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Realistic or Modern City Living

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Sam had almost made it to the food when Makayla crossed his path, with she and Holly's other roommate in tow. Sam knew that Makayla didn't really like him or his brother, but he didn't understand why. He was Holly's friend, and he was also aware that he was basically Holly's only friend. He didn't think of that in a degrading way, or in a way where he deserved a pat on the back for it, because he genuinely enjoyed Holly. However, it was still something that he was aware of and it was something that he felt deserved her sister's recognition as well. He didn't seek Makayla's approval or gratitude for being a decent human being, but he did expect her to treat him like a friend of Holly's, rather than an enemy. It could only make sense that Sam would feel this way. He didn't know Holly's life story, nor Makayla's, and no one could expect him to. All he knew was that he had never done anything but treat Holly nicely and include her in a lot of things that she probably didn't get a chance to experience otherwise, and that he was still looked at in a skeptical light despite that. His brother had told him not to worry about it, that Makayla just had a stick up her ass and that if she had a problem, Sam could tell her to speak with him, and not Sam personally. He had said that if she wanted to be a helicopter parent to her sister, he had every right to pretend to be just as protective and he could accuse her of being an asshole to his minor sibling just as easily as she could regarding Sam. Sam wasn't looking for conflict, especially not a conflict that would almost certainly end in the demise of his friendship with Holly, but it was something that he kept in mind whenever he had to interact with Holly's unpleasant sister.

"Not sure," he responded curtly, though with an innocent shrug. That was obviously a lie, but he didn't feel inclined to be helpful towards Makayla, especially coming off of his lecture to Holly on how she needed to start demanding respect. "Haven't seen her in a while," he said, side stepping the duo to head back in the direction he had intended on going in. He wasn't trying to elicit true fear in Makayla because, again, he didn't know enough about Holly's life to do so, but he was aware of how it would probably send panicked thoughts through Makayla's mind for at least a few seconds. He didn't think it would get Holly in trouble either, because it wasn't like she was actually off doing anything dangerous or disruptive (anymore, at least).
 
Makayla had half the mind to grab Sam by the collar of his shirt when he walked off without giving her any sort of helpful answer, but she held herself back. She had left Holly with him just an hour or two ago, and now he claimed that he hadn’t seen her in a while and didn’t know where she was? He was stupid, but he wasn’t stupid enough to think that it was okay to just leave Holly roaming around by herself, and if he was that stupid, it wasn’t a good enough excuse. Makayla would gladly knock the stupid right out of him, and she’d knock the stupid right out of his brother too, if he wanted to speak on it. Her heartrate must have doubled after Sam opened his mouth, and she could feel her body tighten up. It was always something. Always, always something. To some, Makayla’s internal reaction would seem like an overreaction. She didn’t know for a fact that Holly was doing anything wrong. For all she knew, Holly was inside, minding her own business and watching television. However, she knew her sister well enough to know that that was very, very unlikely. She had been so excited to visit Cara’s house; it had been all she had been talking about since they had been invited. The property was grand enough to leave Makayla in awe, so she could only imagine how Holly’s very-easily-excitable mind was processing it all. On top of that, there were so many new people here, and one of Holly’s favorite things was meeting new people. Plus, there were people here that she knew. Nick, Brooklyn, Cara, Collin, Sam, Jordan, Chanel. Chanel especially – their roommate had been gone for a few days now, as she had come to Cara’s earlier in the week, and any change in the norm, such as Chanel being on vacation, was something that Holly took as being more noteworthy than it was. She was sure that her sister would easily keep Chanel caught up in a three hour conversation about all of the (uneventful) things that had happened while she was gone.

Makayla was trying to give Holly more independence, and though she wished that Holly had befriended someone more harmless seeming than Sam, he was the best option she had at this point. But clearly, he wasn’t a viable option. In fact, he was essentially causing more trouble than he was solving it, because had Makayla known that he was just going to ditch her sister, she would have watched her herself. Sure, it would have taken time away from relaxing on her own and spending time with Ruby, but that was nothing new at this point. At least in that case, she wouldn’t have had to deal with freaking out over the thought of the countless possibilities of the trouble that Holly was getting herself into right now. “And this is exactly why I can’t trust that boy or his brother. Two brainless dumbasses,” she said to Ruby, already beginning to walk again, though this time in the direction that Sam had come from. “Like, really? He’s going to tell me he hasn’t seen her in a while and you don’t know what she’s doing? I don’t need anyone to babysit her or feel like they have do to anything for me or her, but don’t fucking act like you’re going to hang out with her and then just leave her alone somewhere. I swear to god, when I see Jordan, I am going to give him a piece of my mind on that kid.” Had she not grown close to Ruby, she wouldn’t have said a word of that. Sharing her thoughts with others wasn’t typical of Makayla because she was so set on independence, and even putting her thoughts into another person’s court felt too bothersome. She didn’t want other people to know what she was going through, not only because she didn’t want anyone to pity her, but also because she typically disliked people thinking that she wanted their advice. Venting was healthy, and she was beginning to realize that now that she had a close friend, but it was still something that she struggled to do outside of moment’s of rage when it came more naturally and impulsively.​
 
It was certainly nothing short of strange to hear someone like Collin utter that words "I always wanted." Chanel didn't live a terrible life growing up. It surely wasn't as perfect as people seemed to think it was simple due to the fact that Chanel was always so perky and had a good relationship with her family. Like anyone else, there were errs. She was spoiled by her parents and everyone in her family. Her brothers always said it was because she was the favorite, but Chanel never swallowed the blame. It was in her disposition to command attention and demand that things adhere to her standards. That didn't mean that she was successful in getting everything she wanted, despite knowingly being the most persuasive out of their family of five. One of those things, two, was a dog. It seemed to be quite a common unsatisfied childhood dream for many, but to Chanel, her not getting a dog was still just as predictable as her life seemed to be perfect. Was she completely pissed after her weeks of campaigning for a dog ended up in a stern no and a threat of going on punishment if she didn't drop it? Sure. Did she boycott her family for an entire week by not talking to them? Absolutely. But again, it was really no big deal and seemed to be pretty standard. To hear someone like Collin, though, whose life was unfathomable by so many standards, say that he had always wanted to something--no, that he had ever wanted something--was strange. And something as simple as a dog that he probably wouldn't have even had to worry about taking care of. It wasn't an absurd desire that might have come out of his sister's mouth, like how as a small child she wanted to stay in France for the summer just so she could always have the macarons from the shop in Paris she liked without having to wait for them to ship to America or for them to visit the country, but her father said no and so she called the cops to have him arrested because she was certain it was dictionary definition child abuse. To be honest, even that didn't sound like Cara in Chanel's mind simply because she was doubtful that the girl would have even been told no in that circumstance. Rather, the absurdity came from the lack of it. It was such a simple and basic thing.

She didn't mind it for so long, her attention diverting while they made their way into Collin's bedroom briefly. As they left, just a beat after they had entered, she glanced towards in slight confusion and curiosity. "About what?" she asked, in reference to Brooklyn apparently texting the both of them. She snorted and shook her head, not bothering to hide her eye roll from him. Was he still stuck on Holly slightly shading him earlier? "I guess the kind of person who would actually be that bothered by it. But, hey. Looks like you and Roman have yet another thing in common. You two would make a cute couple, don't you think?" When they got to the room Chanel was staying in during her visit, she handed the Collin the dog. "I mean, seriously though. You've just probably been replaced by that new kid. I think it's pretty normal that she would be divert her attention from a cute boy older than her than a cute boy who's her age and actually seems to be her friend. You're in your twenties now; you don't have to compete with teenagers anymore, you know?" Chanel grabbed her phone from atop the bed, pivoting her chin down as she thumbed through her notifications.

"Here," she said looking up for just a second before diverting her eyes back down. "Close the door." She distractedly took a few steps towards where he stood. "Let's take have a little photoshoot with the cutie." When she got to Collin, she leaned forward towards the puppy and scrunched her nose as the dog licked it. "Do you want to take pictures, cutie?" Chanel straightened up, pausing for a second to smile at Collin until she took a step back, her hands raising the phone and positioned so that the camera was perfectly steady. "Cheeese," she sang while she pressed the shutter button, intentionally not waiting for Collin to pose. Her eyes scanned the photo and smiled pleasantly; this was good. "Cuuuute," she sang in a high-pitched octave and turning the phone to show Collin. "I'm good at candids, so you're welcome. Also, enough about Holly. What we really need to discuss is how you grew up with basically three homes, maids, nannies, the whole smorgasbord, but didn't ever have a dog." She positioned the statement as more of a question, the lift in her tone juxtaposed the downward position her brows furrowed themselves in as she pivoted her head. "Was someone allergic orrr...?" she asked, her attention again diverted to her phone as she sent the photo over to Cara.

To: Cara
cutie alert x2!!!!

To: Cara
hire me as ur family's official ~portraitise~

To: Cara
note: cannot paint actual portraits, but i DO have portrait mode and clearly take amazing ~l'art du portraits~​
 
"Cara asked for a koala bear one year, so my dad had to make a rule that Santa couldn't bring live animals on his sleigh," Collin explained, smiling slightly as he reminisced on the many stupid requests Cara had made over the years. Though Collin didn't know it, his father's rule wasn't just in place because he knew that Cara would throw a fit over feeling slighted. His parents had had a dog for much of their relationship, and it had only died a few months after Cara was born. His mother had loved dogs and wanted one for the kids, but had opted to wait until they were beyond that crazy toddler stage before introducing them to a new family pet. She passed away before she could make that a reality, and her husband couldn't bring himself to get one without her after that. Collin wasn't aware of all of this; he knew that his mother had liked dogs and there were still a few photos in old family albums of the dog that they had had before Collin was born, but to him, it was as simple as that. Collin had never been a very demanding kid (though, as Chanel mentioned, it may have simply been because he was lucky enough to have access to whatever he really wanted), so he had never truly pushed his father to let him get a dog. Besides that, he had also been quite an innocent kid and had fully believed in Santa until what felt like an embarrassing age of eleven, when Cara exposed the truth to him. If Santa had a rule, Collin was quick to believe it, so he had dropped the idea of getting a dog after hearing that. He had still always wanted one, but he accepted that it probably wasn't going to be a reality because unlike his sister, he wasn't a brat growing up. Spoiled by default, sure, but not an ungrateful demon.

"Hard to be bad at taking candids when you're photographing someone who looks like me, but sure, I'll let you take credit," he joked, glancing at her phone after she had taken a photo of him with little warning. It was a nice picture, maybe nice enough to make it to the IG later, but he wouldn't gas Chanel up about it yet. He also opted against correcting her on her reference to him having three homes. This was their summer house, but they also had a ski house in Aspen, penthouses in Paris and London (though, their father mostly used those for business and they didn't visit them regularly), and their father had just sold an island in the Caribbean that they had owned for most of Collin's childhood. "What about you?" he asked as Chanel came beside him. Collin was unsure of what she was doing at first, and the rigidity of his body may have spoken to that more than he wished it to, but he soon realized that she was just taking group selfies. It made him want to roll his eyes, but he would have been lying if he claimed that he didn't enjoy good photos, so he kept his mouth shut in regard to that. "Had pets growing up, or living vicariously through this one?" he asked, laughing as he glanced at her and noticed the face she was making for the camera. ​
 
Since Cara's phone now lay on the table, she saw Chanel's text almost immediately, and was quick to respond. She felt bad that Chanel had felt inclined to run off to take care of the Holly situation, and even worse that she was stuck with Collin. Cara inaccurately interpreted the text as an SOS cry for help, unwilling to accept the idea that not everyone found her brother to be as much of a drag as she did.

