CHRESANTO

It'd been three days since Chresanto last saw Ebony and it didn't end too well. Christee, his ex-girlfriend, showed up and started some shit like calling Ebony a replacement and being extra. Not making it better, Santo let himself have wandering eyes, which didn't sit too well with Ebony, who then stormed out the building in an angry mood.

Since then, Santo had been trying to contact her, but she responded to none of his text messages, his call, dms, nothing. She was completely ignoring him. At this point, he knew that he tried to do something on his part, so now Eb had the ball in her camp. He wasn't going to run after her forever.

"Do you have any food in here ? " Kofi asked, looking through his refrigerator. The three friends were at Santo's apartment, chilling for a bit before it was time for each of them to take care of their individual business.

"No, I'm gonna go grocery shopping tomorrow though."

"Tomorrow ? But I'm hungry noooow ! " he whined, stomping his feet like a kid.

"If you don't getcho..." He smacked his teeth, checking his notifications on Twitter and Instagram. Somehow, he found himself creeping on Eb's page, again. When he liked a picture by accident, he left the app instantly, cursing himself in his mind.

"What are y'all wearing for the premiere ? " Elin asked as he turned the TV on.

Santo shrugged. "I don't know...clothes," he said, causing Elin to roll his eyes as he fanned him off.

"Hey, Santo, I'm gonna need a favor from you my man." Kofi broke the little moment of silence that set in as he sat on a bar stool and placed his plate on the counter, along with a bottle of water and a fork.

"Wassup ? " Santo asked, giving him his attention.

"The girl you're talking to, Ebony, right ? Remember her friend, that we saw at the club ? I'mma need her number."

Santo frowned a bit. "What exactly are your intentions with this girl ? Are you gonna treat her like all the other girls ? " he questioned, already smelling the drama that would come with this.

He didn't need his best friend to crush Ebony's best friend's heart. This would ruin all his chances with her, well if it wasn't already done. But even if they were going their separate ways, he was still not going to help his friend to play with somebody's feelings. The young woman did nothing to deserve that.

"Get that number for me first, then we'll see."

"Nah." Santo shook his head. "You already know I don't support your fuckboy behavior, so no I'm not giving it to you."

Kofi finished chewing and swallowed the food he had in his mouth, as a frown formed on his forehead. "Are you that unknown girl's best friend or mine ? "

"It doesn't matter, I'm not helping you to play this girl. You already know how I feel about this bullshit, so I don't know what you thought was gonna happen. Go be a hoe with another hoe."

"How do you know this girl is not a hoe though ? You already met her ? Talked to her ? Anything ? "

"No, but I don't get this type of vibe from her. And you know I always feel the vibes right with people."

"But you can be wrong this time though."

"Or be right, like I always am."

"Man, stop playing and get me this number ! Act like a true friend, it's bros before hoes."

"Oh my God, you didn't just say that ! No, you didn't. I'm gonna act like you didn't, " Elin exclaimed, shaking his head, while chuckling in disappointment.

"No, I said it and I meant it," Kofi confirmed, making his two friends stale-faced him.

"He can't be serious. Is he ? " Elin turned to Santo and asked, pointing at Kofi behind him with his thumb.

Santo sent a glare towards Kofi's direction, who looked pretty serious. "Sadly, he really meant those words. He didn't realize yet that we're not in high school anymore. We're supposed to be men, and men respect women. With that being said, my final answer is no. And you better leave her alone altogether." He made a mental note to tell Ebony to warn her friend about Kofi.

Here, the matter wasn't about who his loyalty belonged to; Chresanto had morals and wasn't going to go against them to participate in some type of fuckboy activity. He thought he was better than that, and wasn't the one to encourage other grown ass men to treat women like pieces of meat.

Anyways, he wouldn't be a good friend if he wasn't being honest with Kofi and telling him that his behavior with women was pure trash. It wasn't the first time that they had this kind of argument. But Kofi wasn't his kid, so he could only tell him and pray that he wasn't doing too much out there.

Kofi smacked his lips, stood up and left the apartment without saying another word.

