ཾ. ·˚ ༘ 𝐁𝐎𝐒𝐒 𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 . ➶°⁂💄
𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 -ˋˏ 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑠 ˎˊ-

ɴᴏᴡ ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜɪɴɢ: 𝗔𝗖𝗧 𝗧𝗪𝗢 — 𝖫𝖨𝖪𝖤 𝖠 𝖳𝖱𝖨𝖡𝖤 𝖢𝖠𝖫𝖫𝖤𝖣 𝖰𝖴𝖤𝖲𝖳, 𝖸𝖮𝖴 𝖲𝖠𝖸 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖶𝖧𝖮𝖫𝖤 𝖳𝖧𝖨𝖭𝖦: 𝖠 𝖯𝖨𝖬𝖯 𝖭𝖠𝖬𝖤𝖣 𝖩𝖮𝖫𝖨𝖢𝖧𝖤𝖭.
. ·˚ ༘･☆: *･ﾟ:* ･💄✮: * ･ﾟ❦:*➶°⁂
❝ 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚙 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚛𝚊𝚙
𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝? '𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗' 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜' 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎. ❞

ཾ. ·˚ ༘  𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 . ➶°⁂•*
≫·˚ ༘ ────── ☽ * ➶💄°⁂ ˚ ☾ ────── ·˚ ༘ ≪

                                 𝘫𝘶𝘭𝘺 8, 2023. 9:09𝘱𝘮
𝖎𝖓𝖜𝖍𝖎𝖈𝖍 𝖽𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗅𝖾𝗇 𝗐𝗂𝗇𝖾 𝖼𝖺𝗇 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗆𝖺𝗄𝖾
𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗉𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗈𝗇 𝖺 𝗀𝗎𝗒 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾.

𝕾HE HAD NEVER been so bored. while she doesn't necessarily mind events, it was this one in particular inwhich she had been dragged to.

"you do know this is all to save face?" alegria's manager, harper, mumbles in her ear as they applaud while stormzy collected his award for solo artist of the year.

"fuck do i have to save face for?"

it was the british gq men of the year awards, specifically and the ceremony was close to ending (thank God), with only a few awards left to be presented.

"your shenanigans last act- i mean the past couple of months," she stumbles, and alegria pulls a weird face but she continues nonetheless, "messing with two of the country's football team players? then allegedly breaking the heart of one—"

"but me and mason are cool."

"which is why i said allegedly," she counters before continuing, "look- headlines are headlines no matter how much you wanna try and rectify it, babe. people can see one tweet and think they know the whole story. turning you, a young, single woman who is more than allowed to shag whoever they want, into the villain that they need you to be to get one of two: a cheque or a follow. which is why we're here in hopes that we can turn that narrative around."

harper was probably the most loyal person alegria knew. a family friend and supporting her since the beginning of her career, in an industry full of snakes and fakes, harper mcmillan kept it real. she'd lived life far too long not to. granted, she was only thirty-four.

alegria just sat there, sipping on champagne as she watched the rapper give his heartfelt speech with his award in hand. she knew she was right, she just didn't want to have to deal with the consequences. she, personally and selfishly, felt like she didn't even have to but alas, the cons of being in the public eye.

she sucked it up, though. forced herself to engage in very meaningless conversation. some of it was nice — jack harlow and aitch both decided while in the middle of chatting her up they would turn to insult eachother, amelia dimoldenberg spoke about her favourite chicken shop dates (she was her number one), sydney sweeney told her top secret euphoria season 3 information, she fangirled over andrew garfield and lewis capaldi fangirled over her.

it was when she went to get herself another drink, that the night finally got interesting for her.

"not havin' any fun, i'm guessing?"

turning around, she smiles at one of the few familiar faces she'd seen tonight and honestly, the one who she felt the most comfortable talking to. someone she knew through jude and bukayo, trent. now, alegria had been an arsenal fan for as long as she could remember but, she wasn't gonna lie and say that whenever liverpool was playing she didn't secretly scope out the screen for the shirt with a '66' on the back. he was talented. and... not too bad to look at, either. especially in a suit.

"neither are you if you're already sat here wanting to join me," she counters and he playfully kisses her teeth as he sits on the stool next to her.

"i actually came here to uh- oh. 'scuse me mate," he catches a bartender's attention, "can i pay for this lady's drink?" turning her head to the side, she pulls a knowing smirk. "boyyy..."

"what?" he shyly smiles before looking back to the person behind the counter, "and six shots, please. tequila."

scoffing, alegria holds her hand up, "whoa whoa whoa. do i fuckin' know you?" she quotes the famous meme which makes him laugh. with that very charming smile of his.

"what, you're turnin' this down, yeah?"

"you payin' for my drink? no, but the—"

"i swear you're the same person who said that could handle their liquor. now you can't do no shots with me." he was making reference to a very old blackbox freestyle alegria did at the start of her career. one that was very skilful, might i add. so she was very impressed someone knew such old work of hers.

"what are you, nardwuar or something, bruv?" she slyly questions, giving trent the opportunity to move in a little closer. y'know, to explain himself and such.

"a fan is the term i'd use, really. so uhm- you gonna prove you don't cap in your rap or not? 'cause you're wastin' boss' time," he nods over to the bartender. this brought her back out of the little bubble she found herself slipping into with this guy.

"jäger-bombs instead, please."

☽ * ➶💄°⁂ ˚ ☾

"still bored?" he watches her down the last bit of the mojito in her glass. shrugging, she replies, "meh. some guy came up to me thinkin' he was the lightskin saviour or something, so i guess he's been keeping me occupied."

"well thank God for him."

