Chapter 9

Selena’s pov 

“Ummm… it’s nothing serious.” I stammered. My voice was barely above a whisper. 

My throat immediately became dry, and it felt like the words were trying so hard to come out but they couldn’t. I didn’t want to tell them, I didn’t want them to know because I didn’t want them to be a part of this mess that I had created by myself. Not Ava, and definitely not Nia. 

If I dragged them into this mess now, it would only make things worse than it already was.

“Let’s just let it slide, okay? I can barely remember it anyway,” I continued, trying to brush it off. 

Ava tilted her head, and she frowned. Her soft brown eyes immediately became filled with worry. 

But Nia?… Nia was not having it. Her eyes were filled with something that I couldn’t name. She crossed her hands on her chest and she let out a frustrated sigh. One that made the air feel heavier. 

“Girl, you can’t do that, yunno,” Nia said sharply. 

Her words felt like a knife was driving into my chest. 

“You’re keeping a lot of secrets from us, Selena,” Nia kept talking, and she raised her voice more now, “and it’s starting to get too much, too unfair. If you don’t want to spill, then how are we supposed to fight for you as your friends?” 

Her voice started to shake. It sounded like she was not just mad, but like she was hurt too. 

“Nia, calm down,” Ava said quickly, as she reached to touch her shoulder to calm her down, but Nia immediately stopped her before she even got the chance to touch her. “These things… they take time. She’ll talk when she’s ready. Let her breathe.” 

But Nia was nothing close to being done. Her voice cracked, as she blurted out, “we’re like her only family, Ava. We don’t want to lose her, she doesn’t even have anyone but us, and if she doesn’t—”

And that was all it took for me to break down. That sentence ‘she doesn’t have anyone but us’ completely broke me. 

My eyes stung, my throat tightened, and before I knew it, I was crying. Hot, brutal tears started to flow from down to my cheeks. I tried to hold it in, but the weight of Nia’s words were too heavy for me to bear. 

My parents. The thought of them swept through my mind like a storm and all the memories that I had fought so hard to forget, all came back running through my mind in a cruel way. 

I bursted out crying, and my sobs came out louder than I wanted them to. 

Nia froze, and her anger melted into guilt in an instant. 

She quickly ran towards me and wrapped her hands around me, very tightly that I almost couldn’t breathe. 

“Oh, Sel, no, no, no. I didn’t mean it like that,” she whispered close to my ear, and her voice was trembling. “I’m sorry, I swear I didn’t. I’m just trying to protect you, because if I lose you… if I lose you, God I don’t know what I would do.”

Then she pulled back and pressed her forehead on mine. Then she pecked my forehead. 

That was the softest gesture that Nia had ever shown to me. 

Nia could be a lot of things. She could be loud, bossy, dramatic, but in moments like this, her heart always showed. She loved me in her own raw way. 

Ava, who had been frozen at the side, finally moved. She moved to kneel beside me and rubbed my back gently. Her eyes were glossy too. “You don’t have to say anything now,” she murmured. “We’ve got you Selena. Always.” 

The room became heavy with emotion, like the air itself carries the grief that was weighing in my heart. 

But then, leave it to Ava to find a way to break through every tight situation with her jokes. She cleared her throat dramatically and muttered, “Okay, but I’m seriously burning these pancakes if y’all keep crying into the air.” 

I sniffed my nose and I laughed lightly through my tears. Nia chuckled too, and just like that, the tension in the room eased. 

Ava stood up and picked up the spatula she had kept on the desk earlier. She waved it in the air like a warrior going into battle, and shouted, “pancakes will solve everything. Pancakes for broken hearts, pancakes for fights, pancakes for life!” 

It didn’t take long for the mood to get back to normal. Ava busied herself in the kitchen, humming loudly to some random TikTok song while I tried to distract myself by arranging the clothes the dry cleaners had just dropped off. 

Folding clothes was boring, but it gave my hands something to do. Nia laid lazily on her bed with her phone, blasting the new Cardi B track and singing along to the lyrics.

When Ava finally came out from the kitchen, she carried a plate stacked so high with pancakes it looked like a tower ready to collapse. “Food is ready,” she sing-songed, her voice exaggerated like some broadway performer.

“Finally!” Nia dropped her phone and practically leaped off the bed. She landed on the floor with a bounce and sprinted to the table. “No way, Ava. This looks good.”

I stretched my hand out to grab one, but Nia smacked my fingers before they could touch the plate.

“Ow!” I yelped, pulling my hand back. “What was that for?”

“Good food equals good pictures, girl,” she said, already fishing her phone out like it was a weapon.

I rolled my eyes, but Ava burst out laughing. She disappeared into the kitchen again to grab juice and cups while Nia arranged the pancakes like they were diamonds about to be auctioned.

“Hold it, tilt it—yes, yes, the syrup dripping, that’s the vibe,” she whispered to herself while snapping photos. Her influencer side was in full force. She clicked a few shots, zoomed in, angled the fork for “aesthetic,” and finally sighed. “There. Perfect.”

“Are we allowed to eat now, Your Majesty?” I teased.

“Patience, darling,” she said dramatically before putting her phone down.

Ava came back with a big size of orange flavored juice box, three red patty cups, and a wide smile on her face. “So, who takes the first bite?”

“I would have, but Nia was the one doubting your cooking skills, so she should do the honors,” I said, smirking.

“Yeah, girls, that’s fair,” Nia agreed, puffing her chest like she was about to take on a deadly challenge. She picked up a pancake, folded it into two, and stuffed a huge bite into her mouth.

Ava and I leaned forward in anticipation, holding our breaths as if this was some kind of life changing test. Nia chewed slowly, her expression unreadable.

Nia lifted her brows like she was trying to register the taste and I couldn’t help but ask. “How does it taste?”