The Colors of Friendship by K. R. Raye @KRRaye

New Friends

Imani slurped her spaghetti and watched as Lance came over to their table in the Union accompanied by three girls.  She recalled one of the three as the cute little chick with the sporty bob that Lance got acquainted with last night at the Alpha party. 

Lance gestured for the three to take a seat at their table and Imani almost choked on her spaghetti.  What the…?  Her eyebrow arched.  Lance never introduced his conquests to his friends, much less invited them to sit down at their table. 

John, Joe, and Big Tony, Lance’s defensive teammates, stopped their conversation mid-chew as the trio of females waited for introductions. 

Trevor gave Imani a funny look but continued to eat his burger. 

“Hey everyone,” Lance said getting their already-rapt attention.  “This is Krystal,” he said gesturing towards the cutie with the bob.  He motioned towards her striking, dark-skinned and chestnut-colored, bohemian girlfriends.  “And these are her friends Karen and Erycah.”  

“Hey there,” said Big Tony.

“Hi,” Trev said adding in a head nod.

Lance continued the introductions of those seated around the table.  “The sole female holding down the house here is Imani.”

“Pleased to meet you.”  She smiled and nodded.  “I normally have extra estrogen in the form of our girlfriend, Melody—”

“And Melody has more than enough romanticized estrogen for all of us,” Big Tony said provoking chuckles from the table regulars.  

Lance shook his head and continued.  “The intelligent, cool cat next to her is Trevor and these three knuckleheads are my football teammates. The first smooth operator here is John, the Free Safety.  At Middle Linebacker is Joe. And this Defensive Tackling beast is Big Tony,” he said pointing to Big Tony.  “You have to watch out for this last one here.”

Big Tony grunted.  “Please, Lance is the one you need to watch out for.”

“So, we’ve heard.  And not just from Krystal,” the bolder, brassy Karen said, giving Lance a suggestive glance. 

“Karen!” Krystal whispered in protest as she elbowed Karen hard in the side. 

Trev kicked Imani under the table and she tried hard not to laugh out loud in appreciation of the girl’s honesty. 

“Oh, my,” Big Tony mouthed to Joe and John while Lance covered his head with his hands.

“Please excuse Karen.  Sometimes her mouth is too big for her own good.”  Erycah gave her friend the evil eye. 

“Whatever!”  Karen continued on undeterred and turned to Imani.  “So, Imani, how did you get stuck amongst all this ridiculous testosterone?” 

Imani snorted and put down her fork.  Okay, she could definitely hang out with this crazy, tell-it-like-it-is, mad-blunt-ass girl.  “It’s my charitable donation.  No other self-respecting person felt bad enough to hang out with a bunch of dumb jocks.  What’s your excuse?”

“Ah, thanks,” said Joe and John in unison.

Karen smiled and leaned back in her chair.  “I’m just helping out my dating-challenged girlfriend here try to snag a certain football player.”  Karen pointed to Krystal who blushed beet red beneath her cinnamon-burnished skin.  Erycah rolled her eyes and Lance’s eyebrow rocketed off his forehead. 

“I’ll have you know I’m a chemical engineer like Imani, so you can’t lump me in with these guys,” Trev said finishing his burger. 

“What?”  Big Tony looked at Lance, Joe, and John then sniffed his massive underarms.  “Do we smell now or something because I swore I showered this morning?”    

“Wow, I didn’t know you two were engineers,” Erycah said almost gushing.  “I’m a mechanical engineer.”

Imani frowned; she swore she knew all of the black engineers at school as there weren’t many of them at their predominantly white college.  “I’ve never seen you at any of the NSBE meetings.”

“Nehs-bee?”

“Oh, good Lord,” Imani replied and gave Trevor an incredulous look.  “The National Society of Black Engineers.  If you’re serious about engineering, you gotta come to our next meeting.  Trev and I can give you the details.” 

“Sounds great,” Erycah replied with enthusiasm.

“Sounds boring,” Big Tony said pretending to stifle a yawn.

“And that’s why Imani called you a bunch of dumb jocks,” Karen muttered.

“Ooooohhhhh,” Joe and John howled, doubling over in laughter. 

“Yep, y’all can stay,” Imani said with a slow smile.  “Welcome to the gang.”    

True friendship endures all obstacles…right?

Three college friends search for true love, NFL fame, and a successful engineering career. Will one friend’s quest for happiness endanger all three of their lives?

Naïve, romantic Melody Wilkins aims to find true love at college just like her parents. But will she sacrifice her soul to obtain it?

No-nonsense Imani Jordan strives for good grades and a chemical engineering degree. When a friendship offers more, will she follow her head or her heart?

Lance Dunn is only serious about two things: football and protecting his girls, Melody and Imani. When a threat enters their lives and tests their friendship, can he stop it before it kills them?

After the torrents of jealousy, sex, and abuse subside, will their friendship survive…The Colors of Friendship?

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Genre – New Adult, Contemporary

Rating – R

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