To: Chanel
😷 Cutie alert x1*

Leave him and come take pictures with me 😍🥰 Eating with Nick and Jordan, come!

Though her eyes had been focused on her phone for a few seconds, she had been paying attention to what Nick was saying. She was relieved that it sounded like Chanel had managed to excuse herself from the Holly situation, as per Nick's claim that Holly was actually now with Brooklyn, but that only made Chanel being with Collin seem even more unnecessary. Cara hadn't thought anything of Roman's claim months ago about Chanel and her brother hooking up (and in fact, had forgotten about it entirely by this point), but had someone reminded her of the claim, she probably would have brought it up to Chanel, merely to accentuate how she didn't need to hang out with him out of pity because it was only hurting her image. Truthfully, Cara knew that Collin wouldn't actually hurt anyone's image. She could, at the very least, admit that he had good genes by default, because she shared them with him, and so many of her friends told her how if he was their age, they would date him in a heartbeat because nice guys were so hard to come by. That, Cara would agree with, but as his sister, it seemed quite fitting to act like he was the most useless and bland person to cross her path.

Part of her wanted to tell Nick that if he didn't want kids or the life that Brooklyn apparently wanted, that she deserved to know. She could only assume that Brooklyn didn't know, because who would remain in a long term relationship with someone when the outcome clearly wasn't going to end in compatibility? Then again, Cara couldn't comprehend why either of them would stay in the volatile and abusive relationship that they clearly had. The last thing that she wanted was to be involved in their relationship any more than she already had been, so she kept her mouth shut. Brooklyn's story not ending in a happily-ever-after wouldn't keep Cara up at night, that was for sure. It did surprise her, though, that Nick claimed that Brooklyn wanted a life like that. She seemed quite similar to Nick in being very content with what Cara could only describe as a gritty urban life. She had been raised in the city herself, but her upbringing had been pleasant and filled with opportunities. She imagined that if Nick and Brooklyn did have children, that the child would be the result of a broken condom and expired birth control pills, and would be raised in a musty studio apartment somewhere in Chinatown where it would live for a few years before CPS took it away and sold it off to some Christian family in Alabama who swore they could give it a wholesome, Christian life. She definitely didn't see Brooklyn as one who would enjoy the suburbs any more as Nick, nonetheless fit in there. She was a stripper after all. Not too many of the other soccer moms would be able to relate to that...

"Leave my Holly be," Cara responded, trailing her fingers along the edge of the table absentmindedly, before glancing past Nick to see if Jordan was on his way back with her drink (and hopefully, food too). She didn't appreciate the comments that people sometimes made about Holly, even if they were true. Some things were better left unsaid, and jokes that the innocent and sweet girl was the butt of typically fell into that category. "And I think you're wrong," she stated a few seconds later, barely considering why she even felt inclined to respond to his last comment. "Maybe he wouldn't be great with a kid with ADHD, but I think Roman would be an okay dad." She could have went on, telling Nick that she knew that Roman was capable of being playful, sincere, and good on his word, but she realized that she had already made enough of an out-of-character remark for that to be unnecessary. "I don't think you'd be that bad either," she added with a smile, solely to cover her tracks. "Both of you seem to have enough time to constantly screw around; you'd definitely have enough time on your hands to take care of a kid."​
 
"Deep breath," Ruby reminded Makayla, offering her a reassuring smile, albeit a potentially weak-seeming one. She disliked seeing Makayla so overwhelmed and irritated, mostly because now, she understood it. When she had first moved into the apartment, she could sympathize for Makayla on a surface level, but she felt a lot more sympathy for Holly. It made sense, because on the outside, Makayla appeared to be a fully competent and capable adult (and she was), and Holly appeared to be a child with a lot of obvious obstacles, blissfully ignorant to the way that the world may one day treat her. After taking care of Holly for two weeks while Makayla was gone, Ruby "got" it now. She would never be able to understand just how difficult it had been for Makayla for all of these years, and she wouldn't be able to comprehend just how difficult it must have been for her to give up her opportunity at enjoying her own youth in favor of taking care of Holly, but she understood it a lot better than she had before. She had experienced first hand just how exhausting it was being responsible for Holly, and that said something, because at the end of the day, Ruby wasn't even responsible for Holly in the way that Makayla was every day. Not only was it an immensely tiring role to play, but it was stressful too. Holly would be by her side one moment in the grocery store, she would turn her head away for half a second to pull something from the shelf, and by the time she turned her head back, Holly was gone. They would be walking down a busy street and without warning, Holly would dart in the opposite direction, seemingly unaware of the cars roaring only feet away from her, or the disgruntled commuters that she was stepping in front of. Even in the apartment, it was hard to leave her alone for more than a few minutes unless she was sitting in front of the television (which was something that Ruby had admittedly judged Makayla for doing so frequently before experiencing Holly one-on-one herself). Despite how challenging it was, taking care of Holly was immensely rewarding as well. Ruby was sure that it was easier to see when only caring for her for a few weeks, rather than a lifetime, but as challenged as Holly was in some areas, she was lightyears ahead of most people in others. She was happy. She understood life's sole purpose; to be happy, and to leave the world in a more positive state than it was when you came into it. She could make people smile and laugh only after a few seconds of speaking with her, and her mere presence carried an indescribable youthful happiness that was impossible to ignore.

She wished that life was easier for Makayla and Holly, and she tried to do what she could to help them without making Makayla feel uncomfortable. She was getting better at it; helping without coming across as condescending or superior. Understanding where Makayla was and encouraging her to open up to her because Ruby really did want to understand. Holly and Makayla's situation was very unique, but many aspects of their lives were transferable to those of the masses. Maybe not the masses of people that Ruby knew, or her wealthy clients who paid her cash since she didn't accept insurance, but the masses of the real people in the world. Makayla's concerns were valid, and Ruby also found Sam's dismissive response to be irksome, if not alarming, but this wasn't the end of the world. They would figure it out. Now, she could recognize why it alarmed Makayla though. She now knew firsthand that they couldn't put it past Holly to have decided to go swimming in the ocean without telling anyone, and having gotten swept out to see, or to have decided that the walls in the house were too white and needed Sharpie designs to brighten them up. Confirming the possibilities of the worst wouldn't do them any good though, and Ruby knew that maintaining a level head was best here. "I'm sure she's fine, and I promise I'll find her. Why don't you go make a plate of food for you and her, and I promise that by the time you've finished that, I'll have found her," Ruby insisted, her fingers grazing against the back of Makayla's hand subtly. She knew that it was a big promise to make, since she had no idea where Holly could be (and probably had less of a good guess than Makayla would have had) but she really wanted Makayla to have a chance to relax this weekend (and she also didn't want her to inadvertently ruin Holly's weekend due to her understandable stress levels).​
 
After the shutter sounded, Chanel tapped her phone to take a look at the selfie. She smiled and wriggled her nose at the puppy. "Definitely living vicariously through this one." She held her phone out for Collin to take, and in exchange took the bundle of fur into her arms. She nodded her head towards the direction of the room she was heading towards: by the window where the light was much better. She liked this time of day to take photos since it illuminated her skin so much, plus it complimented the dress she was wearing. "Do a mix of full body and close up," she told him. In between poses and twirling and being distracted from Blue squirming about in her arms, she elaborated on previously response. "I always wanted one, but my parents were a hard no. They probably knew I was going to get bored with it or whatever, but I think I almost convinced them to change their mind since I wouldn't stop talking about it for months." There were certainly far more dramatics involved, as Chanel was even more dramatic as a child than she was now as an adult with better sense about her and a more calmed personality--relatively speaking. She didn't overlook the theatrical details of that entire era of her childhood simply because it was no different than any other part of it. She was always stubborn, loud, persuasive and determined. While she was just as impassioned as she was charismatic and outgoing, in retrospect, all of the campaigning and begging she did was mostly out of her rebelling against being told no than actually wanting the thing she was asking for. It wasn't always something as big as a dog. It could have been dessert at a restaurant: she wanted her ice cream sundae and didn't want to share with the twins. "If you can share Mommy's belly, then you can share ice cream," she had allegedly said. Chanel didn't even remember that specific instance because it was a dime a million. While in Chanel's mind the story wasn't that interesting to even be considered a story, let alone worth retelling, compared to having a photoshoot, it was also far less interesting. She was quickly and easily distracted by checking Collin's work, and redoing any and every picture that she didn't like. She wanted some more serious ones, but towards the end even she became a bit sheepish about running to and from Collin to look through the pictures and approve them. Therefore, by the end she wasn't surprised that most of the reel was just laughing and more candid than it was posed.

"Ooh!" Chanel squealed, bouncing on the balls of feet in place of a full jump, only a beat after she had announced they had taken the final photo (for the umpteenth time). The way her eyes lit up at the idea in her head indicated that they had never taken the final photo, and what she was plotting wouldn't be a one-and-done either. "Take your shoes off. Come on, come on." She skipped over to the bed, running her hand along the top of the comforter to smooth it out. "Okay, get right there," she said, pointing to the foot of the bed. "Do a tall one and then one down here." Without waiting for a confirmation, or any sort of response for that matter, she situated herself on the bed's side before leaning back across the rest of the mattress. "Okay, how does my dress look? Fix it if it's wrinkled," she said, before smiling apologetically. "Please. Also, hair like this or should I let it out?"​
 
Taking a deep breath and chilling out was easier said than done, but Makayla had grown to trust Ruby’s take on things over the past few months. She was level headed and intelligent, all while being responsible and seemingly well intended. On top of that, after having left her alone with Holly for two weeks, Makayla was aware of her good heart and her ability to take care of her sister, which obviously meant the world to Makayla. Even if they had not clicked in the way they had in the weeks following Makayla’s unexpected trip, she still would have seen Ruby in a different light after that. She never would have wanted to leave Holly with anyone, not only because she hated the idea of tasking someone else with something that was her responsibility, but also because she was quite protective over her sister. Albeit in different ways, she needed Holly just as much as Holly needed her, and with the weight of years of abuse already on her conscience, the idea of her allowing anyone else to hurt her sister prompted her to feel all the more impassioned about protecting her. This had been the first time that she had ever left Holly alone for even a single night, so to come home after weeks and to find that Holly was not only okay, but in good spirits was life changing to some degree. On top of that, Ruby’s time caring for Holly had prompted her to suggest things to Makayla that Makayla didn’t even know existed on her own. The weight of Ruby’s medical degree held power that Makayla could never had exerted on her own, and it aided her in getting Holly placed in a closer high school that was easy walking distance from the apartment, in receiving a more accelerated and individualized education plan, and in receiving a social security income stipend for Holly. In a world where she felt invisible and unimportant, Ruby’s credentials were allowing her to be taken seriously for the first time ever. Makayla was beginning to realize that accepting help was okay, and that not everyone was out to demean her for needing help occasionally. She still wasn’t where she wanted to be in most parts of her life, especially now that she had been removed from the dental hygienist program she was in because she had taken too long to complete the program, but things were okay. Not perfect, but for once, it didn’t feel like she was living in hell either.

