"The Boy Is Mine"

Brittany Furlow
Mar 23, 2022
9 min read

Am I Brandy or Monica?

it's hard making friends in college, especially if your experience was anything like mines where I had to commute every damn day. Can you imagine it? Waking up at the ass crack of dawn to drive 45 minutes to school, fight until the death for a parking spot, and then walk 20 minutes around campus just to attend one class?

And I'm expected to make friends in the process?!, (I had bigger things to worry about, like if I had enough gas money to get back home). Besides, I was lucky if someone gave me directions, and not to mention I was attending a P.W.I., so trying to find my group of uneaten Hershey's kisses in a room full of their foil wrappings was another task in itself, (that was a horrible analogy, but I can assume ya'll get it).

So that brings me back to my point; making friends in college was hard. Most of the people walking around campus either already had their group of friends or were too introverted to try and make any at all, and for someone like me who didn't spend enough time on campus for the first two semesters, I had no choice but to rely solely on ample amounts of class time, cafe meet and greets, and begging the most high for weekly group projects. But after a few semesters and learning to jump way out of my comfort zone, I had finally made a friend, (my one uneaten Hershey kiss in a room full of their foil wrappings).

But nothing can ruin a woman's friendship quicker than a man.

So, a little word of advice dear readers, (specifically my ladies), don't sabotage your friendships in college, you need bridesmaids at your wedding.

I prayed and begged for weeks for our professor to assign the class a group project.

After nearly two semesters of having nothing but lecture classes or always making the mistake of scheduling my new semester classes a week before and being stuck with things like 'Bokwa Fitness', I had finally lucked up. This semester I made my schedule early and was now afforded something I had never had at this school: OPTIONS.

With classes like, "The Introduction to World Religions" and "The Black Experience: Part I", I was now on the right path to finally making friends, and not just any friends, but the uneaten Hershey kisses kind of friends.

But let me start from the beginning of the beginning, you know, for context.

Wednesday, 12:15 pm, Oscar Ritchie Hall

Class: Black Experience Part. I

I walked into the classroom and lit up like a lightbulb when I saw them.

There were so many of them that I almost thought my eyes deceived me.

Some were sitting alone while others were in groups, but oh, how excited I was to finally be in a room full of them, a room full of those uneaten Hershey kisses, (I knew signing up for this class would bring about this result. Black Experience: Part I did not disappoint!).

This was my first time stepping inside of a classroom at this P.W.I. where the majority of the students were black. It was an experience so fulfilling, yet so rare for me that I almost forgot where I was, (is this Wakanda?!).

As I stood standing near the doorway, still in my lampshade glow, I looked around the classroom trying to find the perfect middle seat that would grant me complete access to every black person in the room, (I needed a seat that would provide the perfect black to black ratio. I'm trying to make friends here!). With only seconds left on the clock before class started, I grabbed the middle seat to my right and prepared for my first day in this brand new, yet familiar environment; being surrounded by black excellence!

Two weeks had already gone by and aside from small talk before class and sharing notes, I still hadn't cultivated a single friendship, but oh did I have prospects. You see, with my seat providing that perfect black to black ratio I mentioned before, I was able to scope out and assess all of my friendship possibilities.

The Prospects:

Jasmine a.k.a. "Jas":

The sista to my left who complimented my braids the second day of class while I, in return, complimented her shoes.

Julius:

The brotha who sat behind me and faithfully tapped my shoulder on a daily basis to ask, "what he say?!", in regard to our professor who Julius could never understand, (I interpreted at least twelve words and fourteen sentences a day for this man).

Terrance a.k.a. "TJ":

The brotha to my right who would annoyingly tap his pencil like he was an extra from the movie "Drumline" while leaning back in his chair and then wink at me for validation, (TJ was annoying as much as he was fine. So naturally I let it slide).

and last, but not least...

Devyn:

The sista in front of me who would always check in to see if her afro puff was blocking my view, it was, but I'd never tell her that. Besides, she would always offer up her notes during our professor's long-winded lectures and joke with me about the white boy who wore the same dashiki every time to this class.

And there it was, the chance I had been waiting for. The opportunity I needed.

After waiting around for nearly two weeks, the most high had finally heard my prayers and seen my struggles because on the third week, our professor had bestowed upon the class A GROUP PROJECT!

and my money was on devyn!

Monday, 2:45 pm, The Hub

There were four of us assigned to a group and for mines, Devyn was one of its members, (I manifested that, dusts shoulders).

Our assignment was to write about the many ways the Africana Studies Department and its courses could educate and inform institutions like ours on the importance and overall understanding of the African and African derived cultural expressions. With four members assigned to a group, each member was tasked with coming up with one of those many ways along with sharing their perspective on the matter, and with only a week to complete our assignment, Devyn and I decided to spend additional time together without the rest of the group to not only work on our papers, but to just hang out around campus.

We were really starting to become friends. We talked about everything from our classes to our individual experiences navigating a P.W.I., and as time went on, Devyn and I even shared some personal stories. But now, with only two days left until the due date of our group project, something that was nothing short of a coincidence happened. Something that tested this newfound friendship and rocked it to its core, (what are the gotdamn odds that this be another misadventure added to my life?).

