Rodney exchanged numbers with both of us, so I was confused.

Did he like either of us or was he simply being nice and meeting new friends? I needed to meet new friends so I was just going to be nice as well. I decided I definitely had no interest in him.

This was the new me.

The old me would have seen a hot guy and gone all giddy over him. I would think about him twenty-for-seven, imagine his last name as mine, and get shy and bashful around him. None of that over Rodney. He was just a cool guy that would stay in the friend zone.

"If he is such a friend, invite him over to hang out with us," Gay said after I told her about Rodney. "I need to meet hot guys."

"Invite a strange guy to our room? No way!"

"How strange is he if you met him and talked with him all night?"

I shrugged. That was not the point. I was not inviting guys up to our suite just because.

"Well invite that other guy you like over. I mean...that you are just friends with."

I furrowed my brows at her. "You mean King?"

"I mean whoever you think is your friend and you want to hang out with. I'll invite some peeps and we can have a real party here."

"A party?"

"Yes! So cool. I'll buy all the refreshments and...other delectables. You invite everyone you know and I will invite a few peeps I know. Then we all can be one big happy family."

Sure, why not. I already was feeling better about this semester versus last. I invited Bria of course, and then Chandler. And Rodney because why not. Then I texted King to see if he wanted to hang out and of course he was down.

That was all that I knew. I thought about Todd, then thought no. I would not consider what we had as a friendship. Besides, if he was still harboring feelings for me that I would not reciprocate, I did not want to mislead him.

Gay invited two girls and two guys. The girls were previous girls from her old dorm, the only other people she hung out with besides me and my ex-roommates. One of the guys she said was gay and had no interest in her and they were just friends. The other guy, Felix, was a guy she said she was interested in.

They had snacks, and several kinds of drinks, and Gay made marijuana brownies.

Ask me how she did that and we had no kitchen.

"Like the new crib," King said when he walked in.

"Me too. I feel better here. Gay and I get along better. I mean, we are so different, but it works. We give each other space but we also hang out a lot too so we have that." Why was I rambling and sounding like an idiot? "Want something to eat? Something to drink?"

"No, I'm cool for now." King looked around. The others were hanging around watching YouTube videos and enjoying themselves.

Bria decided to make her move on Rodney and he seemed into her as well. They were hanging out away from the others, talking and enjoying themselves. Gay took Felix off to her room, but the door was still open so hopefully, she was not getting into much trouble.

"I'm going to get a drink." I walked into the kitchenette, opened the refrigerator, and grabbed a juice bottle. I looked to King. "You sure you don't want anything?"

"I'll take water if you have it."

"Of course."

I grabbed a water bottle for him and handed it off. I looked around and there was no spot for us to hang out. I did not want to watch dumb YouTube videos.

"We can hang out in my room. I mean...just hang out." Was I asking this boy into my room? This boy I told I did not want a relationship with after he constantly did nothing but be nice to me?

"Sure. I'll sit on the floor."

I had a whole desk with a chair, there was no need for him to sit on the floor, but that was what he wanted to do. I sat on my bed.

"How's it been going Fresh? Must be good over here I rarely hear from you."

"Busy! Guess what? I got an A on a test. An A! And then I met some people on my floor and they're cool. Oh and Bria lives in the building. I started working at the front desk in the evenings. I love being a part of something other than just school."

"Good Fresh, you need to do things like that."

"Channing's pretty cool, she lives on my floor. Gay and I are planning some Black History Month things. Oh, and I met this cool guy, Rodney, he's a sophomore and he's from Florida and not accustomed to midwest weather."

"You seem happier."

I realized I was going on and on about myself and King told me little about himself. Did he even have friends?

"What about you and your friends? What do you do for fun?"

"Friends. That's not a word I use often. My real friends are away at different colleges or still in K.C. The peeps I meet here, are associates at best, or just people to hang with if needed. Mostly I'm a lone wolf as you can tell."

That was true about him and I don't know how he did it. I went crazy the last few weeks of the semester not having anyone to hang with. Go to the cafeteria by myself and sit alone at the table. No one to talk to between classes. No one to hang with when you wanted to do something fun. It was the pits.

"Well, we're friends, right?"

He chuckled at that and looked me in the eyes. "My only friend here."

"Then we will hang out more. I want to get to know you, King. You're so cool."

"I'm here whenever."

"How about all of this snow? I don't mind it for real."

"Naa! Long as I don't have to shovel it. My mom always made me do it every time there was snow. Parents think we're their little worker bees."

"My daddy always did our driveway." I was talking about his and Angel's house. He never came over to my mother's to do it.