"Just promise me that you'll curse her out the same way I would if she's doing anything stupid," Makayla said after a long pause, offering a hesitant smile. As the two departed, Makayla's eyes remained open wide in case she spotted her sister, and her body remained tense, but she reassured herself that it was okay. Ruby would find Holly, and hopefully, she wouldn't find her hanging on a million dollar chandelier or at the bottom of the swimming pool. Even though she was hungry, she didn't even feel like she could eat now that she was stressed out. While it was a natural state of being for Makayla, it probably did contribute to her frequently low appetite. It wasn't something that Makayla typically would complain about given her minimal grocery budget to begin with, but now that the food was free, already cooked, and probably of better quality than anything she had eaten before, she did actually want to eat it. As she neared the food stations, she spotted Jordan. Unfortunately for him, black men in a corporate environment were few and far between, and Cara's father's company wasn't radically progressive enough to allow Jordan to blend into the crowd anymore than the normal company would. "Let me catch your brother being stupid around my sister one more time, and I swear to God, neither of you will make it back to that city," she said, stepping beside him. She didn't even look at him as she spoke, instead nodding to the person at the booth that she wanted a lobster that he was preparing.​
 
"Oh my god, I feel for your brothers because you're even worse than Cara with this," Collin groaned as he followed her placement directions, though the amused look on his face suggested he didn't truly mind as much as his words hinted at. Collin liked a good photo just as much as the next person, but he definitely wasn't photo obsessed in the sense that he needed the perfect photo out of 1,000 and could pick out minute differences between ones that seemingly were exactly the same outside of a centimeter's difference in a shadow or pose. The mood of too many family vacations to count had been ruined by Cara asking him if he needed a seeing eye dog because he was apparently blind enough to not know how to take even a remotely decent photo of her. While there probably was a biological aspect to personality, Collin's had also likely been heavily shaped by how domineering his sister had been growing up. Chanel wasn't even close to as bossy as he thought of Cara as being, but Collin wondered if Chanel had treated her brothers similarly growing up. He was sure that he would be able to relate to them in many aspects of growing up sister wise, if so.

Her dress wasn't wrinkled and her hair looked good, but he had learned from his own experience with Cara that it was worth pretending to fix things even if he wasn't actually doing so, she he ran his hand against the fabric of the dress anyway. "Are you close with them?" he asked, referring to her parents. Because Chanel reminded him of his sister in a lot of ways (and if for no other reason than because she was Cara's friend before his), he often forgot that their childhoods had been quite different. It wasn't something that he thoroughly considered in a socioeconomic point of view, but more so, just in general. He and Cara's upbringing had been unique outside of the money. They didn't have a mother, and had lost their mother in a very political and publicized manner. Even just in the physical sense, growing up in New York City was different than growing up in the suburbs. He always enjoyed hearing about his college friends' upbringings because they seemed so different in the smallest of aspects. Things that were probably standard in many people's lives like a mother making dinner and a family sitting around the table every night to eat it, playing on a slip 'n slide in the summer, or driving a car to school were things that Collin had struggled to determine whether they were truly normal to some people, or if they were just things from movies that didn't really happen. He imagined Chanel lived a very classic American life, but in a way where she would have fit in with Regina George and those kind of girls from a public school. "You look good," he added after taking a few photos.

"My brothers?"

"Your parents."

"Oh," she said, leaning up so that she was sitting. Chanel reached her hand out for her phone as she stood up. Browsing through the pictures that Collin took, she said, "Yeah, I mean I think so, but no more than anyone else I would imagine. Like, I'm not calling and texting them everyday or anything, but we're cool. The whole family is pretty tight, so it's no biggie really." Chanel cast a wide, pleased smile and looked towards Collin. "These are good, dude. Look at you." She playfully punched him in the arm and headed towards the bedroom door. "Things are a little different since I've moved," she added, though intentionally neglecting to add that it wasn't the move to New York that caused a drift, but rather the catalyst for her move that did. "So not as close as when I was a little girl, but better than when I was a teenager. But I think that's the general trend for everybody: kids love their parents until they're teenagers and then they hate them until they're adults and cool down. I guess you're close to your dad if you work with him like you do, right? Or maybe my perception is skewed since I'm comparing it to her your sister's relationship with him. I guess, comparatively, anything would seem like it could classify as pretty close."

Collin nodded as Chanel spoke, acknowledging her words without having much to offer in return. What she said was valid and he assumed that that was how most children were with their parents. His experience with his father didn't necessarily match that though, mostly because he had never really been at odds with his father. They never had much in common and his father didn't play a fatherly role during Collin's childhood, so there wasn't much of an opportunity for him to go through that "I hate my parents" teenage phase. His sister had certainly went through it, to an extent for normal reasons, but at the same time, for a reason that would likely extend into adulthood (or until their father's marriage ended). Collin considered his relationship with his father to be a good one, but he still couldn't say that they were exceptionally close or anything. He didn't necessarily mind it though, because he didn't know anything different than what he had. Work was the one link that Collin hoped (to an extent, on a subconscious level) would bring him closer to his father, and offer them more common ground to relate over. He rarely ever even saw his father during a work day though, but it still gave them something to discuss when they did cross paths and Collin hoped that it would lead to his father feeling proud of him. All of that wasn't necessary to verbalize though, so Collin hoped the nod would suffice.

However, he had to smirk at the reference to his relationship in comparison to Cara's because that was nothing short of accurate. It would probably be hard for Chanel to imagine that at one point, Cara was viewed in a more preferential way in their father's eye because now she was definitely just a headache. "Yeah, I definitely get along better with him compared to her," he offered as he followed her back into the hallway and downstairs. "But she used to be the golden child. She had a lot of friends and was good at everything and stuff when we were growing up." Collin could laugh about it now, only because things had changed. Had he still felt like he was living in his sister's shadow, his feelings on it probably would have been different. "Your brothers are in school, right? Where do they go, and should I try to convince them to move to New York tomorrow so you can replace Cara and I as the dysfunctional family on the floor?"

Chanel threw her head back and laughed. The idea of her brothers being added into the mix of the fifth floor drama would truly be the cherry on top. She was already a bit hesitant and nervous about them coming tomorrow, especially with her floormates being in attendance, but the only reason she had agreed was because it was going to be away from where she actually lived. It wasn't a secret of any sorts, as they had dropped by a few times whenever her family paid a visit, but they have never truly gotten situated in her place. If she was going to be celebrating back in the city, then she would have been hard pressed to say anything but absolutely not. She was typically quite protective of what was hers, but in this sense, it wasn't a guardianship over her personal space and new life, but rather over her siblings. Of course, it would be easier to keep track of them back home than here, but out here it felt more removed from her city life, which was what she wanted. The last thing she needed was for her two worlds to collide. "That would be rich. I couldn't even imagine Daniel being in New York. But yeah, he goes to Penn and the other one is at Duke. They'll be juniors this year, I think, and so are pretty much on track to graduate before me if I don't get my shit together. But hey," she said with a shrug as she skipped to the bottom of the stairs and looked around, briefly confused on where they were supposed to be going. "Being the family fuck up makes for far more interesting tales for the future grandchildren."

"That's fair," Collin agreed. Cara certainly was going to have more interesting stories to tell her future grandchildren than Collin would, though he wasn't sure that doing cocaine in a bathroom with Lindsay Lohan before she was even old enough to operate a car was something that she would be eagerly sharing with her grand kids anyway. Chanel's stories were probably more tame, or at least for her grandkids' sake, he hoped so. "I don't know when Cara's graduating, but I doubt you're alone in that boat," he added. Cara hadn't taken a traditional and consistent route in the education realm either, and though he was pretty sure that she was going to school full time now, he had no idea when she was going to graduate, and if she would even make it that far. He didn't think that his sister was stupid and he was sure that she could handle the actual work, as both of the high school's that they had attended had been pretty rigorous in their own rights, but she wasn't a school person. She didn't have big career aspirations (as far as he was aware) and she knew that school was just a waste of her time. "We have trusts from some fund related to 9/11 that we can only access once we graduate college, so I'm one hundred percent sure that's the only reason why she's even going." Especially after the conversation he had had with Chanel months ago about her brother, he was intrigued now to meet the pair even more so than before. "Maybe she'll fall in love with one of your brothers though and move to Pennsylvania to take your place in the nice little life on the farm," he added playfully.

She curled her shoulders forwarded as she pretended to retch. She definitely didn't think Cara would be even mildly interested in her brothers, very much in the same way she didn't think that the sky would turn purple. Her brothers were much too young, for one, and they didn't even begin to fall in line with what Cara would be interested in. Though, to be fair, even Chanel wasn't entirely sure what Cara would be interested in. Her certainty in Cara's disinterest was really the only way she was comforted from knowing how her youngest brother would behave. She had already told him a million times not to be annoying or creepy, especially to Cara, but if brothers were good for anything it would be to do the exact opposite of what you told them to. There was about a fifty percent chance that Devon would be bold and flirt all night, or he would freeze in front of Cara and avoid her all night. Chanel was definitely hoping for the latter. "That reminds me that I need to watch one of those idiots. He literally has such a crush on Cara, it's so annoying," she said with an irritated grumble as they made their way to the guest house. "Speaking of watching people, now that I think about it, I really hope Holly and Sam made it back without getting distracted. I don't think I thought that all the way through. I guess if they aren't inside, maybe there're back on the lawn with Brooklyn or something. Didn't you say she texted us?" Chanel wriggled her arms around the puppy as she attempted to fiddle with her phone.

Collin laughed at Chanel's response. "I doubt you'll have to worry. All it'll take is her opening her mouth up once for him to lose interest," he reassured her. For Chanel's brother's sake, he hoped that was true, at least. His sister was such a pain in the ass that it didn't surprise him that she wasn't in a relationship. He didn't recall how the last one ended, but he doubted it was the guy's fault as much as Cara probably claimed it to be. "And yeah," he responded, pulling out his phone to re-read Brooklyn's text message. "She said 'fuck both of you', which means that Holly definitely found." Though the text was rather amusing now, Collin wasn't necessarily excited to run into Brooklyn if she was pissed off at them. Then again, it wasn't their fault that Holly seemed to be overly fond of Brooklyn. Even if they hadn't directed her to the blonde, she probably would have sought her out sooner than later anyway.​
 
Jordan happily obliged to Cara's request. He would eagerly accept an excuse to get more food for himself, and quickly sought out the booth serving lobsters. He ordered two of them and watched as the chef behind the booth prepared them, topped with a hot butter sauce. Just as he accepted the plates, Makayla stepped beside him and in an unsurprising fashion, began to complain about his brother and threaten the two of them. He didn't know what she believed Sam had done this time, but by now, he was certain that his brother had done nothing wrong at all. Makayla was just unhappy with her life and crazy. She wanted to threaten him and his brother over anything that her sister did wrong and frankly, he was getting tired of it. If she hated his brother so much, she needed to start keeping her sister in check. As long as Sam wasn't doing anything wrong, Jordan wasn't about to micromanage who he could and could not talk to, especially at a party like this that they had been invited to. "Yeah, okay," Jordan answered her, laughing out loud to purposely dismiss any macho-ness that she thought she was exuded. Maybe the others took Makayla's intimidating side seriously, but Jordan wasn't bothered by it. "Threaten my kid brother again, and the same will go for you." It wasn't in Jordan's nature to be threatening, and he never would actually do anything to Makayla or another female, but he also wanted to speak to the fact that it wasn't okay for her, as a grown adult, to be talking about his minor brother like that.

