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Realistic or Modern City Living

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Ruby smiled at Roman, but she didn't really know what to say or how to react to the words coming from his mouth. She wasn't offended, and was actually surprised at his ability to be personable, but she still was caught off guard by his presence alone. She didn't know much about Roman. He lived on the same floor as her, was good friends with Nick and Brooklyn, and obviously was raised in England. That was about all she knew. Given what she knew, and just the impression she had of him based off of their few interactions, plus his relationships with others on the floor, Ruby would be lying if she claimed that she thought well of him. She didn't dislike him or think poorly of him, necessarily, but she gathered that he didn't have a shiny clean reputation. He seemed grumpy at best, and considering that he lived with Nick, who was apparently a drug dealer, Ruby just assumed that Roman was one as well out of association. His behavior now suggested that maybe he wasn't all that bad, and she had to assume that maybe Makayla was more familiar with him than she had let on too.

Even so, Ruby still didn't know how to respond to him, so she left it at just a smile, and walked along the two as they headed into the more populated area of the party. She couldn't help but to feel like she was weighing Makayla down. She had wanted to smoke just seconds ago, so her changing her mind so suddenly left Ruby feeling like she may have been the unwanted party in what could have been an opportunity for Makayla to smoke. She had no way of knowing that Makayla preferred to do it alone anyway, especially since even though she didn't mind Makayla smoking, it wasn't something that Ruby was really comfortable with enough to want to be immersed in. Even though she wasn't opposed to marijuana being used recreationally, and especially not clinically, it being illegal still just left her feeling wary about it. Besides, she wasn't lying when she claimed that she just didn't like the idea of inhaling anything. The same went for medicating herself--even though she recognized its benefits and literally wrote prescriptions for a living, she did her best to avoid putting too many chemicals into her body when she could help it. Luckily, her life wasn't stressful enough where she needed to be high all of the time, so she knew that her opinions had no right being imposed on others.

She looked to Roman as Makayla asked him about his friendship with Brooklyn and Nick. Given the context of this interaction, it was something she was now curious about to. The way that their floor was so friendly with one another (more or less) was intriguing to Ruby. It was cute, and even though she had lived there for months now, she still wasn't sure how everyone had initially connected with one another. She had truly just figured that Holly being so friendly had forced former strangers to acknowledge each other's existences, and she probably wasn't fully wrong about that either. Once at the bar, she ordered a lemon drop martini.​
 
It was quite difficult to get off on the wrong foot with Chanel, at least to the point where she had no interest in reconciling the conversation. Add in an atmosphere like this and drinks like those, it only made it harder to do something wrong. To Elijah's credit, though, his Nigerian Prince comment really did tickle Chanel. While Chanel's past experience with men led her to have quite low expectations for them, she wasn't the type to make excuses for them because of it. If he had somehow managed to be drier than sand paper, she wasn't going to give the benefit of the doubt just because he looked like a cutout from a magazine. Well, maybe if she had another shot or two... The point was that she, like many, enjoyed guys who were actually funny, and at the end of the day, Chanel was all about having a candidly good time. Perhaps those shots were hitter her quicker than she realized, but he was already seeming like an easy good time. In most situations, she was quite accustomed to being warmed up to than the other way around. In all honesty, she actually didn't mind it, but it was always a nice gem to be able to just enjoy things presently without having to bring people up to speed. And god damnit, it was her birthday. She deserved to not have to play social matchmaker for once. And look at the Universe delivering her a tall glass of blessings. And he knew Cara, so she could really act out a bit without having to worry about ending up in the ocean tonight.

Before she was able to agree to his request, Cara was already ushering her along. Without trying to conceal their little girl sesh, she rolled her shoulders up towards her ears and smiled widely in response. She was sober enough to not actually squeal right now, but she wasn't sober enough to care about being discreet. Finishing her cocktail before placing it back on the bar, she took Eli's arm in her hand and began making her way toward the guest house. "Don't try to compete with me," she said, playfully chastising him for the way he inhaled his shots. While they were just as many drinks in (though technically, Chanel was further because of that secret fourth shot, and the other drinks she'd been sipping on tonight), with the way he didn't even grimace, there really was no competition. If she even tried drinking pool water, her stomach was going to give her hell for it. "I'll have you know I have at least fifteen minutes before I need to get my stomach pumped, which is just enough time to get you to some food." As she led him into the guest house, she did want to take Cara up on her offer and get something off the menu. Perhaps it was her poor speaking, but she was really craving something less...fancy and more...greasy. Considering that she was under the impression that Elijah and Cara ran in the same circle, she was going to try to appeal to her audience, but not without adding a friendly disclaimer. "I know you have high expectations, but I promise I won't get mad if you don't see anything you like. Not because I'm kind of craving a grilled cheese or anything like that," she said.

Even outside of wanting to be accommodating, because even if this was her birthday party, she was still raised to treat her guests with respect, he definitely needed to at least see the guest house. While along with champagne there were hors d'oeuvres being walked around, she couldn't imagine he had been here for very long if he hadn't stumbled across the buffet of food, most of which was housed in the guest house. "I mean I am, but it's a rotating menu, so there's always another chance if nothing catches His Royal Highness's eye." After a moment of silence and chewing her lip in thought, she looked towards him. "So you haven't told me your name, right? Not that those shots are catching up to me," she added quickly, though without really trying to sound too convincing. Since Chanel's hope was too get so wasted that she would forget tonight would even happen, his name was really only important in the moment. Still, she didn't want to end things before they began by already forgetting his name. While her mind was on the same trajectory as his, like most women, she wasn't going to state it outright. For one, this wasn't that kind of scene, and secondly, she liked a little coy playfulness to her night. Of course, that was on a typical night out, and tonight wasn't one of those nights. As she gave him a once over, she knew she would be remised if she didn't make some exceptions tonight. "I just want to make sure you're okay since your eyes are starting to cross a little."​
 
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The other two weren't off base to take notice, and slight surprise, at Roman's more personable side. To a stranger, there was really nothing strange as he was behaving like any regular person was, but people who spent even a couple of seconds around him could clue in on him be mechanical and premeditated. At best, he was just shy and a bit awkward on a good day, but that tended to show itself in ways that were more notable than a simple underlying social ineptness. His problem was less with people than it was with social interactions, and his issue was less with the latter than it was his own discomfort with unpredictability. He and Chanel were an easy case study for comparison; at its most base level understanding, they were diametrically opposed personalities. It was a simple matter of extroversion versus introversion. What was less apparent was that Chanel a shallow processor. She could take things at face value, whereas Roman, despite how surface-level and one dimensional he came across, processed much deeper. The fortunate thing was that that meant he actually wasn't an asocial sociopath, and it was a pretty easy fix. The unfortunate bit was that his fix was just that. Given that he wasn't strung out but still able to be personable showed that he was actually more capable of being a normal human than he gave himself credit for. Despite picking everything apart, he somehow managed to avoid sitting with his thoughts long enough to develop that bit of self-awareness.

Being sober aside, he would have still been humored by Makayla's comment about him third wheeling even if he didn't have some external assistance. By this point, the two were his family, so at worst he might feel like the forgotten middle child. As it would with just about anyone, it took some time for him to get used to it being trio since he was friends with Nick first. Being imposing was a bigger concern than being stingy with Nick's time. Fortunately, Brooklyn was as much of a pain in the ass now as she was back then, and Roman's own slick mouth was no different a few short years ago. Plus, it wasn't like he was really having to deal with them not being able to keep their hands off each other. The toxicity of their relationship likely helped in keeping things from being awkward, because if it was any other long term relationship, it probably would have been increasingly difficult to not feel like he was impeding. But they were also adults. The two holding hands might have made him feel awkward in the beginning, but that was really only because he was projecting his own issues with intimacy. Now? Wouldn't even notice it. The third wheel feeling really came when the two were going to the bat.

"It's not so bad," he admitted with a chuckle. "They're my people so I guess I don't even notice most of the time. That, or they're too nice to tell me to getlost." It was easier to wrap his brain around her initial question than her second. He asked himself everyday how the hell he got to where he was, and considering his time in the U.S. without those two being involved was so short, it was difficult to recall that brief period at all. It was even stranger to remember it. It was a sobering realization; gross, in his mind. How people walked around openly loving people without feeling like imploding was a wonder to him. He shrugged casually and rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to piece fragments together himself. "I met Nick the same way anyone does. Plus, the bar he worked out of was the only place I could still drink since you lot are backwards with your legal drinking age." His first three years here were a long one, not because he was virtually a child trying to make it on his own in a new country where he knew no one. Instead, it was because he couldn't even have a beer if he wanted to. Technically, he would have been just barely of age in his own country since he came here when he was eighteen, but it wasn't such a big deal as it seemed to be over here. "They probably got more entangled with me than the other way around," he said. "I was pretty pathetic and helpless, but most teenagers on their own are, so." Granted, he didn't realize just how pathetic he was at the time. Being young was one thing and was virtually a non-starter considering that Nick and Brooklyn weren't that much older than him. The biggest difference was that they were already emancipated and independent, even if they weren't living an attractive life. Roman was about as self-sufficient and knowledgeable as Holly. At the bar, he ordered a two drinks. Depending on if Brooklyn was with Nick when Roman found him, one of them might end up being for her. But he also fully expected her to make a remark about his choice instead of acknowledging the kind gesture, so there was a chance that this was just a round for the boys. "But now I'm the doting charmer you know and love."

