Turnover

2.

"Wake your ass up! Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey! Got that Mcdonald's for your ass even though you ditched me last night!"

Aziah yelled as she jumped up and down on her roommate's bed before lunging herself full on Kesi who shifted and pushed her off while chuckling.

"I'm up , I'm up!"

Kesi shouted while Aziah rolled to her side with the bags of food. She'd rested the drinks on Kesi's nightstand before she made her assault.

Kesi hadn't even realized when she fell asleep. After she dozed off she woke up at 6 , took a shower and studied for her anthropology class and must've dozed off at 8 again.

Either way she realized Aziah hadn't slept in their room last night and probably just got back. She sat up and took the meal from her friend.

"Pancakes ,my favorite! Oh and the guy who has your phone messaged me last night , he said to give him a call."

Kesi cheered as she dove in while Azi rolled her eyes. She was exhausted , after a long night with Derryck who confided in her that he felt out of place at Duke , she didn't know what to do. He requested that she stay with him last night and she obliged, so she ended up sleeping in Gilbert-Addoms and they talked all night , about him and her and what they were exactly. Even after all of that she still didn't know and on top of that she lost her phone.

Maybe Kesi could help her figure it out , she thought. However the vibrating phone in her pocket stopped her request for help.

Kesi watched as she picked it up, knowing it was probably whoever the guy was her phone was switched with.

"Hello? Hey yeah it's Aziah ,sorry about this , my roommate said you were trying to get a hold of me."

"It's cool , so when can I get it back?"

"Well anytime today , you can come now, you live in southgate too right?"

"Yeah , yeah I do , which room is yours?"

"36, 3rd floor."

"Aight , see you soon and tell Diana thanks."

"Who? Oh , yeah I will."

She hung up the phone and looked at Kesi who had moved from the bed and was putting her hair up.

"I really am never going to get used to people calling you Diana, Kesi , each time they say it I'm like who?"

Kesi just turned to her. Maybe now she can find out what Cartier and Carter were saying.

"Do you know if guys talk about me? Carti said something the other day but Kasim and Carter stopped him."

Aziah shifted nonchalantly and took a bite of her Egg McMuffin before she began to speak.

"I mean you know how ballers are, they know Kasim has a sister but only a few of them have actually seen you because you never really go anywhere and stay in the room or your off campus working. So one day you know Chase Jeter right?"

Kesi nodded urging her friend to go on.

"The party was hype and the guys were being idiots talking about which girls were the cutest and who'd be the ultimate smash for them. Chase said "Diana Bledsoe," ,  he said he'd seen you in an English class and that your body was the shit and everyone jumped on it. Kasim shut it down really quick though and so did Carter and Cartier. However , Chase has still been begging me to introduce you two , he was bummed that you weren't at the party last night."

Kesi rolled her eyes at this , she'd seen Chase around, even worked with him once and she knew he wasn't her type but she also knew that he shamelessly flirted with her whenever he got the chance , she just pretended to not notice.

"Not interested."

Kesi finalized causing Aziah to chuckle. Since she'd know Kesi when they meet in Nashville in 9th grade,  Kesi never dated anyone , even though many people tried to get her.

"You have to give someone a chance one day Kes. Why don't you date?"

"I don't know , I'm just not interested."

Kesi toyed with her silver necklace , she'd never taken it off , that day was the best day of her life . Even if they grew apart , even though eventually they stopped messaging each other and he moved on , she still wore it and she probably always would.

Kesi decided to change the subject as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

"Don't you have to meet our RA Wendy and why can't you ever leave with everything you came with?"

She chuckled and Aziah rolled her eyes and kissed her teeth.

'Shit I want to know to and yeah I should probably get to that."

Kesi shook her head just as Aziah got up and walked out the door.

"You're already late"

Kesi told her smoothly and Aziah rolled her eyes.

"You know Wendy doesn't care besides it's probably nothing, anyway if he comes his phone is right on your bed, okay? Tell him I'm sorry again."

Before Kesi could reply and ask who, Aziah disappeared and she made her way across the room to her phone where she had two unread messages , one from her dad and one from Azi's number.

Morning sweetheart , I hope you're having a great day , I was hoping we could do dinner tonight since I'll be in town. Call your old man when you get the chance.

Kesi messaged him back saying that dinner would be great before moving onto the next message. As soon as she read it her heart dropped.

Haha , mystery man , my name's Brandon , good night .

Why would Aziah do this to her?

Then again Aziah knew about Brandon , however she didn't know that Kesi's Brandon was Brandon Ingram, she also didn't know that part of the reason why Kesi didn't date was because she still had feelings for him after all this time.

Time may have changed him now for all she knew but Kesi still saw Brandon as the tall, goofy , focused guy who analyzed her just as he did basketball. The one who made sure that she was okay every time they talked , and who took it so hard when her father moved them to Tennessee. The one Kesi cared for so much that she let him go because that's what you do when you love people and you hope they come back to you.

He didn't, they messaged each other frequently the first year and then too soon the next their conversations dwindled quickly. He was becoming really serious about basketball and the girl next door. He'd moved on but she never truly did. She came close to it once, when she met Wade Baldwin , her senior year in high school however it all fell apart when he cheated on her.  

She calmed herself down and breathed, he probably wouldn't even recognize her , the last time they saw each other , she was rail thin with no curves and a mouth full of metal. Her hair was also always cut short in a curly fro because her dad didn't know what to do with it and her mom had never taught her.

A knock resounded on the door and she walked to it and opened it after taking a deep breath. There Brandon Ingram stood , he smiled at her and held up the phone.

"Hey , Diana right?"

He asked and she nodded as she stepped back and allowed him to walk in before walking to her bed to get his phone for him.

"She said to tell you sorry about the whole switch business. She'll probably lose her phone again but thanks for bringing it back."

Kesi swapped with him and he nodded, his low eyes had a smug look to them that she wanted to question , should she?

She quirked her eyebrow instead and he chuckled at this.

"Sorry , it's just that I was right , about the peach emoji that is."

Kesi rolled her eyes at this and began subconsciously fiddling with the necklace. Brandon's face changed when he noticed it , almost like he was confused.

He looked at her eyes next and then stepped back a bit.

"Kesi?"