Jordan couldn't even fathom speaking to her about Holly in any sort of unpleasant manner, so he didn't understand why she thought it was okay to speak to them that way. He barely even knew her or her sister, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to tell that her sister was weird. He didn't know why Sam had made friends with her and he wished that he hadn't because of the headache it was causing him, but if anything, Makayla deserved to be over here thanking him and his brother for treating her sister kindly. At least going off of his own high school experience, he was sure that other kids weren't kind to her. It made him wonder if Makayla really was that crazy. Maybe she had that mental illness where mothers convinced people that their kid was sick just for attention. She obviously didn't need to do any convincing to make anyone believe that there was something off about Holly, but maybe she just purposely didn't want Holly to have any friends to contribute to her woe-is-me mindset.
 
Brooklyn was close to telling Holly that she would rather sleep in a pit filled with venomous snakes than to share a bed with her tonight, but she refrained and instead answered with a simple, "No." Even if Nick hadn't been here, she wouldn't have allowed Holly to sleep in her room. Maybe if Makayla hadn't been with them on the trip for some reason, and Holly was scared or something, Brooklyn's heart would grow a few sizes to allow her the space next to her in bed, but definitely not now on what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation. "Supposed to be" was apparently the key phrase here, because right now things weren't relaxing at all, and Brooklyn wasn't about to have the rest of the weekend follow suit. She was tempted to leave Holly here, and just return to Nick and her table outside, but she didn't know if she wanted Holly burning the place down on her conscience. "Sit," she demanded, wriggling her hands free from Holly's grip as she weighed her options. Collin and Chanel hadn't answered her text which was not shocking since they were both complete and utter wastes of life. She didn't think Nick would be of any help even if she convinced him to come over and help him, and even though she wanted to text Makayla and go in on how annoying her sister was and how she wasn't about to be a babysitter unless Makayla wanted to pay her one hundred dollars an hour, she refrained from doing that. Even if Brooklyn was often harsh towards Makayla, she did consider her to be something close to a friend. Just as there was the unspoken rule that Holly deserved slack and could get away with doing and saying things that others couldn't, Makayla also felt like there was an unspoken rule that Makayla deserved a bit of extra kindness, just because it was clear that her life was rough. Even without knowing much about her backstory, having to take care of Holly 24/7 was a difficult task, and then adding in the comments that Holly would make (without being prompted to) about their backstory, it was obvious that life wasn't easy for Makayla. While Brooklyn felt like she herself deserved to relax and enjoy the evening, she also felt semi-bad by destroying Makayla's with her negativity or with the responsibility of dealing with Holly. It had to be nice for Makayla to take a break and enjoy life for even a few minutes.

"I want to talk to you about your friend before he comes back," she said, sitting down on the couch and reaching out to grab one of Holly's hands to pull her down beside her. She didn't really want to talk to her, but there was time to kill, and she was semi-curious about it all. "Do you have a crush on him?" she asked, a smile naturally appearing on her face at the prospect of the conversation inducing discomfort (though she wasn't sure if Holly was socially competent enough to even recognize that she might deserve to feel that).​
 
Holly sat down, but she didn't have time to fully process Brooklyn's question, so there was no telling what her answer would have been. She did have a crush on Sam, but not in a sense that she was fully aware of it. She liked hanging out with him and she liked kissing him when they were drunk, and she definitely knew that she didn't want anyone else to do that to him,but she didn't think that she wanted a boyfriend or anything like that. Her mindset related to that was still youthful enough that having a boyfriend sounded gross and serious, like it would only take weeks to lead to a wedding and then in a few years she would turn into a grandma with white hair and a cane. To the extent of Holly's knowledge, Makayla had never had a boyfriend so she didn't have any ideas outside of television and movie to model it off of. She was young and innocent, and in terms of this, it was probably one of the few areas where that was okay for her to be like that in.

When she heard Chanel and Collin walk in, she was still trying to figure out why Brooklyn would reject her request for a sleepover, but she couldn't even conclude that internal conversation because... "My dog!" Her laughter came almost immediately as she popped up from where she was sitting and hurried over to the duo and the dog. It was definitely going to be painful when the dog left to go back to its real family because Holly had now managed to convince herself that it really was her dog and that she would somehow be able to bring it back home after the weekend was over. She was already rationalizing that Cara's dad lived in the city, and so did Ruby's mom! They could let the dog sleep at their houses and Holly would keep it at hers during the day. Or they could move! Cara's house here was so big and if she didn't use it all year, Holly would definitely be allowed to move in. The dog clearly thought that Holly was its mom, she thought, and it would just be evil to leave him alone ever again! "I knew that Chanel wouldn't let Collin kill you!" she exclaimed to the dog as she wrapped her hands around it, despite it still being nestled within Chanel's arms. "You get to be his godmother since you protected him from the evil spirits that are lurking around here," she said, her eyes switching from Chanel to Collin by the time the sentence ended, and her expression darkening momentarily. Instantly switching back to happy mode, she gently tugged at the dog to signal that she wanted Chanel to let go, while asking, "What's a godmother anyway?" because although she had heard the term somewhere, she wasn't sure what it meant exactly, and she needed to make sure that it didn't mean that Chanel got to be a part time mom. "And Brooklyn wants to know if you and Collin have a crush on each other!" she said, feeling like she was being helpful because by now, her thoughts were racing and jumbling together enough that she thought that that was why Brooklyn's comment was still partially on her mind.​
 
The only thing that Makayla had to think twice on was not being more aggressive in her response to Jordan. The decision that she was going to respond to him with anger came instinctively, and it wasn't because she was a naturally angry person. In fact, she detested the idea of people thinking of her as someone who was constantly tense or ready for a fight. She didn't think that was how she came off, and she actively sought to be perceived in a way that didn't suggest that because Makayla truly craved peace. Not world peace or anything that extreme, but inner peace (which, admittedly, felt even more unrealistic than world peace at times). She appreciated her own ability to remain quiet even when arguing and debating was warranted. She believed that most conversations that induced emotional reactions didn't need to be had, and that distancing herself from negative emotions and returning to the topic of emotion later on was healthy. She had begun meditating a few months ago and in addition to Ruby making her life a lot easier in relation to steps taken with Holly, she had felt a little better overall compared to how she normally felt. Her need to protect Holly and her own dignity would never diminish though, and because she already disliked and distrusted Jordan, him gas lighting her only assured her that he didn't deserve a decent approach or any more warnings that he was testing her boundaries. He deserved a glass to the head and the remaining shard of glass stabbed through his coronary artery, but instead, he was spared and only received the side dish of melted butter that rested on one of the plates in his hand being tossed onto his chest. Even though she wasn't going to take it so far as to actually harm him physically, she did want to tear him apart with her words. Tossing the hot butter on him had been subtle enough that it had only warranted surprised looks from the chef behind the counter they stood beside, and maybe one or two people around them who couldn't tell whether Makayla had done it accidentally or on purpose, and even though she was angry now, she decided against causing a scene. She wasn't going to give Jordan the satisfaction of turning her into the angry woman who was unnecessarily dramatic and aggressive, even when it was fully warranted.

"I'm telling you, keep fucking playing with me and see what happens," she snapped. She didn't care if what she was saying to Jordan could be viewed as being just as bad as what he was saying to her in terms of their siblings, because Holly and Sam were different. There wasn't a single bone in Holly's body that was predatory, and even if Jordan wanted to make the same claim for Sam, it just wouldn't stand in Makayla's mind. To an extent, it had nothing to do with him specifically, but he was a white boy who, according to Holly, attended a private school. To Makayla, that instantly read that he had money. White. Male. Money. It just spelled privilege, and that meant that if he did do anything to Holly, that he would get away with it. Makayla was happy to do whatever it took to ensure that he didn't even have a chance at that opportunity. Sure, she wanted Holly to have a friend, and she didn't mind Sam in doses, but instances like these only suggested that he couldn't be trusted and that allowing those small doses was a bad idea to begin with.​
 
Even if Jordan thought that Makayla was crazy, he didn't think that she was crazy enough to throw food on him, nonetheless in the middle of a party like this. It confirmed that not only was she crazy, but that she was also classless, rude, and selfish. Here she was, invited to a beautiful house and a formal party that was an important event to the Forresters, their hosts, and she was acting like an uncivilized thirteen-year-old, and for what? Instead of being an adult and verbalizing whatever she believed Sam had done, she opted to threaten them both and then toss hot oil on him, like a bratty child. Jordan's expression reflected the shock that he felt, but quickly transformed into one that spoke to his disgust and desire to disassociate with Makayla. He didn't want to be judged by association with her, especially in light of wanting to make professional connections here. Apparently she was comfortable with people knowing that she didn't belong at a party like this, but he wasn't. Had this happened at another party, like Chanel's Valentine's Day party for example, he still would have felt uncomfortable being involved in it because it still would have felt embarrassing to argue publicly, nonetheless in a physical manner. However, because this was a semi-professional setting, and one that he already had some imposter syndrome over, it felt even more mortifying. "Wow...." he said quietly, pinching his shirt between his fingers to pull the now wet material away from his skin. He looked down at the ruined shirt, noticing that the oil had splattered against his pants as well. There was an outfit that would now end up in the trash. "You really have no concept of class, do you?" he said, placing one of the lobsters down and using the free hand to grab napkins from the counter. He knew that any attempts to clean his clothes would be futile and probably make things worse, but it felt instinctive to at least attempt to soak up some of the liquid. "I don't know who raised you to think that acting like this at a company party, in someone's home that you were invited to, is cool, but for your sister's sake, I can only hope that you aren't acting like this in front of her, and to ensure that my brother doesn't pick up on your trashiness, you can bet he won't be hanging around your sister anymore."

Standing around here would only make things worse, he knew, and now that he had declared that Makayla had no concept of how to act like a civilized human, discussing anything with her seemed absolutely useless. He left the lobster that he had placed since he knew that he would need to go change before eating anything more himself, and turned to head back to where Nick and Cara were sitting.
 
