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Realistic or Modern City Living

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Internally, Chanel sighed in relief, and doubly so when Holly elaborated on the details of the Forrester's family set up. These were things Chanel knew, and at least to the extent that Alice wasn't her mom because it wasn't possible given their close age proximity, they were quite obvious too. Still, they weren't that far away and it wasn't like the girl was known for being the quiet one of the bunch, so she leaned over, albeit with a warm smile, and shushed the girl, pressing her finger to her lips. "It's okay. We know." Holly was naturally like this. Out of the current party of four, Chanel would know that fact better than anyone. It was easier to be more laise faire when they were in a controlled and familiar setting, or when they were with Makayla. This wasn't the case though. There was lots going on, things constantly changing. There was a lot of novelty even enough for Chanel to secretly be excited to return to the comfort of her own apartment. She couldn't begin to comprehend what it was like for Holly's busy mind. Sometimes just watching her bounce around from topic to topic made her stomach heavy. It was partly why she was more inclined to baby Holly outside of the girl just naturally being adorable enough that made it difficult to be anything but doting. It wasn't like Holly was being forced to take in so many things at once, and in such detail; it was just how she was. But it was tiring to watch, and so she couldn't begin to imagine how exhausting it was for her, even if the girl never seemed to tire. Still, Chanel felt it necessary to try to keep the girl focused on something. It wasn't evident that she was overstimulated. It took a lot for that to happen, and when it did, like anyone, Holly's mood shifted. The girl was still quite pleasant and bouncy, but Chanel knew when it was appropriate to egg Holly on, and now the super excitable Chanel didn't seem fitting. The fact that Holly had already bounced to something different (though, understandably. It was a dog, and this was Holly) within a matter of seconds spoke to that truth.

"Hmm," Chanel thought aloud, tapping her finger to her chin as she pretended to consider it. "He looks pretty comfortable with Collin, but maybe if you show you can listen really, really good to the secret I'm about to tell you, he'll let you hold him. That's part of being good at holding puppies, you know. Puppies like good listeners for some reason." Continuing to escort Holly across the lawn, this time holding onto the girl as a mere comfort to provide her with some stability instead of doing so in an attempt to restrain her, she wiggled her fingers and waved her hand as though she was illustrating a mirage. "So," she said, making sure to take her time as she narrated, in an attempt to hopefully hold Holly's attention for longer, but also so that she had more time to bullshit and figure out where this fable was going. "Yesterday Cara and I were walking on the beach. We were listening to all the seashells because we were like 'Hmm, if you can hear the ocean, then obviously you can hear mermaids.' So we didn't hear any mermaids, and we were really bummed because we were like, 'Ugh! I bet Holly would be really good at telling which ones you could hear mermaids through.' So we were all like 'Boo! This sucks!' But then. We saw the second craziest thing next to seeing a mermaid. We saw this lady with literal rainbow hair. And it was so pretty and bright, and it looked so magical because it was all windy and stuff. But then guess what else?" This story was as falsified as could be. Her and Cara didn't go seashell hunting, let alone in search of mermaid sounds. Still, she looked around to the rest of the group as she held onto the cliffhanger before returning her gaze to Holly. "She had a rainbow dog too! I couldn't really tell what dog it was, but it had long fluffy hair like its owner, and its fur was all rainbow colored. It was insane and--"

Chanel looked about the group once more. Her face straightened as she looked through again, growing seemingly more confused before she turned away from them to look about the lawn. "Darn! I forgot to get Brooklyn. She was supposed to know the secret, and she was really looking forward to it too. Shoot, shoot, shoot." Chanel continued to pretend searching for Brooklyn amongst the partygoers until she looked worriedly to Collin, unsure what to do. Her face lit up a beat later when she thought of a brilliant idea. "Ooh! So you know how tall people can't walk as much as shorter people because our legs get super tired crazy early? Well, what if you two went and told Brooklyn all about the secret while Collin and I take the puppy inside? That way Brooklyn isn't left out, Collin and my's legs don't get all tired, and then by the time you're done, you can hold him. And then when we're all inside, I can get my phone and show you pictures! Actually, isn't that her over there?" Chanel said as she pointed towards where she saw Brooklyn and Nick grabbing food at one of the booths.​
 
"I would be really good at that!" Holly agreed, nodding feverishly, as she listened intently to Chanel. The quality of this conversation was all A+ material, and it deserved the highest level of attention. At the mention of someone with rainbow colored hair, Holly laughed excitedly. That sounded pretty! Maybe Makayla would let her try that. "Rainbow hair?!" she repeated, turning to Sam with a look of awe and disbelief, as if check whether he was hearing just as crazy of a thing as she was. Who in the world had rainbow hair?! Rainbow Dash did, but she didn't count because she wasn't human, and she definitely wasn't at the beach! And a dog with rainbow hair?! Holly was seconds away from excitedly telling Chanel that she knew exactly the dog that she must have seen, because "Rainbow dogs" was absolutely a weekly Google search conducted by Holly, so she had experience in that area, and was convinced that there were real rainbow dogs that existed, despite Makayla telling her that they were either photoshopped or just had hair dye on their fur.

Brooklyn! Brooklyn definitely deserved to be in on this secret story too. 'Brooklyn liked mermaids, rainbows, and dogs! She's going to love this story!', Holly mused excitedly. "Yeah! That's why I don't wake you up in the morning! Makayla always says 'do not even think about knocking on that door' and I don't because I know that you're tired because of your legs!" Realistically, that had never been Holly's thought process before, but it was definitely going to be where her mind went now whenever Makayla said that to her because the logic added up in her mind. Holly had a tendency to hyper focus on certain things, like Collin's eyes and his facial structure, Chanel's green drinks, and she and Cara's long legs. There was oftentimes no reason for it, as they weren't always incredibly important or obvious things, but Holly would rationalize them as being very noteworthy.

Always prepared for a new task, Holly's eyes followed Chanel's hand as she pointed Brooklyn out by the food booths. By this point, Holly was bouncing with excitement and she nodded in confirmation. "That's definitely Brooklyn!" she agreed, taking a few steps forward, before turning to look back at Sam with what appeared to be slight annoyance that he wasn't moving as quickly as she was. "Come on!" she insisted, though she contradicted herself as she looked back at the puppy, and then Chanel. "But Brooklyn actually wants to meet Blue," she said, looking to Chanel with a more pleading look, before reaching for the puppy in Collin's hands. "Her eyes are blue, and so are Sam's, and dogs are colorblind so he thinks my eyes are blue too, so he'll listen to me," she rationalized.

It took a lot for Collin to not burst out laughing at Chanel's story, and the way that she really sounded like she was telling an actual story. Of course, her voice was more enthusiastic and animated (even for her) than she would have been telling a story to an average person, but she still sounded like she was talking about something that she had actually witnessed. Holly's reaction made it even funnier, because she really did believe it. While it was funny and useful in the moment, Collin recognized how sad it actually was, if not dangerous. Holly was so willing to believe in things that children half her age already knew were things out of fantasy stories, so it was scary to think about what she would believe in life later on. There were people who preyed on vulnerable people, and a cute girl like her would be an easy, prime target. Even though Collin liked Sam, it still made him glance over at him instinctively, as it he was re-analyzed his motives hanging out with Holly. Collin had learned that Sam went to the same high school that he had graduated from, so that alone allowed him to feel comfortable with the guy, but he hoped that Sam knew that he would literally end up dead if he messed with Holly. Collin decided then that he would have to pull the guy aside later, just to see what was really up. He was sure that Makayla would have said something before now if she wasn't comfortable having Holly around him, but still, as a guy close enough in age with Sam, Collin figured that he might get a better feel for the kid's motives.

They were so close. So, so close, but Holly turned around, seemingly rethinking her temporary surrender of the dog. "Brooklyn can come in to see him and play after you tell her the story," Collin suggested, taking a small step backwards. "I think he probably wants to be inside in the nice air conditioning anyway." Giving Holly the dog might not have been the biggest deal in the immediate sense, but Collin was absolutely positive that he wouldn't even have time to get a beer before hearing Holly's excited screams about how the dog was on the loose again, and how they needed to catch him. Given how recklessly she had been running the first time, Collin was sure that the next time would probably end in something or someone being knocked over.

That wasn't the answer that Holly wanted to hear. "I was asking Chanel," she responded, frowning at Collin, before switching her expression up to look back at Chanel hopefully.

Chanel leaned forward, her eyes widening as if she was trying to secretly signal to Holly in hopes that they wouldn't spoil things for Brooklyn. "Nooo, no. That's part of the surprise, Hols. Brooklyn literally loves dogs that look like Blue. So we want to have two things waiting for her: the picture of the rainbow dog, and then a surprise, which is her favorite kind of puppy." Chanel nodded towards Blue. "Can't you imagine how excited she'll be when she gets to see a rainbow dog, but then gets surprised with her absolute favorite dog in the whole wide world? Ooh, that actually means Blue is a secret too, so you're responsible for two really big secrets. But..." Chanel looked at Collin with uncertainty. "Maybe two super big secrets is too much for her to handle? I guess we can just spoil the surprise for Brooklyn and tell her ourselves."

"No, no! They're not too much," Holly insisted, because she was definitely a good secret-keeper, but she mimicked Collin's step to remain within reach of the dog. "But he wants to be with me. He's really upset, I can tell!" she insisted, reaching out to touch the dog's fur. "And I don't want you to take him away," she said, growing upset at the thought of it. She wasn't truly upset, but she was getting agitated only because the idea of losing sight of the dog made her nervous. She never got to play with dogs, and Collin was too random for her to trust to be nice to her new friend.

"Hmm. Yeah, I don't think he likes Collin very much, huh? What if I let you hold him for ten seconds so you can calm him down and let him know you'll be right back? And maybe tell him to be on his best behavior so he doesn't ruin Brooklyn's surprise. And when you're done, I'll hold him and he won't be upset because we have similar scents since we're roommates and live together. Then you'll be back soon enough to keep him company, okay?"

Collin had, unfairly so, become the villain in this situation in Holly's eyes. She had convinced herself now that the dog didn't like Collin, only because she was certain that he liked her better, and now her mind instantly went to Cruella de Vil. Cara liked fancy things, and Collin was Cara's brother. Maybe he was going to turn the dog into a fur coat for Cara! And Chanel wouldn't be able to stop him because she was not going to want to rip her dress! Holly's expression reflected the anger that she was feeling upon these thoughts crossing her mind, but if Chanel was going to hold him, maybe that would be okay for a little while. Collin wouldn't have time to do too much damage before Holly returned. "Okay," she agreed after a few seconds of hesitation, extending her arms to welcome the dog into her hands. Her mood immediately changed back into a happy one as she whispered into the dog's ear that she would be back to see him in just a few minutes. When the countdown had ended, she reluctantly handed the dog over to Chanel. "Make sure Collin de Vil doesn't do anything to him before I get back!" she requested, laughing to herself as she gripped Sam's hand and tugged him over towards Brooklyn. "I don't have good feelings about Collin,"[color] she explained to him.​
 
Sam remained silent, a mere spectator in the chaos going on around him. Sam recognized how different Holly was. She wasn't always as "out there" when she was around him, but it also didn't bother him when she was, because he just found it to be interesting. She was confident and unique, and she was a good reminder of how fun life could be when you stopped caring about what everyone else thought. He was surprised at how comfortable she was with so blatantly going against the flow of things at an event like this. Maybe it was because she was usually drunk at the parties he brought her too, or maybe it was because this one was so much fancier, but the difference was noticeable. He was surprised though, by how the older kids talked to Holly and how easily she fell for their lies. Being a peer of hers and thinking of her as an equal, that was the view that he took on it. That they were playing her for a fool and taking advantage of how nice she was. She needed to learn to recognize when they were tricking her, and stand up for herself. It was clearly a very teenage mindset, and one that reflected Sam's own desire for independence and therefore his feeling that Holly should have that too.

