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Things only proceeded to get weirder, as her question was ignored by both Ruby and Elijah. There wasn't enough of a delay between her asking it and Holly coming in for it to be considered a blatant ignore, but Cara still made note of how it wasn't acknowledged if not out of skepticism, then out of unnecessary offense being taken. She smiled at Holly though, finding it hard not to giggle at the girl's words, especially when she so plainly stated that her sister didn't have any friends. She didn't find the statement itself to be funny, but the way that Holly so obliviously claimed it, clearly unable to take into account the social and emotional implications that came with saying things like that, was funny. The way that she said things in such an unfiltered manner wasn't good for anyone, especially not the young girl herself, but even still, some of the things that came out of her mouth, or at least the oblivious nature of their delivery, were hard not to find amusing. They were even more amusing when Cara wasn't the unassuming victim of them, left fumbling for words. Chanel got to sit in that seat now, but luckily Holly's current topic of conversation wasn't as strange or unexpected as they could be, so Chanel was really getting off easy.

"Oh my god, I used to love Polly Pocket!" she laughed, surprised that Holly even knew what those were. She wasn't that much younger than them age wise, but developmentally she was, which made the age gap seem even more steep. "I literally must've had like a thousand dolls between those, Betty Spaghettys, and Barbies," she said, rolling her eyes at her former self.

Back to the point, and even if Holly was making her laugh, the basis of her request was saddening, especially because she said it so casually. It couldn't have been a surprise to any of them that Holly didn't have many friends her own age, but Cara was never quite sure how cognizant Holly was of that. She hoped that like many things, the girl was blissfully ignorant and was able to think that people in her school were her friends, even if they didn't really act that way towards her. The idea of anyone being able to be mean to such a precious little soul was sad, but middle school kids were basically demons at their core anyway, so if anyone could do it, it would be them. Thankfully, Holly was just as resilient as she was unique, and even if it was sad that she had to ask someone to teach her how to make friends, the lack of negative emotion that she seemed to associate with it was a positive thing. "I'll take Chanel's 'how to make friends' class with you, Holls," she insisted, half-kidding. "Even though I don't think I have as much energy as either of you do to maintain so many friendships." Cara had friends and no, she wasn't explicitly eager to make new ones, but Chanel's party this weekend had solidified just how much of a social butterfly Chanel really was. She could make friends with anyone on the spot, and her friendliness seemed to have no limits. She was much better than Cara was at pretending to care about what people were saying, and she was just so inherently likeable, that people gravitated towards her no matter what.

After putting some food on a plate, she took a sip of her wine, and instantly decided that that was not the move for tonight. It wasn't bad, it really wasn't, but unless Cara was already drunk, she was picky with the wine she drank. She didn't make it obvious, but she set the glass down and then looked to the door. Why not kill two birds with one stone? "Holly, before we eat, do you think your sister would let you come across the hall to my place, just for a minute? I need you to help me find something." She didn't want to have dinner now with Roman anyway, but the very least she could do in return for him being such an ass was ruining his dinner with 90 pounds of pure energy and talkativeness. ​
 
Albeit unknowingly in some way for most of the party, the room was split relatively evenly between those who were drowning in the chaos, and those who weren't. It wasn't like there was anything Ruby or Elijah could say that would quell Chanel's anxiety, but she was taken every grain of salt with a heavy hand. Each piece of information, no matter how small, only worsened how she felt. Was it worse that they apparently hadn't been together that long? Better?

Holly's entrance was just that and despite the girl living here, here entrances could be so flamboyant that they were surprises in their own right. Surely she wasn't surprised that the girl reappeared, or that she was did so excitedly, especially giving that Cara was here now, but nothing could ever prepare Chanel for the things that came out of that child's mouth. Everyone had their own approach to their relationship with Holly. Out of them all, only Ruby really seemed to have one that was intentional; everyone else's just seemed to be a side effect dependent on the person's personality. Brooklyn was harsh, and Roman was too from what she had seen. It wasn't really in the same way as Brooklyn's, but his purposeful lack of pretending to not be annoyed or intolerant or her wasn't hard to miss. Cara treated her like a little kid who was also your bestie, Nick like anybody else, Makayla like a parental guardian, and then there was Chanel. While everyone's approach was different, the common theme was that no one really babied Holly, which was good because infantilizing her probably wasn't any more good for her development than it was patronizing. For Chanel, that had always been a weak point for her. It wasn't her fault that the girl was precious. In general, Chanel thought she was pretty good at keeping a decent balance in that regard, but sometimes, like now, she couldn't help but to melt. As she cooed, she cupped Holly's face and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Wahh, my sweet girl!"

While she was busy hugging Holly for as long as possible, the other side of Holly's Holly-ness came through with her very blunt response to Ruby. It was no less kind than her previous rambling just seconds ago, but this one didn't come with a sob story. She met Makayla's eyes for a second and reiterated her previous statement. "Sweet, sweet Holly who can do no wrong," she sang, as if to signal to Makayla that Holly was a little cherub. "Why did I have to have two stinky brothers instead of a million Hollys?" Chanel had become a sidetracked with Holly's Holly-ness enough that she actually forgot why she'd stopped behaving like a normal human being for the past ten seconds. "Huh?" She blinked, pausing long enough to stop wiggling Holly in her embrace as she tried to process what Cara was saying. "Ohhh! Right, right. Maybe I can come eat lunch with sometimes when school starts back up?" she offered before blinking up towards the ceiling on second thought. "Or would that make things worse..."

