♡ ₊˚.༄

𝐇𝐄𝐑 ── ◦'𖥸'◦ ── ℋℰℛ
𝗄𝖾𝗂𝗅𝖺𝗁 𝗐𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗌⠀𝗑⠀𝗁. 𝗈𝗌𝗍𝖾𝗋𝖿𝗂𝖾𝗅𝖽
𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟵 ╱ ╱ ☕🤍 ˚◞♡

─── ❛ ジョシュアの状況 ❜ ───

私はメッセージ// 𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞
𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝗍𝖾𝗑𝗍!

⤹ *·˚ 𝐇𝐀𝐙𝐙𝐀 ⋆.ೃ࿔*
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
𝖳𝗈𝖽𝖺𝗒 𝟤:𝟢𝟢 𝗉.𝗆.

we need to talk

tom's lover
oh shit
what'd i do?

well, first of all, you can
tell me why the hell keils
threw her phone out a window

tom's lover
uh
ahahahahahaha

then you can tell me who the
hell joshua is

tom's lover
who??

my thoughts exactly

tom's lover
i don't know anyone named joshua

tom said you did

tom's lover
tell thomas to start counting his days

who's joshua

tom's lover
😘✌️

amandla

tom's lover
harrison

answer

tom's lover
no.
ask keils yourself.

HOW
SHE DOESN'T HAVE A PHONE

tom's lover
GET CREATIVE

〘 视频对话 〙
𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐈𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆!
𐃆ི𖥾 𖧷𖥣𖡼𖥧 𖠣

𝖼𝗈𝗇𝗇𝖾𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀. . .

❨⠀keilah ─ amandla ─ harrison ─ rowan⠀❩

"this is me getting creative." harrison states the second the call connects.

amandla's smile immediately drops when she sees it's harrison on the other end and not tom. "where's thomas?" she sits up in her bed and glances at the framed picture of her and tom on her bedside table.

"where's keils?" he fires back, raising a brow.

she glares at the blonde, narrowing her eyes into slits. "i want my boyfriend. put him on," she demands, disregarding his question.

"i want keilah. put her on," harrison rephrases her sentence.

the two stare at each other in silence, both refusing to cave first.

behind her phone, amandla notices rowan and keilah walk into her room with mcdonald's bags. the pair had left and gotten lunch while amandla prepared to film a video. at the sight, she eagerly waved them over.

"if i tell you where tom is, will you give the phone to keilah?" harrison eventually huffs, growing more irritated.

at the sound of her name, keilah stops dead in her tracks. with wide eyes, she rapidly shakes her head 'no'. the last thing she wanted was to talk with harrison.

rowan takes the bags from the blonde's hands and brings them to the bed. she doesn't bother waiting for anyone as she digs in.

the three girls had come to the conclusion last night that given tom was on facetime with amandla at the time of the "phone incident," he'd likely told his best friend. that also implied that he possibly heard joshua's name and if he heard it then harrison heard it.

it was only a matter of time before harrison put two and two together and tried to reach out for an explanation. apparently, that was happening sooner rather than later.

"amandla?"

blinking, amandla darts her gaze back to the call. if she says yes, maybe keilah can finally tell harrison everything and this whole cat-and-mouse game will end. it was getting exhausting watching on the sidelines.

"yes."

"start counting your fucking milliseconds, bitch," keilah hisses, flashing the black-haired girl both of her middle fingers.

rowan snickers, tossing a handful of fries into her mouth.

harrison heaves a sigh. "he's downstairs talking with his parents about brother's trust stuff," he says.

"you're joking," amandla deadpans. "all the anticipation for that? i hate you."

rolling his eyes, he gives her a look. "give keilah the phone. i know she's there."

walking across the room, amandla holds her phone out to keilah. "your boyfriend wants to talk to you," she sings, giving a harsh 'take-the-damn-phone-or-i'll-beat-your-ass' look.

keilah crosses her arms and shakes her head. today is not the day. she is not ready for this.

groaning, rowan speaks through a mouthful of food. "answer the goddamn phone, keilah. if you don't, i will, and i'll happily answer any of his questions."

jaw-dropping, the blonde scoffs. "i have the shittiest friends. what the hell, guys?!"

