by Dexx Peay
I coughed.
The girl dropped whatever was in her hands again and turned around. Her face rusted.
“Oh my gosh!” She screeched. “You scared me.”
I laughed.
Poor thing huffed and puffed with her hand over her heart.
“I'm sorry,” I said.
Lies.
I wasn’t sorry at all.
“I hate move in day,” she said. “Everyone hogs the elevators and the hallways are cluttered.”
I smiled as she kept ranting on. Gave me an opportunity to get a better visual. She was simple looking. Not ugly at all, she just didn’t compare to Imani, or even Jessica for that matter.
“You mean to tell me that you moved all this stuff up the stairs alone?”
“Are you implying that girls can’t lift semi-heavy objects?”
“Why yes,” we both began to laugh. “Yes I am implying that girls can’t lift semi- heavy objects.”
“I'm not your average girl.” She caught a second glance at me. “You look hot.”
“Well, thank you.”
“No, I mean your jacket, aren’t you hot in it?”
My killed ego and I diverted the question. “So…no parents to help you? Or even a boyfriend?”
She looked up and pushed her short brown hair behind her ears.
“Nice way to ask if I’m single Mr.?”
“I'm so rude.” I extend my hand out to her. “Mr. Perry, first name Dylan.”
“Well nice to make your acquaintance Mr. Dylan Perry. Mayson Maywood, but all my friends call me M&M.” She responded back with a handshake.
“Like the candy?”
“Like the candy.”
“So which room you headed to? I can help get you settled in.”
“Four twenty-one.”
“Well I guess that makes us neighbors then, I'm in four twenty-two across the hall.”
“So I have to put up with you for the whole year then?”
“I may come in handy when the elevator is full.”
We made a few trips out to her truck and got everything moved into her room.
“Guess I will get an early start on getting the place set up until my roommate gets here,” she said.
“Guess I will be seeing you around then M&M.”
I walked out of her dorm and across the hall back to mine. She’s interesting, I thought. She had calm hazel eyes that captured me. An awkward limp in her walk had me questioning if she got hurt moving her things. Wanted to ask her about it. Maybe next time I see her, just to make sure she’s okay.
So far I had managed to help two people move into their dorms and I got mine in order, all before noon.
I had no plans.
Nothing to do.
Nowhere to go.
I didn’t want to, but I pulled out my phone and decided to give it one more try.
Dialed her number and placed the phone to my ear as it rang. It went to voicemail after about two rings. I made it official at that moment—I was single. I wasn’t going to wait around while she played games with me; I had enough problems going on in my life already.
I dialed Marcus’s number. The phone rang for a few seconds. My free hand started to frost up as I paced the whole time. Soon as a I noticed I ran to the bathroom, that’s when he answered.
“Hey what’s up Dill?” he said, laughing through the phone.
I was checking myself out in the mirror. Had to check my eyes. They were blue, just like I thought they would be.
“Nothing bro, my eyes just turned blue on me.”
“Diana there?”
“What? No man.”
“Well I'm just saying, she does know how to tap into your other side,” he joked. “Either that or you just met a hot girl.”
“Come on Marc be serious.”
“So I'm lying?”
“Okay, no you’re not lying it’s just—”
“See I know you, who is she?”
“MARC! If you quit talking I can tell you. Okay, yes I met a girl. She’s our neighbor and just moved across the hall from us. Her name is Mayson.”
“I thought Mayson was a boy’s name?”
“She told me to call her M&M.”
“M&M?”
“Yes like the candy, Marc.”
“Okay.”
“But my eyes weren’t blue when I was talking to her. It happened when I called Imani and all I got was the voicemail. But listen, I didn’t call to talk about blue eyes and M&M’s, where are you? I'm bored here sitting alone. I feel lame.”
“I'm with Hudson and Hachi. Get over here to Palladium.”
“Yeah Dylan, get over here now, room 616,” Hudson yelled.
I hung up and headed out the door. I was a little indifferent on my walk over. Why didn’t Hudson or Hachi call me and ask if I wanted to hang. Maybe I’m just thinking way too hard about it. I was putting too much thought into everything I did nowadays.
I got over to Palladium and went up six flights of stairs. I could have easily got on the elevator, but I wanted more time to myself. I got down the hall and I could hear all the commotion before I even made it to the door. I thought, should I even bother knocking? They may not even hear over all the noise. I banged on the door with an open palm. Hachi answered the door. She stood there for a moment. I was moving around trying to see inside. I could see Marcus and Hudson behind her going toe-to-toe on video games. It was weird seeing him play video games.
He hates them.
“What are you looking for Dylan?” she said softly.
I hadn’t seen Hachi since the beginning of the summer. Still had that amazing body I remembered. I took a step back and relaxed.
“Sorry Hachi, how are you?” I whined.