"Why'd you give up on the dog that easily?" he asked her, as she tugged him towards Brooklyn. He wasn't pulling back against her tug, not because he wanted to talk to Brooklyn, but because he was hungry. The food smelled so good, and the quick glance he had gotten of Jordan's plates made him certain that he was going to regret it if he missed any of the food that was available to him. "Don't you see that they were just fucking with you? You could've told them that you were taking the dog regardless of what they thought, and they wouldn't have been able to done anything about it!" he explained.​
 
"I didn't give up on him!" Holly objected, stopping dead in her tracks because Sam's comment felt like an insult. She had just gotten over the idea of leaving the dog, so for him to suggest that she could have taken him if she wanted made her second guess herself. She could have insisted that she take it, but Chanel wasn't going to let her have him. Holly was really, really bad at recognizing boundaries, but she could grasp from their conversation that Chanel thought that it was a good idea for her to tell Brooklyn about the rainbow dog without having the real dog there, and Holly trusted her. She had no reason not to trust Chanel, who she was as being a member of her family. Even though she wanted the dog, she was comfortable with believing that Chanel would protect him until she went back, and the idea of pushing it didn't seem plausible. Had Holly decided to throw a fit and refuse to relinquish the dog, maybe grabbed onto it to physically stop Collin from taking him away, Holly knew now that it would have ended in a Makayla-involved response. She didn't think about things like that in the moment, and it easily could have turned into that had Chanel not worded things as perfectly as she had, but now thinking back on it, Holly was able to think about where the progression of things would have went a little bit more clearly.

However, his words did linger in her mind enough for her to respond further, as she proceeded walking again, albeit more slowly this time. "Chanel knows best. She won't let Collin hurt him," she said, defending her actions to him, but also to herself. "And they would have done something about it. They would have told Makayla and she would have made it into a whole big deal for no reason, even though it wouldn't have been her business," she explained. She enjoyed the freedom that she had been experiencing at this party (and outside of this party, just in smaller doses). Her friendship with Sam had enabled her to want that independence more, so while the idea of running into her sister may have excited her in the past, the idea of seeing Makayla right now felt like it would be bad news, even if nothing bad was going on. She felt like Makayla would weigh her down, and Sam's words only made her feel like that was more true. "Jordan would get mad at you if they told on you," she added, though again, it was mostly a comment meant for self-reassurance.​
 
Roman certainly didn't understand just how lucky he had been thus far this evening. With not only Holly running around like she was at the world's largest playground, but dancing back to back with the entire floor without bumping into them, it was something he wouldn't have been able to pull off consciously. In reality, his ability to unconsciously avoid everyone was less his doing and more the doing of the girl who had been pulling him around since he arrived. Whether she was just knew everyone she encountered or was actually that drunk, he had no idea. Reason would have told just about anyone to pull her away somewhere private where she couldn't embarrass herself or, more importantly, himself but he didn't want her to misinterpret that act. Ale really wasn't acting too wild.Relative to the time, she was a bit further along than everyone else. Given how she stopped every single server that passed by or beckoned any that was within eyesight, Roman was surprised she was as functional as she was. Fortunately, she wasn't really bothering any of the big wigs like Cara's dad, her father, or any of the other players in that field. Roman had effectively turned into a babysitter for the night, and the last thing he needed was for a friend of her father's to see her a little too tipsy with some guy that was seemingly following behind her tail all evening.

Maybe this was in his head though. It was a statement he had thought many times today. In fact, he thought it so profusely regardless of his location that it could have been thematic. It was a strange sensation, surely. Not that anxious internal tic, but rather the actual fact of wondering why. He always knew. The first thing to come to mind was how he knew exactly what he needed when he felt how he did now. Roman quickly pushed the memory from his brain; a fear response. He didn't mind the rapidity of the past couple of months, or even this evening, because he needed to be distracted. He needed his mind stimulated constantly so that it was allowed to wander and then wonder. The catch to that, though, was that Roman was not one for social stimuli. He exhausted easily, and having to put on front took even more energy so that he exhausted all the more sooner. But maybe he wasn't tired. Maybe this was in his head because he wasn't used to socializing like this so organically (in the sense that he was sober, not in relation to genuineness of the conversations happening) and on such a large scale. It was probably him who was being too stiff and tense, and a drink would help. A quick look around the expanse of lawn and moving bodies told him that he was, in fact, the only sober person here and he stood out like a sore thumb. "No, no. I'm fine." He shook his hand at the tray that a server extended towards him after Ale had grabbed her own. Roman was fine with having a drink, but he was cautious of doing so when he felt how he was feeling, and when his thoughts were the way they were. If he accepted the offer, he knew it would be more of a medicative drink than a social one.

"Scared to upset your AA pals?"

Roman looked at her quietly, not finding her comment to be all that funny. He was quick to offer a playful eye roll though, unsure if his silence was too prolonged and if that would somehow be indicative to his past self. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you keep it up, you're going to be one of them. Did you forget this is a work function for me? We don't all have the privilege of trying out every single drink that catches our eye."

Ale rolled her eyes herself before taking Roman's hand and pulling him towards the guest house. "That's fine. For now," she corrected. "I need some more pictures by the pull now that the sun is setting, and the last thing I need is for them to be ruined because you can't hold a phone right. Wait, shit. Where did..." Ale looked across the lawn back and forth before she spotted the person she was looking for. "Ughhhhhh. Carmela! Carmela!! Come on, let's go get her. She's so stupid."

Distraction or not, Roman wasn't walking all the way over to where Ale's sister was because he knew how this story would pan out. Never mind the fact that they weren't going to be able to make it to her sister without a dozen detours on the way, only to end up losing Carmela in the process, but they would also have to go to work in finding and gathering the rest of the people Ale wanted to get a picture with. He spoke from experience. "I'll just meet you by the pool. I just saw someone I've been meaning to have a word with. Boring, business stuff. You won't be missing anything."

Ale's nose contorted in disgust at the mention of something so boring. "Perfect! You can secure a good spot for us while I get Carme-- Oh, Lizzie!" And just like that, she was gone. It was too early for him to be beginning to reach his limit, and he knew that. If he continued on trying to distract himself with constant movement, he was going to crumble. By this point, his mind was too fried to be able to wonder astray. Strangely enough, as he made his way to the guest house, he thought of Cara. Either he really missed the comfort of solitude, or he really missed the comfort of her. When he was being honest with himself, it wasn't strange at all to think about the person you liked, especially when you were around a bunch of people who you absolutely didn't. Roman supposed he knew that he found it comforting to be around her in that he actually enjoyed sharing his space with her. He liked getting breakfast with her in the mornings. He liked that there wasn't the rush from months ago to leave each other's bedroom as soon as possible. Until now, when his mind was looking forward to comfort and she automatically came to mind, it didn't click how much of that she was for him. It was weird, he thought. Or maybe it was normal, but no, it was definitely weird. That was the common internal dialogue he had with himself to invalidate his feelings for her and to halt any action on his part. This was Roman though, and he was stubborn. So while he invalidated his crush on Cara as a way to rationalize not acting on it, he still did so in small ways, as if he was really able to trick his own heart. Roman pulled his phone out with the plan on sending her a random emoji since that seemed less embarrassing than simply saying 'Hi, just thinking about you!' Instead, he looked at their conversation and chewed is lip, reading it a couple of times through.

As he read her text from earlier this week asking him if he was free this weekend, he wished that his simple response of 'no, i'm going to be busy' was not what it was. Of all people on the planet, Roman was the last one to wonder, let alone care, that his tone was too terse and short. Plus, as he entered the guest home as though it was some sort of solace, he wished he was wherever she was instead of out here. He was probably overthinking things again. Her clearly asking if he was free so that they could hang out was certainly not her clearly asking if he was free so that they could hang out. Still, he was grateful that he had been smart enough to follow up his initial response with telling her to think of something for a rain check, even if there was not yet any word from her on what that would be. Maybe that was a signal from her that she didn't want to do anything after all or, to his current illogical train of thought, indication that she actually wasn't try to hang out and her silence was just a courtesy of keeping things from being awkward. Butttt maybe...it wouldn't hurt to say something. Now that he thought of it, saying hi seemed stranger than just continuing with the conversation at hand. After thumb a different version of the same thing three different times, he finally settled on a response. And then a beat later once it was too late, he decided against it, and so sent another response as damage control.

To: Cara
don't think too hard ; )

To: Cara
unless that was your way of telling me to fuck off , in which case...

To: Cara

6EF0049595080BA7D1124A2E4BD919A085092353
​
 
"And then what?" Sam asked. He wasn't being mean, and his tone spoke to that, but he was just trying to challenge Holly's thought process. It was impossible for him to realize that his situation was drastically different than Holly's, because quite frankly, he didn't know her that well. Even though she seemed to be very forthcoming (sometimes unnecessarily so) about things, he had no idea about her past. He assumed that she lived with her sister for some reason similar to his own, and that she had a set of parents out there somewhere who were still her true guardians and were supporting her behind the scenes. If Holly's proposed scenario were to happen, Sam wouldn't really care. He would be a little bit anxious at the idea of Jordan being mad at him, but only because it would disrupt the flow of how things worked in their apartment. Jordan left him to take care of himself, and Sam left Jordan to take care of himself. They were friendly and got along well for the most part, but Sam wasn't dependent on Jordan for anything outside of a house, and Jordan wasn't looking to provide anything more than that to Sam. Jordan might yell at him, maybe throw in a few swear words and threaten to kick him out, but Sam would call him on his bluff and eventually things would settle down. It wasn't like Sam pushed his limits regularly (or at all really, especially after the first night with Holly), but if he did, it would be his father who he would have to answer to, and not Jordan. "Jordan would call me some name, and then he'd get over it. He's my brother, not my dad. Why would I be scared of him?" he pushed. "The same goes for you - Makayla's your sister, not your mom. She can't tell you what to do, and if she tries to, you can put her in her place just like she tries to do to you." He was stirring the pot, but he didn't think of it in that sense. He really and truly felt like he was helping Holly realize something that she hadn't seen before.
​
 
Holly was considering what Sam was saying, but she knew that wasn't how things worked. Maybe that was how Sam's brother would treat him, but Holly knew that putting Makayla "in her place" would be a suicide mission. Makayla was her sister, and not her mom -- that part, Holly agreed with. She also sometimes felt like Makayla didn't have the authority to tell her what to do... but then she would quickly remember that yes, she did, and by now, Holly had enough experience with her sister to know that rebellion would only lead to tears on her part, not Makayla's. Still, she pondered his words, even after offering an, "I don't think that's how it works."

