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𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗟 𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘

january 2023

location: ria's flat, london

it had been a week since the bar incident, and to most it was forgotten, but for dave there was something about the incident that just kept nagging at him. he kept hearing amara's soft voice mutter, 'don't ever say that about me considering you were rude to me first', in his head. it confused him. everything about amara confused him and drove him insane. what confused him more was her very harsh, and frankly very rude, reaction to his attempt at an apology. apologies don't come easy to dave, as it means that he has to be vulnerable and open, which is something he depsises. so the fact that he actually gave amara an apology and she threw it in his face, deeply aggravated him. and he had no qualms about ranting to ria about it....for thirty minutes straight.

"i mean i just don't get how someone can be so rude all the time! like i literally said i was sorry, and she wants more from me? she's actually taking the fucking piss!" dave ranted, with ria going through the messages between the two of them.

"ok imma need you to calm down because that is my friend, ok? and as for the rude bit, i mean you did call her a bitch. don't know what you were expecting there." ria chuckled.

"she deserved it! i mean i apologise, like she wanted me to! and she's still being tight? what the fuck?!" dave exclaims, running his hands over his face in exasperation.

"ok, i'm going to try to explain where she's coming from. to her, you seem to be apologising for the sake of it. not because you're actually sorry, but because you feel like you have to be sorry. and mars doesn't fuck with that. she wants an honest apology from you. and the fact that you called her a bitch straight after you apologised, showed that you were never truly sorry. cause if you were, you would've accepted that she rejected your apology." ria explained calmly, "also, please don't call women bitches. it's not a good look."

"alright, i won't." he mumbled in response, "i guess that kinda makes sense, but you have to agree she was being kinda tight with me."

"a bit. but you kinda did have it coming." ria smiled teasingly, causing dave to playfully roll his eyes, before looking somber once again. she could tell there was something else bothering him, and it wasn't just their interaction over messages. "you're annoyed about something else, spill." she demanded.

"ma- amara mentioned the fact that i was mean first? she said something about the fact that i couldn't accuse her of being a dick to me since i was one first. and i told cench about that and he told me to ask you." dave mentioned, playing with his hands and looking away from ria momentarily.

( he was about to call her marssss ).

"of course he did." ria mumbled quietly, "listen, that's none of my business. that's between you two and that's for you guys to sort out. once you start acting like adults and not toddlers fighting over a toy." she smiled sarcastically.

"but do you know what she's on about?" he asked desperately.

"maybe." she smiled teasingly, "maybe not." dave groaned in response.

"you're a dickhead. you know that, right?" he laughed, with ria laughing and giving him a small side hug.

"says you." she chuckled, before becoming serious again. "seriously though, you need to actually apologise to her." she demanded, with dave sighing in response. "let me finish! you need to apologise for the night at the bar. properly! and for calling her a bitch and everything else's you said in those messages." she folded her arms, dave frowning at her.

"i'd rather chop my arm off than do that." he stated, a stoic expression on his face.

ria, however, erupted into a fit of laughs, finding how dramatic dave is comical and laughing at the irony of how similarly theatrical both amara and david are. "you see how you're being dramatic, right? just apologise. for real this time."

"no! that would mean admitting defeat to her. i'm not doing that. i'm not letting her win." he crossed his arms.

"win what? you sound so childish right now." ria laughed harder, "you're both so dramatic. nothing bad is gonna happen if you guys get over yourselves and just be civil. if not to give yourselves peace of mind, maybe just do it for the group?" ria offered, getting tired of both his and amara's antics.

"....i won't do it until she does." dave mumbles back, with ria chuckling in response.

"you're so petty." she said in between laughs. "the day you're not petty, is the day i die peacefully."

"whatever." he rolled his eyes playfully at her, with ria poking his cheeks teasingly and laughing about how childish he is. and just as she was about to change the topic of their conversation, they heard a knock on her door.

"let me just get that." she mumbled to him, wondering who it was at her door, only to be greeted by a smiling amara. "mars! hey! what are you doing here?" ria exclaimed, looking back and forth between amara and dave. dave perked his head up at this, also shocked by amara's shock arrival.

"you asked me to come? you left this at my flat," amara began, confusion etched on her face as she held up ria's jacket. "and you told me to bring it round tonight, since you're busy tomorrow. or have i got my dates mixed up?" she continued.

