3 weeks later
"Are you going to help me move this stuff in the apartment or are you going to stare at all the guys who walk past?" I asked, glaring at Kimani. I have taken in six boxes compared to her two. "Yeah, yeah I'm coming geez, you so in a rush it's still early and we just got here can we take a breather?" Kimani reply grabbing a box and taking it inside the apartment. We left late last night so we could get to Florida early in the morning so we were running on fumes by now which meant we had little to no sleep. But I wanted to at least get most of the stuff in the apartment before we take a break. Because once Kimani stops it will be impossible to get her to finish moving everything in. "Let's just finish getting the bed and the couch in the apartment then we can go to the campus to look around and grab some food but that's after a shower and a nap." I said feeling tired myself. "Okay let's do that because I'm ready to see what college will be like." Kimani said excitedly which I will admit I was a little excited myself. Syncere's POV: two p.m. "Yo, did I mention that I hate summer basketball camp. First it's hotter than monkey nuts out here and second I'm tired of getting up at five a.m." I said to my teammate as we headed to the pit to grab a bite to eat. We have been doing basketball drills since six a.m. "Shit, you say that everyday and I feel the same way messing up my summer fun. I would be happy as hell to be curled up with some honey at five a.m. instead of looking at yall ugly faces every day." Shawn said laughing. Me and Shawn met our freshman year at basketball tryouts. We hit it off immediately, we were the starters because we were the highest ranked players on our team. Walking into the pitt we see that it's crowded as hell you would think they were giving away free food. "Damn it's crazy in here today. You go look for a table and I'll order our food." I said to Shawn. "Alright bet, but it looks like we may have to share a table with someone." Shawn says weaving through the crowd.Essence's POV:
a few minutes earlier:
"Damn we were lucky that somebody was leaving when we were looking for a table. Shit, I thought we were about to be eating on the floor in the corner." Kimani said sitting down at the only free table in the campus hang out called the Pitt. We have been walking around trying to learn the campus layout. We made sure to find out who and where our advisors and the buildings were, before our classes start come August. I was a business major and Kimani was a Sports Medicine major.
"Who was going to be eating on the floor, certainly not me I would have nicely got my food to go. You must be crazy if you think I was going to eat on anybody floor. " I said giving her the side eye with a smile. "It's real crowded in here to say it summertime I would think people wouldn't be on campus like this, if they weren't going to school or taking any summer classes. If it looks like this now I can only imagine how it will look come August." Kimani said looking at the many faces in here.
"Damn where is the ketchup who the hell eat French fries without ketchup. I feel like that should be put on your tray automatically when you order fries. Now I have to go back through that crowd, and I'm telling you now, that I'm not standing in no line just for ketchup." I said getting up and heading through the crowd."Excuse me, excuse me." I said loudly trying to get the cashiers attention, because the first three times wasn't loud enough apparently. Sighing loudly. "Yes can I help you; the line starts back there the cashier said with the attitude pointing at the back of the line like it's my fault she had to work today.
"I'm not ordering I need ketchup there was none on my tray." I shot back with an attitude. She grabbed a hand full and drop them in my hand. I wanted to cuss her ass out, but I was trying to be an adult now. I was no longer in high school so I had to learn how to not drag a bitch across the counter. I took a deep breath, turned around, and walked straight into a brick wall.