"Don't worry, he'll get over it in a few days," he assured Elin, who gave him a look, as he pulled his phone out to send a message to his father. He told him that he planned on stopping by the house later on in the day.

"Now, what if he actually wanted to give it a try and be in a serious relationship with this girl ? "

"He would have said it then."

"Maybe he was scared to admit it to us."

Santo chuckled, shaking his head. "Kofi ? No, he wouldn't be scared to admit that. He's too blunt."

He nodded. "True."

(1 AM) Wed. 02/27: I guess you need more time to calm down, so...when you're ready to talk, call me.

Don't wait forever though...

She read the last message Chresanto sent her for the third time today, and she still didn't know what to do from this point on. She had calmed down since Sunday afternoon, but she was still a bit mad at Chresanto for first letting his ex come at her sideways, then to make her feel more disrespected by checking his ex out as if she wasn't just sitting next to him. If the roles were reversed, she wouldn't have let that happen.

Yes, they weren't official, but she needed to know early on if she could feel totally protected in Chresanto's presence, mainly if he was to become her boyfriend. He was doing everything right, then this happened. She couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't too early for them to have that kind of drama and how it would then be in the future if they were going to go further in their relationship.

Of course, she knew that relationships weren't supposed to be perfect, but she wanted to make sure that there weren't any red flags that she had to take into consideration so she wouldn't be with another Jerome.

"What are you thinking about over there ? " her mother, Sanaa, interrupted her train of thoughts.

She leaned on her forearms, that were resting on the counter, then grabbed a grape and popped it in her mouth. "I need your advice on some current situation I'm in right now...with Chresanto."

Sanaa raised an interrogative eyebrow at her daughter. "What happened ? Did he hurt you ? "

"No, no, nothing too serious...I think."

"Well, tell me and I'll be the judge of it."

Ebony nodded and told her everything that happened on Sunday at the gym and how Santo had tried to contact her since then.

"Okay...I see where you're coming from and I think you should tell him how you felt that day. Communication is key in any kind of relationship. So, stop ignoring him before you make, what can potentially be your husband, run away. I have to give him some points for reaching out though, because I know a lot of other guys wouldn't have done that in this particular situation."

"So, you don't feel like I was being extra ? "

"No for feeling disrespected at that gym, but yes for ignoring him like that. Now, I'm scared of something and it's, as I thought, that you're maybe not completely over your last relationship. You didn't really give yourself some time to heal from this. You were constantly lied to and cheated on, which can put your guard ever more up and make it harder to trust the next dude coming into your life. Keep in mind that Chresanto isn't Jerome, and that he won't necessarily put you through the same experiences."

"You think I should slow things down with Santo ? "

"If you feel like you need it, and if you're sure you won't take the frustration you're still feeling against Jerome on the new man. Did you catch yourself comparing the two ? "

Eb bit on her bottom lip as she thought about it. "Yes," she answered, feeling a bit ashamed. She couldn't help it though because she really didn't want to repeat the experience she had with Jerome, with Chresanto. She didn't want to play herself and feel stupid at the end, once again.

"You need to stop doing that. Let yourself and Chresanto have your own story."

"You're right. I'm gonna give him a fair chance."

"Yeah, but at the same time still be careful and cautious of red flags," she reminded her, as her daughter nodded her head.

"Okay." She grabbed her phone on the counter and decided to reply to Chresanto. She had ignored him for way too long. After writing the message for about twenty times, she finally settled on something, then anxiously pressed on send.

Hi, how are you ? Sorry for answering only now. When are you free so we can talk ?

She was hoping that it wasn't too late and that she didn't ruin all her chances with him because she was childish and ignored him for the past three days. A minute after her message was sent, she could see that it was read and was now patiently waiting for a response.

"Hello, familia ! " Paris appeared in the doorway, wearing the biggest grin she ever had on her face, making her sister and mother both raise their eyebrow in interrogation. Why was she so happy for ? Originally, Paris was an enthusiastic individual, but they'd never seen her like this.

