The weekend was not going as planned so far.

My friends and my roomies were at odds. I had to somehow fix things.

After the party, when we made it back to the room, my roommates were not there.

"I hope they bitch asses don't come back," JuJu said. "I need to lay hands on somebody and they might just get them."

"JuJu, no! We can discuss this and be civil about it. Maybe it was all a misunderstanding."

Yeah, right. I had a feeling I knew what this was about. Donnell. The boy that was not worth it had somehow created this drama. No matter how I tried to stay out of it, I was in it now.

Even Diallo warned me to stay out, but there was no way I could. He stayed late till the entire party cleared out, but I was not trying to stay that late. Back in my room, we changed and got ready for bed.

"Yo, I might have to see y'all in the morning," Chantel said as she grinned at her phone.

"Donnell?"

"Yes! I need to go see him." She jumped up from her spot on the floor. She looked down at her pajama shorts and t-shirt. "Should I change into something cute?"

"Why? You're about to get naked," JuJu said with a laugh.

"True dat!" Chantel headed out of the room. "See you guys later."

"Wait!" I jumped out of the bed. "Please be careful. Wear a condom and...I don't know, just watch out for that one."

Chantel sighed and rolled her eyes at me. "Oh little Rave, I'm not the one that needs to watch out. Tell that to your roommate!"

"Oh, I want to tell your little roomie how my cuz Chantel gets to spend the night with him, and not her," JuJu said with a laugh.

I buried myself under my covers in bed. This was not what I signed up for.

The next morning, Chantel was still not there, nor were my roomies. Not totally strange. Allura may have stayed the night with John. Twyla, maybe she found someone else and moved on from Donnell.

I texted Diallo, he texted back that his mother had arrived on campus. They were going to the tailgate in an hour and he wanted me to meet him there.

I quickly showered and did my best with my hair, then put on the most conservative attire I could find. A Mizzou t-shirt and denim shorts that were not too short. When I was all done, JuJu took her shower to get ready to come with me. I was glad she would be there as a buffer for me.

We were almost ready when Chantell finally walked in with stars in her eyes.

"I don't even want to know," I said to her.

"All we did was talk all night, and all morning," she said with a smile. "Rave, I really like that boy."

I groaned.

"No, for real, he feels the same. It's not just a link-up with us. We get each other."

"Great," I mumble.

"Were you guys going to leave me?"

"I texted you but you were so wrapped up in that boy," JuJu stated. "we're going to the tailgate thing, Rave has to meet her man's mother."

"Oh, well, as exciting as that may be, I wink I will stay here in the room."

"All alone?" I asked.

"Yeah, get some real sleep. By the time you guys get back, we can do something."

I shrugged at her as we made our way out of the room. Long as she stayed in the room and out of trouble, I had no problems leaving her there.

There was an air about the main campus because it was Homecoming weekend. Maybe because I was still new at this I did not see the big deal. Alumni and others came down to campus and partied over the weekend. That seemed the extent of it to me. Maybe after I graduated I would see the big deal. It's not like we were at an HBCU. I hear their homecomings are legendary.

Jared texted me that he would be at his fraternity's tent, whatever that meant. What fraternity was he in again? I would have to look at them all.

Diallo would be at the ABC and other minority student groups' tent. That would be easy to find.

"Damn, I wish I could go here too!" JuJu stated, flirting with a girl that walked by as they made their way through the crowded plaza.

I smelled food, barbecue in particular. My stomach growled. We did not eat breakfast. I skipped the parade to sleep in, I was so not a good girlfriend.

"Maybe you and Chantel can. I mean...or at least attend any other college you want."

I did not want to get my friends' hopes up. Mizzou was hard to get into, as well as expensive. No way could scholarships cover everything.

We made it to the Black Greek section first. Easy to tell by all the colors they wore. Red and white, pink and green, black and gold, blue and white, purple and gold, and surely more. I had no interest in pledging, none at all.

"Jared is a Kappa," JuJu said.

"Did he tell you that on the ride down?"

"No, but I saw the red and white jacket he brought down."

So we made our way toward the area we saw red and white, and guys.

"I see y'all finally made it out." Jared grabbed me in a hug when he saw me. "Party was that live last night? And you're missing one."

"She's uh...going to meet us later."

