another path than she did hasn’t been as discouraging to her as it could have been, and she finds herself being his biggest cheerleader next to his mother. Up until this point, they had gone through every phase of life at the same time keeping each other on track. A part of her feels like his success is her success as well. Russell is still in high school and has one more year after this one before he graduates. Damaris is only a freshman in high school and if all goes well for both of them, she and Jairus will graduate from their respective schools the same year. Once he gets a chance, Jairus pulls Russell to the side to check up on him and make sure he isn’t getting into any trouble in the streets. Russell is the hardheaded type that doesn’t think shit stinks until you put it in his face. Jairus tries his best to stay on him and asks “So, who you been hanging out with lately? You know the wrong crowd will just keep you in trouble. You know I know how that goes but there’s so much more outside of southeast.” Russell finds it hard to imagine a life beyond what form of success he can see in his own neighborhood. Jairus also wants to see if Russell has been making sure Damaris isn’t messing with anybody in school or around the neighborhood. Jairus has always been very overprotective to Tammy, Russell, and Damaris and ever since Tammy got pregnant, he felt like he dropped the ball, which only makes it worse on his little sister. He feels responsible for taking care of her because her father has not been around for her much at all even though she knows him, unlike Jairus.

After being force fed dinner by his mother, Jairus and his sister walk their cousins up the street to their house. As they are leaving Jairus’ mom says, “Tell Mrs. Harven to give me a call.” Mrs. Harven is Theresa Harven, the mother of Tammy and Russell. They also live with their grandfather Abner Thomas but everyone in the family calls him Papa Tom. He is a slightly overweight man in his seventies who is a loving grandfather and father, and an ex-soldier. He started out as a cook in the army and remains an exceptional cook who loves to brag about it to anyone who will listen. Nowadays he spends most of his time in his den at the end of the hall in his row house reclining back in his favorite chair watching television when he isn’t giving out knowledge and advice to his grandchildren or in the kitchen. The four kids reach the top of the street and go inside of the house. Instantly Jairus’ Aunt Theresa starts yelling with joy at seeing her nephew back from Atlanta. He remembers how loud she sometimes gets as soon as she starts. They hug and talk for a few moments then he gives her the message from Ms. Thomas and she promises to call before she goes to sleep. Jairus then makes his way down the hallway to his grandfather’s room to find him in his usual position in the den. The two of them speak briefly about the trip from Atlanta but cut the conversation short because it is getting late. Jairus says goodbye to his family and he and his sister head back home. When they get back Jairus is disappointed because his mother is now on the phone and he wants to call Tania. Instead, he goes to sleep and looks forward to tomorrow. ***

Duc’s homecoming is a nice one also. He cannot wait to get to his parents’ house where he has considerably more space. He has been saying “My Queen bed is calling me” all day in anticipation of getting back to his much bigger bed and watching his big screen television. He gets home and his mother is excited to see her baby back home and she has dinner waiting for James and Duc. Duc can’t tell his mother everything like he can with his father, so their first conversation is about how Duc is doing in school. He is doing fine so that conversation goes smoothly. Duc also has about thirty calls to return from people in the last week. As soon as all of his friends from high school get back in town, they all decide to call Duc. He thinks of it as being the duties that come with being a people person. His mother reads off about nine messages to him and then hands him the rest and makes a comment about him having too many friends. He ignores it and throws away the messages figuring that most of them would call back again anyway. He and his parents sit around watching television and talking a little while longer. They speak of college life and the difference in what it is actually like and what Duc expected. Duc tells them how it is only a larger playing field and more people to meet. “You kill me acting like you are just all that, just like your father,” She then changes the subject to the plans they have for Christmas and when Jamie arrives home. Then they all decide to turn in for the night, say goodnight and go to bed.

The start of Mike’s vacation isn’t as simple and easy as that of Jairus and Duc. He finds himself confused, frustrated, and upset when he arrives home. He caught a ride to his neighborhood from Chris, who apparently has had access to a car all semester but didn’t want anyone to know. Mike’s family lives in a small house in the middle of the ghetto in Atlanta. His mother works very hard to provide for her children and is doing everything alone. When Mike reaches his house, he finds that his mom has allowed his 23-year-old brother to move back into the house. This is upsetting for Mike. At a young age his brother Arthur has developed a bad habit of abusing drugs.. Mrs. Haskins kicked Arthur out of the house the summer before Mike started college because she couldn’t help him with his problem and he didn’t want any help. A few weeks ago, for Thanksgiving he wasn’t in the house so Mike can’t understand why he is now. He instantly says, “What the hell are you doing here?” His mother smacks him and tells him to watch his mouth in her house. He argues with his mother and his brother for about an hour bringing up points of past problems with Arthur and his drug use.