"kai!" harrison exclaims at the sound of her voice, smiling.

keilah slaps the palm of her hand to her forehead, grumbling curse words under her breath.

"take the phone, keilah."

"up your ass, amandla."

"up yours! take it!"

the bickering was old before it started and rowan rolls her eyes. "fuck it, i'll do it myself," she announces, causing everyone to fall silent. "hey, white boy TM," she snatches the phone out of amandla's hand and comes into the frame.

"rowan?"

"shush, it's time for the gay to speak."

"can you give the phone—"

"joshua's full name is joshua rosene."

that immediately shuts harrison up.

in unplanned unison, amandla and keilah gasp. their eyes grow wide and they share dumbstruck expressions. it'd been collectively agreed upon that keilah would be the one who told harrison what was going on. that was the plan, at least.

"rowan mia miguel!"

"bitch, i'll kill you. stop talking." keilah dives forward, reaching out to rowan. unfortunately, the brown-haired girl quickly dodges her.

harrison watches a blur of colors appear on the phone screen and he tilts his head to the side. what's going on? why couldn't things be simple and he just talk to keilah?

"no! i'm so sick of this and you're clearly not going to tell harrison without being forced to so here we go!" rowan shouts, ducking as a pillow is thrown at her head. "joshua went to westover comprehensive high school, a rival of amandla and keilah's high school— monroe comprehensive! he's a year older. he was the typical, you know, bad boy with mommy issues."

"ROWAN! STOP!"

"keilah matched on tinder with him in december of twenty-fifteen! she lied about her age, she wasn't eighteen yet; she was still seventeen. after two weeks of talking, they—"

a scream echoes through the call and harrison flinches. all movement on the other end came to a stop and he was getting a bird's eye view of a ceiling fan. grunts of pain can be heard and his eyebrows furrow. "uh... hello?" he calls, wanting to know more about this joshua character. this is the truth he's been seeking for months. whatever is happening is connected to joshua. he is certain of that now.

finally, keilah appears and he lets out a sigh of relief. "kai," harrison smiles, temporarily forgetting about everything.

"yeah, hi," keilah breathes, shooting her best friend the coldest glare she can muster. "you weren't supposed to find out about joshua this way."

harrison's face drops when he sees the tears pooling in her eyes.

rowan glowers back at the blonde from where she lays on the floor next to amandla's dresser. keilah had tackled her in her pursuit of getting rowan to shut up.

"we'll be in the living room!" amandla shouts, picking rowan up and dragging her out of the room, the mcdonalds bags in one hand. privacy is needed for the discussion keilah is about to have with harrison. she doesn't really have a choice anymore.

once the door shuts, keilah collapses on the queen-sized bed. she runs a hand down her face. "tom told you, didn't he?"

"uh, yeah..." harrison says awkwardly, recognizing that this is going to be a long and emotional talk. "he said that you were ranting about some text messages and really upset. he said that you mentioned the name joshua and that i should talk to you. he also told me you threw your phone out a window..."

nobody was ever going to let her live that down.

"and i have yet to get a new one. i'm on lockdown right now." keilah forces the words out of her mouth. she has a feeling she's going to be doing that for the rest of this call.

harrison bites the inside of his cheek. is he even sure he wants to know now?

no, yes. he's sure.

"lockdown?"

"yeah. i can't go home, it's not safe."

"n-not safe? what's that mean?"

tears blur her vision and keilah wets her lips. "you've been wanting to know what's going on, right?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

harrison hesitantly nods. "yes, but only if you want me to know," he closes the door to tom's room and sits down on the end of his bed.

"truthfully, i don't want to tell you any of this. i don't want you to know because it's quite literally the worst thing to happen to me. even worse than my dad ditching my mom and i when i was eight and being my daddy issues origin story." she chuckles at the bitter joke. the poor blonde boy on the screen is about to learn more about her than he asked to.

harrison frowns. whatever this was ran deep. the two of them talked all the time and had gotten quite close, but one thing they hadn't really touched on was keilah's biological father and where he was. this is the first time he's been mentioned.

