august 21st, 2020
5:13 pm
SUNDAY NEEDED TO STOP CRYING SO MUCH.
At this point, it was ridiculous.
Driver's License by Olivia Rodrigo was blasting in Sunday's AirPods as she sat at her easel in her dorm room.
The second chorus started to course through her eardrums as Sunday touched her round paintbrush to the canvas.
The crescent moon she had painted was the main focal point, the tears coming off of the one visible brown eye flowing below into the river.
Sunday's vision blurred and she had to put down the paintbrush to wipe her eyes with her sleeve.
A tap on her shoulder caused Sunday to jump from the desk chair she had placed in the middle of the room, "Oh, shit."
Sunday took one AirPod out so that her music would pause, then turned around to spot Maya and a light skin black girl with long twists dressed like they were going to a party.
"Are you okay?" Maya asked in a concerned tone as her friend joined the two in the middle of the room.
"Just a breakup." Sunday wiped her eyes again then readjusted her glasses.
Maya nodded then her eyes drifted to the detailed painting, "Did you do that? That's really good."
"Yeah, thank you. I just... Needed to get some shit off my chest." Sunday shrugged.
"Uh, this is Danielle, she lives down the hall. We were just coming back so I could grab my wallet," Maya looked back at Danielle who nodded, "We were about to go to this dj off in the student center. You wanna come? It might get your mind off things a little faster."
Sunday contemplated it for a couple of seconds, "You know what? Yeah. Let me see how much paint I can get off of my hands real quick."
Twenty minutes later in a new outfit and some makeup, Sunday was walking with Maya and Danielle to the student center.
"I was talking to this junior in my class and she says that this is the event to go to." Maya grinned as she opened the glass door.
"Woah." Sunday stopped in her tracks at the crowd.
The bottom level of the student center was almost completely swarmed by students, so much so that Sunday could barely see the floor.
There was already music playing and some of the students had formed an impromptu dance floor in front of the platform placed near the rear.
"Sunny," Maya called, jarring Sunday from her thoughts.
"Yeah?" Maya and Danielle had moved to the staircase by the main section.
"Let's go." Maya finished with a friendly smile.
The three girls found a table on the second floor that directly overlooked where the crowd was standing around the two dj setups side by side.
"I didn't know there was gonna be this many people here," Sunday replied as she removed her leather jacket to reveal a red and gold printed scarf that was doubling as a shirt.
"Where you from?" Danielle asked.
"Louisville. Y'all?" Sunday looked to Maya and then Danielle.
"Seattle." Maya replied.
"Miami." Danielle chimed in.
"You guys came far for school." Sunday noted.
"I needed something different." Maya shrugged as she patted down the flyaways from her bun.
The scratching of a record interrupted the music and caught the vicinity's attention, causing the student center to quiet down.
"Welcome to the annual back to school dj-off!" An Asian girl stood in between the dj setups with a microphone in her hand.
"Yo. Yo, uh, Sunday." A boy's voice called out from another table a few feet away.
When Sunday turned to take a glimpse of who had called her name, she saw the three boys who she had helped with the car.
"Sunday. Ma." The boy with a clock tattooed on his forearm gestured for her to come over.
"You know them?" Danielle raised an eyebrow as she glanced over to the trio and then back at Sunday.
"BJ, the light skin one with the braids, is in my film class," Sunday rose from her seat.
"Okay," Danielle dragged out the word and gave her an encouraging smile, "He's cute."
Sunday shook her head, "I just got dumped. I am not thinking about that."
"But isn't that the best way to get over someone? By getting under someone else?" At Maya's words, her and Danielle started to giggle while Sunday simply shook her head again at their input.
"I'll be back." Sunday said before taking strides to reach the other table.
When Sunday stopped in front of their table, the tall dark skinned boy hurriedly got up to pull out a chair for her.
"Uh," Sunday said then touched her index finger to her glasses as she sat down and the boy pushed in the chair for her, "What is going on right now?" Sunday trailed off.
"I need your help." The boy who had pushed her chair in for her said as he sat himself down on the left side of Sunday.
"Terrence right?" Sunday inquired.
"Yeah."
"So you need my help with...?" Sunday asked, raising both eyebrows.
"His car isn't shit." BJ moved his chair a few inches forward, on Sunday's right.
Sunday snickered and the boy gave her an appreciative smile.
"What's the problem?" Sunday asked.
"The check engine light is on. I can't really afford to go to a mechanic so I was hoping..." Terrence gave her a hopeful smile.
Sunday scratched the side of her nose with one finger, "Aight, so here's the thing. I don't have my dad's tools here and even if I did, I'm not fixing anyone's engine for free."
"But you fixed it for free the last time. So why not again?" Cam'ron pointed out.
"That wasn't me fixing it. That was a 'here's this for the mean time'." Sunday replied.
Terrence sucked his teeth and leaned back in his seat, "Yeah, I understand."
Cam'ron tapped BJ and Terrence and then pointed down below to dancing crowd.
"We'll be back," Terrence said and then the two were gone, racing down the staircase.
Sunday started to rise when BJ caught her wrist making her look down in alarm, "Did you watch Nosferatu yet?"
"I've seen it before. You haven't watched it?"
"No, I've been in workouts for basketball." He replied.
Sunday snickered, "You know the paper on it is due tomorrow morning... Right?"
"Man, that professor be on some bullshit. You've finished yours?"
Sunday hesitantly nodded, a little unsure about where this conversation was heading.
"Can you like watch it with me? The professor said it would be better to watch the movies with a friend anyway." BJ said, standing up as well.
Sunday was tempted to say no.
To stay here with her roommate and her friend.
But BJ was giving her that wide eyed puppy dog expression that he held when he had asked her to help with the car.
So Sunday nodded, "Lemme go say bye to my friends,"
But when she turned, the two girls were gone as well, leaving Sunday a little dumbstruck, "Or not."
BJ chuckled, a raspy sound, "Yeah, I think I saw them go dance. Can we do this tonight?"
Sunday shrugged, "Can you lead? I don't feel like being stepped on."
Sure enough, the crowd parted like the Red Sea for BJ and Sunday was quick to follow.
The air had turned cold, causing Sunday to stick her hands inside of the pockets in her leather jacket.
"Why is your name Sunday by the way?" BJ asked as the two reached his dorm.
"I was born on a Sunday and my parents aren't very creative," Sunday chortled, "Most people call me Sunny. What does BJ stand for?"
"Brandon Jr. I was named after my dad," Brandon opened the door for her and once again, Sunday marveled at the furnished interior.
"I wish my dorm looked like this. Is your roommate nice?" Sunday asked as Brandon took off his jacket.
"Don't have one. You can sit." Brandon said in an amused tone, nodding to the couch placed a few feet away from the door.
Sunday gingerly sat down as Brandon started the movie up on his MacBook.
He placed the computer in the middle and soon enough the opening shot of a castle was shown.
"Where's the sound?" Brandon scrunched his face up.
"Its a silent film," Sunday explained with a snicker.
"Ugh," But as the movie went on, a comfortable silence fell between them.
If only Zion could see me now.
NOTE FROM KY
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