Roman felt like Makayla's question was actually a pretty standard one for their floor since everyone seemed to have some connection to the other. He couldn't recall if Makayla knew anyone on the floor beforehand, like Chanel for instance. He knew Ruby had some connection to the Forresters; he wasn't sure how he knew that, so there was a chance he was making that up entirely. "I could ask the same of you both and the Forresters."​
 
Elijah followed Chanel inside, laughing at her commentary. "Elijah," he answered, before returning the question. "And what about you? Seems like you're pretty popular around here; I feel like it's an insult to even be asking you that," he leveled playfully, having made note of the many greetings she had received as they moved inside. He hadn't pieced together that she was the girl this party was being thrown for yet, which probably sounded stupid in the context, but with so many people here, what was the chance that he was going to run into the birthday girl before anyone else?

The food available to them was nothing short of exquisite looking and smelling. It didn't come as a surprise given the grandiose nature of the party as a whole, from what he had seen, but it was still a captivating spectacle as they slowly walked through, each dish looking better than the next. The way that it all looked like something out of a Michelin star restaurant made it all the more adorable when Chanel made note about craving a grilled cheese over any of it. He was assuming that she was the one used to all of this and that her expectations would be the high ones, so it was somehow a relief when she suggested that she was more humble than she appeared. It didn't mean that much in the moment because Elijah wasn't doing an in-depth character assessment on a girl he was just hoping to be lucky enough to sleep with, but it still allowed him to drop his guard a bit.

"A grilled cheese sounds like heaven on earth right now," he agreed, glancing around, as if he would find one in the mix of food laid out before them. It obviously wasn't going to be there, but he hadn't really assumed that Caraline had been serious when she said something about getting someone to "whip up" something for them, mostly because he still didn't realize this was her house, either. "And as the self-proclaimed future stomach-pumping contender, I think you're the one whose eyes need to be scrutinized," he shot back with jest. Three shots in one sitting for a girl her size on top of whatever else she had consumed was asking for something... depending on the person, that something could either be a good time, or a bad time. Elijah hoped that her body would allow it to be channeled into the former, and a grilled cheese ought to help that, too.

"The question is: where do we get a grilled cheese around here? I can cook a mean grilled cheese but I highkey feel like you're boujee enough to need it gilded in 24 karat gold so I won't set myself up for failure on that one," he joked.

Interacting with: cure cure ​
 
God, he could be so stupid sometimes. Brooklyn looked to Nick with an expression that was quite different from the soft and relaxed one she had managed to maintain for most of the evening. It wasn't a 180, she wasn't enraged, but the annoyance and irritation was unmistakable in her face. "No, you're not going to give her coke," she answered factually, as if it was the most idiotic question to ask. Yes, it was Chanel's birthday party, and yes, she was probably trying to have fun, but why the hell would she need to start doing coke? She was hosting a huge party at what was likely one of the most expensive and grand private estates in the entire country, with an unlimited amount of alcohol, a ton of people, and an endless amount of entertainment. Cocaine was fun and Brooklyn couldn't act like she didn't use it or thought poorly of the drug in itself, but this wasn't some run of the mill backyard party, or a house party in a crowded, hot New York apartment that happened every other week. If anything, cocaine was more likely to ruin Chanel's night than it was enhance it, and even though Brooklyn didn't particularly care for the girl, she would have felt responsible for Nick's actions if he managed to get her fucked up unnecessarily.

"This isn't some college dorm party, Nick," she continued, shaking her head and finding it hard to resist an eye roll. She was well aware that kids who were well off, like Cara and like many of the people here, used cocaine. It was one of the drugs that the rich found to be acceptable when it was them or their kids using it, but life-in-jail-worthy if it was someone of a lower socioeconomic class using it. However, that didn't negate the fact that even if a party like this was customary to someone like Cara, it probably wasn't for someone like Chanel. She deserved to enjoy the party in as non-fucked up of a manner as possible, and considering that Brooklyn felt like Chanel was probably stupid enough to accept drugs if offered them (simply based on her knowing that she bought from Nick regularly), she felt compelled to step in to prevent that from happening. "And you need to stop giving stuff away to her and these people as if you're a millionaire," she added quickly, as it was something that had bothered her for a while now. She actually assumed that Nick sold to people in their circle more regularly than he actually just gave it out for free, so if she knew the extent of it, she definitely would have had this conversation with him earlier. "If she can con Cara into throwing her a party like this, she can pay for her own weed from now on. Like, that's the only job you want to have in your life, right? So maybe at least make it as profitable as possible, because I don't want to be living in a shoe box of an apartment for the rest of my life." The way that Brooklyn's mood and energy could shift so quickly would probably be alarming to someone who didn't know her, but it was a pretty central part of her persona. It was something that she probably could control if she cared to, and she did sometimes recognize it as being a flaw, but she mostly thought of it as just having a low tolerance for stupidity, which was understandable in her opinion.

Nick easily could have fed into the negative turn the conversation had taken, but he smiled instead. It was a move that potentially could have made matters worse, depending on how big of a fight Brooklyn wanted to pick, but Nick wasn't really going to engage in that tonight. He was in a good enough mood that Brooklyn chiding him as if he were a child wasn't going to bother him. "If not living in a shoe box is on your bucket list, I say we spend the next sixty years of our life on acid. That Alice in Wonderland Syndrome will have us sitting in a closet but feeling like we're living in a mansion." He was purposely being a smartass, but smiled at Brooklyn a beat later, pulling her towards him and kissing her on the head in an attempt to soften her back up. "But fine, fine. I'll add 'no cocaine, no free drugs, get a real job, buy a beach house' to my to-do list for when we get back home," he added, still teasing mostly, since they both knew none of that was going to happen.

"Good," Brooklyn responded curtly, though she knew he was being sarcastic. She wouldn't ruin the night over something petty (not yet, at least), and she succumbed to resting against Nick's body for a few moments before pulling away. "Let's see what else is going on outside," she said, taking his hand in her free one and giving it a gentle tug as she led him towards the exit of the guest house, back towards the pool area.​
 
Even Chanel was surprised with the number of run-ins she had so far tonight. There were a lot of people here, so it made sense in that regard, but she still figured that meant she would be largely invisible. Of course she wasn't going to easily be able to avoid the people she actually knew, and it appeared that they brought some of their own guests, so that added to the number of people who seemed to know of her. But there were also those she didn't know and that she knew she had no connection with who would say hi and wish her a happy birthday. While unanticipated, she actually enjoyed it because it meant she got to meet a lot of new people, even if on the surface she treated the situation like one with any other friend. Still, Elijah wasn't wrong in his hypothesis. "Oh, I'm very insulted," she said half-absently, letting go of his arm to scope the food that she just declared she wasn't interested in. With the way she immediately forgot his initial question upon looking at the new food options, the sarcasm in her statement inevitably increased tenfold. It wasn't her fault though. Even with the food items changing, it hadn't escaped Chanel's notice that this was all stuff she absolutely loved. The amount of shrimp options were unprecedented and after she was conditioned to expect a new assortment of shrimp appetizers, she was easily pulled back to the buffet area time and again to see what else there could be. Ooh, and more tiramisu! This was definitely Cara's doing because Chanel definitely remembered them informing her that there were no more. Another scan across the table and the way the tiramisu dessert jars completely and obnoxiously outnumbered the other flavors definitely had Cara's name written over it. If she wasn't in heels, she would have bounced on the balls of her feet. She settled for simply pumping his fists in excitement. "Chocolate mousse!!" she squealed as she turned back to Elijah, fully expecting him to have heard her inner dialogue just then. Retrospectively, she heard what he had said, and that jogged her memory. She pulled her lips in a smidge awkwardly, mostly trying to hide her smile; this was most definitely not the act of a seductress. Seductresses didn't fawn over tiramisu and--was that more cheesecake?!

"It's tiramisu. They said they were out, but Cara pulled some strings"--or threatened to waterboard them--"and now there's so much of it." After the fact, she realized that explained herself probably didn't help her case, and even more, made her seem super duper drunk. "I'm not drunk, I promise. I just have a really vibrant personality, so sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. Here." She handed him the dessert cup. She couldn't seriously just lose her composure over some chocolate and not try to redeem herself. He would understand as soon he tried some--he had to. When she turned back to him, she had the shrimp and chorizo hor's d'oeuvres in her possession. There were was more tiramisu than there was shrimp options right now, so she reasoned that she could hold off. It still didn't keep her from being nervous when she saw someone else grab one and fawn over the same thing: there were more!!

