Three days. It had been three whole days, going on four since Yanni drunkenly told Amere she had feelings for him at the club. She had never moved faster than she did that night, squeezing through the crowd while simultaneously on her phone trying to get an uber back to the hotel.
She ended up getting a pool and since she was at the club, lots of people were leaving and arriving so she was able to secure one right as it got there to drop someone else off.
Her years in track paid off at that exact moment.
On the way back, she called her brother and instead of being greeted with excitement like Zeke thought he would be, he was greeted with his sister crying.
She cried while she explained the situation and he was trying to be a good big brother and listen but the fact that she escaped like she did a crime was crazy to him, and he couldn't help but laugh.
She of course had to go home the next morning, so she managed to get to the airport early that morning and switch her ticket out for an earlier one and she'd been avoiding him ever since.
Everything she would usually tell Amere in their little daily debriefings was now sent in an email. She made sure she was either at her office or at Sincere's house, because Amere didn't know where she lived, and she knew he knew better than to pop up at her job.
He'd been texting and calling, and she just could not bring herself to reply. Her friends and her brother were urging her to just talk to him but she was so scared.
"Sis, you can't ignore him forever," Sincere sighed, rubbing her hair as Yanni laid in her lap. "You're gonna have to pick up the phone eventually,"
"Eventually can be much later," she sighed as well.
"E'ani! No, you need to talk to him, sis. Ignoring him is just gonna make everything worse, pooh," Nyx said, pausing from playing with Nova on the other couch. They were all there tonight to hang out with her, and hopefully convince her to talk to Amere.
"But there's just so much that could go wrong—I cannot risk it, the possibilities are really freaking me out," Yanni groaned, picking up her phone to see her big brother calling. "Hold on y'all its Zeke—Hello?"
"Wassup Flo Jo?" Zeke greeted her, immediately cracking up laughing, making Yanni roll her eyes but crack a slight smile, because she knew she was never living that down. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But you really did the dash on my good man like you owed him some money, like the clock struck twelve on yo' ass," he continued, and Yanni chuckled a little.
"Are you done?" she smirked.
"Yeah—yeah, I'm done Usain," he said once he calmed down. "But anyway, you talked to him?"
"No, Ezekiel! I can't do that," she whined, sitting up and looking at her friends could explain to them at the same time, seeing as they were just having the same conversation.
"Why the hell not?" he asked, genuinely confused.
"Come on Zeke. For one, he's my boss, technically. What if it doesn't pan out and then he thinks I'm gonna be awkward and incapable of doing my job because I like him, or what if he did by chance like me back, and then we can't separate our relationship from business?! Or what if he doesn't like me back and I lose my best friend! You see? There's too much risk," she said, chewing on her bottom lip.
"Sereniti," Zeke straight faced her, calling her by her middle name. "You sound pussy," he said simply, making her friends gasp. They never heard them interact before and didn't know they said that to each other very often.
"I do not!" she sucked her teeth.
"Yeah you do," he chuckled. "No matter if that nigga like you or not, you need to own up to what you said, E'ani. You done said it already, there's nothing you or him could do to change that now, but what you can do is clear the air and let whatever happens happen. For all you know that nigga madly in love with you and you wouldn't know because you don't wanna speak up. And as far as being awkward and business goes you should know yourself better than that. You need to give yourself more credit than that because no matter what goes on, if it's one thing E'ani Anderson gon do its make some fuckin money, so you need not worry about that. What you need to do is own up to yo shit, because you like this nigga right?" he raised his eyebrow and she nodded. "Aight then. Man up," he shrugged.
"God damn," Sincere said as he finished talking.
As they hadn't known her as long as Zeke had, obviously, they didn't know that when E'ani went through periods of self doubt, or being severely indecisive to the point where she just shut all options down, like right now, she didn't need to be babied. Her friends were taking it easy on her, because they didn't know babying Yanni gave her more opportunity to wallow in whatever it was she was struggling with.
