𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

forty two.

CHAPTER FORTY TWO
trapped

Jamal

Jamal and Hakeem were in the studio, finishing their parts for their new song Beautiful. They'd been at it for hours, so they decided to take a small break. Now they were sitting down talking.

Jamal was also scrolling down his Instagram feed with Tory on his mind. Was he too harsh on her earlier? She was just trying to be a friend, but the lies were becoming too much. Mateo didn't visit him, because if he did, Warren would've told him that.

Even his family didn't see Mateo, so was Jamal supposed to believe their story when everyone else was saying otherwise? On top of that, Tory tried to feed some bullshit into his head. She tried to tell him that Warren liked him, and it was really becoming too much. It was a good thing she left.

Jamal had told Tory to never come back, but did he mean that? He didn't know...

"Aye Mal, you heard about Dre?"

He did. "Yeah. Warren told me everything. He had bipolar disorder the entire time?"

"Yeah, it's crazy, man. But it makes sense now. That's why he was doing all that crazy shit."

"Yeah. Because he isn't right in the head," Jamal said. "But he's getting the help he needs, so I'm proud."

Hakeem leaned forward and spoke gravely. "Yeah, but I was thinking...what if he can't be fixed?"

"Don't talk like that."

"I'm serious! Andre's illness is real severe. What if those professionals can't help him?"

"Then he'll go somewhere else."

"Yeah, but what if they don't let him leave? What if we never see him again?!" Hakeem started freaking out.

"Okay, you need to calm down because now you're talking crazy. Andre can be saved, okay?"

Hakeem leaned back. "Yeah, I guess so."

Jamal continued scrolling down Instagram after that, and he really fucking wished he didn't because his entire body froze when he saw a picture of Mateo kicking it at a party with a guy Jamal had never seen before.

"The fuck?" Jamal said out loud.

"What?"

He showed Hakeem the picture and he was angry too. "Who the fuck is that?"

"Mateo's new boo, I guess." The thought made Jamal even angrier because they literally just broke up. How the fuck did he hop into a new relationship in two days? But he claimed to love Jamal so much? Na, Jamal knew that shit was a lie. Mateo never gave a fuck about him.

Hakeem shook his head angrily. "I meant it when I said I never liked Mateo."

"You were smart for that. You and Dad. But it's cool. Let him have fun with his rebound. I'm not worried at all."

Hakeem looked at him doubtfully. "You mean that?"

"Oh, I mean it." He meant it so much that he blocked Mateo's ass on Instagram. He could be petty and curse him out, but that was something Mateo would do. Jamal wasn't stooping down to his level.

After he blocked Mateo, he locked his phone and tilted his head back because he was mad as hell. Hakeem checked on him again. "You sure you're good?"