"Threw away your love letters. I, Thought it'd make me feel better. I, finally got you out my bed. But I still can't get you out my head." I sung along with the lyrics, hitting every note perfectly. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, however I could not start my day without cleaning up the townhouse I shared with my sister. Mya and I are a little less than two years apart and share the same parents. Our father, Keno Banks, was a very known producer out in Houston and our mother was his Queen. She, Kiya Banks, was the most know radio host in our city. You could always catch her on 104.7F.M. in the mornings up until the sun was said to set. Before leaving for school, they told us not to worry about working, just to bring good grades home and they will pay for our car and place. I had no problem with that at all, and in all honesty, I always just wanted to make my parents proud anyway so this was pleasing to me. Growing up, we were a tightly knit family. Their first born, our oldest brother Quinton, was literally a spitting image of our father. He was also a father figure to us, being 8 years older than me. He really thought he ran the house and Trey, our parents second child, was always running right behind him. Both Trey and Quinton followed in our father's footsteps, skipping university and started producing and writing songs. I knew I favored the talents my parents had as well, however I didn't want to deal with the bullshit that comes with a recording deal. Therefore I went to school. Mya on the other hand, she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. She was almost done with her freshman year of college and still had 'undecided' as her major. Growing up, she was so sweet to anyone she encountered. It was like over the years she got tired of people taking her kindness for weakness and using it against her.
"Autumn. If I didn't know any better, I would think you were getting over a bad break up." I heard from the door frame leading into my living room. Smiling I turned around to my best friend Marcel.
"And if I didn't know any better, I would think you paid rent here!" I told him jokingly. He was the only one, other than my parents and siblings, who had a key to the apartment. I basically trusted Marcel with my life. We had been best friends since the second grade. Some would say we were soulmates and I truly believe that myself. He will be my best friend for life.
"Maybe if you'd let me love you.." he said under his breath. "I'm just saying! Your dad and brothers are in a studio right now and here you are wasting your voice chanting at football and basketball games. When will you be getting into a studio?" He asked as he followed behind me into my room.
"Maybe one day, but not today! So yesterday was something" I stated changing the subject. The fight at the block party was not how I expected my night to go. But I knew with my group of friends and how tightly knitted we are, the guys were not about to let anybody mess with their girls.
Shyann was a year older than Mya but she brought so much 'umph' to the family too! She was literally always the life of the party, getting us all turned up. We knew if we went anywhere with Shyann, we were going to be drunk and we were going to have a great night! Shyann moved down during her sophomore year of high school. Due to the differences of New York and Houston, they made her stay back a year and make up the credits that she was missing. However that was still great because that placed her in a lot of classes with Mya. They instantly connected and Mya brought her around the family a lot. I had no problem looking at her like a little sister because it felt as if she belonged with us.
"And I heard your comment. We tried that in high school, it didn't work. I'm just glad that we were able to maintain our friendship after that." I told Marcel, pain holding my voice. Yes, we dated in high school and yes he was on his high horse back then being the star of our school's track team and cheated on me. I forgave him. It doesn't mean that I would be giving him another chance. At least not now anyway, I'm just so tired of guys thinking it's okay. Every guy I give a chance to ended up doing me wrong, that's just something that I don't want to go through again. That is the whole reason I'm two years single. Maybe one day I would try the love thing again, I just don't know when that will be. Besides, he still had his player ways and it was very noticeable the way shorty approached him last night and even now, he's a sigma man. Men in fraternities are just as trash as famous people.
Marcel gave me a puppy dog face before uttering how sorry he was.
"Marcel, I forgave you a long time ago. It's just that you always bring it up. You know what I've been through since then. Once I trusted you again, I opened up to you to tell you how these guys have done me. You know better than anyone that after Antonio, no one has a chance." I explained to him while rubbing my hands through his dreads to make him feel better. Whenever this topic is brought up, you could feel the mood shift in the room. So I decided to retreat and change the subject once again.
"Soooo, how'd you meet this honey Skye?" I asked him. "She looked fly last night, a little trampy, but fly!" I voiced causing us both to laugh.
"Yeah, she's my homegirl, we were kicking it before that stuff happened. May be something special. May not be. Who's to know?" He expressed to me. "I do want her to forgive me for ghosting her though. So I'll be working on that."
"Yeah yeah, well you should invite her to our kick back tonight after the basketball game" I mentioned to him. Since freshman year, the 12 of us always attended the football and basketball games with each other. Just a fun outing that we all can enjoy together! Especially since half of the squad was still trying to finishing high school back then. We just kept the tradition going.
"Yeah, I'll do that," Marcel said after thinking it over "let me help you clean though before the game." I was not going to turn that offer down. After we finished cleaning, we went to the liquor store to buy all of our favorite bottles. Once we got back home, Mya walked into the house looking crazy. She has been talking to this boy on the track team since she started classes. He wants to make things official but she doesn't want to.
"Damn MyaPooh, he got you walking around looking like that?" Marcel chuckled.
"Shut the hell up," Mya laughed. "Whatever man, I just know I can't let none of my players find out about this one. 'I'm the coach, he just a player on my team' or whatever my guh said" Mya ran down the hall and started her shower.
"I mean she does have a point, Trey always said never put all of our eggs into one basket" I stated causing Mya to scream "THATS ON PERIOD" from her room! Shaking my head, I turned to Marcel. "What you got up until the game?"
"Not a thang, probably go by the house." He said referring to the sigma's house. "What about you?" He asked me.
"I'm gonna do my homework. Can't fall behind at all!" I said reminding him that we are still students.
"Alright, ima get out your hair. I'll catch you later!" He proclaimed before walking out the door, shutting it behind him. I got up, locked the door and headed to my room to bury my head inside my books.
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"Come on Tigers!! That's what I'm talking about" Tamia yelled to the top of her lungs. The excitement she had for sports was the reason we told her she just needed to go ahead and get into coaching. The Texas Southern University Tigers were leading Baylor University 72-61 with 4 minutes left in the game.
"AND THAT'S TAYLOR FOR THE THREEEEE" the announcer yelled as the crowd went crazy!!!! The cheerleaders were flipping on the sidelines while the band was playing their best selection. The other team scored three points making the score 75-64. All students, parents, alumnus, and fans were on the feet due to the great game that was being played. Baylor got possession of the ball making three more points bringing the score to 75-67. Hakeem, one of the known players of our basketball team, was fouled as he went for the layup. "AWEEEEEEEEE" the crowd said in unison. Hakeem made one free throw and missed the other bringing the score to 76-67. Baylor pushed the ball down the court and made two points and brought the score to 76-69. With 40 seconds left in the game, the Tigers took their time with the ball. Damien, the star player, threw the ball off from behind the three point line causing a 'swoosh' sound. The whole gym went crazy! Baylor tried to push the ball down court but came up short of the buzzer leaving the game at 79-69.
Music blasted through the speakers of our townhouse as a spades game was going and drinks were flowing. Me and Marcel were undefeated when it came to spades. We were the team that would always talk smack but still win! After beating Mya and Kion for the 5th time, I got up to refill my cup. As I was standing in the kitchen, in walked Damien and Hakeem. After the game, Tamia invited them over. She had a thing for Damien and wanted to see if she could get some play off of him. After greeting everyone in the house, Hakeem walked over to me.
"Hey beautiful, how are you?" He asked me causing me to slightly smirk.
"I'm doing fine"
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General FictionAutumn Banks was living her best life. She was in her junior year of college majoring in sociology. She had the support of her family and was surrounded by some pretty lit people. Living the HBCU life was amazing. That is until something traumatic h...