It really was a good thing that Makayla was so close to Holly most of the time because the chances were high that Chanel would have fallen victim to Holly's cuteness more often than not and ended up getting the girl in trouble for it. Like now, she wanted to offer that they just eat the fresh brownies first and make a summer bucket list of cool friend activities to do, but in the way that Holly was a parental figure for Makayla, sometimes Makayla was that for Chanel because it helped her reassess her initial reaction to things. While Makayla was constantly worried about being considerate to other peoples' space and boundaries, rooming with the both of them actually helped Chanel be more considerate herself. She couldn't just think about what she wanted; she had to think about the fact that Holly was a kid, and so Chanel had to act like an adult for once (if only in the moment), and Makayla was basically her mom, so she had to be respectful of the boundaries there. But that was okay, because she liked Makayla just as much. "Hurry back if you do!" Chanel said enthusiastically, though her eyes caught Cara's and she briefly nodded towards her room; a silent way of saying that that request was really for Cara. She looked towards the other girls for a moment. "I'm going to go drop these things off in my room," she explained, picking up the gifts that she'd set on the island earlier. She didn't think it needed to be stated that they didn't need to wait up for her to begin digging in, but she almost considered it because she wasn't sure if she would fall apart as soon as her door closed.​
 
Makayla was actually impressed at Ruby's ability to get that out of Holly. For anyone who knew Holly well, it was any easy trap to set her up in. The mechanics behind the setup wasn't what was super impressive, but Ruby's ability to actually toss a dig Makayla's way, especially using Holly as a vessel for said dig, was what brought a small, tight-lipped smile to Makayla's face. Obviously on the surface, Holly pointing out that Makayla didn't have any friends wasn't glee-inducing, but Makayla was far too comfortable with that fact now for it to bother her. She truly didn't have any friends outside of the people in this building. She was friendly with a few girls at work, but Makayla made a point to be reserved and kept to herself there. She knew how catty girls could be, and especially in that environment, everyone seemed so fake and self-centered. That was okay, because she was self-centered in that regard too. She wanted as many shifts as she could get, and she didn't want to be involved in any sort of workplace drama that would prevent her from getting them. She kept things short and friendly, because even if she did want more than that, the same thing that prevented her from maintaining friendships over the years would probably come into play now, too. Holly. She was sweet, and loveable, and yes, almost always well-intended, but she was baggage. Five feet of hyperactive, loud, trauma-inflicted baggage. Even if Holly wouldn't deter someone from being friends with her on paper, Holly's existence made it nearly impossible for Makayla to do anything on her own. She already felt uncomfortable about leaving her home alone for a few hours when she had to work, even if Holly was sleeping then. Leaving her to go do something recreational felt wrong and irresponsible, and it just had never been worth it. Moral of the story was that Makayla wasn't upset by that, even with it being pointed out publicly.

Her smile widened a smidge as Chanel attempted to reinforce the innocent intentions behind Holly's comment, but she was realy just focused on how Ruby had stepped out of her pristine little box for a moment. So she did have a backbone... shocking! "No rush to bring her back," she said to Cara, after she asked Holly if she wanted to come across the hall with her. "Take as much time as you need." Even though she wasn't irked by what Holly had said, if Cara was offering to take Holly for a few minutes, Makayla wasn't going to object. The apartment deserved a few minutes of voices talking at normal volume, for once, and a little bit of calm would allow her to focus on the perfect little couple in front of her.

Chanel was heading to her bedroom which was mildly disappointing, even if it seemed like a temporary thing. With no one else in the room, there was no real reason for Ruby and Elijah to keep up the act, but that didn't mean that Makayla would suddenly turn off the 'mean' switch, especially now that she had awoken a side of Ruby she wasn't privy to. "What a nice idea this was, Ruby," she said, as she made herself a plate of food. She would deal with making Holly a plate when she got back. "A dinner party with all of your closest friends to introduce Elijah to the world. It's like a coming out party, but you know... better, since you're totally not gay, and your parents can sleep soundly knowing you're being plowed by this beautiful black stallion every night." ​
 
Roman had actually been quite intentional about his comment made in front of Cara. The hope was that it would shut things down completely, which seemed to happen since Cara left quietly. He didn't think she was actually upset about anything. One, because she didn't look upset or was behaving in a way that would make him think so. Two, just as Cara suspected that Roman was behind this little gathering, Roman thought the same of her. He liked to think he knew her well enough that she wasn't that emotionally attached to eating with people he assumed she didn't want to eat with to begin with. "She'll be fine." After grabbing his food and his next drink, he made his way not too far from the others and lounged on the couch. He set his drink down on the coffee table in front of him and got cozy as he ruminated on Nick's question. It wasn't particularly deep, but he did innately recount his own experience, and the highlights of it he couldn't reveal. So as he tilted his chin up to look towards the ceiling, he wondered about the non-incriminating details of the weekend that he could actually remember. "That party was for Chanel?" He wondered aloud, not expecting any sort of confirmation. "That makes sense then." It wasn't really surprising that something involving Chanel would be fun. Not that he considered Chanel to be fun, but she didn't come across as the kind of person who would have stiff parties. "The last party of hers I was at was just about as wild, so I feel like that might just be a package deal. However," he said, this time in a more sing-song tone as he raised the prongs of his fork into the air like some sort of indication of a declaration. "What was surprising was all of you being there."

"That's why Brooklyn being so kind to Holly all of these years really paid off," Nick responded with a smirk, half-sarcastically. Brooklyn obviously wasn't what one would consider to be kind, especially to Holly, but regardless of that, the child seemed to be attracted to her ten times more than she already was to the average person. If it wasn't for Holly's lack of social understanding, they never would have been invited to Cara's place to enjoy the weekend. He slid his hand behind Brooklyn, squeezing her side. "My beautiful, sweet, compassionate, loving, generous, helpful girl, winning us all free vacations with her charming personality," he teased. He was still under the impression that Roman had come for the same reasons as them, and not that he had his own reasons for being there.

Nick was stupid, and the way that Brooklyn smacked his hand away from her spoke to that, but even still, she couldn't keep from smiling just a little bit as he teased her. Both of these boys were stupid; Brooklyn wasn't sure why she spent time with them. As she looked at the moron lounging on the couch and then to the one shoveling food into his mouth, she told herself that she could probably do better. It was one of those silly thoughts that carried no weight and just rang through her head to inflate her own ego, but she thought it nonetheless. In reality, if she had stayed with Nick through all he had done, there was no way that she was leaving (or that she truly felt like she had better options willing and ready to replace him). Besides, even if they were idiots, they were her idiots. The only people that she really had, at the end of the day. Sure, she had other friends. Girls she worked with, people she came across one way or another, but they weren't friends-friends. She realized that after Nick cheated on her, because she didn't have anyone to turn. The only person she was close enough to turn to would have been Roman, but given that they were a trio, she wasn't going to vent to him about the guy that he was best friends with. She wasn't sure if she even wanted more friends than the two of them, but either way, even if she liked to act like they were her least favorite people, they were really all she had.