Brooklyn and Nick were still being served food at one of the booths as Holly and Sam approached. Poking Brooklyn in her side with her finger, Holy announced herself in a typically loud fashion. "Brooklyn! Brooklyn! Hiii!" Any ounce of sadness that she had showed just a minute ago at Blue being taken away from her was long gone now. Holly loved Brooklyn. She was a well-known obsession of the girl, despite it not making much sense. While Brooklyn had a soft spot for Holly, it wasn't one that was always very visible, especially to Holly. Brooklyn didn't appreciate how loud and energetic she was, and to an extent it was quite understandable. Because Holly loved Brooklyn so much, even more social boundaries were non-existant in her mind even compared to other people. When Holly visited Cara, Brooklyn's room was often a first-stop destination, with no knocking involved. She liked to touch Brooklyn's things, play with her makeup, and so on, and it never registered to her that what she was doing was inappropriate because she loved Brooklyn so much that she expected the love to be mutual.

"No." Brooklyn was clearly startled at the shrill voice that suddenly chirped out from beside her, and the poking to her side caught her off guard enough that she nearly jumped at Holly's unexcpected presence. She and Nick were making their rounds to the food booths, which definitely deserved credit for having so many diverse and seemingly high end options. Brooklyn didn't intend on eating everything that she was adding to her plate, but she wanted to try a few bites of everything, and if some company she had no affiliation to was paying, she found no reason to be modest in her takings. By now, she had had a fair amount to drink, but Brooklyn wasn't a lightweight. In fact, she was certain that Nick's buzz was more evident than her own. She wasn't in a rush to get wasted, however. The night was still young, and she planned on drinking all weekend, so she didn't even want to wake up tomorrow feeling like shit. They had a huge beachfront mansion to explore and she wanted to take advantage of that come morning.

Her mood tonight was pleasant and relaxed. She was enjoying the party, even if she and Nick were only socializing with each other. Their vacation had been so nice before, as these were the kind of trips that Brooklyn strived to get Nick to agree to go on. Sure, she also wanted the big trips that were picture perfect for couples, like ones to tropical islands or old European cities, but small weekend getaways were just as cute. Besides, with Nick, Brooklyn knew that she needed to start small. He already wasn't great at coupley things, and he seemed to shut down whenever she suggested things that he took as being big steps, so a few days in the Hamptons was a fair compromise on both of their parts. They didn't need to be hanging out with a group of people at this party to have a good time, and Brooklyn was pleased by that, as it reassured her that they were compatible.

Brooklyn knew that Holly was at this party and she knew that it was only a matter of time until she ran into the girl, but as the night progressed, she hoped that it would hit Holly's bedtime before their paths crossed. It was a big party with lots of people, after all. Maybe Holly had found a new "friend" to replace her. One could only hope, though, and Brooklyn immediately felt herself tensing up at the girl's voice. "No" felt like the only appropriate response, even though coupled with her refusal to even turn around to look at Holly, it really wasn't.

"I'm so happy I found you because I have a secre--"

"No."

"I have a secret about a rainb--"

"No."

"Brooklyn, I have a secret to tell you that's about--"

"Go away, Holly."

"I have a secret to tell you about a rainbow d--"

"Go away, Holly."

"I can't go away because I need you to come with me!"

"Seriously Holly, you have three seconds to go away before I call your sister."

"Chanel told me a really important secret and she wanted to tell you too but you weren't there so she told me to find you because--"

"Leave me alone and go tell Chanel that if she tries that shit again, she won't live to see her birthday."

"So the secret is that there was a rainbow dog that I am friends with, and Chanel saw him here on the beach yesterday with Cara! And I know that he's probably still around and that's why there's another secret that I need to show you."

She couldn't win. She just couldn't win. Holly was persistent, she deserved that label at the very least. Brooklyn took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as she looked over at Nick with an expression that spoke to how she was on the verge of committing homicide. The deep breath helped though, and she decided to look at things logically. Telling Holly to go away wasn't working. Interrupting her wasn't working. Threatening her with Makayla wasn't working. If the goal here was to return to peace and quiet, it seemed like the only viable option was to give in to whatever Holly wanted her to do, just to get her off of her back for the rest of the night. Handing her plate to Nick in defeat, she looked at Holly for the first time since the girl arrived. "Show me whatever you need to show me, and then I don't want to hear your voice for the rest of the night," she stated, offering Holly her hand.

Holly's wide mouthed grin and the bout of laughter that erupted after Brooklyn finally gave in spoke to Holly's excitement, though she didn't doubt for even a second that she would be able to convince Brooklyn to come with her. Who could turn down a story that had a rainbow dog in it?! Chanel was right, this was a very good secret, and Holly was certain that Brooklyn would be even more thrilled once she saw the real dog they had! She would have grabbed a hold of Brooklyn's hand regardless, but being offered it was even more special and only added to Holly's pleasant laughter. "I'm so happy that I'm on vacation, and you're on vacation, and Sam's on vacation, and Chanel's on vacation! We're all vacation friends and remember how we went on vacation together before? I met Cara's dad and her wife and then Collin stole my dog friend! And I'm not happy about that! But if tomorrow is sunny, that will be nice! And I can show you all of the coloring books I brought with me! And if you want I can teach you how to swim! But it was really Sam who let Blue out and that's why Collin had a chance to steal him. I really don't want Collin to ever speak to me again but I know that he's a just a silly boy!" Holly paused too laugh, before continuing to express her rapid-fire, jumbled thoughts. "And I was looking for you all over the place but then Chanel found you. I just hope that Chanel never grows up because her legs are already hurting her and she's only thirty five!" Holly laughed again, looking to Sam then. "Me and Brooklyn are best friends. We ate pizza together once and chicken nuggets another time and one day we're going to buy a house together, and maybe you and Nick can live next door. That's her boyfriend. He's okay but he's not anything special." Looking to Brooklyn, her smile grew more. "Three times, me and Sam kissed but you can't tell Makayla! That's a sister secret and you swear on your life you're gonna keep it!"

​
 
Again, Sam hovered silently as Holly made her presence very clearly known to Brooklyn. While he did feel like he was being particularly quiet this afternoon, it wasn't by his own fault. Holly could talk for days and she didn't leave any gaps of silence that needed to be filled. Sam didn't mind, though. He didn't know any of the other people on the floor very well, so he wouldn't have had much to say anyway. They were all a bit older than him, and even if the age in numbers wasn't that far off, it was the stage of life that separated them in a more drastic manner. He was still in high school, as was Holly, and the rest of these people were out in the real world, figuring out their real lives. From what he did know, though, Brooklyn wasn't particularly pleasant. Holly seemed to enjoy her much more than Brooklyn enjoyed Holly, and it was another relationship that puzzled Sam because he didn't get how Holly just didn't care that Brooklyn was so rude to her. This conversation was a perfect example of that, as Brooklyn made it very clear that she didn't want anything to do with Holly, and yet Holly relentlessly pushed until Brooklyn bitterly gave in.

Sam followed alongside them, listening to Holly's one sided chatter. By the time he brought her name up, he was so lost with every turn that the conversation had taken that he had almost missed his name being said. When Holly revealed that they had kissed, Sam quickly felt his face growing warm (and probably red) with embarrassment. Kissing Holly wasn't embarrassing because she was cute and fun and he did like her. Having it announced so plainly, nonetheless to a girl who didn't seem to like either of them, made him immediately uncomfortable though, and he looked at Holly with wide eyes, like a deer caught in headlines. "Really?!" he hissed at her, baffled at why she felt the need to announce that right now. ​
 
Maybe it was a fragile male ego thing, or the fact that his dad had already disrupted that once tonight (in front of Chanel, nonetheless) with that comment about cotton candy martinis, but Collin was annoyed at Holly's response to him. He didn't get why Chanel was the authority figure here, when he wasn't. Wasn't she the one just talking about rainbow dogs? If anyone deserved to be taken seriously, it was him. Collin obviously didn't fully grasp the dynamics of their apartment, and he already had that internal conflict going on of feeling like he was too passive and like he was often walked all over, so it unfairly felt like he had been slighted. Holly insisted on being difficult until Chanel compromised with her, allowing her to hold the dog for a little while before banning Collin from holding him.

It really wasn't a big deal, and Collin was fully aware that he was nearly Holly's level of petulance by even being remotely bothered by her response to him, but after the "Collin de vil" comment (which was actually pretty witty for Holly and would have garnered a chuckle from Collin if it was directed at Chanel instead of him), he couldn't keep himself from reacting. As he and Chanel headed towards the house, he looked over at her. "I know you love playing 'good cop', but we could've solved that in point five seconds by telling her that we were going to get Makayla if she didn't just listen to what we said. I mean 'Collin de vil'... really?!" he said, scanning the vicinity for the nearest bar stand.

"You don't have the authority to use scare tactics with her." Chanel raised the puppy up and down slightly, pursing her lips in a doting coo. She glanced back at the two kids to make sure they were still on the right track. "Does he? Does he? No, he does not! He's also just upset that Holly thought of Collin de vil before he did." Chanel placed the dog against her chest and looked at Collin. "You're really doing that title justice, though, with all of that pouting of yours. You're the only one I know who can be grumpy grump at a place like this. Why is he such a grumpy grump?" Chanel said, her tone changing to a baby one as she addressed the dog. She laughed as she pulled her face away from the insistent attempts at the dog trying to lick her face. "That's why he's not allowed to hold me. Say 'I'm too cute to be held by such a grumpy grump!'"

Collin rolled his eyes, but Chanel's antics did bring a smile to his face. "You're annoying," he commented, doing his best to keep the smile as slight as possible, because he wanted to be more annoyed than he actual was. "When I see Makayla, I'll let her know how my name was slandered all on my own," he commented, though the likelihood of him following through on that was pretty minimal, since he was honestly pretty intimidated by Makayla himself. Stopping in front of one of the bar stands, he set his half-consumed mojito down and requested a beer, before looking back at Chanel. "And what will the Queen of Betrayal be having?"

"Let's have one of those father-disapproving cotton candy martinis, huh? Will that soothe your ego enough?"

"I don't know what he was even talking about, since I've never had one of those in my life," Collin refuted, though the guilty smile on his face spoke otherwise. "So one of those for her, and I'll stick to my beer," he said, speaking to the bartender then. When the drinks were served, they continued on in the direction of the house. "You know, you could've stayed and mingled. I would've done the honors of returning this troublemaker back to his rightful home, and you could've watched the show that I'm sure is moments away with Cara and Alice within punching distance of each other."