"keilah, seriously. if you don't want me to know then don't—"

"it's too late. rowan's said too much and if i ever allow myself to be happy and be more than friends with you, if you haven't already moved on, then you need to know."

blinking, he's taken aback by the comment.

moved on? from her? he isn't sure that's possible for him at this point; he's too far gone when it comes to keilah winters.

"rowan told you about how i met joshua and that's accurate. i cut her off when she was about to tell you that after two weeks of talking, joshua and i hooked up." there is a tone of regret in her voice and harrison picks up on it. "at the beginning of he and i talking, i was the only one who caught feelings. good for me going after men that don't want me! i sound like the poster child for daddy issues. well... at least i'm self-aware.

"we were hook-up buddies, if you will, for about a month before i told joshua how i felt. i thought that he would reciprocate my feelings because he always told me the sweetest things. of course, that was when we were sleeping together. but alas, joshua did not feel the same way and was only interested in me physically because he found me hot. which, i mean, is true, but it hurt hearing that. so, i ended shit and blocked him on every social media platform known to man.

"cut to a month later, he shows up at my high school on valentine's day and pulls me to the side while i'm walking to my car. he confessed that he was wrong and did like me. it just took me leaving for him to realize that. he asked me out and we started dating right then and there. the relationship was great... for like two months."

tears begin to stream down keilah's face and she positions amandla's phone against a pillow. she ducks out of view to wipe away the waterworks. "if anyone asks, i didn't cry during this call," she tells harrison.

"it's okay to cry, kai."

"bad bitches don't cry."

"sad bitches do."

"you've been talking to my mother too much or something. she says that to me frequently."

"she's right."

the two lock eyes and a small smile tugs at the corners of her lips. the amount of solace she feels when she looks at harrison is more than enough to calm her down.

all is quiet until keilah decides to continue telling the story.

"joshua had a rocky home life. he would go through these phases where he wouldn't want to drag me into his life so he'd dump me. then he'd come running and sweet talk his way into me taking him back. my therapist called his behavior manipulative last week when i finally told her everything. i kind of had to after the police got involved..."

"wait what?!"

keilah skates straight past his exclaim of surprise and ignores his shocked facial expression. "this whole break up and me taking him back turned into a normal thing. it happened every two to three weeks, i'd say. eventually, he began wanting to control parts of my life. he would ridicule me for not being "on-call" for him twenty-four-fucking-seven. he hated how much time i spent with amandla and would get jealous. he hated how i would film videos and hang out with my other friends or travel for social media events instead of being with him.

"he basically wanted me to be at his beck-and-call and i just didn't vibe with that. i can and will have my own life outside of any relationship i have— romantic or not. he didn't like that, of course. whenever we were together in person or talking, things were always tense and filled with arguments. he scared me. he still does. he would have these fits where he'd lash out at me. it wasn't physical until the end of things."

pausing, she reaches down and takes off her sweatshirt. her anxiety is making her overheat and the room is beginning to feel stuffy.

"throughout the back half of the relationship, i attempted to dump his ass numerous time but i could never go through with it. i was too scared of how he would react. if he would break objects, break my things, yell, and scream at me over small things or over nothing... what would he do if i tried to break up with him? i didn't want to find out."

harrison falls back onto the mattress, turning onto his side. he watches intently as keilah continues talking.

"the overall relationship was emotionally and mentally manipulating, draining, and abusive. my friends told me to leave him for months, but i didn't listen to them. my parents didn't know how bad it was, they just thought we were fighting here and there. finally, things reached a tipping point and i was done. i went to his dad's house and was trying to end things for good and he got mad. he uh..." keilah pauses for the first time, unable to find the words to coherently explain what happened next.

"i don't know another way to put this. i'm just going to give it to you straight," she says, glancing at harrison. he's staring directly at her, unmoving and giving her all of his attention. "i tried to break up with him. he hit me. i used to think it was an accident, but it wasn't. he did it on purpose. i cried. he hit me again. i dumped him on the spot and told him to never talk to me again. i left and went home and told my parents. they drove me to the police station and we filed a report. the police went to his place and he was gone.

"i didn't hear from him for a few days. then he began to follow me around town, trying to talk to me. i called the police each time and he'd run off. he would blow my phone up with calls and texts. i screenshotted everything. eventually, i had enough evidence that i got a restraining order against him.

