In Too Deep

EPOISODE 1

CHAPTER 1

Jayla

"I should’ve known better the moment Andrew said it with that sly grin. "You're going to love her, Jayla. Like... for real."

I was sitting across from him at a crappy diner, slurping the saddest milkshake known to humanity, wondering why I ever asked him for help. It wasn't like Andrew knew subtlety. Or depth. Or how to mind his own damn business.

"I’m not asking you to set me up," I told him, twirling the straw between my fingers. I just said... introduce me to some people. Queer people. Baby queer problems. I was out, technically, but the truth was, my circle was mad straight and boring.

Andrew, of course, took this as a challenge. “Her name’s Tiana. "You’re going to love her," he repeated, a stupid sparkle in his eye. She’s fine as hell, funny, kinda crazy. Y’all will vibe.

I didn't trust Andrew for s**t but some reckless part of me wanted to meet her anyway.

Tiana

The first thing I noticed about Jayla was her mouth. Not in a weird way. Well... maybe a little bit.

It was the way she smiled like she knew a secret. Like she was daring you to ask what it was. And when she laughed, it was soft and sexy, it sliced right through me.

Andrew dragged me over to meet her, practically bouncing with childlike excitement.

"Jayla, meet Tiana," he said. "Tiana, Jayla."

Jayla looked me dead in the eye and said, "So how do you know this clown?"

I snorted before I could stop myself.

She had this easy confidence about her. Silver studs, cargo pants, cropped hoodie, sneakers so clean they probably had their own insurance policy. Chocolate brown skin that gleamed under the shitty LED lights. Slim thick in a way that made my mouth go a little dry.

Andrew kept talking, but I wasn’t listening. I was too busy staring at her mouth again, wondering what it would feel like on mine.

Jayla

Tiana was a lot. Light skin, loose curls piled on top of her head, a tiny waist, and a laugh that was way too pretty for someone that dangerous, because she was dangerous. I could tell instantly.

She wore this lacy top that looked like it was barely hanging onto her body. High-waisted jeans hugging her hips, she didn’t even try to weaponize. Glossy lips. Long lashes. And eyes that were daring me right back.

Our first conversation lasted seven minutes. By minute four, I was sweating.

By minute seven, she was sliding her number into my phone, grinning like she knew exactly what she was doing to me.

Tiana

The threesome wasn't planned. It just... happened.

One second we were doing shots in Andrew’s kitchen, laughing about some dumb t****k. The next second, I was kissing Jayla.

It was a dare. A joke. Whatever.

But the second our mouths touched, the air changed. Her hand brushed my waist. I leaned into it without thinking.

Then Andrew’s hands were on both of us. And I thought — f**k it. I liked girls. I liked boys. I liked Jayla a little more than I should’ve.

We stumbled into the bedroom like drunk idiots. The world blurred into hands and mouths and gasps. Jayla’s skin was warm under my fingers. She kissed like she was trying to memorize me. Slow, deliberate, like every second mattered.

It was messy and chaotic and way too intimate for something that was supposed to be casual.

I should’ve known it wasn’t casual the way she looked at me after. Like I wasn’t just another body.

Like I was something else.

Jayla

The morning after, everything was weird.

Andrew was cracking jokes like nothing happened. Tiana was scrolling through her phone like she wasn’t the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life.

And me? I was standing there, holding a coffee cup like it was a life raft, trying not to stare.

Trying not to want more.

Andrew threw his arm around Tiana’s shoulder, and something ugly curled in my stomach. I didn’t like sharing and I especially didn’t like sharing her.

It hit me fast and hard, I didn't want to just hook up, I wanted her.

All of her.

And when Andrew started making plans for the three of us to "hang out again," I looked right at Tiana and said, "You trying to get brunch without this fool?"

Her smile could've lit up the whole block.

Andrew didn't even realize he was already outnumbered.

Tiana

Jayla picked me.

Without saying it, without making it weird. She just... picked me.

And some part of me — the part that pretended I was too cool to care — melted a little.I wasn’t looking for anything serious. I wasn’t looking for anything at all.

But when Jayla smiled at me, all slow and sure, like she was imagining all the ways we could wreck each other... I wanted to know what it felt like to be wanted like that.

Even if it was a terrible idea.

Especially because it was a terrible idea.