Yanni needed tough love. She always had. That's how she and Ezekiel were raised, their parents always gave them moments to cry, but after that moment, dry your tears and get back up. Yanni couldn't count the amount of times she'd fall as a child on runs, hurt herself and cry. But instead of ending the run then and there, her mom or dad would watch her, let her have her moment and they were back up and running again.
As an adult, that mentality never changed. Even after her situation with Devin. She allowed herself a week to cry and feel sorry for herself before actively looking for therapists, seeking out ways to better herself. Although it took a very long time and a very deep and painful process, that tough love mentality saved her from an even deeper depression than what she was experiencing.
So now, as she faced another turning point, although not life altering to some, she needed to apply that same principle to herself, and Zeke knew it. He gave her her moment to cry, he gave her her moment to feel unsure and afraid, but now it was time to get leave her pity party and be exactly who she knew she was.
"You're right," she nodded, looking up at the ceiling momentarily, "You're right and I hate you," she sighed.
"Yeah, get it together," he chuckled. "But I gotta go, my son is hungry, again. Don't sit there and mope no more, I'm serious Yanni. I love you, I'll talk to you later, Cinderella," he laughed loudly again and she sucked her teeth with a roll of her eyes.
"I love you too," she grumbled, hanging up the phone.
"So you telling me, all I had to do to get you to get it together was call you a pussy?" Sincere squinted her eyes. "I could've done that three days ago!" she threw her hands up, causing both Yanni and Nyx to bust out laughing.
Yanni finally made it back home, sighing as she dropped down on her couch. She sat for a moment, trying to figure out how she was gonna approach this. She knew as soon as she called him back, he was gonna be on her ass. So maybe she could go see him.
But knowing him and Cortez, they were together and then they'd both be on her ass, and that would not be fun at all. As she sat contemplating, there was a knock at her door, furrowing her brows. For one, it was 10 at night, she and Nyx just left each other.
She thought it might it be Amere, and just the thought of that had her heart beating out of control. She stood up to head to her door, and something told her to check her peephole, and when she did, she froze in place.
There was nothing that could have prepared her for what she saw on the other side of that door.
Immediately landing on the floor, she scrambled backward toward her couch, hyperventilating and grabbing her phone to call the police. Before she could even dial the nine, the knock rang through the apartment again, except it wasn't knocking. It was banging.
She jumped so hard and so violently her phone fell from her hand and her hands flew over her ears as her body shook in pure fear, eyes shut as she tried to stop the feeling of being paralyzed to this spot and get up off the floor, but she couldn't find the strength.
So many questions plagued her mind almost immediately. How did he find her? How long had he known where she lived? How many times had she been in the same vicinity as him and not known. Was he stalking her?
She saw her doorknob jiggle and she was so thankful she locked her doors behind her as soon as she got inside or she'd be in trouble.
These past three days had been going by painfully slowly for Amere.
He tried to listen to Cortez and everyone else who told him to just wait, to just give Yanni some time to come to him, and he did that.
For a total of 12 hours.
He needed to talking to her. He was itching to see her and tell her that he felt the same way she did. He kept texting and kept calling because he knew she had to pick one up. There was no way she could just ignore him forever, she wouldn't do that to him. Even before this they never went the day without texting or calling.
And now, all he got was an email at the beginning of the day, detailing what she'd usually tell him in person every morning with a bright smile, iced coffee and breakfast sandwiches for them both. He missed it all, despite it being only 3 days, it felt like longer and he was tired of it.
He was currently driving around, trying to clear his head. He couldn't stop playing the situation in his mind. Although the day after, he and Tez could not stop laughing at how fast she disappeared from that club.
Now he was actually sad, she didn't even give him a chance to reply, she just left. Like completely. He waited around the hotel the next morning to see if she maybe overslept, but nobody saw her the whole day and when he checked her location and saw she was back in Philly, he was astonished. He had no idea how she did it but she was gone.