She opened her arms and I just fell into her chest. I wrapped my arms around her back and lifted her in the air a little. She giggled. I put her down and she punched me gently on the arm.
“I've missed you punk,” she said.
I missed her too.
I walked inside and neither one of them acknowledged that I was even there. They were too busy into the game. I was baffled; I could never get Marcus to play video games with me.
“They’ve been at it all morning,” an unrecognizable voice called out.
I swiftly turned around and there was some guy sitting there on the couch. How could I have missed him when I walked in? I knew he wasn’t a relative. Caucasian male, blond hair, blue eyes... looked down at his arm, no tat, which meant no powers. He was wearing a cut-off shirt, jeans, and flip-flops.
“I don’t have any powers,” he said standing to his feet. “I saw your eyes glance over at my arm. I'm Sam Ruffin.”
“Sam is an old friend to the family. He grew up with us. Just transferred here from Rutgers. He knows all about who we are and who ‘they’ are. Sam helps us get out of jams, and patches us up after fights,” Hachi said smiling.
Sam smiled too.
“Good ‘ol Sammy, where would we be without you,” Hudson called out, eyes still glued to the screen.
Sam walked over to me and the three of us walked back to his room. He looked like he was fresh off Miami Beach. Extremely tanned, with flip-flops, and bleached, short, spiked hair. Couldn’t tell if it was natural or if he spent some time down at a salon once a week.
“Sam is rooming with Hudson. He’s pre-med,” Hachi chimed back in as we all found a seat.
“So you must be the ice boy then,” he said. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Yes, my power is over ice,” I confirmed.
“Sam is the one who patched us up after the battle earlier this summer,” Hachi said. “He’ll be helping us plan out our training schedule for the year also.”
“About that Hachi—” I cut in.
“I know I don’t have any powers Dylan, but I’ve been around these guys forever. I know the history of your people and I can protect myself. You won’t have to worry about me,” Sam blurted out.
“Listen Sam, I'm pretty
sure you can handle yourself and that you do know a lot about my ‘people’ but I'm just not ready to dive full-fledge into that lifestyle again. I really want to just be a normal, eighteen year old college student. Yanno, go to movies and parties, sit around the room and play video games. I want to have friends that don’t have powers or get attacked every time we go out. I just want to be normal. A normal college experience, that’s all I want.”
“Dylan…you’re not normal by any means.”
“He’s right Dylan, you have a responsibility to your people and to yourself. It would be better to know how to fight and use your powers and not need them, then to need them and not know how to use them.”
She looked concerned.
Deep down I knew Hachi was right. I just didn’t have the energy to put myself through that again, and not at the expense of my grades.
“I understand how you guys feel about all this, but I can’t train with you guys anymore. I really hope this doesn’t affect our friendship.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing Dylan. I respect your decision and trust, my brother and I will still be here for you.”
I got up and walked back out to the living room. They were still going at it.
“Mind if I get in?”
“We’re actually finishing up,” Marcus said.
“Sorry Dylan.” Hudson chimed in.
He got up, stretched, put the controller down, then walked over to me.
“Should have gotten here earlier bud.”
He scooped me up and slammed me somewhat softly on the floor.
Such a big guy.
I'm always reminded to not get on his bad side. He reached his hand down to mine, I grabbed back and he pulled me up as I flew into the air and onto my feet.
“It’s good to see you buddy!” Hudson smiled.
Hudson clinched his arms around my back bear hugging me. He easily could crush me if he wanted. Marcus got up, and simultaneously Hachi and Sam walked out from the back room.
“So we still on for tonight guys?” Sam asked.
“Yeah we are,” Marcus said.
“What’s everyone talking about?” I asked confused.
Everyone looked around as I looked at them. They looked back at me and laughed. Marcus walked over and laid his arm across my shoulder.
“Brother,” he said.
That word alone sent chills down my spine. I know we normally call each other brother, most best friends do, but now the word, coming from him, all seems a little strange. More reasons for me to believe he knew.
“There will be a small get together in our room tonight. Now, before you get all bent outta shape and refuse, it will just be a few of our friends, some music, and socializing.”
Could this really be happening? Marcus is social? I guess everyone is entitled to change. I never thought I would see this side of him. I looked over at Marcus and he looked happy.
I was happy for him.
“Cool I'm down with that,” I calmly said. Everyone exhaled and a look of relief took over them. “What’s wrong with you guys?”
“We didn’t know if you would approve,” Hachi said.
“Why wouldn’t ya’ll think I’d approve?”
“That’s not important bro, just know the back to school social is going down in our room.” Marcus interrupted.
He started to push me towards the door.
“Catch you guys later,” I called out.
We got back to our dorm. Before we walked in the room, I knocked on Mayson’s door.
“So this is the girl’s room?” Marcus asked.
“I had a feeling you needed some help moving the heavy pieces of furniture around in your dorm,” I said as I smiled in the doorway.
