Family Ties.

Taj Robinson

He was a good guy, so why did he always end up on the short end of the stick?

Heartbroken. Alone. Standing by on the outside watching everyone else enjoy their college years. It was supposed to be the best time of his life.

Taj thought he had something special with Sherry Donovan, and then she broke his heart into a million pieces. Sure, he knew she was heartbroken over her ex who lied and cheated on her, and maybe it was too soon to stake his claim on her. But Sherry was everything he wanted in a woman.

Sexy, simply beautiful, smart and focused, and an incredible body. She had the body chicks liked to call thick, or as he liked to call it, just the right size. He did not discriminate on body size, but there was something about curves on a woman and meat on the thighs. Did something to him every time.

Sherry was amazing. He'd fallen in love with her quickly, and that was his first mistake. Secondly, he should have noticed that she did not feel the same way. He was too wrapped up in her, making her happy, enjoying her in every way. He praised the ground she walked on, another mistake.

She was cheating on him the whole time with her ex.

Every time he thought about it he became sick to his stomach. Why? Men were supposed to be the ones that did things like that, sleep around, and cheat, not the woman. Not the woman he loved.

Now it was another school year, he was a senior, but he was not looking forward to the year. Sherry was gone. Half his fraternity was gone, there was only him and his Little Bro Brian. He was not extremely close with the new member who pledged solo last year, but they had developed a brotherly bond. Currently, the two shared a two-bedroom house.

So far, judging by the few days since they moved in before the start of school, Brian was not lacking in female companions. Every morning he saw a new one sneaking out, and every night there was a new girl to meet. Though he was sure some of the girls he would never see again.

That was not his style, never had been. What was the point of sleeping around with dozens of girls? If he found the right one, he would be plenty satisfied.

Was he looking for another woman to get him through the pain? Maybe he was not ready. He would not force it for sure, and this time take the time to develop feelings and let her develop feelings as well.

"Yo! Frat! Bruh!" Brian screamed out at him as he lay comfortably in bed under his covers. Today was the first day of classes and he was not ready.

Brian barged into his room, no knocking, saw him still in bed, and threw a shoe at his head.

"Yo, neo, what I say about the order of power in this house?"

"And what I tell you about getting some pussy? You need some in your life."

"Don't you get enough for the both of us?"

"Naw man, naw. Never enough."

"I coulda had some in here, that didn't stop you from knocking."

Brian chuckled. "Man, I didn't hear a bitch screaming all night, so I know you're still thirsting. Anyway, I just kicked my flavor of the day out, 'bout to head to the yard. You need to get yo ass up, early bird catches the worm."

"I'll hit up with you later." He rolled over in his bed, not ready to start his day.

"Yo, we giving them hell this year, frat?"

"You know it!"

When he finally dragged himself out of bed and prepared for the day, he checked his socials. Semi-stalking his ex, he saw that she was at her new job teaching in Chicago at a Junior High. He imagined how many of the young boys would have crushes on their teacher.

"Aaaa!" He yelled out at no one, shaking his head to clear it.

No more thoughts about Sherry for the day. Or for the week. Or at all. He was over her, it was done. He had to get out of his funk and live life as his LB stated.

Soon as he made it to campus, he hit up the Student Union and grabbed two egg, sausage, and cheese biscuits, two hashbrowns, and orange juice from McDonald's. Neither he nor Brian cooked, they barely shopped, fast food was life.

"Ugh! Boy, you gonna get sick eating that food!" his homegirl from high school Daysha Waller said, tossing her bag on his table and helping herself to the chair beside him.

"You coming to cook breakfast for me every morning?"

"Hellll to the naw!"

"Then shut it!"

Daysha was not the one to be played with, but he loved their friendship. They lived down the street from each other growing up but were not that close in high school. When they found out they would be going to the same college, they connected more as friends and hung out a lot when they arrived at Illinois State University.

Bloomington-Normal, Illinois was a far cry from southside Chicago. No dodging bullets, no slangers on every corner, no police sirens every night. He loved his city and was not ashamed of it, but getting out and attending college was always his dream. A single parent of three, his mother did not have much to offer while he was there, but he knew if he worked hard enough he could help his mother get out of that rough neighborhood.

Daysha had a similar upbringing, but she did not like to talk about it much.

"So..." Daysha had something to say, but she liked to take dramatic pauses. "Are y'all having a line this semester?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. Now she was asking about his fraternity business? Epsilon Upsilon may be small and newer than the Divine Nine Black Greek organizations, but they still followed rules, traditions, and secrecy.

"Girl, now you know better than to ask that."

"I'm just asking cuz..." There was that dramatic pause again. "You know if the MAXS are having a line?"

Now, this was interesting. Daysha never once said she had an interest in pledging anything, especially not Mu Alpha Chi, his ex's sorority. MAXS were the Eps sister organization, so if Daysha wanted to pledge, they would have a sisterhood/brotherhood bond like never before.

"I'm sure they are," he told her. "Why?"

"Do you still have it in good with Sherry Donovan? Can you put in a good word for me?"

And just like that, he was thinking of her again. Why would Daysha ask that? She knew Sherry dumped him at the end of last semester. She knew he spent the summer working hard, driving himself to sickness, so that he would keep his mind free from her. He never once talked to Sherry over the summer.

"Daysha, you're my girl and all, but you know I can't do that," he said, slurping down the last of his juice. "Besides, you're a shoo-in, if that's what you want. And I got you when things get rough while you're on line. You're my girl."

She smushed him in the head "You better!"

He never had any attraction towards Daysha that was romantic. He believed she felt the same way. Just friends. She was cute, he supposed, just not his type. This year she wore her hair loud and purple, although it could be weave, a wig, or her own hair, he never knew. She wore bright green long nails that looked as if she could torture someone with them. Long false lashes that were a bit too much for him, but otherwise no make-up on her ebony brown skin.

Five feet two inches tall, and with a slim build, she did not have the curves he was interested in. Also, their personalities would never mix.

Daysha pulled out some kind of healthy protein bar to eat while he finished his sandwich and wondered what kind of fatty, cheesy goodness would be his lunch. His mother never cooked healthy, whole foods growing up, he had no idea what that was like. She cooked whatever they had, and bologna sandwiches, cheez whiz with saltines, and Spaghetti-Os cold straight out the can were lifesavers.

He had never seen a baby carrot till attending college. Vegetables came out of cans, any other kind he knew nothing about. Daysha grew up the same but was on some type of health food game since attending college.

"So you and Brian-"

She cut him off before he could even finish his words. "No, and no, just no!"

Daysha was one of the girls Brian ticked off his list in the last few days, but he figured neither one was down for a committed relationship. Was not his business and he planned on staying out of it.

His business was going to be finishing his last year of college with decent grades and having some kind of fun before he went into the real world. He would do it alone or with someone by his side, it didn't matter to him.