"he didn't care about the order and he violated it enough times that we ended up going to criminal court for each violation. he never showed and a warrant was issued for his arrest each time he failed to appear. then, one day in april, he found me at a grocery store and cornered me in the women's restroom. luckily nothing happened. a worker came in and called the cops, and his ass was put in jail.

"he was recently released a couple of months ago and i hadn't heard from him until after you and i met in person. do you remember when we spent that one day trying to fix my sims game?" keilah asks, taking a breather. this is a lot of information she's throwing at him, but he's seemingly taking it well. he is yet to interrupt her.

harrison nods. "yeah, uh," he quickly wipes away tears of his own that had escaped. "yeah, i do." this hurts. hearing and watching the girl he likes so much cry and recount the most horrific story he's heard from someone he cares about. this hurts and all he wants to do is make her feel better, but he knows that what she's telling him is too important. not to mention, he's unable to comfort her in the way he wants due to being on the other side of the world.

"and do you remember when i abruptly ended the call?"

"mmm-hmm."

"he texted me. that's why i ended the call and then friend-zoned you the next day."

everything clicks into place for harrison.

"ohhhhhhh, things are making a lot more sense now. i knew you were full of shit that day in the car. i knew it."

"look... i got scared." keilah admits, glancing down at her hands. "i was already apprehensive about talking to you in the first place. here you were, this fine-ass blonde british boy that was showing genuine interest in me with no ill intent behind your actions. you're kind, understanding, incredibly generous, respectful, hilarious, and good with my brothers and parents, my dog loves you, and you like me. you were and are too good to be true."

harrison blushes but frowns at her words. that's how she truly feels... that he's too good to be true for her. little does she know, she's a large part of his world and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"i didn't— still don't— know how to handle that. i didn't want to self-sabotage, but it's too fucking late for that. god, i did without fully acknowledging it. i thought that maybe i could be honest with you and allow myself to be happy, but that single text ruined it. that fucked everything up. i got scared again and i just..." she stares up, blinking back more tears.

"i don't know how to lower the sky-high towers i've built around my heart. ever since last year, i don't know how to talk about what happened and how to have serious conversations. for a while, serious conversations equaled fighting and i don't like fighting. genuine fighting, not the silly banter i have with you and my friends and family.

"all i know is that i'm filled with anger and sadness all the time now and it doesn't go away. it won't go away until he does, which sucks because he broke into my car and is probably looking for me. the police can't find him and i have no idea if they will. since he's still out there, i can't go home because he could be watching and stalking my family too. i can't go on social media because he was using that as a means of stalking me. that, and i broke my phone.

"now i'm stuck at dave's apartment, sitting on amandla's bed, crying and telling you all of this stupid trauma/drama. if this scares you off or something, i get it. this is a lot to take in all at once. i'm sorry."

finally, she is done explaining everything and a huge weight is lifted off her shoulders. she never has to retell this story to him, if she can help it. all that's left now is his reaction and that'll determine where they went from there.

╰┈ ⊰ 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔 ❞ ⑊ ⎯⎯ : ⊱˒ ♡

⌇ 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯⠀|⠀𝑛𝜊 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠⠀꒱
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙

     hey everyone!! i hope you all enjoyed the twenty-ninth chapter!

     this might be the longest chapter so far... the next one might be longer. i apologize for the lil cliffhanger! i just wanted the chapter to end and to finally update for everyone!

     i would love to hear people's thoughts now that the entire joshua situation has been explained! it's been a long time coming, but hopefully, the payoff was worth it!

     𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐋𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑: thank you all for taking the time out of your days to comment on this story. it means a lot and helps the story be spread to a wider audience &&& gives me the opportunity to grow as an author. all i ask is that people vote on each chapter, please. as a creator, it takes time to write and develop stories. especially social media-based ones because there's so much to take into consideration and the amount of time i've dedicated to finding graphics, screenshotting everything siena mirabella (and other characters) posts, making graphics, etc., is ridiculous. so please, vote on every chapter. it means a lot more than i could ever express.

     don't forget to vote & comment!