"Joke all you want, but there's a reason that she hates you two. Kids and dogs have a sixth sense for that kind of stuff, and her 'asshole radar' clearly goes off anytime you two are around and not when I am, soooo.... do with that what you want." Brooklyn would have gladly taken being on Holly's asshole radar and being left alone for the rest of her life, but now the opposite would work in her favor for her argument, so she would use it. "I'm going to speak it into existence right now," Brooklyn said, smiling as she finished her margarita. "Roman's going to have a kid just like her. Karma for not being grateful for that gift we bought you when you showed up to the party uninvited."

"Bollocks!" Roman exclaimed as soon as the word kid came out of her mouth. "The legacy ends with me." At twenty-four, Roman was still pretty young to be thinking about settling down, let alone reproducing. On top of that, he was a guy, so the societal and biological pressure was nonexistent. He wasn't afraid to admit that he'd make a shit father, especially if anything were to happen now. The thought of being responsible for not only keeping a human being alive, but for making sure they didn't turn into sociopathic nemeses of society, he was more afraid of turning out to be just as terrible as his own parents were. Given that he didn't get exposed to any alternate parental figures like mentors or the like, he felt he was doubly destined to fuck up any kid he brought into the world because he was fully unequipped. "My parents are literal sociopaths. You know how genes work," he began. "They skip generations or whatever. So in lieu of bringing in the next renown serial killer, I'll just live vicariously through you guys." His grin widened to a toothy smile. "I think I'd make a pretty alright uncle until I didn't feel like it. Then I'd just give the little devil back to you both. Best of both worlds."​
 
“Legacy,” Nick repeated, chuckling to himself. He was only teasing as he mocked the word being even remotely associated with Roman, but it was funny to think about. What was even funnier was how the three of them had known each other for years and were quite close, and yet there was so much that they all didn’t know about each other. Even just between he and Brooklyn, there was a lot that had just been left unsaid. He didn’t know much about her childhood... whether her grandparents were still alive, if she had been a smart kid, whether she played sports, what her childhood home looked like. He knew the story behind why she ended up in New York City—that her father had been a lawyer and that a tragic mistake on his end cost the lives of three people: an innocent motorist, her younger sister, and later, his own by suicide. Tragic probably wasn’t even a sad enough word to really speak to how horrible and traumatic of an event that must have been for her. To go from living a normal life, to that. Even if her father had only killed the stranger, it likely would have traumatized her, but her little sister and then himself...

Once Nick learned that about her, he felt like it wasn’t right to pry about anything related to her life before they met. He didn’t want to trigger her, but Nick also just wasn’t the kind of person who was pressed over knowing every little detail about people. He was a good listener, but he wouldn’t prompt questions like that without reason. He was dating Brooklyn and he loved her, loved her more than he had ever loved anyone, and yet he didn’t know her whole story. That was okay for him. The same went for Roman, who he considered to be a brother. He knew that he was British (obviously), and that he had some sort of family in the states (though who they were and how they were related was unbeknownst to him). He knew that Roman wasn’t as much of a dumbass as he acted some times, and that he had went to college... but yeah, that was basically it. Perhaps with both of them, they had told Nick more than that, and if prompted, he could probably answer a few more specific questions about their past, but it was nearly an unspoken thing that they just didn’t talk about that stuff. Out of the three of them, Nick felt like his life had been the least exciting and most ordinary, so that too probably contributed to him just being okay with accepting what he didn’t know and leaving it at that.

“Hey, for all we know, my parents are ‘literal sociopaths’ too,” Nick offered, because if Roman was using that as his “get out of jail/having kids free card”, then Nick was too. Nick didn’t know his parents, but it wasn’t something that bothered him or carried any trauma. He had lived a good life being raised by his grandparents, and he hadn’t felt like he missed out on any love due to his biological parents’ absences. Sometimes he did get curious about them; who they were, where they were now, whether they had families, and so on, but he had never felt inclined to really investigate it. He liked to think that the people didn’t just enter or exit your life for no reason, and that if one day he ended up reconnecting with his parent(s), that would be okay, but that seeking them out wouldn’t benefit him in any way. Life was better when it was simple, and seeking out people who were destined to complicate his life and mental state would be stupid. “With your luck, you’ve already got a kid or two running around. You’ve either slowed down with the number of girls you’ve been bringing around, or just quieted down,” he said, smirking before taking a chug of his beer, “And who’s to say there’s a whole clan of mini Killens running around these streets just waiting to get your ass on the line for child support.” Again, he was just teasing, but in truth, he couldn’t see Roman being a dad to a kid. Then again, he couldn’t see himself being a dad either. And he wouldn’t say it to Brooklyn, but hell, did she really think she could be a mom right now?​
 
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Brooklyn didn’t understand why men were so adamantly afraid of having children. Maybe Roman was better off not having any, since he was basically a big baby himself, and Nick... well, honestly, Nick was no better, but he was going to step up to the plate sooner than later. Both of these boys were barely responsible for themselves, so she understood how “scary” it would seem to take care of another person, but did they seriously want to die alone one day? Idiots. At least Roman was on the path to a normal life with whatever the hell this secret job he had was. Once he found that work girlfriend, he’d be on the path to engagement, a wedding, and a cute little baby or two. Brooklyn was sure of it. She would be nice and not say that out loud right now, if not because she didn’t want to annoy him, but because she didn’t want him to be petty and quit his job just to spite them.

