recognize / b.simmons

25

dlo: u not in LA anymore?

dlo: heard you moved for ole boy 🤡🤡

dlo: hope you happy with him lol ✌🏽

amari rolls her eyes at d'angelo's texts and tosses her phone onto her dresser. she'd only been in louisiana a week, and he was already blowing her line up. he should've done this when he had the chance.

amari goes to her unzipped suitcase and digs for a sports-bra and some underwear. she hasn't completely unpacked, since she'd be leaving in less than 8 days. she had most of her stuff in suitcases; all of her boxes stuff was shipped out to chicago and her brothers and her dad moved her stuff into her apartment a few days ago.

she puts on her bra and underwear and then puts on grey leggings. she slips on a white tanktop and slides her feet into her slippers before heading downstairs and to the living room.

her two brothers, myles and deandre, were sitting on one couch while her parents were sitting on another, playing with deandres daughter, desiree. she was two years old, but was already learning how to talk.

"hey, baby girl," kennedy, amaris dad says as she descends down the stairs and into the living room.

"hey," amari says, greeting her family and taking a seat on the arm of the chair next to her dad. her slings an arm around her shoulders and pulls amari down towards him so he can kiss her forehead. she had a close bond with her family, but it's been kind of strained ever since she moved to LA. she rarely called them while she was there, and was secretive. but when she got to louisiana, she spilled mostly everything, though she left out all of the famous guys' names and didn't even mention ben or d'angelo.

her family knew of her and karl, and were against it from the jump, being that he was famous and young. when her family found out about how he was treating amari, it was guns out. since she was the baby of e family, they were protective over her. amari's brothers tried to run up on him, but she begged them not to, saying that it'd only make the situation worse.

amari figured it was easier to just keep the men anonymous, but told them that she did not have her priorities straight and needed a change. they didn't judge her, just hugged her and told her that they loved her no matter what.

"what do you have planned for today?" her mom, donteia, asks her, bouncing desiree on her lap and tickling her sides.

"i was gonna go see kailee, travis, maurice, and zoe later," amari answers. these were her childhood friends and, ultimately, her best friends, besides nia. all of them stayed down south for college, except for nia and amari, but they managed to stay in touch for the most part.

her mom smiles at her at the mention of maurice. "mo has been asking about you, you know," donteia states, a gleam of mischief in her eyes. amari rolls her eyes and leans against her dad.

"we're just friends, mama," amari says. maurice and amari have been friends since they were in diapers, their mothers were best friends growing up as well. it's been strictly platonic for amari, but not the same for mo. the summer before going to college, maurice confesses that he had had a crush on amari since they were in middle school, and obviously amari didn't feel the same and she ultimately broke his heart, and then they kind of fell out for awhile because it was awkward between them.

"sure," her mom replies and amari rolls her eyes again and looks at her dad.

"daddy, will you please tell her that i am not messing with mo like that?" she asks, an exasperated sigh following.

"don, leave that girl alone," he says, turning his neck to look at his wife and take his granddaughter off of her lap. donteia scoffs and grabs the newspaper from the side table and puts on her glasses.