Out of shock by seeing Zayden for the first time in years, she drops her purse. And her drink. Without an exchange of words, she rushes over to hug him. "Hey seventeen", he cracks up while wrapping his warm, veiny arms around her.
'Seventeen' is the nickname he gave her when he met her on October 17th at her birthday party.
When they both pull out of the hug, she aggressively punches his shoulder. "Why ain't you tell me you were back in town?!", she exclaims as Katiana just stands there, awkwardly waiting for them to finish their conversation.
"I didn't need all that attention. Plus i had to help my moms out"
A very jealous Katiana grabs her best friend by her hand. "Sorry to interrupt but we have some important things to do", she makes a grimacing face while dragging her over to the stairs. She questions the sudden wave of jealousy and discomfort that she felt. Usually she doesn't care about who Janae interacts with. The bigger question is; is it even about her or is it about him?
As soon as they enter her bedroom, she lets the thought go like a kite. It's no longer in her mind anymore. "Alright girl let me see what you wrote", she does a 'hand it over' motion towards the macbook in her hand. The whole time that Janae is analyzing the essay, they're also talking about Zayden.. and the very evident attraction between the two.
"Katiana Jordyn Winters, if you don't just tell his ass that you like him!", she loudly states that he probably feels the same way towards her. She hurriedly shushes her because the walls are paper thin, so if someone were to walk past the room they would hear their conversation. The crush isn't supposed to be a thing at all, and she doesn't want to make it into a big deal. He's her brother's best friend.
Her phone lights up, showing a phone call from Angelina. The phone gets lifted up to her ear as she answers the call. "Hey mami! Are the rest of the girls there yet cause im about to pull up", her tone of voice is literally ethereal. It's soft with a very strong Latina accent.
"uuuuhhh Janae's here but the rest of the girls aren't- actually could you stop by Jazzy's house? She didn't answer the phone", Katiana softly sighs. Knowing Jasmine's insomniac ass, she probably stayed awake all night and fell asleep at like eight o'clock in the morning.
She nods, letting her know that she'll go pick her up. They'll be there at exactly 12:30. One thing about Angelina? She's always on time or arrives when she says she'll arrive. Being late is a pet peeve of hers.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
JUNE 3RD, 2024
8:55 PM
Each time that they have sleepovers or a girls night, they bring their own individual surprise gift. Janae brought a card game that goes by the name of 'do or drink.' Katiana brought matching bracelets for everyone with their customized names on them. Angelina brought a hello kitty snow globe. The only one left is Jasmine.
"Y'all don't laugh. For real, promise me you won't laugh", her voice dimmed down to a serious tone. The smile she once is now faded, giving everyone in the room a concerned vibe. Slowly, she shows them a dancing cactus toy that she pulled from behind her back. Silence is broken by Katiana's giggles, making angelina laugh as well. Yet Jasmine was deadass.
"Y'all ain't shit!"
They go into the large, master bathroom to put on their face masks. The whole room is painted white, full of hello kitty decor. If you couldn't already tell, Katiana is obsessed with the colors pink and white. "Y'all know that Zayden's back? Yeah, i saw him downstairs when i first got here", Janae mentions, making Katiana's relaxed facial expression droop down into a frown. "Come on why'd you have to bring that shit up-"
Here go Chantelle messy ass. "Wait! Zayden Zayden? Like Zay? That fine ass guy from high school who got arrested for that fight-", Katiana presses the red button, hanging up the facetime call before she can get too far into her rant. This is exactly why she didn't want any of them to know about him coming back. Zayden had been trying to change his troublesome ways and hopefully forget about them. His past isn't something to reminisce about.
"Y'all not hungry? My stomach sounds like rack city, let's go get something to eat", Katiana quickly shifts the topic so they won't trip about it.
Hopefully they'll just let him be.
YOU ARE READING
Whispers of Tranquility
Romancea young upcoming writer who is trying to find peace in her life. her goal of becoming an entirely different person is what she's focused on the most, but she will have some rough moments during her healing journey.
