ETHAN RILEY REYES
monday, october twenty-sixth 2023

saniyah nervously followed behind ddot as the two entered the studio. dd and jodie simultaneously nodded their heads at her. notti could feel the nervousness radiating off of her body.

"hey, uh, taina, let me talk to you real quick." saniyah softly spoke to taina who was too involved in her phone to even notice what was going on around her. "okay, go head." taina replied. "um, i wanted to talk in the hallway." saniyah nervously scratched the back of her neck.

notti could tell that this whole conversation is making niyah extremely uncomfortable. when they were together, he used to hold her hand or just touch any part of her just to let her know that everything will be okay. notti was right next to taina, so saniyah was in his access, but he wasn't sure if she wanted him to touch her.

"nah, can we just talk in here? i'm comfortable." taina replied as she continued typing away on her phone. "uh.. okay. um." saniyah voice cracked a little, but it wasn't noticeable to anyone besides notti. he knows how bad she hates confronting people.

"aight, look taina. saniyah knows about all the shit you said about her back at ddot's crib. she basically wants you to know that she didn't like that and she doesn't really want to be your friend after allat cause you betrayed her." notti spoke up for saniyah.

as much as she wasn't fucking with him right now, she was so thankfully that he did that. "y-yeah. what ethan said..." saniyah trailed off. taina furrowed her eyebrows and placed her phone down on her thigh. "i didn't say anything about niyah at ddot's crib." taina blatantly lied.

dd scrunched his face up at taina's lie. "fuck is you lyin for? me, ddot and notti all heard the shit you said. me and dot told niy right after that shit happened. don't be lying." dd scoffed.

taina rolled her eyes. "fuck up, dd. you always be so quick to defend saniyah. fuck you like ha or somethin?" the whole room, especially dd looked at taina like she was fuckin crazy.

"the fuck? niyah is like a sista to me. why the fuck would i like her? notti literally is my blood brother, why the fuck would i like the girl he's in love with?" dd deadass was getting annoyed with her.

"yeah, you talkin crazy taina. chill out wit allat." notti spoke off as he waved off the darkskin girl.

"nah, you treat her way better than notti do. you definitely like her." taina replied standing firm on her accusation.

"bro what?" jodie butted in. "are you mad that he treats niyah better than he treats you? you must like dd cause this shit is ridiculous." jodie laughed. taina got quiet and a faint redness appeared on her cheeks.

saniyah watched in silence as she realized what jodie said was true.

niyah turned around and saw ddot who was silent during this whole ordeal with sad eyes. he shook his head and quietly sighed. ddot could feel saniyah's eyes burning into him. he looked up and saw her look at him with an unreadable expression on her face.

"wow. you're really a low down dirty bitch." saniyah spoke with venom laced all in her voice. saniyah rarely got mad, but she couldn't stand to look at ddot with that heartbreaking expression on his face.

"first, you start liking your boyfriend's bestfriend, who not to mention, is jodie's boyfriend. then, you talk shit about me behind my back and get mad when dd defends me." saniyah laughed at the amusing storyline.

everyone just sat in silence and watched as taina shifted uncomfortably in her chair. notti shifted his eyes over to saniyah who just looked so hurt and defeated.

out of nowhere, ddot started laughing. i mean falling out of his seat typa laugh. "this shit
makes so much sense now." he said while
continuing to laugh. "everytime i said me and dd was linkin up, you always wanted to come. it's funny cause i spoke to niyah and jodie about the shit, but we all just chopped it up to you just wanting to see me all the time. but nahhhh, you wanted to see dd." ddot laughed once again.

"ian never met a bitch more grimey than you, i swear bro. i knew it was a reason ian never like your ass from the start." jodie spoke. "how fucking dare you do this to ddot? ddot ain't do shit but fucking love you bro. he put you on top of everything. then you got the fucking nerve to like my boyfriend? yeah bitch i want my fucking ones with you."

