Nayeli had been running around all day long.

She spent the night at Armani's last night to bring in his birthday with liquor and lots of other unspeakable activities, and now she was ripping and running around the city trying to make sure everything was right for him.

"Baby, why'd you leave me man," he groaned. "Duck is being mean as shit,"

"Demar! Stop being mean to my baby on his birthday!" she fussed at him over the phone.

"I told his old ass he couldn't take no more shots till later and he mad. Get yo' nigga, sis," he chuckled, making Nai laugh.

"Keandre, please. You can't be drunk at noon," she shook her head, pulling into the parking lot. "I gotta go though, baby. I still have a few things to do, so I'll see you later on, alright? I love you," she grinned.

"Why I can't stay on the phone with you, mamas?" he asked, making Duck snicker.

"He soft, Nai," Duck laughed.

"Ducky, stop! Because babe, I can't show you your gift, and I need to get ready for your dinner and everything. You want me to look pretty right?" she asked, hopping out of her range.

"You was gone look gorgeous regardless, baby," he smirked.

"Aw, thank you papa," she blushed. "But, I do need to get my nails done, and I need a pedicure. I also need to finish up with your gift sir, so you can not stay. But, you'll see me soon, I promise," she blew a kiss at the phone.

"Aight, mamas. I love you too," he smiled back before they hung up.

Nai quickly hopped out of the car, running straight to the nail shop, she was nearly late for her appointment messing around with Mani. She wanted pure white nails to go with her toes, and with the outfit she picked for his dinner tonight.

She wanted to have a dinner for him with his closest friends and some of his old teammates as well. Their small circle was planning on taking him out tomorrow night, since it was Friday tomorrow, but as for tonight they were just having a nice intimate dinner for him, and he was very excited.

Armani was never one to make a big fuss over his birthday. He enjoyed and appreciated what his parents had planned for him but he never asked for any huge gifts, or a big party, he just was thankful to make another year.

But that was exactly why Nai wanted to do something for him. If it was up to him, he'd have them eating pizza on his couch with a bottle of Hennessy.

While she was getting her nails done she made sure to give Armani a birthday post on her instagram, even though she did so on her story all last night.

theeprimaballerina: i told him smile and this is what i get lol. feliz cumpleaños papito 🥳! my life has been better ever since you walked into it, i hope you know how much you mean to me, papa 🥺💙 i love you with my whole heart and i only wish you happiness and light today (and all the other days lol). ill see you later baby 🥰

She chuckled when all the comments started rolling in, telling him happy birthday, her mom and dad even commented, as well as her cousins, aunts and uncles who hung out with him a lot over the summer. They loved him and she was glad. His ex teammates, and all their friends commented as well.

Once she was done at the nail salon she hit a few more stores before stopping by campus. She had a book to return to her professor before she started getting ready, and if she didn't do it now, she'd forget.

"Hey! Scuse me!" she heard as she exited the building her class was in. Immediately her heart sped up, because she didn't really recognize the voice. She was planning to keep walking, because she knew none of her friends had classes that day, and if it was somebody from one of her classes or the cheer team she would have recognized it. The person caught up to her, though, and when she turned to the side, she saw Hassan.

Then she got annoyed.

"Can I help you?" she said in the most aggravated voice possible. She usually wasn't good with sounding mean, but it worked that time.

"Woah woah, no need to be so hostile," he chuckled, looking her up and down. "Just wanted to tell my boy happy birthday, make sure you let him know for me," he winked at her and she curled her lip up at him.

"He don't wanna hear shit from you," she rolled her eyes and turned on her heel to walk away when she felt a hand grab her arm, and tightly. "Get your hand off me," tried to snatch away, but he was an athlete and definitely much stronger than she was.

"Where you going,? I'm not gon' hurt you," he said. That phrase was all too familiar to her, she used to hear it before she got beat for anything, and it made her extremely anxious to hear a grown man say that to her, ever.

"Let me go!" she said louder that time, making sure somebody heard her, because if she couldn't get away from him, she wanted somebody to hear her. He the pulled her closer to him, making her only wanna panic, when his grip on her arm tightened.

She could feel the anxiety rising and her anger was quickly replaced with fear.

"Nai?" she heard somebody call, and she whipped her head around to see Tierra, her old cheer captain. In an instant, Hassan let her go and backed up from her. "You okay?" she asked, seeing that Nayeli was legitimately scared, she began walking towards them.

Every step closer that Tierra took, Hassan stepped back until he decided to turn around and leave.

"You okay, Nai? You crying, boo, what happened?" she asked, extremely concerned. "He did something to you? You want me to call—"

"No! No it's okay, Tee, thank you so much," she hurriedly wiped her face and put a smile on. She hugged her quickly and scurried back to her car.