Their family has been through a lot because Arthur has a tendency to take things from the house and has been arrested a few times for possession of drugs or other stolen property. He has also been in and out of the hospital a few times, which makes their mother worry herself sick. Arthur was once a very bright child and even smarter than his younger brother Mike has become. In high school he made straight A’s and played sports until the summer after his sophomore year. That’s when their mother, Brenda, kicked their father out of the house. His own substance abuse issues had cost them too much and to protect her three kids she made a tough decision. Arthur took the change much worse than Brenda ever expected and started looking for friends to fill the void left when his father disappeared. He blamed his mom, even though she never kept his father away, so he started hanging out with the wrong type of crowd. That crowd fed that void with alcohol and eventually drugs whether using it with him or selling it to him. Some of those people are the same people that are now threatening Mike, which doesn’t make the situation with his brother any better. He just sees him as another version of their good for nothing father, who is an addict, and wants him to leave the house. Mike doesn’t stop arguing as long as Arthur is still there.

Eventually Debra steps in saying “since when did you start making decisions around here?” to Mike. He almost looks surprised that his mother is taking up for Arthur. Before Mike can say something he will regret, Arthur says “Ma, I will leave. I’m not trying to cause no drama. I thought everyone knew I would be home.” He quickly starts to grab the small amount of things he has sitting in a pile in the living room before hugging his mother goodbye. When his brother finally leaves after all of the arguing Mike is so tired all he can do is listen to his mother complain as he eats dinner. “You can’t just come into this house and try to start regulating things like you are the boss. I pay the bills here and I will not just leave my son to die. He might have left tonight but I want him here. I can’t help but be his mother, baby. I love you all too much to leave you to fend for yourselves. And I know it’s not really your brother you’re mad at. You can’t blame him for what your father is doing even if they do have the same problems.” He finishes his dinner and goes to check on his little sister then goes to sleep himself. Lying in the bed Mike’s eyes begin to water as he thinks over the situation that day and he once again remembers why he never smoked before college and is even angrier at himself for losing sight of that.

When Ovaughn finally goes home, his homecoming isn’t as dramatic as Mike’s, but he still doesn’t enjoy it as much as Jairus and Duc. His father Oscar, his mother Omelia, and his older brothers Oscar Jr. and Omar were and still are all athletes. So Ovaughn has always been pressured to be good at sports. He inherited the body of a slim athlete from his father and is expected to use it. Basketball being the only sport out of the millions he’s tried that he enjoys playing. So, when he tells his father about him practicing with the college team his family is overjoyed. When he gets home, he has been playing basketball so much all he wants to do is lay on his ass and gain weight eating junk food and watching television. All his family wants to do is talk about sports and how he got the opportunity to be on the team. Oscar played basketball in Europe and Omar played arena football, so they had plenty of stories to compare, except for the fact that he has to continually tell his family that he isn’t on the team yet. The conversation isn’t as bad as some others they’ve had, it’s just not what Ovaughn wants to talk about. He couldn’t care less about sports at the moment; all he wants is some sleep and after they go out for food and come back home that is exactly what he gets. He sleeps for about ten hours that night.

Back in D.C., once he settles in, Jairus finally gets in contact with his girlfriend, and they have some very long phone conversations. They both talk a lot about how much they miss each other and how long it has been since they last saw each other. Jairus constantly talks about them getting together and going out or meeting at certain spots just to be together, but Tania is always busy and can never find any free time. This upsets Jairus a lot and it makes his mother upset and happy at the same time. She is upset because she sees how it is hurting her son, but she is happy he isn’t spending all his time with that “trifling ass little girl.” So Jairus spends most of his time hanging out with Duc and Russell. Making sure he spends time with Russell while he is home and allowing him and Duc to get cool with each other. Still, he constantly keeps trying to find time to be with Tania, even promising to buy her a Christmas gift even though he has no money. One day he and Duc go to a popular mall in Virginia to look for Christmas gifts for their family, and in Jairus’ case for Tania as well. While walking through the mall Jairus sees Tania from behind walking with some other guy. He immediately realizes why she would never meet with him, because she is giving all her personal time to some other dude. He stops in his tracks, stops Duc, and says “Young, that’s Tania with that dude up in front of us.” Duc’s eyes get huge repeatedly looking back and forth between his friend and the couple he sees up ahead. He then says “whatchu gone do?” Jairus doesn’t even responds, he just goes up to Tania and grabs her arm away from the other guy. As she turns around, she has the most startling look on her face that either Jairus or Duc has ever seen. It can only be matched by the look Jairus gives her in return as he looks at her. She is about four or five months pregnant and beginning to really show. That shocks Jairus so much he is speechless. She immediately says, “Jerry, I’m so sorry you had to find out about it like this.” Jairus is confused. He doesn’t know what to say or think as he stands with a look of disbelief, and the guy she is with doesn’t give him a chance to compose himself. Whoever he is he immediately gets defensive yelling things like, “Are you crazy putting your hands on the mother of my child?” Jairus isn’t going to back away from a fight this day; he is too hurt and doesn’t really care what happens as he yells “Fuck you muthafucka!” Luckily for Jairus, Duc has a calm head and steps in between the two of them to stop him before he does anything he will regret in the future saying, “Lets just dip.” They walk away and walk around the mall a little longer while Jairus cools off, then they leave the mall. On the way home Duc tries to cheer Jairus up and tries to explain his reason for stopping the fight Jairus almost had. “I couldn’t let you fight that nigga, cuz if he woulda beat your ass I woulda had to beat the shit outta him. You should be happy it ain’t yours anyway even though it means she played your ass but at least you can stop fakin’ at school now. She wasn’t that phat anyway except for her little pop belly. So, cheer your ass up. Oh, and don’t think I didn’t hear her call you Jerry.” These little comments make Jairus smile a little. Duc has a talent for cheering people up. That's one of the reasons so many people like him, but he doesn’t have many true friends and from this day forth Jairus is one of his best.

