What's up folks?!

So, what did you think of that new edited version? New readers, what do you think about the story so far?

Does anyone see a few things going on within the story? Like a few problems the girls have? Their major problems? (Yeah, I can't explain it well. Sorry.)

Well, we are still on Rena's POV! Throughout the story, you'll learn about all five girls and see how they choose to live their lives!

Please see the triggers that are in the summary of this story. Just saying.

Alright, y'all! That's all I have! You may continue! 💜🤫

****

When it came to love, I was different from many women my age. I believed in the fairytale love. You know? Where the guy finds the love of his life by just bumping into them one day and they stay in love for a while until the guy feels it's the right time to ask their lover to marry them. They get married, buy a house, have children and a dog named Spot, and just stay in love. They fight through the temptations together and have eyes for no one else but each other.

That kind of love. The kind of love that made your foot pop in the air when you kissed your soul mate.

Ever since I was a little girl, my heart overflowed with hope. Hope that I'd have that one day. I wanted a husband that loved me unconditionally. My love was so strong and I felt capable of sharing my love with a wonderful man. Spoiling him every day with my love when he comes home from work just because he deserves it for being so hardworking and amazing.

There wasn't an exact deadline for when I wanted all of this, but this was around the time I thought he'd come my way.

Instead, in the words of Rihanna, "I go back again, fall off the train, land in his bed, and repeat yesterday's mistakes."

This newly-turned 20-year-old decided to listen to her lust queen of a roommate and bounce from home to home messing around with different college guys that would have me. Somehow, I thought that this would help me find the love. Not realizing I was looking for love in the wrong places, I talked to men online and found myself in their beds the next day just to be kicked out.

My mind thought that they probably wanted the same thing I wanted. Little did I know they just wanted someone to make them feel good in that moment. Since the guys wanted physical touch, maybe that was my way to find my future love of my life.

Well, meet the so-called guy I wanted to be the future love of my life. Keenan was a tall 25-year-old with a young child and a messy apartment filled with baby stuff. But he had a shaft that can make you think you're flying around the solar system. His sex game was so wild that he'd probably make you do stupid stuff like...I don't know...

Make you think you're falling in love? Make you want to be a step-mother?

Yes, he had a son. At the same time, I was good with kids and being a step-mom wasn't a problem to me. He may have thought otherwise but I wouldn't have known that because he was one of those guys that never kicked me out of his home at two in the morning.

So, after we did the hanky panky, we moved into the living room and watched a romantic movie. He sat up against the couch with my bulky and hairy legs in his lap. As we watched the movie, thoughts ran through my mind about our relationship. We weren't in a serious relationship and that's what I wanted. For once in my life, I wanted to be taken seriously especially by someone that knows me already. We've been in this friends-with-benefits situation for a long time. A year and a half, to be exact.

Was this a good time to ask him what he thought about our little fling we have going on? He needed to know how I felt about him.

Wait! No, he didn't because he would probably push me away.

While my mind was on one thing, my mouth spat out other things.

"Hey, Keenan," my lips motioned as I sat up a bit more as his hands rubbed up and down my thighs. His long face turned to me with his chocolate glare sinking deep into my soul. His sweet smile curled up on his face and just watched me with glee. He was probably pleased with what we just did.

Chills were sent through my body and I didn't want to ask him anymore, but he really wanted to know what was going through my mind. "You wanted to ask me something?"

Sighing to myself as his long fingers ran down my legs and massaged my feet, I reconsidered my earlier thoughts. What if my thoughts ruined our friendship?

Unfortunately, my lips had other thoughts again. They opened up with a "Well...I've been thinking. We've known each other and spent plenty of time together. During that time, you've learned about my intentions so...I wanna know...what we really are?"

His hand slowly stopped stroking the bottom of my foot and his smile fell into a flat line across his face. Those thoughts weren't supposed to come out but they did and I wish they hadn't because his next words were about how he truly valued our friendship. Talking about how he thought I wasn't ready for all of the baggage that came with him.