“Well honestly, my roommate is moving in now, do you mind helping her?” Mayson asked.
She stood there so serious, waiting for a reply. I was really just kidding, but I couldn’t tell her no.
She finally broke.
“I'm kidding; we got it all done already,” Mayson comforted.
“Darn.”
We both started to laugh. Marcus interrupted us with a cough.
“This is my best friend Marcus, who also happens to be my roommate.”
“You must be the M&M girl,” Marcus said.
“Yes, I’m the M&M girl.”
“Well listen, we’re having a few friends over tonight for a small gathering, you should stop by and come...you know...mingle and stuff.”
“Mingle and stuff?” she questioned. “We already have plans but we may stop by, you know...to say hi.”
“Great! Well whenever you hear music, that’s when you know to come by.”
“I will keep that in mind,” she said, closing the door.
We walked across to our room and instantly, Marcus noticed all our things unpacked.
“Man, you even folded my laundry.” He picked up his laundry and carried it to his room. “You could’ve waited for me, I would’ve helped you.”
“I was kinda bored, so it was nothing.”
I walked towards the common area, took a seat on the couch and turned on the television. Flipping through the channels, I hoped that something would catch my attention. Nothing did. Marcus came back and sat down next to me.
“So did you invite both Delilah and Monica to this shindig?” I asked.
“As a matter of fact I did. Monica and I talked about it the whole summer. We are both okay with being friends and she understands that I’m with Delilah. Everyone is cool.”
“Okay Marcus…”
I knew it wasn’t going to turn out good. Women can be too emotional. What woman is going to be OK seeing the guy she loves happy with another woman? Monica may say she is OK now, but it is just a matter of time before she breaks.
“I'm going to take a nap before Hudson, Hachi and Sam come over,” Marcus said.
“I second that,” I added in.
We both got up and headed to our rooms.
When I woke up Hachi was standing over me smiling. I didn’t want to speak because I knew my breath wasn’t very friendly at the moment.
“Rise and shine sleepy head,” she spoke softly.
I nodded, went over to the bathroom and immediately began to brush my teeth.
“You know, I've been around my brother for twenty-one years now, you can talk to me with hot breath,” Hachi yelled out laughing the whole time.
“I'm not your brother,” I yelled back with a mouth full of toothpaste. “Are people already starting to show up?” I asked.
“No we just got here a little early, and brought over some snacks and some sodas.”
I finished up and grabbed a towel just to give my face a quick wash. I came back out to the room and felt a little more comfortable.
Hachi and I both walked out to the common area, while Marcus and Hudson were rearranging the living room. They had the cheap sofa pushed against the wall under the window; and the tables had bowls of chips and snack cakes spread across them. The fridge was stocked with drinks and Sam was in the corner with headphones on his ears, hooking up some speakers to his laptop.
“Aye Dylan, bout time you woke up,” Hudson said.
“I didn’t plan on sleeping this late,” I replied.
Hudson was like an ogre, practically picking up chairs with one finger. Sam got the music started and within about twenty-minutes, guest began to arrive. The first to come was Marcus’s study group and some of their friends.
“Sodas in the fridge and snacks on the table guys,” Marcus called out.
Next were Delilah and Stacey, followed by Charlie. Marcus smoothly walked over to her and slid his arm behind the curve of her waist, leaned her back and landed one on her. Everyone started clapping like the two just walked down the altar. Monica arrived next and Marcus introduced the two. He never mentioned to Delilah that they once dated, but at some point she’ll find out. The music got louder and the conversations took off.
I started to look around and noticed somethi
ng strange. None of the people there were any of my friends. For the most part I knew them, but I still had no one who was there because of me. These were all Marcus’s friends. I couldn’t believe it; did I really go the whole freshman year and not make any friends? If this was our party, and we were in high school, they would be all my friends times ten.
I felt pathetic.
“So you weren’t going to invite me to your party Dylan?” I heard as the door slammed. I turned around and it was Gunner. Gunner! I thought to myself. I forgot to invite Gunner.
“If it wasn’t for Charlie, I would have never known you guys were doing this.” Gunner said making his way through the crowd of people.
“I'm sorry Gunner, this was a last minute thing put together by Marc. You know I would have definitely invited you.”
He had no idea how happy I was that he was here. I didn’t have to stand around and try to look cool.
“It’s okay cowboy, I'm going to grab a soda and saddle up this lass I spotted in the corner.”
I went over and took a seat on the couch. I started to look around and Marcus was making his way around, chatting and laughing with everyone. Hudson had two girls, one on each side feeling on his biceps. Sam was dancing in his own little world, and Monica was kept entertained by Gunner. I pulled my phone out to act like I was doing something or respond to some text messages I hopefully had…but there was nothing. I started to get up and walk around until I saw Mayson walk in.