?? ?????

amara blinked awake to find deb curled up beside her, hair spilling across the pillow, still sound asleep. the sight made her smile faintly—deb probably hadn't meant to stay over, but it wasn't surprising that she had.

quietly, amara slid out of bed and stretched, heading for the bathroom. after a quick shower, she wrapped her hair in a towel, threw on a pair of sweats and an oversized t-shirt, and padded downstairs.

the sound of muffled laughter caught her attention as she entered the kitchen, where levi stood leaning against the counter, eating a slice of leftover pizza straight from the box.

he raised an eyebrow at her. "morning, sunshine."

amara rolled her eyes, heading straight for the fridge to grab her red bull. "don't start."

he smirked, taking another bite of pizza. "rough night?"

"deb passed out in my bed," she said, cracking open the can and taking a sip. "so yeah, maybe."

"classic deb," he said with a chuckle, then leaned in conspiratorially. "you missed all the drama yesterday."

she raised an eyebrow, curious despite herself. "drama?"

"between the boys," levi said, his grin widening.

amara raised an eyebrow, intrigued despite herself. "what happened?"

levi glanced over his shoulder, as if checking to make sure no one else was around to eavesdrop. Then, with a dramatic pause, he said, "noni and josh nearly went at it."

her eyes widened. "what? over what?"

levi smirked. "you're gonna love this. so, apparently, josh made some comment about noni's 'roster.'" he did air quotes, shaking his head in amusement. "something about how it must be exhausting keeping up with so many girls at once."

amara rolled her eyes. "classic josh."

"right?" levi chuckled. "but then noni clapped back, saying josh wouldn't know anything about it since he can't even keep one girl interested."

amara covered her mouth, stifling a laugh. "no way."

"oh, it gets better," levi said, clearly enjoying himself. "josh got all defensive, started going on about how he's just picky, and noni was like, 'nah, bro, it's because you're boring.'"

amara let out a snort, shaking her head. "so, what? they just started arguing?"

"pretty much," levi said. "it was mostly just them throwing jabs at each other until joao had to step in and be the dad of the group, as usual. but for a second there, it looked like noni was actually gonna swing."

amara frowned slightly, "he was that mad?"

levi shrugged. "you know how noni is. he's got a short fuse when it comes to people calling him out. but josh didn't back down either. it was kind of hilarious, honestly."

"sounds like I missed a lot," she said casually, taking another sip of her drink.

"you always miss the good stuff," levi teased, nudging her shoulder. "but don't worry, I'm here to fill you in."

amara forced a small laugh,"you boys bicker like girls."

levi shot her a mock-offended look. "oh, so now you're calling me a drama queen?"

"if the crown fits," she quipped, flashing him a grin before heading back upstairs.

when she stepped into her room, she noticed deb was gone. the bed was unmade, her blanket tossed to the side. guessing deb was in the bathroom, amara shrugged and plopped down on her bed, grabbing her phone.