Later that week Jairus tells his mother it is over between him and Tania, and he also tells her why. She is happy it is over but sad at what happened to her son. His mother has been through her fair share of trials when it comes to affairs of the heart, so she tries to get him to talk about his feelings. But he isn’t emotionally ready to talk about it, especially not with his mother. Instead, he just bottles up the emotion and tries to act like he is fine.

Eventually Papa Tom hears about what happened because his Aunt Theresa has a bad habit of running her mouth to him and Jairus’ mom has a habit of running her mouth to her sister. When he hears about the situation, he tells Jairus and Duc to come and talk to him about it. “Duc, I appreciate you being there for my grandson when he needed a friend,” he says. “And I thank you for not letting his temper get the best of him. He inherited that from me. You are a good friend and I hope he has made more friends like you in Atlanta. Jerry … oh, I’m sorry you’re too big for that now. Jairus, I know that it hurts inside and even though you won’t admit it. You were probably as in love as you can be at your age. You lived for that girl. The pain and anger you feel inside can break you down or it can make you grow into a stronger person and one day make you a great man. Don’t let this situation change who you are. Let who you are dictate how you deal with situations. This is just your path to manhood. There will be other pains and bigger pains than this, believe me. You cannot let this change the way you view women. You have to let the things you experience make you better for the next one that comes along. Your mother raised you right and it would kill her inside to see you turn out to be everything she tried to teach you not to be. She doesn’t deserve that and whoever you’re in your next relationship with won’t either. You don’t know your father and I know that has always driven you to be what you and your mother didn’t have in the home with you. This doesn’t change the loyal, dedicated young man you have grown to become. It just shows you who Tania truly was. Just remember what I’ve told you, son. One day it will all make sense.”

The two of them leave the apartment with the wisdom Jairus’ grandfather just gave them and Jairus tells Duc that his grandfather always goes on about what he should learn for the future. As they ride around in the Explorer, Duc tells Jairus about the welcome home party his sister is throwing at the largest club in D.C. for both Duc and Jamie. Jairus thinks it is a good idea to get out of the house and agrees to go but wants to make sure Russell can get in with them. Duc says it is no problem.

The entire time Duc is home he spends with his sister when he isn’t with Jairus. His sister spends a lot of time talking to Duc about the type of people he is meeting at school. At first, Duc thought nothing of it then his sister says to him “you can use those people skills you have to make a lot of money.” Duc’s interest rose with the possibility of making money. Jaime knows what will get a rise out of her brother and says, “You can do the same thing in the clubs in Atlanta that I did with the holiday homecoming party at the club in D.C.” Duc quickly responds “I don’t understand but you know I am always down to make money. How?” Jamie laughs at her little brother's enthusiasm and says, “Well the first rule of any business is to show your partners you can make them money. That will get you opportunities with club owners. And club managers will let you throw parties in their clubs for a small fee and for all bar sales or a percentage of the door sales.” At this point Duc is taking mental notes trying to soak up all his sister's knowledge. She continues “You can even start with parties on campus and save money that way. That is how the frats do it. Just make sure everyone knows who’s throwing the party, then move the operation off campus. Basic party promotion.” Jamie tells him that all he has to do is come up with a catchy name people will remember like most concert promoters do and he might even get a following for his parties if they are good enough. Duc spends a couple of days thinking of catchy names before he finally decides he doesn’t like any of the ideas he came up with. All he knows is he wants to make it a play on his nickname, if he ever really gets into the party promotion business. This is one of the ways Jamie got into the music business and tells Duc that, one day in the future, she would love to have her little brother running a company at her side. Duc laughs at that idea but does like the party idea and his sister promises to supply money to get him started on campus.

Down in Charlotte, Ovaughn is spending most of his time with his family catching up and occasionally playing a game of two-on-two basketball with his father and brothers. He also spends time with a young lady he knows from high school and catches up with other friends also. His group of friends has never been very large, so there aren’t that many people to catch up with. He is only home for a little less than four weeks but he still finds time to accomplish everything he wants to, including a little intimacy with his female friend. He also had a very good Christmas. It is a lot better for him than even he expected. His parents are so happy about him playing basketball that they go all out for his Christmas presents. Another surprise he is more than happy to accept.

