Thy Neighbor II: Lovin' The Crew

Chapter Eight

"Who let these little girls in here?"

Mahalia marvels at Meganne and her sorority sisters gazing at Trevante's mouth with every word he speaks. Although he promised his frat to take out the neophytes from nearby LaSalle, he wasn't expecting to see Meganne and her friends, forgetting that her sorority would be at the Lambda's Fall probate. So when Meganne saw Trevante ordering Ubers for all of his new "bruhs", her and her girls flirted with one of the new greeks to get details. Suddenly, they weren't far behind and it was too late for Trevante to tell her not to come.

"Girl, I don't know. But I'm going to kill the bouncer for letting them in here." Ashley stalks from behind the bar, walking up to Trevante's table full of Lambda babies. She settles in front of Trevante with an incredulous look, berating Trevante with just her eyes for surrounding himself with the girl crew.

"Baby girl, can I see your ID?"

"Why? They checked it at the door."

"It's Friday night. We check twice."

The non-descript sorority girl rolls her eyes as she hands over her ID. Ashley points to the other girls to give up their identities while Trevante tries not to catch eyes with her. He peers over to the bar, hoping that Mahalia in't there yet discovering there will be no such luck tonight. With fears of her sending an incriminating text to her best friend, he sends a preemptive one to Ciara. He'll put out the fire once he gets home.

You still coming home around midnight, right?

Ciara pulls out her earbuds at the sight of her phone vibrating on top of the desk. When she sees Trevante's name, she smiles. Nevermind those thoughts of feeling left like one of his groupies last night.

Yeah, love. What's up?

She's hoping that Trevante will tell her that he misses her, that he rather not be around these college kids. He told her that he found himself obligated to take the new frat out on the town but she wants to read that he can't wait to see her, that he is on his way home and will ride all the way over to West Philadelphia to pick her up.

Nothing. Just checking.

That isn't the answer she craves to hear from Trevante. As she puts down her phone, she notices a large presence standing just inside of the doorframe to the study room. Once she looks up, the figure begins to move down the hallway.

"Winston, wait!"

Winston turns around to find Ciara standing outside of the door, waving for him to come back. Winston finds himself in the library as well, working on the plethora of papers and projects he has due. He walked past Ciara once with his eyes glued through the glass as he watched her map out her research paper on the white board. He wanted to talk to her, only stopping himself to not interrupt her even after his heart worked up the nerve to even take a chance.

"Hey, Winston. I'm sorry. I didn't see you by the door."

"Oh, it's okay. You were zoned in."

Waiting for a text from Trevante, not on her paper.

"Yeah. You're working on papers?"

"Yes. They're beating my as–sorry."

"Are you apologizing for cursing?" Ciara laughs at Winston's adorable nature. She hated to turn him down after he asked her out on a date, especially after she felt vibes and energy between them as she toured him around campus. But since she knew him as Y'lan's friend, she decided against it, even when she was free and in the clear.

The hypocrisy of her dating Trevante despite his friendship with Y'lan is beyond apparent to her now.

"Sorry. I was raised not to cuss in front of women." Winston punches his statement by pushing up his glasses.

"I respect tradition, Sir. It's all good."

It's all good to Winston too, marveling at Ciara's body in her cut off school hoodie, tights and classic Jordans. Big hoop earrings and braids in a half-bun, the rest cascading down her back. Winston's large frame gave him nightmares about crushing his lovers. He knew he wouldn't have that problem with Ciara. He's trying yet failing to coerce his sexual thoughts into a restful position, especially as he watches Ciara walk into the study room. He follows her like a magnet.

And makes a move.

"You mind if I work on my paper in here? I didn't see many open spaces out there."

Ciara looks out to see quite a few open tables in the main part of the library but she humors Winston. Trevante doesn't have attention to spare yet Winston's attention is undivided.

"Of course! Let me clear you off some space."

As Ciara cleans off her study space, she receives a text from Mahalia.

I guess your man loves hanging out with little kids. SMH