"ohhhh, yeah i forgot about that. come in, it's really cold in the hallways." ria smiled, pulling amara into her flat, who frowned upon making eye contact with dave. "fix your face." she whispered, with amara chuckling and smiling at the man sat in front of her.

"oh, hi david." she mumbled, waving at him meekly.

"hi." he replied coldly, causing amara's face to scrunch up in disgust and anger.

'is he fucking kidding me? i'm nice to him for once and he wants to be a dickhead?' she thought to herself, watching as ria left the living room to go put her jacket in her room and, in her mind, giving dave a perfect opportunity to apologise to her. "what's your issue?" she asked, frustration evident in her tone. 'also why did ria leave me alone with him.'

( the fact that this counts as her being nice to him is insane ).

"what do you mean?" dave asked, now scrolling on his phone, already bored of the conversation that was occurring.

"i mean," amara started, snatching his phone away from him and ignoring his protests, "what the fuck was up with that greeting?"

"what?! i said hi! do you have a problem with that the same way you have a problem with everything?!" he explained, completely perplexed.

"but you had such a snarky tone. it wasn't a nice hi, it was a 'i'm being forced to be nice' hi!" amara retorted, slowly realising how unhinged she sounded for picking a fight over something so...trivial. but she found his words slightly hurtful, as she never intended to come off as argumentative and aggressive, but that's all she seemed to be around dave.

"have you lost the plot? you're mad at me because i said hi, 'in a weird tone?' i can't win with you." he sighed, feeling any chance at him apologising to her waste away.

"and what's that supposed to mean?" she folded her arms, watching as dave stood up and kept eye contact.

"that you're never happy with anything. i say hi, apparently i say it the wrong way." he started, moving closer towards her and gulping upon seeing her look up to him. "i apologise, and you call it shitty, reject it and tell me to shove it up my ass. i mean i literally can't win." he chuckled humourlessly.

"ok well whether or not you want to admit it you did have a weird tone when you said hi but that's not the point. the apology was shit. you did it so you could feel better not because you're actually sorry. also you called me jarring and a bitch, while apologising. a bit ironic to say the least. so don't go acting like i'm being difficult and you're some perfect saint, ok?" she ranted, staring up at him with determination in her eyes.

"ok....i am sorry though." dave mumbled, with amara barely hearing what he had to say.

"i'm sorry what was that?" she teased, a smug smile on her face.

"i said i'm sorry. sorry i called you a bitch and jarring, that was uncalled for. and i'm sorry, you were right, i did have a snarky tone. and i'm sorry for annoying you at the bar, i didn't mean to ruin your night, but i did." he muttered, annoyed at how smug and smiley amara was at his admission.

"did i just hear david apologise and say i was right? am i dreaming?" she teased, laughing at dave's unimpressed face.

( guys we finally get a bit of progressss ).

"shut up." dave muttered, which only caused amara to giggle harder. it was rare for dave to hear her laugh, especially in front of him and even more especially because of him. so he was trying to act unbothered, but he couldn't hide how his lips twitched upwards upon hearing amara's laugh. "wait, does this mean you dream about me? cause i knew you were obsessed but not this much-" he said, with a teasing smirk on his face as he looked down at amara. however, she quickly wiped it away with a swat to his chest.

"you know that's not what i meant." she playfully rolled her eyes as dave held his chest in pain.

and just as amara was about to speak again, ria walked back in, with a knowing look. both dave and amara were unaware that ria had left them alone purposefully as she knew that dave would eventually apologise and they would, somewhat, bond. "am i interrupting something?" she teased, chuckling to herself as the two stared at her with wide eyes before moving away from each other.

"no!" they exclaimed at the same time.

"ok, whatever you say." ria shrugged teasingly. "mars, do you wanna stay for tea, coffee, or something?"

"oh no, it's fine. i promised jas i'd be quick so i'd better go." she excused herself, hugging ria. "it was good to see you again though riri. and....it was nice to see you david." she smiled meekly, feeling warmth spread inside her as dave genuinely smiled back, 'have i got a fever or something? the fuck was that about?'

"you too amara, see you." he smiled as she left, with ria looking at him with a cheeky glint in her eye.