There was nothing more he wanted than to see her right now, and whatever they were feeling, they could just talk it out. If she meant what she said, and she wasn't just drunk, they could work it out. He knew she must be scared or nervous, because he knew her. But he wanted to alleviate all of that, he wanted to reassure her, but she refused to let him.
He was gonna get her though. Like he told Tez, once he let the feelings grow, once he wanted her, he wasn't gonna stop until he got her.
As he pulled up to a stoplight, he checked their thread, sighing when he saw that she recently read his message. He sat there, just staring at it, and once the light turned green, he sucked his teeth.
"Fuck that," he mumbled, taking the turn that would take him straight to her neighborhood. He knew she had to be home.
As he rode the elevator up to her floor, his foot tapped impatiently. He felt like it never took this long before.
Once he made it up, he stepped off, buy stopped in his tracks almost immediately. Her door wasn't far off from the elevator, so he could clearly see the man standing at her door, hands in his pockets like he was waiting on her to come get the door.
Immediately he thought the worst. Half of him wanted to believe Yanni would never do him like all these other women did him in his past relationships. But the other part told him that was his problem in the first place. He never believed anyone had the capacity to hurt him, especially not E'ani.
But the quicker he came to accept anyone could hurt him, and he stopped having expectations of everyone, was when he'd be better off.
He dropped his head, flipping his hoodie up and getting back in the elevator before the doors closed, hitting the button to go to the lobby again.
Maybe she really was drunk and she didn't know what she was saying, maybe she was just stuck in the moment and that's why she ran, she couldn't bring herself to tell him that she never meant it.
As the elevator descended, so did his thoughts. Once he finally reached the ground floor and made his way out the door, nearly reaching his car, his phone rang, showing Yanni was calling. His eyebrows furrowed, because if she had company she wouldn't be calling.
As badly as he wanted to decline the call, get in his car and just go home, he couldn't. He sighed heavily, staring up at where he knew her window was, shaking his head before picking up the phone.
"Hell—"
"Don't leave!" she whispered harshly into the phone, putting him on alert immediately.
"What? Yanni how you even know I'm—"
"Amere please. Please don't leave me, tha—that's my ex at the door, he's been banging on my door for—oh my God," she jumped, and he heard her voice crack, and a bang at the door. He immediately started walking back in the building. "I—I called the cops and-and they're coming but please, please don't leave me Saint," she hiccuped, letting him know she'd been crying.
"I'm not leavin' you baby, I'm comin' back up, it's aight, you gon be fine I promise you," he spoke, mentally kicking himself for thinking Yanni would behave like anyone he'd dealt with before, or anyone he was used to.
Groaning when the elevator took forever, he pulled the staircase door open and ran up all the way to the third floor without breaking a sweat.
"I'm-I'm so scared, Mere," she sniffed into the phone, making him even angrier than he already was. He didn't know how her ex found her, he didn't know what he wanted or what he was trying to accomplish by scaring her like this.
But he knew he had the right one with him.
"I know you scared, mama. I'm up here now, I'm not gon let nothin' happen to you," he spoke as consolingly as he could to her, knowing she was probably terrified at the moment but his blood was boiling and he saw nothing but red as he turned the corner to her hallway and saw the same man waiting at her door with his hand on her knob, and what looked like something to pick her lock in his hand.
He didn't even get the chance to look in Amere's direction before he was on the ground, face meeting Amere's balled up fist repeatedly.
He let out every ounce of frustration he felt and every drop of fear he knew E'ani was in her house feeling, on this mans face without a second thought.
Seconds later, E'ani appeared in his line of sight, just as he hauled Devin off the ground and slammed him up against the wall.
"Amere! Oh my—fuck," she gasped when she saw the state of Devin's face and Amere's fists. "Shit! Come in here! Amere please—please you gotta stop, come in please! Just let him go," she pleaded, confusing him.
"Let him go?" he asked, still gripping on his shirt tightly.
"Let him go. Amere come inside, please come inside," she continued to beg, dry tear stains on her face and blood red eyes imploring him to do what she said. He hesitantly let Devin fall, slumping at his feet. He sent a quick kick to his stomach before following Yanni into her apartment.
