Marketta POV

Ricky was so damn cute.

He sure took her mind off her troubles. The MAX ladies so-called dropping them, if that was what was going on.

Ricky took her mind off of it.

"You're so cool, girl. Like, we vibe a lot. Just keeping it chill, right."

"Yeah." They were at the Union sharing a basket of supreme nachos. Drown her sorrows in food. She could not tell Ricky why she was so depressed and sad. She really wanted MAX, but now she did not know if it was going to happen.

How the hell were they supposed to know what they did wrong?

"You know you can talk to me about whatever."

Naa, she did not feel that comfortable with him like that. The last guy she told her everything to it did not turn out so well. She missed Jordan. She could talk to him about this and maybe he would understand. Ricky was hot, but beyond his looks, he was smart and focused on his schoolwork. If he was not already Greek, she would wonder why he was in a fraternity.

Not the typical Omega Psi Phi man, the "nasty que-dog" as they were called. Or maybe she did not know him well enough. He could be the dog most fraternity guys were.

"Tell me about your last relationship. How did it end?" He probably never even had a girlfriend, just link-ups.

He stuffed a nacho in his mouth and chewed before he answered her. "She cheated on me."

Damn, that was rough and not what she expected to hear from him. She knew girls cheated as much as guys did. Women got away with it better.

"Sorry."

"Same for you?"

She did not want to answer. She looked around tentatively, watching the people walk by before she looked back over at him. "No, not exactly. Well, he didn't cheat as far as I know, but his best friend, slash roommate cheated on my sister and he lied to cover up his lies. It was all a hot mess and I lost a lot of trust in him. Guys are pigs."

"Whoa!" He threw up his hands and chuckled. "What did I do? And so you broke up with him just because of the bro code? He was supposed to snitch on his bro? His frat?"

Hell yeah, she thought to herself. This boy was not going to defend Jordan. "Yes! Especially because it was my sister. Two snakes."

"No, no, listen...I ain't defending the dude or anything, but what was he supposed to do? Tell you and then you run and tell your sister?"

"Well...yeah. Or...or...hear me out, don't cheat! Don't cheat, don't lie, and be the man you claim you are."

Ricky held up his hands again. "Hey, I'm just playing devil's advocate. Yes, I guess in a way he lied to you, knowing it would hurt your sister. But I don't know. I have to have my frat brother's back, or how else is their trust in the brotherhood."

Great! He was saying all the frat boys cheated and lied and covered for each other. She really should leave fraternity guys alone.

"Wait, but I am not a cheater. That is not me. Don't think that because of what I said. If I'm with someone, I'm with someone. If I feel the need to cheat, I'm bouncing. And I would personally not lie to you. I'm a bad liar."

Yeah, and she had trust issues. He was not saying anything that made her trust men. All some of the same.

"So tell me, Marketta, if your sister was the one that cheated... would you tell your ex, who is his best friend/frat brother?"

"My sister would not-"

"Answer the question."

"That's different then. That's my sister. I would tell her it's wrong, but it's not my business-"

"Bingo!" Ricky shouted out. "You wouldn't understand it not being in a fraternity. It's like we're brothers. That's the brotherhood man. It ain't blood, but it's a bond. For life."

Did this boy just school her like she was on line? Now she was seeing things differently.

Later in the day, she did something she thought she would never, ever do. She called Jordan.

"Marky!" She could hear the excitement in his voice. "You okay?"

"Ummm...can we meet up? In private."

"Say less. Walk down the street from the dorm, around the corner, right on Schultz Street, and I'll swoop you up."

Jordan had to know it would not be cool for her to be seen with him, non session time. Rather they were still on line or the process had ended, she wanted to be careful. She even wore shades and put her hoodie over her head. When she made it to the destination, Jordan's new car pulled up beside her.

She got in and he took off.

"Talk to me."

"I think the MAX ladies dropped us."

"Say what now?" He chuckled at that.

"It's not funny! They were really mad at us after the party and said we did not deserve to be on line. They said it was over, leave the house and we haven't had a session in five days."

"Oh, okay," he only said.

She popped him in the arm. "Stop it! This is serious."

He tossed her a grin as he drove. "I'm glad you called me."

"We can be friends, right."

"Yeah, that part."

It felt like the good old times talking to him. She saw things a little differently after talking to Ricky. Not that she was giving Jordan another chance.

"How's all of your influencing things going? Your dancing?"

"I'm going to be in the Delta Talent show again next weekend. I might have a shot at first place this time."

"Nope, Anika and her crew are still in it."

"I have a crew," he said.

This she did not know about. Last year he performed in the talent show with Manny singing and they won second place with Anika and Essence of Soul coming in first. Since then, Essence of Soul had won so many talent shows around Illinois they were famous.

"Okay, back to me and MAX. Do you know what's going on?"

"I do."

She waited for him to say more. When he did not, she popped him on the arm again. "Well?"

"Now you know I can't tell."

"But we're friends," she said in her sweetest voice.

"Now don't do that and make a brother weak." He pulled the car over into a nearby abandoned strip mall. "You know they are just playing mind games with y'all ass. Remember when I was pledging last year and for no reason, they didn't contact us for a week? Never told us what was wrong or anything and I thought it was over."

"Yes." She remembered consoling him all week thinking his chances for becoming an EU were done. The next thing she knew they were back on line as if nothing ever happened.

"Something like that."

She thought on it a moment. She replayed the night of the party in her head again. They did everything right. They dressed appropriately and worked as a team all night long. They did not greet the visiting MAX ladies, nor meet their pledges, but they were not told to do that. Where MAX super impressed with them so they had to knock them down a bit? This all made no sense to her. They should praise them for doing right instead of shunning them.

"You're going to look so good in those MAX letters," he said to her, watching her as she sat there deep in thought.

Damn, she wanted to kiss him. And she could tell he wanted to kiss her, but he was waiting for her. She could feel all the things she used to feel for him. It would be so easy to move close to him, kiss those kissable lips, and get back with the only boy she ever was in love with.

He reached over and took her hand and held it, but she did not snatch it away.

"I'm glad you called me so we can talk like this. I miss it. I'm here for you no matter what."

All she could do was nod at him, fight the attraction she still felt for him. They had to keep things in the friend zone.

"I'm beginning to learn a lot of things while pledging...sisterhood, brotherhood. The bond and the connection. What it means."

"Everything we do is for a reason. You will understand more once you are on the other side of things. Pledging is not for everyone, it's just not, and that's okay. That's why there are choices we make. You made your choice Marky, stick with it."

Although she had a nice talk with Ricky, she had an even better talk with Jordan. But despite what Ricky claimed, about brotherhood and the code, she was not ready to put her trust back in Jordan.

Or any guy at this point.

A/N: You know it's only a matter of time before Marketta gets back with Jordan, she just has to go on this journey by herself for a while.