τώρα δει

Dance Offs and Freak Outs

The next morning, Ebony woke up feeling more at ease. Ariana's pep talk had done wonders, and the anxiety from the night before had morphed into a buzzing excitement. After all, it wasn't every day that a celeb crush actually noticed you, right?

Still, Ebony wasn't about to sit around and obsess over it. She had a full day ahead, and her first order of business was meeting up with Ariana and Dylan. They wanted to hang out and probably film a few TikTok's.

"Yo, you ready to bust some moves?" Ariana's text popped up on her screen just as she finished getting dressed.

" Bitch what," Ebony says laughing at her, grabbing her bag and heading out the door. She needed this, a normal day with her best friends.

When she arrived at Ariana's place, Dylan was already there, lounging on the couch and scrolling through TikTok. "Look who finally decided to show up!" he teased, looking up with a grin.

"Oh, shut up," Ebony laughed, throwing a pillow at him. "You're just mad because cause you're not a baddie like me."

"Pfft, what I am literally the baddest of baddies Ebs," Dylan shot back, catching the pillow. Then dropping it, popping his hip and putting his hand on his hip then standing back up straight"But seriously, you good? Heard you had a little freak-out yesterday."

"Ugh, don't remind me," Ebony groaned, flopping down next to him. "I'm still mortified."

"Well, you should be," Ariana chimed in, walking in from the kitchen with a smoothie in hand. " I'm just playin you're about to meet Malachi freaking Barton. I'd say that's worth a little freak-out."

Ebony rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, yeah. But let's not talk about it. I'm here to forget my life is a mess for a few hours."

"Fair enough," Dylan said, sitting up and tossing his phone aside.

They scrolled on TikTok for a bit, looking for a few dances to do and then practice a few times

"Alright, positions!" Ariana called out, setting up the camera. "We're going to nail this in one take, got it?"

"Got it," Ebony and Dylan replied in unison, taking their spots.
Turning to each other, laughing at Ariana Cause she was taking away too serious

As they huddled around Ariana's phone to watch the playback, Ebony felt a warm sense of normalcy. This was what she loved—being with her friends, dancing, and just living in the moment. No stress, no overthinking, just pure fun.

She posted the video captioning it THE trio

Ebony's phone, buzzes in her pocket. She pulled it out, expecting another round of TikTok notifications, but froze when she saw who it was.

It was a DM from Malachi Barton.

"Guys," she whispered, her heart racing. "You're not going to believe this."

"What? What happened?" Ariana asked, leaning over to see the screen.

"Malachi just DMed me," Ebony said, her voice barely above a whisper. "He saw the dance...and he wants to do a collab."

The room went silent for a moment before both Ariana and Dylan erupted into cheers. "Are you kidding me? This is insane!" Ariana practically screamed, jumping up and down.

"I told you, Ebs! You're a freaking star!" Dylan added, shaking her shoulders in excitement.

Ebony felt like she was in a dream. Just yesterday, she was freaking out about him seeing her interview, and now he wanted to collab on a TikTok dance? It was all happening so fast, but she couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement.

"Okay, okay, I need to calm down," Ebony said, taking a deep breath. "What do I even say to him?"

"Just be chill," Ariana advised, still buzzing with energy. "Say something like, 'That sounds like fun! Let's set it up.' Keep it cool."

"Yeah, don't go all fangirl on him again," Dylan added with a grin.

Ebony shot him a playful glare before typing out her response. "Okay, here goes nothing," she said, hitting send.

As they waited for his reply, Ebony couldn't help but think about how wild her life had become in such a short time. But with her best friends by her side, she knew she could handle whatever came next—even if it involved a dance collab with Malachi Barton.

Just as she was about to say something, her phone buzzed again. Malachi had replied.

And just like that, her world was about to get even crazier.