From Here On Out

13

Rafa entered his dorm room to see Anthony sitting on his bed and Daveed standing, pacing back and forth through the room.

He had just gotten back from a date with a girl he had danced with at the club. Anthony was just watching Daveed and he didn't think either one of them even noticed he was there.

"Helloooo," Rafa bellowed, getting their attention.

Daveed stopped pacing and muttered, "Hey."

Rafa shot Ant a whats wrong with him look and Anthony just shrugged in return. Daveed was speaking something under his breath, something Rafa couldn't seem to read.

"Ay, Diggs," he called, "What the hell are you doing?"

Daveed stopped in his tracks, staring directly at his best friends, "I fucked her." he spit out.

Anthony gasped, "Man, I told you if you start fuckin yo sister-"

He was forgetting who had been over, his mind a blur focused only on Jasmine. He was barely even in tune with this current conversation.

"Mary???" Rafa said in suprise, wondering when she could have even been over.

"Nah, Mary wasn't even here," Daveed shook his head, "It was Emmy. Me and Emmy."

"About damn time," Rafa cheered, walking up to pat Daveed on the back.

"No way," Anthony exclaimed, "How was it?" he immediately asked, moving to sit on the edge of the bed.

Daveed looked down and shook his head, "So good. So, so good. That's the problem."

"How is that a problem?" Rafa asked.

"I mean, I thought she still hated me. We hadn't even had like 10 words to each other. Then tonight, she just mounts me." he replied.

"Girls can be crazy," Anthony stated, "Not Jasmine though," he shook his head,"Bless," he raised both his arms up in the air.

Rafa rolled his eyes at Anthony and turned back to Daveeds, "Bruh, good sex and not having to talk afterwards, that's a win, take it,"

Daveed rubbed both hands across his face and shook his head, "It's not. I don't even know what we are."

"Do you need to?" Rafa asked.

Daveed raised his shoulders in a shrug, "I don't know, I think so."

-

The next day, Jasmine and Emmy were gathered in Mary's room, hanging out there as a change of scenery from the long day of classes.

"I don't think I could go over these lines any more, even if I wanted to," Mary complained and tossed down the script she was holding. She was sitting on the couch that was under her raised bed, and Emmy was sitting right next to her.

Jasmine was right across from them, spinning in the rolling chair that sat in front of Mary's desk.

"So," Mary moved to the edge of her seat, "Yesterday, how's the night with The Guys go?"

Jasmine blushed wildly, the smile she was trying to hide peeking out as she remembered the night. "So good," she giggled.

"Oh really? I'd never be able to tell," Mary laughed along with Emmy.

"Shut up," Jasmine broke up their laughs, "I- I think I'm falling for him,"

"Jas!" Mary gushed.

Emmy's eyes widened in suprise, "Jas, that was like your second time ever seeing him"

"I know, but we've talked way more. And, I don't know, it just feels... right. He's just so caring," Jasmine grinned and spun a whole 360 in the chair, "I think he feels the same way too."

"Wow," Emmy and Mary said at the same time.

"Did he say it?" Mary asked, feening for more details.

"No, but," Jasmine started. Emmy and Mary burst into laughs at this. Jasmine grabbed two pens that were sitting on Mary's desk and threw them at them.

"Hey," Emmy said, dodging the pen, "I'm sure he's madly in love with you," sarcasm etching her tone.

"Me too," Mary agreed, "And while Emmy over here's got jokes, I've seen the way you too act, and the way that blush hasn't left your cheeks."

"Way to single me out," Emmy's mouth hung open, "You were laughing too."

"Speaking of..." Mary began, "Wasn't Daveed there?"

"Yeah," Emmy said, moving her head to look down, "Rafa was there too," she added quickly, looking back up, and trying to dodge the subject.

"Yeah, for all of 10 minutes," Jasmine added.

"So if Jas was with Ant... and Rafa was gone..." Mary thought out loud. You could see her trying to internally connect the dots.

"And... we left after a little bit," Jasmine said with a laugh.

"So you and Daveed were in a room together... and you didn't kill him?" Mary pieced everything together.

"She didn't kill him," Jas said quietly, almost under her breath.

"So what'd y'all do?" Mary asked, curiosity on her face.

"We umm..." Emmy said slowly, "We watched a movie."

"That's it?" Jas smirked, knowing something more but unsure if Emmy knew that she knew.

Emmy scratched her head, "We may have..." she paused, "We umm... had sex"

"EMMY," Mary said in shock, her pupils completely dilated.

"I knew it!" Jas giggled.

"Huh?" Emmy asked, wondering how she could've seen them, "Y'all were gone?"

"We were," Jas tilted her head, "But when we came back... Well, for starters, when we had left the room, Daveed's bed was very neatly made up," she shook her head, laughing at the memory, "Those covers were all over the place when we came back. And, you put your shirt on inside out. I saw your tag."

"Shit," Emmy exclaimed, "So, Anthony knows too?"

"Nah, I didn't tell him, and I don't think he would pick up on it," Jasmine laughed.

"Hold on, hold on," Mary interrupted, "So you and Daveed like.. did it? Aren't you still like pissed at him?"

"I am- I was- I- I don't know," Emmy slumped.

"So y'all didn't talk about any of it?" Mary questioned.

"Umm... no" Emmy mumbled.

"So.. I mean... How-" Mary stuttered, "That's real 0 to 100, Em."

"I don't know," she shrugged, "I just... his beard has grown, and his voice is deeper, and... his t-shirt was really tight."

Mary giggled to herself, "Don't tell me it was the blue one."

"No, it was red," Emmy shook her head, "Now, can we stop talking about my sex life?"

"One more question," Jas sat up straight, "Was he good?"

Emmy threw a pillow directly at her, "Jasmine," she gasped.

"Well, I mean," Jas shrugged. Mary and Emmy shook their heads at the same time and all three of them were laughing their heads off.

One of the phones in the room dinged and each one of them went to check.

"It's mine," Emmy said, picking up her phone. The light flashed when she raised it and she was able to read the notification. "Oh god, it's Daveed," she said with wide eyes.

Hey, can we get coffee? I think we should talk.

Emmy looked up half-frantic,  "He wants to get coffee and talk."

"He's right. You need to talk to him," Jas said and Mary agreed.

"I know," Emmy sighed, "Ugh."