Page 4 of Big Nick Energy

We joked our way to my front door before saying our goodbyes. As soon as Paris was gone, I grabbed my phone and plopped down on my bed.

“Okay my clothes are packed,” I said aloud, reading my checklist. “My makeup bag… my shoes… my toiletries…” With a self-satisfied grin, I erased the note in my phone. “All packed and ready to go!”

Kicking my feet up, I started scrolling social media. Most of my timeline was full of college classmates excitedly posting about homecoming events. The number of people hyping up the sold-out SONs party on Saturday night made me even more excited. It never failed that the SONs brought out the women and the women brought out the men.

Of all the fraternities on campus, Sigma Omicron Nu, better known as SONs, had some of the sexiest men on campus. It wasn’t just my opinion. Senior year, there was a school wide poll that came to the same conclusion. And from what I could tell via social media, they just got sexier as the years passed.

I went to Jason Russell’s post again and clicked on his profile. He was in my communications class during my sophomore year. We didn’t really know each other but we followed each other on social media. His post about the party at the lake was how I found out about the party. His pictures from an event a few months ago alerted me to Nick’s single status. I scrolled until I got to the series of photos that were taken back in February.

“Mm mm mm,” I intoned under my breath as I clicked on the picture with Jason, Nick and Tuck.

Jason captioned the picture with the words: Single SONs. Someone named Louise commented that they were sorry to hear that Nick and his fiancée ended things. A few women were shooting their shots in the comments, but there was no sign of Nick anywhere. He hadn’t been on social media for over a year.But because his name was on the list of panelists, I knew he was going to be at homecoming.

And I was prepared to make my move.

“Good morning,” I sang into my cell phone first thing Friday morning.

“You’re way too chipper,” Paris groaned. “I haven’t had my coffee yet.”

“And you’re not chipper enough! You know Tucker Bell is going to be at homecoming too, right?”

“I’m over him,” she lied.

“I hear the smile in your voice,” I teased.

“He probably doesn’t even remember me.”

“It doesn’t matter if he remembers you or not, when he sees you, he’s going to want to get to know you all over again. He’s the man of your dreams!”

She giggled. “Stop trying to make me just as delusional as you. One of us needs to be grounded in reality this weekend. We both can’t be out here chasing?—”

“We aren’t chasing anything.” I shook my head. “We are going after what we want and giving them the opportunity to get it right this time around.”

“You didn’t know Nick like that and Tuck knew me and still didn’t express any interest. What makes you think it’ll be different this time around?”

“Because before we thought it was impossible to get with them. And now we know it’s not.”

“What do you meanwe? I still think it’s impossible to get with Tuck.” She let out a short, light laugh. “Again, Tuck knew me and didn’t want me. I don’t have the same capacity for delusion as you do.”

“Well then this is the weekend to be delusional.”

“I don’t think so…”

“Promise me you’ll throw caution to the wind.”

“No.”

“I think you’re scared.”

“You damn right I’m scared!”

“Paris…”

“Asha, seriously. I’m cool with helping you enact your plan to get Nick. I fully support it and will help you with whatever you need to make sure it happens. But I let go of my crush on Tuck a long time ago.”

I pursed my lips even though she couldn’t see me.

She definitely still checked his social media pages whenever she was single. And whenever his name came up, a giddy little smile graced her pretty face. I had a hard time understanding why she didn’t believe she could get Tuck. But I was determined to make sure she knew she could get him or any other man she wanted this weekend. It was time to rewrite our college days.

---