Level the Playing Field

Happy Endings.

A/n: This is it. It's always nerve wracking sharing my writing publicly so I hope you enjoyed this and the characters. Votes are appreciated, enjoy ☺️.

Sadé looks around the sparsely furnished space of their two bedroom flat. She can't believe they actually did it. Mikayla enters the open space dragging a medium sized box along and cringes at the abrasive sound of the cardboard box skating across the polished concrete floors, but she immediately breaks into a smile at the pure joy on her friend's face. Mikayla races over to clasp their hands together so they can hop around and squeal excitedly in the middle of their new home. The sound echoes around them, there's only one sofa in the livingroom, but they'll get to the furnishing soon. Sadé could make a firm statement that the past couple of months has been the most important in her life. Mikayla, Celine and Jude all played a part. They helped her with research on how to go about obtaining citizenship in the country; it's still in process but in the meantime she is able to live and work without restrictions. She and Mikayla immediately began applying for jobs before exams while Celine applied for grad schools. Sadé received three offers but ultimately accepted the post of a lab technician in London because Mikayla got an offer for an actuarial position at a financial institution in London as well. Celine got accepted to a university in London, 25 minutes away. It's almost too perfect but Sadé is just learning to be grateful instead of questioning everything. Graduation was heavy for her; seeing everyone else celebrate with their loved ones and still not hearing from her mom for almost a year was heartbreaking. But Mikayla's parents made it bearable; they treated her like their own. They insisted she come in every picture, they as well as Celine's and Jude and even his mother cheered loudly for her when she walked across the stage.

"I can't believe we've graduated and start our big girl jobs soon." Mikayla is almost dancing on the tips of her toes from excitement.

"I know! and we're still roommates."

Sadé giggles as Mikayla crushes her to her body in a suffocating hug.

"I'm so happy." Mikayla mutters and Sadé can swear she hears quiet sniffling.

"Mikky are you crying?" She laughs when her friend denies but she can feel the tears wetting her shoulder.

***********

"The apartment is nice but I still think you should be here with me." Jude pouts on her screen as she gives him a tour of her room.

"Stop being a baby, I'll come see you... when I get settled." She playfully rolls her eyes while propping her phone up to clip her long- black sew-in up.

"And when is that?"

"I don't know but you'll survive, so needy." Sadé pulls her shirt over her head and shimmies out of her jeans.

"Needy because I miss my girlfriend?"

Sadé bites her lip to hide her smile. He asked her a couple weeks before graduation after months of dating. She still does get some attention from the media, especially since they have been caught on dates together. But she keeps all her socials private still and stopped paying attention to the comments on posts.

"I still haven't agreed to being your girlfriend yet, by the way." She cheekily reminds him. It's true too, she had just smiled and kissed him when he asked. There's still an underlying fear that they're just high off infatuation and the amazing sexual chemistry between them. She almost feels as if she's giving him time to snap out of it before they go too far. Pessimistic, but old habits die hard.

"You are in my head until I get you to say yes." He says distractedly. She would guess it has something to do with her being naked on his screen.

"Fair enough." She giggles, picking the phone up to head into her ensuite bathroom. "How was practice today?"