As I lay in my twin bed that night, I was confused. I already had a girl. Tameka. In fact, I had a family. Tameka was carrying my baby and she was relying on me to be there for her. But I was too busy falling in love with someone else and I didn't know how to stop it. But I knew I had to. I had responsibilities. For two days, I avoided Lexi. When practice was over, I ducked into the locker room and didn't surface until I was sure she'd gone on without me. I needed to stay away from her. She caused things inside of me to be topsy-turvy. She caused me to feel things that I'd never felt before, and the inner struggle had my head messed up.

"Are you avoiding me?" she finally asked one day, cornering me after practice.

"Nah," I lied. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, I haven't heard from you in like two days...no phone calls...no text messages," she said, those beautiful eyes peering at me as if they could see into my soul. "I'm not sweating you or anything. I was just curious."

"Nah, I just been busy," I said and then changed the subject. "Where you headed?"

"To the cafeteria for some grub." She smiled that beautiful smile. "You coming?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," I said and started strolling beside her.

"I'll race you." Lexi started jogging slowly backward.

"You can't beat me, so don't even waste your time," I boasted.

"Come on then, let's see what you got," she taunted. She was competitive and I loved that about her. She wasn't soft like most girls.

"I don't wanna embarrass you," I said. I wanted to grab her right then and hold her in my arms.

"You don't wanna embarrass yourself." She laughed.

That did it. My male ego kicked in and I started running. Lexi started running, too, and almost caught me. But I was too quick for her. Bent over in front of the cafeteria, trying to catch my breath, I waited for her to show up.

"What took you so long?" I asked her.

"You cheated, Vance. You took off running before anybody said ready, set or go."

"No excuses, girl. I beat you fair and square."

"No you didn't," she insisted.

"Yes, I did," I wrapped my arm around Lexi's neck. I had to touch her, needed to be close to her. I put her in a headlock.

"I'm falling for you, V," she said, lifting her head, her eyes gazing into mine.

Why did she have to go there? Why did she have to verbalize what I was feeling for her, too? Didn't she know that my life was already complicated? Too complicated for conversations like this. Too complicated for strange feelings to be running through me like a freight train. Too complicated for her to be in my dreams every night.

"Come on, girl, let's go see what's on this menu," I said, avoiding her comment. Nobody needed to be falling for anybody, in my opinion. Especially since one of us had a girlfriend and a baby on the way. I had to constantly remind myself of that fact.

"It's probably burgers today," Lexi stated, not even flinching at the fact that I had avoided her comment. She went on as if nothing was ever said.

In my heart I wanted to say, "I'm falling for you, too, Lexi girl." But I knew better. Life was complicated enough, and who needed the hassle?

That was days ago. Tonight as I got dressed for the party, I couldn't wait to see her face.

Jaylen and I stepped into the party as Flo Rida's voice filled the room. People were all over the dance floor. Jaylen immediately started bouncing to the music. He smoothly made his way over to a light brown girl who was holding a bottle of beer in her hand, whispered something in her ear and instantly they were on the dance floor together. I moved to the music while I scanned the room, in search of that familiar face that belonged to Lexi. When skinny arms wrapped themselves around me from behind, I knew I'd found her.

"Who you looking for?" she asked.

I turned to face her. "You." I smiled and planted a kiss on her plump lips.

"Wanna dance?" she asked, and then pulled me onto the dance floor without waiting for an answer.

While moving to the beat of Flo Rida, I lived in the moment. There was no place I'd rather have been than where I was at that moment. Feeling that way seemed right, but everything in me told me it was wrong. As I watched Lexi shake her sexy body in front of me, everything became shades of gray. I didn't know the difference between right and wrong anymore.

nine.

Marcus Jae was staring at his computer screen when I stepped into the room. He looked at me and smiled.

"Hello, Marcus."

"What's up, Jae?" I asked and decided to have a little fun with my Korean roommate who could barely speak English. "You chillin' chillin'?"

"Chillin' chillin'?" he asked.

"Yeah, chillin'. You know, just hanging and being cool," I explained my slang to him.

"Being cool?"

"Yeah, chillin' and being cool. That's a good thing, Jae. It means that you're all right." I smiled. "I got a lot to teach you in just a few weeks."

"Tell me about your family, Marcus," Jae said. "Tell me about Georgia."

"Well, I live with my Pop...I mean, my father. He got custody of me after him and my mother got a divorce. My mother lives in Texas."

