𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙧 [𝙡𝙞𝙡𝙣𝙖𝙨21]

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔. [ 𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘱𝘦𝘦𝘬! ]

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𝐨𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭
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MONTERO'S JAW SLACKED OPEN in a yawn as eyes opened, not realizing that he had drifted off already. it wasn't even that late.

the car began to come to a stop in front of a nice looking apartment in a suburban neighborhood. rubbing his eyes, montero sat up in his seat and the checked the time on his phone. "damn 8 already? time be flyin'." he mumbled to himself and started to gather his belongings.

shéyaa stared at montero gather his belongings out of the corner of his eye. "what, you ain't finna say thank you for giving you a ride?" he teased the boy and saw how he somewhat tensed up. 

the younger boy, slightly startled, look at shéyaa for a second and away at the window shield. "i-i was boutta thank you! you just didn't give me a chance to do so..." montero defended himself, only for his voice to trail off in almost a whisper. 

the slightly older man only arched his eyebrow in response.

"so... t-thank you for the ride." montero finally mumbled after a few moments of silence.

"mmhmm, you're welcome." the older replied as he side-eyed montero stepping out of the car. 

montero wanted to ask if he'd picking him up as well, but he already felt like a burden as it was, so he promptly decided against it. he'd rather be in an uber with a stranger than in the passenger seat with shéyaa. 

"aye."

montero stopped in his tracks and turned back to the slightly older boy in the car, waiting for him to speak.

"i'm finna be downtown wit' my niggas so i don't know if i'ma be back up here... but i'm sure one of them can take you home. or just call an uber."

montero stood there blinking. after processing what he was told, he lightly nodded his head. not bidding him a farewell, shéyaa started his engine and drove off, disappearing down the street. 

the younger boy's shoulders somewhat sunk. turning around, he made his way to the front of summer's house and knocked on the front door.

it was nice, single family home. not excessively large but not small or cramped. the minute garden on either sides of the front door had those plants that grew all year round in any type of weather. their deep magenta color was vibrant against the changing night sky.

a few minutes passed, and no one has answered the door. this made the boy worry that he might have gotten the address wrong.

panic began to fill body as he pulled his phone out from his pocket to check if the address in his messages matched the one plastered on the front of the house. 

as he was doing so, there was the muffled sound of the lock on the door unlocking and it swung open, revealing the brownskinned girl that had her shoulder length bob tied in a half up, half down style, the knot in her hair crossed with two chopsticks running through it. the bangs that fell across her eyebrows complimented her well.

"heyy monty, you made it! where's that nigga that said he would drop you off? what's his name again? damn..." she cursed under her breath for forgetting what the teen's name was. "was it shemar? sherbert?" 

for the first time in a long time, montero cracked a genuine grin and a laugh broke through his lips. he wasn't sure why but the way that summer was trying to figure out his name, and somehow came up with sherbert of all things, was hilarious.

the girl stood in the doorway and looked at montero peculiarly with an eyebrow raised, surprised to say the least; she had never seen this much of any positive emotion on the boy's face and summer felt a sense of pride for making him laugh like this.

"i-i'm sorry but... sherbert? that's not even a real name. it's shéyaa." montero said as he made his way inside the house, his laughter dying down. soon enough his expression returned to its neutral resting state.

"nice place," montero spoke quietly as he took off his shoes and left them by the door.

grinning cheekily, summer responded. "thanks. the boys are downstairs. let's hope they didn't eat all the fucking food. i told them to save you some."

at the mention of food montero's stomach growled loudly. "yeah."

summer led montero to a staircase that winded downwards, which he assumed to be her basement. after their descent, they were met with a chic, beaded string doorway. walking through, the teens were met with jordan who had a blunt in between his fingers and was playing music on his phone, and bryson who was chowing down on a chicken wing as if it was going to grow legs and run away from him.

they seemed to noticed a presence in the room because they both looked up to their friends in unison.

"hey montero." bryson greeted, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"wassup nig', how you?" jordan spoke, taking a drag of the blunt as he did so.

suddenly montero felt shy all over again, even though he'd often converse in the group chat with them and sat together at lunch and on the bus.  "hi guys."

━ 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐤! ━
the rest of the chapter coming soon!