shakira's 19th birthday party was in full effect. almost all of her closest friends, and people she had never even spoken to were at the hype house. it was almost 11 o'clock at night, and the energy was high.

shakira could hear the booming of the bass from upstairs in jack's room, where she had gotten ready. she had yet to make her appearance, as she was banished to the second floor of the house so she wouldn't know what the party looked like.

as shakira studies her outfit in the full length mirror leaning against the wall, there's a knock on the door, and she calls for them to come in.

her boyfriend steps into the room, a warm smile on his face as he takes in his girlfriend.

she looked beautiful.

"you ready?"

shakira nods, grabbing her phone from the bed, walking to stand in front of gavyn. she notices the look on his face, tilting her head at him.

"what? why are you looking at me like that?" she questions.

gavyn let's out an airy laugh, looking down at his shoes with a smile, then back at shakira. he grabs her hips, pulling her into him, and resting his arms around her waist.

out of instinct, shakira wraps her arms around his shoulders to hold onto him.

"you look really gorgeous." he says, his voice low so only they could hear, as if someone was listening in.

shakira searches his eyes, only seeing the sincerity, and genuineness in them.

"thank you, babe." she smiles up at him, getting one right back.

"now let's go, before i miss my own party." she pulls away, but not before pecking his lips. she laces her fingers with his, walking out of the bedroom, and towards the party downstairs.

as they reach the top of the stairs, shakira takes in the scene before her. the hype house was now packed with bodies, most she knew, some she didn't.

the ping pong table was out, red solo cups set up already for the many games of beer pong she planned to play that night. there were pink decorations everywhere, since it was her favorite color.

she hadn't told them that, so she didn't know how they knew, but she wouldn't question, assuming it was casie.

as she took in her surroundings, casie notices her, letting out a loud squeal, getting everyone's attention.

as casie makes her way up the stairs to greet her best friend, everyone else in the house yells loudly for the birthday girl, hyping her up.

"happy birthday, kira!" casie pulls the girl into a bone crushing hug.

they pull away grabbing each other's hands. "case, this is so amazing, you guys did amazing. you even told them to do pink." shakira waves around at her surroundings.

"yeah, jack and i did everything else, but we didn't tell them to do pink, someone else must have, because when we started the planning they already knew."

shakira's eyes furrow slightly, as she racks her brain for who else could've known such information to be able to tell.

her eyes search the room, until they meet the familiar hazel ones that are standing not to far from the stairs, hands in his pockets as he looks at the girl, a small smile on his face.

she tears her eyes away, looking back at casie. "oh, well just a coincidence then." she laughs slightly, casie smiling at her.

"well come on, the party doesn't start until the birthday girl is present." casie pulls shakira down the stairs, her boyfriend right behind her.

she greets lots of people, getting a bunch of different versions of a "happy birthday", thanking them all.

soon she spots vinnie standing off to the side, a cup in his hand. she walks over, and he immediately notices her, straightening his posture slightly.

shakira stops in front of him, giving him a knowing look.

"happy birthday." he smiles lightly at her.

"i know you told them to do pink for the party." she gets straight to the point. vinnie is a bit taken aback by her blunt tone, but quickly recovers.

"what? i had to make sure they did it right." he half jokes. shakira rolls her eyes playfully, a small smile on her face.

"well thank you."

just as he was about to except her thank you, casie calls her over to a group of people, and he watching her scurry off, but not before giving him a small wave, which he reciprocates.

✧✦♢✦✧

sofia would never admit this to anyone, but she was extremely jealous of shakira. from her personality, her beauty, and even her persona, all the way to the fact that she had the boy she once loved wrapped around her finger without even knowing it.

she had somehow gotten into shakira's party, and was wandering, when she spotted a certain brown haired boy filling up his red cup.

she was already somewhat intoxicated, so her judgement was half clouded, although she probably would've done something like this fully sober.

she walks over to gavyn, and he doesn't notice her presence until she taps his shoulder.

"hey there." she smiles up at him, her curtain bangs in her face.

"uh, hi." he greets her awkwardly. sofia notices his discomfort, but continues.

"you're shakira's little boy toy, right?"

"boyfriend, but yeah. what's up?" the brunette corrects her.

"just wanted to warn you. you should really watch out for vinnie. we all know they used to date, and as his ex girlfriend, i can tell you it was painfully obvious that he's still in love with her. just warning you now so you don't go through the same shit i did."

gavyn knew who she was, he knew that her and vinnie dated, then broke up, but he also knew she had a tendency to be jealous.

"i think i'll be okay. kira and vinnie are just friends." he assures her.

sofia averts her gaze to something behind his back, and he resists the urge to look, until sofia speaks up.