"You wanted to live with your father?"

"Well, I didn't really have a choice. My mother sort of walked out on us. She left us," I explained. "It was my father who took care of me when I was little. But my mother came back after a few years."

"Were you angry with her for leaving?" Jae asked.

"Yeah, I was pretty pissed off when she left."

Jae struggled to understand. "Pissed off?"

"Yeah, I was upset. That's what pissed off means...you know, angry. She left me at a time in my life when I really needed her."

"Do you have siblings?"

"Nah, I'm an only child," I said. "What about you, Jae? You got sisters and brothers?"

"I have five sisters and one brother. I am the youngest child of seven. My parents are very poor. Much poverty in my country. I am the first to attend college," Jae said.

"Well, that's cool." I smiled.

"Yes, cool." Jae smiled. "Chillin' chillin'. Right, Marcus?"

I nodded and laughed. That's all I could do as I dropped my shoes and relaxed on my bed.

"I miss my girl," I said. "I miss her like crazy."

"You have a girlfriend?" he asked. "What is her name?"

"Indigo," I said and pulled her picture from the drawer of my nightstand. Showed it to Jae. "This is her."

"She's very pretty." He grabbed the photo and stared at it for a moment. Handed it back to me.

"Yeah, she is," I said and then tucked her picture back into its place. "What about you, Jae? You got a girl back home in Korea?"

He was silent for a moment then dropped his head.

"Yes, but we can't be together. Our families have too much hatred for one another. Our fathers are too stubborn." Jae's eyes were sad. "I love her, but our love is forbidden."

"What? That sound like some Romeo and Juliet type stuff, man."

"Romee and Julie? Who's that?"

"Romeo and Juliet. It's an old story by an old writer, William Shakespeare, about two lovers who couldn't be together because of their families. It's pretty sad."

"I never read that story before," Jae said. "Where can I find it?"

"Go to the library. It's probably in there," I told him.

"You think it's there?" he asked.

"I'm sure it is," I said. "It's like a classic story. Every library in the world probably has it on the shelf."

"Will you go with me, Marcus...to the library to find it?"

"Right now?"

"Yes. I would really like to read that story."

Was he serious? He wanted me to get up out of my comfortable bed and trample over to the Fine Arts Library in search of an ancient story.

"All right, man." I slipped my shoes back on to my feet. "Let's go."

We had to hurry. It was eight thirty-five by my watch, and the library closed at nine. We rushed over and just made it before closing. We both stood in front of the woman at the front desk; her head was down as she read something. When she looked up, I realized it was Daria.

"Hi." I smiled at her.

"Hi." She smiled back and we both just got lost in the moment.

Jae nudged me.

"Um...we're looking for William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet," I said. "Can you help us find it?"

"Sure." She punched some buttons on her computer and then stood. "This way."

I watched her walk as she made her way to the fiction section of the library, Jae and I following close behind her. She went right to the book, pulled it from the shelf.

"Romeo and Juliet?" she asked. "You got a paper to write or something?"

"It's for my friend here." I nodded toward Jae. "He's never read it before."

"You'll need lots of tissue." She smiled at Jae. He smiled back, but it was clear he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Thank you," he responded.

"Marcus, I had a good time the other day," she said as she began walking back to the front of the library.

"Yeah, it was cool," I said, trying to keep the conversation light. Didn't really want to talk about anything personal in front of Jae. We followed Daria to the checkout counter where he placed his book.

"What are you doing tomorrow night?" she continued. "You wanna go to a party?"

"Sounds like fun," I said.

"Good. Let me give you my number." She grabbed a piece of paper from a notepad and jotted her number down on it. "Call me and we'll meet outside your dorm."

I grabbed the paper reluctantly from her fingertips. Stuffed it into the pocket of my jeans.

"Holler at you later," I said before ushering Jae out the door.

I was grateful for air as we stood outside the library and headed back toward our dorm.

"What was that?" Jae asked.

"What was what?" I played dumb.

"Was she flirting with you...or were you flirting with her? And did she just ask you to go on a date?" He grinned. "What about Indigo?"

"What are you talking about, man? Nobody was flirting. And it's not a date, it's just a party. And she's just a friend."

"Just a friend." Jae laughed and then mocked Daria. "I had a good time the other day, Marcus." He batted his eyes like a girl would. "What was that?"

"It was nothing. We just went to a coffee shop, had a couple of lattes," I explained.

"Lattes?"