Family Affair

Message from the Author: This is a work in progress but I still would appreciate reviews. This is a romance story about college students who run into a major snag in their relationship.  This is only the first draft and I have not made it to the twist, yet. Please bear with me as updates are made to the text. Hope you enjoy it!

Family Affair

Mariah was so in love with her boyfriend, Shad.  They had been dating for almost six months.  She felt that he was the one.  Shad was from Detroit, Michigan and she was from Dallas, Texas.  They were both attending college at Columbus College of Art and Design.  They were both first year students and away from home for the first time.

Shad saw her first during registration Saturday morning.  He was with his father and she was with her mother.  She was already in line with her mother and they were talking and laughing.  He was too scared to say anything so he just admired her from a distance.  She was so beautiful and her eyes were heavenly.  Her hair was long and lovely and she was all that he could think about ever since he saw her.  Their eyes never met so he was not sure if she even noticed him, but she did.

She was walking with Zina, her mother, when she saw him standing in line with his father, Zach.  They were engrossed in conversation.  Man, was he hot but she did not want her mom to see that she saw him.  He did not even see them as they passed by.  She silently hoped that they had some classes together.  She went on the rest of the day with her mom making sure that everything was ready in order for her to start school in time.  After they were finally finished conducting all of their affairs they started unpacking her bags and putting everything away.  In the midst of unpacking, her roommate, Jada, came in.  She seemed like she was alright.

After everything was put away, all three went out to eat.  She got another glimpse of him.  Shad and his father were sitting close to the door when they walked in.  He did not look up as they walked by because he was busy fixing up his burger.  They walked to the counter and ordered their food.  While they were waiting for the workers to bring out their food, Mariah walked to the bathroom with her roommate.  They were deep in conversation so she did not notice him watching her as she walked by.

He kept his eyes on the bathroom because he did not want to miss her when she came out of the bathroom.  As she came out of the bathroom, she looked over at him and their eyes finally met each other.  As their gazes locked, her roommate turned to see who she was looking at.  When she saw him, her mouth dropped open.  She also thought that he was hot but did not interrupt their silent conversation.

After Zina left, Mariah and Jada were sitting in their room talking and Jada asked, “So, what’s up with that cute boy that we just saw?”

“I don’t know.  I saw him when I was registering.  Then, I saw him again when we were eating.”

“Man, he is HOOOTT!  Are you going to talk to him?”

“No, but he is hot!”

“Girl, you better jump on that before some other girl does.”

“Well, he probably already has a girlfriend, anyway.”

“The way he was looking at you, I hope not.”

“Really, you think so?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Well, I guess we will see.  Hopefully, I will see him again.”

“You said that you saw him at registration.  If he goes to this school, you will see him again.”

Mariah walked into English, her first class, and scanned the room.  There he was, looking down at some paper on his desk.  Every now and again, he would look up to see if she walked in.  Once again, they locked gazes as she walked towards him.  It was as if time stood still and the only thing that mattered in the whole wide world was her sitting down beside him.  A lifetime later, she made it to the seat and sat down.

She subconsciously threw a smile at him and said, “Hi, my name is Mariah.”

It took a moment for him to gather his thoughts enough to reply very shyly, “H-hh-hi, m-m-my n-n-name is Sh-Shh-Sh-Shad.”

Time abruptly began again and the teacher came in and class started.
After class, they both stayed in their seat fiddling with their books trying to wait for the other one to say something.  In the end, he finally broke down and said, “D-d-did you say y-y-your name is Mariah?”

She replied, “Yes, my name is Mariah… and yours is Shad, right?”

“Yeah, I-I’m a f-fr-reshman.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“H-how many more c-classes do you have today?”

“Well, let’s see.”  They both pulled out their schedules and compared them.  They had most of their classes together.

“That’s cool.  We can study together.  I mean, if you like.”

“Yes, that should be fun.”

“Ok, cool.  Let’s go to our next class.”

“Ok, let’s go.”

Over the next month, Mariah and Shad became very good friends.  They walked to class, studied and ate together.

One night, Mariah was walking to the store with Jada.  As they were passing the male dorm, a couple of boys were coming out.  “Hello ladies, may we have the pleasure of walking with you?”

Mariah felt very nervous and was going to say no because they didn’t know them, but only got out, “We don’t k-“

Before she could finish, Jada cut in and said, “Sure, we need someone big and strong to protect us.”

