Saved Folk in the House Read Online Free PDF Page B

Malik.”
    Malik wasn’t too disappointed because he would now be free to oblige his fans. So he took her advice, confident that he could charm her back after the season.
    Basketball off-season wasn’t off-season for his other women, but there was no reason to be openly flirtatious, so Malik was more subtle. Still, the flirting was obvious.
    One April afternoon during off-season, Zakia, Malik, and Melvin, Malik’s roommate, were having lunch together in the cafeteria. Malik was still in the line when Zakia and Melvin found a table and sat down. Zakia saw Malik wink at a female as she blushed and giggled and began whispering to her friends standing in line. Before he could even make it to their table, she saw a different female slip a piece of paper in his back pocket.
    “Melvin, what’s up?” Zakia asked.
    “What’s up with what?”
    “You’re a good-looking guy, you play ball, you have no steady woman. How can you keep these hussies off you and Malik can’t?”
    “You can keep whoever you want to keep off you. If they are up on you, it’s because you want them to be,” Melvin said.
    “That’s true,” Zakia agreed.
    Malik finally made it to the table and sat down with his back to his admirers.
    “Let me see the paper that hussy gave you,” Zakia said.
    “What paper?” Malik asked, feigning innocence.
    Melvin smirked as he bit into his sandwich.
    Zakia and Ruby decided to move off campus their sophomore year. They followed most of the upperclassmen to the town houses where Malik and Melvin lived. One weekend Zach, Eli, Micah, Raquie, and Eboni came for a visit.
    “Nice crib, twin. You’re moving up in the world. Where’s Malik?” Zach asked. Malik had met Zakia’s family and friends over the summer, and everyone approved of him, including Alexis.
    “Later for that dog.”
    “Oh Lawd, here we go again,” Eli said. “What did he do now?”
    “It doesn’t even matter, but I see why y’all like him. Y’all all alike.”
    “Not my baby,” Eboni said, sitting on Eli’s lap, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him.
    “You better hold on to him, ’cause these hussies will try to take him right out of your arms,” Zakia told Eboni.
    “Let’s go check them out, Micah,” Zach said. “Call Malik, twin. We’re not in your drama.”
    Zakia broke down and called Malik after much persistence from Zach. He came right over. After he rallied all of their support, they went to Zakia on his behalf and pressured her into giving him one more chance. She buckled under the pressure, believing that he really loved her in spite of his weakness for women, and she eventually took him back.
    Zakia’s junior year was better. Malik had matured and was concentrating on his future. Unfortunately, due to the fierce competition he was cut during the NBA tryouts. He had to find a job. He didn’t have to look very hard or far before he was offered a basketball coaching position at MSU. In spite of his new position, Malik was depressed because he’d been so sure he would make the NBA. Zakia was not sensitive enough to cater to his emotional needs when Malik ended up back on Manna’s campus after he was cut. She was preparing for her own graduation the following year, focusing on landing a good job. Zakia’s insensitivity to Malik’s depression caused him to seek solace elsewhere.
    Being back on campus brought out Malik’s old tendencies, along with his depression. Even though he was now a physical education teacher and a coach, Malik didn’t feel that students were off-limits. One particularly persistent groupie named Candice had been a thorn in Zakia’s flesh. She was slick and subtle as a snake and just a little bit too friendly toward Zakia.
    “Feels like something crawled up in me and died when Candice is around,” Zakia told Ruby one day.
    “Watch that heifer,” Ruby warned.
    One day just two months before her graduation, Zakia stopped in to say hello to Malik, who was still sharing the town house