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

“Most of the folks in the dorm runnin’ wild in here like they ain’t never seen ass before. These brothas gonna leave school with degrees and diapers fucking around in here,” he tells them. He assures them that they are probably better off in another dorm because the first coed dorm on campus is going to be a distraction for anyone staying there because it leaves you with nowhere to go to get away from women and do your work. Naturally, Jairus is the only one actually paying attention to Nat go on. Duc and Ovaughn are very much into all the women coming in and out of the dorm rooms as they walk down the hall. And Mike sees a few people he knows from high school and stops to speak. Nat and the others continue to walk to the room and leave Mike with the room number so he can catch up when he is done talking. He stops because he sees a few people he knows from Atlanta, including Chris who he hasn’t seen since returning to campus. Apparently, Chris has a room in the coed dorm as well which is surprising knowledge but not at all surprising for Chris. He always flew under the radar and is never short on surprises.

Once the others get to Nat’s room, they see that one of his upperclassmen friends is in his room on the video game waiting for him to return. Thomas is one of Nat’s good friends, so they have all met before and as they walk in, he offers them all something to drink in the form of an alcoholic beverage. Everyone either grabs a beer or mixes himself something and they play catch up for about ten minutes when Mike comes into the room. “Big Mike from the wood!” exclaims Thomas as soon as he enters, and everyone bursts into laughter because it is usually Nat that calls him that. Thomas also knows Mike from outside of college because he went to the same high school as he and his older brother Arthur, which is the first thing he asks Mike about as he tries to force him a beer. That conversation is brief since Mike definitely isn’t going into detail about that topic no matter how much Thomas may know. That eventually leads to Thomas bringing up a party that was going on at a friend’s apartment being held by some seniors. Thomas and Nat are planning on going later and invite the guys to come along if they want. A party being held by upperclassmen is something that Duc isn’t passing up, and Mike is up for it too. He likes hanging with Nat and Thomas because it evens out the ATL vs. D.C. ratio, as he puts it.

Mike and Jairus decide to walk back and get Duc’s car because he and Ovaughn want to stay so they can drink and try to talk to the girls walking by in the hallway. On the way to get the car it isn’t much of a rush because they both know that Nat doesn’t really head out until about 11pm once the parties have already started to get good and he’s had a chance to get intoxicated. So, as they walk, they make a point to take the scenic route to see who is out on the busy side of campus before heading to the parking lot. Being friends with Duc they automatically expect to see someone they know or have at least met before. But this time they run into Monique. Mike sees her first and tells Jairus to wait up so he can go speak. He approaches Monique from behind with a tap on her shoulder and she turns with a surprised look on her face and greets him with a hug.

“What’s up Mike? What you got going on tonight?” He then takes the opportunity to introduce her to Jairus and tells her that they are going to a party off campus. She surprises him by telling him that she heard about it, but it was through her boyfriend, so she probably isn’t going to go watch him act a fool. She also says, “Me and my home girls are about to go back to the apartment and kick it. We are probably gonna play cards and invite some people over. If you weren’t going to the party, I’d say for you and your friends to come through.”

Mike loves the fact that she is so pleasant and approachable. He finds himself naturally drawn to women that would generally be classified as good girls or the type you take home to meet mom. He has a weak spot for a young lady who comes across as genuinely nice. And now that he has another offer for the night he isn’t as excited about going to the party.

The two of them eventually make their way to the SUV and start back across campus to the dorm but during the trip Jairus can’t help but point out the obvious. “So, you blown cuz you can’t go chill with Monique?” he says in an attempt to get Mike to talk about. But Mike knows he will have something to say so he just ignores it and Jairus continues. “Dog, what do you really expect to come out of that anyway? She has a man and you ain’t never been no dirty nigga like that. What you hoping she will eventually leave him and end up with you?” Mike still says nothing in reply as Jairus goes on in the same manner. He never really gave it much thought since he had just met Monique. Mike just knows that he likes what he sees. So, as they reach the dorm, he parks the car and tells Jairus to shut up as they walk into the dorm. And with that said Jairus drops it. He can tell by the tone in Mike’s voice that he is feeling touchy about the topic right now and Mike is normally the one who he has real conversations with, so he is surprised at the brush off treatment.

