Homecoming Post 5: No Socials and the Flashback (part 2)

Friday at around 6pm- Admittedly, after spending Friday afternoon at the University Center, I was prepared to order food and go to bed. However, I just didn't come to New Orleans to nap. So I slowly got ready to go to the Homecoming Day Party. Sadly, by the time I got there, it was nighttime. 

The venue was really, really cute. What wasn't cute was the amount of marijuana smoke in the air. I know that everyone smokes today, yay legalization, but I HATE the smell. It gets in my hair and it's gross. On top of that, there were a lot of younger students/alumni there and for the past few years I have done everything possible to avoid young people in my social space. I am like a 70-year-old woman. I only go to movie matinees. If I go to the mall, it's at 10am on a Sunday. Wherever they are, there tends to be pot smoke, gunfire, fighting, and exposed ass cheeks. No thanks. 

I saw a few people from my class that I knew and had a few chit-chats. I even ran into Britain, who was lit off of cocktails and marijuana edibles. I asked for one, he extended his hand to me in offering, but I thought better of it. The only thing that was going to keep me going that night was an injection of Red Bull into my forearm and someone taping my eyelids open. 

Just as I was about to get up and leave, No Socials walked down the steps beside me with a blunt in his hand. 

"Hey!" he said happily. 

"Hey, did you find your people?" I asked him. For some reason, I had the impression that he was alone at homecoming and had decided to come last minute. 

"Yeah, just like you remembered me, other people remembered me," he said walking about eight feet in front of me. He stood there, lean like a pole, and faced the direction of the DJ. He then pulled out a lighter and lit his blunt, bobbing his head to the music. Watching him exhale a large cloud of smoke,  the stomach pain came again, this time a little more apparent. 

"Ouch," I murmured to myself, taking out my phone to get a Lyft ride back to my Air B&B. I am a trust your gut type of person, but there was really no issue that I can think of. Listen yall, repressed memories are real. 

Homecoming Post 2- No Socials and the Flashback (part 1)

Last Friday around 1pm- Me, Aunty and Zay arrived at Xavier's Campus. It was buzzing with excited energy from students and alumni alike. It was a beautiful sight. A lot of laughing. A lot of hugging. A lot of people head-to-toe in Xavier merch. We went up to the bookstore which was crowded with people rummaging through Xavier tees and hats. My aunt and nephew went to go look at some items and I stood there, taking in the scene. However, I very quickly found myself in the middle of a number of Deltas wearing bedazzled tees that read "I am Fall '93 Delta Sigma Theta". Because of a very tragic situation that happened between me and a Delta 15 years ago (who still stands as one of only two people I have ever had to block on Facebook) I sometimes feel uneasy amidst the crimson tide, so I split. I wandered over to a room that I had no business being in and copped a squat. This room happened to be the press area for J. Alphonse Nicholson from P-Valley, who is a client of BOSS, one of my old classmates who is always calling shots and making moves. He said I could sit there as well as Aunty and Zay when they came around. Thank God! My feet were killing me. It pays to know powerful people in high places. 

Anywho, I was sitting there, minding my own business when a tall, handsome man peaked his head in the door. 

"Do you remember me?" he asked. 

"No Socials?" I asked. 

"Yep!" 

I couldn't believe it! I hadn't said his name out loud in over 10 years. I asked him what he was up to. He said that he does something with money, who knows? 

"Do you ever marry that girl?" I asked him, referring to the PYT he used to date when we were in school. 

"Which one?" he asked with a serious face. 

I shook my head. I guess that's a no. 

"Can I take your picture?" I asked, taking out my phone.

"Sure, but you can't post it," he said. And I am thinking to myself, Why would I want it other than to post it? To have as a keepsake?

I took the pic and we said our goodbyes. I looked at it. Man, he essentially looked the same. He was like a year older than me but looked five years younger! Still thin. No gray hair. He hadn't aged a day! That was pleasant, I thought to myself, even though I had a warning pain in my stomach. My gut is always warning me, but I couldn't imagine why it was this time. No Socials was cool! It's amazing what memories you can suppress if you try hard enough.