I knew that since Micah and I had the same major then I would have the same class as him eventually. I just didn't know he was in my big divisional freshman marketing class until I walked out of class late one day.
"What are you doing here?" Micah sounded genuinely surprised. "Did you just switch to this section?"
I shook my head. "No, I've been here since the first day. Did you just switch to this section?"
"No." he responded. "Where do you sit?"
I pointed to the front of the big lecture room towards the right. "Over there. I'm guessing that you sit back here?"
"I do. How are you studying for the exam?" Micah leaned against the desk.
We had a huge exam on Friday and I didn't even know where to start with studying. I was just going to cram on Thursday until he said something.
"I have no idea." I responded honestly. "No parties for me until I start studying."
"You wanna go to the library and make a study outline? Or we can go to Starbucks." Micah suggested.
I just looked at him. "You aren't flirting with me, right?"
"Not yet." he responded.
I nodded my head. "Cool. Starbucks then."
"Let's go." he picked up his bookbag.
We started walking to the Starbucks on campus and it was such a nice day outside.
"When is your birthday?" I tried to make conversation.
Mich chuckled and hit my arm gently. "You are not one of those kinds of girls, are you? With the astrology and stuff."
"Oh please, you know it is fun. Just answer my question." I requested.
"May thirty-first, I'm a Gemini." Micah responded.
I did a fake overdramatic gasp. "Micah Coleman! Are you younger than me?"
"Am I? When is your birthday, Rowan?" he asked me.
I looked over at him. "January 20th. I'm an Aquarius."
"You are a few whole months older than me." Micah admitted. "I guess you could say. that you're a cougar."
"Oh please." I rolled my eyes.
"What is your major and minor again?" he asked me.
"I'm a marketing major with a double minor in economics and real estate," I answered his question.
Micah was grinning. "There is no way that we have the same major and minors. How did you decide on that?"
"My dad double majored in marketing and finance, he owns a lot of businesses, and I really look up to him. Plus both of my older siblings are STEM majors and I wanted to do something different." I gave him my slightly detailed explanation.
"Same. Well, only Naomi so far but both of my parents majored in Biology. Science was never really my calling." he said to me. "How many siblings do you have?"
I had a love-hate relationship with this question.
"My brother Shawn, my oldest sister Riley, and my older sister Sloane, so three. I'm the youngest of four." I answered. I would have asked him the same question but I already knew his entire family.
He wasn't getting the 'my older sister died' sob story just yet. I hated the way people looked at me with so much pity when I told them about Riley.
When we got to Starbucks, Micah opened the door for me and we got in line.
"Ladies first." he said to me once the barista was ready to take our order.
"Hi, can I have a grande caramel macchiato with oat milk?" I ordered my drink.
"And I will take a grand ice chai with oat milk." Micah ordered his drink and took out his card to pay.
He paid for our order, we got our drinks, and we sat down at a table by the window. We spent a solid forty-five minutes making an outline of how we were going to spend the next few days studying for the exam.
"Do you have practice today?" I asked Micah.
He nodded. "At six until nine thirty-ish. Do you?"
"Not this evening. We do morning practices on Tuesday." I responded.
"You know, you're way too humble. I didn't even know you were an influencer until I heard Nao talking about all the PR packages you were getting." Micah brought up.
I leaned my chin on my hand. "It's still a new world for me. How are your NIL deals working out?"
"Not too shabby." he began. "I'm investing and saving most of it in case this professional football thing doesn't work out."
"So the NFL is the big goal?" I wondered.
Micah nodded his head. "It will probably only last about ten years so I'm trying to be as strategic as possible. What is your big goal?"
"To have enough passive income that I don't have to do anything for the rest of my life." I half away joked but I was serious as well. "I also would like to continue the businesses that my dad started."
"Nice." Micah looked up at me. "And how is this new found social media fame going for you? Like do you like people knowing who you are and making content?"
This was the first time that someone genuinely asked about my social media work.
I shook my hand. "It's half and half. I feel like some people are fake because of it. But I do like sharing parts of my life while keeping a lot of my private moments to myself, you know? I think it's good for other little black girls out there to see me doing collegiate cheer or moving across the country for college. I'm kind of rambling, but I like it."
"Nah, you're good. I like to hear that you genuinely like what you do and that you're not just doing it for the clout or money." Micah responded. "You're cooler than I thought you would be, Rowan."
I chuckled. "You thought I was going to be a bitch?"
He shrugged. "I don't know maybe. I mean you're pretty, I'm assuming affluent, charismatic, I figured you could go either way. A down to earth sweetheart or a cold hearted bitch, but I should have trusted Naomi's judgment. She always picks good friends."
"I think that's a compliment, so thank you." I said to him.
"Ro?" a said from a distance.
I looked to my right to see Hayding standing there in a UT Autin Baslletball sweatshirt and joggers.
"Hey, Hayden." I greeted him and then looked at Micah. Micah Coleman was a confident motherfucker who wasn't intimidated by anyone in the slightest except maybe me.
"Micah this is Hayden and Hayden this is Micah. He's Naomi's brother and we have the same major." I introduced them both.
Hayden nodded. "Nice to meet you. Ro, I'll call you later."
"Sounds good." I said before he walked off.
"Someone is pissed off." Micah pointed out the obvious.
I rolled my eyes. "Back to studying."
Micah and I stayed in Starbucks until 5 in the evening. I had other work to do and he had to get to practice.
I spent the rest of my evening in my dorm doing homework, planning content, and catching up at work. Hayden called me at ten that night. I'd just gotten out of my shower.
"Do you want to get Insomnia? I'm outside my dorm in my car." he offered.
"That sounds great." I agreed.
I took off my pajamas and put on a cute match sweat set. I got into Hayden's mustang which reeked of Black Ice.
"Hey." I said as I put on my seatbelt. "Good day?"
"I'm a little sore from practice, but I cannot complain otherwise." Hayden responded. "You?"
"A lot of studying and writing." I said to him.
"Mhmm." he hummed. "I saw that."
Oh, brother.
"I can't study with another guy without you getting like this, but girls can twerk and grind on you at Thirsty Thursday?" I finally questioned him.
Hayden kept his eyes on the road. "You're still bringing that up? Really Rowan?"
"Hayden, you know that I like you and both of us know that we're not just friends. I don't know what you want from me in all actuality." I felt myself finally begin to unravel.
He shrugged. "For you to not be flirting with other guys"
"Hayden!" I threw my hands down and looked at him. "Are you serious right now? You're being such a hypocrite. You can flirt and be with other girls but I can't do the same? Do you hear yourself?"
"What do you want me to say, Rowan?" Hayden got to a red light.
"I want you to want me. I want you to commit to me. I want you to ask me to be your girlfriend." I poured out my heart. "It is like you don't want to commit to me but you don't want me to be with anyone else and that makes no fucking sense."
I rubbed my temple. "Just turn the car around. I don't want any cookies. I need space right now."
"Rowan we're both busy. I cannot be the boyfriend that you deserve right now." Hayden shot back.
"But you have enough time to have sex with me, cuddle with me, and do all the good parts of the relationship with no title? Go figure. I'm not going to be the kind of girl that accepts that bare minimum from a man for attention." I said back to him.
He shook his head. "We'll talk when we're both not so pissed."
That just hurt even more.
Why wasn't he fighting for me the way I was fighting for him?