“Well, once you both introduce me to your parents, I’ll decide if they’re crazy or not. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” she warned. She knew that Nick’s parents were deadbeats, and she knew that Roman didn’t get along well with his, but she had no reason to attribute that to anything other than his standoffish attitude towards nearly anything. She imagined that he was an angsty teen who was still in that “fuck the world” phase, and that his parents were too tired of his shit to attempt to reel him in or give a damn. It did make them fucked up, she supposed, but she couldn’t help but to feel like Roman probably could do more to have them in his life if he wanted to. “What’s the deal with yours, again,” she said, looking towards him on the couch. “They’re still in England, right? They Photoshop you into the family Christmas card all these years?”

Roman craned his head over the arm of the couch and groaned in protest. Given his previous lifestyle, it was amazing that he wasn't the late father of at least one kid. Inevitably, there were some scares, but there was really only one incident that was a theatric. "God, don't remind me," he pleaded. Nick wasn't explicitly or even intentionally recounting the girl that came to Roman's head, but given how Nick had witnessed first hand just how unhinged that girl was, it didn't really need much prompting. It would always sound incriminating for a guy to accuse a woman of being hysterical. Roman typically wouldn't have tolerated dealing with someone who cried over every little thing, including not wanting to have kids. Who the fuck talks about kids and marriage when someone they were just hooking up with? While it was a frequent nuisance, it pretty much always led to some steamy activity, and that was really what fueled his patience. That, and he never got emotionally involved with that one. If he ever did begin to feel close to a girl, he would cut things off before it had a chance to fester. It was standard for him to beat himself to that ever happening though. While the girl that came to mind just now was one of the worst of the bunch, he knew there was no way on God's green earth that he could ever want anything more than sex. On top of the fact that it was some of the best sex he was having at the time, there was no need to rush ending things.

Nick was right on both accounts in regards to recent changes in Roman's hookup-heavy lifestyle. There were fewer girls and there was less noise. Even if he had pretty much stopped seeing anyone except Cara for a while, it wasn't like it was a total safe haven all the time. Roman knew they weren't quiet as the night, but at least for him, that also added to the fun. If anything, he'd be more paranoid about having her over if Nick did know about them sleeping together. "I always knew you got some enjoyment out of my suffering." Suffering was a strong, misaligned word because everything Roman got himself into with regards to the girls he saw was his own fault. In retrospect, the different occasions were pretty funny, but Roman couldn't say he missed the drama.

"Everyone is." Well, not everyone was back home, but he didn't feel like going into the technical details. He puffed his cheeks out to release his breath, a deep inhale needed to even think about where to begin with 'the deal.' "While I'm sure they've all but remembered, let alone missed me, I doubt they've forgotten our last conversation which went something like me saying how I wouldn't come back unless I was in a casket, and them saying something along of the lines of it would be the first expectation I actually lived up to." His eyes didn't meet either of them, but not because he was being avoidant. Instead, he was trying to search his mind for that distant memory and accurately recount. After a shrug to signal he wasn't totally sure, but that that was basically the gist, he turned his attention back to the rest of the room and took a bite of his food. "So probably no on the Christmas cards. Plus," he added after looking at his hand holding his plate. "I'm sure I'm banned just solely off appearances." He wouldn't say out loud that his threat to them would probably come true. Maybe not so much now that he wasn't risking overdosing or getting beaten to death, but subconsciously, Roman knew he was far from being the clear. Death probably would be the only thing to bring their small unit back together. He wasn't sure if that was why he hadn't explicitly asked for any updates from his aunt when they met for their lunches: his fear of having to go back, and his fear that he'd been completely eradicated from the family to the point of not even being told that his father had passed. "I imagine I'll hear from them if my dad finally kicks it or if by some miracle I'm suddenly useful enough again for them to exploit. Whichever comes first."

Roman leaned up some to get a better view of the kitchen. It was totally futile because there was no way he could see deep enough to identify what he was looking for. "Did you get dessert too?" While Roman would never disagree that his parents were terrible, they weren't like some others who were so neglectful that they let their kid do whatever. He wasn't allowed a lot of sugary food, and so that probably explained his childlike sweet tooth now. He could eat an entire tub of ice cream to himself and not be moved. If he was ever out to eat, the dessert menu was what he was interested in most, sometimes to the point of ordering that first.​
 
Holly probably didn't realize how lucky she was to have such nice roommates, but she also didn't take it for granted. If there was anything that Holly was good at, it was appreciating people and living in the moment. She felt her emotions fully, not in a washed down sort of way where she was half-present, and half in her mind, busy worrying about other things. Her mind was a weird place, no doubt about that, but even if it did have a tendency to jump around, forcing the future rather than spending too much time on the current train of thought, she didn't linger on anything for too long. If she said something stupid, it didn't eat away at her for years. If someone said something to her, she took it at face value and didn't mull over potential hidden meanings. It had its benefits, as it allowed her to appreciate life in a simpler and purer form than most people were capable of doing. While a lot of Holly's "differences" stemmed from biological sources; her mother's poor decisions while pregnant, genetics, being born prematurely, and so on, there was definitely an environmental aspect to it as well. Her upbringing failed her in most of the social determinants of health that one could think of, and while it was something that Holly literally never thought about because it would seem unfathomable to her, if she had been put up for adoption right after being born, it's likely that she would have been a completely different person than she was today. Probably still not someone who blended into society to the T, but different than who she was now. It was only possible to consider that it was "for better or for worse" because of how uniquely happy and upbeat she was. The other 99% of considerations suggested that if she had been given the opportunity of a more stable upbringing, it would have undoubtedly been for the better.

The abuse that Holly suffered for years throughout her childhood had hindered her ability to function in a lot of ways, and for all anyone knew, had done just as much damage to her cognitive wellbeing as the teratogens in utero had done. It was hard to tell how much of it Holly even remembered, despite her having been old enough to know what was going on at the time. It wasn't something that she talked about, alluded to, or even acknowledged when Ruby tried to prompt her to open up about it in their sessions. On the surface, especially given how freely she discussed other parts of her disadvantaged childhood, it would seem as if the worst of the abuse had never happened, or at least that Holly didn't remember it. The burying of it wasn't a defensive mechanism; at this point, it was a survival mechanism. Perhaps it would be helpful for her in the long term to address the travesties that had occurred years back, but in the immediate sense, her positive and worry-free mindset was all she had. Or, at least, it was all she had had at one point. Things were so different now compared to how they were a few years ago, and even if she wasn't cognizant of it in moments like this, where she was so overwhelmed with happiness at being showered in love, there was some part of her that was aware of it. In the same way that a starving body would learn to store fat in case it experienced another bout of starvation in the future, there was a part of Holly's inner self that rejoiced in receiving love and attention, as if it was the first time it had received it in years. There was some part of her that still craved this, even though it was no longer a rarity. And so even if she wasn't aware of why she loved socializing with people and receiving love and attention so much, there was no doubt that it was something that she appreciated very fully.