"There's no grilled cheese out here," she said with a giggle. "We'll just go to the kitchen. I can't promise they'll cook it on a cast iron skillet, but I can promise you that the truffle oil will change your life. That is if I haven't totally scared you off yet." She could hear her mother's voice in the back of her mind, chastising her baiting-and-switching 'poor Elijah' who was clearly 'starving' while she just sat and ate her shrimp. Chanel looked back at the handful of appetizers that she wanted to dig into. Maybe they had some leftovers in the kitchen. Maybe they were already preparing food for the next menu! Still, her tendency for immediate gratification reminded her that she wouldn't fight Elijah if he wanted to stick around and pick at the scraps over here first. It would be rude to try to rush him, she reasoned. "Does anything here catch your fancy before we make our final journey? Or do you also make a mean..." she leaned forward to read the inscription for one of the hors d'oeuvres. "Caviar and Crème Fraîche Tartlets?"​
 
He laughed, but he wasn't fully sure what to think about this girl. She was really hot... or not even hot, but beautiful. The model parallel wasn't even an exaggeration. She truly looked like something off of the runway or the cover of Vogue. However, she was also... something else. He didn't know what word to put to it, because it wasn't quirky, but her description of it being a vibrant personality also didn't seem to encompass it all. Then again, she had just downed three shots. That could make anyone's typically "vibrant" personality seem a little bit more than that. At the same time, maybe he was just too sober, and that was what was making her personality seem more extreme by contrast. Yeah, that was probably it... and even if it wasn't, she was beautiful enough that he would pretend he never noticed that she was crazy tonight, if it turned out she was tomorrow morning.

He accepted the dessert cup, partially because they did look good, and also because he didn't have much of a choice, but he didn't regret it once he tried it. "And here I was thinking you were hyping this up," he said, waving the spoon that he had just licked clean. "Your people know what they're doing with this party stuff, damn," he commented, downing another bite. Tequila, tiramisu, and grilled cheese sounded like a combination that might leave him with his head in the toilet too, tomorrow morning, but he hoped that at least the bread of a grilled cheese would absorb some of the alcohol and work in their favor before it hit the blood stream. A few shots weren't going to mess Elijah up too badly, but sometimes even if he didn't get too drunk, he would still wake up with a bad hangover depending on what he did, or didn't, eat/drink while consuming alcohol. Luckily, the alcohol they were serving here seemed as top shelf as you could get, so that gave him some leeway. He definitely wanted to pick up a drink on the way to the kitchen, and that didn't seem like an outlandish request seeing how they had people walking around here with platters of everything anyone could ask for.

"I don't even know what Crème Fraîche Tartlets means," he admitted with a grin. "I don't speak billionaire like the rest of y'all," he continued, only realizing that he didn't catch her name as he continued with his next line. "Is that why you're being so sus about your name? Part of some crazy rich dynasty that you don't want me to know about?" he pressed teasingly. "Because if so, you know I can keep your secret. TMZ won't be hearing about you sharing a grilled cheese with someone from the proletariat," he insisted, with the use of the last word an ironic attempt at sounding more sophisticated than he felt he was, at least compared to her. "But for real, is this your house? Is that why everyone knows you? Or are you like, one of the Kardashians' friends with half of the world following you on Instagram or something?" The question seemed necessary after she received another greeting from a passerby, and the curious look on his face spoke to how intrigued he was by her popularity. She couldn't be that crazy if all these people seemed to know and like her, and as they headed towards the kitchen and he had a moment to check her out from behind, he was reminded that he didn't really care whether she was crazy or not.

Interacting with: cure cure ​
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Roman's explanation for how he knew Nick and Brooklyn wasn't very surprising, because as he pointed out, it was easy for people to know Nick just because of how he made a living. Granted, most people didn't become best friends with their drug dealer in the way that Roman and Nick had done, but Nick was also an exception to the typical drug dealer. Or at least he was in their interactions. She found Nick to be more personable than she had initially expected him to be, but she knew that it was dumb to assume that he treated everyone the way he treated her. It wasn't like he showered her in love and affection, but he was kind outside of the duties of a drug dealer. It was possible that she appreciated him because in a way, he was similar to her. He didn't say more than what was necessary, and he wasn't a nuisance. He didn't try to dig into her business or make unnecessary conversation, but at the same time, his presence was somehow comforting at times, if she was craving socialization with someone who wasn't a child. At the same time, she held some level of respect for him because she knew that while he had a mellow personality in his day to day doings, she got the sense that he wasn't the kind of guy you wanted to try to hustle. He was like her with that; capable of maintaining a neutral disposition but wouldn't flinch at the idea of having to stab you in the throat if you pushed the wrong button on the right day. She had also guessed early on that he was a born and raised New Yorker, and even if she wasn't consciously aware of it, that had also probably played into her willingness to trust him, if only because she knew how New York drug dealers behaved. Even feeling like Nick's persona compared to hers in some way, she didn't have any interest in befriending him in the way that Roman had, but that probably just spoke to how different her situation was to Roman's. Truly, she didn't know what Roman's deal was, but he didn't have a problematic sixteen-year-old to parent, and that was all she needed to know in that instance.

"I know them in the same way that I know everyone else on that floor," she responded, alluding to Holly's inability to not attempt to befriend every person that crossed her path. She nudged Ruby after ordering a drink for herself at the bar that they had just reached, smiling instinctively when she noticed the girl had ordered a cocktail too. "You grew up with them, didn't you? Team Generational Wealth?" she pressed in a teasing manner, as she raised her fresh glass to her lips and took a small sip of the Sidecar she had ordered. She knew that Ruby knew Cara prior to moving into the building, and she also knew that they weren't best friends or anything, but she did assume that they knew each other fairly well. It could have also just been due to her inability to fully grasp the level of Cara's wealth, and assuming that because Ruby was also wealthy, they just had to run in the same circle. "I spy your friends," she added, addressing Roman then, as she looked past Ruby at the pair heading towards them. She mentally noted, offhandedly, that it was a shame that Brooklyn was such a miserable bitch on the inside because she was pretty on the outside. Nick was too, but with a more desirable looking inside--he cleaned up better than Makayla expected.​
 
Brooklyn didn't have a specific location in mind as she led Nick outside. She figured that they would run into some form of cool entertainment - women hanging from trapezes, someone eating fire, something like that, so while she walked with a purpose, pulling him behind her, she was really leading him in an aimless fashion, weaving in and out of people who seemed oblivious that they were idiotically in her way. She still had a drink in hand so she wasn't outright seeking a bar, but considering Brooklyn's habit, she always seemed to gravitate towards alcohol sources, purposefully or not. Seeing one in her line of sight just gave her the push to down the one in her hand faster than a cocktail should be consumed. She placed the empty glass on the tray of someone passing by, uncaring of whether it was an appropriate move or not. "Catch up, slowpoke," she said, looking back at Nick with a smirk. If he was going to run off to smoke every other minute, the least he could do was keep up with Brooklyn while they were drinking together. She was too used to him when he was high, but it was rarer that he actually got drunk. He drank alcohol fairly regularly, but never to an extent where he was visibly intoxicated. It didn't bother her because as long as she was drunk, she was usually content, but she also wouldn't deny that it was fun when he was intoxicated and out of his element.

"Where have you been all night, bitch boy?" she said as soon as she noticed that Roman was standing by the bar. Her tone was curious, playful even, but still in a way that was relative to Brooklyn's normal behavior, so a stranger standing beside them might have assumed she was being demeaning and harsh when she wasn't. Ruby and Makayla were standing nearby too, and though they were very close to Roman, Brooklyn just assumed that it was a coincidence. She wouldn't imagine that Roman would have went out of his way to hang out with them, over anyone else. In fact, she would have seen him hanging out with Cara or Chanel as being more realistic. At least with those two, he could openly make fun of them without it being mean or cruel, just because they were both obnoxious enough that they were literally asking for it just by existing.

"Don Julio on the rocks," she ordered from the bartender, bypassing a couple who had clearly been waiting for their turn. She opted against acknowledging Ruby and Makayla, partially because she didn't think that they were with Roman, and partially because she just didn't feel like it. Neither of them were bothersome, at least not now that their typical redheaded counterpart wasn't in sight, but they also didn't bring enough to the table for Brooklyn to really care about them. She didn't mind Makayla and respected her to an unspoken extent, and maybe alone she would have said something to her, but with her little friend, it didn't seem necessary. Their presence alone wouldn't have been enough to keep Brooklyn pulling Nick deeper into the party, but when Cara and Chanel's brother appeared, she was thoroughly tempted to do so, before her drink was even prepared. "This property is how big? And there are how many people at this party? And yet we just have to run into certain people nonstop," she complained aloud, accepting her drink graciously, as it couldn't have come at a better time.​
 
The lack of experience that Ruby had with anyone outside of the three girls she lived with, and Cara, showed in that she didn't catch on to what Roman meant when he said that he knew Nick in the same way that everyone else knew Nick. She knew that he was a drug dealer, but she wasn't in a mindset to put two and two together like that. While she knew that Makayla got her weed from Nick too, Ruby probably wouldn't have assumed that that was why Makayla befriended him in the first place. She was ignorantly innocent in wanting to assume that they had been friendly on a more neutral basis and that it just so happened that he had been helpful in that regard after the fact. "I wouldn't say that I grew up with them," Ruby contended, shifting her weight between her feet. "My parents knew her parents, and my dad still does some corporate legal work for her dad's company, so I knew her as a kid, but she and Collin were years younger than me, so it wasn't like we were hanging out regularly or anything." Though she knew that she was being playful, Makayla's reference to them both coming from money left Ruby unsure of how to respond outside of that. Ruby wasn't blind to the privilege that she had in that respect, but it didn't make it any easier to respond to in normal conversation.

