JUVIA BLUE LANGSTON
manhattan, new york

the three girls were all sprawled out on the living room couch sleeping peacefully when someone's phone kept going off. juvia groaned hearing the phone constantly ringing. she mumbled curses under her breath as she patted the couch trying to find the source of the ringing. unfortunately it was her phone and she saw thirty two missed calls from ddot. she rolled her eyes and just as she was about to put her phone down, she received another call from ddot.

"what do you want darrian? it's four in the fucking morning." juvia was so annoyed to be woken up out her sleep due to ddot. he was the source of her best friends pain and she couldn't stand him right now. she finally feels how shayera feels about notti.

"where's shay? i need to talk to her." ddot pleaded. "ddot please get off my phone. she doesn't wanna talk to you and i don't wanna talk to you either." juvia hung up the phone and flopped down on the couch. she couldn't lie, she felt slightly bad for ddot, like five percent. he knowingly cheated on shay and she couldn't accept that. shay has been nothing, but loving to ddot and he just goes and destroys that all for ten minutes of pleasure.

as juvia was thinking, her phone rang again. she quietly groaned being mindful to not wake up
the girls. she figured it was ddot calling her again, so she clicked the power button twice to decline the call. once again, her phone went off. in irritation, juvia answered the phone. "ddot stop calling my fucking phone. i already told you shay isn't going to speak to you. what the fuck aren't you getting?"

"this is awkward..." dd trailed off feeling juvia's wrath. "oh shit, my bad dd. darrian literally has been calling me nonstop and he's annoying me. he's about to get blocked." juvia rubbed the sleep
out of her eyes already knowing that going back to sleep was a no for her.

"how is shay?" dd asked as he blew smoked out of his mouth. "horrible." juvia looked down at shay who was sleeping on her and rory. shayera was the type of person who needed to be touching someone to go to sleep. rory hated physical touch, but she always made an exception for shay and juvia. "we just went to sleep three hours ago. she was crying so hard, dd. it hurt to see her like that." juvia said as she rubbed shay's tear stained cheek.

"can't believe ddot could do that to her." dd spoke. "and then dd, when she asked him about it, he had the nerve to just sit there and not say anything." juvia rolled her eyes remembering ddot's deadly silence. "i think that's when everything really set in for shay."

dd and juvia stayed on the phone for about an hour before juvia decided to end the call feeling extremely tired. but just as juvia was getting comfortable in her spot next to shayera, shay started to wake up. "morning, juju." shay smiled before kissing her cheek. juvia weakly smiled. "good morning, harmony." shay smiled at the use of her middle name. "how you feeling?" juvia asked as she sat up. it was now comfirmed that sleep was not in her cards for today.

shayera shrugged her shoulders with a slight pout on her face. "i'm so hurt juvia." shayera could feel herself about to cry. "regardless though, it's not my fault." shay gave juvia a tight lipped smile. "he choose to cheat on me and that has nothing to do with me as a person. because you know, was i perfect? hell no. not even close." she lightly laughed. "but i didn't deserve to get cheated on. and at the end of the day, i think that no matter what i was already doing, or what i could've started to do, nothing would've changed his thoughts and actions of cheating on me." shayera took a deep breath.

"i love him with my whole heart, that will never change. but, the way i love him will." juvia took in shayera's words. she felt the exact same way. she couldn't see herself not loving ethan in some type of way. "and, i'm sorry for how i made you feel about the notti situation." shayera frowned. "you are a great friend to me and lately, i haven't been that to you. my personal views on what notti did, shouldn't have so...." shayera paused trying to find the word.

"so prevalent?" juvia finished. "yes, prevalent."
shay smiled at juvia for finishing her sentence. "i love you so much and i will always support whatever decision you choose. if you decide to get back with him, then great, but it's fine if you decide not too." shayera hugged juvia who quickly returned the action. "i want you to give me the whole run down on how you feel about everything. this is a judgement free zone, blue."

"like you said about darrian, you'll always love him. i'll always love ethan too, but i don't think i can get passed the hurt he caused me. even if it wasn't his fault or his intentions." shay nodded telling juvia to continue. for about the past forty five minutes, juvia gave shayera the run down on everything. from notti actually be drugged and everything in between. "for almost the past two months, i've been doing nothing but crying and feeling bad about myself. i wasn't the most confident or most secure person before that, so him cheating didn't do anything but make me feel so worthless."

shay looked at her friend who was harboring so much hurt. she pushed her feelings to the side and helped shayera who was going through the same thing, just a month later. juvia was so selfless and sometimes that was a problem. "like you told me, his actions, even though they weren't intentionally, they still don't define you."

juvia shrugged her shoulders. "yeah, but that doesn't take away the pain. i honestly don't want to be around him anymore and i feel guilty about that." juvia played with her fingers feeling the guilt eat away at her heart. "why not?" shay asked. she assumed that since juvia now knew that notti was drugged, that she would wanna get back with him immediately.

