Commitment by Nia Forrester Page B

– a feather in his cap that surely meant he was on his way to brilliant career.
    “Here’s to the smartest brother in the five boroughs.” 
    “Wait, wait, wait,” Brian said holding up a hand. “I actually think I’m the smartest in the tri-state area,”
    Everyone laughed.
    “My bad.” His friend Malik gave Brian some pound. “I wouldn’t want to geographically limit you to New York City when we all know your intellect is boundless . . .”
    “Shut up, Malik, your ass is drunk,” someone else cut him off.
    “Yeah, he has this tendency to get verbose when he’s in his cups,” Brian said. “But the sentiment is appreciated.”
    They all took a swig and for a moment, there was quiet. Brian had called her at work with the news and Riley had left early to join him and his study group for drinks and dinner at a bar near the university.
    She knew all of them well by now – Malik, the tall, dark -skinned bald West African, Serena the boriqua who was the first in her family to go to college let alone make it to law school; and Terence, a Wisconsin native who’d come to New York for law school and been excited to meet other smart, driven African Americans and not be considered a curiosity.
    Over the time that she and Brian had been together, they’d all become good friends because Riley recognized them: young, ambitious, upwardly-mobile people-of-color who lived in a world of ideas and achievement. Many a Sunday afternoon had been spent with this group, eating Indian food and arguing good-naturedly about politics, religion and the state of the world. Afterwards, they went off to study and Riley returned to her writing, which was always enriched by her time spent with them. Even though Brian and his friends had chosen different paths in law school and no longer took the same classes, they’d remained thick as thieves.
    “You okay?” Brian leaned toward her. “I know you have lots of work to do, so if you have to leave early . . .”
    “Oh hells no,” Serena said. “She is staying right here and taking one for the team. If we can blow off all our work, Riley can too.”
    “That’s right,” Terence said. “At least she’s already gainfully employed.”
    Riley smiled at them. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. Let’s get another round and order up some of those greasy Buffalo wings.”
    “Now you’re talking.”
    Brian kissed her on the neck. “Thank you,” he said .
    It was past midnight when the party finally broke up and Riley stood a little apart, watching as Brian and his friends said their boozy goodbyes. She’d managed to sober up just a little by drinking only water for the last couple hours, but Brian was still pretty wasted and unsteady on his feet.
    “You up to the train?” she asked him once everyone else had gone. “Or should I call you a cab?”
    “Call me a cab?” Brian said, leaning on her. “I’m coming with you. We can continue the celebration back at your place.”
    Riley’s heart pounded against her ribs. She had only been back from L.A. for a week and hadn’t slept with Brian since. It had been easy to avoid him, breaking a couple of their dates because she had to play catch-up at work. And he’d been stressed about law review, so hadn’t wanted to sleep over.
    She had the engagement ring in her apartment, stuffed in the back of one of her dresser drawers where she didn’t have to look at it and face the confusion and longing that just the sight of it aroused.
    Shawn had called her once since the trip and was a little different on the phone, like he was holding back. T he careful distance in his voice made the call unsatisfying and they’d only spoken for about five minutes.
    “You’re in no shape for that kind of ‘celebrating’,” Riley finally managed, putting an arm about Brian’s shoulder .
    “Want to bet?”
    Brian turned her in his arms and kissed her, and she responded more out of habit than genuine feeling but he was too inebriated to