Chanel snorted and glanced at Collin knowingly. "Holly didn't really leave me much choice on that front." She was more than aware of Cara's feelings towards her stepmother. And unlike with most things, Chanel couldn't really blame her. It was certainly easiest when she had never met either her father or stepmother, and it was easier still when she wasn't standing right in front of them, but when they were just before her, it was difficult to not make it obvious that your smile was just polite and not genuine. Chanel wasn't really one to talk, but even outside of that, it was certainly strange given Alice's initial relationship with the family being that of a nanny or whatever it was. Inevitably, and not just because it was Cara, but really by anyone's standards, something tense and awkward was going to brew. She was poised to handle it until Holly popped in, and the unexpectedness of her entrance on top of the girl's unpredictable ways simply wouldn't mesh well with whatever was going to come out of Cara's mouth. "Plus, the last thing I want to do is have Cara blaming Makayla for something Holly did or said. She's always weird about people doing stuff for her, so I don't want Cara to hold anything against her. I mean, I want Makayla to have a good time too for once. I think her being with Sam is good for her in that regard." Leaning over enough to nudge his shoulder, she looked over towards Collin. "I mean, you're also not the most boring person at this place, so it was really only a mild sacrifice. It'll also probably do you some good to, I don't know, get away from your dad for a little bit. I feel like each time I see you, I see him and vice versa. Aren't you gonna let loose a bit?"

"I will, I will," Collin answered, raising his beer as if to signal he was working on it. He took a large sip of the drink, appreciating how cold it was. "I don't know if Cara warned you, but it usually gets crazy here at night. My dad and all the old people leave in..." He paused to glance at his watch before continuing, "...An hour or so, and then people get fucked up. And I mean, like really fucked up. Last year the coast guard had to rescue two guys who had been doing coke all night, and took some stupid unicorn pool float that Cara had in the garage out into the ocean at one in the morning, and ended up drifting like a mile away. My dad rents out a hotel in town for the night for all of them, and ends up with crazy charges every year for all the extra cleaning the hotel has to do because everyone's so sick in the morning from drinking so much," he explained. It sounded less appetizing than how fun it really was, but Collin was just trying to speak to the craziness of it. This was the first year that he was actually going to be able to enjoy it, because he now knew people at the company and had outside acquaintances here, so he wasn't going to resort to playing video games alone in his room like he had in the past.

Chanel preemptively rolled her eyes when Collin mentioned that there was a disclaimer for the party. It was no secret that Collin wasn't a party animal. She didn't think it was a stretch to say she had more experience with these kind of things, and therefore she should be the one warning him about any surprises. She kept her mouth closed, though, after she realized that it might have sounded harsh. What she wasn't taking into consideration was the crowds she was familiar with going out with were much different than the ones Collin was used to being around, even if it was from a distance rather than participatory. Her skepticism naturally fell into a perturbed look as Collin recounted last year's events. "Nope, she...definitely missed that little detail." She wouldn't admit it, not in a serious way, but it did spook her just a bit. A hotel being blocked just for your crazy ass guests? Wasn't this some sort of company wide get together? There really is an entirely different world out here. "But I guess that means I have to pace myself a bit better," she said, raising her glass some. "Also so that I'm sober enough to babysit you since getting turnt isn't really your specialty and we know your sister isn't chaperoning. But don't tell me if you're doing cocaine or anything crazy. If you end up jumping off the roof, I'm claiming plausible deniability. Plus, I have to be careful around you at these kinds of things. I feel like I always end up seeming like some psycho when we're at the same party."

"I wouldn't say psycho," Collin mulled, before tilting his head to each side as he mentally weighed the comment. "Well, actually, if the shoe fits..." he added, clearly joking then as he offered her a smirk. "If I jump off a roof, you better sue for emotional distress. But nah, if anyone will be doing the babysitting, we all know it'll be me. It's your birthday weekend, but then again, you've gotta save some energy for tomorrow. Should I expect all your friends to be just as psycho as you are?" he asked. He had kept out of all of the party planning for this weekend, as it was a lot easier that way. Cara was a control freak, his dad had everything put together by the team at the corporate office, and Collin honestly didn't have any ideas that could top the ones other people had suggested. He knew that Chanel's party was going to have a Great Gatsby theme, and he was excited about that, but he wasn't sure what to expect beyond that. He was probably more excited to see the people that Chanel brought to the party over the party itself. He didn't expect them to be strange or anything, as he had met some of her school friends at her Valentine's Day party, but he wasn't sure if she was inviting friends from her hometown or non-school friends tomorrow. Hearing stories about how she was in high school would surely be entertaining.

"Oh, they're bat shit, but they're a good time. They're some good friends from school, then people coming in from back home that were able to make it. And then my brothers will actually be here tomorrow, sooo again. I'm really going to be the chaperone tomorrow since I have to look out for them." Chanel was really only speaking from a protective big sister point of view. It wasn't like her brothers were so young that they actually needed chaperoning because obviously if they did, they wouldn't be in attendance. She felt comforted knowing that they would know some people from back home who would be in tomorrow, that way they weren't completely surrounded by strangers, but it was still hard for to get excited tomorrow without worrying about the added on stress of having family in town. "I guess there's no turning back though since the fam's already here."

"Your brothers are coming?!" Collin glanced in her direction with surprise. It wasn't really any sort of shocking revelation. Collin knew that Chanel had brothers, and she seemed to be close enough to her family that it made sense that she would invite him. He just hadn't expected it, because for some reason, family being involved made it feel more serious to him. "How old are they, again? Younger than you, right?" he asked. He had seen a couple of pictures of them on Chanel's social media, but when siblings were close in age, it was hard to place the order of things. "Are they are weird as you?"

Chanel's eyes widened in an amusement in response to Collin's reaction. She was mildly confused by it, evident by the way she slightly turned her head and searched his face for some sort of explanation. "....Yes?" A soft chuckle escaped her lips. "And yes again. They're like twenty or nineteen or something, I don't remember. One is basically like my male version, if that's what you're asking. And the other is more like you, but shyer. He's the one I'm kind of nervous about, but we don't talk much, so maybe I'm in for a surprise myself and he'll actually let loose a bit." She wasn't going to announce it aloud, but it was the quieter brother that was in worried about. If this was 6 years ago, the opposite wouldn't have even been true because she would have never invited him. She was more sensitive to his behavior and his feelings now, still a lot out of fear, but there was also the sincere older sibling concern. "I didn't think it would be too weird for them to come, I mean...I know this is your place and all, but... I'm actually surprised your dad even invited you. It definitely looked like he was reconsidering it back then. You better watch out before he replaces you with a beautiful black stepdaughter that he can drink Hennesy with."

"I'm the golden child here. Clearly, the bar hasn't been set too high so I can't really brag about it, but still," he said. "So I don't know about stepdaughter, since that golden child label is staying exactly where it is, but what about daughter-in-law?" Collin offered, smiling, though his tone remained steady enough that he wasn't necessarily clearly joking. "I'm sure he'd love to have you around, and you could save me from having to pretend to be interested in the things he likes." He obviously liked Chanel (or so it seemed obvious to him) but Collin wasn't known for being very brave or upfront so a comment like this may have seemed out of place coming from him. Without mentioning it, he turned down the path towards the main house instead of the guest house, as he had left his phone there. He thought that Taylor was supposed to make an appearance today, as he was sure that her father was probably floating around this event somewhere, but he hadn't checked his phone in over an hour to see if she had actually made it. "Cara hasn't dated anyone in a while, and she's already used to your... interesting personality, so I wouldn't discount the idea of joining the family that way. You'd make a good sister-in-law just as much as you'd make a good daughter-in-law to my dad," Collin added, as he had to lighten the mood and deflect from his earlier statement that hinted at the idea of him liking her.

Chanel took Collin's direct tone as a deadpan approach at a joke. Coming from him, it really made it all the more funnier since he wasn't the silliest guy. Through a shaky laugh, she cooed in awe at such a great idea, unable to successfully keep a straight tone like him. "Ooh! Very tempting." she exclaimed at such an idea. As they made a detour, she didn't get the chance to question the change in route as she was too busy giggling at Collin's exclamation. "You know, I never thought of that, but that's actually a really good idea. Clearly I can't get enough of the Forresters in my life if you lot haven't been able to get rid of me thus far. Plus, my initials would match you and Cara's so we can all have a cute little family crest. Now we just have to find you a suitable bachelorette with the right initials and subpar humor to match yours, and we'll be all set. I'm not sure if any of my friends tomorrow will really fit the bill, but we can do a match test to the your previous girlfriends. Consider this payback for ditching my Valentine's party back then. There's no escaping Chanel the Matchmaker."

Collin's expression lightened at the mention of the Valentine's Day party. That had been an... interesting night. Maybe not for Collin, but seemingly for everyone else. He remembered how he had left to go to class early the next morning only to find that Cara was still gone from the night before, and Taylor was nearly dead on their couch. He hadn't recalled what time she had returned to their apartment, but it had to have been after he had gone to bed. "Oh yeah, your good ol' Valentine's Day party," he laughed. "How could I forget about that?" He wasn't going to comment on her "previous girlfriends" reference, as he had never been in a serious relationship before, so he continued with that thought. "Just try not to get that wasted this weekend, all right? We wouldn't want you embarrassing yourself like that again," he advised, though fully teasingly. As they reached the main house, Collin wasn't surprised that the first floor wasn't as quiet as he would have hoped. While there weren't really any guests inside, the party planner and her team, among other staff members, were mulling about. "Speaking of your Valentine's Day party, though, I think my friend Taylor is supposed to be coming this weekend. I just wanted to grab my phone to see if she's texted me."
​
 
This wasn't the direction that Brooklyn wanted her night to go into, because two seconds into being with Holly, she could already feel herself tensing up. Brooklyn did love Holly, but not in the way that many of the others did, where they found it hard not to be nice to her. Brooklyn was nearly the opposite in regard to that. It was very easy for her to react to Holly in ways that seemed deserved. She was annoying, loud, and bothersome, and so Brooklyn responded to her in ways that reflected that perception of the girl. Holly rarely seemed to care though. She would continue going on and on with her Holly-ness until Brooklyn really snapped on her, or cursed at her, or did something that made it impossible for Holly to not realize that Brooklyn didn't want to be around her. While the others liked to sugar coat things in Holly's presence, Brooklyn felt like it was beneficial to be more direct because if she didn't feel like dealing with the girl, she wasn't her problem to be dealt with. Even with that being said, Brooklyn wasn't so unique that she didn't feel some sort of defensiveness over the girl. Whether desired or not, Holly just happened to squeeze herself into a "baby sister" sort of soft spot in everyone's lives. Even if you enjoyed messing with her, you weren't going to let other people do the same, because she was your Holly, and not the world's. With that being said, even though Brooklyn was seconds away from wrapping a hand around Holly's mouth to shut her up, she resisted the urge when Holly confessed to having kissed Sam on multiple occasions. It was probably good for Holly to be getting into things that were age appropriate for her. A sixteen year old kissing a boy was less disturbing than a sixteen year old still laughing at jokes on Sesame Street but it was harder to decipher whether than was true when it came to Holly's situation.

