Book One || Coast to Coast
Kiana Brooks and Devontae Carter have two things in common.
1. Wanting to pursue their careers.
2.Romantic relationships are not worth risking it.
As a part time waitress and full time psychology student. Kiana Br...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Good morning." I greet upon entering the kitchen, Sasha is sitting by the island with her cup of coffee, her silk pressed her in a messy bun and in her crisp white robe. "Morning babe."
I make myself a cup of coffee and join her, sitting down next to her. "How was Milan?" She glances my way before sipping her coffee, "it would've been great, if James and I didn't fight the entire trip." Sash and Jay went to Milan a week ago for a show that she was walking in, and he asks to tag along, at this point James and Sasha have been dating for more than six months, I barely hear about them arguing which is such a surprise to me hearing her say this.
"Really?"
She sighs, shaking her head begrudgingly, her bun moving with her moving her head, "I don't even want to talk about it, it'll make me mad all over again."
I wonder what the argument was about. Just then our phones begin buzzing simultaneously. Strange. We pick up our phones and what we see shocks us, mostly me.
...
My fucking phone has been vibrating for the past three hours and it got me so fucking annoyed that I switched of my phone and I've resorting to streaming old nineties sitcoms.
Fucking TMZ just had to do the most. I really enjoyed living in my own little bubble for the past couple of months, just enjoying my relationship and settling into the whole dating dynamic after the shitty but the fucking internet just had to steal that away from me too.
Some nosy ass person posted a picture of me and Devontae together from the time we went out to get some pizza and all the internet vultures including TMZ got hold of the picture and fucking posted it, not only did the picture break the internet within fifty eight seconds, but people also found my account started tagging me and commenting. Some comments were positive, and some were not. If I were to give an average percentage of the positive over the negative, I would give it sixty forty.
And best believe I read the comments and yikes. I knew people were mean but damn, I decided to finally switch all my accounts to private, muted my comments under my posts, and restricted who gets to tag me in shit. I really miss Devontae.
He's in Canada for a game and he won't be back for at least three days. I didn't even cry when this shit blew up, but I am hurt, I checked Devontae's timeline and he has everyone rallying behind him and others are questioning his taste. Fuck my life.
The girls have popped by the apartment to check on me and honestly, I'm fucking drained at this point. "Hey, Kiki?" I don't answer and Sasha enters my bedroom, "Devontae wants you." I sit up and she hands me her phone, sitting on my bed next to me. "Devontae?" I whisper.
"Hey, baby." I can't help it but when I hear his voice, I burst into tears. What did I do to deserve such hate? Why do people have to be so fucking mean? They don't even know me yet, they still felt the need to call me out my name, make fun of me, critique me. It feels like my childhood all over again. I'm so hysterical that I dropped the phone and Sasha immediately wrapped her arms around me, my throats burns, and my vision is blurred from my tears.
"I'm so sorry baby, I'm so sorry. I tried calling on your phone, but it went straight to voicemail, and I got worried about you." I can hear him, but I can't get myself to answer, "my people are trying to figure it out but promise me you won't open those fucking comments, aight? I know you already did but I don't want you to read them aight?" I nod, "I'll see you soon, and we'll figure this out together, I'm not taking this shit lying down and I'll be damned if I let some fucking strangers on the internet talk shit bout my girl."
"T – t – thank you."
"No need to thank me babe, I'm gonna fix this."
...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
When I hang up the phone, never have I felt so heavy in my entire life. This shit is fucked up in so many ways, I can't even wrap my head around it. The fact that people are attacking her more than me is even more fucked up.
All for what? The comments people been leaving on the Gram are outta pocket, there are some that I can't even repeat because they are so vile and degrading. Social media legit got fucking toxic so quickly that platforms that used to be a safe space for some has become a fucking nightmare.
Kiana doesn't the fucking things people are saying about her because she's the most beautiful and most caring person I've ever come to know. I called up my publicist and had to bite my fucking tongue to not bark at them and question how the fuck di the let this slip under the radar.
The moment me and Ki got together I let them know that to make sure that nobody and I mean nobody finds out about my relationship. I made it as quiet and as private as possible because I am considered a public figure or a 'celebrity', I just know how social media likes to suck the life and joy outta shit and I just wanted us to enjoy our time together without having worry about our business being put on the net for everyone to see.
Hence why we're always at the crib, hers, or mine. It sounds boring but I could do anything with Kiana and not get bored, with the right person you don't have to do too much together, you can be watching a movie, curled up on the couch with a bunch of snacks and it feels right. Kiana's words echo in my mind back when she asked how we'd deal with the reaction of the publicity when the cats out the back and I really that we could keep our relationship on the down low, but some fucking dick had to sell the picture to fucking TMZ. God, let me find out who the person is and I'm gonna...
"Hey, bro." Roman steps into my room, taking a seat on the armchair just opposite the bed. Toronto is cold as hell; I don't think I will ever get used to it even though we come here throughout basketball season. You just know we're from out of town because we are fucking bundled up in turtlenecks and scarfs whereas the locals be wearing thin ass jackets and sweaters.
Roman has a cup of coffee in his hand and he hands me one, "thanks." He sits back in the chair, taking a sip of his coffee then sits it down on the table, "I saw the pictures and it's – not looking so..." Rome grimaces not wanting to finish his sentence, "how's Kiki holding up? She hasn't returned my calls or my texts."
I shake my head, sipping my piping hot coffee black, "not great. She wasn't picking up mine either then I called Sasha up. She's not doing good, man. The moment I said hi, she fucking became hysterical, she could barely even say a word."
"Shit, that's not good."
"I know man, she recently just opened up to me about how tough it was growing up and people always having something to say about her looks and her weight and I know with everything going on it feels like a very harsh déjà vu." I take a big gulp of my coffee now, feeling an impending headache at the back of my skull.
"So, what are you gonna do?"
I set my cup down, scrubbing a hand down my face in frustration. "I don't know, but I'm going to protect her as best as I can."
...
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Can we talk about how toxic social media has become lately? I mean, I joined Tik Tok in 2020 and recently I been noticing how toxic it's been and little by little the app is becoming consumed by it. The only thing keeping me on that app is booktok and the cute baby and puppy content but honestly, it's becoming less and less enjoyable.
