[Highest ranking: #72 in General Fiction]
Spring semester is here!
Classes are back in session but will the girls be able to handle the struggle or will they get taken down like 'hay fever'?
College wasn't easy before but throw in a proposal, newbo...
Rap, country, rock, classical and reggae blended together in a cacophonic melody as Harmony and Safiya neared the quad. Yesterday's showers gave way to clear skies and temperatures below eighty-five, which Harmony enjoyed and Safiya quipped that it made her reminiscent of Cali.
"Are we going to just let her go," Safiya fanned away the neon blue flyer the guy in the omega upsilon nu t-shirt. As she pushed the stroller along the bricked path she knew her days of frat parties were long gone. "Back to Chicago."
Harmony reached into her butterscotch tote, "Her grandmother's dying. She wants to go and..." She pulled out a tri-folded sheet of paper with a colorful map on one side and times on the other. "Say goodbye."
"Goodbye." Safiya scoffed. "To a family that exiled her like she was fucking Anne Boleyn." With the shake of her head, she peered over at the grassy meadow between academic buildings that was normally a rest stop before classes but now littered with people upon blankets as they listened to the musical talent of Texas University.
Harmony stopped trailing her finger along the map to side eye Safiya, "Did you watch The Other Boleyn Girl, again."
"Sure did and I'm not ashamed." She tipped her chin up. The humor faded from Safiya's eyes as she rested her hand on Harmony's arm, "What if she breaks and we aren't there?"
Harmony folded the page back, "I don't know, Fiya."
"Her family is her trigger."
"I know, Fiya."
"Then what are we going to do?"
"We..." Harmony gestured from herself to Safiya. "Are going to do what she asked us to do...let her handle it."
Worry plagued Safiya's eyes, "What if she..." She stopped and sunk her teeth in her bottom lip not wanting to utter the thing she was thinking.
"She's going to be fine." Harmony read the concern on her friend's face and she would be lying if she weren't a little perplexed herself. "And if she needs us she'll call us. Okay?"
"Okay." Safiya retorted with little vigor.
Harmony glanced at her watch, "Don't you have to be somewhere?"
"I don't want to.," Safiya fiddled with the strap of her top. "And don't start. I know it's the right thing to do but I don't want to."
She took the words out of her mouth so instead she just replied with. "You want me to come with you?"
Safiya shook her head, "I can handle it."
"Want to get chili cheese fries after?" Harmony asked knowing carbohydrates made everything a little better.
"Fine." Safiya said and then a smile crossed her face as she looked over Harmony's shoulder. "Hey, Cai!" She waved to him as he approached then knelt down in front of the stroller, "Be a good girl for Auntie Har." She kissed Ameera's forehead drawing coos from her.
"Hey, Fiya." Cairo returned as she sidled next to Harmony, who slid over just a smudge. He stole a peek at her from the corner of his eye then refocused on Safiya, "Where are you going?"
Safiya stood back up and pulled up the waistband of her jeans, "To handle something." She grabbed her purse off the stroller then winked at Harmony, "You two have fun."
"I don't know what he's doing." Harmony said as she pushed the stroller up the path just a couple of feet away from all the action on the quad. "I'm going see what the culinary department has cooked up this year."
Since she told Laurent about the verbally abusive nature of her relationship with Wesley since the break up he took swift action. The restraining order gifted her with peace. They shared a class but he hadn't appeared this week and she was relieve. The only thing that birthed anxiety within her was how Samuel would reacted. She still hadn't told him and she didn't want to.
Cairo jogged up to her, "They're experimenting with mac and cheese. There's no way they can mess that up." He laughed to himself but his laughter stopped when he realized she was giggling along.
"What do you want?" Harmony abruptly stopped to glare at him rigidly.
Cairo brushed a hand over the waves in his mane, "I'm trying to talk to you."
"This is an 'Ameera and me' day." She informed running her hands over the buttons of her chambray dress making sure done of them came undone to show her lime bra like last time. She intentional placed some space between them. She didn't want to upset the solace she'd been experiencing. It was asinine but the semester was almost over and she didn't need any calamity finding its way in her life.
He stepped closer to her, "We need to talk about what happened at the beach."
"No, we don't." She stepped back and pulled the stroller between them, "My business is mine and you should stay in your lane."
"Ever since you broke up with Wes you've been standoffish." He pressed his palms together as his forehead creased. "Why?"
Harmony rubbed the back of her neck reading the urgency in his eyes. She knew she needed to hear what he had to say but hoped it wasn't something she didn't want to know. "Look, Cairo—" She started.
"Wings at Crazy Carrie's." He cut her off. "Be there at nine." He backed up with quick steps away from the quad.
"I'm not but you can—" She began.
"Be there, Monroe." His voice deepened as countered then spun around before flashing a smile.
Harmony shook her head as her heartbeats quickened, "Damn him and his beautiful smile."
Do you think Harmony will go to Crazy Carrie's?
Should Safiya and Harmony be nervous about Lela going back home?
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