Brown Sugar

1. Caroline

"What's up shawty?" He winked at me as he leaned on my door.

"Hey GB." I spoke.

"I just wanted to tell you not to go get caught up with them college boys. They ain't no good. You know where home is." He said, trying to smooth talk me.

"Oh, word? Where exactly is home?" I asked and he patted his chest.

"Right here baby."

"GB! Mama said get yo ass in that house and leave my friends alone!" Harmony fussed as she gripped his ear, led him away from the truck and pushed him towards the house.

"Man, you always cock blockin. I was using my moves." He complained.

"Dude you have a girlfriend. Love her and let my friends be." She retaliated as she returned to the truck.

"Let him dream." I chuckled when she got in the car.

"Nah fam. Especially not with yo hoe ass." She said looking me up and down.

"Hoe? Since when?" I gasped, following Mel as she pulled out of the driveway and headed towards the airport.

"Since foreva." She said in her best Cardi B voice.

"Bitch first of all that joke too played out with yo lame ass. Secondly, I am the purest friend out of both of us." I said proudly.

"See nah. Its time for you to be quiet. Turn the radio up cause you just told multiple lies in one sentence." She turned up the radio and my new favorite song was on.

"Listen man." I started.

"What's up?" Harmony said next.

"I heard you done got you a dime piece, man." I elbowed her as I talked.

"Hell naw, man." She shook her head.

"One of them Beyoncé, Meagan Good types man." I said poking her this time.

"Nah, Nah, Nah."

"Is that true, man? I just wanna know." I shrugged.

"I mean, shit to be honest with you, man, she's a..." She rested her hand on my shoulder then shrugged.

"Bad thang! Fine as hell! Thick as fuck!" We screamed to the top of our lungs. I don't care what nobody says, Amine is bae. That's all me.

"Um fuck you thought? Holy shit, I'm really-" The song paused right before my favorite part because someone was calling. That someone was Mel.

"Bitch what?!" Harmony answered.

"I'm bored and Cameron being an ass, talk to me." She whined over the phone.

"I know you didn't just call and interrupt bae cause you want somebody to talk to you. We almost at the airport we can talk then." I hung up before she could even respond. Mel is so damn spoiled so of course she expected us to really talk to her until we got to the airport. She was sadly mistaken because we grown now, ain't no more of that baby shit.

Thankfully Atlanta traffic wasn't very crazy and we made it to the airport right on schedule. We had just enough time to say our goodbyes then part ways with Harmony and get right back on the road. As Harmony gave her ticket to the airport concierge, my emotions built up inside of me. We all knew that this day was gonna come but of course now that's it's here we can't seem to believe that it's real. Seeing her waving the other half of her ticket around and smiling as she came back over to us made everything hit me at once.

"Well... Wish me luck?" She smiled harder, trying to sound as excited as she could. Her shaking red cheeks expressed a totally different emotion.

"Awww come on don't cry." I pleaded, pulling her into my arms to hug her. A few of her tears dripped down my back before mine did the same.

"We gone miss you so much." Mel sniffed and joined the hug. We held each other for a moment until all of the sadness was replaced by joy. Joy because we were all proud of each other for taking this next step in life.

"You better FaceTime me as soon as you get off that damn plane Ms. Yale." I said teasingly as we let each other go.

"Uhm don't go up there acting boujee like you ain't from the ghetto." Mel elbowed her playfully after wiping her face dry.

"Whatever, I'm not from the ghetto baby. I was born and raised right on Peachtree." She rolled her eyes, "Y'all better not go down to Alabama acting like y'all parents ain't raise y'all right. Cause I'll call Mama Mia to tear into both of y'all asses."

"Just for that, imma act a damn fool." I protested.

"Lie again. Imma be the one acting a fool, Brook lame ass gone be like, 'Mel we can't go to the party, we have three papers due next month. We need to get an early start on them.' Gone be acting all uptight." Mel said mocking me right in my face.

"I'm not lame honey, trust me. Imma show you these four years, I promise I will."

"I will not be answering any drunk phone calls." Harmony shook her head. We were all stalling and we knew it.

"We'll see when the times comes." Harmony hugged me for the last time in a while. "Imma miss you best friend."

"Imma miss you too." She released me and waved at us as she left going to airport security.
*_*
The drive was long but eventually, we finally made it to our new home for the next four years. Mel called her brother, who's like my cousin, and let him know that we were heading to our dorms to get settled. Earlier this summer we learned that we wouldn't be sharing a dorm with each other but with other girls. On the brighter side, Mel's dorm is right across the hall from mine. Therefore I will be annoying her from time to time for fun.

When I entered my dorm, my roommate Leticia was up on FaceTime with some guy. I could tell it was a guy because she was blushing the same way Mel blushes when she's talking to... Cameron bitch ass. Those two were toxic together, in my eyes they just weren't compatible. But who am I to judge, I'm single.

"Hey Letti." She waved in response to my greeting, continuing her conversation. Leticia's a really cool girl. I met her during the summertime and we talked here and there when I came back home after decorating and moving into my side of the dorm. She's kind of closed off sometimes but other times she's funny and a cool person to hang out with. All I really know about her so far is that she's a straight pimp.

My sneakers screeched against the floor as I trudged over to my bed and collapsed onto it. Melanie was talking about going to a party tonight that her brother Keenan was throwing but that was the last thing on my mind, I wanted to get some sleep more than anything. Just as my eyes closed and I began to doze off, my phone sounded loudly with the FaceTime notification. Praying to God that it wasn't Mel trying to pester me about this party, I dug my phone out of my purse and answered.

"Hey daughter, thanks for calling me when you got on campus." My mom smiled with clear sarcasm.

"My bad, I just got here." I sighed.

"Mhmm, you okay?" She asked and I simply nodded.

"I'm just tired."

"You gotta get up sweetheart, it's your first night on campus. You gotta go party." She danced around on the camera which cheered me up and made me laugh.

"I'll pass, they'll be other parties." I shrugged as my laughter sobered. We talked for a little while longer about my classes, how I would work my cheerleading practice around everything else I would be doing, and her plans for the week now that I'm gone and she has the house to herself. Shortly after she hung up I got in a quick 5-minute nap that was interrupted by someone banging on the door. I didn't open my eyes because I was determined to sleep. The banging got louder and Lettie got aggravated by it so she opened the door herself.

"Brooklyn!" Mel's light voice called my name from outside of the bedroom. Being my stubborn self, I didn't budge. "I know you not sleep. C'mon, you going to this party."

"Mel..." I groaned, throwing a mini tantrum.

"Come on. Get up and comb yo hair. Let's go."