Eventually the time comes, and the group of gentlemen left the campus in route to the party in two separate cars. It didn’t take long for them to reach the party and when they arrived everyone was happily surprised to see that the crowd in the house was thick. And as Duc states it is a ‘quality distribution’. He has a way of making the number and diversity of the people at a party sound like a science with his quality versus quantity talk. Once they get in everyone goes into their normal routine of mingling to survey the crowd. Duc is finding ways to purposely bump into women accidentally so he can ignite conversation and introduce his shy friend that plays on the basketball team. Jairus finds women he knows or young ladies that he catches eyes with and starts to dance with them and start conversations that way. Mike on the other hand is just sitting up against the wall watching everybody else have fun. None of his friends pay any attention to it until Ovaughn walks past to get drinks and asks him if he wants one. By the quick reply he receives Ovaughn can tell that something is wrong with Mike and lets Duc know when he gets back to him with the drinks. Duc, being in full stride, seems to ignore what Ovaughn is telling him by briefly looking in Mike’s direction and continuing his conversation. Time passes and Ovaughn begins to let the thought go when suddenly Duc starts toward Jairus without a word, and when he reaches him, he asks, “Dog. What’s up wit’ your boy?” As Jairus tells him why Mike is acting like he isn’t into the party Ovaughn thinks about how Duc just catalogues information and deals with everything in order like some machine.

So, because Jairus refuses to talk to him, Duc goes and tries to convince him to try and enjoy the party. “Your ex-girl in here dog? If not, you must wanna see somebody wit’ the hands. Where the nigga at so we can handle it?” Duc says this in a jovial way because he knows Mike doesn’t shy from being confrontational and he’s merely trying to cheer him up, not accidentally sign up for a fight. Since Mike isn’t angry he still gets the laugh he was expecting. “Young, I got a couple over here by the wall. You brush off Ovaughn, come put your thing down with them, and you straight for the night” Duc quickly spouts. In a reply that comes just as fast Mike says, “How you just gonna play Ovaughn like that man.” Duc starts to laugh. “I’m just saying if it will get you off this damn wall then that’s one, he got to take for the team. Plus, it’s like 30 youngin’s in this joint other than them. And if that ain’t what you trying to do then its niggas out back playing dominoes, dice and throwing the cards. Just get your ass up before you fuck this party up for me.” Mike looks at Duc shaking his head with a smirk on his face and finally comes off the wall as Ovaughn brings over a beer for him to drink. He takes the beer and tells them that he is gonna go out back and see what they are playing on the card table. That was enough for his friends to get back to business.

After his second beer and halfway through the first mixed drink, Mike starts to think of himself as stupid for tripping over a girl that already has a boyfriend. He makes his way over to a group of about five people standing in a circle. He starts to turn away because he thinks they are just getting high but then one of them starts to make a beat with his mouth and hands and the others chime in with the beat and one of them starts to rap over their beat. Being around Duc long enough has turned Mike into the world of music more, so he is instantly interested. So much that he can’t help but stay and listen even though he wants to go grab his friends so they can hear the rhymes also. He stands and listens, bobbing his head with the group, trying his best to keep his opinions to himself. And eventually the group decides to move to a parked car to get a real beat for them to rap to. So, in that instance Mike takes the opportunity to run in the house and try to grab Duc so he can come hear them also. But when he reaches Duc one of the women that are around stops him and asks him to dance with her. The rest of the party is definitely an enjoyable event for Mike.

The next morning Mike wakes up with one of the worst headaches he’s ever had and the expression on his face tells Duc all he needs to know about how he feels. Duc laughs at Mike telling him that they need to get him upset more often so he’ll start drinking again. He then asks if he wants to go to breakfast. Of course, the answer is no.

So, Duc leaves and Mike drinks a little bit of water and turns back to his bed to get some more sleep. Fifteen minutes later he gets a hard knock on the door just as he is falling back into sleep. It’s Ovaughn on his way to eat the late Sunday breakfast that they serve after church hours in the cafeteria. Mike lets him in and once again shows his friend his expression of exactly how he feels as he has another cup of water. Ovaughn offers for him to go to breakfast and is turned down just as Duc was. So, he tries to turn back into the comfort of his bed and fall asleep again and this time the ring of the phone startles him just as he gets settled. It’s Duc’s mother with a question for her son. She really just likes to check on him on Sundays to make sure he made it through the weekend safely. She knows her child and knows that being away from home for him is just an opportunity to do all the things he hasn’t been able to do before. Mike assures her that they had a fun but safe weekend and tells her he will let him know she called and attempts to sleep once again.