"yeah, that's what i thought." she nods her head behind him, and he couldn't say that he didn't regret looking.

the scene taking place in front of their eyes was shakira and vinnie at the beer pong table, engaged in a pretty serious game of beer pong with jack and casie.

shakira and vinnie were on one side of the table, on one team, and casie and jack were on the other, jacks arm around casie, their fingers interlocked as they watched closely as shakira was about to make her next move.

she tosses the ball across the table, and it landed in the cup on the opposite side of the table. casie and jack groan at them, as jack takes the drink that the ping pong ball was in and downs it.

at the other end, shakira and vinnie were celebrating, as they did some handshake that they both seemed to be familiar with. vinnie wrapped his arm around shakira's shoulder as he pulled her into a wild hug, making her laugh.

gavyn couldn't read lips, but it looked like the two exes were taunting their friends at their lose.

gavyn hated to admit it, but the look on shakira's face was one he hadn't seen on her face before.

this look of such love and adoration, that you couldn't wipe it off your face, and as his eyes moved to vinnie's, he saw the same exact look on his face, except stronger.

gavyn ripped his eyes away from the scene, his attention back on sofia. she had a knowing smirk on her lips, making him sigh.

"look, i know what you're doing, but it won't work. don't take your bitterness out on me and my relationship." he tells her calmly.

it doesn't shake her though, as she just sighs, patting his shoulder.

"if you say so. don't say i didn't warn you." she then walks away, leaving her words to linger in gavyn's mind.

✧✦♢✦✧

the party was still going strong as ever, the music still booming, and most people still drunk.

casie went up the mic at the center of the living room, calling everyone to gather around the middle of the house, with shakira and her closest friends standing in the center.

soon the music is lowered, and gavyn comes around the corner, holding a three tiered baby pink cake, with white accents, and multiple candles on top.

the whole room starts to chant the happy birthday song, some enjoying the moment, and others recording.

as vinnie stood in the circle, a smile on his face as he watched one of his best friends have the time of her life, he couldn't help but follow her eye line.

she was looking at the boy behind the cake, with a large smile on her face. as vinnie looked at the scene in front of him, he noticed the look on gavyn's face.

this look of such love and adoration— well, you know the look.

he couldn't help but remember when he used to look at shakira with the exact same look in his eye, and she would reciprocate.

his mind went back to his conversation with sofia right before their break up. how she accused him of still being in love with shakira, and how he fiercely denied it, even though he knew in the back of his mind, that she was possibly right.

as he looked at the girl he once loved, and who once loved him, he realized that maybe that love never went away on his end.

it was only locked and stored away in the deepest part of his heart, but when the girl came back into his life, it's like she took the key herself, and unlocked that part all over again.

but it didn't matter, he couldn't let that part of him take over, because she was happy. without him, and with someone else, who rightfully deserved her.

vinnie was knocked out of his thoughts when the shrill of a mic sounded throughout the house.

everyone looked around to see sofia standing at the mic, with a red solo cup between her fingers, and a hazy smile on her face.

she was clearly drunk.

"hey everybody! let's hear it for the birthday girl!" her voice was lazy and drawn out, that you could easily tell she was intoxicated.

shakira watches the girl with a confused look on her face, her best friend beside her with an annoyed look on her face.

she averts her eyes to vinnie, communicating her confusion with her eyes. he just shrugs, just as confused as she was.

"so, we all know that the birthday girl and my boyfriend vinnie, well ex i guess, are real good friends. but guess what? they also used to loveeee each other." she draws out, even though everyone pretty much knew.

vinnie's eyes furrow, wondering where she was going with this.

"well news flash! vinnie is still super in love with her. i mean it's the whole reason we broke up. i was all 'you still love her', and he was all 'no i don't, you're delusional arghhh' but it's sooo obvious."

vinnie's eyes widen at sofia's words, and it takes everything in him to avoid the eyes he could feel on him.

shakira looks over at him with wide eyes, then to gavyn, who had a much less shocked look on his face.

"it's only a matter of time before she breaks up with gavyn, and runs back to vinnie, and i will say to you all, i told you so—"

she's cut off, when vinnie rushes up to the front, and pulls her away from the mic, taking her drink in the process. he gives the crowd of shocked people an awkward smile, before pulling his ex girlfriend away from the party.

he passes shakira, not missing the questioning look on her face at sofia's words.

casie walks up to the mic, looking at the crowd awkward.

"well, uh, let's continue the party everybody. get the music back up, and let's get wasted some more!" she deflects from the situation.

and that's what they did. they partied the night away, and shakira had as much fun as she could, but she couldn't help that her mind was going back to the words that sofia had spilled in her drunken state.

she questioned herself, was vinnie still in love with her? but more importantly, was she still in love with vinnie?

ʟᴇʏ's ᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴀʟᴋ
hey........🧍🏽‍♀️

i told y'all sofia would be back to shake it up🤭 disney tease🤞🏽

it took me a while to gain the motivation to write this chapter, but i finally got it yayyy, and it's a longer one just for your guys.