Chanel nodded silently in agreement. Holly had definitely found her then, which was good news at least for her, and maybe Collin too if he wasn't still in his feelings about Holly's incessantly unfiltered mouth. Even if Brooklyn hadn't texted them, after stepping inside the guest house, she wouldn't have had the chance to go in search of Holly because just as quickly as the escaped the light warmth of the evening, they were greeted by a bumping bundle of red hair and giggles. She smiled as she watched Holly hug the dog, though her brow did drop in confusion as she looked at Collin after Holly's weird comment about him killing the dog. It was almost entirely impossible to track Holly's thought process, and even that didn't seem to warrant enough of a pause in the conversation. After the girl took an even stranger, ominous approach, her smile dropped. She stood quietly as Holly continued to chat, but she made sure to keep hold of the dog. "Holly," she said seriously, pivoting so that her arms were pulled away from the girl and that the dog was out of distance. "Stop being mean to Collin. How would you like it if people walked around saying that you'd kill the puppy? Plus, you need to remember that this is someone else's dog. You can play with him, but when you're that excited, it psyches him out. Just calm down a bit; he'll still play with you. Now tell Collin you're sorry for calling him a puppy killer and you can come over and play with Blue."

She passed Holly, walked around to where the couch was, offering Brooklyn a sweet smile. "Hey, girl. Holly tell you about the rainbow dog?" Chanel sat down a few cushions away from Brooklyn, resting the dog in her lap as she let him nibble her thumb. She looked over her shoulder, moving a piece of hair behind her ear. "Do you either of you know where you found him? Or is there a room she can play with him in so that he doesn't get out again? Oh also, why were you asking if Collin and I had a crush on each other?" Chanel asked Brooklyn curiously. She looked between both the blondes, the pause in her words indicating, likely oddly, that she was being serious. A beat later when she continued, though, it was retroactively apparent that she was being sarcastic. "Unlike you, it's not like I've ever slept over his house and kissed all night," she said, raising Blue up and down in the area as she pursed her lips at him. "I feel like that qualifies as having a crushing on people."

Brooklyn didn't get the answer to her question, but she was perfectly content with that because instead of answering, Holly was distracted by Chanel and Collin coming in. Fucking finally, she thought. Now her babysitting job was over, and she could return to her night. They could take over with whatever the hell they had started with this dog, that Brooklyn was somewhat surprised actually existed. As Chanel came over and sat down on the couch, Brooklyn nearly laughed at the girl's audacity. First, she was going to stick Holly on her, and now she was going to come in and talk about who she slept with? Brooklyn was impulsive enough with her words to want to respond with resentment, but instead she smiled and looked over the back of the couch. "Holly, Chanel said that you can absolutely sleep over in her bed tonight, and if she tells you otherwise it's only because Collin's evil spirit has possessed her into changing her mind," she exclaimed with feigned excitement that was probably just genuine enough sounding to only pass as sarcasm to Collin and Chanel. She stood up then, offering Chanel a very clearly fake smile as she added, "And don't be worried. I probably won't sleep with him again once the two of you start dating." She didn't believe that Chanel and Collin liked each other, but she didn't feel the need to clarify that Holly was just making things up. If Chanel wanted to be a dumb bitch, Brooklyn could be one too.

Chanel laughed, not in a way that was meant to be spiteful, though she knew it would have to seem as such. In all fairness, there wasn't any rhyme or reason to why Chanel had made that comment, but it actually wasn't meant to be a jab--well, not much. She was just being cheeky, but it still amused her to see Brooklyn being, well, Brooklyn. Chanel didn't think it was necessary to bother trying to tell Brooklyn that it was just a joke, but she did suffice to pretend to look scornfully at Holly, and just to show Brooklyn that she wasn't really inconvenience her by offering up her room, she said "Holly! I thought we were already having a sleepover. Are you trying to get rid of me in favor of Brooklyn?"

Collin was barely surprised by Holly's words coming off of how she had treated him earlier. It was surprising only because just a few weeks ago, she had been borderline obsessed with him too. Not an obsession that came close to how she treated the girls, but she seemed to like him (and touching his face), and he had enjoyed her presence just because she was always bouncing with energy and positivity. He didn't understand how she could love dogs so much so that him not giving it back to her to chase throughout the party could immediately warrant a switch in her opinion of him, but then again, Holly was predictably unpredictable. He looked to Chanel, his expression screaming, "see?!?!" as if this was validation to how he wasn't being overly sensitive earlier. Thankfully, Chanel validated his feelings somewhat as she scolded Holly for her words and refused to hand over the dog, instead moving to the couch where she sat a few cushions away from Brooklyn.

Collin followed suit, now semi convinced that Holly was evil enough to kick him or something while no one else was looking. Her comment about him having a crush on Chanel only fueled his newfound responding irritation towards Holly because he was embarrassed at the idea that he had been too transparent with his feelings around Chanel. Maybe he really was that awkward that everyone, including Holly, could see that he had feelings for her. He remained quiet, though his face undoubtedly turned a few shades redder as Chanel brought up him hooking up with Brooklyn, followed by Brooklyn essentially claiming that she would get Collin to sleep with her again if she felt like it, and Chanel laughing at the prospect of them dating. Now, being back outside with his dad felt like a privilege compared to this. He sat down on a chair situated next to the couch, as the last places he wanted to be was between Chanel and where Brooklyn now stood, or with his back to Holly (who he was now convinced belonged in the next remake of The Shining). He remained silent until Brooklyn flipped them off on her way out, only then adding, "I don't know where it came from but at this point locking the-- it in the basement and calling it a day sounds like a good plan to me," he said, just stopping himself from including Holly in that basement plan at the last second.

Holly wasn't always happy, but anger was an emotion that she was rarely acquainted with. She grew frustrated and upset ocassionally (mostly due to being tired or overstimulated, reasons that were usually understandable), but she didn't get angry very often. Even when she didn't get her way with things like being able to buy something in a store or watch something on television, she normally became sad before angry. She understood that Makayla was in charge and that her word was final, and as she had suggested earlier, she also recognized that others, like Chanel and Ruby who she lived with, or Cara and Brooklyn who she was cared for by sometimes, also were people that needed to be listened to. Because Holly was typically so sweet and happy with just being given attention, she rarely had reason to get angry to begin with. It was easy for her to be distracted and amused and even in terms of material items, it didn't take much to please her. If Makayla let her carry the plastic bag upon leaving the store, she was normally over being upset over not getting what she wanted almost immediately. It normally was that easy, but this was a dog so it was in a category of its own, Holly was already upset over the dog not being back here originally like it was supposed to be when it had been kidnapped, she was feeling overwhelmed, and Sam had just made her feel insecure about her decision to leave the dog in the first place. Chanel pulling the dog away from her and walking over to the couch had her glaring at Collin, and then the back of Chanel's head.

It was hard to be mad at Chanel, but it wasn't hard to be mad at Collin because he was now the enemy, even if the title wasn't even remotely deserved. Not even Brooklyn's comment about Chanel wanting to have a sleepover with her made her feel any better, and her confirmation that Collin was the bad guy only confirmed to her that she was right and he really was the mean one. It also reminded her that Chanel had called her mean, which was something she had glossed over in the moment. Like a child, being called "mean" felt worse than it should have and Holly normally would have verbally argued that she absolutely was not mean, as if it was the worst insult in the world. "Sam said that I don't have to listen to you or you or Makayla and that I can have the dog if I want it because I'm not stupid like everyone thinks," she said once she had walked back over to the couch. She wasn't exactly confident in her words, and her face suggested that she was closer to tears than she was to yelling, but she wanted the dog and she wanted Chanel to not say that the dog wasn't hers, and she wanted Collin to go to jail.

No one in their right mind would intentionally to hurt Holly's feelings. The girl was predictable in her own right, by way of the fact that she was unprecedented in almost everything she did and said. Still, there were moments like now when she wasn't entirely sure how to read Holly. When the girl came and sat down, she was firstly surprised by what she had said (though less so when Sam's name was brought up), and even more so when she caught the look on Holly's face. She didn't immediately figure that Holly's feelings were hurt, but she figured enough that there were a lot of moving parts for her today. And maybe the dog played a role in it too. Had she not been able to tell that Holly was a little irritated, and not in a mean way but in a infantile type of way, she would have been more stern. She didn't want to make the girl cry though. Instead, she opened her phone with a friend hand as she went to text the girl's sister, calmly but sternly asking, "Does Sam have to go back with me and your sister, or do you?"

To: Makayla
why is that boy walking around telling holly that she doesn't have to listen to you or me???

"I'm going to live with Cara." Holly knew what the answer to Chanel's question was, and the answer wasn't the one that she wanted to acknowledge. Moving in with Cara seemed like the best idea. She was the only nice one right now (only because she wasn't associated with this at all), and once Collin went to jail, she could have his room. Or she could sleep with Brooklyn. That would be okay too.

"You can't move in with Cara because I'm moving in with her. And I get to move in with her because I don't misbehave, be mean to Collin, or be stingy with people's dogs." Chanel knew she was basically teasing by this point, and that probably wasn't fair. So, she turned to Holly then. "Now, you already know you only said that because you know you're coming home with us. Do you know what my mom would do with us when she took us to Chuck E. Cheese's and we talked back and said we didn't have to listen because we were moving out? She said 'Okay' and told us we had to walk to our new place, and she left us."

Again, not the best tactic, and in her defense it was tongue in cheek rather than intentional. The point she wanted to make to Holly was that none of that was going to fly, including her trying to be cheeky. "I'm going to let that slide just this once because I don't want you to have to go home, and I really want us to be able to have our sleepover and race to the beach and play in the water all day tomorrow, but if you keep it up, the dog is going up like I said he would if you don't listen, and you're going to have to hang out with Makayla for the rest of the night, got it?" She raised her brow at Holly to punctuate the seriousness of her statement in places where her tone fell short.

"Now, you want to know how I know you know better? Because I know you're not stupid. Everyone knows that, and Makayla and I tell you that all the time because it's true. Only bad friends would have you question that, and have you question your friends, so why would Sam want you to believe that we think you're stupid, huh? Is that mean of us or is it mean of him?"

Holly had been unhappily following along with Chanel’s words up until the Chuck E Cheese part. She had never been there, but she knew what it was because there was one in the city. The only birthday party that she had ever been invited to as a kid was set there, and she could still remember begging her mom to let her go. She had been so excited over even just getting the invitation, and even more so as the days passed and other kids told her what it was like there. She had only been in kindergarten or first grade at the time, so she was still situated with her peers and her quirkiness didn’t stick out as much as it did as everyone else around her began to age. Her little friends told her that it was an arcade with games, and that you could win prizes. Apparently there was a big mouse that lived there and there was lots of pizza and candy and cake. It sounded too good to be true, and for Holly, it was because she didn’t end up going as no one would take her when the day came around. Outside of recognizing Chuck E Cheese, Holly also incorrectly answered Chanel’s question by immediately assuming that she was going to say that her mom would slap her when she acted like that, because it seemed like the normal response. Although Makayla wasn’t abusive towards her, Holly’s childhood had nearly been modeled around the idea of being bad (or not even being bad, but just being in the wrong place at the wrong time) equating to being hit, or kicked, or punched, or having an empty beer bottle chucked at you from across the room. Her mom telling her that she would have to walk to her new home didn’t seem bad, and left Holly confused and unable to follow most of what Chanel said after that. Her eyes drifted down to the dog who now represented more than just a sweet ball of fur. Holly wanted to grab him and run but she didn’t want to scare him like Chanel claimed that she had been doing. She didn’t think that she was being mean but she did think that that would be mean to do.