"What is you takin' up fa' dis' nigga now?" he asked, as soon as the door was closed. She whipped around to him, eyes squinted and angry in the face.
"Taking up—Amere are you serious? I'm looking out for you!" she replied, mad that he'd even ask her something like that. She felt insane how her moods just switched like this, but that question had her do a full 180.
"Me? Fuck dis' gotta do wit' me?!" he asked, accent coming through even stronger now that he was angry. "I'm here fa' you E'ani,"
"I know—Amere I know that! But did you forget who you are?! You're basically a fucking celebrity Amere you cannot just come up here and beat on people like you're still a kid! You have an image to protect, you got people looking up to you!"
"Man," he sucked his teeth, looking up at the ceiling. "Fuck allat! I'on give a fuck about nun'a dat shit! Look at you! You was in here shaking and crying finna have a fuckin' panic attack in yo' own house ova' some nigga who put his hands on you. He was tryna get in yo shit! Fuck you expect me ta' do? Let you sit in here scared? Let him get to you? Wait for the police?! Fuck dat' shit. It was gon' get handled regardless," he responded back, trying to keep his voice down, but it was very hard.
He couldn't comprehend what she was angry about, everything he did, he did it to protect her and keep her safe.
"Amere—I understand. I get it Saint, I promise and I appreciate you so much for staying for me and wanting to protect me, but this is bigger than me. Your career, your family that you carry on your back, they're depending on you, and you can't risk that for me!"
"The hell I can't," he chuckled. "He not finna touch you, he's not finna get close to you as long as I'm livin' and breathin' on this Earth, I'm ten toes behind you, I'on give a damn who got to say what about it," he spoke.
She sighed heavily, praying nobody heard, saw, or recorded anything they saw. That would be a shitstorm to clear in the media.
"Look at me, Yanni," he said. Her heart skipped an extra time and she looked up. "Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine Saint, thank you. I was—I was just scared," she said. He stepped toward her to give her a hug and some comfort but before he could, they heard three sharp knocks at the door at a policeman announcing his presence.
"You have a good night, officer," Yanni smiled, and he did the same politely.
"You too ma'am," he nodded, taking his exit. By the time the cops got there, Devin was gone. She explained the entire situation and that she had no clue where he came from and was attempting to break and enter into her apartment.
Of course she had to explain the blood on the linoleum floors in the halls, but Amere being the superbowl champ did wonders for that.
They let her know they'd keep a lookout for him, and that she should file for a restraining order as soon as she could. After that it was over, and she was left alone with Amere, again.
She leaned on her dining room table with a sigh. Glad she wasn't as shaken up as she thought she'd be. She was pretty calm, and she was thankful for that because two years ago she'd still be sobbing.
"You sure you straight?" Amere asked from the couch.
"Mhm," she nodded with a small smile.
"Good. So you should be fine to talk huh?" he smirked, and her eyes went wide. Before she could even look in the direction of her bedroom his voice cut her off. "I wish you would,"
She groaned and went over to the couch, sitting on the other end of it. He chuckled and stood up, sitting in her personal space instead. He just stared at her for a moment, watching her playing with the strings on her shorts.
"So, you said you like me huh?" he smirked, and she immediately grabbed a pillow and put it over her face while he laughed.
"Aight, aight, Ima be serious. Why ain't you just tell me before? Why wait so long? And why the hell you run off on me like that? Woulda thought them boys was afta' you the way you was runnin'"
"Amere!" she groaned, having had enough of everyone making fun of her running away. "I um—well, if you want me to be honest..."
"Always," he nodded.
"I waited because I was scared. As fuck. I haven't liked anyone since—well since Devin. And I don't trust men easily. So the fact that you had me the way you did over you in a few months was alarming. It made me nervous—you make me nervous Saint. On top of that, we work together, and on top of that, you're one of the best friends I ever had and I didn't wanna mess that up," she sighed. "Plus I didn't—shit I still don't know if I'm your type of girl," she shrugged.
