😘

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"Hey, baybeh."

I sat down in the middle of McKenzie and ma as we waited in the middle of Texas Southern University's courtyard. "Hi, baby. What are you doing?"

"Just chillin' wit' my pops. What you doin'?"

"Sitting in the courtyard, waiting to get a tour of the campus."

"You likin' it so far?"

I grinned. "I'm loving it."

Before Angel and I's conversation could get anywhere else, a lady came in front of the small group of us.

"Hey, she's here to get us so I have to go."

"Aight."

"I'll text you."

"Aight, mama. I luh you."

My mom nudged me to hang up as the lady who stood in front of us began to introduce herself. "I love you too, bye."

"Don't be rude." Ma whispered to me.

"I didn't expect her to come that fa-"

"Don't be rude." She repeated.

I let out a quick sigh. "Okay."

If it was one thing my mom hated, it was how much us "teens these days" are locked into our phones.

But, honestly, I hadn't touched my phone since we've been here. The only reason I was using it just now was because we were waiting so I decided to use this time to call Angel since I hadn't been able to reply to his 'good morning' text.

I looked over at McKenzie who was clearly laughing at what just went on with ma and I so I nudged her as hard as I could without being a distraction to the people around us.

It wasn't many of us in this small group, luckily. I would say about 15 students and a parent or two with each one.

"I will be showing you guys around the campus a little bit today." The lady-whose name I missed- informed us. "We are going to start here in the courtyard, head to the main quad, I'll show you a guys a few of the different classrooms, then we'll head to the student unions, the athletic facility, and then to the cafeteria for some lunch. Sound good?"

We all murmured out "yes" and "yea" as we stood from the chairs we were sitting in.

"Perfect." She smiled. "Make sure you grab all of your belongings and we'll head right this way."

"I'm getting more and more excited." I admitted to ma and McKenzie as we sat down to eat.

They were providing us a free lunch where we could choose literally anything from the cafeteria. I decided to get Subway, my mom decided on a salad, and McKenzie decided on a hamburger and cheese fries.

"That's good. You can see yourself making this place your second home?" Ma asked, pouring her low fat dressing onto her salad.

I quickly nodded. "Of course. I'm more ready than I thought I was going to be."

"Slow down, horsey." Kenz rolled her eyes. "I know you want to get away from me as soon as possible, but we still have to finish high school first."

I smacked my teeth. "I do not want to get away from you, sis, you know that. I'm just ready to start something new. I feel like starting college is, like, the beginning of the real world, you know?"

"Yea, I know what you mean. I'm nervous about visiting LSU tomorrow though, not even gonna lie."

Ma slightly frowned her face. "Why? I thought you were just as excited as Dri was. If not more."

"I was. But, being here is puttin' me in the vibes of what it's really gonna be like."

"Just come here with me. We'll have each other."

Kenz chuckled. "You know LSU is my dream school just like TSU is yours."

"I know, sis. I'm joking. I would never try to stop you from following your dreams."

"We wouldn't be your family if we did that." Ma chimed in, in which I agreed with.

I wouldn't be the best friend and sister that I am to McKenzie if I ever tried to stop her from making her dreams become reality. From the life that she's had to live, she deserves for all of her dreams to come true and so much more.

If Baton Rouge is where she wants to be then I am going to fully support her like I have been. I just want her to be happy, that's what she deserves.

Nothing less.

"Okay, I don't feel like crying right now." Kenz wiped the invisible tear from her cheek, causing us to let out a small chuckle. "Maybe later, after we get from around these handsome young men."

I narrowed my eyes. "You got one more time to try my brother, and I'll be calling him to let him know to catch the first flight here."

She moved her mouth in a mimicking manner to let me know she didn't give a fuck about what I was talking about.

Ma thought it was the funniest thing ever. "Speaking of Amere, how are you guys doing?"

"We're good. He's a pain in the butt, but that's my pain in the butt."

"How about you and Angel?" Ma asked next, turning her attention towards me.

I couldn't help but to smile. "We're doing good."

"Now, would you girls say that you love them?"

"Yea, of course." I answered right away.

Kenz nodded. "Yea. At least I think so."

"What's your definition of love?" Ma asked the both of us before changing her question. "No, actually. I want you girls to tell me what it is about them that you 'love' so much?"

Kenz and I both kind of knew how much ma wanted to be there for us when it came to our lives, so we didn't even bother trying to throw this conversation off for another time.

In plus, she didn't intrude and ask personal things because she knew we would tell her. Eventually.

"I, personally, love how Angel's taught me so much about myself that I didn't even know about. You know after dad passed, I went into this mindset of 'I'm just ready to be done with everything' and I had formed into a more negative person than I've ever been in my life.

Giving him a chance, getting to know him, and allowing myself to open up to him was one of the smartest things I've ever done. And then when all that shit-" I paused, giving my mom a smile. "Sorry, stuff. When all of that stuff happened with people I thought were my friends, on top of you guys, he really picked me up and pieced me back together. It's just, like, I don't know. Even if we don't work out in the long run, because I know this is just high school right now, I truly believe that we will be forever friends."

Kenz fake sniffled as my mom simply nodded, taking in everything I had said. "And you Kenz. What is about Amere that you 'love'?"

"Well, y'all know what I've been through in my 18 years of living so I don't have to touch basis with that. But honestly, after all that happened to me, I really never thought I could even feel anything towards somebody other than y'all. Like, I was really numb to a lot because that's how I taught myself to get through everything.