"i don't know. i feel conflicted. i feel guilty for not wanting to be around him even though i know it's not his fault for what happened, but the sight of him kissing another girl isn't something that will ever leave my mind." juvia sighed just thinking about notti's birthday party. "but on the other hand, i want nothing more than to be in his face." she frowned. "i think he'd be better off just moving on from me."

shayera immediately shook her head after juvia's last sentence. "no. i may have been a bitch to notti for the past month or so, but he loves you. a blind person could see that, ju. the same way you'll never stop loving him, is the same way he'll never stop loving you." juvia pouted at shay. "but, notti is also capable of loving someone else too."

as much as shayera loved juvia, juvia was very hardheaded. once she felt a certain way, it was very hard to change her mind. "we all know he's capable of it, but he doesn't want to, ju. within the past month of you two being broken up, i've seen more of notti's emotional side than the entire group has ever seen. well, bedsides you and dd."

juvia tilted her head at the new found information. "was he crying?" shayera nodded her head. "girl, he was crying all the time. if he wasn't crying, he was destroying his room. he was just as an emotional mess as you are." juvia could feel herself about to cry imagining notti losing his mind over losing her. she knew what she meant to notti. they were both each other's first real everything. juvia couldn't lie though, she assumed that notti would've put on some sort of nonchalant act after she broke up with him. she knows that he hates being vulnerable with anyone who isn't her.

"you gotta think about it from his perspective. his girl left him and everyone in our friend group was giving him the cold shoulder. especially me and dd. dd was practically ignoring notti and they live in the same house. everyone was going so hard for you, but he had no one in his corner. rory and who shall not be named-" juvia laughed at shayera not trying to mention ddot. "were the only ones who were somewhat nice or cordial with him. you might've lost your boyfriend, but notti lost everyone." shayera paused.

"i mean, before we knew what really went down, our reactions were granted, but we all went about it the wrong way. none of us even took the time to hear him out. it's honestly shocking that notti still wants to be cool with us. it honestly just shows the type of person he is and the amount of love he has for you. now, i'm not telling you to run into this nigga arms or nothing, but i do think you should at least try to hang around him and then decide if you want to cut him out of your life."

juvia nodded her head absorbing every word that came out of shayera's mouth. she never really thought about how notti really did lose his whole support system. she did know how dd and shay were being cruel to him and she tried to ask them to lighten up on him, but that didn't work whatsoever. "i will text him and see what days he's free. we probably could talk today, but i feel like that's too soon and i'm very much sleep deprived." juvia yawned feeling like she could fall asleep at any given moment.

shayera laughed at juvia's sleepiness. "yeah, we have been talking for awhile. we probably should go back to sleep." the two girls laid back down on the couch, making themselves comfortable before saying goodnight to one another, even though it was six in the morning.

rory and shayera just left juvia's house and she felt a bit lonely. she always felt that way when her friends would leave. juvia brushed her feelings of loneliness off as she made her way to her room.

she plopped down on her bed and began scrolling down instagram. she checked her notifications and saw people tagging her in a bunch of couple edits with her and notti. she liked most of them and even commented on some of them. most of the edits were cute and positive, but a handful of them were negative and spreading hate towards notti. juvia made sure to comment on those ones telling people to stop being rude towards notti.

"yo, juju, let's go to the studio." kay's aggressive  voice startled juvia who didn't even hear him come in. "what the fuck kevin? you almost gave me a fucking heart attack." juvia stressed as she placed her hand on her heart. kevin rolled his eyes not paying her any mind. "c'mon let's go."

"can i get dressed first? damn." juvia mumbled as she got off her bed and walked towards her closet. it was mid february and dumb cold outside. she decided to wear her spider hoodie and sweatpants since the material was guaranteed to keep her warm. she decided to wear her black uggs with the bows on the back.

once she was done getting dressed, she walked over towards her vanity. she took her bonnet and scarf off examining her hair. she smiled seeing her jet black buss down was still straight. she quickly did her edges and fixed her part since it was a little messed up. she sprayed on her bare vanilla perfume from victoria's secret.

after she looked over her appearance for the final time, she grabbed her black moncler coat from her closet and put it on. once she was completely done, kay came back into her room with a mug on his face. "you takin hella long, juvia." juvia rolled her eyes at kevin before walking past him and going downstairs.

she saw her mom and sister sitting on the couch watching some tv show. "where y'all going?" diana asked looking at her oldest and middle child. "your son is dragging me to the studio." juvia responded as she made her way towards the kitchen hoping she still had some cans of arizona left. "why you ain't ask me if i wanted to go kay?" lelia asked. "cause any other time i ask your ass to go, you say no." he responded with an obvious attitude.

diana shook her head at her son's words. "kevin, what i tell you about cussin in my damn house?" diana asked with a mug plastered onto her face. "my bad, ma. i'm workin on it." diana rolled her eyes knowing that kevin always apologizes, but never actually takes the initiative to change. he reminded her so much of his father and she tried her hardest to prevent that, but some things are set in stone.

