"Armani, my period was supposed to come next week, not this week! You messing my shit up," she whined over the phone as she got in her car, getting ready to come to his apartment.

"That's my fault?" he chuckled, checking on his food in the oven. He was practicing baking, and he was glad Duck was gone because his greedy self would eat his whole cake.

"Yes! You know sex messes with my period," she whined. "I took some medicine and I'm still cramping so bad, Mani,"

"Aww daddy's sorry, baby," he pouted, making her straight face him, and he couldn't help but laugh, which made her laugh too.

"You talked to my mama today?" he asked. Sofía said she was gonna call her earlier, because she missed them both, but 'missed her nuera more'.

"Yes! We talked in Spanish the whole time," she said proudly. She was basically bilingual at this point, because he'd never heard anyone speak Spanish faster than his mom, and for her to be able to understand her meant she basically had it all down.

"Okay, I see you baby! My shorty said she speak two languages," he hyped her, making her stick her tongue out.

"Period, these girls could never. Are we still having movie night tomorrow?" she wondered. Their group of friends tried to have something all together every other week, and this time, Mani and Duck were hosting at their apartment.

"Yes ma'am," he nodded. "Tell ma make them good brownies for me, please," he cheesed. Nadira's brownies were possibly the best dessert he'd ever had, he thought.

"You know she will," Nai shook her head playfully. "She spoils you too much. It's always 'does Mani want some? Should I make a plate for my son in law?' and we're like ma'am, please,"

"Don't be jealous my suegra loves me, you bum," he laughed, and she rolled her eyes playfully.

"Ain't nobody jealous of y'all, she love me more anyway," she waved him off. "Oh my goodness I'm in so much pain," she groaned, throwing her head back against the headrest.

"Hurry up and pull up so you can lay down mamas. I bought you a lil heating pad because of last month. Shit had me scared," he chuckled.

Her period started when she was at his house last month, and she was completely miserable. She was crying and throwing up, he had absolutely nothing for her. He had to go to the store and find the strongest pain reliever he could find and some ginger ale, he was a mess.

Now he made sure to keep pads and tampons at his apartment for her, he kept extra strength aleve in the medicine cabinet, and a heating pad.

"Aw, thank you papa. I'll see you in a few okay?" she smiled. "I love you,"

"I love you too, mamí," he replied and she hung up.

"Baby...you want some tea?" he asked. Once she got to his house it seemed like it got worse and she was currently in his room curled up in a ball, under his covers.

"Mhm," she hummed, never moving from her current position. Luckily she wasn't nauseous anymore, but her cramps were taking her down completely. "Thank you,"

"You're welcome, hermosa. You want me to stay in here with you?" he asked. She asked him to be alone two hours ago, and he came in every half an hour checking on her. He hated leaving her by herself, but if it was what she wanted, he couldn't say no.

"Yes, please," she said quietly, and he smiled to himself, pulling the covers back and getting in with her. She turned to his side and laid her head on his chest, causing him to instinctively wrap an arm around her. "Thank you," she spoke after a short silence.

"Always, mamas," he pressed a kiss to her forehead. He hated that she was feeling this way, but he always jumped at the opportunity to take care of her.

He felt like doing that, showing her unlimited affection, and feeding her really good was his way of spoiling her until he could do it the way he wanted.

"You sleep yet, mamita?" he asked after a little while longer. He knew she needed some sleep and he was hoping his presence brought her some type of comfort so she could do so.

"Almost," she muttered. "I love you, goodnight," she said in a small voice.

"Goodnight, mi amor. I love you too," he said, kissing her forehead again before she drifted off peacefully.

"Best friend!" Samara sang happily, wrapping her arms around Nai. "Hey bro," she hugged Mani next. "Aw Duckling, hello!" she said, like she hadn't seen him in a long time when it'd only been like two and a half weeks.

"Hey, weird ass," he chuckled, giving her hug and dapping up the ever so silent Josiah. He really didn't talk much.

"Hi honey bun!" Nai squealed when Bri walked through the door with Tripp. Noon came in a few minutes later, everyone said hello and then they got ready to start movie night, which was always fun, because they were like commentators, especially if they were watching a scary movie.

As per usual, Armani cooked most of the food. He made a variety of flavors of wings, lemon pepper, honey barbecue, buffalo, honey old bay, and garlic parmesan for Noon, who they all thought was insane for even liking them. He also made fries, and cut up some celery to go with it.

Nai had her mom make brownies, as Armani requested. Duck bought the drinks, and Samara along with Bri brought the drink drinks.

"Oh crown? Y'all wanna get drunk drunk," Mani chuckled, knowing his girlfriend as well as all of her friends were lightweights.

"I bought rosé and white wine for us. That's for y'all heathens," Bri scrunched her face up. She hated brown liquor, and avoided drinking it if at all possible. Nayeli felt the exact same way. She and Bri were alike in a lot of ways.

"Why we gotta be heathens, Aub?" Tripp chuckled, eating another one of his wings while Duck looked for the movie they were supposed to be watching. They decided no romantic movies today, much to the girls protest. Because they knew if it wasn't romantic, it was gonna be scary.

"So Halloween two or that new joint?" Duck asked.