Her laughter, whose source was sometimes hard to place, often was just a byproduct of all of those lovey dovey, happy, overwhelmed with appreciating the attention she was receiving, feelings. It appeared now as Chanel hugged her, and again when Makayla told Cara that she didn't need to rush to bring her back to their apartment. As she headed towards the door with Cara, she asked, "What did you lose?" She liked having jobs and purposes, even trivial ones, so the idea of being able to help Cara, while being able to go over to her place, sounded absolutely delightful.​
 
Nick chuckled at Roman's response, though he went back to eating fairly quickly. He was still listening, however. Even if Nick wouldn't think of himself as someone who had any sort of rough life or upbringing, he did sometimes consider how strange it was that he had no family left. As his grandparents had legally adopted him, he was effectively an orphan. An adult one, but an orphan nonetheless. His parents were still out there somewhere, as far as Nick knew, but he had no more of a relationship to them than he did to a person standing beside him on the subway, or waiting in line behind him in the bodega. His grandparents siblings were dead, his father hadn't had any siblings, and though he probably did have extended family (second cousins once removed and all of that shit), he didn't know them. He didn't have anyone that he could turn to if things got really rough. Hell, he didn't even have anyone to claim his body if he ended up in a casket, outside of the two sitting in this room. It didn't sadden him really, mostly because he was comfortable with his life and his grandparents' deaths weren't as fresh and emotion-inducing as they had been years ago, but it was still sort of surreal to think about.

Growing up in New York had exposed him to a lot of different types of people: different backgrounds, personality types, different definitions of what a family unit was. He had been raised to believe that his grandparents were his parents until he was ten or so, so as a young child, he never fretted about being odd in that regard, especially because different family setups were normalized than they may have been in smaller towns. Most people he knew had someone though, and while he wasn't a kid anymore, and could take care of himself, he supposed that it would be nice to have someone to lean on when things really started to turn to shit. A place to crash without having to worry about paying rent, or someone to bail him out if he got into more trouble than he could handle. Even though Brooklyn and Roman probably didn't think it about themselves, they probably did have people they could call upon in those sort of circumstances. Their independent natures may have been forces convincing them against it, but if they were in a life or death situation, at least they had that option, even if their egos allowed them to forfeit it in favor of death. He wouldn't really blame them for it either way, it was just something to think about. If anything, actually, it was the only reason that procreation sounded enticing sometimes. The idea of having blood family, people who had to care about you because that was the way life worked, seemed... interesting. After going without it for so many years, it almost felt foreign, and maybe that was why it was especially scary sounding to Nick, but at the same time, yeah, he could see an allure to it in that sense. On the flip side, being forced to do anything was just about Nick's worst fear, so any allure quickly dissipated when he sat on the idea for too long.

Suffice to say, Roman's response to Brooklyn's question had just responded him of how he was different than them in that sense. They all acted like they really didn't have family outside of one another, but Brooklyn and Roman both did have immediate family that they knew and had, at least at some point, cared for to some degree. They just chose not to consider them family anymore. A choice that may have felt more like their hand being forced, or a severed relationship in favor of mental health, but a choice nonetheless. One that Nick didn't have. Interesting.

"You know what I could go for right now?" Nick asked, continuing to help himself to more food, though Roman's question had his mouth watering over the next course, too. "Fried Oreos." It was random, very much so, and very much probably out of reach too, but he looked to Brooklyn as if she seriously might be able to procure some out of thin air.​
 
Bruuuuuhhh, what?! Nah, this shit was getting too uncomfortable now. Ruby was a nice girl, a nice friend to have, but he didn't sign up for this shit. The kitchen had cleared out of everyone outside of Makayla and Ruby, and Elijah was ready to give them the alone time that they clearly needed to work out whatever... whatever the hell this was. And whatever the hell it was, it was something that he no longer wanted to awkwardly stand between, both literally and metaphorically. He was still very confused about the role that he was even supposed to be playing, but it was clear that Makayla and Ruby had some feelings type shit going on between them, and the way that Makayla continued to speak to him (or at least about him) was making him feel like he was the mistress in a marriage gone wrong.

He set his plate down, reaching one hand behind his neck to massage it for a second, as he pondered whether making a run for it was really the right move. The thing was, that Elijah wasn't a bad guy, and Ruby was so sweet. So, so sweet. She was such a nice girl, and she had been so grateful for his help over the weekend, but at the same time, he really felt like he was in the middle of something he had no place being in the middle of. He pulled out his phone, pretending to read a text that didn't exist, and feigning a stressed out expression as he pretended to type something back, before looking to Ruby. "Not trying to dip after just getting here, but I just got a text from my GM, and she said the whole credit card processing system just went down at my place. It's a huge mess, and I've gotta go figure out what's up. I'm sorry to run out on you like this, but hey, maybe we can catch up another day. You can stop by the restaurant, or something," he suggested, though there was definitely a part of him that hoped that "another day" would be another day next year, maybe.
 
