"Wait, so let me get this straight. Drew's actually your childhood best friend?" Jade raised a brow as she laid comfortably on her bed. She watched as Imani paced the room.

"Yup. Can you believe it?" Imani huffed angrily just remembering how Drew kept the secret for so long.

It was a Monday afternoon and during this time Imani and Jade were usually taking their scheduled naps after a long morning full of classes. Instead, Imani filled Jade in on everything that had happened with Drew the day before.

Jade wasn't really surprised when she learned that Drew and Imani shared a past. She kind of suspected that there was history between the two. Especially because of the way Drew acted around Imani compared to anyone else. Finding out that Drew had known her before college just made sense.

"At least he told you though. Better late than never." Jade shrugged.

Imani looked at Jade with envy. She wished she was curled up underneath her blankets. Instead, she was fully dressed, her phone in her hand as she waited for a text from either Drew or Jasper. They had made plans earlier in the day to meet up at the library to study for an incoming chemistry test.

She sat on her bed. "Yea, I guess. I was just so shocked though. Who would've thought that he'd turn out to be my best friend?" Imani shook her head.

She felt a pillow hit the side of her face, making her laugh as she fell off the bed.

"Ex-best friend, loser. I'm still alive." Jade glared at her. Imani smiled widely at Jade before jumping on her and hugging her. Jade groaned under Imani's weight.

"Of course. No one could ever replace you." She placed a loud kiss on Jade's cheek and laughed.

"Great, now get off me."

It was at that moment when Imani's phone pinged with a text. She picked up her phone from the floor and read the incoming message. It was from Drew.

we're here. 1st floor, all the way in the back.

She smiled at her phone. His texts were always so straightforward and to the point. He never bothered with greetings or anything extravagant whenever he texted. He probably thought it was a waste of time.

Imani packed her things into her bag quickly. She said her goodbyes to Jade before rushing out the door and making her way to the library.

When Imani finally arrived at the library, the door shut loudly behind her and everyone turned to look at her. Imani grinned sheepishly at the librarian who glared at her, quickly apologizing and walking to the back. She heard Drew's booming laughter. He was talking to Jasper about something and they were both clutching onto their stomachs as they doubled over in their booth.

Imani tried to ignore the lingering eyes she got as she approached the two. The others sitting in the back made sure to sit at a distance from Drew, whispering amongst each other. Some were intimidated by him. Others were confused as to what people like Jasper and Imani were doing sitting with a person like him. Imani was a goody two shoes and Jasper was friendly with everyone. What could those two possibly have in common with a drug dealing thug?

Imani felt the burning stares on her back and proceeded with a smile, keeping her eyes on Jasper and Drew. She wanted to hear what was being said but they stopped talking as soon as they noticed her. Drew and Jasper looked at Imani, a guilty expression on both of their faces.

She looked between the two red-faced boys, "What were y'all talking about? I wanna laugh too."

Drew and Jasper shared a look, a smile on both of their lips.

Jasper answered, "Nothing." at the same time Drew said, "You."

They laughed when she rolled her eyes. Imani scoffed, flipping them both off.

"You guys are assholes."

Drew made room for Imani to sit next to him. He watched as she sat and dug down in her bag for the study materials. Her braids fell in her face when she did so, and Drew had to fight the urge to tuck her loose braids behind her ears for her.

"Okay, I think that's everything." She grinned at the guys, "Shall we get started?"

Jasper took the materials from her, looking through Imani's notes. Her handwriting was neat and her notes were thorough but he could tell she was confused by the big ass question marks she wrote at the top of each page.

Jasper grinned at her, "I've got the best grade out of the three of us, so I'm going to take charge." He reached into his bag, "And just to make this interesting. I brought some snacks to encourage you guys to study."

When Imani and Drew saw the gummy worms on the table, they each made a move towards them only for Jasper to move them out of their reach.

He shook his head. "Aht aht, you'll only get these when you answer questions right."

And so for the next thirty minutes, Jasper tutored the two teens, alternating between hitting Imani or Drew with his pencil whenever they got questions wrong (which was the majority of the time) and rewarding them with gummy worms when they got the right answers.

Drew felt content sitting next to Imani. He liked the way her brows furrowed whenever she was confused, the curl of her lips when she frowned because she didn't get an answer right. He noticed the way she subconsciously twirled a braid in her finger when she was thinking.

He also noticed the stares she received from other guys sitting at neighboring tables.

Drew glared around the room, scooting closer to her so he could hang his arm on the back of the shared seat. He could just reach her hair, brushing it off her shoulder for her. He smirked when each guy eyeing her looked at him with fear in their eyes before turning around. It was the only time he was grateful for having such a colorful reputation around campus.

At some point, he had stopped paying attention to whatever Jasper was staying. Instead, he laid his head on the table, turning his head to the side so he could get a good look at Imani. He snuck glances as she argued and laughed with Jasper. Drew could understand why other guys were looking, anyone with a good pair of eyes could see that she was gorgeous as hell.

Imani turned to Drew with a wide smile, "You suck and I'm winning!" She said as Jasper added two more gummy worms to her growing pile of candy.

Drew snorted, grabbing one and pushing it against her lips. "Shut up. I'm letting you win." Imani giggled and ate the candy happily.

The librarian at the front desk made her way over to them, telling them to shh and that the library was a place to study quietly, not to gossip and laugh.

They each said apologies and waited for her to leave before laughing loudly. This earned them a glare from those sitting around them.

"This is all y'alls fault." Imani bit back a laugh.

"You're the one giggling and jumping in your seat loud as hell when you get more candy." Drew teased.

Imani gasped, pretending to be offended by his playful words. "Hey! I don't giggle."

Jasper laughed, adding, "Yes, babe, you do."

The librarian appeared and shushed them again, warning that they would be kicked out if she had to speak to them again. Other people were just as loud as them, yet the bitter older lady only called them out.

When she turned around to return to her desk, Drew flipped her off. Jasper had to put his head down to contain his laughter.

"You guys! We can't get kicked out of the library! We might need to come back in the future." Jasper said.

Imani chewed on a few of her gummy worms, "It's not our fault she's being a bitch. What crawled up her ass and died?"

Drew laughed, stealing a couple pieces and stuffing them in his mouth before Imani could protest.

"She's probably dick deprived."

The comment had caught both Jasper and Imani off guard but they were quick to hold in their laugh.

"Eww! I don't want to imagine our librarian doing the nasty." Imani's lips twisted into a look of disgust.

"At least she's getting some action, unlike a certain someone." Jasper smirked at Imani.

"Fuck you!"

"Not interested, but thanks for the offer." He winked at her. Imani grabbed her notebook and aimed it at Jasper. He was quick to move out the way, and instead of hitting him, it hit the poor librarian square in the face. She was fuming.

"Oh my gosh. I'm so—"

"Get. Out!" She yelled.

The group was quick to pack up their things between giggles and raced out the door. They smiled, catching their breaths once they were outside the library. Drew breathed deeply as he looked between Imani and Jasper. Somehow he knew that this was only the beginning with them.

He couldn't remember the last time he had felt like this. So carefree. So content.

So happy.

He just hoped it would last forever.

~*~

A filler chapter until we get into some real shit lmao 😭 Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! And I really can't thank y'all enough for the support! Don't forget to vote 💗!