“My name is Chris, and this is my roommate, Romeo.  How are you ladies doing?”

“I am Jada, and this is my roommate, Mariah.  We are doing fine.”

“Where are you two ladies on your way to?  We were actually on our way to the store but don’t mind escorting you two wherever you like us to.”

“We are on our way to the store, also.”

Chris was walking beside Jada and Romeo was walking beside Mariah.  As they were walking, Romeo started their own side conversation.  “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Mariah said, “No, I don’t.  Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No, not yet.  I had a girlfriend, but we broke up before I came here.  What about you?”

“I have never had a boyfriend.  I have had very close friends, but never a boyfriend.  I am a Christian and so most boys usually shy away from me.”

“Oh, that’s cool.  I can respect that.  Do you ever go out on dates, because I would love to take you out?”

“Yes, I do date but haven’t been on one in a long while.”

“When can I take you out?”

“I will go if it’s a double date with Jada and Chris.”

“Hey, that would be cool.  Where do you two want us to take you?” Chris asked.

“How about you two pay for dinner and we pay for the movie?” Mariah suggested.

“I have a better idea,” said Chris.  “I pay for dinner, and Romeo pay for the movie.”

To that, Jada replied, “I like that idea the best.”

Romeo added, “Well, I guess that settles that.  Is Friday fine with everyone?”

Everybody agreed on Friday which was two days away.  Chris and Romeo would meet them outside the female dorm and they would all go together.

When they got back to the room, Jada asked, “So, what do you think about Chris and Romeo?”

“They seem very nice… and they are both fine.”

“Yeah, he just might end up being my baby daddy.”

“Well, I don’t want no baby daddy.  I am looking for more than that.”

“What are you going to do about Shad?”

“You know Shad and I are just friends.  I guess I will go out on this date with Romeo and make my decision from there.  That is why I wanted it to be a double date.”

“If you and Shad are just friends then what is wrong with hanging out with Shad and going out with Romeo?”

“No, that would not be right, unless I told Shad about it.  I know that would hurt his feelings.  I will decide after I get back from the date.”

The next day, after they had just finished eating, Shad popped the question, “Mariah, d-d-do y-y-y-you have a b-b-boyfriend?”

Mariah said, “No, I don’t?”

“W-well, do you w-w-want one?”

“I don’t know, maybe.  Why do you ask?”

“I have never had a girlfriend.  I have always been too shy to ask a girl out.  But with you, we just kind of started hanging out which I always thought was pretty cool.  I really like you and I want you to be my girlfriend.”

“To tell you the truth, I am actually going out on a date tomorrow.  So, I can’t answer that just yet.”

“Y-you are going out on a d-date?  W-when did this h-happen?  W-why am I just finding out about it?”

“Well, it’s not like we are actually even dating.  I was asked out and I agreed to go.  I thought that it might be fun.”

“W-what are you saying, that you d-don’t have f-fun with me?”

“No, that is not what I am saying at all.  How could you even ask that?”

“T-the way you said sounds like you are n-not having fun hanging out with m-me.  I-i-if you like hanging out with me, then w-w-why would you even go out with another guy?”

“I am going out because we are not even dating and when I was asked I thought that it would be fun.  I don’t understand what the big deal is.  It’s just a double date.”

‘T-th-the big deal is that I c-c-care about y-you and hearing that you are g-g-going out w-wh-ith another guy really h-h-hurts deep.  I thought w-we had a nice thing going on, b-but I guess it’s not g-good enough for you.  S-s-so, you go ahead and do yo thang.  D-don’t worry ab-bout me.  I’ll be alright”

“I don’t know why you are acting this way, but, whatever!”

“W-wh-whatever, w-whatever.”

When Mariah got back to the room, she told Jada, “Shad asked me to be his girlfriend, tonight.”

“What did you say?”

“I told him that I was going out on a date on tomorrow.”

“You actually told him?”

“Yes, I thought that was only fair that I tell him the truth.”

“How did he take it?”

“Not so well, we broke up and we are not even together.”

“Oh, that is too bad.”

“Yeah, I know.  I don’t even want to go on the stupid date, now.”

“Oh Mariah, you have to go, pleeeeease?”

“Well, we already broke up, so I guess it wouldn’t make sense for me to not go, now.”

“I should at least go and see if Romeo is someone that I may want to be with.  Then afterwards, I can make a decision.  Besides, we don’t even know if Chris and Romeo will show up tomorrow.”