Cara smiled at Makayla and nodded in response to Chanel, moderately curious about what she was alluding to, but was soon distracted by Holly. They left Holly's apartment in favor of Cara's, which was just steps away. "Oh, nothing major," she answered Holly as she opened the door. She didn't have anything in mind for the made up thing she needed Holly to help her find, but she didn't think it would be a big deal, as she assumed Holly would be distracted by the presence of Brooklyn, Roman, and Nick to a point where it wouldn't matter. "Just a pair of earrings, but I actually think I remember where I put them." She allowed Holly to walk in, smiling at the sound of the trio's voices. Like a barn cat sent in to clear out the field mice, Holly was going to ever-so-sweetly ruin Roman's time here. She could have just texted him, telling him that he was an ass and that he needed to get out of her apartment, but that was too direct. Healthy communication skills weren't on the agenda for them today, but in Cara's defense, she felt like he started it. 'I mean, seriously, who invites someone over for dinner, and then suddenly shows up at the other's person's apartment to eat dinner with other people?' she wondered, so close to breaking her innocently cheerful persona in the face of Holly to roll her eyes at the thought. He was such an idiot. A classless, uncultured, idiot.

"If they fell down into a little crack, Makayla can get them for you with her little hands!" Holly suggested on the way across the hall. She wondered what they looked like. Maybe they were gold, or maybe they were silver, or maybe they were colorful, like... pink, or green, or blue, or yellow! Maybe they were shaped like dogs, or giraffes, or flowers, or maybe a bumblebee on a flower in a sunflower field. Although Holly obviously knew that Cara didn't live here alone, one might have assumed that she hadn't seen Brooklyn in months with the way that her face lit up when she realized that they weren't walking into an empty apartment. "Hiiiiiiiiiii!" she announced, running over to where Brooklyn and Nick sat in the kitchen. "I missed you!!!" There was an empty seat between the two, which Holly gladly accepted as if it had been specifically reserved for her. "Did you save me the cookie?" she asked, reaching out to stroke Brooklyn's arm just because she wanted to touch her. Holly was a picky eater, so when it came to cuisines from other cultures, even ones that had become as Americanized as Taco Bell or Panda Express. She knew the difference between Chinese food and Mexican food, but she wasn't really thinking about it, even with the food right in front of her. She just smelled food that smelled good, but smelled like good food she didn't want to eat, and assumed it was the kind that included fortune cookies in their meals. She turned her head to look at Nick, initially to see if he was eating the cookies that she was now declaring needed to be saved for her, only to get sidetracked. "Romeo, can you come over here please and take off your shirt? We're going to do a contest to see whose tattoos are the prettiest." She turned back to Brooklyn with an excited look on her face. "Maybe one day you can get a tattoo of my face, and I can get a tattoo of your face, so everyone would see that we're BFFs!"

The smile on Cara's face spoke to her pleasure. No one could fault Holly for being so friendly, but Cara still didn't understand what her obsession with Brooklyn was about. It wasn't like Brooklyn was nice to her, not in the way Cara was, at least. She again, didn't offer the trio a word, and headed towards her bedroom, where she would be in no rush to find those "missing earrings". She did text Chanel on her way there, though, saying, "Omg there's no way that's her boyfriend. Like wtf?"​
 
Even though Brooklyn liked to give Roman a hard time, she only nodded as he explained his situation. She pushed a lot of topics that already weren't appropriate to joke about, but some things had hard lines, and because of her own weird issues with her family, that was one of them for her. She wouldn't make light of him being estranged from his (even if she probably assumed that the problems stemmed from him being his crybaby, bitch ass, sensitive self), when she wasn't in a much better boat herself. She continued to eat, only pausing to roll her eyes when Dumbass #1 asked about dessert, and Dumbass #2 inquired about whether she had fried oreos available, of all things. "Really?" she said, looking at Nick as if he couldn't be any stupider. "There's all of this food here, and you two are asking about dessert?" she pressed, though admittedly, it did take effort to muster up the annoyance in her voice, because she was just too used to them to actually be shocked by this. "No, I didn't order dessert," she said to Roman. "I figured that since you were coming over to eat the food that I paid for, and drink the beer that I paid for, that maybe you would have the decency to bring dessert. But no, you couldn't even do that," she huffed. Obviously, she hadn't actually expected Roman to bring anything over, nonetheless dessert, but she would still be dramatic about it, just to prove her point that he was annoying and ungrateful.

Apparently the universe wasn't listening correctly, because when Brooklyn said she was speaking Holly into existence, she meant that she was speaking her into the existence of Roman's future self's life, not her own. Like clockwork, just as Holly's face lit up with joy at the sight of Brooklyn's, Brooklyn's face drained its color in despair. It was dramatic, but whyyyyyyyyy, God? All she wanted was a nice meal, a little buzz, and then to spend the night with her man. Roman was annoying already, but to a degree where he was still likeable and she didn't want to smack him as much as it seemed. Holly was just too much. Before she even finished her drawn out "hi", Brooklyn had already met her Holly-limit for the day. To be fair, Brooklyn did act like she detested Holly more than she really did. As obnoxious and annoying as she could be, there was something about the younger girl that brought out a softer side in Brooklyn. In fact (and though she wouldn't admit it), there were times when she actually liked spending time with Holly. If nothing else, she definitely knew how to boost Brooklyn's ego, but even Brooklyn got her dose of that in about ten seconds of speaking with Holly. It was her innocent spirit that allowed her to get away with so much. Even if Brooklyn would be the first to be mean to Holly, she would also be the first to smack either of these boys across the back of their heads if they were even half as mean to her as Brooklyn could be.

As Holly sat down between her and Nick, she sighed, moving her glass to the other side of herself to avoid Holly's hyperactive self from knocking it over. "Yeah, I don't think so," she said, responding to the girl's suggestion that they get each other's face tattooed on them. She craned her head back to look for Cara, as she assumed that the girl had some reason for bringing her over outside of annoying them, but the blonde had already disappeared down the hall. She had two minutes to reappear before Brooklyn went looking for her, and Brooklyn glanced at the clock, adamant at keeping her to that time limit. In the meantime, however, she could at least smirk at Holly's bizarre and random request to rate the boys' tattoos.

