"Girl next, next time you come my way, I'll know just what to say."
~ Can we talk by Tevin Campbell
Keyarii made it just in time to stop by her apartment and grab a quick lunch before heading to class. Monday's were the days she had the least amount of classes. And so far her schedule planning tips have worked out well for her. Just as she walked into her class she received a text from Ja. He asked if she would like to grab a bite to eat later and she accepted. Hell, who would I be to turn down food she thought.
When she looked up from her phone she noticed someone sitting in her seat. She walked over to them and tapped them on their shoulder, "Excuse me you're in my seat."
"Oh shit, I'm sorry girl." The girl preceded to move to the seat next to her.
"You ight."
"I'm not sitting in anybody else's seat am I?"
"To be honest I don't know. I don't pay attention to anybody in this class but me."
"Well, hopefully, I'm not. And excuse me where are my manners, I'm Savannah. I just transferred in." She extended her hand out and Keyarii returned the gesture by shaking her hand.
"I'm Keyarii."
"What's this teacher like?"
"He's pretty cool and the workload is light but I think that's cause he hates grading."
"Sounds like me and him gonna get along just fine."
"Good afternoon class, I'm not gonna lie to you I don't feel like grading those assignments from last week. So, we gonna this the high school way and peer grade. And don't mess nobody else's grade up or otherwise, I'll fail you. Hey new girl, Savannah, pass out the papers but don't give yourself one. I'm going to sleep don't bother me and if the dean just so happens to walk in I'm doing a sleep study for the next class. Oh, and the answer key is posted online, along with the grade calculator." Professor Gates handed Savannah the assignments to pass out and he took a seat at his desk, propping his feet up, leaned back, with his hands casket style, and closed his eyes.
"This got to be the laziest Professor I've ever met", a student said behind Keyarii.
"You never lied", she muttered. Savannah came back around to their area and Keyarii received Tyrell's paper.
Tyrell was the type of guy that never made the team in high school but swore he was better than everybody on the team. Or the type to say he was too saucy but in all realness, he wasn't nor is. That mentality of his carried on to college apparently. He hasn't made the college team and still swears he can do everybody on the team. Tyrell also "liked" Keyarii but to her, she got clout chaser vibes. But Key never gave him the time of day.
She wanted to switch papers with somebody else so bad and before she could he made his way over to her. She mentally rolled her eyes.
"Ayo Key."
"Keyarii to you." She got up and went to the student who sat behind her. "Please change papers with me", she begged.
"Whose you got that made you wanna change?" The student asked.
"Tyrell's", Key rolled her eyes, the annoyance could be heard in her voice.
"Oh it's no problem", he responded and they swapped papers. She thank him and went back to her seat.
"Dang Keyarii why you didn't wanna grade my paper." Tyrell leaned over the back of her chair.
"Tyrell get outta my face now before I mace you."
"Woah you ain't gotta get violent baby." He sat on the desk next to her.
"I'm not yo baby."
"I'm sayin, I'm tryna make you my baby."
"I don't want you."
"How can you not? I mean look at me and you know I'm mean on the court so I can bond with your brothers and shit." She stopped grading the paper and turned to face Tyrell giving him a death stare.
"First of all Tyrell yo swag is mad corny as shit and second, are you dumb? Get this through ya head son, I don't want you. Fuck outta hea, yo."
"Imma pretend you didn't insult me withcho cute ass accent and slang."
"And we gon pretend that in the next 5 seconds I'm not gon rock ya shit." He really didn't know how to take a hint.
"Ight I'll leave you alone for now. Ion know why you playing hard to get when you know you want me." He walked away, finally and Key muttered under her breath, "Fuckin dub ass nigga. On that jive shit."
A lot of the people on campus knew Key came from money figuring she was saditty and stuck up because of her semi-fame. In all reality, she just was a popular loner, hated corny shit, hated corny niggas and bitches, and believed she didn't need nobody on that campus but herself.
"Girl that boy was really on ya dick heavy."
"He always is with his corny ass. Imma give you a tip, Savannah, never fuck with a nigga that got a kiddie ass bookbag."