"My type? Yanni have you seen yo'self? That don't even make no damn sense—wait. Okay, lemme address everything I just heard," he paused as she blushed.
"Well fa' one, I'm not none of these other niggas, Yaya. I know it may have been hard for you to accept because of the shit you been through, but I'm here to tell you right now I'm not on no shit like that.
Two, yeah we work together and so what? If you'n want nobody to know we can keep it to ourselves, but if not who gives a fuck? Our contract don't say nothin' about it, and whatever anybody else got to say don't matter. Yeah I'm yo' best friend, and you mine, but as long as we both doin' somethin' we wanna do, we not gon lose it," he shrugged.
"I—um, you're saying we—like us, me and you," she pointed out, making him laugh with his head thrown back.
"I know, love," he smiles subtly at her, making her stomach erupt in butterflies.
"B-but that means. Okay," she took a deep breath. "What does that mean, Amere?" she asked before she got her hopes up higher than they should be.
"That means I like yo' li' mean ass too, E'ani," he chuckled, leaning back on the couch. "I'm sayin' we and us, like me and you, because that's what I want. I wantchu, I want it to be me and you,"
"Amere—" she tried to keep the smile off her face herself. "Stop playing, this is not the time to be playing with me—" she was cut off when he swiftly grabbed her face in his hands, making her look him directly in his eye as he sat in front of her not more than two inches away.
"I'm not playin' wit' you, E'ani. I'm dead ass serious, I want you," he stressed. "You want me?" he raised his eyebrow.
She sat in his grip for a second, butterflies still occupying her stomach and elsewhere. She knew this was what she wanted, she'd wanted it for a while, and now that it was right in her face, she couldn't speak. All she heard was her brother in her head telling her to man-up, and so she did. She pushed all her fear aside for a moment for him, and she nodded yes.
She hoped he didn't make her regret it.
"Yeah?" he smirked, making a smile creep up on her face and she nodded again. "You fa'real? I'on believe you, lemme get a li' kiss and we gon make it official," he teased, making her blush again.
"Amere," she whined. "Stop,"
"Stop what? You'n wanna gimme a kiss? Fine, I'a just give you one," he smirked again, and her eyes went wide. Her first instinct to move back was shot because he was holding her in place, but her heart was beating out of her chest. "Yeah you not running from me, again," he laughed, making her roll her eyes.
Once his laughter died down, he licked his lips while looking between her eyes and her own lips, making her nervous. She almost thought she forgot to moisturize them today but before she could he was closing in on her personal space, eyes drifting shut.
When his lips touched hers, she felt a million things at once. She was happy, most of all. She felt, what she would describe as, for lack of a better word, tingly all over as his hand moved from her jaw to the back of her head, fingers in her hair as his lips moved against hers, and for them both it felt as if they were made to. It felt perfect, it felt good.
It felt right. Everything in that moment felt right, like it was what was meant to happen from the start, and neither of them would have known it.
As he pulled away from her, he couldn't help but place extra pecks against her velvety soft lips and bite down on his own. He leaned his forehead against hers as they both caught their breath.
"Yeah it's official now. You'n get ta' do no more runnin' away from me and hiding afta' that shit. You fa' me now," he smirked.
And Yanni loved the sound of that.
well hello there 🌚 let's get straight to it shall we?
how do we feel about yanni & zeke's facetime call? and his advice to her?
also yanni's ex doing pop ups? how y'all think he got a hold of her after all this time?
what about amere and his feelings about yanni's ditching him at the club? how bout when he saw devin and immediately thought the worst :/
(pls remember he never knew what devin looked like)
how do we feel he handled that situation 💀?
and their argument afterwards?? although it didn't last long they was goin lol. who do you think was right and why?
and last but certainly not least, seventeen chapters in, how do we feel their discussion went? they FINALLY kissed lol. we truly love to see it!
leave me any additional thoughts 🥰
till next time babes 🖤