"ooooh, don't think i didn't see that smile dave." she teased, laughing at how he rolled his eyes and flipped her off.

"don't know what you're on about." he mumbled, with ria laughing harder.

"mhmm i'm sure you don't." she teased further.

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location: amara and jasmine's flat, london

"what took you so long?" jasmine asked, as she lay on the couch with aaliyah in her arms. "i thought you was just gonna drop of riri's jacket and then come straight back."

"oh, i got caught up talking to david." amara replied absentmindedly, taking her shoes off as she entered the living room, not realising how odd her admission sounded.

"wait what?!" aaliyah exclaimed, with her older sister smacking her for talking so loudly.

"what?" amara mumbled, sitting next to them on the couch, causing the brown sisters to sit up and face her.

"the fuck do you mean 'what?' you can't just say 'oh i was talking to the person who i've hated since i was 14' without any context." jasmine stated, glaring at her best friend for her flippant attitude, with aaliyah laughing at her impression of amara.

"exactly." aaliyah said in between giggles, with amara mumbling something about jasmine's impression not being that funny. "like did you bump into him? was he on his way to ria's? you can't just drop a bomb like that and act like it's nothing. especially after you ranted like a week ago about how much of a dickhead he is for not apologising properly." she stated firmly, with her older sister high fiving her for articulating what she couldn't.

"guys it's really not that deep. i went to ria's apartment, he was already there, and we had a normal conversation....oh! and he apologised to me for his shitty apology and for ruining my night last week." amara stated, again with too much of a casual tone and forgetting how petty her and dave usually are, so an apology is not anything casual.

"he apologised?!" aaliyah exclaimed, with jasmine squealing in response.

"yeah that's literally what i just said." amara muttered dryly.

"dave apologised to you? and he wasn't sarcastic?" jasmine questioned, trying to calm herself down so she could her the facts.

"yeah, so?"

"sooo....thats like the first time he's been mature enough to apologise to you. and the first time you've been mature enough to accept it." jasmine retorted.

"for reall. damara nation on top!!" aaliyah teased, with both her and jasmine laughing.

"damara?" amara questioned, forgetting how her friends had previously joked about it to her, well at least to her it was a joke.

( they was deadass though 😭 ).

"don't you remember? it's our ship name for you guys." jasmine teased.

"not this shit again." amara sighed, fully laying down onto the couch.

"yes this shit again! even famous birthdays ships you guys!" aaliyah exclaimed.

"well famous birthdays thinks that i'm 5'3, so i wouldn't trust everything they say." amara folded her arms.

"but you are 5'3...." aaliyah trailed off.

"i'm not! this isn't the point!...you know what? this was supposed to be a movie night and i don't see any snacks or movies so maybe we should get to that." amara deflected, sputtering and stammering to find away to distract her flatmates.

"don't think that you'll distract us. we will talk about this again." jasmine teased.

"no we won't! because we're gonna watch 'ten things i hate about you' and obsess over patrick again." amara retorted.

( so real that movie is goateddd ).

"sureeee..." aaliyah teased, with amara whacking her with a pillow. "ow."

"there's no way that hurt....you're not actually hurt are you?" amara panicked, with aaliyah chuckling and calming her down.

"it's fine. it didn't even actually hurt, i don't even know why i said ow." aaliyah laughed, bringing amara into a hug to calm her down.

"oh ok thank god." amara mumbled into the younger girl's hair.

the whole time she was watching the movie, she kept thinking about how she wanted love like both main couples. that she wanted someone to love and care about her the same way both male leads did. for someone to learn a language for her the same way cameron did for bianca. and every time she thought about that, she could see dave and the way he looked at her when she was teasing him. it was like there was something in his eyes she couldn't quite decipher. she couldn't tell if it was fondness or annoyance or even a bit of both. it drove her insane. what drove her even more insane, was the way she wanted him to look at her like that again, and she didn't know why.

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a message from becca

bit of a short chapter but it's only cause i'm building motivation again.

also idek if anyone reads this fic but i just wanted to write about my babies cause i missed them.

also even though my birthday's passed by a lot, thank you guys for the birthday wishes.

anyways i hope you guys enjoyed, don't be a dry reader, have a great day, take care and ily allll 🫶🏽🫶🏽.