“Mean of Collin,” Holly answered, though she had no idea what she was referring to. She hadn’t processed a word of the statement she was responding to outside of something being mean of Sam or mean of them. Chanel wasn’t mean so Holly wasn’t going to say that she was, and Sam wasn’t mean so he didn’t get that label either, but if someone in the room had to be labeled as being mean, it was an easy pick. “I’m going to ask Cara for another dog so I don't have to share,” she said uncertainly, looking to Blue once more as she stood up, as if debating whether there could even be another dog out there as cute as him.

"Holly, sit down."

"I want you to call her on your phone and tell her to come," Holly answered. She lingered in front of Chanel but didn't sit back down, though it wasn't an attempt at being disobedient but more so that she wasn't really processing what was being said to her. She was too preoccupied on her own thoughts, and could barely get one of them to stop for long enough to actually process it, to listen to Chanel. Had the roles been reversed and Cara had been the one sitting in front of her telling her this, she easily would have requested that Cara phone Chanel and ask her to come, simply because she needed someone to be the good guy now that she was feeling unfairly victimized.

Chanel was quiet momentarily before she raised her eyebrow. She was cool when she turned her head to look at Collin, her chilly gaze probably seeming misplaced, as though she was about to blame him for something. "Collin," she said, raising her arms towards him. "Put the dog up for me since Holly thinks we're negotiating. Thank you. Now you." She looked towards Holly and blinked, sitting quietly for a long couple of seconds before she tilted her head to one side. "Do you want to sit down or do you want me to call bedtime next?"

Collin was more than happy to take the dog out of the room when Chanel made the request. He felt awkward sitting there when Holly was apparently upset with him for what was still an unknown reason, but he felt even more awkward as he watched her grew upset and didn’t know what to do himself. It seemed inappropriate for him to chime in, especially since Chanel’s responses seemed to come naturally, offering the perfect balance of kindness and opportunity for Holly to fix herself, with sternness. Anything he would say would either come out wrong or be interpreted wrong, or just make the situation worse given his newly appointed enemy status. “Got it,” Collin said as he accepted the puppy into his arms and headed out of the room. With all of the craziness that the little guy had been through in the past half hour or so, Collin wouldn’t have been surprised if the puppy wanted a break from all of the attention just as much as he did.

The puppy leaving the room was enough to push Holly over the edge in its own right. Add in it leaving in Collin’s arms, and Chanel bringing up bedtime, and it seemed like tears were inevitable. Surprisingly though, Holly’s cheeks remained dry and Collin going away left her feeling slightly calmer and more in control of the situation, or at least herself. She sat down beside Chanel, and looked to her pleadingly. “Please call her,” she requested much more gently now. ​
 
Ruby obviously wasn’t going to do as directed in regard to that, but she offered Makayla a smile anyway. It was one that spoke to her recognizing how silly the request was, yet still understanding why it was made. Ruby and Makayla were different in a lot of ways; maybe every way, really. Even now having a vaguely better understanding of the difficulties that came with caring for Holly, she still differed from Makayla in her preferred approach in caring for the teenager. Not only would it be inappropriate for ruby to talk to holly in the way that Makayla did (even if she had Makayla’s permission to do so), but she also just wasn’t comfortable with approaching Holly in that manner. She felt like it only added fuel to the fire and because Holly (typically) acted inappropriately without truly realizing that she was being inappropriate, ruby didn’t think that it did any good to speak to her in a reprimanding manner. She tried to speak to holly more calmly in an attempt to explain to her what she was doing wrong rather than just lashing out at her for doing it. She recognized that Makayla had lived with holly for long enough to know what worked and what didn’t, but Ruby still preferred to do it her way. Maybe it was the clinician in her, or maybe it was just her gentler personality but either way, it was how she tended to approach things in general, but especially with Holly.

She continued walking in the path that Sam had come from, and though she eventually reached a crossroads, unsure if she should go towards the main house that they were staying in, or the guest house. Merely because of the greater number of people lingering around the guest house, she opted to head in that direction first. For all she knew, Holly wasn’t in either house, but she needed to start somewhere. Luckily, she made the right choice and spotted a head of red, conveniently seated beside Chanel, as she walked in. “Just the two pretty ladies that I was looking for!” she exclaimed, unaware of the tension that was looming in the room. As she rounded the couch to face the girls, it became mildly more apparent, if only because of the expression on Holly’s face. Anything other than a wide grin seemed misplaced on Holly, so it was an easy indicator that something was off. She paused for a few moments, scanning the faces of the two girls in front of her as if it would give her some sort of answer for what she was walking into. “What have I missed?!” she asked, forcing her tone to remain chipper. It seemed like a better idea to allow the situation to unravel naturally rather than poking and prodding in an attempt to get answers. While this didn’t seem like the ideal situation to be in, at least she could say that she made good on her promise to Makayla to find Holly, and at least it seemed like the younger girl hadn’t caused any trouble while gone. "And has everyone eaten, or do we get to have a roommate dinner?" she asked too, curious about that in terms of both of them. Chanel was an adult, but as her roommate, Ruby felt inclined to be more protective and watchful over her than she would over someone else. She knew that Chanel was competent, but she also wanted to make sure that she was eating if she was drinking.​
 
When Jordan returned to their table, Cara could only giggle at the wet stain on his shirt. She could only assume that he had managed to spill her drink on himself, especially since he didn't come back with that in hand. "Already spilling drinks?" she asked, touching her phone's screen to check the time to confirm that it was too early to be that drunk. She was also doing it to confirm that Roman hadn't texted her back yet, but that wasn't something that needed to be known. "Don't make us cut you off this early," she teased, reaching for some of the napkins that sat by Nick and offering them to Jordan. Since he had to have brought extra clothes to last him the weekend, she assumed he was going to go inside to change anyway, but it still seemed polite to offer them. She had no idea that what was on his shirt was actually melted butter, and that it hadn't gotten there by mistake, and Cara wouldn't have wanted to know that.

There wasn't a single part of her that would have been interested in dealing with conflict tonight (outside of conflict that she caused within her own family). This weekend was supposed to be light and fun, and her boundaries had already been pushed by so many people being included at the last minute. Those extra people creating additional stress just wouldn't mesh well with where she already stood on the issue. To make manners worse, there was no way that Cara was going to feel okay with Makayla acting in a way that she would deem animal-like manner in the middle of her father's party. She did enjoy the idea of her father's event losing a bit of class at the addition of her floormates, but Cara wouldn't go so far as to say that she wanted anyone to be physically fighting. That was just trashy; something she didn't want associated with her family name at all. It would only make matters worse that Cara considered Jordan to be more of a friend than Makayla, but that this weekend was also Chanel's birthday weekend, and that Chanel likely considered Makayla to be more of a friend than Jordan. Cara was doing good by her own standards about wanting to ensure that this weekend was about Chanel and not herself, and she was doing a good job at playing the excited friend who wanted to ensure that Chanel didn't have to stress and yet still reached the best party of her life. Adding something like this into the equation would disrupt what was already a fragile balance of things, and as Cara sat, head cocked to the side as she looked towards Jordan in an amused fashion, she had no idea of the drama that had unfolded (and would possibly continue to unfold).​
 
Jordan wasn't looking to be involved in drama or come across as being dramatic, so he put on a smile as he returned to his table. It wasn't a genuine one, but that probably went without saying. He was still angry and surprised at what had just happened. He knew that Makayla didn't like him and his brother (even if he still barely understood why), and he didn't need her to like him. However, he also wasn't cool with letting her trash him and his brother. Was the age old saying of "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all?" a concept too advanced for Makayla's brain to comprehend? Or was she really just so mentally unstable that she couldn't control her emotions like that? He pitied her sister. From what he had seen, she was a really nice and upbeat kid. If this was how Makayla acted towards him, when he barely knew her, he could only imagine what went on behind closed doors, and he wondered if Holly's parents knew just who they were leaving their kid with. The thought process alone spoke to how little Jordan knew of Makayla and Holly's situation, but in his defense, there was no way that he could have been expected to know anymore than that. Not only did Makayla clearly hate him, but their situation was also even less traditional than his own (which was already pretty nontraditional), so it wasn't like he could have made a lucky guess and ended up anywhere close to their reality.

"Nah," he laughed, setting the lobster down in front of Cara as he accepted the napkins she handed him. "Your friend Makayla's just got it out for me for some mysterious reason," he explained, blotting his shirt though he was unaware that it wasn't doing any good. "She came up to me out of no where, started talking shit about Sam, and then dumped a dish of melted butter on me for deadass no reason at all." The house wasn't that far from where they were now, but as he glanced in its direction, it seemed like it was miles away. It was a walk that he was too lazy to want to take right now, but he had no other choice. "I don't know if she needs detox, or therapy, or what, but clearly something's going on there if she's running around trying to fight people that barely know her," he said, before taking a step away from the table. "But yeah, gonna go change," he stated, glancing towards the house once more as he started in that direction, only turning back to say, "You better be on the lookout, though. You look too good in that dress to let her attack you too and ruin it," through a light hearted smirk.
 
"Whoa," Nick said, raising his hands to signal that Cara needed to stop right there. "Don't go speaking fatherhood into existence for me. I don't need that kind of energy floating around in the universe." Nick didn't think that he would be an okay dad. He didn't know how to deal with kids, for one. Even ones that weren't like Holly seemed like too much responsibility to him. The idea of anyone being fully dependent on him scared him, because it felt like a restraint. If he was in Cara's position, maybe it would be different, because he could play parttime dad like he was sure her dad had done. He could still be there physically and be there for the cool parts, like teaching the mini human how to ride a bike or shotgun their first beer, but he wouldn't have to deal with diapers, or feeding them, or making sure they were up for school in the morning. He also wouldn't have to worry about money, which kids apparently ate up ridiculously. Even if he had the money to hire people to raise a kid for him, he wasn't sure if he would want to do it, though. The idea of committing to something for a lifetime was frightening to him, possibly more than anything else. Plus, even if he wasn't the one doing all of the hard work for the kid, it still meant that he would have to be a good example. What kid wanted to go to career day at school and tell their classmates that their dad was a drug dealer, or was unemployed, or worked one of the few entry level jobs that Nick was qualified to apply for? Being a father would mean that Nick would have to either change, or put a kid through a lame childhood, and neither sounded like a good idea. He wouldn't go so far to say that he was positive that he never wanted to have a child, but he didn't have a biological clock that was ticking and telling him to hurry the fuck up, so he was content with leaving that as a (very far into the) future decision.