"Mmm-hmm, don't make me catch a case while I'm trying to have some fun. Anything happen to you or your lil friends while I am here, Angel and Hook will have my head."

"I have to go meet my boyfriend's mom now. They're here somewhere, with the ABC tent."

Jared pointed across the way to a tent with an even larger gathering and had a grill going.

"Food!" JuJu yelled out. "That's where we need to be. Bye Jared, we will see you later."

I wasn't ready. My feet planted to the ground not moving even after JuJu took off toward that area.

"What's wrong little one?" Jared said to me.

"I've never had a boyfriend, much less meet his mother."

"Oh, she will love you, girl. You're the type of girl guys let meet their mothers, take it as a compliment." Then he gave her a push. "Now go, you got this."

I took small baby steps. What if I stumbled, fell on my face, and made a spectacle of myself as I always did? What if I said something stupid, I was known for that as well. Maybe I wasn't pretty enough for her precious son?

Oh hell, I was overthinking this as always. I was dating Diallo, and he was all I had to impress.

I made my way over there and the first person I saw sitting at a table chatting it up with a bunch of people was Diallo. There were so many people and they all seemed to be having a good time. The barbecue smelled good and I needed to eat something to calm my stomach.

Diallo noticed me and waved. I gave a small wave back. He waved again, calling me over. I made my feet move and walked toward him.

"Hey!"

"Don't hey me," he said with a grin and grabbed me in a hug, then planted a kiss on my lips. "I missed you."

I don't know if I was comfortable with PDA if his mother was near.

"How's everything been going? How was the parade?"

"Nice. Hot and long. You didn't miss much. Want something to eat? Nothing fancy, just burgers and hotdogs. Hey, you want to meet my mom first?"

"Okay."

He took my hand and led me to a table where Gay and an older woman sat with food in front of them. She was much older than I assumed she would be, fair-skinned, lighter than both Gay and Diallo, fully gray hair, cut in a sleek bob, but her face still smooth and clear of wrinkles, made-up perfectly not overkill with the make-up. She was dressed in a long flowing pink dress. She was elegant because pretty seemed like a juvenile word to describe her. Gay and Diallo got their looks from her.

Gay saw me and smiled big. Their mother, on the other hand, looked me over but was emotionless. Great! Not winning her over with my appearance so hopefully, nothing dumb came out of my mouth.

"Mom, this is Rayvn Lawrence, my girlfriend. Rayvn, my mother Yves Louroux-Azzouzi. "

"Oh yes, the one you can't stop talking about."

"Yeah, Rave's cool," Gay said. "Come on, sit down. Finally, someone I am cool with. I'm not really into this whole, join an org thing. I like to fly solo."

"Gay, your experience in college is to expand your horizon and meet people. Look at your brother, he's doing well."

"I have met people, Rayvn, her roommates..."

"You need your own friends, not your brother's friends."

"My roommates suck ass!"

I giggled at her then stopped when their mother did not laugh.

"So tell me Rayvn, you're a freshman on Diallo's floor. I told him I did not think it was a good idea to date a resident on his floor. That doesn't seem very responsible."

I had no words. I did not think it was a code of ethics violation for Diallo and me to go out. It wasn't like he was my boss of me or anything because he was my RA. I was eighteen, and he was nineteen, so there was no big age gap. What exactly was his mother getting at?

"I uh...I don't think there is an issue, right Diallo?"

Diallo sat beside me and held my hand. "Of course not."

"Mom, Rayvn is a goody-goody girl, you will love her," Gay said. "She's totally not me. Doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, and studies to keep her grades up. Isn't that what you prefer I was more of."

"Yes, so maybe she can be an influence on you."

"I think it's okay for Gay to be herself and continue to find out who she is. That's what I think college is about, finding ourselves, as we get older and become adults. We make mistakes, but we learn from them," I went on. "And maybe we stumble and fall, make a fool of ourselves sometimes, but in the end, growth. I'm still learning so much here and it has only begun."

I rambled on and hoped I had a coherent thought. I hoped I didn't sound like the idiot girl that Mrs. Azzouzi hated and would want Diallo to get rid of. I sucked at this.

Then she smiled at me. "I like her."

A/N: So things are looking up for Rayvn. Well, on the boyfriend front. There still is her roommates/friends' issue.