"hmm," she hums, smiling without even realising. there was a pause, the thumping bass and multiple voices getting blocked out. then, suddenly, he grabs her hand and stands her up with him.

they walk hand in hand, through the dancing crowd so no one spots them, and out of the main hall where the after party was being held. it was a hotel, a very luxurious one at that and alegria could tell as she glanced at all the fancy decor.

"trent!" she whisper-shouts. "where are we—"

"shhh," he puts his finger to his lips. this wasn't long after they stop infront of a door. a very narrow door almost like a closet.

"you been wine tasting before?"

he took the silence as his answer but it was primarily from shock. she couldn't believe he was doing this, with anyone who could walk by at any moment in time! this is exactly what harper warned her not to do, to not come across as some reckless girl who runs off with rich footie players. not once had she walked away yet, however.

"yeah. me neither," he passively answers and looks around the building like he was in search for something. the search stops at alegria or rather, her head.

"a pin."

"brudda, what?"

"a pin on your head. let's have one, please, i need to get this lock open," he explains. she didn't even realise there was a lock on this door trent had picked to open. great, another thing to make her look bad.

"out of all the doors you could've picked in this gaff—"

"i picked the special one for the special lady infront of me. now," he hastily says and waves his hand in a circle. possibly thinking it'd get the pin out her hair faster? i have no clue. soon enough though, he gets the door open by picking the lock. and the tiny wine closet is open for them both so they get in, shutting the door behind them?

how they did all this without being seen? i have no clue. maybe the author just wants you to enjoy the story and not overthink shit instead. :)

"this is broke boy behaviour. you do know that innit?" she points out and he sighs, like he just got checkmated. besides that, he still plucks a bottle from the shelf.

"not broke. just bored," he argues while reading the label on the bottle pretending he was some wine connoisseur to look up at her with a shit-eating grin, "like you!"

rolling her eyes, she pokes her tongue in her cheek in hopes to refrain from any bitchy scoff she might let out. "you are so..."

"i know. now, taste some wine with me, beautiful."

both of them probably didn't even realise how long they had spent just talking. they could've gone to the dance floor when 'soweto' or 'who told you' started playing but they weren't even up to it then. and before this, her and trent were merely acquaintances. sure, they knew eachother, but neither of them would call eachother friends. now though, he felt like someone she should've made friends with alot sooner.

"so... what was it with you and jude, then?"

blowing out a raspberry, she stares into space trying to articulate a proper answer. "i don't even know. it just... felt real, y'know?"

"how'd you mean?" trent presses further, seeming genuinely curious. he even set the bottle down and looked straight at her, giving her his full undivided attention.

they had been sat on the floor of the wine closet for what was probably hours, but since all they were doing was talking, felt like minutes to them. both phones on the floor and screens facing the ground, the rest of the world was shut off.

"ever since i started doing this job, shit has been so booky. no one's real, it's annoying as shit i'll be honest with you. that's why... i dunno... having jude, even when then the toxic parts came around, it all felt too real, too painful to be fake. and i think... i think that's why i let it all slide. sometimes," she quickly adds on at the end.

"sometimes?" she nods in response, "sometimes being this time. me and him aren't talkin' and... i wanna keep it that way," she asserts, taking a short breath. it was less of a statement and more of a reminder of what she was doing all this for.

"that's nice to hear." the little mutter that came from trent's mouth made her turn to face him. while the chat was flirty, she didn't really understand where it all came from. the butterflies, that is.

"is it?" she matches his energy, eyes very quickly flickering to his lips, as he wets his bottom one with his tongue. suddenly, the music heard from rooms away had finally drowned out and she found herself really, really wanting to kiss this guy that was only an acquaintance hours ago.

the shrill, irritating sound of a ringing phone gets them both to realise what they were doing and pull away before either of them makes a move they can't track back from. it was alegria's.

hesitantly, she picks up the phone to see her manager's name on the screen. apologetically, she smiles at trent and he gives her a courtesy smile (and the go ahead to answer the call).

"harper?"

"we need to go! you've got so much stuff to do tomorrow! where are you?" she practically shouts through the phone, ruining the quiet atmosphere the two had created.

"uh, i just had to get away for a minute. i'll be back in a sec, alright?"

"about a minute- you've been away for hours. just- come back as soon as possible please. thankyou."

without alegria getting another word in, the call was ended. sighing deeply, she turns back to trent. who was just staring at her deeply. "her highness awaits," she quips playfully. a breathy, slightly awkward laugh is shared between the two of them and they both get up (with trent holding her by the hands).

"so... we gonna talk to eachother once we get past the door at any point?" he questions hopefully. smirking, she snatches the bottle of wine from his reach before opening the door.

"maybe when i get bored."

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐀𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐒𝐊𝐈 .
trent hasn't chopped off his locs
NOT IN MY BOOK NEVER IN
MY BOOK sawree but short hair
isn't his ting as much as i love him
and his bootyful face regardless i
just- his locs was just WHEWWW
😋😋😋 anyways FIRST CHAPTER
OF ACT TWO?!? WHAT WE
THINKING OF JOLI AND TRENT?
DO THEY GIVE HARDER THAN
HER AND JUDE? HARDER THAN
HER AND MASON??? 🤔 pls lmk

ghost in the machine and
perfect have been on repeat
in preparation for this act,,
alot of the writing and
themes explored are MUCH
prevalent when you listen to
both those songs and they're
probably the most important
in this playlist. author fun fact
right there! 😋

TANK YAWL FOR 11K!
LOVE YOUSE THE MOST
AND NEXT CHAP WILL
BE OUT QUITE SOON! (if
i don't fall asleep it'll be out
a couple hours later but who
knows)