Back in Atlanta, Mike gives in and stops arguing about his brother staying in the house, but now all he does is worry about Arthur. Arthur will be home one night and gone for the next couple. It feels too familiar to Mike and is killing his mother Brenda inside. He watches daily as she struggles to sleep and doesn’t have much of an appetite. All she wants to do is save her child but there isn’t much that she can do. These problems make Mike think about his father too often for his liking since he holds a serious grudge with his father for choosing drugs over his family. He really doesn’t want his brother to end up the same way and he doesn’t want to end up that way. Plus, his experience with drugs only got him in trouble. He decides to quit smoking weed for good thinking that one drug will only lead to another. He does, however, continue to drink alcohol when socially.

Mike starts spending his days walking around the neighborhood looking for Arthur. He wants to find out where he is when he doesn't come home so he can get to him if he has to. After snooping around a little he finds out that when Arthur was kicked out of the house he was staying with Tony, their father. He realizes now why his mother wants him back home with her. He also finds out where the two of them had been staying. So, the next time Arthur goes missing for more than a day Mike goes looking for him. What he finds isn’t what he hoped for. He makes his way to the apartment building which is in a part of town even he avoids. He gets to the apartment he heard about and knocks on the door. His mind is racing as he waits for someone to open the door. He hopes for Arthur but is scared it might be Tony. The door opens and it’s neither. It’s an older woman he doesn’t recognize who is smoking a cigarette and has on a dingy robe with scarf wrapped around her head. Before he can even ask for Arthur she says “You must be the youngest boy. In the back room, little nigga” with an attitude as if Mike had done something wrong to her. He slowly makes his way down the hall hoping that he will find his brother somewhere in the apartment. All he finds is a decrepit shell of a man. He finds his father Tony stretched out on a mattress on the floor, barely awake, as if he’s had too much to drink or worse. He immediately grabs his father off the floor, pushes him up against a wall demanding to know where Arthur is. “I don’t know,” is all he can get out. “Bullshit. I’m not taking that for an answer!” After a few moments of yelling and cursing he let his father go. “Boy, I know you mad at me, but you can’t blame Arthur for my shit. He trying his best and he damn sure better than me. Hell, I haven’t seen him in a while.” He pauses briefly and in the next breath says, “So how’s school treating you? Good, I hope. I’m so proud of you.” Mike hears his father but isn’t listening. He truly can’t believe his father has the audacity to make a statement like that. He turns away and leaves shaking his head without saying a word.

Mike leaves the apartment and as he walks around the corner, he sees the two guys he owes money to standing straight ahead coming his way. He turns to go the other direction and as he speeds up hears one of the guys yelling. “There ain’t no need to run you little scared ass nigga. Your brother found out about your little debt and took care of it for you. We ain’t got no problems no more, but you still a little bitch and you need to stay the fuck away from me from now on. I can’t let you get away with shit like that more than once.” Mike stood there in silence trying not to look scared as he continued now standing in front of him. “Oh, and your brother said he was done wit’ it, too. I guess you finally talked some sense into that nigga. But I doubt that bullshit’ll last.” They then walk away without another word. Mike can’t believe his ears. If this is true, maybe Tony was right, and Arthur is trying to get clean. The only thing Mike can do is wait for him to come home and talk to him. So, Mike goes home and waits for his older brother and when Arthur gets home, they have a long overdue talk between the two of them.

4

“You Know I Will Work for What I Want”

All the guys get back to school on the same day. They plan it ahead of time so no one will be sitting around doing nothing. School can be a very boring place when you don’t have anything to do or anyone to keep you company. After Jairus tells Mike and Ovaughn he is now single without fully explaining the Tania situation, the four guys make a vow to start a manhunt or better yet a “woman hunt.” Not necessarily for girlfriends but for a variety of women to chill with or hook up with every now and then. Friends with benefits, casual situations, girlfriends, all of the above are on the table depending on what each of them wants. Jairus seems to be out of the girlfriend business for the time being with multiple comments like “y'all can have that girlfriend shit” and “I’m probably just gonna stay single as long as I can.” Surprisingly, Duc plays devil's advocate with him saying, “There’s benefits to having a girlfriend. There’s nothing wrong with that if you find the right one.” Ovaughn busts out laughing and Mike says, “How long did your last relationship last?” Ovaughn follows that by saying “ask him again next week and see how his tone changes.” Duc quiets down their jokes when he replies “Okay, let's see how many women y'all niggas book if you don’t have everyone I already know to fall back on.” He doesn’t really mind helping his friends, for him it's just another chance to meet more people. But he has it in his mind that it can also be his way to promote his parties. The guys think that the party idea is good and are happy about it because it means they can start partying for free. Jairus is the only one who isn't excited about the news because he isn’t very interested in nightlife in his current emotional state. Even though he would never openly admit that to his friends.