Chapter 2Syncere POV: “Yo watch out! You walking like you about to go beat somebody ass for eating your last piece of cake.” I said, as a short dark brown skin girl ran into me as I was going to the pickup line to get me and Shawn's food. “Excuse me.” The girl said stepping to look up at me. At my six feet four inches height, she was maybe five feet and some inches in height. She was barely reaching my chest. “No problem you good.” I replied finally able to see who ran into me. She had a pretty face with slanted brown eyes that were so light it almost looked like you chould through them. For a big girl she was really pretty. “Hey, can I get by to pick up my food?” I asked, as she stared at me. Snapping out of her haze, she moved around me quickly. I smiled at how she blushed and seem embarrassed, that I caught her staring at me. “Oh yea, sorry I wasn't looking where I was going.” She responded, brushing past me like she was running from the cops. Just then my pho
Chapter 3 Syncere's POV: continued “Well since we're introducing ourselves, I'm Jasmine, but everyone calls me Jazz and Syn's girlfriend.” My girl Jasmine said Sarcastically, as her and her friends Leah walked to our table like they owned the place. I know how my baby attitude is, she can go from zero to a hundred real quick. I didn't want her and her dumb ass friend Leah attacking these girls for no reason. So I needed to put an end to this real quick. Getting up, my lunch forgotten at this point. “Hey bae, we had to share this table to eat, because this place is crowded as hell. Essence and Kimani were nice enough to share their table with us.” I said, quickly to defuse the situation. Jazz looked around, and sucked her teeth. “Seriously? I see three open booths, that they could have sat at.” Jazz said with an attitude, pointing at three empty booths, and damn if the crowd hadn't thinned out and they were tables available too. Here comes the bullshit, now Essence and
Chapter 4SYNCERE'S POV: "Yo! What the hell was that about? You had no reason to act the way you just did." I said sitting down in my chair to finish my lunch. "Because you never gave me a reason to." Jazz answered back. "Please tell me what I did? Because we were eating and laughing that's it." I said shaking my head. "Those chicks were clearly flirting and that's the problem; yall can't see when chicks be flirting with yall." Jazz's friend Leah chimed in. "You sound dumb, how the hell you know they were flirting? When you couldn't even hear what we were talking about." Shawn cut in. "Shut up Shawn you ain't nothing but a man whore, so you don't care that those girls were flirting. Knowing you're nasty ass I'm sure you got their number and will be hooking up with one of them before the week is out. You don't care if they're ugly, fat, and nasty looking, as long as they're easy. Which I'm sure they are, you could care less about looks or size." Jazz sai
Chapter 5Syncere's POV: Continued She gave me the kind of kiss that makes my dick jump every time and she knows it. "The movie starts at eight so come to my spot like six." She said with a devilish smile, getting into her car. "Alright bet.” I replied closing the door once she was in. "Come on let's go, before we’re late." Shawn said already crossing the street. I had to jog to catch up with him. "Damn, wait up." I said. "Shit you over there wasting time sucking up to your girl, trying not to get your ass beat for talking to those girls earlier. I'm not trying to run drills after practice." Shawn said, laughing. "Fuck you, nobody getting their ass whipped, but I will be tapping that ass later tonight, while you're lonely ass, is at home watching TV by yourself." I shot back. "Shit if I am it's by choice I don't have the money or the patience to deal with these girls. You see that shit you have to go through with your girl, we were supposed to BnD Jazz
Chapter 6 Essence POV: August 4th My alarm clock blared angrily, groaning I rolled over and peaked at the clock to see if I can get a few more minutes of sleep, but it was six forty-five a.m. which means my clock said, “if you don't get your ass up you're going to be late for class, so it's above me now I have done my job.” Then my second alarm goes off and says, “get the hell up before you're late for the very first day of college.” Whining as I got up, looked for my robe, finding it on my love seat. I went into the kitchen, turned my oven on three hundred degrees, grabbed some biscuits out of the fridge, then grabbed a cookie sheet. I place a biscuit on the sheet and put it in the oven before walking out of the kitchen. Then I headed to the shower while my biscuits baked. My cell started to ring with the sound of DMX you're gonna make me lose my mind. I answered without looking because I already know who it was. "What the hell do you want Kiki?" I asked? "Rise and shine
Chapter 7 Three weeks later: “Where the hell is this dude?” I said to myself. This tutoring session was supposed to start at six thirty and it’s nine forty-five. I still had an assignment I needed to complete for my marketing class, that was due tomorrow at eight a.m. So I already know, I'm going to be up late to finish my own assignment. Last week the dean’s secretary text me with, the dates and times of my first tutoring session. “Hey, are you Essence Nelson?" A tall, sexy, light skin guy with curly hair asked me, as he walked up to my table. Lord let me tell you, this man is fine, fine. Realizing I was still sitting with my mouth gapped open and staring, I snapped out of the lust fog I was in. "Yeah that's me.” I said in response. "I'm Trenton, but most people call me Trent. Sorry I'm late, practice went over the usual time." He said putting his books on the table with a thud. I was trying to be understanding, but he still smelled like outside, because of practice, and
