Downplay| Jordan Clarkson & Quincy Brown

•t h i r t e e n•

Yara was hurt.

She didn't care that he'd called 12 times. She couldn't bring herself to answer. The flight home had been a blur, partially because she'd slept most of the way but also because she couldn't believe he'd treated her the way he did. For once, Yara was being called out for doing absolutely nothing. She and Quincy had no romantic entanglements, and yet because of him, she'd been ousted twice. It was exhausting.

She couldn't talk to him; she couldn't see him, and as she rolled over in her red satin sheets, she realized that she'd never felt the searing pain that was coursing through her veins before. She'd felt a lot of things in her life; hate, resentment, lust, jealousy, and happiness but never had she felt this, and it was all his fault.

He'd cheated on her and with his baby's mother no less? She shouldn't have been shocked; he was a ballplayer, and Mylin was a permanent part of his life. What really shook Yara to her core was how affected she was by his betrayal. She never intended to get in deep with him and as soon as she did, he'd flipped the script. Maybe he had these intentions from the start.

"Are you still in bed?" Ebony's voice floated into the room.

"Why would I move Eb?"

The dark-skinned beauty glanced over at Zolee with a sad expression before she made her way into Yara's meticulous bedroom. Even when she was in a funk, she managed to keep her room in order and a wine bottle on her nightstand. The only thing out of place was the fact that the wine bottle was full, untouched, and cast aside. Something was definitely wrong.

Nudging the party planner over, Maranda made herself comfortable as she crawled into the California king bed and cuddled her friend. Zolee joined shortly, occupying the other side of the bed with a tub of cookies and cream in her lap.

"C'mon Ya, I've only seen you like this once since we were kids. What happened in Salt Lake City?" Zo prodded gently, offering a spoon of ice cream to Yara which she took gratefully.

"He cheated. He fucked Mylin and he only told me to spite me because he thought I'd had sex with Quincy." Yara's voice was flat as she explained.

Sitting up, she grabbed the tub from Zolee and began to spoon ice cream into her mouth slowly. In the meantime, Zolee and Maranda exchanged startled looks. They would have never suspected...

"Wait, this doesn't make sense Yara, Jordan was all over you." Ebony tried to make sense of it all but from the look, Yara gave her she knew that her friend didn't want to elaborate.

"Eb, he did what he did. It's whatever."

"Is it though? Look Yara I know that you're hurting." Zolee reasoned.

"It's obvious Ya and I have some experience with baby mothers. Look, Kyrie may not be Kevin's daughter but he's locked in with Zoë because of her. Even after what happened with us last month... he still chose her but he's still on my line. It's so confusing and that's how it goes when babies are involved, there'll always be something there."

"Also, Mylin doesn't seem like she's over him so there's that to consider too. D'Angelo is also a piece of work, don't get me wrong but at least he doesn't have any babies running around."

"Are you sure?" Smirking, Yara gave Zolee a look that earned her a slap to the arm.

"Watch it, you may be down, but my situation is complicated enough, I'm carrying the man's baby."

"Sorry, Zo. Look, neither one of you two has to worry about me. I knew what it was and it's my fault for letting him change my mind. It's my karma, I've done this to so many people before, I can't even sit here like a victim."