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Mark drummed his fingers slowly on the girls’ dining room table, waiting for someone to return.
He was furious. The Easter egg hunt was the day before. He’d gone to the field alone and stood on the sidelines, watching his friends compete. He was hurt that they didn’t invite him to come along.
He’d spent all night seething about it, hoping that when he awoke the next day, he’d be over it. But he wasn’t. That was the last straw.
Mark walked over to the girls’ house that afternoon. He walked in to find it empty. Instead of leaving, he decided to sit there, and wait. That was nearly two hours ago. The drumming stopped once he heard the door knob turn. He slowly turned his head and stared at the door, waiting for it to open.
“So, I told Dr. Foster that I wasn’t taking no damn—” Malajia’s words to Chasity and Sidra stopped when the three girls screamed at the sight of him sitting there.
“What are you doing in here, you damn creep?!” Malajia hollered, angry.
“Y’all should really learn to lock your door when nobody’s home,” Mark calmly advised.
Sidra folded her arms. “Noted,” she bit out. “Why are you here? You’re not welcome, remember?”
“Oh trust me, I remember just fine,” Mark seethed. “But obviously I don’t give a goddamn. I got a bone to pick.”
“Mark, get out,” Chasity ordered, fed up with his nonsense already.
“I’m not going a damn step,” Mark refused, folding his arms.
The girls stared at him as if he had completely lost his mind.
“Now—” he paused when the door opened yet again. “Ah, the rest of the two-faced bunch are here,” he scoffed, rising from his seat.
Alex and Emily walked into the house, stunned. “What the hell?” Alex commented.
“His ass was sitting in here when we got in,” Chasity spat. “Somebody left the door unlocked when we left earlier.”
The girls looked at Malajia, who was trying to avoid their gazes. “What? I was in a rush earlier and forgot to lock it,” she explained.
“Whatever the reason, you shouldn’t be here,” Alex directed to Mark.
“I’ll leave when I’m done,” Mark spat, holding his hand out. “Where are the guys? I know they aren’t far behind.”
Before anyone could say anything, the three aforementioned men walked through the door. “Well, well. If it isn’t the punks of Paradise Valley,” Mark taunted.
“Yo, who are you calling a punk?” Jason questioned, walking aggressively towards Mark. His progress was stopped by Josh, who put his arm out to block Jason.
“Jase, don’t feed into that mess,” Josh urged. “He’s trying to get a reaction out of you.”
“Yeah well, he’s damn sure about to get his wish,” Jason seethed, pointing at an equally angry Mark.
“Whatever bro,” Mark shot back nastily.
“Yeah whatever,” Jason retorted.
“Okay calm down,” Alex slid in, looking back and forth between the two hostile men. “There will be no more fighting in here.”
“What do you want, Mark?” David asked. He wasn’t in the mood to engage in any conversation with Mark. But it was clear that Mark being there was riling everyone up; he figured that the quicker he could get to the bottom of why Mark was there, the quicker he would leave.
Mark stared at his friends in silence for several seconds. They glanced at each other.
“Are you gonna speak, or stand there looking like a damn fool all day?” Chasity ground out.
Mark narrowed his eyes at her. “So... Y’all just gonna stand here and pretend like you didn’t go to the Easter egg thing yesterday without me?” he began.
“That’s what this is about?” Malajia wondered, irritated. “Some damn egg hunt?”
“And we’re not pretending anything,” Jason bit out. “We went without you on purpose.”
“That’s fucked up. You already knew I would’ve wanted to go,” Mark shot back.
“Mark, we’re not liking you right now,” Sidra pointed out. “Why would we have asked you to go with us? That makes no sense.”
Mark shook his head. “Treating me like shit isn’t cool,” he seethed. “And frankly, I’m fuckin’ tired of it.”
“Do you know why though?” Josh asked.
“Yeah, because you’re still mad about the fight that me and David had,” Mark said. “I can’t believe everybody is still girlin’ about that.”
“Dude, we didn’t just have a fight. You purposely set out to humiliate me,” David jumped in. “Then had the audacity to think that you weren’t wrong.”
“You didn’t even offer a damn apology,” Sidra added. “You basically just told him to get over it because you were just doing what you normally do.”