Jordan's return barely sparked any interest in Nick. He didn't know the guy, and though there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him, if he wasn't going to be a client, Nick wasn't going to put much energy into getting to know him. He had enough friends to quench that need; new ones just seemed unnecessary and draining. Nick liked his personal space and wasn't very social to begin with, but he was also pretty relaxed, so he was more indifferent towards people like Jordan than anything else. Pleasant enough, but content with keeping it at that. He had returned to focusing on his meal, only realizing that something was up when Cara brought up cutting him off from drinking. He noticed the stained shirt then, but Jordan quickly clarified that he hadn't done it himself, and that Makayla had apparently tossed it onto him in an anger induced frenzy. Nick couldn't be one to judge, so he wasn't going to. It didn't truly surprise him either. He doubted that Jordan was being real about her doing it for no reason, but he also didn't put it past Makayla to be the type to knife him if he ever gave her low grade weed, so tossing butter on some guy sounded reasonable to her character, if provoked. A forkful of food found its way into Nick's already nearly full mouth, simply because he had to hide the smile that was breaking through on his face at the sound of the story. Nick didn't enjoy drama when it involved him, but he knew that Makayla wasn't the one to be tested, and this just sounded like a tale that was going to be amusing if it continued to play out over the weekend. He kept himself from laughing because he knew it would be inappropriate, but he was more interested than one would have expected him to be, in seeing what Cara's response to all of this would be. He was also keen on letting Brooklyn know what was going on when she returned, because he was sure that she would find a way to do what she did best, and stir the pot in some way that would be entertaining for them to watch with popcorn in hand.

He took a swig of his liquor to wash down the food, nearly emptying the glass in the process. When his mouth was finally empty, Jordan was far enough away that Nick didn't hesitate to glance at Cara to say, "How long's he been trying to sleep with you for with no success that he's over here throwing around lame compliments like that?"​
 
This was really all a guessing game. A game of hangman that she was sure was progressively losing. Chanel never really had to go all parental figure on Holly. Makayla was usually not too far away, and there were hardly ever any situations where a gentle course correction didn't fix things. Had she not known Makayla for as long as she did, she would have felt more conflicted than she did now about reprimanding Holly and going full authority figure mode. Perhaps, also, if they had been in a more familiar setting, like back home, she would have been more patient with Holly's defiance. They were in a new setting, though, and the setting was bigger than three blocks out from their residence--and then some. Not even some, a lot. She never wanted to overstep her boundaries, but she was certain that Makayla would be far more pissed and betrayed if Chanel really let Holly go wild. Her growing irritation with the girl quickly subsided when she sat beside her and, more gently, made her request once more.

She opened her mouth to say something, the beginning of her voice catching in her throat as she changed her mind and closed her mouth. Did she really want to talk to Cara this badly about getting 'another' dog? Chanel would have to deal with the fallout regardless. Either the unquestionable distraught that the girl would have if Cara didn't feed into Holly's Holly-ness, or having to deal with being the one to break the news to her all while still trying to prove her point that she couldn't behave like she was doing. Chanel closed her eyes and exhaled. "Holly--"

Saved by the bell, she thought, releasing her shoulders down to a more relaxed position. "Well," Chanel began. "Long story short, Holly and Sam found a dog and the dog got away. Collin and I brought the dog back here, while Holly and Sam got Brooklyn. And somehow during that time, Sam convinced her that she"--Chanel raised her fingers to make air quotes--"'doesn't have to listen to Makayla or I.' So, as I promised if she decided not to be a good listener, she lost her dog privileges and now she wants to talk to Cara because she's going to live with her and get a dog there." Chanel blinked slowly, an exasperated eye roll disguised in the action. "And," Chanel said, looking towards Holly sternly. "She's been very mean to Collin today. But," she offered, this time in a gentler tone, her eyes closing as though to elongate her patience as make herself see the other perspective. "Holly can speak for herself, and perhaps you would be able to offer a better ear since you're the unbiased party, and not the villain like I am right now. So I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't want to talk to me right now, so Hols if you want to tell Ruby what's going on, go ahead." She looked towards Ruby. "Is there food outside by the pool?" she asked, turning towards Holly once more. She wasn't sure if Holly felt the stuffiness in the room, but she certainly did, and a change in scenery and atmosphere definitely felt needed. She wasn't sure if Holly knew there was a pool or not, but she did know that the girl liked water. Even though she was becoming annoyed with the girl's uncharacteristic disobedience, she also knew that it was harmless and just that--uncharacteristic. It was impossible to assume anything but good intentions when it came to her, and the way her tone shifted so quickly spoke to that. Chanel could only assume that the girl was overwhelmed, but with Ruby here, she definitely second guessed herself, even as she spoke to Holly in hopes that the offer would provide some potential solace. "Want to go outside and put your feet in the water?"​
 
Ruby's initial thought was that she was relieved (for her own sake, but mostly for Holly's) that she had been able to convince Makayla to go get food, allowing her to reach Holly first. She knew that if Makayla had heard Chanel's retelling of what she had been dealing with in regards to the teenager, that Holly would be a few seconds away from real tears and that there probably wouldn't have been anything that Ruby could have done to help her. To an extent, she probably would have understood Makayla's anger because even now, Ruby empathized with the frustration and annoyance that Chanel was probably feeling. She had not known Makayla and Holly for nearly as long as Chanel had, but similarly to Chanel, she felt responsible for Holly when Makayla wasn't around, simply because they lived together. A story that involved Holly and dogs sounded characteristic of the girl, but Holly claiming that she didn't have to listen to anyone and that she was being mean to Collin made Ruby wonder if she had heard the story right. The distressed look on Holly's face reassured her that it was true -- or at least that something was off, but the contrast in what was the norm made it seem alarming. Even though Holly was bubbly and happy 99% of the time, Ruby had witnessed a few rare occasions of her being less enthusiastic, but they were never really over anything where Holly could truly be blamed. Most of the time she was clearly tired or sick, and even if the whining and borderline brattiness still caused the same headache, it was usually fixed with a warm blanket and a movie. It was easy to forget that Holly was a teenager and that pushing boundaries and testing limits should be part of her norm, as the teenage years were those weird transitional years of being dependent to independent. Still though, Holly wasn't mentally there enough for that to even justify her behavior. It made a bit of sense when her friend, Sam, was referenced, because that was probably his frame of mind, but it was bothersome that he seemed to be putting thoughts into Holly's head to upset her. Not only would it hurt Holly in the end because she wouldn't understand why she couldn't have the same freedom as other kids her age, but it would stress Makayla out and that was what Ruby was most concerned with. Makayla wasn't perfect by any means but she really did try to do right by her sister and the last thing that she needed was for Holly to start deliberately creating trouble.

"Oh no," Ruby said, speaking with genuine concern, but also gearing her voice towards Holly in a "I hope this isn't true" sort of way. "That doesn't sound very Holly-like to me and I know that Makayla won't be happy to hear that we aren't listening to our friends or that we're being mean to Collin, especially since he's being so nice and letting us stay at his house," she said, sitting down beside Holly. She looked towards Chanel then, offering a sympathetic smile. This was Chanel's birthday weekend, and she was the embodiment of "young, fun, and flirty". She didn't need to be stressing out over this. She needed to be out there enjoying the party. Ruby was comfortable with dealing with the situation anyway, since she wanted to spend the night with Makayla and that was going to involve Holly in one way or another anyway, so she didn't think that there was any need for both of them to have to sit inside while a fun party went on just on the other side of the door. "I think all of the food is over on the other lawn. Makayla's over there now getting some to bring back for her, but you should go eat and have fun. The sun's setting and it's really pretty out," she insisted. She couldn't imagine Holly actually seeing Chanel as a villain since she seemed to adore their roommate on a normal day, but she was more curious after that remark to see what Holly had to say. Could this Sam kid really have enough of an influence over her to have her disliking someone that she was fascinated by for years? "But that does mean that it's getting late," she said, towards Holly now. It wasn't late by most people's terms, but she knew that Holly went to bed early, so she supposed that maybe that had something to do with the apparent crankiness that was possessing her. Being tired and in an unfamiliar place could do that to anyone. She hoped that it was that simple. "So maybe we're getting tired over here, too. That never helps anyone's mood," she added. Claiming that it was a "we" issue felt more appropriate than isolating Holly in this instance. If Chanel seemed vaguely stressed over this and even went to the extent of claiming that Holly had been very mean, she was sure that whatever had happened was very un-Holly-like, but she still felt like a soft approach at first could potentially help her get to the bottom of it.​
 
Ruby's arrival proved to be a useful distraction. Holly still felt upset; it was a feeling that she was struggling to shake which said something for her, since she could normally turn her mood around fairly quickly with the right change of thoughts. She didn't like feeling this way, and any time she tried to question why she was feeling sad, she immediately thought about the dog that she could now only envision as being locked in a dungeon by Collin, with its little paws chained to the wall like some medieval prisoner. It made her want to cry or insist to Chanel that she was the one who was being mean. When Ruby arrived, her thought process was forced to shift, at least a little bit. Ruby was now lingering on what Chanel had told her and making Holly feel bad because she really didn't like being called mean, but she was also talking about food and a sunset and those brought different visuals into Holly's mind. She liked sunsets. One time she saw one that made the sky look pink. Not pink like a pig, but pink like cotton candy. She liked cotton candy too. One time, she and Cara went to a restaurant and for dessert they got milkshakes and Holly's had a piece of cotton candy on top of it. It was the only part of the dessert that Holly had actually ended up eating, but she still was amused at the thought of a milkshake with cotton candy on top of it.

"It's not getting late," she said slowly, shaking her head though she was visibly only half-focused on the words coming out of her mouth. Her expression reflected confusion for a moment as she stumbled over her own thoughts, trying to figure out what direction she wanted to go in. She knew that cotton candy wasn't relevant to what they were talking about so she stopped herself from bringing that up, but then the distant sound of music had her looking towards the window, and then back at Chanel. "I don't want you to say that I'm mean," she said, before looking to Ruby. "Because I'm not being mean." Her voice remained gentler and more pleadingly distressed than the anger-like distressed tone than it had had before. While the puppy being out of sight was upsetting in itself, it was also a little bit better than it being in the same room as her but still off limits. "Cara wouldn't say that I'm being mean," she said, looking to Ruby still as she tried to convince herself of that. She didn't like feeling this way. The uneasiness made her feel uncomfortable in her own skin and she didn't like that she didn't feel like either of the girls beside her were going to help or comfort her like she wanted. She could never think of Chanel as being a villain and she couldn't imagine ever not wanting to talk to her, so Chanel saying that made her feel more upset than she had been before, because it made her feel like Chanel thought she was super super mean. For some reason, she felt like Collin was to blame for that too, but luckily, she opted against vocalizing that this time. "I met Cara's dad," she said, a small smile finding its way to her face then. It was a random statement, though for her it was actually on the better side of sticking to one subject, as it at least followed enough of a Cara-related train of thought. "He has gray hair but his wife doesn't. I think she goes to the same high school that I'm going to go to!" she said, laughing to herself. "But it's not Cara's mom," she said, speaking mostly in an attempt to explain the situation to herself in the same way that she had earlier. She didn't get that things like this were inappropriate to talk about because to her, it just seemed like she was telling the truth, which was supposed to be a good thing. "If Cara's mom was still alive I think I would want her to adopt me and then I could live with Cara, and Collin could maybe stay with you," she said, looking to Ruby before turning to Chanel. "If your mom is alive and not in jail and you have a real house like this, then maybe she could adopt me and you could stay with Ruby," she suggested. Though there were certain topics that Holly had a tendency of hyper focusing on if they crossed her mind, like Cara's mom being deceased or puppies, wanting to be adopted wasn't something she normally spoke about in conversation. Mostly, because she didn't think she needed to be adopted. Her idea of a family was so skewed because of her upbringing that she barely understood what a normal family was supposed to look like. Seeing Cara's house made her certain that she wanted a real house now though, and even if Cara's house was extreme, suburbs and residential areas were a foreign enough concept to Holly that she likely would have been just as impressed by Chanel's family's home as she was by this one. "I don't want to have just Makayla anymore," she explained, and though it was a claim that carried more weight than she understood, it really was just stemming from her still being upset about the whole situation at hand. Her mood was much more balanced now, and she was even growing into perkiness as she spoke, but the underlying thought reflected her knowing that Makayla was going to yell at her when she did show up, and that was enough for her to be thinking about wanting someone new to take care of her. "I want to have a mom like you guys have. Or I want to have Cara because she would be good to live with too, I think."​
 