Chapter 8 The Kickback at Syncere and Shawn's house:Syncere's POV: 9pm "Baby can we please hear anything other than rap. I mean damn females are in here too." Jazz said with a whine as she handed me my Henny and Coke. Me and Shawn were having a kickback at our spot for our teammates and a few friends. It was nothing major just some snacks, drinks, with the music playing, while we hung out, played spade, and Pity Pat for money of course. Right now I was kicking everybody's ass in Pity Pat at five bucks a game, my pockets will be looking right this weekend. "Damn nobody wants to listen to that soft shit, Jazz." Shawn said before I could answer. "Shut up Shawn, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Syncere. This is not just your spot, it's his spot too, so shut the fuck up with your nasty ass." Jazz clapped back with her nose turn up in disgust. I Interrupted them before things got out of hand. "Will yall just chill out damn. Jazz, you can change the
Chapter 9The Kickback at Syncere and Shawn's house:Syncere's POV: continued After the miscarriage Jazz was an emotional wreck, so I made sure I was there for her. I didn't want to abandon her when she needed me most. I stayed around to make sure she was good and before I knew it a couple of months, turned into three years had passed by, and we were still together. Shawn had his doubts about the whole baby thing. He thinks she fake the pregnancy and miscarriage to keep me around. But I nipped that in the bud, when I told him I had seen the test myself. But he wouldn't let it go, we actually got into a heated argument about it and didn't speak for a while. A few weeks later, we squashed it because we were teammates with the same dreams of being drafted to the NBA. Shawn apologized and agreed to never bring up the pregnancy situation again. I told him that I knew he was just trying to look out for me because being on the same team makes us brothers and that was t
Jazz's Dorm: ContinuedSyncere and Jazz: Jazz smiled and snuggled into him, she hoped that once he forgave her about earlier, maybe she could convince him to stay or take her to his place. She had loved living with him while she recovered from her accident, it felt like they were already married. She knew she had to do damage control, it would be best if she spoke first. Syncere sat at her desk chair and not next to her, that made her frown and become even more nervous. “Baby, I want to apologize for telling everyone about our engagement. I know we promised that we would only tell everyone once we graduated, but with the shooting it was like my life flashed before my eyes. Either one of us could have died and no one would know that we were engage. No one would know that we loved each other so much that we had taken the steps towards solidifying our relationship, by getting engaged. We knew we were it, for each other, that we were soulmates.” “Jazz, please just stop, I came
Outside Jazz's Dorm:Syncere: Syncere sat in his truck as he tried to gather his thoughts on everything he wanted to say to Jazz. He knew that what he was about to do will hurt her, which is the last thing he wanted to do to her. They had been through hell and back and stuck together, he would be lying if he said he didn't love her. But the truth is, it wasn't the kind of love that went with being in love with someone. He had to face the truth that he and Jazz formed a trauma bond because of the loss of their baby. He was going to try and do this with as much patience and understanding that she will be hurt and grieving all over again. He also admitted to himself that she wouldn't be the only one feeling the pain of their breakup. He knew Essence was right that he would need time to get himself mentally together before he could step to her. A knock on his truck window scared the shit out of him. “Damn Shawn what the hell man, I almost had a heart attack, w
Leah's RoomShawn and Leah: `` Shawn stormed into Leah's room, it was completely dark, he felt around for the light switch. When he finally found it, he spotted Leah laying on the floor flat on her back. Her night gown was up around her waist, blood was seeping through the top of her shirt. “I'm so sorry Shawn, I didn't want to call the ambulance because they would call my parents. I just need to get to the bathroom and check my wound. Then you can go back to whatever you were doing.” Leah said as she cried. “Damn it Leah, why the hell are you trying to do this shit by yourself. You're going to mess around and end up in the hospital with some kind of infection.” Shawn said picking her up, taking her to the bed, he ran to the bathroom and got a wet cloth and a fresh towel. When he got back to the room, he stopped in his tracks seeing Leah with her shirt lifted revealing her breast. He was just now noticing that she was completely naked underneath her gown. Alt