When the guys start school Duc and Ovaughn have all the same classes except for a couple of the classes in their majors. Mike has all the same elective classes that he can get with his friends. Jairus, on the other hand, had to register for class a little later than his friends because he didn’t have tuition money soon enough and his classes got dropped. So, his schedule is a little different because some classes were closed when he tried to get into them. Once the guys start class, Jairus discovers he and Lisa share basically the same schedule. They have five out of Jairus’ six classes together. This pleased Jairus and he thought that it gave him a better chance to get to know Lisa. Now that he no longer has a girlfriend, he starts thinking about all the times everyone said he should holla at Lisa last semester and right now he is ready to try anything to get his mind off Tania. The first day of class they walk together from class to class and talk about their Christmas vacations. Around midday Lisa says “I’m hungry” so Jairus asks her if she wants to hit the caf when they have time between classes. Over lunch in the caf Jairus tells her about the incident with him and his ex-girlfriend Tania. She is the first person he tells the full story that isn’t family. He doesn’t even know why he’s telling her and is scared she may judge him because of it but he just feels like he wants to be open with her. She thinks the story is sad and tries to comfort him and make him feel comfortable after sharing something so personal with her. It’s the first time they hold hands even though it’s not in a romantic way. She feels sorry for him and that’s all that he can hope for. It makes him start to look at her as a friend and not just a girl he‘s attracted to. He feels good about talking to her and likes the fact that she is so cool that he can talk about anything with her, even if she is just listening.

Getting such a positive response from Lisa makes Jairus a lot more confident in telling his friends about the incident. Eventually Jairus tells Ovaughn and Mike what happened to him and Tania and why he is showing more attention to Lisa now. They sympathize with him as most friends would by telling him sob stories of their own about how girls led them on all for nothing or how they were teased by girls and caught blue balls. Duc, Mike, Ovaughn, and Jairus all go out the next weekend and get drunk then go to the first gym party of the semester. The guy's night out takes his mind off of Tania and makes Jairus feel good about having friends there for him, but it doesn’t heal him completely.

Jairus spends quite a bit of time moping around during the beginning of the semester and his friends try everything to cheer him up. This is especially urgent for Duc because he saw everything that happened and Ovaughn because he felt closer to Jairus than he did any of the others. Mike is supportive also, but his advice is one word. KIM! He would say that name anytime Jairus was acting down about the situation. Mike would say, “The only thing that can get you over a woman is another woman. KIM!” One night Jairus finally gets so lonely that he decides to listen to Mike and give her a call. He chooses to call her instead of Lisa because he doesn’t want to be in a relationship and even in the back of his mind he always thought of Lisa as girlfriend material. Over the first semester he developed a genuine friendship with Lisa, and he views her as someone who will be long term if it ever happens. He isn’t at that place and isn’t going to risk their friendship so easily. Kim, on the other hand, is someone he has a completely different view of. Kim is someone he just flirts with, he sees her as more aggressive, and everyone assumes she is a bit faster than some of the other girls because she seems more provocative. Especially after what happened between them previously.

Jairus starts talking to Kim regularly. He figures she is perfect to take his mind off Tania, assuming she doesn’t mind being anything more than casual anyway. That perception helps him to always remain emotionally disconnected when they eventually do start to see each other privately. Always hanging out in secluded places where they won’t be seen by a lot of people. He never gets serious with Kim and makes sure she knows they are just friends. He still finds himself always speaking to Lisa in class when he gets the chance but tries not to come on too strong because he has it set in his mind that she’s not what he wants at the moment. As time goes on Jairus finds he has fun with Kim and even enjoys hanging out with her on the few occasions they do but always remains upfront constantly reminding her the situation is casual. She doesn’t give him much push back, but he realizes she is willing to put forth more effort than he is and at times, mostly in classes they have together, she seems jealous of his friendship with Lisa. Her repeated comments about him “running to talk to your friend” are hard to ignore even though she tries to make it sound like a joke. He begins to overthink things and eventually he starts to feel bad about the situation. What she says about them being casual and how she acts when they hang out are sending different messages and he can tell she’s more invested than him. It makes him feel guilty and eventually he cuts it off between them telling her “I don’t think we should do this anymore. I don’t think we at the same place.” His conscience is too strong to let him continue to string her along even if she fully knows what they are doing. She tries to convince him that she’s fine and nothing has changed but she just seems like she‘s trying to maintain the attachment. His mind is made up. It’s what he feels is best for everyone. Some of the guys like Rob, Tim, and Duc give him a tough time about being the nice guy. But in the back of his mind, he knows she has begun to catch feelings. Unfortunately for her, he doesn’t even allow himself to entertain the thought. He just ends things convincing himself he is doing it for her benefit.

For Ovaughn the semester starts with him getting back to practice with the team. His father, who was something of a drill sergeant when it came to coaching up his kids, had spent the entire Christmas vacation repeatedly telling Ovaughn what he needs to work on to prove himself to the coaching staff. He even created a workout regimen for him to do to see improvement. He is now on a mission to end the season with the respect of the coaches and players, and to try to lock a position on the roster for next season. A part of him is also trying to get the respect of his father. Every day he practices in his free time and when they have a practice-team scrimmage he goes all out as if it is an actual game. For him, it is. And since the scrimmages were open to all students, he quickly got a little following from students who notice how hard he plays and wonder why he isn’t on the regular squad. For him that is yet another reason he wants to prove he should be on the team. Most of those fans following the scrimmages were players from the other athletic teams using the school sports facilities but every couple of weeks he notices a new face or two added to the small crowd. He hopes he is earning the respect of the other, already respected, athletes at the school. It gets to the point that some of the students clap whenever he does something well in an effort to draw attention to the coaches that seem to be overlooking him, but they are slowly starting to take notice. The students come up to him and give him credit for his good play and try to get to know him, but his following isn’t large, and he really doesn’t do too much talking to them because they don’t really motivate him. He wants the respect of the coaches and his teammates.