When Jada and Mariah went outside Friday night, Chris and Romeo were patiently waiting for them.  ‘Hello ladies.  You both look very nice.’

‘Thank you, Chris, you’re such a gentleman,” Jada said.  “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

“Thanks.  I try.”

As they were passing by the male dorm, they saw Shad walking up to the building.  When he saw them, he could not help having a sad look on his face.  He didn’t even speak.  He just turned quickly, trying to hide his face.

Chris and Romeo were perfect gentlemen and all four of them had a great time.  Since Shad wasn’t speaking to her, Mariah began to hang out with Jada, Chris and Romeo.  They really had fun times together, but in the back of her mind, thoughts of Shad were always present.

After they had been going out for a couple of months Jada said that she was going out with Chris and Romeo was on his way over to pick her up.  Mariah had never actually been alone with Romeo, all four were always together.  She felt a little uncomfortable but went along with the plans.

As they were walking along, Romeo started walking toward the parking lot.  Mariah was confused, but she still followed.  Then, he opened a car door and motioned for her to get in.  She asked him, “Whose car is this?”

He said, “It belongs to a friend of mine.  I just borrowed it for a few hours so I could take you out for real.”

“Oh, where are we going?”

“We are going listen to some music as we ride.”

“Where did Jada and Chris go?”

“You sure are asking a lot of questions.”

“It’s called making conversation.  You don’t want me to ask questions?”

“Yeah, it’s fine, but it just seems like you are questioning a little more than usual.”

“We usually have Jada and Chris to join in the conversation, but now it’s just us and I am trying to get a good conversation going.”

“We don’t have to talk.  We can have a comfortable silence while we enjoy the music.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem so comfortable to me.”

“Girl, don’t worry bout it.  I know exactly what you need and I gotcha covered.”

“Oh yeah.  What do you think I need?”

“I will give it to you in a minute, baby.  Slow ya roll.”

“What are you talking about?  You are acting crazy.”

“That’s because I’m crazy about you.”

“Well, I don’t want to ride.  You are making me very uncomfortable.  I think I just want to go back to the dorm.”

“Aw baby, let’s talk about it.  Hold on a second.  Let me pull over so we can talk about it.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.  I want to go back to the dorm.”

“I have a surprise for you and I was trying to set the mood so I could give it to you, but you are making this very difficult.”

“I don’t want a surprise.  Please just take me home.”

“I will take you just as soon as I give you my surprise.  One way or another I am giving you my surprise.  It is the least that I can give you to show my appreciation for you spending time with me.”

“You don’t have to give me anything.  Just take me home.”

He finally made it to his destination, so he pulled onto the side of the road.  She had not noticed but it seemed like they were out in the middle of nowhere.  There seemed to be nothing for miles and miles around.

“What are we doing out here?”

“Aw baby, you talk too much.  Let me calm you down.”  Then, he moved over next to her and leaned in for a kiss.

She turned her head and told him, “I’m serious.  I want to go home right now.”

He said, “You need to just calm down and I am sure I will make you feel better.”

She said, “I will feel better just as soon as I am in the comfort of my room.”

“Well, if you be quiet, I can give you my surprise and then I will take you home.”

“Look Romeo, you seem like a really nice guy, but I just don’t think that we hit it off so well.  I mean, it’s pretty cool when we are together with Jada and Chris, but us alone is not working for me.  Would you please just take me home?”

“What are you saying, these past couple of months, I have spent all that money on you for nothing?  Is that what you are trying to tell me?”

“I have spent money on you, too?”

“I am trying to repay you for that money, now, but you won’t let me.”

“You are right about that because this is not about to go down.  There is nothing that you can say to make me even want to do that.  You may as well just take me home.”

He started rubbing on her leg and trying to pull her pants off.  She realized that he was not willing to take no for an answer.  She tried a different approach.  “Romeo, this is not the way I imagined our first time.  We are in a car out in the middle of nowhere.  This is not very romantic.  You have been such a gentleman.  Now all of a sudden today, you are being a jerk.”

“Chris is the gentleman, baby.  Not me.  I’m the lover.  Don’t get it twisted.”

“By that, do you mean that you have to force all of your girls?  That is not what a lover does.”

“You better act like you know.  Most girls are anxious to get with this.  I think you just need a little convincing.  You have to feel like you held strong at first.  I know you don’t want to pass up this opportunity, but I am running out of patience.”