Once she was in, she leaned on the steering wheel, taking shaky deep breaths. She was honestly terrified in that instance, because she didn't know what he was trying to do to her, or why. She could feel an anxiety attack coming with the way she began hyperventilating, but she quickly tried the method that Armani used on her the last time and she was able to calm down, even if slightly.

Her first thought was to call her boyfriend, and tell him everything that just happened, amd cry and vent on the phone with him.

But she didn't.

It was his birthday, he had already had such a terrible summer. She had good things planned for him, and she wanted to see him happy, not stressed out and angry because she couldn't get away from somebody who grabbed on her, because her anxiety froze her in place. She didn't want that at all, so instead of calling Armani, she allowed herself a five minute cry break, and after that, she plastered a smile on her face and kept her day moving.

"This look good bro?" Mani asked, coming out of his room dressed. He wore pair of black slacks and a white shirt, with gold jewelry. Nothing too extravagant, but Nai told him to dress up nice, so he did. He pulled his suit jacket over his arms, and made sure his watch was straight as well.

"Yessir! My nigga look sweet!" he gassed Mani, recording him for instagram. "Big 21, how you feel dawg?" he dapped him up afterward. Duck looked mighty handsome himself, he wore all black instead.

"Hell, I feel the same," he chuckled. "I feel like I miss my damn girlfriend,"

"We finna see her in literally thirty minutes, simp," Duck laughed. "Let's go. Noon left and rode with Bri and Lea, so we don't have to wait for her," he told Armani. He nodded and they both made their way out the door before locking up their apartment.

"You know what Nai got me?" Mani asked, looking up from his texts with Nayeli where she told him she was absolutely not telling him what she bought.

"Of course I do, and I'm not telling you," he chuckled. "Nai will kill me, my G, I'm not saying shit,"

"You scared of Nayeli?! She little!" he tried to reason. He liked surprises, but he just wanted to be nosy, and see what she came up with.

"Nigga yeah! If a girl that sweet and nice threatens yo' life, you'd be scared too, I promise you," he shot back, making Armani laugh.

"She aint threaten you, stop lying on my baby mama, boy,"

"The hell she aint! I'm not telling you a damn thing. You can wait till later, nigga," he shook his head as they continued their ride to the restaurant in a comfortable silence.

"Hey birthday boy!" Lea grinned, giving him a hug. She was probably the most excited after Nai for his birthday. She appreciated Armani a lot for what he did for her during spring break, she felt like he was really an older brother to her when hers wasn't around.

"Hey sis," he smiled back. "It's crowded as fuck," he spoke, looking around. He honestly didn't remember knowing this many people. He spoke to Bri and Tripp, as well as November before going around to greet his old teammates, and his coach. He also spoke to some of his friends from his program.

Only person missing was Nayeli, honestly.

"Jefe!" he heard a voice that sounded awfully like his sisters. His eyebrows furrowed before he turned around slowly, seeing Josefina, Camila and his mom Sofía, walking towards him, making his jaw drop. He hadn't seen them since he left home and he was beyond excited.

"Oh my—how did y'all—what?!" he grinned widely, rushing over to them and wrapping them in tight hugs.

"Happy birthday, hijo," Sofía smiled warmly, rubbing her son's arm.

"Happy birthday, Jefe!" the girls said at the exact same time. Before he could even thank them, Sofía turned and waved, like she was calling someone over.

When Farrah rounded the corner into the restaurant, his heart nearly dropped into his stomach.

"Ma-Mama?" he stuttered, still holding on to Sofía as she shyly approached him. "How'd—how are y'all all here?! I can't believe this..." he muttered, looking around at them all.

"Happy birthday, son," Farrah smiled, taking one of his hands into her own.

"T-thank you, thank all of y'all for coming," he smiled, feeling himself becoming emotional. "I'm happy y'all are here,"

Now, Nayeli was really the only one missing.

"Thank your lovely girlfriend, she was the one who got us all together," Farrah smiled.

"Nai? Nai did that?" he grinned even wider, if that was possible.

"She did," Sofía nodded. "See I told you, my nuera is too good to you," she joked, making him laugh.

"Yeah. Yeah she is. Y'all know where she is?" he asked.

"She had to use the bathroom, she said she'll be right out," Camila spoke. He nodded and got everyone seated with him at the table, anxiously awaiting Nai's return.

guess what! another two parter lol

i know its late and im sorrrryyyyy! but im here and i know y'all be up late.

so let's chatttt!

hassan 😬

nayeli's decision not to say anything??

her surprise of his mom(s) and sisters 🥺?

we'll see how this all plays out in the next one lol. lemme know how y'all liked it of course and leave me some general thoughts, some questions or whatever.

question: what's been y'all quarantined sleep schedule like? mine TRASH lol.

till next time 💙