"kevin c'mon before i get back in my bed." juvia shouted. kay rolled his eyes, but told his mother and sister that he loved them and that they'll be back soon.

juvia walked into the studio eating a bag of purple doritos looking around for rory who she invited to the studio, so she wouldn't be too bored. she invited shayera too, but she wanted a day to lay in bed and get her emotions together.

not seeing rory, juvia placed the black plastic bag full of snacks onto the coffee table before sitting down on the gray leather couch.

eventually, kay came into the room with rory and some girl juvia's never seen before, right behind him. "who's this?" juvia asks as she hugs rory who sat right beside her. "this is masani, she's gonna help you." kevin answered. juvia's face turned up. "help me? help me with what?" juvia questioned.

masani felt slightly awkward seeing how kay didn't tell juvia anything. "um, kay told me that you wanted help with your music career." juvia's eyes lit up in realization. a couple days ago she was stressing to kevin about how she wanted to get better with song writing and things of that nature. "oh my god, kay you really did this?!" juvia replied reciting the famous audio from the tiktok couple victor and liyah. "no wonder you dragged me here."

"oh, i apologize if i came off as mean. i didn't know what kevin was doing, but it's so nice to meet you." juvia smiled as she hugged masani. "it's okay. kay just had you out the loop." masani laughed.

after a few minutes of discussing what masani wanted to do as far as helping juvia's career, masani started playing beats for juvia. masani played about seven different beats before juvia heard one she liked. "this one, this one is perfect." she smiled as she bopped her head to the instrumental. "you think i can freestyle? i have something in my head right now, and i don't wanna lose it." juvia asked.

"girl, of course. go head and get in the booth." masani motioned for juvia to go into the recording booth. "imma put the beat on, you start whenever you're ready." juvia nodded at masani's words.

juvia placed the thick black headphones onto her head as she stepped closer towards the mic. she couldn't lie and say she wasn't nervous. for her first song, she recorded that alone, but now she was recording in front of kay, rory and masani. she was worried she'd fuck up in some way.

"don't be nervous, juvia. you'll do great!" masani spoke with a smile trying to ease juvia's nervousness. "okay, okay." juvia replied before physically shaking off her nerves. masani played the beat and watched juvia slowly rock side to side before singing.

(play the audio up top!)

"similar ways, similar game. starting to feel the similar pain. are you sure we haven't met before? i know ya fave, i know ya name, but i don't know you? isn't that crazy? isn't that crazy?" juvia looked to the side of her and saw masani smiling so brightly at her. this gave her courage to keep on going.

"i think we may be in a different book, on
a different page. you said you were different, but you're the same stranger." juvia sung thinking about notti. in reality notti really was different from every other nigga, but it just didn't feel that way anymore. him cheating really changed her view on him. accidental or not. "i cannot tell you how many there have been that were just like you. i do not need you, cause you are just like them. i meet em everyday. they all seem to be the same. lame, okay? i meet em everyday. they all seem to be the same. it's strange."

rory was mesmerized watching her best-friend be in her element. singing really was juvia's thing and it seemed like she got better at it everyday. "you must be crazy, or i must be crazy, or is it maybe i've been here times before and i've said, "yes", meaning no, but oh. a lot of shit has changed."

juvia was amazed at her ability to be able to create a song off the top of her head. she always thought she needed days to sit and write it out. "didn't i tell you what all the rest have done? they were just like you. they have all tried to. you're not the only one." juvia continued to sing closing out the song with the chorus.

once juvia finished, she took the headphones off and let out a sigh of relief. she was really proud of herself. after giving herself a moment to soak in her positive feelings, she walked out of the booth and was immediately engulfed into a hug. "that was so good!" rory exclaimed. juvia smiled hearing the praise. "thank you, ryry."

"damn, ian know you could sing like that, juju. you might be up there with beyoncé and nem." kevin joked receiving a laugh from his sister. "shit, give me a couple of years and i just might be." she smiled. "for this to be your first time free styling and recording while other people were in the room, you did amazing." masani commented as she began to play the song back allowing juvia to really hear herself.

juvia hummed in happiness as she heard her voice over the instrumental. "i lowkey ate that one lil thing." juvia said as she held up her thumb and pointer finger and holding them close together, but leaving a little space. "what are you gonna name it?" rory asked.

"hmmm," juvia pondered as she placed her finger on her chin to implicate that she was thinking. one thing about juvia, she was extremely expressive and dramatic with it too. "i think i'll name it stranger."

MASANI "SANI" COLE
twenty two - african american
"i'm going to make her a star."
socials: missmasanicole