Ovaughn throws himself into basketball so much at the beginning of the semester he struggles to find a good balance between schoolwork and his personal workouts in the team facility. He finds creative times to get practice when the court is not used by the actual team or by the volleyball teams. With a lot of early morning and late-night work alone in the gym Ovaughn starts taking full advantage of the team's access to the sporting facility. He determines the morning before class when no other men’s team uses the facility is best for him because he can shower in the men’s locker room and is close enough to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat and make it to his 9 am class on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday when they don’t have team practice. He quickly finds, on one of his first few early morning sessions, that the women’s track team holds practices during that same time. As he completes one of his personal sessions on a Wednesday morning he has showered and before dressing gets the urge to piss, which requires him to walk a short distance down a concrete hallway of the poorly designed sports complex. Due to the school making renovations on top of the historic gym the flow of the facilities isn't ideal. Therefore, the bathroom is separate from the showers and lockers, so Ovaughn wraps his towel around his waist, puts on his slides and makes his way down the hall. He enters the bathroom that looks like the open concrete entrances of bathrooms you find in some stadiums. He pays no attention to the fact that, from the right angle, you can see the urinals in the mirror from the bathroom entrance. So, with his towel draped on his shoulder as he pisses, he is completely shocked to hear a couple of women yell out “OOOOOWWWW” catcalling him as they glimpse a look at his bare back side. He abruptly tries to stop pissing and cover up at the same time while looking back in the mirror to see a couple of girls from the track team in the reflection. One of them walks off while the other says, “Funny how y’all love to yell stuff at us but can’t take it when the tables are reversed, huh?” All he can think to say in response is, “You are crazy!” She seems to enjoy seeing him awkwardly squirming in this situation and continues with a big smirk, saying, “Come on now baby, I know I’m not the first to see that ass naked. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I want to keep that all to myself.” He begins to try and cover as much of himself as he can with the single towel he has and tries to force a grin trying to alleviate the tension of this awkward position he finds himself in. Still looking through the mirror he says, “So are you waiting for me to come out or did you need something else from me?”

“You really are bashful huh? Cute. I don’t know what’s better, that view or your reaction. I’ll see your cute ass later, O.” And she turns and heads down the hall to the female locker room. As she walks off, Ovaughn is shocked that she seemed to know who he is, and yells, “Who are you? What’s your name?”

“We can talk about that later. Go put some clothes on.” He moves to the bathroom entrance and looks down the hall to see if any other women from the track team are present. He thinks to himself that all he knows about her is that she runs track, is light skinned, and is in excellent shape. He has to know who this girl is and as he returns to the locker room and gets dressed, he bursts into laughter as he replays the interaction in his head. Later that week Ovaughn would tell the fellas about this interaction once he processes what had happened a bit more. It would become one of the many running jokes between the group as they found it hilarious that a girl flipped it on him and made him feel like “a piece of meat.”

During the semester Duc looks into having parties on campus and finds that if he rents out the gym, he gets all the money from ticket sales as long as the school can sell concessions. It works just as his sister told him it would. He then reaches out to a couple of upperclassmen he became cool with who are Teachers Assistants. They also happen to be members of a fraternity that infrequently throws gym parties and they help him figure out the best way to use the music system. The information is only given in the agreement that their fraternity is granted free entry to the event. Duc knows that knowledge is priceless and them being there will only attract people to the party. He finds a couple of guys on campus that are into DJing already and sells them on using his parties for practice to garner free labor for his parties moving forward. After getting the money his sister promised him as a Christmas gift to throw his first party, he holds his first campus party at the end of February. All organized campus parties are held at the intramural gym that has the capacity to hold about 500 people in the allotted space. He doesn’t even have to promote it and word of mouth from his many friends still brings in a crowd. The party is a success even though it is not a sell out and Duc makes over $400 profit after charging $5 a person at the door. One smell of a profit and the monster begins to grow. The day after the party Mike and Duc are in the room talking about the party. Mike is still in shock saying “I can’t believe how many folks came out last night boy. I know you made some dough!” “Eventually I’m trying to expand to clubs. I’m a need you and Chris to let me know which clubs are hot, when it’s time.” Duc replies. Mike is excited by the idea and quickly agrees. Duc has more on his mind, now aware of the club incident during finals week. He says, “Also, I’m a slide you something... so you can give them niggas that money you owe” referring to the drug dealers. And he won’t take no for an answer. Mike then tells him what went down with the guys and his brother taking care of it. He also tells him that he's done with weed. Duc mentions that he noticed Mike isn’t smoking anymore. It later came out to everyone, when Paul and Chris call him out when he passes on smoking, but that’s weeks after the conversation with Duc. By then, Ovaughn and Jairus both already have an idea he has quit. ***