She sipped her drink, semi relieved when Makayla pointed out that Roman's friends had found them without them having to go on much of a hunt. There wasn't much time to acknowledge them before Cara came over, but with the way Brooklyn greeted Roman and then ordered a glass of straight tequila, Ruby didn't think that she wanted to acknowledge them anyway. She wondered what Brooklyn and Nick had in common, what their story was. They were both pretty faces and they both seemed fairly dysfunctional and lacking cohesion with normal society, but she assumed, for some reason, that their back story was one that she would probably find to be fascinating. If she caught Roman alone again and in a friendly mood, maybe she would ask him. She supposed that she could ask Cara too, though, as she had pointed out just a second ago, they weren't really as close as some apparently perceived them to be. Cara wasn't alone, but came with one of Chanel's brothers in tow. This one was... Devon. Ruby was 95% sure of it. The twins were clearly identical so she was relying on their outfits to identify them from afar. Though she had only met them a handful of times, she had realized that it was possible to decipher between the two of them once they opened their mouths, though. Their personalities differed enough that even if they were wearing identical outfits, if you conversed with them, you could probably figure it out. Surprisingly, Ruby found herself taking another sip of her drink before feeling capable of acknowledging them. "Hey, you two," she offered with a smile. She was glad that Chanel's brother was here, merely because she knew that he was underage and it was a relief to see that he was alive and well, even if it hadn't been an overarching fear on her mind before she saw his face. ​
 
Devon was both relieved and mildly concerned when his sister left. He wasn't so worried that it led him to do anything, namely because he and Cara seemed to know each other. Plus, in his mind there wasn't any reason to worry. It would be an odd night in his book if a guy didn't try to talking to her, and so it was miraculous that she hadn't ended tied up in the back of someone's trunk by now. As far as he could tell, the girl was covered in the blood of Christ, but he also knew she wasn't as oblivious as she pretended to be around guys. It was something that had always irritated him, but maybe that was mostly in part because he hated any and all of the guys she brought home. He couldn't peg Elijah in the five seconds he was standing here before going off with Chanel, but if he was actually as pleasant as he seemed, there really was no cause for concern. Chanel only ever went after the guys who wanted to waste her time. More importantly, though, her absence meant he could enjoy the company of someone he really didn't mind. He smiled widely as he fell in stride with her. Devon had always liked Cara. She was really pretty, and that was about it. Sure, there were other things he could name if asked, but it really all stemmed from him thinking she was cute. Unlike Chanel, he actually did like having some familiar company in a situation like this. It was a rare occasion where he got to be around a girl this out of his league, and for any twenty-year-old boy, it was a bit daunting.

"You mean besides you? Let's see. I like..." Anybody. If they were cute enough, that was all he cared about. It would explain why he's never had a girlfriend. Everything and everyone catches his eye. There was the one girl from last semester's anthropology class that had managed to remain a constant during that time, but he wasn't at school anymore, and school would always be there, and therefore so would she. Right now, he only had eyes for the blonde right beside him, and if he could hold her attention for a couple of more drinks (for his own liquid courage), maybe just maybe... "Whoa. Tell me you know any of them," he said, placing his hands on her shoulder as he spoke into her ear. Brooklyn, Mikayla, and Ruby together were a sight for sore eyes. From a distance, he didn't immediately recognize Mikayla. He knew her name better than her face, and he knew that she was Holly's sister. The latter was the one tended to pop up on his Facetime calls with Chanel though, and so he only ever had the chance to run into her when he was actually at his sister's place. Even while he was there, Chanel did everything in her power to treat him like a mistress hiding in plain sight.

As they approached, he overheard the way Brooklyn greeted the guy at the bar, and was mildly shocked until he saw the guys reaction. He couldn't hear exactly what he said over the loud music and chatter, but his expression made him feel a little less nervous about approaching them, despite using Cara as a shield. When the (other) criminally beautiful blonde spotted them, though, the nerves resurfaced. Was she joking? Ruby addressing them pulled his mind away from that thought momentarily. "Roommates," he greeted back, though it was also a solid cover for not knowing their names off the top of his head. "We need to talk about how and why you keep getting prettier each time I see you." While Brooklyn noticed that Roman was standing close to the other two girls, Devon did too but assumed it meant that they were together. Right now, the set up told him that all five were chatting around the bar, and Brooklyn seemed to know Cara, so Devon figured it was safe to assume that Cara knew the others as well. That on top of the fact that it seemed like every single girl Chanel knew or roomed with was another level of fine, he figured Brooklyn was in that arena too. "And I'm gonna have to disagree," he said in reference to her earlier statement. "It's definitely too big if it's my first time seeing you." Devon certainly didn't realize how pathetically juvenile he looked around all of these women who definitely weren't doing like him and asking his mom to cashapp him money for video games. He realized it even less so because he still wasn't registering that the guy Brooklyn had her hand on was very obviously her date. It wasn't because he was too stupid to put two and two together; he was too narrow sighted to even register Nick in his line of vision. ​
 
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Chanel grabbed a cup of tiramisu to go. This time, she put in a dedicated effort to not get distracted by what he was saying, which was unnecessarily difficult. The giddiness she felt definitely wasn't all because of the tiramisu, but she didn't want to admit that those shots were hitting her earlier than anticipated. The outside air brought a nice chill to her body. She hadn't even realized just how warm it was inside. "I'm Chanel," she said with a bit of laughter. "This is Cara's place, but we've been here for a few days to celebrate my birthday. It's a mix of her friends and mine, but I don't know everyone. I think she just sent a picture of me to everyone and forced them to make sure they knew who I was. But it's fun getting to meet so many new people." For any average person, being greeted back to back, especially by people you didn't know, would be tiring. Chanel would be lying if she said she wasn't looking forward to escaping into the kitchen for a little while, but she would be just as dishonest to say that she didn't enjoy the attention. Even with her own extroverted family, she stood in a class all her own when it came to socializing. The number of talks her parents had with her as a little girl about stranger danger was more than she could count, and also more than she could remember simply because it went in one ear and out the other. "Like you," she said before eating a spoonful of her dessert. She gave him a playful wink.

"So I guess that would make me, like, a Jordyn Woods or something?" She shrugged. "I'm not mad at it, but I'm also cool with going back to being Chanel for a few minutes so this grilled cheese is sounding better and better." As they got closer to the main house, she looked towards Eli and examined him. "So let me get this straight. You know Cara, but somehow you're the proletariat? No way, no way." Chanel shook her head, refusing to attempt to make it make sense. She only knew Cara by chance. There were a million and one other places in New York that they could have lived in, and they managed to live in the same one, on the same floor. She highly doubted that was Elijah's case. Adding to that theory, every one of Cara's friends that Chanel had come across, either in person or on social media, was of that top one-percent circle. It was reasonable to assume that Elijah was the one who was miles ahead of her financially. And they had to be close enough him to be invited here. "You're definitely the one being sus right now," she declared, flipping his words back on him. "And now I'm seriously doubting your grilled cheese making capabilities."​
 

Elijah couldn't help but to laugh when Chanel compared herself to being Jordyn Woods. He was surprised though, when she revealed that this was Caraline's house, and that it was her birthday, but they truly weren't bombshell revelations. Caraline Forrester was probably one of the very, very few people on the planet whose family could afford such a place like this, and after literally seeing her here in the flesh, it should have clicked immediately that this was her house. Secondly, given just how many people knew Chanel and were fawning over her in the short time he had known her, it also should have been obvious that she was the star of the show tonight. He had just given her credit for having an endearing personality and being beautiful, both of which were still true, but probably didn't carry enough weight for her to be as popular as she seemingly was. "Nah, you are fully the sus one for only just now telling me it's your birthday!" he insisted with feigned offense, though the "only just now" wasn't much of a fair claim considering that they hadn't known each other for more than a few minutes anyway. Still, had she not seemed so laid back and fun, he would have felt like a fool, and maybe even guilty, for showing up to her birthday party without even realizing that it was being thrown for her. "But for real, happy birthday! And you owe it to me now to pretend that was the first thing that came out of my mouth when I met you. I don't need our future grand kids thinking I was a dumbass with no game like that," he expressed with a serious tone, though his grin spoke to the lighter, more flirtatious nature he was going for.

"I really don't know her-know her like that. Just through mutual friends, and barely even that, honestly. I dated someone years ago who grew up in a similar lifestyle to her, I guess, and Caraline's got a name that most people in that world know. Or anyone who's anyone, at least," he explained, the last part widening his smile as he falsely hyped up his own level of importance. Caraline was years younger than him, but because he had attended a private school and dated girls who attended the same school as her, and just generally existed in that social sphere of the filthy rich, he was introduced to people and names that he wouldn't have been otherwise. He didn't know Caraline on a personal level, but he had met her a few times before. He didn't realize that she didn't remember him, but it also wasn't shocking or truly offensive since it really had just been in passing at big parties and events (many of which they were all drinking at, so there was that too). He only would have been embarrassed if Cara had pulled Chanel aside to tell her she had no idea who he was because of how he was sure Chanel would have become disinterested in him immediately, so he got off lucky in that regard.