It was hard to put words to how strange it was when Holly went from being on one end of the spectrum to another. Right now she hadn't jumped to the full opposite end of the emotional spectrum, but she was visibly unsettled one moment, and then was laughing the next. Oddly, it was comforting to Ruby, merely because that easily amused Holly was the one she was more comfortable with dealing with, but it had her thoroughly questioning if Makayla had been keeping up with giving Holly her Adderall because it spoke to just how severe her attention deficit was. As frustrating as it could be for those trying to work with her on the outside, Ruby could not even fathom how uncomfortable that also had to be for Holly internally. If not uncomfortable, then at least exhausting. As she continued to speak, Ruby almost wished that she had instead continued to linger on the dog and not wanting to listen to anyone, as Chanel had referenced she had been talking about. That would have been easier to work with than Holly throwing them for a loop and talking about how she wanted to be adopted by and live with a real mom (or Cara), instead of "just Makayla". It was random enough to be a puzzling claim for a few seconds, especially since Ruby still didn't have a complete grasp on what had happened earlier, but it was overwhelmingly heartbreaking if anything.

It was easy to overlook how difficult Holly and Makayla's situation was in day to day life because they were making it. They lived in the same apartment as she and Chanel, and in turn, it was easy to then subconsciously equate their standards of living. Even if Makayla was doing an applause-worthy job at taking care of Holly, their lives were different than most people's. Ruby knew more about Holly's past than she did Makayla's, simply because Holly sometimes spoke about it without prompt and seemingly without understanding how abnormal some of the things she spoke about were. She knew that Holly had been abused as a child (even if Holly hadn't outright used the word and had instead, just described scenarios as if they were normal), and she knew that her mother was a drug user who was now imprisoned. She couldn't blame the girl for wanting a mom when it seemed like the closest thing she ever had to one was Makayla, and with no disrespect to Makayla, she wasn't a mother. She was an older sister, and a great one at that, but she had been forced into a role that she wasn't equipped to fill and it wasn't fair to either of them. She provided Holly with things that a parent was responsible for, like a safe home, food and clothes, but understandably, Makayla had too much on her plate to be the perfect guardian. No one was perfect and Ruby was confident that Makayla was doing a better job than anyone else her age could do, but she also couldn't blame Holly if she wished for something more traditional. Despite how highly of Makayla Ruby thought, it was impossible to truly believe that Holly wouldn't have been better off being raised in Cara's family, or Ruby's family, or Chanel's family, despite the family problems that they surely had too. Holly had so many issues and one thing that probably would have helped her immensely was a stable childhood. It was something that so many people (Ruby included) took for granted, and that made it all the more hard to hear Holly say that she wanted "to have a mom like you guys have". Foster care may not have been the best place for Holly, so Ruby wasn't ignorant enough to believe that any family would have been a good fit for Holly, but ones that she knew even just with a surface level amount of information, like Chanel's, still seemed like they would have offered more stability and tenderness than what Holly had been given.

Holly didn't seem to be upset as she spoke about this, and Ruby momentarily wondered if she was the only one in the room who was saddened over the words that she was hearing, but Holly did deserve sympathy even if she wasn't aware of it. This was a perfect reminder of why it was hard to balance things like discipline with softness when it came to Holly. In order to be a productive member of society, she couldn't be babied over everything and she needed to learn how to act responsibly and in a manner that was socially appropriate, but at the same time, it was sometimes hard to be anything but gentle with her (even if it wasn't to her benefit), just based off of knowing how cruelly the world had already treated her.

What was there to say here? Holly's last comment was that she wanted to have a mom, and Ruby didn't know what to say to that. No amount of textbooks or medical training had prepared her for this, especially in a non-clinical setting. She enveloped her fingers around one of Holly's hands, rubbing the back of hers gently as she turned so that she was facing her better. "It sounds like it must be hard sometimes, not having a mom like your friends have," she began, hoping to find the right words along the way. "And I think that it's good to acknowledge that and talk about it when you're feeling upset over it. But you can also remind yourself that you have a lot of friends who are always here to talk to you and help you. You have your sister, Chanel and I, Cara, Brooklyn... and even if we aren't moms, and even if it isn't exactly the same as having a mom to talk to, it's like having five big sisters. Not a lot of people can say that they have that many of those, right?" Ruby didn't know if that would suffice or if it was even appropriate to not offer any true suggestion to her not wanting "just Makayla" anymore, but this was real life, not a textbook. There was no better suggestion as far as Ruby was concerned. Ruby would never suggest that Makayla relinquish guardianship over Holly, not only because Makayla took such great care of her, but because this was real life and in real life, sixteen years old with disabilities like Holly's just didn't get adopted. By the time all of the paperwork was through, she would be aged out of the system and on her own, in a far worse place than she was in now. It was fictitious thinking to believe that she had a chance at some fairy tale ending, and that was sad enough in itself. Ruby liked to think that the world was a good place but at the end of the day, it was only easy to believe that life was fair when you had the privilege of being born into a good life. Life didn't treat everyone fairly, and Holly was a good example of that.​
 
"Yeah..." Holly responded softly, nodding in agreement. That was true - not a lot of people had as many nice friends in their apartment as Holly had. But Ariel had six real sisters, so that was already someone who Holly could think of at the top of her head who had even more than she had. And she got to live in the ocean. And she had a fish friend who could talk. Holly didn't get to have either of those things. But Ariel's mom was dead like Cara's. That was probably worse than having a mom who lived in prison, Holly rationalized. "And Barbie only has three sisters," she said aloud, a verbal continuation of her nonverbal thoughts as she attempted to make herself feel better. But Barbie also had a lot of friends, she then reminded herself. And lots of pets. Holly didn't get to have those. She frowned. This wasn't making her feel better, but she remained quiet for a few seconds as she tried to think of something that would. Her kidnapped dog was the first thing that came to her mind, but that only reminded her of Collin and in turn, of Chanel telling her that she was mean. "And Cara doesn't get to have a mom or any sisters, but she gets to have a house with a pool, and I want that too," she eventually decided, a request that seemed reasonable in her mind. "Or a regular house with no pool and a mom." The escalation of the conversation had occurred quickly, and though it may not have seemed blatantly obvious, Holly's thought process had gotten here after beginning with her not wanting to have to settle for having to accept that she would have to listen to Makayla. As Sam had said, she was just her sister, in the same way that Jordan was just Sam's brother. It wasn't really like that, but the logic was there enough for Holly to feel like it did make sense. If Holly had a mom, she wouldn't have to listen to Makayla. Plus, in her mind the only barrier to having her own dog was that their apartment building didn't allow them. If she had a house like this, that would solve that problem too. It had started there, but was now moving into deeper territory as she was considering that she wanted a mom for other reasons too.​
 
Ruby was engulfed in serious mode to a point where she didn't realize that the 'Barbie' that Holly was referring to was literally the toy doll, and instead, glanced towards Chanel to see if it looked like she knew who Holly was talking about. She considered that maybe Holly had some friend that she had never heard of, or maybe that was the name of their old roommate. It wasn't that important apparently, as Holly paused for a few seconds before speaking again. Ruby didn't attempt to fill in that silence with any words of her own, mostly because she didn't have anything that seemed good enough. It seemed appropriate to let Holly think, and she hoped that the calm nature of the conversation was doing some good in relaxing her from the agitated state that she must have been in earlier. She glanced back at Chanel momentarily, wishing that she could telepathically tell the girl that she could slip out if she wanted to. Even though Ruby didn't feel entirely in control of the situation and conversation she was in right now, she felt equally bad that Chanel had to be involved in it. Ruby wasn't old, but she was a handful of years older than the younger girls (Cara and Chanel, mainly), and she also could acknowledge that she was in a different stage of life than them. Even if she didn't always show it, she felt like she needed to look after them even when she didn't have to. It didn't come across as anything obvious, but she would have been lying if she claimed that there were Saturday nights when she woke up around three or four to use the bathroom, and wanted to silently peak into Chanel's bedroom, just to confirm that she had gotten home safely from her night out. Ruby didn't enjoy conversations like the one that she was having with Holly in the sense that it was entertaining or amusing, but there was a part of her that felt engaged in it because it did align with her line of work. Granted, in a non-clinical setting and with someone who wasn't one of her patients, it did force her to feel unprepared and less capable of helping, but it still ignited that part of her brain that felt like there was a challenge in front of her that she wanted to solve with nothing more than words and ideas. She didn't think that Chanel was any less capable at doing that than she was (and because she had known Holly for longer and did have a more youthful and fun personality that Holly seemed enchanted by, she was aware that Chanel was potentially more capable at helping), but she just felt anxious over the idea of Chanel's evening being put on pause by this.

Unfortunately, Holly didn't drop the wanting-a-mom thought, and attempted to reason for why she wanted what she wanted. In a perfect world, Holly's request was fair and made sense. She deserved a mom. She deserved a house. Ruby couldn't give that to her though, and even if it would have been so much easier to just tell Holly to talk to Makayla about it, she knew that it wasn't right to even remotely get the girl's hopes up. Besides, she had no idea how Makayla would take Holly claiming to want someone more than her as a caretaker, given the level of sacrifice that Makayla made daily to fill that role. She nodded at Holly's request, attempting to figure out what to say. "I know, and I wish that we could give that to you, Holly. Maybe after this weekend is over and everyone's back home, you can talk to Cara about what it was like for her growing up without a mom, too. Maybe she can give you some good advice since I bet she knows how you feel." Ruby didn't know if it was appropriate to throw Cara into the mix like that, and she also felt like she was lying through her teeth at even suggesting that Cara could relate to Holly's life, but it was worth a shot. Even if Cara was wildly privileged, being without a mother was a separate struggle that money couldn't completely solve. Ruby wished that she had something better to say, but she glanced to Chanel then, hoping that she could fill in whatever blanks were left.​
 
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