As the semester goes on Jairus finally feels like he is ready to move on past Tania because she is no longer constantly on his mind. As he gets comfortable with the idea that she is no longer a part of his life, he begins to think he is ready for a real relationship again. And even though at this point they have a pretty good friendship there is only one person he thinks of as girlfriend material and that is Lisa. They are already able to talk to each other about all kinds of things and he’s always thought she is smart and beautiful. He just needs to find the right way to approach her. He has built up the idea of dating her in his mind and is anxious about broaching the topic with her. Does she feel the same. What if he’s stuck in the friend zone. Eventually he builds his courage and just blurts out “Lisa, do you wanna go out on a date some time?” as they walk across campus between classes one day. Her initial moment of silence is agonizing for him. She doesn’t really want to answer. She tries to gather her words for a response but the New Yorker in her just says the truth in a matter-of-fact way. She replies, “I can’t go out with you because I have a boyfriend.” Jairus is crushed and doesn’t understand how he missed this part of all the stories she tells him about her weekends doing nothing and even asks “But I thought you didn’t do a lot on the weekends?” She explains “I do nothing on the weekend because neither of us has a car. What are we gonna do? He is so jealous I doubt he wants to take me out for everyone to look at anyway.” She laughs at her own joke but Jairus doesn’t find anything funny at the moment. Jairus is angry with her because she still could’ve mentioned it but doesn’t show it to her because he knows he did the same thing the previous semester. She can tell that he is caught off guard and tells him “Jairus, it’s something really new. I wasn’t hiding it. It just hadn’t come up yet. I mean, it’s not like you was really thinking about me. You been so busy you waited until almost spring break to say something to me.” He has nothing to say in response. He can’t argue her point and wonders if he just waited too long. Even still, he can’t believe it and at that moment decides never to set himself up for disappointment again. She can read the disappointment all over his face. She says, “Yo, my bad for the miscommunication. I hope that we good. We can stay friends.” He nods his head yes but that doesn’t change the fact that Jairus is hurt. No man likes rejection and he’s taking it harder than even he would have expected.

The next time it’s just Mike, Ovaughn, Duc and Jairus happens to be at lunch the next day, where Jairus tells them about what went down with Lisa. They are all quiet in disbelief. When he sees the opportunity arise, he lays on the guilt trip thick for all the times they encouraged him to try and get with Lisa. “Thanks them for the embarrassment.” Eventually Mike turns it back on him “Who told you to be so slow. Waitin’ too long wasn’t in the instructions I gave.” They all begin to laugh off the bad situation. Ovaughn laughs so hard he gets up to go to use the bathroom, and on his way out of the bathroom he is stopped by the girl from the locker room incident. She grins at him and says, “So is this bathroom thing going to be a running theme with us?” she asks, grinning. He looks around, slightly embarrassed. “Girl, you are crazy! How do you know who I am? And what is your name?” She tells him how she heard through the grapevine about the practice team player that is as good as the guys on the team and knows who he is from seeing him play. She also tells him that she loves basketball even though track is what got her a scholarship. He is impressed even though he’s trying to play it cool and thinks to himself there doesn’t seem to be anything normal about this girl. She then says, “I know who you are, so if you want to know who I am you can find out for yourself. I’m not hard to look up. Stop being lazy.”

“I’ve been dedicating a lot to basketball and trying to start an engineering major. I haven’t had time to do anything else.” She pauses for a moment, and you can tell she is thinking then she says She looks at him as if she’s trying to read whether he’s lying or not and decides to give him a break. “It’s Kennedy. Nice to meet you Ovaughn.” She extends her hand out to him in the fashion she would if he were to take it to kiss. He grins as he shakes her hand then they find out where each other is sitting in the cafeteria. Ovaughn tells her he hopes to see her later.

“Do you have a girl?” she blurts out. He looks at her with surprise. “Well, you didn’t even have to approach me and you still haven’t tried to holla at me. So, I figured maybe you were taken.” Ovaughn really can’t believe that she is so forward but chooses to reply in the same fashion.

“You only want me to holla because people know me from basketball, not because you like me.” She can’t believe he said that to her. She looks him up and down, and like most anyone would she gets a little defensive replying “Well, for the record, I knew who you were before the basketball thing. I know your boy Mike, and everybody knows Duc. Pardon me if I like a man who isn’t one to always be looking for attention. And you seem like a hard worker. You have potential but I see you must like to do things the hard way. I was gonna give you a break but fuck it you gotta work for me now. I won’t even come to your little stinkin’ practice. Later, cute ass.”