Mark tossed his hands up in the air in frustration. “So this is about a fuckin’ apology?” he barked. “Is David’s whining affecting you that much?”
“You’re such an asshole,” Alex scoffed. Mark’s blatant ability to not own up to any wrong doing disgusted her.
“You know what Mark, I don’t even want an apology anymore,” David assured, putting his hand up. “I’m good. Like I said before, we’re done.”
“It’s clear that that’s a damn lie,” Mark spat. “So if that’s what I have to do in order to stop being treated like a bald-headed stepchild, then fine.” He directed his attention to David. “David, I’m sorry if you felt—”
“I’m sorry, repeat what you just said,” David angrily commanded.
“I’m sorry if you—”
“Say that one more time,” David repeated.
Mark was visibly irritated. He took a deep breath to keep himself from snapping. “I’m sorry if—“
“That’s the issue right there,” David pointed out, much to Mark’s anger.
“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Mark yelled, fed up.
“You keep saying ‘if’,” David said. “There is no if. You did. You, someone who is supposed to be my friend, blatantly humiliated me for your own amusement. You still don’t get that.” Mark rolled his eyes as David continued to speak. “You still don’t get how messed up that was.”
Mark rubbed his face in frustration as he tried to register the harsh words that were being hurled at him. His character was being attacked and it was making his blood boil.
Malajia looked at him; her friends had gone in on him and their words clearly weren’t getting through. She figured it was time to speak up. “Mark,” she began, voice soft.
Mark’s head snapped towards her. “Oh now you wanna talk to me, huh?” he bit out.
Malajia shot him a glare. “I’m trying to help your stubborn ass.”
Mark just flagged her with his hand. At that point, he wasn’t interested in what she had to say. As far as he was concerned, Malajia had her chance to stand up for him in the beginning and didn’t.
“Look,” Malajia continued. “We’re not mad at you because you had a fight with David. We fight and argue all the time. That’s what family does,” she said. “The problem lies in the fact that you refuse to own up to any wrong doing... You keep using that bullshit defense of ‘y’all know how I am.’ That’s not cool, Mark.”
Mark stared at her, taking a deep breath. “All of the fights that you all have had,” he began slowly. “Has never resulted in the entire group not speaking to one person,” he pointed out. “How is that fair?”
“I just told you why we’re upset with you!” Malajia snapped.
She desperately wanted to get through to him. She hated that Mark was hurting, but he needed to see where they were coming from.
”You show no remorse,” Malajia fumed. “You can’t expect people to get past something that you’ve done, if you can’t even acknowledge the wrong that you did.”
Mark was quiet as Malajia continued.
“Us girls have said some fucked up shit to each other over the years,” she remembered. “I mean some straight ‘cross-the-line’ shit.” She pointed to Chasity. “Hell, me and this girl over here came to blows... But we owned up to what we did and we apologized from the heart and we forgave each other... You have to own up to your wrong doing babe. You have to. That is the only way to fix this.”
Mark refused to speak for a moment. “You know what’s fucked up?” he began, rubbing the back of his neck. “You guys were so quick to dismiss me for a prank. But...you’re so quick to forgive each other over more damaging shit.”
Malajia put her hand over her forehead. He hadn’t listened to a word that she’d said. Alex, sensing that Malajia was getting upset, reached out and rubbed her shoulder.
“You still don’t get it,” Josh hissed. “Even after everything that we just stood here and said to you.”
“Oh I get it just fine,” Mark assured, not hiding his disdain. “You guys weren’t my friends in the first place if you could just cut me out without thinking twice. So fuck y’all.”
“Oh really?” Sidra challenged.
“Yeah really,” Mark shot back. “Less you forget, I’ve been an only child all my life, so I’m used to being by myself,” he reminded. “I don’t need y’all. So keep your damn lectures.”
Malajia turned away from Mark as he made his way out of the house. She jumped when the door slammed. “God, he’s so fuckin’ stubborn,” she ground out, putting her hands over her face.
“Wow...just wow,” Emily commented. She looked at Malajia, “Are you okay?”
Malajia nodded, but didn’t say anything.
Jason ran his hands over the back of his neck. This whole confrontation drained him. “Look, he’s a grown man and he needs to start acting like it,” he sternly said. “Once he pulls his head out his ass, I’m sure he’ll see the error in his ways. Until then, he can be by himself.”