"New," Josiah and Armani spoke.

"Why we gotta watch that?! If I have nightmares of that blank faced hoe ass nigga, I swear I'm throwing hands with all y'all," Samara pointed her french fry around.

"You'll be fine, muñeca (doll)," Josiah laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah you say that till I'm kicking and smacking you in yo' sleep," she rolled her eyes playfully, snuggling up to him when Duck put it on and cut the lights down.

"Mani, don't laugh if I scream," she said, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Why would you say that, you know I'm gone laugh" he snickered. "My poor baby a punk," he shook his head.

"I'm not! This is a scary movie, meant to scare people. So if I get scared—"

"Then you're a punk," he said before she could finish, making her smack his arm. "Sorry baby," he laughed.

"We not watching no more, y'all got me fucked up," Bri stood up, shaking her head. They'd already watched three scary movies and it was only 11:30.

Nayeli had done enough screaming, jumping and hiding her face in Armani's shirt for the night. She was also sick of
him laughing every time she got scared.

She thought the wine would help her not be scared, and be more relaxed, but that absolutely wasn't the case.

"I agree! I am tired," Nai laughed. "Let's play spades," she smirked. She prided herself at being exceptionally good at spades, she used to sit at the table and learn from her older family members. She was playing in games by the time she was 11, and her dad was always her partner, till she taught Omari how to play too.

She trained Armani well enough to be her new partner now, and she rarely ever lost a game of spades, to anybody.

"No, because last time we played spades, I almost knocked Duck's head between the stove and the fridge," Noon rolled her eyes, making everyone die laughing. He was a terrible partner, and nobody wanted him, so Noon was always stuck yelling at him the whole game.

"You ain't almost do shit" he chuckled. "We can play something less difficult, like uno," he suggested, which everyone was okay with.

"Okay, but fair warning, I beat ass bout uno. I will fight," Samara said, making Armani nod in agreement.

"I absolutely will whoop somebody's ass over uno," he said. Everyone knew if there was anything that Samara and Armani had in common, it was their willingness to beat anyone up. They were ready to fight at the drop of a dime, and let people know that.

Mani went and got the cards and they sat in a circle on the floor, with the wings behind them at the table. Duck dealt, and Josiah was to his left, so he went first, and the rotation started there.

Ten minutes into the game, Tripp and Samara were already arguing.

"You can not put a draw two over the draw four my nigga!" he tried to explain to her. "It's a draw two!" he exclaimed, and she waved him off before speaking.

"But if I remember correct, Armani said the color was yellow. So if I put down a yellow draw two, it don't matter! Pick up yo cards boa!" she responded smugly, making him curl his lip up at her, only serving to make her laugh like everyone else was.

"You cheating son. She cheating!" he exclaimed, looking around at everyone, who were just laughing at them. Nai was recording it all for her instagram story. "AK, you telling me she can put that shit over the draw four?"

"Well—"

"Don't call him to save yo ass! Draw six and let's move on brodie, you taking too long! If I put the card down of the color he called, it do not matter!" she cut Mani off, making him laugh even harder.

He rolled his eyes heavily and drew his six cards, knowing nobody was gonna disagree, because black people don't play uno correctly, and they never had. Everyone he played with cheated so he should have known arguing wasn't gonna do anything to help him, unfortunately.

The two continued to bicker through everyone else's turns, leading to Samara calling him a sore loser, every single time he called her a cheater.

Closer to the end of the game, Armani's phone rang, and his mom was calling, making him furrow his eyebrows up. "Hold up, y'all, my mama calling," he said, hopping up from the floor, going to the counter. Nai watched him as he answered the phone.

"Hey ma—woah woah slow dow—huh?" he asked, standing up straight. "W-what? Mommy don't—what...?" he spoke, voice getting quiet. Nai immediately stood to her feet, walking over to him. His phone wasn't even by his ear anymore. It faced up, and he had blank look on his face. His hands were shaking but his face was completely void of expression, so she didn't know what to expect.

Everyone in the living room watched as well, Duck getting ready to get up and see what was happening as well.

"Mani...what happened baby?" she asked carefully. It's like he didn't even hear her, his head didn't move an inch, he didn't react at all.

"AK, what's wrong, bro?" Duck came around the table as well, his best friends silence starting to concern him.

"Armani...look at me babe," Nai turned her head in their direction, after she and Duck called him again. Everyone was scared at this point. His eyes finally connected with hers and she could see he was about to cry. "What happened, Armani?" she asked frantically, causing everyone to stand up off the floor, just in case.

"M-my mama she—" he stopped short, just looking at the phone.

"Is she okay?!" Nai asked. He shook his head, and she started getting scared.

"He's dead," he said simply, making Nai and Duck's eyes go wide in shock, the air around them immediately getting thicker, as the tear finally dropped down Armani's cheek.

"My dad's dead,"

(i thought the song was gonna give it away so i put it down here)

well. hi there.

how did we like this chapter? let's chat real quick 😬

how do y'all think armani is gonna handle this?

do you think his feelings as of recently will effect the way he reacts to his death?

leave me some comments and thoughts, sorry for this slight slight cliffhanger 😭

till next time 💙