Brooklyn didn't stop walking because at the end of the day, she really did just want to be done with this and get back to Nick, but she did turn her head slightly to examine Sam. His embarrassed reaction seemed appropriate for a teenage boy too, but just by default, Brooklyn felt uncomfortable by Holly's revelation. Holly having a friend was one thing, and Holly having a friend that was a boy was one thing, but was this kid letting her think that they were dating or something? Holly was so innocent, and teenage boys were so... not. If he was using Holly for anything other than companionship (and using her for that baffled Brooklyn, allowing her to feel more inclined to believe that something about Sam's intentions were sketchy), then there was going to be a problem here. "Kissing better be the only thing you're doing to her," she said, looking to Sam with a serious expression. "And you better know better than to trust a single man on this planet. They're a waste of time. All of them," she said, looking back to Holly. Whether it was the right decision or not, Brooklyn didn't have any immediate plans to tell Makayla what Holly had said. It didn't seem that serious, and frankly, Brooklyn didn't care enough to want to be involved.

"You have two seconds to show me what you need to show me," she then demanded, as they approached the guest house. She was sure that this was going to be something stupid, and she made a mental note to do something to Chanel to return her kindness later on.​
 
The ocean was so mesmerizing. Makayla felt like she could sit there, staring at it, for an eternity. She hadn't been raised by the water, though her dad sometimes brought her to the beach during the summer months. He was a big gambler, and sometimes he would allow her to tag along when he went to Atlantic City. It was sometimes fun, and other times not (really just depending on whether he did well in the casino or not), but for the most part, Makayla would spend the trip sitting on the beach by herself. He never brought Holly or her mother, an aspect of his controlling and abusive behavior, as he often demeaned their worth right to Makayla's face if he was in a bad mood. She didn't mind being by herself though; at least not during the day. The beaches were always crowded enough that she didn't really feel like she was alone, and she wasn't the kind of person who craved conversation much anyway. Those were the only kinds of "vacations" that she ever went on, and the only time that she ever got to visit the ocean. There was a beach in the Bronx, but it was connected to the sound and not the ocean, and it wasn't that convenient to get to, with public transport taking at least an hour and a half each way. Makayla had never brought Holly to a beach because honestly, allotting her experiences like those was the least of Makayla's worries. She was more concerned with making sure the child wasn't killed while she was at work, and being able to afford to bring Holly to the public pool a few times during the warmer months was a gift on its own. Makayla could only imagine what it would have been like to grow up in Cara and Collin's world... to have something like this literally in her backyard. Being rich allowed you to live in a completely different world than the poor, and Makayla was becoming more aware of the ins and outs of what that really meant every time she got a glimpse of their world. Things like this were things that she couldn't have even imagined in her own mind without seeing it in person. Two huge summer homes on a plot of land with the Atlantic Ocean as part of your backyard. Their childhoods must have been amazing.

Makayla didn't even think of her own as having been horrible but it was impossible to ignore the differences when faced with this. She had been working since the moment she was old enough to get a job. She spent her youth in a roach and drug infested home. She played mom to a kid who wasn't even blood related to her when she was still a kid herself. She worried about her safety, if there would be food in the refrigerator the next day, and if she would be woken up by the the muffled whimpers of Holly in the early hours of the morning morning, only to be stifled by the hand of an unknown man. Makayla liked to think of herself as being a realist, and she didn't like the idea of discrediting other people's upbringing. She knew that growing up without a mother was difficult, so she was sure that that was hard for Collin and Cara too. But with all of this money? They had access to the world and more. Makayla imagined that they would wake up in the morning the smell of homemade pancakes, eggs, bacon, and more. They would run down the stairs in perfectly clean pajamas, be served food and be able to eat as much food as they wanted. They wouldn't have to worry about cleaning up after themselves, and would be able to spend the rest of the day doing whatever their hearts desired. They could play tennis, go swimming in the pool, build sandcastles, play in the crashing waves, search for seashells, learn how to surf or sail, and when they were done for the day, there would be people waiting to take care of them again. They weren't expected to worry about anything. They were allowed to be children. Why hadn't she deserved that? Or Holly? Why had they been dealt such horrible cards in the game of life?

They were questions that would never be answered, and they were too agonizing to linger on for long, because they were the kind of questions that could drive anyone crazy. Makayla thought about them sometimes, but in order to survive, she had mostly come to terms with the fact that she was given this life, and that was that. She could do her best to make it bearable, but there was no going back in time to change things that she had no control over. And it was important to focus on the things that she did have. She could either look at this weekend as a chance to linger on the things that she didn't have and the experiences that she hadn't been granted, or she could look at it as an opportunity to relax for a bit. "Now I understand why Cara complains about so many things. If this was my normal, everything else would seem sub par to me too," Makayla admitted, shaking her head in disbelief at just how pretty the water seemed tonight. Her head rested against Ruby's shoulder as they sat on the dry sand a few yards away from where the waves crashed onto the beach. Makayla knew that she needed to get up soon to go check on Holly, but she really didn't want to move. Tired had become a constant feeling for her, but mixed with feeling relaxed made her body feel ten times heavier and getting up seemed like a major task on its own.

Ruby smiled; that was one way to look at it. "It is nice, isn't it?" she agreed rhetorically. She was a fan of the beach as well, and it seemed particularly tranquil here this evening. The sun wasn't setting quite yet, but it was perched near enough to the horizon that it suggested a transitioning time in the day. The calm before the storm, maybe. "Will you go in the water tomorrow?" she asked curiously. She assumed that just napping on the beach, getting some color, would be Makayla's idea of relaxation, but she also knew how much Holly enjoyed swimming. "I'm sure Holly will teach you how to swim," she teased.

"She knows how to swim in a pool, not the ocean," Makayla responded with a gentle smile. She would definitely have to get in the water tomorrow, if only because of that. Holly had no sense of danger and that meant that there was a 99.9% chance that she would end up getting swept out into the ocean by a wave or something dramatic if Makayla wasn't closely monitoring her. "So yeah, I guess, but it's okay. I feel like the ocean can be really healing."

Ruby agreed with Makayla, though she remained silent, listening again to the waves crash against the shore. "Should we head back?" she after a few minutes later. She could have sat there all night with Makayla, but reality called for their presence too. The music from the party could still be heard fairly clearly from where they sat; the only true reminder of the chaotic party that existed behind them. As she slowly got to her feet, she offered a hand to Makayla. "Time to eat?"

Makayla followed Ruby, accepting the hand to help her stand. She knew that their return to the party was overdue, but god, she didn't want to go back. Even though they weren't expected to socialize with anyone outside of the people from the floor, the idea of conversation felt so trying right now. She wanted nothing more than to go grab a blanket and a glass of wine, and bring it back to this spot on the beach with Ruby in tow, but eating something sounded like the next best option, so she nodded. "Time to eat and get a drink." Brushing off the sand from her clothes, she added, "Hopefully Holly hasn't managed to burn the place down," as she followed Ruby back towards the path that led to the backyard.​
 
Cara was mildly disappointed that Holly hadn't managed to spill any of the drinks in hand during her animated entrance, but she still giggled at the audacity that the girl had. By now, Cara had a good grasp on how Holly worked and how she really didn't realize certain things that she did were out of place for certain settings (or any setting, really). If this had been an event that Cara valued more, she might have been mortified, but then again, she wouldn't have invited Holly if there was a potential that she would be mortified. Besides, she knew that her dad wouldn't be offended by Holly (though she may have preferred it if there was a chance that she could get under his skin). In fact, his entertained reaction was exactly what he envisioned upon their first meeting. It was either going to happen like that, or he would be wildly confused, so it was a good thing that he had had a few drinks before meeting Holly. It was hard for people to dislike the young girl, but if anyone could get off on a bad foot with her, it probably would have been an interaction beginning like the one that had just occurred.

Even though Holly had a friend now (a pleasant addition, in Cara's opinion), Cara had no doubt that Holly would have managed to get into some sort of trouble on her own. The girl was so curious and had so much energy stored within her at all times, that it was just the inevitable. With the summer house being a whole new world to her, it only amplified the possibilities of what could have happened. She was somewhat surprised that Sam had gone along with this. While he seemed like an appropriate friend for Holly, given how nice of a kid he appeared to be, he also seemed to be normal. He went to a nice private school that Cara was familiar with, and played sports, from what Jordan had told her. Those kind of kids didn't seem like the kind of kids who would take Holly under their wing, but Cara wasn't complaining. As long as she didn't hear any more stories about Holly coming home drunk and half-naked with his name attached to it, she would deem him as being a positive influence.

"Mhmm," Cara responded, smiling as her eyes focused on the redhead that her father was referring to. Cara didn't talk to her father that often, and when she did, she didn't talk about her personal life. However, Holly and the gang from their floor had come up before. Her dad knew that these were the people whose Disney trip he had financed. He knew that Cara sometimes skipped family dinners because she was babysitting Holly. He knew that these were the people who his friend's daughter, Ruby, lived with. Throughout those story tellings, it had been impossible not to explain how vibrantly personified Holly was, but there was no way to describe this girl in words in a way that would truly do justice to how she behaved in person. Cara wished that Chanel hadn't ushered the girl away so quickly, though it was for selfish reasons. For Holly's own sake, it probably was better that she be redirected, not because of anything that Cara was planning on doing, or any offense that would be taken by her family, but because if Makayla saw her acting so wildly, she would probably be reprimanded. Cara watched as her brother, Chanel, the kids and the dog headed back in the direction the kids had come from, half-longing to follow after them. She didn't know if she had the energy for that right now though, and instead, sipped on the frozen drink in her hand. "Holly is the nicest person that I've ever met in New York," Cara said to her father, before her gaze flickered over to his wife, who received an disapproving up-and-down lookover. "You should really take notes." Like so many others in her life, her father appeared to be momentarily surprised at just how brazen his daughter could be, but Cara was nothing if not direct with her dislike for someone. Before her father or stepmother could utter a word of protest for her impending attitude, Cara solved the problem for them. She motioned for Jordan to follow her, heading away from the duo and towards the food booths, but not before offering them both a very clearly forced smile.​
 
"Not all men are useless," Holly objected. "My secret is a man, and he's not useless. There's a useless man who's trying to steal him and turn him into a coat, but I know you won't let that happen because people are scared of you and that means they do what you say. Then, since me and you are best friends, they're scared of me too, and that's why they do what I say too." Holly was really just speaking to hear her own voice at that point. Her train of thought didn't make much sense, but she wasn't even mentally following along with it to attempt to decipher it on her own either. Her mouth was moving, but her mind was too busy processing the house that they had just walked into. She had been in the guest house for most of the evening, since that was where she and Sam had discovered Blue, but it was still new enough to her that it warranted another pause to take it in. She still couldn't get over how new everything in the two homes on the property looked. It made Holly feel like she was in a store, and not a home that someone actually lived in. Then again, she could still barely grasp the idea that someone owned a home that they only lived in for a couple of months out of the year, so she was already lost enough on that front.

"One... two... okay, I'm leaving."

"No, no!" Holly clasped her hand around Brooklyn's, yanking her arm to pull her further into the home. "You can't leave yet! I didn't show you the surprise!"

