Micah Maisonet is GSU's big shot on campus. He's not just the star quarterback, he's a young man with confidence as big as the world on his shoulders. However that confidence is quickly challenged, when Micah is hurt in the middle of his senior year...
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"Girl, you did some good promotion for tonight - it's packed," said Safi, her eyes still on the crowd of people that were filling their seats at The Dove, along with the floors, walls, and anywhere else they could squeeze a seat.
It was safe to say the building was way overcapacity, but that was expected when a few big names from the poetry scene were coming to grace the stage and show love on the 20th anniversary of The Dove's mic night. Even I was excited, and that was a lot to say on a count of how I had been feeling lately.
"Thanks, girl, I honestly was getting worried when no one would pick up the fliers...but lo and behold." I sighed, a smile finding a way on my face as I looked over the crowd.
I wasn't surprised to see Emory squished in between the throngs of people, however, I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had a new woman on his arm - one that actually seemed to be infatuated with him. I could tell by the way she twisted the ends of his dread between her thumb and pointer, her eyes staring at him in wonderment as he probably preached some corny shit that sounded real good coming from those lips.
I hadn't realized how much I had been staring until Safi said, "Don't tell me you're having E-lite withdrawals."
I immediately hopped out of my stupor, "Bitch more like E-lite night terrors. I'm just...."
"Missing your man." I frowned.
"Damn, was it that obvious?"
"Well, he doesn't miss me clearly because he stopped calling." I rolled my eyes over, although I had no one really to be upset with other than myself.
It had been a few days since Micah last reached out, telling me that he was most likely over trying to fix his so called slip up. I didn't know why I was bothered by that, but I couldn't help but be. Maybe that was because it meant we were over, and I wasn't sure I exactly wanted that either.
"Now you just talking non-sense." Safi giggled, and before she could continue to read me like a book, Jackson waved me over to the stage, telling me that it was time to start the show.
I could feel my usual jitters creeping up, especially seeing as though we were twice as packed, but I knew the show must go on. Tonight we had Asha George, Sunshine and a few other OG poets with sets that were back to back and bound to rock the house with all of their wisdom and pen swag as we called it, and we would end the night with a hand full of spoken mic performances to give the community a chance to speak their truths as well.
I was ready to have a good time, even though I could guarantee that someone's broken heart poem would probably send me over the edge. A part of me knew that I was being difficult when it came to Micah, while another part wanted me to run and never look back if it meant getting hurt.
Losing Micah was hard enough the first time, and I couldn't help but feel like he was right about me being the same old Kayla that was running away from the what-ifs. I attempted to not allow my somber mood or overthinking to get in the way of my hosting duties or enjoying the poets, and I had thankfully made it through half of the show without doing either.