"Hello to you too, what's going on with you ? " Eb didn't waste time and went straight to the point.

"Yeah, why are you showing all your teeth like this for ? I hope you protected yourself, nobody around here is ready to be somebody's grandmother." Sanaa narrowed her eyes at her youngest child.

Paris scrunched up her face as she made her way towards them, at the counter. "Chill, ma. Ain't nobody tryna have some kids around here. I'm cool ! But damn, somebody can't just be happy for y'all ? Y'all really need a reason ? "

"Yes, " they answered simultaneously.

"Now, give us the gossip," Eb insisted as they looked at Paris, waiting for her to talk.

"Okaaaaay ! I was with Ethan and..." She let out a breath, smiling more with dreamy eyes. "He's amazing."

"Ethan, huh ? " Sanaa smirked, before taking a sip from her smoothie.

"Oh, tell me about the date, you didn't call me like I told you to." Eb squinted her eyes at her.

"Oops, I forgot. Well, it was great ! He first took me shopping, so I could get a new dress for our date--"

"Wait, wait, wait ! Say that again ! " Eb exclaimed, almost choking on her own saliva.

Paris chuckled. "He took me shopping so I could get a new dress for the dinner. Then he dropped me off here, so I could get ready."

"Did you ask him what's he doing for a living ? And it was your very first date with him ? "

"Right, did you do a background check ? " their mother added, looking at her daughter suspiciously.

"Yes, he's green. He does an internship in this little law firm, and it pays well. He's not a player, nor a criminal. Can I continue now ? "

"Go ahead." Eb motioned for her to keep going.

"Well, he organized this cute picnic on the rooftop of his building, and he cooked the whole dinner, I mean from the appetizers to the dessert. We had great conversation, he made me laugh all night and he was just so sweet. I felt special throughout the whole night and I couldn't get the smile off my face. I can definitely see myself falling for him. I can't wait for y'all and my dad to meet him ! And I miss him already ! " she told them, squealing, as she replayed the date in her mind. She just saw him, but she couldn't wait to see him again.

"Oh, somebody is in love," Sanaa sang.

Ebony was about to say something when her phone made some noise, indicating her that she had new notifications on Instagram. She quickly looked through them, and it seemed like there were more than usual, so it immediately got her wondering. What was going on ?

"Oh hell no..." She mumbled, going to Jerome's page where he mentioned her on his newest post.

He had just uploaded a picture of a girl with shoulder-length wavy blonde hair and a light bronze complexion. She wore a beautiful smile, which lightened up her slim face that had makeup on perfectly. Her eyebrows looked amazing. She was also wearing some sleeveless beige crystal bodycon dress, which went very well with her skin tone. And it looked like the picture was taken in a club.

@Melanin_Goddess see how I UPGRADED ? Don't come back crawling cause I will never take you back. I'm happy, so let me be #ITurnedThePage #NewChapterInMyLife #LightskinGang #WifeyMaterial

Ebony was more than disgusted. How could he ? Wasn't he the one begging her to talk a few weeks ago ? And she couldn't believe that he really put those hashtags. It was only making him look like an idiot on the internet.

Thankfully, knowing how people could be with athletes' girlfriends, she put her page private after he got drafted, in case something like this would happen. Everybody was mentioning her in Jerome's comments; some were encouraging her to be as petty, others were asking who she was and as always ignorant people were trying to get some attention with some bs because they couldn't get it in real life.

Drama on IG was the very last thing she needed in her life right now.

"Yo, people are still doing that light skin vs dark skin bullshit ? " Paris asked rolling her eyes. "We're all black motherfuckers, " she mumbled, going through the comments to see if she had to clap back at some smart mouths for her sister.

"Apparently, " Eb simply answered, locking her screen. She didn't feel like dealing with all of this right now, mainly because it wasn't that serious. It wasn't the number one trend on social media, so it will die down in a few days, and it won't put her career in jeopardy because he was the only one wilding out; she wasn't going to join him.

"What's going on ? " Sanaa asked, looking confusedly at her daughters.

"Some stupid drama on Instagram, Jerome is trying it," Paris responded as she now scrolled down her TL.