“I have already told you that you can take me home.  Maybe I don’t deserve you.  It’s my loss.  I can live with it.  Just take me home.”

“I need you to do something for me first.  You have to help me get this down, please.”

“No way am I touching that thing.  You can forget it.”

“You can’t leave me like this.”

“Yes, I can.  You should have never let yourself think like that.  All this time I have been telling you that I want to go home.  But you wouldn’t listen to me.  I want you to take me home, right now, Romeo!”

“What about my situation?  Don’t you even care?”

“Not really.  When you get back, you better take a nice, long cold shower.  I had nothing to do with that and I want nothing to do with it.”

“I can see why you don’t have a boyfriend.  You gotta give it up someday, it may as well be today.”

“I am going to give it up but it is not going to be today and not to you.  If you don’t take me home I will report you to the cops and you will be in a lot of trouble.”

“Ok, I’m going to take you now, but I think that is pretty messed up that you won’t help me out.”

“Whatever, please just take me home.”

The ride home was very quiet.  Mariah was upset that she had to go through all of that.  What happened to the nice guy that she had been kicking it with the past couple of months?  This was definitely not him today trying to force her to do something that she knew she did not want to do.  She thought about Shad.  She was sure he would never have tried to pull that crazy stunt on her.  Then, she started feeling guilty because she never should have chose Romeo over Shad.  Maybe she still had a chance.  Maybe he still liked her.  She would find out as soon as she got away from this psycho nutcase.

As she was running back to the dorm from the car, she ran right into Shad.  He was looking really pitiful and looked as if he were walking around aimlessly.  She didn’t know how to begin to say all of the things that she wanted to say to him, but she had to say something.

“Hi, Shad,” she started hesitantly.

“Hi, Mariah.”  He started walking away.

Think, Mariah.  What do you want to say? “So, what have you been up to?”

“Not much, just school and that’s about it.  How about yourself?”

“I have been spending a lot of time with my roommate and her friends.”

“You mean the guy you dumped me for?”

“Look, Shad, I feel really bad about the way I did you.  I wasn’t trying to hurt you.  I was just trying to have a little fun.  As it turns out, I got way more than I bargained for.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, they set me up.  I usually hang out with Jada, my roommate; Chris, her boyfriend; and Romeo, her boyfriends’s roommate.  All four of us usually go everywhere together.  Today, Jada and Chris disappeared and left me alone with Romeo.  That jerk has been trying to put the moves on me.  I have spent the last few hours talking him into taking me home.  There for awhile, it was looking pretty ugly.”

“He did what?”

“Yeah, I know… some people.”

“Man, I wish I had known, I would have rescued you.”

“That’s ok, I’m just happy that I got to see you tonight.  I’m also glad that you are talking to me again.  I missed you a whole lot.”

“Well, I really missed you.  I was wondering if I would ever have my best friend back.  You really hurt me deep, but to lose you forever as a friend would hurt even worse than that.  So, I will take you back as my best friend but if you ever-“

“Yeah, I know, I know.  What do you say to us being more than just best friends?”

“I think before that happens, we need to regain trust and rekindle our friendship before we move any further.  I want us to be best friends always.  There is nothing that I want more than for you to be my girlfriend, but I don’t want to rush into anything that will blow our relationship.”

They spent the rest of the night sitting and talking.  The next day, Jada was busting to talk with Mariah.  She knew that Mariah had been out all night and thought that she had been out with Romeo.

“So, I take it that you and Romeo are a couple, now?”

“Why would you possibly think that?”

“Well… you were out all night and you seem like you are your old happy self again.”

“That is not because of Romeo, believe that.”

“Something had to have happened last night.”

“Yeah, something did happen, but definitely not what you are thinking.”

“Tell me what happened then, because I can’t imagine what has brought that smile back on your face.”

“I spent most of last night trying to convince Romeo to take me home because I was not giving him anything.  After a couple of miserable hours, he finally decided to take me home.  I don’t care if I never see him again.”

“- and that is what put the smile back on yo face?”

“No, when I finally made it back to the dorm, I ran right into Shad and we talked all night.”

“Oh, I see now.  That is enough to put the smile back on anybody’s face.”

After that, Shad and Mariah were once again inseparable.  They were going everywhere together and doing everything together just like old times.  Everything was back to normal.

Then one day when they were talking, Shad informed her, “My father is spending the weekend with me.  You are going to meet him.  Are you ready for that?”