“I agree,” Josh said, giving a visibly upset David a pat on his shoulder.
“I feel bad for you, Jase,” Alex sympathized. “I know things have been awkward since you and Mark are roommates.”
“Trust me, I have no problem ignoring Mark,” Jason assured, folding his arms.
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Mark let out a loud sigh as he gathered his belongings and rose from his desk. I’m so sick of this dumbass Advanced Accounting class, he fumed to himself.
“Mr. Johnson,” his professor called just as Mark passed his desk.
Rolling his eyes, Mark turned around. “What’s good, Professor Goodman?” he asked, not hiding his impatience.
Professor Goodman looked down through his glasses at Mark. “Excuse me?” he questioned.
“Sorry. Yes sir?” Mark amended.
“Why didn’t you turn in your assignment?” Professor Goodman asked, shifting papers on his desk.
“I didn’t finish it and I know you don’t accept incomplete assignments... I’m sorry,” Mark admitted. “I um...I have a lot on my mind.” Being shut out from his friends had really taken a toll on the normally vibrant and infectious Mark.
“That’s no excuse, Mr. Johnson.”
Mark glanced at the floor.
“You’re better than that,” Professor Goodman continued. “You’re an excellent student and I would hate to see you mess up the grade that you have because of personal problems.”
Mark sighed; Professor Goodman was right. Despite what he portrayed, Mark was excelling in class. He would hate to slack now.
“You’re right sir. I’ll get it together,” Mark promised.
“I sure hope so,” Professor Goodman said.
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Although the commotion around him was loud and vibrant, Mark’s mood was the opposite. Normally around this time, he would be meeting his friends to go to eat, watch a movie, or just hang out. Instead, he was moseying through campus alone, watching other groups laughing and playing like his group did.
Walking up a path, he saw Malajia sitting on a bench outside of the math building, looking at her phone. He stood there from a far, just watching her. He wanted to walk over and sit next to her, hug her, talk to her, laugh at whatever she was laughing at. Naw, things are too messed up right now, was the thought that swirled in his head. Instead of doing what he wanted to do, he headed off in the other direction.
His lonely journey took him to the campus post office. Walking over to his mailbox, he came face to face with someone that he knew.
“Yo Mark, what’s good man?” the guy cheerfully greeted.
Nothing. Nothing is good right now. Mark just forced a smile in an effort to hide his true feelings. “Chillin’ Rus,” he replied. “Did y’all play ball today?” Russel was one of the people he normally played basketball with at the gym.
“Yeah, earlier,” he replied. “I’m surprised you didn’t come play. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen you at the gym in almost two weeks.”
“Yeah well, I’ve been busy studying,” Mark deflected.
Knowing that Mark had a reputation for slacking, Russel laughed. “Yeah, that’s funny man,” he teased.
Mark shook his head as he proceeded to open his mailbox. Pulling out a larger envelope, he frowned. “What the hell is this?” he mumbled. Seeing that it was from his mother, Mark shrugged.
“Oh, one more thing Mark,” Russel said.
Mark, back towards him, rolled his eyes. This dude talks too damn much. “What is it?”
“Are things with you and Malajia cool?”
Mark spun around, scowling. “What would make you ask me that?”
Russel shrugged as he adjusted the book bag on his shoulder. “You know this campus is small.”
“And?” Mark bit out.
“I haven’t seen y’all hanging out lately, so I was just wondering.”
“You seem to be noticing a lot of shit about me, cuz,” Mark ground out, holding his frown. “What’s your reason for asking me about Malajia?”
“I was thinking that if you weren’t together anymore, that maybe...I could ask her out.”
Mark stared at him in silence for several seconds. “Fool I’ll kill you,” he sneered, earning a chuckle from Russel.
He put his hands up in surrender. “No disrespect, always thought she was cute, just wanted to check,” he said.
“How you gonna say ‘no disrespect’ when you’re tryna holler at my girl?” Mark bristled.
Russel shrugged. “I only asked ‘cause I—”
“Get your stupid ass away from me,” Mark hissed, sending him on his way. “Disrespectful mutha—” he mumbled, glaring at Russel’s departing back. Shaking his head, he stuffed the envelope into his book bag and walked out of the post office.
