august 15th, 2020
2:22 pm
THE RIDE FROM LOUISVILLE TO Lexington had been unsurprisingly quiet.
Sunday was still nursing a broken heart and her father and brother had been nothing but sweet and understanding, only speaking to ask for directions or to pass one of the various snacks from the convenience store in the bag that laid upon her feet.
The family had only just reached the University Of Kentucky after an almost three hour ride through their home state.
College students wearing shirts with the university's logo were placed near the entrance, smiling, dancing around and directing cars towards the right destination.
"What's the name of your dorm?" Henry glanced at Sunday over in the passenger seat of his hooptie.
"Holmes Hall." Sunday recited in a monotone, her head reclined against the window.
"Home hall?" Noah chirped from the backseat.
"No, bubba. Holmes not home." Sunday patiently explained.
Henry cleared his throat as he slowed down the car and rolled down the window to speak to a girl wearing a shirt with the hashtag BBN printed on.
"Hi, do you know where Holmes Hall is?" Henry asked.
"If you continue straight and then make a left at the next turn, you'll be there." The girl smiled.
Henry nodded his gratitude and then rolled the window up.
"You're gonna need to join a Black Student Union or something while you're here. I haven't seen one of us yet." Henry commented.
Sunday simply nodded at her father's words as the car followed the girl's instructions.
Holmes Hall was entirely made out of brick and glass and looked more like a modern apartment building than a traditional dormitory.
"Woah." Sunday muttered at the amount of students and parked outside of the building with trailers and UHaul trucks.
Henry backed the car into a parking spot then looked at Sunday, "How about you go and check in while me and Noah start to unload everything?"
"Okay," Sunday said in a soft tone.
Sunday gently opened the door and closed it even more gently before readjusting her bag.
The lobby was furnished with blue couches, mahogany desks and chandeliers with crystals that dropped from the ceiling.
Sunday was in slight amazement as she looked around.
This looked nothing like her inept Louisville neighborhood.
"Hi, can I help you?" A girl with her red hair in a side braid approached Sunday.
"Yeah, I'm checking in. Sunday Howard." Sunday replied.
"Oh yes! Your roommate already checked in." The girl opened the Manila folder and took out an electronic key card, "You're on the third floor, room 316."
Sunday gingerly took the card from the girl just as her father and brother came in, both having a brown moving box in their hands.
"Pops," Noah started to say once the trio was in the elevator.
"You're hungry." Sunday and Henry said at once as the doors opened to the third floor.
"I think I read something about how there's a Chick-fil-A in the student center." Sunday offered as she pushed her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose.
"Please, pops? Please? Please? Pleas-." Noah stopped when Henry put up his hand, "Stop. Sunny, open the door."
Sunday swiped the key card over the door and the light turned green.
Half of the room was decorated in a boho type of way, with fake vines covering the wall behind the twin bed and a matching green record player next to a MacBook covered in stickers on the desk.
There was a girl with dirty blonde hair on that side of the room putting a fitted sheet onto the bed.
Sunday cleared her throat and the girl immediately whirled around causing the sheet to snap itself onto the middle of the bed.
"Hey! I'm Maya," Maya smiled as she came closer.
"I'm Sun-. Oh." Maya pulled Sunday in for a brief hug and Sunday patted the girl on the back.
Behind her, Sunday could hear her brother start to chuckle.
Sunday stepped back, "I'm Sunday. Uh, this is my dad and my little brother, Noah."
"Hi. Sorry, I'm a hugger." Maya gave Sunday a sheepish smile.
"It's fine," Sunday said as she drifted over to her side of the room.
There was an audible rumbling coming from Noah's torso and he gave Henry a pointed look as he set a box down on the desk on Sunday's side of the room.
"Alright, alright. How about we get started setting everything up here while you go to the student center?" Henry asked.
"You sure? Because you know I like my paint brushes arranged a certain way."
"I got it," Henry nodded at Sunday's questioning then turned to Maya, "Do you want anything?"
"Uh, maybe just some lemonade or something?" Maya replied.
Henry gave Sunday a couple of twenties from his wallet, "I want my change."
Sunday nodded and walked out of the dorm room.
The sun was still high in the sky, leaving enough light to admire the various rose bushes as she walked towards the booming student center.
The Chick-fil-A inside the second floor of the student center had a small ring of people around it waiting for their food.
"Next!" The middle aged lady called out as Sunday stepped forward as she was next in line.
"Hi, can I get two chicken sandwich deluxe meals with sweet tea for both, a twelve count meal with a Sprite and a medium lemonade?" Sunday brushed back her hair.
"What kinda sauce?"
"Polynesian."
"Okay. That'll be 25.11 and you're gonna have to wait for fries."
"That's fine." Sunday nodded as she handed the cashier her money.
The woman handed Sunday the change, most of the food and then directed her to stand in the significantly more empty waiting area.
The boy next to her was tall, at least 6'8 to Sunday's 5'7, with a slit in his left eyebrow and lanky arms and legs.
His black hair was sectioned into multiple braids and he had a gym bag over his right shoulder and a pair of multicolored basketball shoes tied together and hanging from his left shoulder.
Sunday and the boy both moved forward to get the fries, freshly placed, and their fingertips lightly touched.
Sunday immediately retreated her hand away from his but the boy looked down at her and jerked his head to the fries, "You can have it, ma."
"Thanks." Sunday gingerly took the fries from underneath the heating lamp and placed them in the greasy Chick-fil-A bag.
She shot the boy an unnoticed glance then turned and walked out of the student center.
NOTE FROM KY
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