"What he said ? " She grabbed her own phone and went to look for herself. Once she saw the caption, she couldn't help but kiss her lips in annoyance. "Is he serious ? Do not play this game with him because that's exactly what he wanted. He's trying to get your attention. Did he see you with Chresanto ? They're always trying to come back when they see you doing well for yourself without them."

She shrugged. "I don't know and I don't care honestly. He didn't care about me when we were together, so now let me be happy, " she said before letting out a gasp as she suddenly realized something. "Wait a damn minute now..." She went to look at the picture again, making sure that the girl was who she thought she was; Chresanto's ex-girlfriend. "Damn, the world is small as hell, " she commented before starting to laugh.

"Why are you saying that ? " Paris asked, looking up from her phone.

"This is Chresanto's ex-girlfriend. Oh, I could be spilling all type of tea right now." She laughed more.

"The one that came at you sideways at the gym ? "

"Yes." She nodded, answering her mother.

"Oh, so he must not know that wifey is trying to have a Thursday throwback with her ex, " she stated, shaking her head. "A mess. Well, let me get out of here before I miss my meeting. Bye babies, mama loves you so much." She kissed them on the cheek, then left the house.

"Wait, what ? I'm confused. Like how you know she's his ex ? What happened ? What did I miss ? Tell me, please ! " Paris threw the questions as Ebony received about ten messages from Kat, who was going crazy about the post. She was cussing Jerome out and asking if she wanted her to comment death threats and some of his dirty business on his page, or make a post about it. Kat was in the mood to match his pettiness, but be smarter than him while doing so.

Ebony couldn't help but laugh at her best friend. Since she didn't want that little situation to be dragged out for no reason, she told her no and to calm down. Then she told her that she'll call her later, so they could talk and catch up on each other's life since it felt like it'd been awhile.

"Sit down, sweetheart."

"How could I break this shit if I wasn't here ? "

"I know I didn't break it, so if it's not me it must be you ! There's no ghost in here."

"It wasn't me ! "

"Who are you raising your voice at ? "

Chresanto groaned, hearing his brother and father arguing. It seemed like it was all they could do lately. Since Chad got arrested about a month ago, their father was more on his back and anything his youngest son did was a good excuse for him to criticize and get angry.

"I'm happy to see you here, maybe you can stop them."

He startled at the sound of the voice, then relaxed quickly once he realized it belonged to Orlea. Damn, was she always there ? Every time he came to visit his family, she was there. Not that he really minded because she was always cooking for the whole house, but it was definitely making him wonder about some things.

"How long they've been going at it ? " he asked as he got his shoes and bomber jacket off at the entry.

"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe hours ? They're arguing about just anything, and at this point it's really ridiculous. There's a problem with the dishwasher and instead of calling someone to repair it or doing it themselves, they've been blaming each other for this." She shook her head, putting her hands on her hips. "It broke on its own."

"Thanks for telling me. How have you been ? "

"Good." She shrugged. "Getting myself ready to go back to school."

"Oh, what are you going for ? "

"Architecture."

He nodded. "Cool."

"IT WASN'T ME ! " they heard Chad scream, which alerted them immediately as they ran in the kitchen where father and son were ready to lay hands on each other. Their father was shirtless, and you could see the veins popping out a bit, that's how angry he was, while Chad was in his grey Adidas tracksuit and his hand was about to grab some object to hit with.

While Orlea grabbed her boyfriend's arm and led him out the kitchen, Chresanto stayed behind with his father, blocking the way so he couldn't go after his brother to beat his ass.

"This child is so disrespectful ! "

"Dad, calm down. Sit down, I'm gonna get you a drink." Mr. Harris sat on a chair at the round wooden table and took a deep breath, wiping his forehead which began sweating.

Santo got himself and his father each a bottle of sparkling water, then joined him at the table. "Here. What's going on between you and Chance ? I've never seen y'all like this before. You're still mad about the arrest ? You need to get over it, you know. Chance is still super young, he's supposed to make mistakes and learn from this."