"What is the surprise, Holly?" Brooklyn's voice reflected how defeated she was feeling in this particular situation, and it annoyed her that she didn't have it in her to tell Holly to genuinely fuck off. She wasn't being nice to the girl by most people's definition of the word, but the mere fact that she was here and playing along this far meant something coming from Brooklyn. "Either show me right now, or I'm leaving." Her food was going to be cold by the time she got back to Nick, and given the path that Holly was on, she was also probably going to have a headache by then too. She didn't know what she did to deserve to have to deal with this. All she wanted was a nice, relaxing evening. She hadn't even made one nasty comment to Chanel in the past... week! And this was how she repaid her?

"Okay, close your eyes!" Holly insisted, giggling with excitement. She was excited to show Brooklyn Blue, because she was convinced that he would make Brooklyn cry happy tears, but she was even more excited to see him again herself. He was so soft and silly, and Holly was already on her way to convincing herself that she would be able to steal him and bring him back to the city. Even someone as cold hearted as Makayla wouldn't be able to say no once she looked into his big blue eyes, Holly reassured herself.

"No."

"Pleaseeee!"

Brooklyn inhaled deeply before closing her eyes. If she wanted to get this over with and still have some semblance of sanity left, she knew that playing along was the easiest option.

"Go get him!" Holly hissed at Sam, as if it was a "duh" moment. She took each of Brooklyn's hands in one of her own and squeezed them tightly with excitement. "Don't peek! You're gonna be so happy!" she insisted, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Sam had nodded eagerly when Brooklyn had addressed him, stating that he better not do anything to Holly other than kiss her. She was definitely intimidating, but only because she clearly didn't give a fuck about what anyone thought about her. It definitely made her hot, but Sam wasn't delusional enough to think that he could even land a girl like her in his wildest dreams. She was, however, the kind of woman that teenage dreams were made up of. The blonde hair and light eyes mixed with such an abrasive personality just made her hotter, because it wasn't what you would expect from someone who had that Marilyn Monroe, old school beauty look. He was intimidated by her, but he wasn't scared of her. He didn't plan on sleeping with Holly. He was just as inexperienced in that realm as she was. But if he wanted to, an empty threat from Brooklyn wasn't going to deter him. In fact, coming off of the conversation that he had had with Holly moments earlier, it almost made him want to do it even more. Sam wasn't outwardly defiant though and he didn't enjoy conflict, so he kept his mouth shut for the time being. He would bring it up to Holly later, but for now he headed out of the foyer and into the room where they had discovered Blue in his cage earlier in the evening. The lack of yelping noises that had originally drawn them into the room was Sam's first clue that the puppy wasn't in there, and it was confirmed seconds later when he stepped inside to find the cage still there, but vacant of any signs of life. Just to be safe, he poked his head into a few of the other rooms in the hall, before reemerging in the foyer. "He's not in there. I told you that you shouldn't have let them take him," he said, feeling inclined to add that "I told you so" in there to further his point. He didn't care about the dog nearly as much as Holly did, and he was actually ready to start drinking and partying with the older kids who made up the party outside, but he was sure that this was going to be entertaining, at least momentarily.

Holly wasn't always very quick to process new information, but the way that the excitement drained from her face instantly at Sam's words would have suggested otherwise. She dropped Brooklyn's hands from her own and instantly darted down the hallway that Sam had just emerged from. "Maybe he's hiding!" she rationalized defensively aloud. She didn't want the puppy to be missing, but she also didn't want Sam to be right about anything. She swung the hallway doors open with more fury than would be expected, growing more frustrated as each room was revealed to be empty. "I think Collin killed him and Chanel!" was the only logical conclusion that Holly's brain could come to, as she looked to Sam with tears welled up in her eyes (admittedly, mostly at the thought of Blue being dead). ​
 
This was an easy and obvious opportunity for Brooklyn to escape, but alas, she decided to be stupid. Holly's frantic voice required some sort of addressing, even if Brooklyn was convinced that the child was just being her overly dramatic, usual self. She had wasted this much of Brooklyn's time already, and she really didn't deserve another second of it, but down the hall Brooklyn walked. She told herself that she had to deal with this for two more minutes max, and then she could relax for the rest of the night... maybe even the weekend. Cara's property was big enough that Brooklyn was sure that with a little work, she and Nick could go unnoticed for the rest of the trip. It wasn't like anyone would be actively looking for them outside of Holly. "What's wrong?" she asked once she caught up to the pair down the hall. Though her words represented at least mild concern, her tone remained more annoyed than anything else. Holly was visibly upset, but Sam didn't look very bothered, which meant that it was highly likely that nothing was wrong. Maybe Sam stepped on Holly's invisible friend, or couldn't recite the name of every one of Snow White's Seven Dwarfs, but nothing real was wrong. Still, she found herself feeling inclined to ask because Holly was the baby of this makeshift fifth floor family, and that meant that she got special treatment.​
 
"Collin stole the dog that was supposed to be your surprise." Holly would have exclaimed the accusation more enthusiastically had she not been on the verge of crying. She looked to Brooklyn with nothing short of pure sadness. "We found a dog in here all by himself, and he told us his name was Blue, but then he escaped and we found him but Collin kidnapped him and Chanel was trying to help save him so we came back here to safety but Chanel was going to fight Collin to get him back but she didn't, and now they're both gone and Chanel will never get to open up the present that I got her for her birthday. For a whole month I collected her stuff in the apartment and I wrapped it up for her so that she would be so excited when she got it all back and now she'll never get to be that happy." Holly had been so proud of her idea when she had thought of it. She had two of Chanel's shoes from different sets, a metro card, a hair clip, and a few other trinkets wrapped up and carefully placed in a gift bag in their apartment, waiting for Chanel's birthday. She had refused to let Makayla see what was inside, and had to turn to Ruby for help with obtaining wrapping paper and the gift bag. She didn't realize that Makayla might be mad at her for her gift choices, but rather was certain that Makayla would be jealous of her brilliant idea if she did learn of it. Holly wasn't supposed to be thinking about that right now, though. No, what was important right now was the missing puppy. And the missing Chanel. But mostly the missing puppy.

Holly looked over at Sam, the look of sorrow setting back in as she reminded herself of the reality of the situation that she thought they were in. "You're gonna have to beat Collin up for us," she declared, before looking back to Brooklyn. "We can't get Nick involved because we don't really want to kill Collin but we want him to be in a lot of pain for maybe one day," she stated, before reconsidering because that seemed too mean. Collin was usually a nice boy, after all, and Holly did want to be able to go swimming in his pool tomorrow. "Or just for one hour. Maybe you could give him a paper cut." That sounded fair.​
 
Nick didn't dislike Holly, but he didn't know how to deal with her in the way that the others seemed to. Interacting with kids just didn't come naturally to him, and especially considering that Holly was a special case in terms of her development and head space, Nick just wasn't the kind of person who would ever task himself with interacting with her on his own free will. He did find a lot of the things that came out of her mouth to be amusing and he did recognize that she was a sweet kid, hence why he had been so ready to murder someone when he had heard that she had been taken advantage of. With that, though, it was almost more of a desire to hurt someone for selfish reasons. He didn't necessarily care for Holly on any average day, but he felt tied to her enough by the interactions that she had with his friends that he indirectly accepted her as being someone who was part of his clan. Someone hurting someone in his clan felt like a personal attack on him and his dignity, and respect was big for Nick. If you disrespected him, even in that indirect manner, he was going to make it a big deal. He was chill 99.9% of the time, but when someone wanted to go down that road, he was ready. Locked and loaded kind of ready.

When Holly came over, he didn't blame Brooklyn for not wanting to deal with her, but he was also secretly grateful that Holly's interest began with Brooklyn and ended there. Having the child that liked everyone and everything not like you probably spoke to Nick's character to some extent (though he had never done anything to Holly...) but he was perfectly content with accepting it on its face value and not having to deal with her very often. Brooklyn caved, something that Nick expected and would tease her about later. No matter how hard she tried to be, Holly was always somehow able to melt that. Nick wondered if Brooke was like that with kids in general, and if that was why she was so obsessed with bringing up having a family. He was sure that she would be a good mother. She was a lunatic, but similar to him, she would go to the ends of the earth for the people that she accepted as being "hers". Nick wasn't looking to materialize his curiosity over the subject though, because the idea of having anything remotely as energetic as Holly under his wing of responsibility made him feel physically ill. It wasn't a feeling that meshed well with the Jack Daniels that had been steadily building up in his stomach over the course of the night.

He took a chug of the drink then, washing away the thoughts of Holly and kids and responsibility as Brooklyn was pulled out of view. Nick carried their plates over to an empty table, not hesitating to dig into his the moment he sat down. He was surprised that Cara's dad's company treated their employees this well. He was so used to think of these unfathomably rich men as being selfish, and evil money hungry robots. They still were. There was no rationalizing the level of wealth that they possessed. Still, the amount of food and liquor flowing throughout the party was generous at the least, and Nick was happy to take advantage of it without having put in a minute of work unlike the rest of the people enjoying all of it.

As Cara and Jordan walked past him, Nick felt compelled to say hello. Things were fine with him and the Forresters at the moment. He had (reluctantly) apologized to Collin months ago over the incident with a verbal apology and a ton of bud, so they seemed all right on that front. Cara treated him as she always did - distant, yet kind enough. It was all that Nick wanted from her. There was a part of it that still felt bad for what he had dragged her into. She was a consenting adult in the one night stand that they had, but she didn't deserve the wrath that Brooklyn had probably put her through following it. She didn't always get credit for it, but Cara was actually a pretty decent person. She was raised in a bubble and the things that came out of her mouth reflected that, but similar to how her father apparently was, she was generous and chill enough that she actually was fun to hang out with sometimes. Nick hadn't done that since their hookup (and had no plans of doing it ever again, since he wasn't going to risk Brooklyn castrating him), but he still viewed her as being pretty chill. She saved him and Brooklyn from being homeless two years ago, so that had to speak to something related to her heart, because she truly gained nothing but trouble from the act of kindness. "Can't believe I've known you for all these years, and this is the first time that I've gotten an invite out here," Nick said lightly to Cara. He didn't really know Jordan, but offered him a nod as a greeting. "This place is dope, and whoever picked the food vendors knows what the fuck they're doing," he added, raising his fork in approval before taking a bite. Nick didn't fit in with the crowd at this party, and the way that he spoke on its own probably hinted at that, but he didn't care. He wasn't trying to get to know any of these white collar morons anyway. "So, what's the move for tonight? You guys taking it slow because of Chanel's party tomorrow, or we going all out?"​
 
Brooklyn couldn’t understand half of what Holly was talking about, but she understood that the gist of the story revolved around some dog that Holly must have gotten her hands on. She figured that it must have been Cara’s, because she couldn’t understand why someone else would bring a dog to a party like this, but that made the story all the more confusing, only because she didn’t know that Cara had a dog. She didn’t know everything about her. That wasn’t the point. Brooklyn only imagined that she would have heard about them having a dog because Holly had clearly been a dog in her last life with the way that she was obsessed with them. There wasn’t an outing that Brooklyn had taken the child on that hadn’t included some sort of excited exclamation about a dog sighting, followed by Brooklyn having to rely on her quick reflexes and grabbing Holly before she could run into oncoming traffic to try to reach it. Holly talked incessantly about a lot of things, but Brooklyn would have bet that at least 60% of her daily chatter revolved around dogs. It was a blessing that their building didn’t allow animals, and it would have been more of a blessing if they were banned here too. It barely surprised Brooklyn that Collin and Chanel were somehow involved in this, because clearly, they just wanted to piss Brooklyn off today. Chanel didn’t get a pass because it was her birthday weekend – Brooklyn didn’t give a damn about that. She was here to celebrate summer, not the annoyingly peppy girl from across the hall, and she still was mildly bothered by Nick insisting that they bring a gift for her (albeit one that was clearly solely from him, given that it was just edibles). Chanel was irksome just in her lone self, and even more so now that she had pushed Holly off on her. In reality, the big reason for why she was irksome (outside of this instance that had a specific cause) was because she possessed personality traits that Brooklyn didn't. She seemed genuinely happy, and as sick as it was, sometimes knowing that someone else was doing better than her bothered her unlike anything else. Collin had now joined that list too, though he was jut spineless… and apparently the main instigator here, since Holly’s emotional monologue seemed to be related more closely to whatever Collin did than Chanel.

