Amber POV

"You think it's a good idea for us to split up? Us here and your sister going to the MAX house?"

"I don't think she's going to the MAX house, everyone is at the EU house."

Duh! Not that it mattered. What mattered was that they were in two different places. They were supposed to be as one. There was no "I" or "me," only an "us" or "we."

"So...why are we staying here?" She knew the answer before she even got the question out of her mouth. Alonzo. Laila wanted to stay and be with Alonzo.

She should have left with Marketta. There was no one here she was trying to kick it with. The only person she had eyes for was not even in town.

"What does it hurt we meet some of the guys? If we're going to be in Greek life we need to be friendly with them all. Not just EU's."

She looked around at the group of guys. Nothing really special about them. The Omegas were supposed to be the wild ones, but this little gathering was pretty tame. Outside of the ones dancing around like this was a full-on party, nothing crazy was going on. Alonzo walked around talking to all his fraternity brothers, and the few girls around. He was an all-hands-on advisor it seemed.

Mrs. Jossie attended some of the MAX events but she pretty much let them do whatever. She was at the party last time, but she never came inside, she stayed at the table outside greeting people.

"Amber, if you want to go you can go."

No, she would not leave Laila all alone at the Omega house. It was better with the two of them there, and Marketta could hang with the EU. These dudes might wild out and show their whole asses. Not saying she did not trust the Omegas like that, she barely knew them.

"Hey ladies, sorry about that," Alonzo said when he walked over to them. "Where did Marketta go?"

"She wanted to hang out at the EU house," Laila told him.

"Did you two want to go, I can swing you by there?"

She looked at her watch, it was already getting too close to when everyone was going to be heading to the Delta party. They might as well stay, have Alonzo take them to the party then meet up with Marketta there. They could meet and greet their big sisters there.

"We're good here Alonzo." She took a sip of the purple punch. Non-alcohol, it was just juice and terrible.

"Y'all need anything? We have food and snacks in the kitchen."

"No, but you can sit down and hang with me," Laila said to him, patting the empty spot beside her.

As soon as Alonzo sat down, she figured they would be all kissy-faced or something, and now she felt as if she should have left. If only she could have gone away for the weekend with her sister.

Yeah right, hang with the AKA pledges. That would go over great.

While she was looking through her phone one of the Omega's came over and stood in front of her.

"You look like you need a friend."

She glanced up at him, rolled her eyes, and went back to her phone. Getting hit on by guys was not a new thing to her, except she had no interest at all in entertaining a boy. They did nothing for her.

"So you're just gonna be rude to me up in my house?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just hanging with my friend and your advisor. I'm not interested in-"

"Girl, calm down, there's nothing wrong with being nice and talking to a guy. Even if you have no interest in him."

The guy sat on the arm of the couch and she finally gave him her full attention. On the shorter side, probably shorter than her five feet eight. He was a big guy, overweight but seemed fit. Light-skinned with curly hair in a low cut. Nothing for her to see.

But then like he said, what was wrong with being friendly with the guy?

"Sorry, my bad. Hi, I'm Amber."

"Girl, I know who you are, Madame Treasurer."

She laughed at that. "It's no big deal."

"Taking after your sister I see. I always liked her."

"You know my sister Lark?"

"I mean, who doesn't? I was a freshman when she was President of the BCU, and I learned everything about navigating around the school, how to find more financial aid, and building my own community from her."

It was weird hearing someone talk about her sister like this.

"In fact, when I found out she pledged a sorority, I looked deeper into the fraternities. See if any were right for me. It's why I am an Omega man today."

That was a neat story. Too bad she could not tell him the reason she wanted to be a MAX was because of her big sister as well. She did not know this guy to tell him she was pledging as well.

"Why Omega?" she asked. There were five Black fraternities on campus. All are very different.

"I guess you can say they fed my wild side."

She nodded and sipped some more of the awful punch just because it was there.

"My name's Jamar...Jamar Price. And you know what else we have in common?"

He must have figured out she was on line.

"That we're loud and proud in the LGBTQ crew."

"Oh!!" was all she managed to say.

"There's so many of us on campus and it's hard to connect with us all. You've been to a few of the organizations, right?"

"Sure. I'm in Pride." It was the largest LGBTQ+ organization on campus.

"I'm President of Queer Ed Birds. It's for us going into education, but you are welcome there, I'll have your back."

It was refreshing talking to someone who could sort of relate to the things she went through. Maybe it was a little different for a guy being gay, probably harder. For her, the lack of having others to talk to about her feelings and issues was depressing. Her sisters would never understand. Her line sisters would never understand.

She had Daysha to call on occasion, but she had her own life to lead.

"How is it being gay in a fraternity like this?" She looked around the room again. While some of the guys were cozying up with girls, did he feel comfortable cozying up with a guy if he wanted to? It did not seem fair if he was not allowed to just be himself.

"I'm lucky my chapter accepts me for who I am. I know it's not perfect throughout my fraternity, but I'm happy here. I don't hide who I am. I'm open and honest with everyone I meet, I never have to hide that I'm gay."
All good points. She never hid it either, she just did not bring it up sometimes.

She had so many questions but did not know if this was the appropriate time to ask them. How did Jamar feel being surrounded by a dozen guys, some of whom he may find attractive, Did he act on it? Did he have crushes on them?

She knew it would be dumb to have a crush on someone she knew was straight. She thought she learned this lesson, but here she was learning again.

"We have to hang out, not here, so we can talk more about all of this."

"Anytime. We are about to end this shindig and head to the party. The Delta ladies know how to do it up. And I better meet a hot guy or two. We can look for you a little something something as well. Just hang with me, friend."

Maybe that is exactly what she needed, find someone new.

A/N: These ladies are not working as a team. Personally, if I were their big sister, I wouldn't care where they partied, but never, ever split up.