It takes him more to get to sleep this time but to him it is well worth it and once he is finally fast asleep he enjoys the much needed rest. But it is a short-lived fulfillment with yet another knock at the door. “Damn it what!” It’s Jairus at the door with a surprised look on his face because he was only knocking to see if Mike wanted to go catch breakfast right before it was over. By now Mike is so frustrated that he gives in and tells Jairus to wait for him to get ready. Jairus doesn’t mind so he comes in and for him it is the opportune time to try to talk to him about the Monique situation again. “So can I take it that you let go of that little funk you were in over Monique after last night?” Jairus asks. And Mike assures him that he is cool even though he does still like her. He also points out to Jairus that he shouldn’t be one to talk since he liked Lisa a whole lot more back when he had a girlfriend, and she had a boyfriend.

That is how it usually went with the two of them. Jairus asks the difficult or awkward questions and Mike replies with direct answers and then calls you out for the stuff you do. They go back and forth until the both of them have figured out their problems. This situation is no different. Jairus can see the situation going in a bad direction because of his history but that same history also led to him having a good chance at something with Lisa. So, on the walk to the cafeteria Jairus concludes that Mike should call Monique but keep it platonic because you never know what the future holds, and they both might be single one day like he and Lisa. Mike tells him he sounds like he’s in love and assures Jairus that he doesn’t have to worry about him fighting niggas in the middle of campus. To which Jairus gives him a response of a side eye glance. The seriousness of their conversation is broken as they enter the cafeteria.

They get their breakfast and sit with Ovaughn, Duc, and a few others. The group of others includes Rob, who they are seeing for the first time since getting back and Chris who they only briefly saw the night before until he went missing as usual. Duc is in the middle of telling everyone about the party the night before. So, they all give their rundown and agree that it was the best house party that they had gone to pretty much since they started college. Of course, it is only the third house party they have gone to since entering college and one of those was really just a get together with a high school friend of Mike and Chris.

Rob just got back to school early Sunday morning because he wasn’t completely sure if he was coming back due to financial aid problems. But he explains that his family wanted to make sure he came back so his mother made arrangements for him to meet with some financial aid assistants on campus to see what options he has. So unless something goes wrong he will be there, which isn’t the case for Paul who flunked out during the spring semester of their freshman year and is now trying community college in Maryland. Rob laughs it off saying his boy Tim is still there. Even though everyone knows that he and Paul were best friends no one even shows concern for Rob dealing with losing such a close friend or even act like there is something for them to consider. They soon finish their breakfast and conversations and make their way out of the cafeteria. They stop to hang out in front of the bookstore and talk more. Rob jokingly tells Jairus that he saw Lisa entertaining another guy's advances even though it isn’t true. They all know that’s the quick way to get to Jairus. He also talked trash to everyone else in the small group also. Ovaughn thinks that trash talking may be the only thing Rob can consistently do right.

As a couple of hours pass and the number of people outside doesn’t increase regardless of the great weather. They decide to go back to the room and play video games losing a couple of people from their group in the process leaving Duc, Jairus, Mike, Ovaughn, and Rob. At the time nothing would keep their interest more than basketball, football, and a lot of shit talking. This is the routine for the group when there is nothing else to do and on Sundays while they recover from their weekends. So for the next few hours that’s what they do. That is until someone gets hungry, they go eat, and get tired of sitting in the cafeteria then it's back to the room again only this time it’s without Rob. He has decided to take it back to his own room.

So at first they decide to watch some television which lasts a while then back to the video game. Which becomes the opportune time for Duc to decline the game and make his way over to the telephone. It’s his nature so it’s expected of him but everyone still makes fun of him saying things like he stays on the phone like a woman, and phone sex isn’t good for sterility. He laughs off their jokes. “Man all three a y'all niggas gonna be on the phone before the night over. Stop fakin.’” And then he jumps on the phone, which is what he will probably do until he goes to bed. The thing with Duc is that he doesn’t just call women. He’ll start with leaving messages with the director of student affairs and then call the student body president. Next will be the other students that he is calling just for party promotion and later the women that he already knows and others he is actually interested in and approached as if he just wanted to promote his party. So as his friends continue to play the game Duc is off to the races.

Ovaughn’s turn comes and goes and he decides he needs to get on the phone when he hears Duc talking to a female. So he tells Jairus he needs to go get something from the room as an excuse to slide out. He knows that he has to talk to Kennedy more if he wants to get back on her good side so he needs to get to work and is inspired by some of the lines he hears from Duc. As the two friends hold their phone conversations they play out like scripted scenes.

Duc (with girl #1): “What you mean I’m just sittin’ around wit’ my niggas. I had business to take care of tryna set up these parties. If not for that you know I would’ve called you first thing today. You know I missed you this summer.”

Ovaughn: “Kennedy why you trippin’? You know if I was sittin’ around wit’ my niggas I would’ve been called. I…I was helping Duc and Jairus wit’ all that party stuff. You know that nigga Duc always has something going on he needs help with. You actin’ like you don’t want to hear from me.”