He scoffed with feigned offense at her doubt of his cooking skills. He was no Gordon Ramsey, but he could hold his own in the kitchen, and a grilled cheese was something that seemed hard to mess up. Even after finishing his tiramisu, it still sounded like a taste of heaven and her earlier mention of truffle oil already had him salivating. "I really should put your high society, birthday-hiding, sketchy-ass self to shame with my cooking skills, but unlike you, it isn't every day that I have personal chefs up and waiting to cook for me in the middle of the night, so maybe I won't embarrass you like that tonight," he teased, opening the door for her once they reached the house. He allowed her to enter first to be polite, but also because he had no idea as to where he was going. "But for real, I can't believe it's your birthday. How'd I get lucky enough to get to hang out with the birthday girl, and how long will it be before your boyfriend comes and tries to jump me? If it's gonna happen, it better be before those shots hit you and you hit the floor, because that's not a look I'm going for," he joked, though the boyfriend comment was purposeful, as he tried to weigh whether he actually was about to get himself into trouble here. He didn't care if she had a boyfriend or not--he was going to shoot his shot regardless because she was fine as hell, but he wanted to be prepared for dealing with the potential of a broken knuckle tomorrow if he had to pummel a guy's face in for coming for him first.

Interacting with: cure cure ​
 
Nick smiled knowingly as Brooklyn downed her drink and playfully chastised him for falling behind on that front, and continued to follow her through the groups of people outside. He could drink and hold his liquor, but the only time that he was ever really big on getting drunk to a point where he couldn't recall his own name was when he was in a very dark place mentally. Weed kept him in a pleasant mood otherwise, and though he would admit that a buzz from alcohol was different than from weed, he felt less inclined to overindulge in the former than the latter, if for no other reason than because of the next-day punishment that alcohol often came with. Besides, there really was no "catching up" when it came to Brooklyn. She had a good tolerance with liquor, and while she did still get noticeably drunk after a certain amount of drinks, being intoxicated was more familiar to her, so she was more comfortable with it. Nick didn't mind the liquid courage, social inclination, or stupidity, that came with alcohol, but he just preferred being mellowed out, even at an event like that. With that being said, he wasn't incapable of enjoying alcohol, and he finished his drink by the time they reached the bar, though he didn't automatically order anything like Brooklyn did.

He was glad to see some familiar faces once they got there. Roman was there, as was Makayla. Ruby was present as well, but Nick wasn't really familiar with her outside of knowing that she lived with Makayla and Chanel. She seemed all right but honestly, it was rare that Nick connected with strangers in any way outside of weed. If she wasn't a smoker, it made sense that he hadn't ever had a reason to talk to her or befriend her. It didn't strike Nick as odd that Roman was there with the two girls, if for no other reason than because Nick wasn't feeling very over analytical right now. They were in the middle of an amazing party, one that was probably cool enough to be a one-in-a-lifetime experience for him, and scrutinizing the interactions around him wouldn't compare in importance. Plus, since he considered himself to be friendly with Makayla, he just assumed Roman to be as well, even if there wasn't any ground behind that.

He didn't realize what Brooklyn was complaining about at first, but it clicked as he turned his head and noticed Cara and a guy approaching them. He figured that Brooklyn was probably half joking in the way she normally was, where you could only really tell she wasn't being 100% serious if you knew her behavior pattern. She and Cara weren't on as horrible of terms as one would expect given the history, and Nick was very grateful for that. The fact that Cara was willing to host them despite all of it spoke to that. While he didn't recognize the guy that Cara was with immediately, he did seem familiar, and the youthful look in his face made his flirtatious comments towards Brooklyn seem innocent enough that Nick didn't feel inclined to step in and cut him off. Then again, maybe it was stupid to feel that way, considering how Collin had went there and if anyone seemed harmless, it would have been him. Nonetheless, Nick nodded to Roman and the girls, "What have you all been up to?"​
 
"I'm gonna have to have a word with your sister for not warning you about this one, love," Makayla offered with a soft smile, though her eyebrow was raised slightly in a playful and curious quirk as she watched Chanel's brother make a move towards Brooklyn. She wasn't sure which of the twins it was, as she had only met them a handful of times, but it wouldn't have mattered regardless, as even if it was the one known for being more boisterous, she still would've felt like he was playing with fire for going for Brooklyn like that. If Chanel was going to warn them of anything, it probably deserved to be to avoid going after the girl whose last suitor had nearly been knocked into a vegetative state by the boyfriend that happened to be standing right before them now. Outside of Nick being hyper-protective (apparently), Brooklyn was also just unpleasant. Pretty on the outside, but siren-like in that, because she had enough beauty to lure unsuspecting men in before revealing her unpleasant personality.

She smiled at Cara who had come over with Chanel's brother just seconds after Nick and Brooklyn. Though Nick's presence reminded her of why Roman had approached her in the first place, and that alone had her reconsidering smoking now, she didn't want to put Ruby in that position. The drink she was sipping now was strong, and if she was going to get drunk tonight, she supposed that would be fun too. If nothing else, she'd try to grab Nick before the night ended to get a little bit of bud to smoke before falling asleep. "Oooh, let's see what's going on over there," Makayla said, taking Ruby's hand in a move that she refused to allow herself to overthink, given the context of doing it. There was some sort of contortionist in the distance that a few people had gathered by to watch do something, and it looked cool enough to deserve a few minutes of their time. Besides, even if Nick hadn't reacted to Devon's attempt at Brooklyn yet, he had proved months ago that while he was clutch when it came to weed, he was also a loose cannon. Makayla didn't want to see or hear anything she didn't want to be involved in in the long term, so it seemed like good timing to slip away from the group.

Ruby offered the group a parting smile, though she doubted that any of them really cared that they were leaving. "Interesting bunch," she commented, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She wasn't attempting to be sarcastic; they were interesting. Despite not being a key player in it, she had somehow found herself intertwined into this strange little bunch, and she didn't know how to feel about that. They weren't people she would have picked out as ones she would have imagined herself befriending or interacting with, but here they were. It wasn't a bad thing, they weren't bad people (for the most part). It was just strange to think about the unexpected twists and turns that life could take one in. Had Ruby decided to live on her own, which she could have managed from a financial standpoint, there was no telling where she would be right now, and who she would be with. Sure, these people were quirky, and had at times brought her more stress than seemed worth it, but she couldn't say that she wasn't happy with the way her life was going right now. Things weren't perfect, but she was happy, and even once they reached the entertainer that Makayla had led her too, she didn't make an effort to free her hand from the soft one that was clasped around hers.

The contortionist in front of them could bend her body in ways that were baffling (and admittedly, somewhat alarming) to Ruby. She had big white feathers in her hands that made each movement look more mesmerizing. "What's more impressive: whatever the girls at your job do, or this?" she whispered playfully to Makayla. She had never been to a strip club before, which probably wouldn't surprise anyone, but she had seen movies where it was depicted, though she wasn't sure if that was accurate or just dramatized for the theatrical aspect of it.
​
 
Roman didn't have a chance or need to head over to Nick and Brooklyn after Makayla nodded in their direction. They appeared soon after, with Brooklyn ensuring that everyone else knew too thanks to her vibrant announcement. He innately rolled his eyes as they approached before retorting, "Trying to avoid you." While that wasn't necessarily true, it also wasn't technically a lie either since he jad really been in search of Nick. Roman couldn't respond to her cheekiness unrequited though.

Speaking of avoiding... Sometimes even he has difficulty recognizing the line between jest and sincerity with her. Maybe if there wasn't history between Cara and Brooklyn he would have been more sure that Brooklyn was just being obnoxious, but there always seemed to be an element of surprise with her. So even though she and Cara seemed to be okay for the past couple of months, he couldn't be too sure, especially not when alcohol was involved. He assumed that she was only talking about Cara because he knew standing next to her was Cara's brother. There was a straight thirty minute period where it seemed he was running into Chanel every corner he took, and inevitably, he came across her brothers. He didn't realize that this one wasn't the one he had met earlier, namely because he didn't know there were two, so the only explanation he had for the kid's newfound personality was all the champagne being passed around.

Like Nick, he didn't take his flirting with Brooklyn to be serious. If he did, it still wouldn't have stopped him from turning around to order himself a drink since Nick (and Brooklyn for that matter) could handle their own. He turned back to the group just as Devon finished explaining that he and Cara were just enjoying the festivities.