Maybe he was right. At the same time, I couldn't help but wonder if he was kidding or serious. That response helped me realize he was like all of the other guys that talked to me. Just for their own pleasure. He played with my body like it was a fucking Barbie doll or action figure and I was over going through this. Keenan was the main person that I trusted with my body and it seemed like he really wanted more out of this. Taking me with him outside of the house, letting me meet his kid, holding my hand, and kissing me in public made me feel like he wanted me to be his.

My body was offered up to him not just in lust and he basically just made me feel worthless. Like a fucking play thing and it was bad enough that I was already self-conscious. It's hard for women my size to get men already. To be pushed away like I was made me feel gullible. It was stupid of me to think that he really wanted something serious. You'd think that a 25-year-old man with a kid was ready to settle down with someone.

Standing up from the couch, my eyes searched for my clothes in secret frustration. It was about time for me to head home anyhow. Spending the night wasn't an option in this moment. Walking into his bedroom, I used one hand to look through the many toys that stayed on the floor while the other one covered my body as best as it could. Digging through the blocks, I found my cotton hipsters and sweatpants.

My shirt and bra were found by a pool of change that sat by his dresser. I placed them all on the bed and prepared myself for an upsetting leave. As I was about to clasp my bra on from the front, here came this womanizer with his warm arms coming around me making me melt in them.

"Are you leaving me?" he whispered in my ear as he cupped my saggy chest in his hands and kissing my neck. Yeah, that was the last straw. The juggling of my tits made me uncomfortable.

"I'm going home. This was cool and all, but I have to go," my lips opened according to my hurt heart. Snatching myself from his hold, I twisted my bra and lifted the straps over my shoulders to hold my chest in place. This is what he wanted so I had to keep up with this charade as if my feelings weren't fucked up.

"Maybe we can cuddle instead. I have your favorite snack. We can eat those Nutty Buddies I have in the kitchen and watch Despicable Me. There's also pink Moscato in there," he walked over to bedroom door and blocking it as soon as he saw me put on all my clothes.

Groaning in my head, I thought about the words he just said. Why did he want to cuddle with me? This was a hit-it-and-quit-it type of relationship. Cuddling leads to more feelings and that's not what he wanted, am I right?

Then again, he knew I loved Nutty Buddies and cartoons like the child I was in my mind. It didn't hurt to stick around and have a drink or two. Just no sex. Show him how strong you are.

"Fine. After the movie, I'm out," I stated harshly as my body fell back onto the couch not exactly trusting myself. Yeah, we had sex about two more times during the movie and I spent the night. Once again, my feelings got me beside myself and that shaft made me weak in the knees. Good game, Player.

****

It was the Wednesday after that weekend and I was able to make the early morning study session with the class assistant. Jed was some kind of beefy, but he knew how to rock a t-shirt. His body shape didn't keep him from looking good.

Sitting on the bench across from the study room, I was reading a literature book for class and thinking about what transpired this past weekend. Fuck, was I weak or what?

"Working hard or hardly working, Rena?" I heard a familiar voice call and a random smile formed across my face. My eyes darted in the direction the voice came from and it was none other than the handsome Jedi himself.

"Trying to work hard, but I may be hardly working. Overworking myself, I guess. Trying to give myself a head start before we get started with this study session," my lips opened up as he unlocked the room and held the door open for me. What a gentleman.

Picking my seat in the room, he followed my lead and sat near me while saying "Look at you being an overachiever. I like it, Rena."

The way he said my name made an uncontrollable grin curl up on my face. Chuckling to myself, I pulled out my notebook and pens just to be greeted with a honeybun in Jed's hand.

"It's early in the morning and I figured people wouldn't be able to eat breakfast on the way here. Take it," he said as he sent me a forest green-eyed wink and pulled out a few things for the study session. My heart grew as I softly took the sweet snack out of his hands and opened it.

While feeding myself, he started with the study session and a quick scent of strong peppermint swiftly passed by my nostrils. My eyes looked at him while he spoke more about what was going to be on the test. Either his breath smelled good or he has some really great cologne.