Kennedy: “I’m not acting like nothing. I’m just trying to understand why you playing me for stupid. You don’t even have to lie to me O, and you need to stop trying to act like Duc all the time. I like you, not him. I turned that nigga away for a reason. He’s on the same OLD shit as every other nigga trying to play the field.”

Duc (on with girl #2): “Girl you know I’m an original. You ain’t never gonna meet another nigga like me.”

Ovaughn: “You don’t even know Duc like that and you talking about him like that.”

Kennedy: “Whatever O’, you know I met Duc before I met you but I didn’t fall for his bull. He's cool but he's into too damn much for me. I can read your whole crew. Duc is the life of the party nigga, the people person of your click. Friends with everyone and no one...except y’all. Jairus tries to come across as the nice guy or the smart one but really he just wants to be approachable so he can know everybody's business. Mike puts up a wall and acts like he is unapproachable. He probably has some people scared of him but he is really just overprotective and probably soft on the inside. You are the shy guy with a lot to say if they get you alone. You probably can’t keep a secret to save your damn life. Because you know when you get started you never stop talking. Ha ha ha ha ha!”

Ovaughn: “Whateva, you totally wrong on everybody but me.”

Duc (girl #3): “Girl you just now meeting me and trying to categorize me already. Me and my niggas can’t be categorized. I mean just last year I was shy as hell and now I’m setting up parties on campus. How you gonna generalize that?”

Ovaughn: “Okay, maybe I was chilling but at least I called. Why do I need to call first thing in the morning like I’m late for work?”

Kennedy: “Look I don’t have time for this nonsense Ovaughn. You know where I stand. When you figure out what you want you need to let me know… with your actions. I’ll talk to you later.

Duc (girl #4): “Sweetheart, I know what I want in a woman and it’s not just a body. I’m just saying that I’m busy all the time with school and trying to make money. So right now, as much as I would like to be I don’t have time to have a girlfriend…therefore I’m about that P.I.M.P. life… Paper In My Pocket. You might wanna stick around and benefit from it.”

Duc makes a few more calls staying on the phone until about 11:00 p.m. and then he calls it a night and goes to bed. As he is going to bed, Jairus realizes what time it is and decides that it’s time for him to go to his room so he can get ready for class in the morning. When he gets in his room, he notices that Ovaughn is laying on the bed looking at the ceiling but isn’t sleeping. He asks what’s wrong but Ovaughn just shakes his head and tells him to make sure that he calls Lisa. Jairus pulls out clothes for class the next day and realizes that he had forgotten all about Lisa. He feels bad for a second and it passes quickly with him thinking it is too late to call now. Meanwhile Mike is across the hall on the edge of his bed fighting with himself on whether or not he should call Monique. Jairus goes to bed and Mike goes to the phone.

Monique: “Oh, what’s up, Mike? I’m surprised you called. I figured I wouldn’t hear from you until I saw you again. What you up to? How was your party yesterday? Don’t you have class? Why are you up? You need to get your rest.”

Mike: “Slow up girl, let me get a word in. I’m chillin’. I was about to go to bed and you crossed my mind so I wanted to call. The party was good but you probly already know that. And yeah I got class but I’m a college student, we don’t sleep. What you doing up? You don’t have company do you?”

Monique: “Ha, you funny. Nah, I don’t have company. I wouldn’t disrespect him or you like that.”

Mike: “Oh, concern for my respect. I feel special.”

Monique: “I mean I try to hold respect for all my friends and I gave you my number so you are a friend now. Now as far as you being a special friend…that has yet to be determined. But anyway, I’m just sitting here writing. Tryin’ to get some stuff off my chest. I like to write poetry and keep a journal...”

Across the hall, about 20 minutes after he has laid down to go to sleep Jairus wakes up to go use the bathroom. When he gets back to the room he notices that Ovaughn has finally fallen asleep. He goes in the refrigerator and gets some water and then goes back to bed. But after about seven minutes of staring at the wall he realizes that it just isn’t going to happen right now. He can’t get the fact that he forgot to call Lisa out of his head. So he sits on the edge of his bed for about three minutes and then finally stops fighting it and calls.

Jairus: “I hope it’s not too late. I didn’t wake you up did I?”

Lisa: “No J. You good, you can call whenever you want.”

Jairus (sarcastically): “You sound wide awoke for it to be so late. What you over there doing?”

Lisa (sucking her teeth first): “I’m not doing anything, and you ain’t funny. I’m just glad you decided to call instead of acting like you were the other day. Like you don’t care or are trying to let me get away.”