Roman didn't attempt to prevent the smirk spreading on his lips as Brooklyn went in on him. As she did, he made sure to give her his undivided attention, not even breaking it to focus on the food he was fully enjoying stuffing his face with as he listened. He was in the middle of chewing once she had finished, and before he got a chance to respond, Holly appeared along with Cara. It was surely unexpected, but not the most random thing. Holly and Cara weren't a strange pairing, though he did wonder why she would go over and get Holly. Perhaps she hadn't seen his text. Or was she ignoring him? He watched as she passed by, a grin on her face as she tapped away on her phone. Was that a no then? He didn't get much of a chance to go into a full mental investigation before Holly interrupted those thoughts. Jesus Christ, he thought to himself. How was she always like this? Granted, it was mildly cute when she exclaimed with such fervor how much she missed Brooklyn. Cute in that it was endearingly pitiful way since the child, for whatever reason, had no capability of understanding how much of a demon Brooklyn actually was. As he rolled his eyes in her addressing him, he was seconds away from straight up telling her no, but he returned back to the conversation he was in the middle of before she interrupted it. The previous smile returned as he stood up, fiddling in his back pocket. "I already know Nick's got me beat." Pulling out a bill, he walked over to the others. "So here's your prize, Nicolas. You can use it to buy those cookies we were talking about getting Holly. You hold onto it and make sure he spends it right," he said, handing the twenty to Holly.

Brooklyn caught the middle finger and 'fuck you' that Roman mouthed at her behind Holly's back, and she returned the finger, though she turned to Holly when she opened her mouth. "Roman's embarrassed of how pale and skinny he is," she said, speaking with a sad undertone. He really thought he could get off that easily? "He looks like Jack Skeleton from The Nightmare Before Christmas when he isn't wearing a shirt, so trust me, we're all winners in this situation." ​
 
Roman came over with little resistance, which wasn't surprising because Holly knew that he would want to be a part of the contest. He was a special guest contestant and if Makayla had been here, she could have been in the contest too, but oh well! She was only disappointing in Roman backing out without letting her be the special judge, until he handed her money. Ooooooooh! Twenty dollars! And a suggestion to buy cookies! She didn't even process the part about it being a prize for Nick. This was now her special cookie money, and she couldn't contain her happiness as she laughed. Insomnia Cookies was right downstairs, and even though Holly had the cookies more times than her excitement over it would lead one to believe, she could never get sick of them. To her, it felt like she barely got to have them, but that was okay because literally every single time she came in or out of the apartment building, she asked Makayla if they could stop there for a cookie. If she asked 30 times a week, only getting a 'yes' one time a week didn't feel like a lot, but in the bigger picture she wasn't as deprived of treats as she acted.

Although she initially laughed loudly at Brooklyn calling Roman a Jack Skeleton lookalike, her expression suddenly grew serious after a few seconds and she grasped Brooklyn's forearm. "Oh no, that's not nice to say," she said, only repeating what Makayla had once told her when she told a woman on the subway, who was clearly on chemotherapy or had some other clinical reason for being bald, that she looked like that very same character. "But Roman, if you do die, I'll give your bones to my pet dog since dogs like bones," she said, as if that would be comforting, as her mind now decided to link Jack Skeleton to the conversation she had with Makayla that followed the subway one, about what cancer was. With the way that Holly's brain processed things, Roman was basically now a cancer patient with days to live, but that was okay, because now she was again excited with the idea of being able to get one of the confetti cookies they sold downstairs, that had lots and lots of rainbow sprinkles in them. "But even if you're a skinny skeleton, it doesn't mean you're really gross and ugly, Roman," she said, jumping back to that. "Skeletons are maybe a little bit ugly, but we're not going to call you Jack Skeleton to your face because that's not nice."​
 
No matter how many times he had been around Holly, the things that came out of her mouth still managed to surprise Nick sometimes. If she was like this sober, he wondered how she would be high, or even better, on mushrooms or other psychedelic'. He would obviously never attempt to actually see what she would be like in reality, but her mind was clearly a unique one. She was young and clearly had bigger issues, but Nick liked the kid for her uniqueness. It was easier to appreciate when he was rarely the target of her energy, as the majority of the time that he crossed paths with Holly he was with Brooklyn, and that was who she really cared about. He was a second class citizen in Brooklyn's presence, but he was a-okay with that, as observing the two girls interact was usually entertaining in itself.

Her suggestion of a tattoo-rating contest made him chuckle, and he paused in eating for a moment, thinking that he would need to be the one to end that idea before it started. Roman surprised him, smoothly redirecting her like a pro. It cost him twenty bucks, but that was a small price to pay in a situation like this. He was going to have to give Killens props for that later on. Maybe his new finance job was really working with special ed kids, or something. "It's nice to finally have someone around here with morals," he said to Holly, barely able to keep from giving a 'wtf' look to the others when she brought up feeding Roman's bones to a dog once he died. Since Holly didn't vocalize how she got from one idea to another, conversations with her frequently went like this, where she would start talking about something that seemed random and absurd in the context of the original conversation. "These two just fight nonstop; I need you to teach them how to be nice to each other," he said. Nick didn't feel like getting up and walking down and up five flights of stairs, but cookies did sound good. Not as good as fried Oreos, but maybe a decent second choice.​
 
"Lovely." Roman couldn't flatten his voice more if he tried. He didn't look moved by Holly's weirdness, but the way his eyes were already glazed over didn't mean he wasn't in the same camp as Nick in thinking that this girl was a sociopath on the low. Who the fuck says shit like that? Again, as he responded, "How kind of you," his words didn't translate to his face or his tone. It really didn't matter either way though because it wasn't like Holly would register the lack of cohesion. Taking a hint was not something Holly did often, and if she did, she took it in the complete wrong sense. Holly's benefit to him typically was as short as her attention span. He really got not enjoyment out of being around her, and while he didn't particularly like her, he wasn't heartless enough to dislike her. In fact, as annoying and weird as she was, she didn't really provide any reasons to be genuinely disliked, and he would probably kill anyone who ever did anything to her. His dislike was better allocated to the Chanels of the world. He wasn't sure how any of them did it. Being around her presence was one thing, tolerating it another, but to fully entertain it was something he couldn't fathom. Of all the things Cara was above, she somehow had the patience for this little weasel? After a second look at Holly, he again couldn't help but to roll his eyes and groan to himself. Ninety-eight percent of annoyance was just her, but the remaining two percent came from her being too endearing for even Roman to fully despise. He didn't care to know or be reminded that was basically just a cute little kid. "As thrilling as this conversation is, isn't the shop closing in like five minutes? I guess I'll just take my money back since you won't make it in time."