As the rest of the members from our group packed up their belongings and headed to either their next class or back to their dorms, Devyn and I stayed behind and decided to grab some food together from the Hub, (thank God because I was starving. My stomach growled the entire time during our session, and it was so loud that you would've thought I was transforming into some kind of she-wolf). As we made our way to the Hub, the two of us grabbed two slices of pizza each and headed for the tables outside that lined perfectly around the campus yard. Thats when it happened. What started off as a fun, casual, and in-depth conversation of two sistas trying to form a "sistahood", quickly turned into an eighteenth-century duel and a fight for survival, MY fight for survival.

The Conversation:

As we sat and ate our food, Devyn and I's conversation took an unexpected turn when she asked me about my love life.

"So, are you dating anybody on campus?", she asked with an investigative grin.

"Oh!", I said shockingly, dropping my pizza back on the plate. "No, I'm not. There is this guy in my World Religions class though who's cute, but it's nothing serious".

With a full mouth and sharing way more information than I needed to, I looked to Devyn whose eyes were now lit up with excitement at the fact that I had a crush, and giving away this "not that big of deal secret" prompted the second half of this conversation.

"Okkk sis, a crush!?", said Devyn who was now leaning into the table giving me her undivided attention. "Why is it nothing serious? Girl, you better talk to him. Ask him his favorite religion". I laughed at her joke and thought long and hard before responding. I didn't want to reply directly to Devyn's statement because, quite frankly, my crush on the guy from my World Religions class was, in fact, nothing serious. He was cute and dressed well, but he wasn't the kind of brotha that I would go out of my way to approach, (nah mean?). I didn't want to have this conversation because there was honestly nothing to talk about, but as usual, because my brain and mouth are naturally unaligned, I once again created an awkward moment that could've been avoided had I listened and followed through on my original plan; say nothing, say nothing at all. Instead, I exaggerated and said more than enough.

"You know what, you're right!", I said looking back at Devyn. "He's always looking at me when I walk in and there's an empty seat next to his. I think I'll sit by him tomorrow in class". (No I wasn't. I was going to sit my ass in my usual spot and leave that man alone. I just thought I'd tell her this for dramatic effect).

"Yesss do that!", said Devyn slamming her palms on the table. "You should invite him to the party that they're having on campus this week. I'll be there and ya'll can just hang out with us".

It didn't even dawn on me that Devyn had used the word 'us', meaning someone else would be with her in attendance to this party. I didn't even think about it because I was too busy being completely overwhelmed by her initial request. I had absolutely no intentions of talking to this brotha from my class and now out of nowhere, my only friend in the sandbox wants me to, not only approach this man, but ask him out? (Damn girl, already?! She moves at lighting speed).

I had no way out of this conversation, but I did however have an excuse for the next time I would see Devyn to speak about this matter. If she asks me if I spoke to World Religions boy, I could say he already has a girlfriend...but boy did I speak too soon.

I continued to hype up and exaggerate our conversation by saying things like, "yes girl, he is so cute"..."he's always looking at me in class"..."I know right? Can't wait for you to meet him!"... "Yess, I do think he's feeling me"... "We're about to have so much fun at this party"... "maybe I should ask him on a date"... "Uh huh, I will ask him on a date"...and a bunch of other bullshit I didn't really mean when I looked passed Devyn's gaze and spotted World Religions boy walking through the Hub and heading in our direction.

"Don't you dare Simone!", my brain said to my mouth. "Don't say anything! Stick to our second plan! It's the last one we have! let him walk by".

"There he is right there!", I shouted, pointing behind Devyn and exactly on target, (GOTDAMNIT Simone!).

Devyn, excited, quickly turned around and then back towards me. She was no longer excited.

"Right where?", asked Devyn in a serious tone, (Quick! Point to someone else!... There!... No wait, that's a professor).

"Right there, behind you", I replied. The one in the dark green jacket", (you laying out specifics, sis?!).

World Religions boy had stopped to talk to a guy sitting at one of the tables inside of the Hub, meanwhile, Devyn, with her head tilted looked at me with a face that could've either been confusion or anger...or both.

"The guy with the dark green jacket and black pants? The one talking at the table over there? That's the guy you like?", (no girl, another guy with a dark green jacket talking at another table).

"Yea!", I said with a smile.

Completely ignoring the fact that Devyn had questions on top of questions and then more follow up questions before she was sure she could solve the puzzle, I still couldn't tell where this conversation was headed. But gathering up the right amount of evidence and relying on her intuition, Devyn didn't need to buy anymore vowels, she was ready to solve, because we were indeed talking about the same man.

"Yea, no", started Devyn, putting down her drink and shaking her head. "That guy in the dark green jacket, yea babygirl, that's my boyfriend".

(WTF!... I did not see that coming).

"OOPS", I said quietly to myself as I slowly drew my head down to my drink.

Moments later, World Religions boy finally made it over to our table, and after saying "hi" to the both of us, he grabbed a seat that sat between both Devyn and I and created the same distance on both sides. With Devyn still staring at me and World Religions boy being completely oblivious to the whole ordeal that transpired seconds before, I continued to sit at the table eating my pizza wondering if I was Brandy or Monica in this situation.

I did say he had a girlfriend, (I manifested that, dusts shoulders).