WEST COAST 18+

3.

W E S T C O A S T

With the women in the house spending the day at work, Ashton tended to be home alone for a few hours.

Daniela's job at the salon was usually in the morning, and with another job on her hands, she's been working afternoon shifts and late-night ones at a gas station. Shanti's father owned it; Daniela's application 'mysteriously' landing at the top of dozens.

Their connection would've thrived better if Shanti's father hadn't moved her to LA in the middle of Shanti's 8th-grade year. They stayed in touch for a little bit, but as friends in real life were created, there was barely any time for the long-distance ones.

Occasional check-ins, spreading love on each other's pictures online. But when Daniela made a post about moving to the west, Shanti immediately asked for the address. They were only a half hour away from each other, and they believed it was a sign that they were ready to reconnect fully.

They hung out daily within these three months, crashing at each other's place.

Shanti was her girl, always supporting her. She knew Daniela was into DJ'ing and got her in touch with a few people to build something out here. Daniela has had a few successful gigs, getting paid some nice change for the hours she spent entertaining a crowd.

She used most of the money to upgrade some of her equipment for a better experience, putting the rest toward bills or feeding her shopping addiction.

Initially, mixing was something to cure her boredom, but then she found herself investing in DJ equipment and realized it was a passion. She would say she's up and coming—people knew about her. But they also heard about better, and they wanted to pick the familiar face when booking someone for a gig.

She needed to network herself. That's all.

"You fuckface!" Daniela groaned out before swinging her fist at Ashton's arm. She kissed her teeth and used her thumb to clean up the white nail polish that got on her skin. "Why would you do that?"

Ashton laughed at her annoyance with him after he purposely plopped down onto the couch while she was doing her toenails. "I need help with my homework."

"Ask Mom to help you," she said, not beat for using her brain after handling phone calls and reading magazines at work.

"Mom's asleep for work tonight."

She scrunched her face. "Google the answers."

He seems chipper. "You tell me all the time not to cheat, and now you want me to."

She groans that he's still talking. "I'm doing my toes. Leave me alone." She was doing a cheetah French tip with cherries on it, and he fucked it up.

"This means I could go watch TV?" he asks, eager for a response.

Daniela slowly lifts her head, smiling, "After you finish your homework." He pouts, and she says, "Now get out."

Ashton huffed, getting up from the couch with his homework in hand. He traveled all the way to the kitchen, slapping the paper onto the island. If Daniela didn't have eyesight out of this world, he'd sneak back inside his room to get his Nintendo Switch.

Taking a seat on the stool, he grabbed his pencil and attempted to start his history assignment. The second he went to put the pencil to the paper, the house phone began ringing.

He'd let it ring if his aunt hadn't yelled at him last time about not picking up the calls. Sometimes it was for her, and it was important.

"Hello?" Ashton asks over the phone.