Oh, wait. It's actually me. My hand sanitizer was open on my backpack.

Anyway, as I studied his straight posture and made myself comfortable, my heart skipped a beat. He was just so dreamy that I couldn't focus on anything else but him. My mind wondered if he had ever dated a black girl before?

Speaking of being black, why was he the class assistant in a class targeted towards black people? He was white and there weren't many white people in these kinds of classes. You'd be shocked at how many black people don't know about their own history or literature. I was one of those black people. Hence why I'm taking the class.

"Hey, Jed. I have a question," my lips started as his eyes softly landed on me, letting me know that I got his attention.

"Fire away, Rena."

"Well, what's got you assisting a professor that teaches a class meant for black people?" He smirked at my question and nodded to himself.

"You're not the only one who's asked me that. Just wanted to let you know that. Like many other cultures, I just find the literature exhilarating and the culture is something interesting to learn about. Plus, half of the curriculum here is about my race. We're all forced to learn about it. Don't you want to learn about something else for once? Something that others dare not learn about?" he finished as he took a bite out of his honeybun. The way the words rolled off his tongue turned me on even more. If I could kiss him, I would have.

He was right though. We were forced to learn a specific curriculum geared towards the same things and if something different were to come about, it wasn't taught much or no one was interested in it. Luckily in college, students got to travel to learn more about different subjects. Like this sophomore wanted to go to Spain soon to learn about its culture.

"Well, have you been to Africa before?" I asked feeling great about getting to know this Jedi.

"I have and it was beautiful. We went there for a mission trip and-"

"Sorry, Teach! We were late because we had to get breakfast. We brought you a coffee though," one of the perky sorority girls interrupted as she passed a Starbucks coffee cup to Jed.

He smiled down at it and wrapped his hands around the cup saying "Well, thanks. It's good to see more people showing up. Rena, we'll catch up later."

Soon, a rush of about 20 to 25 of my colleagues came in the large study room and Jed started the group study session. Rolling my eyes, I looked down at my open literature book as he spoke. So much for spending time getting to know our tutor.

While Jed was helping all of us, a Cardi B ringtone blared throughout the study room and my phone vibrated against my thigh. Connecting my face to my hand, I realized that this was Jessica's doing. She loves the song Wish Wish and that's what sounded from my phone.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and silenced the explicit song by switching my phone to vibrate. My eyes landed on the screen that showed Jess' contact picture of her and I at a waterpark last year with drinks in our hands.

It was probably about her and Jana arguing again. How she wanted me to stop her from whooping Jana's ass because if I didn't, she'd kill her. They needed to work out their differences. I sent her straight to voicemail and put my phone back in my pocket thinking the phone call wouldn't be important.

Unfortunately, sending my Hispanic and crazy cousin to voicemail wasn't an option. She didn't care how busy you were. She'd keep calling until someone finally answered.

After the tenth callback, I had to answer it and it made me annoyed as hell. Walking out of the study room and into the hallway, I answered with a "What the hell do you want, Jess?!"

"FIRST OF ALL, don't talk to me like that or I'll stomp you through this damn phone. Just because you're my cousin don't mean shit. Anyway, this is important," she spoke with her tough attitude coming out and my eyes rolled.

"Jess, you and Jana arguing about who gets the bathroom first is not important. Talk to me when I get home," I noted as I pulled the phone away from my ear. Luckily, my ears could still hear her off speaker. That's how loud she was.

"Excuse me? That is important unless you really want to see your best friend part of the living room carpet. I'm not playing about that bathroom. She takes the longest time in there. Anyway, it's not about my cheating hoe," she spoke.

"What else could you be blowing my phone up about, Jess? Did you forget that I was at school?"

"No, I didn't. I'm blowing your damn phone up because your precious goddaughter is missing! How's that for important? I told you not to leave that little girl with me, but do you bitches listen?! Hell the fuck no! So, get the fuck home now, bitch," she snapped as she hung up on me.

Feeling myself losing my breath, my mind went into defense mode. My phone dropped out of my hand and I couldn't move.

I had to save my girl.