"Lavish party and has you on babysitting duty?" Roman perked; he was impressed with Chanel to say the least. "She's got you whipped." He nudged Brooklyn, nodding toward Nick as he was referenced. "You should take some tips so you can finally get this one into shape."​
 
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Chanel's brother was like a male version of her, though Cara wouldn't say that to the girl (at least not in a non-teasing way), since as a sister to a brother herself, she knew it was hard to see them as anything but annoying. Devon's energy was high and upbeat and Cara appreciated how like his sister, he was good at just purely having fun. She somewhat wished she could be like that; able to turn off the voice in her head that felt compelled to want things to be perfect. She supposed that maybe it wasn't even a perfectionist-like voice that kept her on the brink of annoyance at all times. It seemed like more of a self-sabotage voice. She often seemed to want to find something wrong with things, even when there was no need to. She didn't have an explanation for why she was like that. It didn't stem from wanting power over people, or wanting to seem like she was too good for whatever was in front of her at the moment. Perhaps it stemmed from a deeper feeling of inadequacy. The same one that had her shifting uncomfortably in her seat the moment her childhood friends started talking about their important jobs, prestigious degrees, or doctor boyfriends. The world she was raised in was one that was so competitive, and for most of her life, she had easily been able to drift along for the ride without having to worry about that competition. She had more money than most of her friends (even if it wasn't something that they glaring cared about, since at some point, a lot of money just meant a lot of money, regardless of how many zeros were attached to it). She had more friends than many people in her school. She had nice clothes, and nice things, and went on nice vacations. The competition and need to consider that she wasn't good enough wasn't something that had really affected her as a child, because whether she was fully aware of it or not, most of her peers were likely playing catch up to her.

Now, there were new priorities on the table, and Cara hadn't aligned her life choices to make those priorities ones in her life. She didn't attend an Ivy League school, she never cared to intern at Deloitte or Goldman Sachs, and her love life was nothing to flaunt. Maybe it was just how everyone felt at her age, like everyone had their shit figured out besides her, but it was probably at least part of why Cara hyper-focused on the perfection of things that carried much less weight in the eyes of anyone else. It was probably also why she didn't hate living where she did as much as she acted. The people that she had met on her floor allowed her to feel more close to the way she did when she was younger, when she was still above everyone in every aspect of life. Some of the others were more career driven than she was in the bigger picture, but being a waitress, or a barista, or a drug dealer didn't make you much better than someone who was unemployed in her opinion. She was probably more comfortable mentally being surrounded by people she found to be lesser than her in one way or another, simply because it didn't create a demand that she become more herself. Back with her old friends, the discomfort would resurface and have her questioning what her purpose in life was, but at least right now, the alcohol left that as a less demanding thought to answer to.

Makayla beat her to warning Devon that Brooklyn wasn't worth his while, in the same way that she wasn't even worth a response on Cara's end. The bitterness that the girl exuded wasn't flattering, but it didn't bother Cara anymore, really. She felt like Brooklyn put it on for show in situations like this because as Cara would readily point out, she was more than welcome to move out of her apartment if she wanted to (or if she really did as well financially as she acted like she did stripping...). "It's called being nice and friendly," she corrected Roman. "The same reason behind why you're still allowed to be present here." She looked to Devon and rolled her eyes. "This is what I have to deal with on a daily basis. Your sister's a saint for somehow being able to do it with a smile."​
 
"Oh?" Chanel exclaimed through laughter at the mention of their future descendants. While she was surprised at the remark, she was still quite humored by his boldness. It didn't come across as arrogant or disingenuous, and to be fair, she did start things off talking about marriage. It still always felt like a game of chance with guys though. They were either too cautious or too overzealous. Even the good apples who had a nice balance tended to get too comfortable and say something a little more than tongue-in-cheek. He wasn't wrong or overstating Cara's apparent reach though. His connection with Cara, even through a thin and seemingly outdated mutual connection would have seemed a bit extraneous, but Chanel obviously took the cake for the most unlikely connection. She did take it as somewhat of a compliment that she seemed as though she could blend in with this crowd. While she didn't feel sorely out of place, let alone at all out of place, she knew that this wasn't her crowd. Perhaps the only real reason she feigned so well here was because it was just more of the same surface level pretending she did in high school. Of course, in high school no one was worth their salt, especially compared to all of the trust fund babies she was mingling with tonight. She had learned, though, that very few people were worth it, and so that made it a lot easier to not be intimidated. These were just people at the end of the day. People she would never see again. People who would never remember her face or her name or their conversation about how cool it was to go to Fashion Week each year. Chanel enjoyed gawking, and these were the kind of people who enjoyed being gawked over. The one holding the door for her now only seemed different in that regard. She didn't need him to stand out against the other two; it was fine with her that they simply end up being nothing more than a memory, if that.

"Like you care if I have boyfriend," she chided him as she looked over her shoulder. "I think I'll keep you on your toes." Chanel knew this dance. To an extent, some things could be explained by her looks, but she wasn't going to over credit herself. The way she saw, guys didn't actually care if you were taken, especially if they were just looking for a hit it and quit it situation. Despite their mutual familial jests, neither of them were pegging the other out to be a potential partner. Maybe he was one of the handful who actually did mind, but considering that she herself didn't really care how moral he was for her intents and purposes, she wasn't going to bother with benefits of the doubt. She would save the standards for the wedding arch. "Now are you actually worried about my BAC out of concern, or because you've barely had a taste of tipsy me and already know you can't handle me when those shots kick in?" She stopped walking just long enough for him to catch up to her. "Ooh! Or do you want to make sure I'm still sober enough to consent to having sex with you? Hopefully a little bit of the latter, because I'll admit I do better with an accountability partner. Relax, though. There's, like, 20 beds on the property; we have time. Well," she said after a beat, her lips pouting in thought. "We did before you had the audacity to not know I'm the woman of the hour. Now the only warm bite you're getting is this grilled cheese. Kitchen's this way."

Had she been paying attention, she would have taken them in from the kitchenette instead of the main entry. In practice, it really wouldn't have mattered much. It was a short walk to the lower floor kitchen, and an easy one considering the aroma coming from it. She closed her eyes to greater appreciate the inhale she took. She led them inside the kitchen. She noticed a second's worth of confusion on everyone's face before they realized it was just her coming inside. "Happy birthday!" one of them called, followed in unison by the others.

"Thank you!" She eyed Elijah up and down with pursed lips as she accepted her compliments, as though to say 'At least someone noticed.' "On a scale of one to ten, how impossible would it be to get a grilled cheese sandwich? For the both of us?"

"Ahh," one of the staff, whose name she only knew because he had been unlucky enough to get wrapped into conversation with her earlier in the week, cooed as he eyed the young couple. His name was Julian and he was a Yankees fan like her dad. She was also a huge fan of the smoked salmon and cucumber snack he made for her and Cara a few days ago, and it was in a situation similar to now that she got to chat with him. It being mildly inappropriate having escaped her at the time, she called him out for being a Black face in a sea of white, determining his boujie delicious food stemmed from a shared cultural upbringing rather than supposed extensive training in his field. It wasn't that Chanel felt so out of place while she was here. Rather, it was virtually always a cultural experience of sorts to find someone else who looked you like in these kinds of climates if for no other reason than to share a silent head nod in understanding. Now had her parents heard her chastise Cara for hiding all her skinfolk from her, she would have been slapped into the next century. She really didn't know much else about him, but as far as she was concerned, this was her homie. He seemed to forgive her for her uninitiated ways of yesteryear, and the way he walked over to return her fist bump validated her assumption that they were pals. "Just a grilled cheese, Miss Nasiri?"

"I mean, I don't know about him, but I will literally eat anything you put in front of me." Tonight's food was no joke, but the food the staff had been cooking all week was enough to make Chanel never want to step foot in a restaurant again. Why would you when you had one in your own home? "He might be tricky since he's been trying to dog walk your grilled cheese making skills."

"Oh okay." Julian laughed heartily. "You know how to throw down in the kitchen, young man? I can't have you comin' in here trying to take my job from me now!"​
 
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Brooklyn was initially caught off guard, if only for a moment, by the boy that approached with Cara, but it didn’t take more than a few seconds for her alcoholically slowed mind to put the puzzle pieces together and realize who was standing in front of her. Chanel and her siblings bore enough resemblance that it wasn’t impossible to realize who he was after looking at his face for a few seconds, but Brooklyn had also seen him around earlier in the night with Chanel, so that was really where the connection came into play. She probably had known that Chanel had siblings before tonight because Holly finding a piece of chewed gum on the cement was important enough to her to share with Brooklyn, so any time she got an opportunity to pop into one of Chanel’s Facetimes with anyone, be it a brother or friend, Brooklyn ended up hearing about it (by no request of her own). However, she didn’t care enough to store it as a piece of essential knowledge in her head, nor to analyze faces of boys, so had she not learned that the boys with Chanel earlier were her brothers, it probably wouldn’t have occurred to her on her own.

Maybe ‘boy’ wasn’t a fair way to describe the guy standing in front of her, but there was enough of a youthful look in his face to strike Brooklyn as being in the eighteen-ish range. She couldn’t talk when it came to hooking up with people who were younger than her considering that she had slept with Collin by her own persuasion, but still, that had an underlying purpose. She hadn’t been attracted to Collin’s appearance or personality, even if neither were bad enough to make her sick to her stomach thinking about either. She was happy with Nick, but if she were to ever seriously seek out a new partner, it would likely be someone a couple of years older than herself, and definitely not younger.