“I guess I’m as ready as ready can be.”

Shad and his father had made quite a few plans with and without her.  Shad assured her that they would get along great.  Tonight, she was to meet them at Medieval Times where they had dinner reservations.  From there, they were off to the movies.  Saturday they had planned to spend most of the day without her which would give her time to do her homework and study for a test.  They would meet again for dinner at Red Lobster and then go bowling later.  On Sunday, they would all go to church together and one last meal before his father had to drive off into the sunset.

As it turns out, Mr Maddox was pretty cool and they instantly hit it off.  During dessert at Medieval Times, Mr Maddox turned to Mariah and said, “Did Shad tell you that my job is relocating me to D-Rock?”

“No, he didn’t!” she replied at she gave Shad ‘the look’.

Shad responded, “I wanted it to be a total surprise to you.”

“Well, I am surprised.”

“Anyway,” Mr Maddox continued, “I want to invite you and your mother to dinner after church on Sunday the next weekend that you two come home.”

Mariah thought about it for a moment because she knew that her mother would not really want to go but she was pretty sure that she could talk her into.  So, she graciously accepted, “Sure, you can count on it.”

Later that evening, she called her mother to tell her the news.  “Mom, the coolest thing has happened.  Shad’s father is moving to Dallas.  Isn’t that great?”

“No, not really.”

“Yes, really, Mom.  That means that you can actually meet him sooner than I thought.  He has already invited us to dinner the next time I come home.”

“He did?  I hope you politely declined.”

“Mother!  I did no such thing.  You have to meet the father of my boyfriend.  He is the one for me, Mom.  I am sure we will be getting married soon.  You have to get along with his father.  Besides, Mr Maddox is pretty cool.  And almost as cute as Shad.”

“Are you supposed to be talking me into this?  That makes it even worse.  It’s the cute ones who always think they all that.”

“No, Mom.  He is not like that.  I am telling you, he is really cool peoples.  You will see very soon.”

A few weeks later, Mariah and Shad planned to fly home together.  Shad began, “I am pretty excited about us having dinner together with our parents.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty excited, too.  My mom is freaking out, though.  She is not very social.”

“I’m trying to imagine what she is really like.  You make her sound like a homicidal maniac.  But I am sure she can’t be as bad as you make her out to be.”

“Oh, she can…and she is.  Maybe even worse.”

“I guess I will see tomorrow?  I am coming by your place for lunch with you and your mom, right?”

”Yeah, and you get to meet the maniac at last.”

Shad opened the door when they rang the doorbell.  “Good evening ladies, please come in.  Dinner is not quite ready.  So, we will sit in the living room and talk until Dad is ready.”

Shortly after that Mr Maddox came in.  “Mariah, it is good to see you again.  And, you must be Zina.  Glad to meet you.”

“Mother, this is Mr Zechariah Maddox.”

“Hello, good to meet you, too.”

“Dinner will be ready in about ten more minutes,” he said as he sat down.

“Good, because I am hungry,” Shad said.

“I just recently moved here to Dallas.  How long have you lived here?”  Zech asked Zina

“I was born and raised here.  I have never lived anywhere else.”

“I have lived my whole life in Detroit.  My job decided to move me here.  I thought a change of scenery would do me good.  Now, Shad has found his reason to like Dallas.”

“Amen to that, Dad!”

“Yessir!” Mariah agreed.

“How does the rest of your family like it so far?”

“There is only Shad and I.  He is an only child and my wife passed away five years ago.  I have not gotten into the dating thing quite yet.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.  I mean about your wife.”

“Yeah, I have made my peace with her passing.  I just haven’t found anyone special enough to replace her.”

“She must have been quite a woman.”

“Oh, she was,” Shad jumped in.  “She was very beautiful and she was always dressed like she was getting ready to go to church or just came from church.  She always had just the right thing to say right when you needed it most.  She was truly spectacular.”

“Yes, she was.” Zech said as he stood up.  “I must go check on the food.  I will be right back.”

A few minutes later, Zech peeked his head and and announced, “You may move into the dining room.  Dinner is served.”

The men escorted the women into the dining room where Zech seated Zina and Shad seated Mariah.  Then, Zech left momentarily and came back with the most wonderful looking pork chops they had ever smelled.  The food was as delicious as it smelled.  The only talking were the forks and knives clanking against the plates as they were all enjoying their dinner.  After everyone had eaten enough to slow down and savor the meal, the conversation began again.