"Nooo honey don't ever fuck with a nigga who wears knee-high socks with low-top shoes, and especially not with the Jean shorts." The girls laughed and high-fived each other. "You know what Keyarii you're my new friend, gimme ya number so we can hang." Key shrugged and wrote down her number on a sticky note for Savannah.
"Never had a girl just claim me as her friend on the first day."
"First time for everything."
"I guess so." Keyarii shrugged and put her focus back on the paper she was grading.
***********************************
4:45 pm
Keyarii finally made it off-campus and to her condo. She walked into the cool atmosphere of her home, making her thankful she could control the AC from her phone.
"Thank the heavens for technology." Her first move after setting her stuff down was to the kitchen for a quick snack.
She opened the freezer deciding on a fudge bar, something she and her father loved to eat almost every night. It was something he shared with his grandfather and he shared it with his children. Sammy and Nassir didn't care for the frozen treat as much.
Key left the kitchen and went into the living room turning on the tv to watch grownish.
"MAMA LOOK IM GROWN NOW!"
Grown-ish was one of the best shows, hands down to her.
"Whew chy Davinchi, Luca, and Trevor can get it."
Over the next few hours, she watched tv and did homework.
7 pm
From, Ja🏀: I just got out the shower, so wherever you wanna eat at we can meet there
To, Ja🏀: Actually, you can come to my place
From, Ja🏀: you sure? Ion wanna invade your privacy
To, Ja🏀: I'm sure &wherever you stop on the way here I'll eat.
Keyarii sent Ja her address and got up off the couch to go take a shower herself. The living room was already pretty tidy so she didn't have to worry about straightening up.
She set out her pajama clothes which consisted of a cropped camisole and some long pajama pants, along with a pair of comfortable underwear. Key tied up her hair in a plastic shower cap.
Ja let her know he was stopping by Popeyes. She sent him her order and preceded to get in the shower, having a time estimate of when he would arrive.
Before getting in the shower she cut her music onto SZA's Apple Music radio. Best part by Daniel Caesar featuring H.E.R came on.
Keyarii sighed to herself, knowing she should've took a shower when she got home. Now she would have no time for her 28 city shower world tour.
Imma shower and get out, ain gon waste my taste singing she thought. She nodded to herself, as though for confirmation, before grabbing her soap and beginning to wash up.
She was able to wash up in 15 minutes before drying off and lotioning up and making sure her bathroom was clear of her clothes and other items she'd worn.
A few minutes later Ja was knocking on Keyarii's door. She walked outta her room and opened the door, to see him in a Nike tee, Nike shorts, and retro 1s.
"Come in", she said as she stepped to the side allowing him to enter. She closed and locked the door after him. "You could sit the food on the table in the living room." She followed after him and took a seat in her spot on the couch. He followed suit taking a seat next to her.
"You got a nice place."
"Thanks and thank you for the food. How much I owe you?"
"Nah you good ma."
"No I already let you buy my drink at Starbucks, so let me pay you for my food."
"I said you good, ain't like I'm Uber Eats or nothing."
"You sure because—"
"Your straight shawty, so chill."
"Alright if you say so, for now, tho."
"Mhmm is it cool if I take my shoes off?"
"As long as your feet don't stink", she replied with her nose tooted up. He smacked his lips and playfully rolled his eyes. He removed his shoes before getting up to wash his hands in the kitchen.
Ja returned and sat down, he handed Key her food and grabbed his food. They both said a quick prayer and began to eat.
"So Whatchu watching?"
"I was watching grown-ish but I don't know what this is." Key grabbed the remote and changed the channel to B.E.T, Fresh Prince reruns were on. "This okay with you?"
"Yeah this good ma." She nodded before placing the remote on the lampstand. "How your day been?"
"Long. How was yours?"
"Same as yours but that's every day though."
"I could imagine."
"So Ms.Keyarii tell me something I don't know."
"I mean what don't you know about me", she shrugged her shoulders.
"How bout the basic shit we skipped over. When ya birthday, how old you is, favorite colors or some."
"My birthday is June 12th."
"So you just turned 20?"
"Yeah and I don't have a specific favorite color. What about you?"
"November 25th and I don't have one either."
"Got any siblings?"
"A lil sister, Amara."
"That's a pretty name."