Makayla invited herself into the interaction, commenting in a way that made Brooklyn want to roll her eyes, but she was occupied (and content) enough with her drink that she refrained. “More like the rest of us are saints for putting up with the two of you valley girls,” she retorted, as Cara attempted to paint herself as a victim at her expense. Well, maybe it was at Roman’s extent, as his comment had been the more recent one Cara was responding to, but either way, Brooklyn would take offense. Just as easily as she would call Cara out for playing the victim, she would walk the line of doing as well. In her defense, even if all of her problems were first world like Cara’s, they weren’t first world “and I have a gazillion dollars” problems.

“I’m more concerned with you staying dry tonight,” she answered Roman, as despite it being playful anyway, Nick becoming “whipped” (which in her eyes, was just being able to compromise, as if he didn’t do that already) was a conversation that Brooklyn had had too many times with him this trip. She didn’t know if not acknowledging Chanel’s brother further than the bare smile, that she had scrounged up out of politeness, was wrong, but given the flow of the conversation, it also didn’t seem like a blatant snub. The alcohol was flowing, people were talking, and things were moving fast, but slowly at the same time somehow. Makayla and Ruby were gone before Brooklyn even realized it. She looked to Cara, “Not that I’m attempting to speak her presence into existence, but where is Chanel? Used you for your house and ditched you once her own friends showed up?” Brooklyn knew that it wasn’t the case, and had also spotted people at the party would absolutely, 100%, could only be Cara’s friends, but it seemed like a good time to be bothersome, and her words flowed more naturally than they should have when a moment to get under someone’s skin or make things uncomfortable, even minutely, presented itself.​
 
Nick chuckled at Roman’s remark, his eyes skimming past the guy as he examined the crowd for a few seconds, before falling back upon the people in front of him. He didn’t think much of Roman and Cara’s exchange, though it was nice that even if they weren’t speaking the way best buddies would, that it was civil. It wasn’t like the two didn’t bicker still, but if someone were to look back at things, they would notice how the pair had shifted in their interactions from how they had months ago. They were both so different (yet at the same time, more similar than anyone really knew), so the way that they had butted heads from the start couldn’t have shocked anyone. Roman was the “shooting heroin with HIV positive needles waste of life” while Cara was the “delusional, loud-mouthed, bratty, out-of-touch and sickeningly delusional pest”. Every time they crossed paths they seemed to have something unkind to say to each other. Maybe it was because he was so used to Brooklyn (and even Brooklyn and Roman’s banter), but it had never struck Nick as being toxic…just…normal for them. However, even if they still clearly wouldn’t strike a stranger as being friends, they were also clearly more civil with each other. Nick wasn’t someone looking that deeply into it though, if not because he was simply too high to be tuned into that wave length, but because he also hadn’t ever had a reason to put much thought into a relationship that he wasn’t a part of. He still saw Roman and Cara as being opposites, and it was just that their “normal” had shifted gradually enough into something new and less intense, that it hadn’t demanded any extra thought on his part.

“Yeah, I still don’t remember what the hell happened with that whole thing,” he laughed, looking at Roman with a hint of judgement, but overwhelmingly curiosity. He and Brooklyn both had no idea that the pool scene, and Roman ending up drenched, was what had lead to a breaking point between the two. They had no way or reason of knowing, especially since Roman seemed to get wasted and (as far as Nick could tell) enjoy himself for the rest of the night. “You should’ve explicitly spelled it out for this dick that hooking up with girls in a swimming pool isn’t allowed out here,” he said to Cara with a playful smile. “We’re in the Hamptons, bro. Not some summer-before-college coming of age movie.”

He looked to Cara then, his own words reminding him of older times. “Any of your old friends here?” he asked with a smirk, trying to hide the dollar signs in his eyes. “If you guys need a hookup for a throwback to your crazier days, you know I got you. I mean, how often is it that you all see each other? And no matter how sick this party is, no party can’t be made better by a good old chemical influence.” He doubted that Brooklyn would appreciate this, but he couldn’t help it! She wasn’t wrong that he was a lazy stoner sometimes, but he was a good businessman at heart. When he realized that some of her friends here had to be the same kids she had been buying with years ago when he had locked her in as a client, it seemed idiotic not to attempt to sell to them again. An easy upcharge, and with a little sentimental spin on it, who could say no? “You two ever meet Cara’s friends?” he said, trying to bring the others in it, if only to shift things so Brooklyn wouldn’t stab him in the liver. If they hadn’t met them before, Nick figured they would provide a few minutes of amusement if nothing else. “You’d like them, I bet.”​
 
It was in moments like these that Roman wondered what he did in a past life to deserve the things that happened to him. Even more, it made him seriously contemplate why he was (mostly) sober. Given that he never sought actual help, and instead took a road ironically similar to his self-medication one, it was no wonder that his definition of sober was pretty generous. Still, Roman's previous extracurriculars were so pronounced that even relatively responsible use of weed alcohol could qualify him for being sober. It didn't change the fact that even he doubted just how clean he was. He was largely more considerate with his consumption because he didn't know what would tip him off. Being here this weekend was notably not a good place for him. Nick and Brooklyn's jests were no more than familial teasing, and he knew that, but it didn't mean it was any less embarrassing. It shouldn't have been embarrassing to begin with, he told himself. Roman would heed Cara's wishes and drop the whole thing from earlier, but that didn't mean he was some robot he could just switch his feeling off instantaneously, despite Cara's apparent assumption that he could. Even if he would actually really like for Cara to not think he didn't genuinely like her, in his mind, it was still necessary for him to assert himself in a manner that validated her beliefs. He wasn't going to stand here and look frazzled and flushed in the face--even if that's how he felt--after what she did. He had toed the line of opening up, and it didn't work out. The sooner he could close that opening, the better, but even he was human. The least he could do was fake it until it became a reality. Plus, he reassured himself, it wouldn't take that long seeing as how Cara was probably way advanced on that trek.

"A fine piece is a fine piece, no matter the location." He shrugged, leaning into the idea and historical proof that he didn't care where he was when he was trying to have a good time. Granted, last night's set up was different on many counts, but the quickest way to move past that blemish was to acknowledge it face on. No one benefited from him doing anything but. "I'm keen to give details because last night was not as cutesy as that, but I'll behave, and spare the ladies and kid the vulgarity." He held Cara's gaze for a second, only breaking it with a wink before turning to order more drinks. He was ultimately interrupted by Chanel's brother though.

"No way! I wanna hear what happened."

While Roman was just playing up appearances and making it sound like his night was more Wolf of Wall Street than Sundance, he wasn't going to actually go into any details. Namely because it wasn't that exciting, but he wanted to detonate the topic all around. "Your babysitter can clue you in. I'm sure the view was great from the sidelines." That definitely didn't count as detonating, but it was a bit too easy for him to slip back into his caricature.​
 
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"Laaaameee," Devon bellowed between cupped hands as Roman turned his back to him. He probably would have dragged the topic if Nick hadn't changed topics to one that was just as interesting. As he listened to Nick, a light bulb clicked. "You're the drug dealer!" He announced when the guy finished speaking. He turned to Cara then. "Is this the same dude Chanel has that huge crush on or are there, like, way more dealers on your floor. Yo, where do y'all live? Fine ladies, white glove service for that kush. Y'all think you'll have any openings in 2021? That's when I graduate."

Out of nowhere, he felt someone slink their arm across his shoulder. When he realized it was his long lost brother, he only refrained from pushing him away so that he could emphasize his revelation. "Yo, Chachi got the set up," he said. He pointed to the girls and Nick accordingly. "Fine as hell. Fine as hell. You just missed the other two, but also: fine as hell. Drug dealer. All in the same apartment," he emphasized when it was clear that it just seemed like he was calling random people hot and accusing them of being drug dealers. Gabe blinked in the loud and judgmental way he always did, scanning the group in front him. "Why you being disrespectful?" he asked the way he always did in his flat, tempered voice, albeit this time punctuating it with a short, dry laugh. He continued to elaborate when he saw Devon's blank stare. "That's his girl, bro. C'mon."

"Oh shit," he said in unison with Roman. While Devon's tunnel vision expanding, so it seemed was Roman's as he saw Gabe standing next to him.

"There's two of you."

"Hi again." Gabriel waved, confirming for Roman that this entire time, he had been speaking to the wrong person, as he thought that Dev was Gabriel, because he thought there was only one person. He turned towards his brother, but pointed at Nick. "This the one she been crushin' on?" After Dev nodded to confirm, Gabriel said something in Arabic that warranted a laugh from both parties. Gabriel turned towards Nick, not realizing that his statement was as timely as it was given Nick's recent pitch. "Hey man, I don't mean to interrupt and I don't know if you're off the clock or whatever, but if you got some stuff, I got some people." Despite him being by far the chillest of his siblings, and even the family as a whole, he was actually the wildest of the bunch. On the surface, it would seem like it was his sister, but that's because she was an open book. Only his brother knew about all the stuff he got into. To everyone else, he was the timid baby who got good grades and did as he was told. He did note that Cara was standing just a few feet away though. Even if it sounded as he meant it, which is that he was included in the group of said people who were interested in whatever Nick was selling, he was deliberate in his phrasing. He didn't need Chanel in his business.​
 
Roman's reaction to inquiries about what he had done the night before left Cara looking at him in disgust. Had the two of them not been known for disliking each other as it was, then the expression may have seemed exaggerated or dramatic to an unwarranted extent. However, even if it had cooled down somewhat over the past few months, their reputation of being enemy-like wasn't so far gone that the expression seemed out of place given that. It wouldn't speak to how his callous reaction felt like he was rubbing salt in the wound to the others, but would rather translate to her thinking something along the lines of how she hoped the herpes he picked up was worth it. She was thinking that too, but that wasn't the point, and it wasn't what made his words hurt more than she cared for them to. It had been bad enough that he had went ahead and hooked up with some girl, right in front of her, at her house, when (as far as she believed) he hadn't even been welcomed there, but to do it and then boast about it... in front of her?! If only the butcher knife that Brooklyn liked to threaten Nick with was nearby, or at the very least, the cup of hot butter that Makayla had thrown on Jordan.