"i-i'm sorr-" ddot cut taina off. "save that shit, bro." ddot laughed. he didn't know if he laughing to try and hide his pain, or if he laughing cause this shit funny as fuck to him. "matta fact, get the fuck out." ddot said seriously.

taina didn't say anything and just got up, grabbed her stuff and left. the second the door closed, saniyah and jodie both went over and hugged ddot. you could tell he was tryna keep his composure the entire time she was there.

"it's gonna be okay darri, we gotchu." saniyah said as she squeezed ddot's hand. "we love you, dot. if you need anything, just say the word." jodie added. the two girls released from the boy. "thanks my hearts. imma be aight though."

"okay, but if you wanna talk, we here for you." ddot waved saniyah off. "i know, niyah i know. but not gon lie, let's just go. she fucked up the vibe."

"we should go to niyah house and have a sleepover. we ain't did that shit in so long bro." dd spoke reminiscing of old times. "omg we haven't! we used to have so much fun." jodie smiled thinking about it. "hell yeah, we used to all cuddled up on niyah little ass bed bro." ddot, dd and jodie all laughed.

the three of them walked ahead saniyah and notti. the two teenagers walked side by side in a comfortable silence. saniyah wanted to thank notti for what he said for her back in the studio, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to talk to him. but she knows she can't ignore him forever.

"i just wanted to say thanks for covering for me back there." saniyah spoke as she wrapped her arms around herself. she thought her sweater would keep her warm, but she thought wrong. notti didn't say anything, but he did wrap his arm around her to warm her up a bit.

saniyah didn't say anything and just let it happen. she couldn't lie and say she didn't miss this, say she didn't miss him.

as the two walked to niyah's house, notti thought of all the things he wanted to say to her. he wants to change for her. he wants her to give him another chance to prove that he will really change for her.

"saniyah, would you give me another chance? another chance to prove that i will change for you?" notti spoke as they looked at the three teenagers ahead of them.

"i would, but you need to change before i even give you another chance. even with that though, we'd have to take shit slow." saniyah wasn't even really thinking about what she was saying.

she loved notti and she'd do anything for them
to be happy. however, she knew she couldn't just allow him back into her life without any boundaries or rules.

"if you really wanna be with me, you need to cut all of them girls off. you need to be all about me and me only." notti placed his phone in saniyah's hand. "look." saniyah looked at his lock screen which was the first picture the two teens took way back when they were kids.

saniyah remembered the picture and she smiled while looking at it. "unlock it and look." notti reiterated noticing that she didn't open the phone. saniyah furrowed her eyebrows. "i don't know your password."

notti didn't say anything, but he did pick his phone up, hold it in front of her face and saniyah watched as the phone unlocked. her eyes widened noticing she still had her face id. she thought he would've been deleted that. "my password is still your birthday."

saniyah could feel her cheeks heat up. "ion have no other bitches in my phone. i deleted and blocked all them after that talk we had." notti spoke as saniyah scrolled through his messages. saniyah felt so weird doing it because she wasn't the type to go through a nigga phone, but he told her to.

notti stopped walking. since his arm was wrapped around saniyah, she stopped too. he unwrapped his arm from around her and started speaking.

"i know the shit i was doing before was dumb. you ain't deserve nunnadat shit at all, baby. i had you out here looking dumb and feeling like these other bitches could compare to you when they don't. imma really get my shit together and be the nigga i was supposed to have been all this time. i'm genuinely sorry for all the shit i did to you, saniyah." notti made sure to keep eye contact with saniyah the whole time to make sure she knew he was serious.

saniyah smiled at his genuine words. "i'll accept your apology when i see you change." saniyah stuck her hand out, waiting for notti to grab it. notti smiled at saniyah's words knowing he was going to prove to her that he can be better. he will be better. he connected their hands and continued their walk to her house. "i love you." he said as he squeezed her hand a bit.

"i love you more, e."

STAR SPEAKS!
short chapter, but the next one will be longer!
1.6k words.