Kayla POV

Let's all go on a date together.

That's what Kayla texted her friends. Seemed like a good idea. She only saw Calvin at the Kappa party when Amari first bumped into him, and she had not met Trenton and Sharynn had not even shown them pictures of what he looked like. She wanted her best friends to meet her boyfriend.

She knew Isom would win them over. 

Amari: I'm in!

Sharynn: Sure

So they planned for a Friday night. She did the best with her hair, leaving it out curly since Isom liked it that way, and dressing in a new curves-fitting dress that made her keep looking at herself. She looked good. She had lost some weight since moving out of her mother's house. Not much, but the scale did not lie to her.

Fifteen pounds was a lot. She did not even try, maybe the stress of her mother situation did something to her. She did give up her love for junk food and ate a lot of the foods Isom cooked for her.

Which also cleared up her sometimes acne-prone skin. She went to put makeup on to cover her sometimes splotchy skin, but it was so clear and glowing. She put on a few strokes of blush and then eyeshadow, brushed out her brows, then added a clear gloss to her lips.

She looked herself over again in the mirror.

She looked good!

Where did this newfound confidence in herself come from? She loved it. As she continued to stare at herself in her mirror, there was a knock on the door and she knew it was Isom. Hopefully, he thought she looked good as well, and even if he did not, whatever, she was happy for the first time in her life.

"Heeeey!" Isom said to her when he opened the door. His eyes focused on her body in the fitted dress.

"I'm ready," she said to him, grabbing her phone and purse. "You look nice."

He wore dark slacks, and a black buttoned-down shirt, tucked in with a belt around his waist. Nice black shoes, was freshly shaved, his goatee perfect, his locs pulled back in a low ponytail. And as always, he smelled so fresh.

"No, Kayla, you look amazing." He pulled her in his arms and held her tight in a hug.

She giggled at him. "Thanks. I can't wait for you to meet my friends," she said as they walked to the elevator. "Oh, you met Amari, she helped me move in, but you need to meet Sharynn. She's so cool and smart and...well, they are the sisters I wished I had growing up."

"And you all pledged a sorority, right?"

"Yes, but we won't talk about that all night. Sharynn is an accountant, who makes big money. She brags about her money too, I hope that's okay."

"Doesn't bother me." He let her step on the elevator first before he stepped in.

"And Amari, I guess she's like an Influencer. She does the social media things and does it well. Makes decent money. She's really popular because she's so pretty and everyone loves her so..." She stopped herself from talking as Isom gave her a look. "What?"

"I know you're excited for me to meet your friends, but I just want to focus on you." He took her hand and pulled her close to him. "I have a beautiful, incredible girlfriend that I care for a lot. I wish you could see what I see."

She did not know what to say to that. Sure, she believed in herself more now, but was she really beautiful? She never looked at herself that way. She never was told that, not by a guy. Her friends said it to her, but they were only being nice to her. She did not look like a model or actress on television, or the pretty girls on Instagram with the perfect pictures and hot guys sliding into their DMs.

Okay, maybe she did not want all the creeper guys in her DMs. She never wanted to catch the attention of men like that, she just wanted to find one guy that would love her enough. Hopefully, Isom was that guy.

Isom drove and they had a long way to go to have dinner and play games at Dave & Buster's in Earth City. That was far from downtown. Isom played old-school hip-hop music that they both loved and rapped along to. His favorite was Biggie, hers was Tupac. They both were too young to remember the guys at the height of their music before they were taken away, but they grew to love them anyway.

As far as female rappers, she was partial to Cardi B while he liked Megan Thee Stallion. They also discussed the whole female rapper phenomenon going on with Nicki Minaj, Latto, Ice Spice, Glo-Rilla, and of course St. Louis' own, Sexxy Redd. She was of course team female rapper. She liked them all.

"That was a good discussion," she said to him as he parked the car.

"I'm glad we like the same music."

He took her hand as they made their way inside. She immediately saw Sharynn, looking like she going to a business meeting in a bright red pantsuit with a white shirt underneath. Of course, she had black mile-high stilettos on, her hair freshly weaved in flowing waves down her back and her make-up looked professionally done. It wasn't, Sharynn was good at makeup application. Beside her was a guy similarly dressed in an expensive-looking dark suit, nice shoes, freshly groomed hair, and face.

He looked like money, definitely Sharynn's type. He had to be Trenton, but she had not seen a picture of him so she was unsure.

"Hey girl," Sharynn greeted her with a hug. "Of course, our girl is going to be late so I'm going to see if they can seat us now."

"Oh, cool." Why was she nervous about her friends getting to know Isom? What if they did not like him, what would she do? She never dated a guy before, this was all new territory. "Uh, Shar, this is Isom, my boyfriend. Isom, this is one of my best friends, Sharynn."

Isom stepped right up to Sharynn and gave her a light hug. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to finally meet you too." Sharynn smiled as she looked Isom up and down. "Trenton, come meet my girl, from way back in college, my line sister, my bestie, Kayla."

"What's up," Trenton said with a nod to her. "Babe, our table is ready."

It was kind of loud in the place, with lots of music and people talking, and of course, noise from the gaming area. She had only been to Dave & Buster's once, last year with a group from the Alumnae Chapter. She was not impressed with the food, but hopefully, the game play would be fun.

"Oh no," she said softly and whispered to Isom. "Can you eat anything here?"

"I always can find something to eat, don't worry about me."

They made it to a large table and all sat down. She grabbed her phone and looked at it to see if Amari had group texted them. She was hungry and she wanted to order some food.

"I'm here, I'm here, I'm here!" she heard as Amari sashayed over in a short tight dress, hair long and down her back. "Sorry I'm late, but you know me!"

"She wasn't ready when I picked her up," Calvin stated. "So that's not on me, just want you to know that."

"Calvin, don't be a suck up." Calvin helped her with her chair as she sat and he sat beside her. "Ladies, you remember Calvin. Oh, I guess you were not introduced when we met at the Alpha House. Well, Cal, these are my girls...and ladies, this is my man."

"Uh! She's so rude," Sharynn said. "Calvin, nice to meet you, I'm Sharynn. This is my boyfriend Trenton. That's Kayla over there and her boyfriend Isom. Does everyone know each other now? Good, now let's eat! You know I need lots of food."

Kayla giggled at her friend. Well, everything was going great so far.