Meeting him, it was like he broke down a wall that I never thought anybody would be able to even get close to. I really tried hard not to let him in, but I couldn't help it. The way he makes me laugh, the way he understands me, the way he picks me up when I'm down, and just the way he's never judged me for anything I've been through. How could you not love someone like that?"

We both looked at ma after McKenzie finished talking, as if to see if she was going to verify what we had said. Instead, she just smiled and nodded.

"We'll finish this later." She winked just as the lady from earlier, who I found was named Lisa, came back in the cafeteria.

With a big smile on her face, she picked up the microphone. "Alright ladies and gents, if you haven't already, go ahead and toss your trays in the trash cans located in the back of the cafeteria. If you guys have drinks, make sure there's a lid on them. Our last stop will be in the library where there will be a few students from different sports teams and clubs that you can talk to, ask questions, interact with, get to know, all that jazz."

"I am exhausted." I sighed, throwing myself backwards on the bed that Kenz and I were sleeping in in he hotel.

Kenz sat down next to me. "Same, sis. It's only eight and I really feel like I could sleep for the rest of the night."

"You should." Ma chimed in. "We have to be up by 6 to get on the road by 7 so we can make it to Baton Rouge by 11."

Silence came over before Kenz sparked up a conversation. "Are we gonna discuss that boy that was flirting with Audri? Or nah?"

"Oh yea! What was his name? Marcus?"

"Yep!" Kenz snapped her fingers. "Mr. Marcus!"

I rolled my eyes, laughing. "Y'all are tripping. He was not flirting with me!"

"Says who?!"

"Says me!" I replied quickly. "He was simply doing his job, telling us about the football team and life on campus as a freshman."

"Yea, with his eyes stuck on you!" Ma butt in.

Kenz jumped up. "And he came up to you to talk to you personally. Nobody else!"

"Oh my goodness. He was just being nice, that's all."

"Yea, uh huh." Ma pursed her lips. "And Trump is a good president."

After a few more minutes of them ragging on me about Marcus, they finally decided to let it go.

Honestly, not going to lie, Marcus was a handsome, chocolate young man, but I'm sure he wasn't flirting with me. He just so happened to introduce himself to me after his little informational speech to us, but we also left right after so who's to say he didn't do the same to the other people in the group.

I yawned, just about to roll over and get under the covers until my phone rang in my back pocket. I already knew it was Angel so I didn't even bother to check the caller ID before answering.

"Hey, baybeh."

Told you.

"Hi, baby. What are you doing?"

"Believe it'a not, I'm doin' homework."

I chuckled. "That's good. That's what you need to be doing."

"Hush. What you doin'?"

"Waiting for my mom get out of the shower so I can get in and go to sleep."

"You gon' go to sleep in the showa'?" He laughed like he was the funniest man alive. "That ain't safe, ma."

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help but to laugh. "And you're not funny, ugly. You know what I meant."

"FaceTime me that pusseh while you in the showa'."

"Angel! How do you know you're not on speaker or nothing?"

He smacked his teeth. "Shit, you said ma was in the showa' and I know Kenz prolly caked up on the phone wit' bruh so ain't nobody gon' hea' me."

"But still. You just need to watch what you say sometimes."

"You know betta' than to have me on speaka' anyways. We neva' know what's gon' slip out my mouth."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. And no, to answer your question. I'm not going to."

"I seen that thang in person, I'on need to see it ova' the phone so you ain't hurtin' me."

"Oh shut up!" I laughed, causing him to laugh too.

Kenz looked over at me. "Y'all over there bein' nasty?"

"No."

"Yea." Angel said at the same time.

I smacked my teeth. "Shut up, she can't hear you."

"He probably told the truth unlike you." Kenz raised her eyebrow at me. "Tell my brother I said hey."

After we all exchanged hey's with each other over the phone and started up the usual, retarded ass conversations we always have, my mom was finally getting out of the shower.

"Babe, I'm gonna shower and I'll call you back."

"Why you can't stay on the phone wit' me while you showa'? I barely talked to you all day."

Big ass baby.

❦

"There's your two sausage McGriddles, one fruit and maple oatmeal, five hash browns, and a fruit and yogurt parfait." The McDonald's worker picked up our number tag and placed our food on the table.

We happened to get to New Orleans a lot quicker than we expected to. We had to be here by 11, and it was only 9:52 so we were now wasting time by getting a quick breakfast.

"Is now a good time to continue yesterday's conversation?" Ma asked as we grabbed our items.

I furrowed my eyebrows about to ask what conversation she was talking about, but I quickly remembered.

Kenz didn't.

"What conversation, ma?"

"About boys and love."

She bit into one of her hash browns. "Ohhhh. Yea."

"Okay." Ma washed down her oatmeal with her orange juice before continuing. "I'm not going to sit here and say that what you guys are experiencing is just puppy love b cause I'm not feeling what you are feeling. I was with Thomas straight out of high school so I would be wrong to sit here and down talk or belittle what you have. It could turn into something more, who knows?

But my job is to protect you girls and be honest with you girls at all times. There is going to be heartbreaks, there is going to be arguments, and there is going to be days where you constantly question your relationship. All of that is normal. It is going to be up to you and your significant other to either fight through it, or to let it go. No matter what, just know that I am always here to talk, or even just to listen."

She cleared her throat before continuing.

"There are going to be things- and people- in your life that you are going to come across and they are going to change your life in many many ways. Things will come out that you may have never expected, and people will pop up that you may have never thought to exist. But just know that I love you girls with all of my heart and I will never intentionally hurt you two."

Letting ma's words sink in, we simply nodded.

Okay.

❤️