If it didn't bother Cara as much as it did, she would have rolled her eyes and told Devon that what had happened was gross, and nothing he would want to replicate, and that if the girl Roman had been with could be considered "fine", then it really spoke to just how mangled his brain was from the meth he smoked. She wasn't choked up, or visibly upset, but she felt upset by it, enough so that all she could muster was an eye roll that was more angry than it was un-amused.

Nick started talking about drugs to her, but Cara wasn't even paying him enough mind to really react to it, until Chanel's other brother had already joined them, and was asking Nick for drugs. The look of disgust still hadn't left her face from Roman's little comments, so even if it followed through as she looked at Chanel's brothers and Nick, it wasn't meant for them. "Hard pass," she said, offering Nick a fake smile followed by an eye roll, as if he was a complete idiot for even suggesting that. "My friends want nothing to do with you people," she said, and the disgust that Roman had brought on came in handy here as she looked between, Nick, Brooklyn, and Roman. Chanel's brothers were exempt here, and were almost already forgotten in Cara's mind because of what had thrown her off. If she remembered the night by tomorrow, she would feel guilty on part of her friendship with Chanel for letting the boys engage with the Trailer Park Trash Crew ™, but right now it wasn't a thought on her mind. "Complete and utter trash, all three of you" she added as she turned to walk away, as if her shot at them already didn't seem unwarranted and misplaced enough as it was.​
 
Makayla chuckled at Ruby's questions, squinting her eyes in thought. The entertainer in front of them definitely had a more specialized and unique skill than the dancers at the strip club, but the dancers there also made so much money that Makayla was sure they were 'talented' in more ways than she was able to view when serving cocktails on the floor. It honestly often had her wondering why Brooklyn still lived with Cara. She was pretty certain that Brooklyn made six figures (especially between her two jobs), and she didn't seem frugal in her ways to an extent that would justify having roommates when it wasn't financially necessary. Add in that said roommate was the girl that slept with your boyfriend, and it made even less sense. It was really just a reminder of how little Makayla knew about these people, despite being... friends? Was that even the right word to use? She wasn't sure, but for all she knew, Brooklyn was sending half of her money to her elderly parents, or supporting a drug habit. The former sounded less likely, but then again, with how snappy she could get sometimes, it wouldn't be shocking if those moments were results of drug crashes. Back to Ruby's question though, Makayla wasn't sure who had more talent, but she knew that despite both forms of entertainment being objectifying (less so the one in front of her, of course), the money seemed worth it. Maybe it meant less coming from someone who had dealt with homelessness, and had worked in the sex industry before, but still. If an opening ever presented itself, Makayla would find a drug that could give her the confidence that those strippers seemed to have, and would get her ass on that stage too.

"If we're talking money-making-talent, then... the girls where I work," she answered, still seemingly debating it by her expression, as she watched the performer in front of them. The woman moved in ways that made it seem like she had no bones, or bones made of rubber. The feathers and the way she moved made it all the more mesmerizing, and Makayla couldn't help but to quietly gasp in awe at one of the maneuvers, which nearly suggested that the girl had ribs made of rubber. "But you know what, if she can do that with her body, she would do very well with the crowd we get there," she added, semi-joking. At least within the industry, it wasn't much of a secret that the show that the strippers put on wasn't the only thing they had to offer. There were a lot of things that people claimed "you couldn't pay me enough to do that" in life, but working there had shown Makayla that in reality, if someone was putting the money up on the table in front of you, that list of things you would never do could get shorter and shorter within seconds. She had no idea if Brooklyn engaged in sex acts in the private rooms with clients, but considering that she did seem to have a nice amount of men that asked for her and seemingly came just to see her, it wouldn't have surprised Makayla. Maybe that was what made her living with Cara a little bit less shocking--she half-believed that Brooklyn and Nick's relationship was more of an open one considering her profession, and that the initial anger had only been because Nick had slept with Cara, specifically. "How many more drinks would it take for you to try to do that?" she added with a laugh before sipping her drink, as the performer moved in ways that were more sensual than before. ​
 
Ruby nearly choked on her drink as Makayla teasingly suggested she try one of the contortionist-style moves that the entertainer in front of them was doing. She shook her head as she finished swallowing, a wide smile forcing its way onto her face once she had finished. "You are out of your mind," she laughed. "Besides, if either of us would be able to do that, we both know it's you, annnnd we both know that it wouldn't take a single more drink for you to try it." Ruby assumed that she had more experience with girls than Makayla did, but she was positive that Makayla was more sexually experienced overall than she was. It definitely wasn't a bad thing, and the way that her eyes lingered on the girl beside her, as she contemplated whether they should just go back to their room now, spoke to that.

Woooooooow, Makayla thought, though she couldn't resist laughing. "Biiitch, get the fuck out of here," she said, responding to Ruby's suggestion that she was the more promiscuous of the two. She tilted her head slightly as she watched the performer with intrigue, before turning back to Ruby to comment, "Highkey wish I could do that though, for real. Maybe if I can get you drunk for once, I'll be in a good enough mood to try it later," she said, eagerly sipping her own drink before tapping the side of Ruby's, to signal for her to hurry up. Cocktails weren't good for binge drinking or getting drunk fast, which was exactly what Makayla was beginning to think this night needed. Smoking was out of the picture right now, but that was okay, because she didn't want to leave Ruby's side, even just for a few minutes in exchange for a good high. They would have fun either way, but a drunk Ruby would make it even more fun. Makayla truly hadn't even been around the girl when she was clearly intoxicated. Maybe a tiny bit tipsy after a few glasses of wine, but nothing that was obvious. She wanted Ruby drunk for the fun of it, but she was also curious to see what kind of drunk she was. Wild? Stupid? Emotional? There was only one way to find out. "Do me a favor?" she asked, putting on her most endearing expression and turning to face Ruby head on, wrapping one of her hands around the girl's wrist.

It sucked that this wasn't how things could always be. Ruby wanted to respect Makayla's comfort levels with what the had going on (and she would), but she wanted something like this without all of the hiding and secrets. Perhaps there was a little bit of draw to the idea that they had to be careful and sneaky, but the thought of being able to just openly enjoy each other all day, everyday was far more alluring. It was really only Chanel and Holly who needed to know for them to be able to do that, but it kind of went without saying that everyone else on the floor would then find out too. Ruby didn't have any reason to believe that any of them would care, and not even in the sense of being homophobic or anything like that, just that she doubted they would care in general about what the two of them were doing. It wasn't like Makayla was exceedingly close with any of the others on the floor, and she couldn't think of a reason for why Chanel would be bothered by it. Maybe explaining it to Holly would be a little awkward, but it wasn't like they were going to be behaving weirdly in front of Holly anyway. "Okay, but only if you do one for me too," she countered.

"Deal," Makayla answered, without missing a beat, as she began to pull Ruby gently away from the small crowd that had formed near the contortionist. "You're taking shots with me," she declared, turning her head back quickly to add, "And you already agreed, so now switching up now." As she looked back ahead, towards wherever the hell she was blindly walking to, she added, "And what do you want from me?"

"I want you to date me," Ruby blurted out, maybe against her better judgement. "I want to actually be able to date you... to be your girlfriend, every day, and not just when we're alone. I really, really, really like you, and I don't want it to just be sex anymore." She instantly decided that that was the stupidest move she had ever made in her life. She looked down at the drink in her hand almost instinctively, as if she was now wondering if she had been drugged or went from sober to beyond wasted in a matter of seconds, because that's how dumb she felt.

Before Makayla could respond (though the way that she had stopped suddenly and the look in her eyes said enough to make Ruby wish she had never opened her mouth), someone grasped Ruby's other arm.

"I need your help." Cara normally acted like she wanted nothing to do with Ruby, so why, oh why, did right now have to be the time when she decided to actually acknowledge her presence? Ruby couldn't object (though it was unlikely that she would blatantly say no anyway), before Cara continued. "I want you to kick Roman, Brooklyn, and Nick out for me. They're selling drugs on my property, and that's not what Chanel would want at her birthday party. I mean, seriously? They're trying to bring that kind of energy into Chanel's new year? Unreal. Be-yond unreal. As her roommate, you can't just sit here and let that happen. I don't know who they think they are, but you have to tell them to leave right now."​
 
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