"Maybe my mother wanted me to be well trained to do it for when I am the man of the house. Hey, I'd rather do it than make my woman do it."

I smiled. That was sweet, as it should be. Like my daddy. He did all the hard tasks around the house, while Angel loved cleaning and doing laundry. They split the cooking, but my father was still better at it.

I wanted that kind of relationship. We did what we were good at, not make it a gender thing. I happened to know a lot about fixing cars because my father taught me. For a long time, he only had two girls, so he taught us things he would have taught a boy. Now that he had AJ, he could teach him all those things, but now I knew how to change my spare tie, change my oil, get under the hood, and find out what was wrong with my car.

I wonder how King felt about gender roles in a relationship.

"Do you cook at all?"

"I can burn."

"What does that mean? You burn all of your food?"

"No Fresh, means I know my way around the kitchen. You want me to cook for you?"

"No...I mean...you don't have to do that for me."

"I want to show you what I can do. I'll set it up. We have a kitchen at my dorm." He sipped some water and then looked back at her. "I remember you said your father was a great cook, and your grandmother, right? She made the barbecue, right?"

"Yes."

"I love to eat!"

"Are you hungry? I said we have snacks." I stepped down from my bed. "I'm going to bring us some snacks. That's why we bought all of that, to feed our guests."

I stepped out of the room and now Gay was sitting on the floor in the living room with Felix watching something new on TV. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a pack of Doritos and a few cookies that we had. I eyed the brownies. One wouldn't hurt. I grabbed two, one for each of us.

When I came back to my room, King was looking down at his phone. He looked up when I walked in.

"Uh, you want to eat these pot brownies with me? I never had one before."

"Oh, now you're trying to get me high, huh? Come on, let's see what happens."

I sat down on the floor with him and put the plate of brownies in the middle of us. He grabbed one and I grabbed the other. We made a cheers, bumping our brownies together before we took big bites.

The taste was off to me, not bad, but I could totally tell. It was a good brownie. I finished it in four bites and wanted another, but because those were not just regular brownies, I figured one was good enough.

Then I cracked open the bag of Doritos and we dug into that.

"Yeah, I don't think this brownie potent, I don't feel anything," King stated.

"Want me to get another?"

I did not wait for his reply, I went out to get more brownies. The second one kicked in before I finished. It definitely changed my mood and made me feel better. I felt everything was funny. King talked more about his life in Kansas City and some of the wild things he had done in his wild, crazy high school days.

"I've done nothing, I am such a bore." I giggled at that. "You know I never kissed a boy till I came here? Or a girl! I kissed a girl!"

"No more brownies for you."

"I see why Gay likes to smoke it. Wait, I smoked and never felt like this."

"They use different kinds for baking I think. You got me lit and I have to make it back across campus to get to my room."

"Or...you can stay the night here."

I regretted asking him that soon as I said it.

"No little Rave, I won't do that." He stood up and helped me up. "But I had fun, thanks for inviting me. Next time we hang out, I got you."

"Aaaw, you're so sweet!"

I walked him out of my room, giggling at nothing, and the first person I saw when I walked out was Diallo. When did he get here? Why was he here?

Oh, that's right, Gay's brother. She must have invited him. But why?

"Rayvn," Diallo walked over to me. "I came to see you and you're hanging out with...this guy."

"This guy?" I scrunched my face at him. "Oh, you mean, my friend, King. King, you remember Diallo, my EX-boyfriend."

"Hey, what's up-" King was about to say but Diallo cut him off, and moved close to me, looking at me with hardened eyes.

"Is this why you don't want to get back with me, because of this guy?"

"Man, back off Rayvn, it's not like that," King said. "As she said, we're friends. You're the one who can't handle us being friends, that's on you."

"Hey you two, calm down." I pushed past Diallo. "I'm walking my friend out, nice to see you, Diallo."

I walked to the door to open it, but King grabbed the doorknob before I could and opened it. When he stepped out, he pulled me into the hallway with him.

"That guy is a jerk Rayvn, he doesn't deserve you."

"I'm not getting back with him, don't worry."

"Okay, I just want to make sure you know that." He pulled me in his arms and squeezed me into him. "Bye Fresh."

It may be the buzz I was feeling, but I wanted to stay there in his arms. I wished he would have stayed the night. We could talk all night and maybe cuddle a little.

No Rayvn! No boys! Till I was ready.

And I was not ready.

A/N: Is Rayvn ready for a boyfriend? And if so, why is King so perfect for her and she doesn't realize it!! 😫