She walks off with a big smile on her face as if she is enjoying playing this game with him. He knows he messed up the interaction and when he gets back to the table and tells his friends what happened. Once they realize who the mystery girl is they let him know just how bad he fucked up. Mike tells him that Kennedy is supposed to be a beast on the track team and an accounting major. She gets brothers coming at her on a regular basis because she is a girl that has the regular chick feel but carries herself with a huge amount of confidence along with being a great dresser. Mike also says “Yeah, she also turned Duc down when he tried to holla. So, you know shawty got good taste.” They all get a laugh from that, agreeing when Jairus says “she must be pretty damn smart too.” ***

The semester continues and Jairus and Lisa continue to be friends and on occasion walk from class to class together or with a group depending on who else shares the class. They still do a little flirting from time to time but they never cross the line. At one point Jairus even tries to entice her to hang around him more by telling her that he can get her into Duc’s next party for free, but nothing ever comes of it. She makes it clear that she has a boyfriend, and they can only be friends. Eventually he even meets her boyfriend in a brief encounter between classes with them merely exchanging names. He quickly realizes he is a New Yorker like her when he hears him talk. They don’t say much though. Jairus can tell he isn’t fond of her having male friends. They both seem jealous of each other. And on top of it already being very awkward, Jairus thinks he may be friends with the guys that talked trash to him first semester. As Mike, Ovaughn, and Duc see him with Lisa more and more and they come down on Jairus talking trash about him still being up under her even though she has a boyfriend. He just takes the abuse and lets them think what they want to think. He is fine being her friend and doesn’t think there is anything wrong maintaining a friendship with her no matter how much shit his friends give him. He tells himself they just don’t understand how to be friends and not actively try to sleep with a girl. The ridicule of his friends has all but died out until her boyfriend causes a huge scene outside of the caf one night at dinner. Duc and Ovaughn are walking toward the cafeteria and see Lisa up ahead arguing with someone. The argument gets very heated and loud and her boyfriend, Jamal, jumps at her as if to hit her, uttered a few more words they can’t decipher then walks away mad. Lisa may have turned Jairus down, but they were still cool with her. The guys quickly walk up to her to make sure she is okay and ask if she is fine, but she is not interested in talking about the incident and only wants to be left alone as she rushes off simply saying “I’m good.” They can tell by the look on her face she is clearly shaken and embarrassed by the whole thing. When Mike and Jairus get to dinner they bring up what they saw to Jairus. They are apprehensive at first but feel he should know what happened. He is speechless and hopes they just misread something, but he’s now worried about Lisa and has even more reason not to like Jamal. A couple of days later Jairus asked her about it during one of their walks between classes. “Umm...Duc told me he saw you arguing the other night.” When confronted Lisa is once again embarrassed by the situation which is clear by her now dropping her head and staring at the ground. about the incident she blows it off “Nah, we just got a little too heated. It was a freak occurrence. I’m embarrassed that we had even been arguing in public. I promise you that has never happened before.” He is a protector by nature, so his instincts are to press harder, but she seems to avoid any subtle attempt to dig deeper, so he leaves it alone.

Jairus decides to take her at her word and has pretty much put the incident out of his mind until about two weeks later while walking to class with Lisa. Jamal sees them walk past in deep conversation then suddenly walks up to them from behind and snatches her up by the arm. He damn near yanks her arm out of the socket and starts yelling about her having too many guy friends. Jairus being a big brother and the son of a single mom is very protective of the women in his life. That trait is a part of who he is. So even though he stands to the side to let them handle their own business he is intensely staring at Jamal the entire time. They are once again arguing back and forth. That is until Jamal pushes Lisa to the ground while she is trying to stop him from walking away in a dismissive manner. Jairus drops his books and pushes Jamal to the ground. “If you want to hit somebody you can hit on me bitch.” Jamal’s jealousy made him upset with Lisa, but he then looks up at Jairus with a satisfied grin on his face. With a large amount of anger in his eyes and a size advantage, Jamal gets up off the ground and shoves Jairus back a few feet. Jairus’ attitude and temper are much too strong to allow him to back down from this fight and it gives him the opportunity to let out all his frustration. He also can’t stand to see men put their hands on a woman. They begin to wrestle with one another trying to throw punches in the small space between them. A crowd begins to form around the two as they fight and all they can hear is Lisa yelling for them to stop. As Jamal begins to take an advantage in the fight he is hit from behind and knocked to the ground again. Jairus knows he is saved but isn’t expecting to see that it is Rob, Paul, and Tim who come to his rescue. It makes sense after all, fighting is probably what Rob does best and Paul is always up for trouble. The two of them were damn near kicked out of school for fighting during the first semester. Jamal gets up and puts his back to a wall trying to avoid anyone getting behind him. Jairus is out of breath but tells them to stop before it goes too far. After it is all over and done with, Lisa thanks Jairus for helping her and tells Jamal she is done with their relationship. She didn’t want to be what she calls “one of those dumb women who loves men who hit on them.” After that Jamal quickly makes his exit yelling “fuck you bitch” once he puts some space between them. She tells Jairus he has never put his hands on her before that day and never will again. The only thing that worries Jairus is that Jamal is friends with the guys from New York he doesn’t like. It can lead to future problems, but he doesn’t worry about it for more than a moment.