Leah's Dorm Room:Leah and Shawn: “I'm sorry Shawn I told my roommate not to call you, I am trying to do this on my own. My parents would make me leave school if they found out that you had to come all the way over here because I fell in the bathroom. I don't know what happened I was trying by best not to wet my wound, that I didn't see my body wash was leaking on the floor, and the next thing I know I slipped. I didn't think it would be this hard, then I have this ugly scar from the operation, everything is just so messed up.” Leah said crying as Shawn stepped into the shower, getting wet as he turned the shower off and picked Leah up off the floor. his hair and clothes were now wet from the shower and Leah’s wet body. He quickly grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her and walked out of the community bathroom. “You got shot a few days ago and had major surgery, and you left the hospital against the doctor's orders. He told you that you can't do this
Chapter 108The Cleanup:Essence's apartment: “What type of cockamamie stuff was that? I have never seen such shameless young ladies like that before. The fact that their mothers just stood there and allowed their daughters to come into this house and disrespect the owner, that's the devils work right there. I'm glad I live in a town where we know better than to disrespect a person in their home, because that's the fastest way to get a buck shot to the ass.” Momma Nelson said putting her jacket on as Kiki's dad carried their luggage to the rental car, they had to catch their flight back to South Carolina. After everyone left, they put the food in the freezer and clean the house. Unique had stayed around trying to get some alone time with Essence, but Momma Nelson always found something for him to do. After about an hour, Anthony said they had to leave because Sundays were early nights for the football team. “Momma, ever since I been here, I have seen and hea
Chapter 107If what could possibly go wrong was a person: Syncere was pissed, what the fuck was Jazz thinking. He couldn't believe that she would bring that shit up without talking to him first and what would possess her to do this shit at Essence's house. “Baby, I know it's a surprise, but I couldn't hold it in any longer. This is a new start for me; getting shot really made me put everything in perspective for me. I don't want to keep secrets from our family anymore. I hope you're not upset with me.” Jazz said crying when she saw Syncere was staring at Essence. “Hold on, I don't care about none of the crap you just said, who the hell gave you, my address? I didn't invite you and yes me and you don't get along so you knowing my address is a problem especially if it was given without my permission. Sorry for cussing momma.” Essence said interrupting the congratulations party. Her momma looked at her and saw her feelings were threatening to come out so s
Chapter 106Sunday Dinner: ContinuedThe Living room: “Jazz, Leah, what the hell are you doing out of the hospital?” Syncere said, with Shawn right behind him. “The real question is how the hel.. I mean how they found out where I live?” Essence said coming to the door also. “Can we please come inside it is a little chilly out here and we can explain why we're here.” Jazz's mother said as she covered her daughter with a blanket. Momma Nelson looked at the weak girls and decided she wouldn't let those girls’ actions send her to hell. She was a caring person by nature and their actions wouldn't change or stop her from doing what's right even, if she isn't fond of them. “You can come in and say what you have to say and leave, and I will tell you the first disrespectful thing that comes out of your mouth will have my foot in your mouths and a belt across your asses even with bullet wounds. You don't believe me try me and find out.” Momma Nelson said as she stepped
Chapter 105Sunday Dinner: The Living room: “Before we eat, I want to welcome all our guest, I am so glad to have met everyone of yall even though it started off on the wrong foot for some of us. Mr. Jamison, I heard it is your birthday and this feast is in honor of you and the fact that you have never had Southern food before, which is a crying shame. But we are about to fix your problem, I must tell you that I am not responsible for any addiction that my food may cause you.” Momma Nelson said with a smile that made Syncere’s mother frown and had Kiki and Essence looking at each other oddly. “Please call me Thomas, and I would like to thank you for this wonderful meal. This is by far the best gift I have ever gotten, and I will walk into this addiction happily with no regrets.” Mr. Jamison said smiling like a fool. “Uh, how about let's say grace so we can eat because I don't know what is happening.” Essence said as Kiki's father said a prayer. Essence and her mother
Chapter 104Sunday Dinner:Essence's Bedroom:Syncere and Essence: He had only seen the bruises on her face when they were at the hospital. “I didn't say anything because I didn't want my mother and brothers to worry, and it's none of your business. You made it clear where your concerns lie, so stick with that and leave me alone.” Essence said, knocking Syncere's hand away from her, his touch made her skin burn and her body crave him. Syncere looked at Essence as she headed back into her closet. If she thought she would get away with what she said just now, she made a big fucking mistake. He thought as he went to her door and locked it, before storming into the closet to confront Essence. Syncere stormed into the closet as Essence was on her tip toes trying to reach the top shelf. She hissed again when she tried to do a little jump to reach it. Syncere reached above her easily and grabbed the tablecloth, and walked out of the closet. Essence followed with an atti