"Don't tell her that, she take compliments to the head."
"How old is she?"
"She 15 going on 30."
"Aww I use to wish I had a sister, but my folks decided 3 kids was all they wanted."
"You can have mine." Key lightly hit him on his chest.
"She can't be that bad."
"Don't even know the half of it."
"I remember what it was like for me to be 15."
"I'm pretty sure yours was different you had 2 older brothers, shawty."
"Yeah you right, almost barely had a life. But I made it through."
"You think you wished for a sister, all I wanted was a brother."
"I bet you were disappointed."
"I'm still disappointed", he laughed.
"Sound like my brother Nas, he did not like me until I was maybe 2 years old."
"I mean shit, imagine being a few years old and then ya parents just bring home a lil human and steal all the attention. And at a time when you barely understand how the world works."
"Sounds like you got some on yo chest."
"I can just relate that's all. How far apart are all y'all?"
"I and Sammy are 4 years apart and I and Nas are 2 years apart."
"Me and my sis bout 5 years apart and to this day I still hate being the older sibling. I know you had it good and you was the only girl too!"
"Do you even like your sister?"
"No but I do love her with all my heart."
"Temetrius." She looked at him with her eyebrows raised. He huffed at her using his government name.
"What? The Bible say I gotta love her, don't say I gotta like her."
"You are something else."
"Betta than nothing at all."
They had finished eating along the way of conversation. Key cleaned up their trash as well.
"Oh yeah and what happened to that nigga that could've picked up the phone?"
"Non-existent."
"Like I thought."
"Hush."
"Okay but on some serious shit, why you single?"
"Just am. You ask me a lot of questions "on some serious shit." Ja brushed her off and proceeded to ask another question.
"You got high standards don't you?"
"I'm not shamed of it either. Every girl wants a man to be like her father if she has one, so shit if that means my standards are high cause my father set the bar, then so be it."
"You got height standards?"
"I think every girl does, but yeah kinda."
"How tall?"
"Taller than me."
"How tall are you?"
"5'5". But I'll make that exception for Roddy Ricch."
"Any other standards you got?"
"Taking care of yourself, it's sad you have to include that in there. Taking care of yourself as a man should be automatic. It's not just haircuts. And some self decency."
"Those sound like qualities mostly."
Key shrugged her shoulder, "Okay fine for example you fit my standard based on appearance. You keep your hair kept up, you dress yourself like you somebody, tall, nice physique, I can tell you take care of your teeth, your skin isn't dirty, your small mustache isn't all over your lip and outta place, so basically you a well-manicured man."
"Thank you?"
"They're compliments. What's your ideal woman?"
"She has a lot of respect for herself, takes care of herself, isn't lazy, has style and grace, isn't all about being the center of attention, nobody trying to chase clout, ya know pure intentions, nice ass and titties, and a real body. Like I'm cool with fuckin on a fake one but when it comes time for my wife, she gotta have something real."
"I hope you not one of those "her body gotta be real but no stretch marks and cellulite" typa people."
"No, because I think that's childish to say that. I feel like niggas who do that, see it and they get proof the body is real but then want it to go away on they command. I'm in the mood for something sweet, you?" Ja asked to change the subject.
"Whatcha got?"
Key smiled before pulling Ja up with her and leading him to her deep freezer. She opened it and inside was tons of frozen treats she couldn't fit in the main freezer.
"Pick ya poison." Key had so many treats stored in her freezer, he couldn't decide. Ja also made a mental note to steal a few when she wasn't looking. Key decided on Tiramisu ice cream and Ja picked the strawberry cheesecake ice cream bar.
"Key why you got a whole freezer full of shit?"
"Because I got a really bad sweet tooth and especially at night. I get it from my daddy he used to be up all time of the night in the kitchen."
"But all this tho damn, ma."
"Fuck you tryna say tho,b?"
"Calm down you get heart heavy quick, talking all fast and shit."
"My bad I'm easily offended."
"That's an up north thing?"
"No it's a me thing."
"Mhmmm." Key closed the freezer and they went back into her living room.
The rest of the night they ate sweets and watched tv before eventually Ja had to go home.
And to seal off the night he left Keyarii with a gentle kiss on her forehead.