“Okay, okay,” Brooklyn said, trying to shush Holly as she resisted the urge to physically cover the girl’s mouth for a moment of needed silence. “Just be quiet and we’ll figure it out.” She looked to Sam then, quickly deeming that he was currently being useless. “You… boy,” she demanded, having no idea what his name was. “Go find the dog.” She couldn’t offer him any advice on where to find said dog, but he would figure it out. He had no other choice, she decided, as she shifted her position so that her back was towards him, excluding him from the continuing conversation. “And you, where’s your sister?” She said, addressing Holly then. “Isn’t it basically your bed time?” Taking out her phone, she sent out a quick text that she hoped would make her life easier.

To: Collin, Chanel
Where is this dog that Holly is claiming you killed? Bring it here so I can get her to shut up, eat and go to bed and also fuck both of you ​
 
Jordan didn't know how to respond by Cara's jab at her stepmother, but he made an attempt to disguise the cringe that he naturally wanted to respond with. Her stepmom was incredibly beautiful, but the age difference between the woman and Mr. Forrester, and the age similarity between the woman and Cara, was impossible to ignore. He supposed that landing a woman who looked like she could be a Victoria's Secret model was just one of the many perks of being a billionaire and Jordan could only envy the man for being so lucky, but he also recognized how awkward it was in a family setup. With that being said, it was hard to feel bad for Cara. She had access to money that could make even Beyoncé jealous. Yeah, she had to deal with family problems, but who didn't? Jordan understood how the whole stepparent thing worked (although, his was a pretty average stepparent), but he would have gladly dealt with a weirder situation if it meant that he could lounge around a beachfront mansion working through the emotions that came with it.

He excused himself in a more polite manner, making sure to pick up his plates to bring with him as he followed Cara away from her family. "Your dad is a lot chiller than I expected him to be," he commented as he caught up to her. He didn't consider that Cara probably didn't want her friends complimenting someone who she clearly didn't have the smoothest relationship with. He was somewhat out of touch with the situation, but in the most innocent way possible. He just was pretty mesmerized by this whole situation, as it was something he never would have imagined he would experience. It wasn't every day that you moved into an apartment building and your neighbor was worth billions of dollars. He imagined that people like Cara would be the type to walk around with body guards, despite not having any public presence. The mere fact that her dad had as much money as he did, and was known to have that much money, must have made her a target. Jordan remembered reading something about the In-N-Out heiress being the target of kidnappings in the past, so he didn't think it was that crazy to wonder if Cara's family ever had to worry about something like that. Then again, he figured that most rich people didn't really have to worry about anything. They were invincible in the world that they lived in. The mere fact that the Forresters were blonde and blue eyed, the most favorable kind of white, in the eyes of society, only heightened the metaphorical pedestal that they sat on. Cara was a really nice girl, one who Jordan was surprisingly intrigued by his friendship with, but he wondered now more than ever if she was aware of how privileged she really was. He wasn't worrying about it, especially not as he took the last bite of the delicious steak he had chosen, but it was a curious thought in the back of his mind. Did she think that this way of life was normal for most people? How would she react to his childhood home, which probably seemed like a cardboard box compared to a place like this?

He wanted to ask Cara if she thought that he had a shot at landing a job at the company, but he was competent enough to realize that that could wait. They were back by the food, and Jordan definitely wasn't complaining about that. He returned Nick's non-verbal greeting and set his plates down on the table. "I'm gonna go grab a drink," he said, looking to the two. "Either of you want something while I'm up?"​
 
Sam loved Holly, he really did, but since she had gotten the older people involved, he was losing interest in this situation very quickly. He didn't come all the way out to a beachfront mansion where he could drink without repercussions just to be bossed around by some girl that lived across the hall from him. According to Jordan, Cara and Collin, their hosts, didn't even like Brooklyn. Sam didn't owe her anything, especially not if she was going to talk to him like he was some peasant. In addition to that, he didn't like how they all treated Holly. He got that Holly was different. It was hard not to realize that. She didn't need to be treated like a two year old though. Maybe he just didn't understand the extent of who Holly was or why she was treated that way, but he felt like no one trusted her to just exist and live her life. She was loud and air headed sometimes, so what? It didn't mean that she needed someone telling her what to do 24/7, but now he understood why she only liked to sneak out on the nights that her sister was working, and how even then, she was hesitant sometimes. Clearly, none of her "friends" knew how to mind their own business.

Nah, he'd catch up with Holly later when all of the craziness died down and enjoy himself in the meantime.

"Sure thing," he nodded to Brooklyn, smiling to himself as he internally said 'screw you', before heading back out the door. The sun would soon be setting, the air was the perfect temperature of warm without being too hot, and the party's energy was beginning to pick up. Grabbing himself a beer at the first spot he came across, Sam ventured towards the food. Whatever Jordan had been eating had looked and smelled great, and Sam was ready to kick back.​
 
"I'm taking it slow," Cara confirmed, before looking over her shoulder to make sure Jordan was going in the right direction. Glancing back at Nick, she offered a gentle smile. "But I can't speak for everyone else." No one seemed drunk yet, and that was a good thing, but the night was so young. It was only nearing eight o'clock now, and Cara was certain that most people here would continue drinking until at least two or three in the morning. That was typically the time that the craziness peaked, and soon after, everyone would leave. She wasn't sure if her guests would end up joining to young employees in the mayhem, but she wasn't for or against it one way or another. Cara didn't intend to get very drunk, not necessarily because of tomorrow's festivities, but just because she wasn't in the mood to really go wild tonight. The people here weren't the people that she normally did get very drunk around, so that was probably the biggest deciding factor in it all. She had invited some of them to Chanel's party tomorrow, and on top of that, the vibe of tomorrow's party would also be quite different, so she was more likely to let loose then.

She discretely glanced at her phone, only with the purpose of confirming the time, when she noticed a text from Roman. She was more pleased than she cared to admit to see his name on her screen, and it took a conscious effort to stop herself from smirking at his message and the stupid attached image. What an idiot, she thought to herself, with idiot being used in the most endearing of ways in this instance.

To: Roman
Sorry, been busy planning Chanel's party! I'm sure she'll really miss you there tomorrow 😜

Toy Story 4 comes out next week 😇 I'll let you pick the restaurant if you come see it with me

Cara knew that that was probably a shot in the dark since she was certain that Roman was probably the one child on the planet who had never watched Toy Story as a kid, but she made the request regardless. It was a date night suggestion, but she didn't necessarily feel weird about that part, because she and Roman had been dipping their feet into that kind of stuff for some time now. They no longer just had sex and separated before the sun rose, and Cara definitely wasn't complaining about that. She also felt like it was fair to tease him about missing Chanel's party, even if she hadn't actually invited him to it. Him stating that he had plans this weekend was enough for Cara to take the hint that he didn't want to hang out, though she doubted he would have wanted to come had he known it was a party for Chanel anyway. As Jordan asked about drinks, Cara reconnected with the reality in front of her. "Yeah, can you get me a lemon drop martini, and if you're feeling really, really nice, can you see if they're still serving lobsters over there? I'll love you forever if they are and you bring me one," she requested with a playful smile. "What about you and Brooklyn? Having fun?" she asked, looking back to Nick. "I never pictured you as being a Hamptons kind of guy," she admitted, though it wasn't like she ever would have been invited in the past had she thought he was.. "No offense."​
 
Chanel could feel her cheeks growing warm at Collin's teasing. She wasn't silly enough to actually believe that there was anything malicious or subliminal in his words, but in her mind it did validate what she had half-jokingly stated earlier about drinking cautiously with him. It seemed like whenever she was around Collin and drinks were involved, she was someone completely different, though really it was someone quite familiar since it was as though she was herself stripped down of any illusions. There were few things that were a true source of anxiety for her, but moving to New York certainly added being exposed to the list. If she was really as bad of a person as she thought herself to be, the chances that she would have been able to keep up the charades for this long were highly unlikely, lest she was some sort of sociopath. She wasn't confident enough that her worries about being weird around Collin so frequently whenever they were drunk around each other were only in her head. She knew that Collin wasn't confrontational, and not intentionally tacky. His teasing, while unintentionally tongue-in-cheek from her perspective, was only validation that it wasn't just something she noticed. Chanel was certainly not going to ask and risk looking like an idiot though, so instead she just chuckled stiffly and glanced her gaze away from him. Disney was one thing, but opening up to Collin like that out of nowhere, while also trying to convince him to drop charges against Nick for the sake of a girl who she was sure didn't even like her, was a bit much even for Chanel.

"Ooh, Taylor, Taylor....Yeah, that does sound familiar." Chanel didn't make the immediate connection that Collin's prelude had hinted to. What the Valentine's Day party and Taylor had to do with each other, she didn't immediately know because she couldn't quite place that night to begin with. Vaguely familiar names without faces were of no help. She pursed her lips, readjusting the squirming puppy in her arms. She tried redirecting itself attention from licking her shoulder by tapping its nose, and then the top of his head, and then under his chin, moving repeatedly to different spots as the dog tried to catch her finger. She mumbled Taylor's name as she teased the puppy until her eyes widened in realization. "Ahh! The hot one, yeah, yeah. In the dress, right?" She looked to Collin, her question undoing the surety that was in her voice just a beat before. And just as quick as she always moved, she was back on pace with her confidence, a wide, toothy smile now appearing, and with a growing laugh developing too. "Rigggghhht! The girl Roman snagged from you." She didn't remember how hard she had laughed the first time she heard this tale months ago or else she would have done a better job at attempting not to laugh as much this time around. It was far too rich, though, to sincerely expect anyone to not be roaring in a fit of giggles at the sound of it. Just as before, it truly tickled Chanel. She exhaled a whistle-toned breath that was just as theatrical as she was candidly being.

"Surely Roman did you a favor though, right?" She cleared her throat, trying to conceal the leftover giggles that were trying to get out, but that she know would only incite another bout of laughter. "I mean, she looked totally trashed when I saw her that morning at your place. Unless that was your doing, in which case I'm surprised she's evening still talking to you. I mean you seriously made that girl sleep on the couch?" Suddenly, she connected the dots. "Damnnnn. So that means you didn't even--" Chanel covered her mouth with her arm, turning her face away from Collin as if that would prevent him from being able to tell that she was, once again, failing at being nice and not laughing. "Oh! But don't let me forget to grab my phone from my room too. Or maybe I should forget it on purpose. You don't think Holly's going to be that set on seeing a picture of that dog, right? I'm sure having Blue in front of her will make everything else seem irrelevant. Also, is Blue his actual name?"​
 
Chanel never seemed to want to cut Collin a break, but she was the pot calling the kettle black, if you asked Collin. "Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want," he said, smiling through an eye roll as they headed upstairs. "You're the one who threw a huge party centered around matchmaking, and then couldn't even land someone yourself," he reminded her, though he wasn't completely positive that that was true. He hadn't went back to her party with her after she left his apartment, but he had vaguely heard the story about Chanel angrily storming into Jordan's apartment the next morning. Cara had reamed him for letting Holly leave with Sam that night, which was why the story had been told to him in the first place. He still didn't think that it was a fair accusation to make. He didn't know that Holly was leaving the building. All she did was ask to go into Brooklyn's room, and it wasn't like Sam looked like a predator or anything. He was Holly's age, and she seemed comfortable enough with him that Collin assumed he was a friend. In his defense though, he was also high and sorta drunk, so he didn't really give a damn who Holly was with. "Maybe you'll get more lucky tonight," he offered plainly, before shaking his head. "Nah, I doubt she remembers a word you said." He was still feeling a little salty over Holly's comments towards him, so he was quick to discredit her abilities (though he probably would have thought the same even if he wasn't feeling offended).

Glancing at the puppy, he couldn't resist smiling, and he reached out to stroke the dog's head. "I have no idea," he admitted when she asked about the name. Holly plowing through his dad and stepmother chasing the little guy was the first introduction to the dog that Collin had received. It wasn't necessarily surprising, as his dad and stepmother had been busy ensuring the party was in order all morning today, so his stepmother bringing him over understandably went unnoticed. As much as Collin sensed that the dog was going to be an issue because of how Holly lacked restraint and common sense, it also was a pleasant surprise. Not even the coldest of people could be angry looking at that cute little thing, and he did understand why Holly was so excited given her very well known obsession with the animals. The vindictive and immature side of Collin wanted to keep the dog away from her merely because of that, but he was't that petty, and he didn't care that much. "He's cute though. I always wanted a dog." They had never had a pet growing up, and as Collin was a fairly lonely kid (at least at home), having a dog to play with would have been nice.

As he led Chanel into his bedroom, he didn't waste time in grabbing his phone from his nightstand. There was no need to linger around inside when there was a big party going on outside, especially when Collin hadn't eaten yet, when his beer was now nearly empty, and when he was just getting ready to relax. As he led her back into the hall, presumably to get her own phone, he glanced at his screen. "Brooklyn texted us," he said. "I'm surprised she has your number." It wasn't that surprising, as Cara had sent out a few group texts in Disney World, but he didn't see Brooklyn and Chanel as being likely friends at all. If anyone's personalities seemed like they would clash, it would probably be those two. Chanel was a nice girl, and Brooklyn just wasn't. "But for real, since when does Holly not like me? I'm about to tell her that I had to fight you to rescue the dog because you were the one trying to kill it so that she likes me again," he said, referring to Brooklyn's text. "I mean, what kind of person do you have to be to have Holly disliking you?"
​
 
As Makayla and Ruby headed back to the party, things remained quiet, yet light. Their hands slipped from each other's grip once others came into sight, and to an extent that was notable to Makayla, it was a painful loss. She did like Ruby... a lot more than she ever could have imagined to. Makayla had always been aware of her bisexuality. At least for as long as she had been aware of what sexualities meant. She never really imagined that she would act upon it though, and date a girl. Because of her countless negative experiences with men, especially after having to resort to a profession that allowed men to treat women as nothing more than sex dolls, for the purpose of survival, her allure towards men had been nearly fully lost. She didn't think that anyone could choose their sexuality, but she certainly felt like life experiences could shape people towards being more attracted to one than another. She also didn't believe that love at first sight was a thing, and Ruby was a solid confirmation of that. She would have agreed that Ruby was pretty upon first glance, but she had clashed with her pretty strongly upon their first few interactions. Simply put, her past had allotted her countless negative experiences with white people of authority who felt like they knew better than people of color. They were the modern day versions of colonizers who assumed that they were car more civilized than the "savage" people of color, and that it was their calling to enlighten those people. In reality, all those people did for people like Makayla was ruin their life. Makayla didn't need, nonetheless want the opinion of some privileged girl whose parents had paid for her to attend some top medical school. She didn't need to be psychoanalyzed or critiqued on how she raised a child with countless emotional and intellectual problems who wasn't even her child to be raising in the first place. No one could understood just how trying Makayla's situation was, but Ruby was the absolute last person who could understand it. To some extent, Makayla still believed that -- she still didn't think that anyone would comprehend how difficult of a position she was in in life. However, Ruby wasn't the bad guy, and slowly, Makayla had come to realize it. The girl had good intentions, and she only wanted to help. She was aware enough of her privilege, and more than anything else, she was willing to listen and learn. She would never be able to empathize with what Makayla had been through, but Makayla didn't want anyone to have experienced what she had experienced to be able to empathize. She just wanted someone genuine to lean on, and after Ruby had so willingly cared for Holly for two weeks, seeking nothing in return, Makayla had come to realize that the girl deserved more credit than Makayla had initially given her.

Still, she was too guarded to truly give Ruby everything that she had emotionally. She didn't want to be disappointed or let down or further proven that humans were shit and that she was better off alone. She did want something more emotional with Ruby, because there already were so few people that she connected with in the way that she did with Ruby, but she also didn't want to risk what they already had, especially given that they lived together. If something went wrong, it would ruin more than just a relationship, and Makayla wasn't ready to risk all of that.

They were on their way towards the food area when they crossed paths with Samuel. He was alone, which immediately raised red flags with Makayla because she had left Holly with him. He wasn't responsible for Holly, and she knew that, but she also didn't trust him or his brother to begin with, so seeing him without Holly irked her. Stepping in front of him to block his path and catch his attention, she said, "Hi, where's Holly?" She attempted to sound as minimally irritated as possible, but it was hard for her to not be alarmed. The amount of trouble that Holly could get into in a new place was endless, and she had expected her to stay with this boy who she had claimed to be a friend for at least the hour that she had left her alone for. ​
 
Holly's mind was moving a bit too fast for comfort. It was something she was beyond used to -- it was her "normal" state, but when something specific frustrated or upset her, and her mind was moving a mile a minute, it often became too much. The feeling of frustration or anger or sadness would persist at the same time as all of the other thoughts crossed her mind, so the emotion translated over to all of those subjects as well. Though it wasn't something that was particularly noticeable to others, especially others who didn't have ADHD, Holly deserved credit how well she attempted to manage it. She liked being happy, and on top of how negative emotions plainly felt negative, drifting away from her normal state of being was a double discomfort for her. Holly wanted what she would now deem was her dog, she wanted to know that Collin had not killed Chanel and tossed her body into the ocean. She wanted macaroni and cheese and Sprite, and to watch Phineas and Ferb. She didn't want Sam to leave and she didn't want Brooklyn to bring up going to bed or Makayla. It was too difficult to simply verbalize all of those things for her though, because as one thought crossed her mind, it was replaced with her mind jumping to the music it could hear in the distance from the party outside, or the lighting fixture across the room, or the way that the house smelled so nicely, or a couch that she had never seen before, or how the floor looked so clean and new.

"No, it's still day time," she answered defensively, managing to redirect herself to Brooklyn's most recent question. Granted, Holly did usually go to bed pretty early, so crashing around 8 or 8:30 wasn't unknown to her. In a new setting, filled with so much to explore, the likelihood of her doing that was cut down a bit though. While all of the activity served a helpful purpose of tiring her out, she had also been forced to sit in a car for hours earlier, so it would take at least another couple of hours for her to burn off that energy. "Do you want to have a sleepover with me tonight?" she asked, switching gears as she perked up a bit. "Ruby's going to sleep with Makayla so I get to have a room all to myself, and me and you never get to have sleepovers!" she exclaimed, growing more excited over the idea as she took each of Brooklyn's hands into her own. Having a sleepover with Brooklyn definitely sounded even more fun than having her own room!​
 
Nick shook his head at Jordan's offer. He had a glass of Jack Daniels on hand, and was more focused on eating right now than he was on chugging drinks. This food was good, and after a few days of paying for meals at overpriced restaurants, it tasted all the more pleasant. His pre-vacation vacation with Brooklyn hadn't been dreadful, but it was no secret that this kind of vacation wasn't really his vibe. This segment of it was more his scene, merely because it was chill. They were at a friend's house and would spend the weekend drinking, hanging out by the pool, or on the beach. It was still pretentious merely because of where it was, but it would feel a lot more low key because they weren't paying for it, and in turn, weren't surrounded by tourists or wannabes who were paying for the experience, like they had been at their last hotel. Nick wasn't the type who was interested in impressing anyone, and the Hamptons in the summer time was where people who wanted to impress others seemed to flock by the dozens. If you had enough money to actually "belong" in the Hamptons, you weren't vacationing there. You had the money to afford your own house there. A burger at a restaurant in the Hamptons tasted just the same as one that he'd get at a diner in New York, only the one in the Hamptons would cost ten dollars more and would be posted on Instagram by 1000 people, as if it was something special.​

"This is my first time," Nick stated. "But you're right. Not really my scene. I mean, house on a private beach is anyone's scene, but the Hamptons as a whole, not so much." With a house like this, one would rarely ever have a reason to leave and surround themselves with the wannabe trendsetters that seemed to flock the more touristy areas of the town, though those who did own houses, like Cara, probably enjoyed the richy-rich spots because they could actually afford them. "Brooklyn's been loving it though," he nodded, knowing that if Brooklyn had been sitting next to him, she probably would have punched him for outing her for enjoying something that Cara provided them with. "She's into all this suburban, family friend type of lifestyle shit," he added in an indifferent manner, though the mere need to comment on that probably spoke to how it wasn't something that he was into as well. After shoveling down another mouthful of food, he smiled, adding, "She just got pulled off with Holly, so I guess she's probably not loving it all at the moment. Imagine having a kid with that much energy? That's the kind of thing someone like Roman would get screwed over with, just because you know there's no fucking way he'd be able to handle a kid, let alone a kid like that." Though Nick didn't feel forced to converse with Cara, and had been the one to initiate it anyway, talking to her was still sort of weird after all that had happened, and he felt compelled to fill in the empty space with words more so than he would if he were speaking with someone else.​
 
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