He didn't bother to actually wait around for any protest from Holly because the point wasn't actually to argue with her or even get his cash back. Instead, he went back over to the couch to grab his plate so that could get another helping. ​
 
It took a few seconds for Roman's words to process in Holly's head, especially since she was laughing at Nick's comment about how nice she was, but when it did sink in, her expression turned into Ghostface's from Scream. Five minutes?! Initiate: panic mode!!! It was a good thing that she was a fast runner. Five minutes wasn't a lot of time, but she could make it. She needed to make it... the cookies were counting on her! She could have insisted that Brooklyn come with her, but five minutes meant that she didn't have time for anyone to slow her down, not even Brooklyn! Just like that, Holly hopped down from her stair and bolted for the door. "I'll be right back!!!" she announced, laughing some as she yelled, "Cookie emergency!!!" before slamming the door behind her.

God damnit, Roman was annoying. Brooklyn had no insight into his angle right now, so she really thought he was truly just a complete and utter moron. She didn't think that he was enough of an ass to think it would be funny to screw Brooklyn over like this just for a laugh, she just assumed that he was so air headed that he didn't think this one through. He figured it would get Holly out, and that part was fine, but he was missing the other half of the equation, where someone had to go with Holly, and of course, Cara was no where in sight. Their apartment wasn't that big; they could have yelled out for Cara as soon as Holly's hand met the doorknob, but if Disney had taught them all anything, it was that Holly could become Usain Bolt at the most inconvenient of times. Brooklyn knew it better than that too, having taken Holly out on excursions on her own more than a handful of times. More than half of them ended in her pissed off with a death grip on Holly's arm because of her inability to just stand still for two seconds. Cara deserved to take care of this since she was apparently taking care of Holly for whatever reason, but Brooklyn also wasn't about to be indirectly responsible for Holly dying after deciding to jump down the garbage chute as a "shortcut".

"I'm gonna knock the shit out of you," she snapped at Roman, jumping out of her chair and scrambling to put her shoes on by the door. He was definitely getting punched for this little stunt. "Don't just sit there, go!" she snapped at Nick, who was (to no surprise) still just sitting there eating his food, as if he had no involvement in this. He didn't, but neither did she, and at least his dumbass already had shoes on! He could have grabbed her by now, but nope, just sitting there like a useless moron.​
 
Ruby felt a little part of her dying as Makayla continued on, and on. She didn't know if she should feel better or worse when Elijah suddenly claimed that he had a work emergency and had to leave. If she wasn't freaking out internally, she may have considered that Elijah's excuse was made up, but right now she only had the capacity to take his words at face value. While him leaving made her feel like a complete failure since she didn't accomplish anything good with this dinner, and had actually just made things worse, there was a little bit of relief there, at least, that this wouldn't go on for any longer.

She glared at Makayla before following Elijah out. "I am so sorry, Elijah," she gushed, placing a hand on his arm. She truly was sorry, and even more than she felt bad for herself, she felt bad for him. He had taken the time out of his weekend to help her, spending time at two different parties with people he didn't know, and now he had come over after what she presumed to be a long day of work, just to have to deal with this. Bombarded with inappropriateness, and unable to even eat his meal without being driven away by Makayla. She couldn't fathom how Makayla was so comfortable with acting this way towards anyone, let alone an innocent stranger. It wasn't like she was one of the others who were in the dark about the reality of this situation. She knew that Elijah was nothing more than a friend to her; she had no reason to be trying to drive him away, even just as a byproduct of being mean to Ruby. "She's upset with me, and she's just... I shouldn't have started up with all of this to begin with. I mean, you saw how my parents are. They're-- it's just not something that I can get into with them right now, and I know that's not fair of me to do to her, but it's just... it's complicated." She shook her head, sighing deeply. "And now I'm venting to you when you have actual things to worry about. I'm sorry; go, go. I hope everything is okay there and that it's a quick fix, and again, I am so, so sorry about all of this. It wasn't fair of me to drag you into it... so just consider your hands clean of it now."

Elijah was relieved that Ruby bought his lie, and that she didn't beg him to stay or prolong this. It really wasn't as deep as she was making it seem, and he felt a bid bad as she apologized profusely for everything, trying to rationalize her own behavior, as well as Makayla's. He didn't want to make her feel bad because she hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't even like Makayla had offended him in any particular sense. It was just an uncomfortable atmosphere and he could tell that there was stuff going on that he didn't really need to be a part of. He wasn't mad at Ruby, and he didn't regret helping her. He felt like him leaving would help her even more than it would help him.

He smiled reassuringly, laughing softly in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Ruby, chill, chill," he insisted, resting an arm on her shoulder as they lingered outside of her apartment. "I had a great time this weekend, and if this didn't come up, I'm sure tonight would've been cool too. You and your girl gotta sort some things out," he continued, smirking a tad. "But you don't have to apologize to me, and I get where you're coming from. I'm sure having to tell your parents something like that is tough, but Makayla seems like a cool girl. A little feisty, but that's not a bad thing," he offered. "You go back in there, finish that bottle of wine, and then figure out if she's worth the worst case scenario that you think'll come from being real with your parents. If she is, then you know what you've gotta do, and if you're not sure, you've got your on-call boyfriend's number, so you'll be alright." Playing boyfriend definitely wasn't on the top of the list of things he wanted to do, but now he felt bad, so he had to offer. He didn't want to leave things on a weird note, and it was especially hard to see someone who was so nice and genuine upset. If Ruby had been any old person, he would have dipped quicker than this, but she was so soft, and he didn't want her to spend the rest of the night worrying about this.

She didn't know what to say, but she was so relieved that Elijah didn't seem upset, so she wrapped him in a hug. "Thank you. I seriously, seriously owe you."

"Oh, you know what?" Elijah said, after their embrace ended and he had taken a few steps towards the stairs. "Would you mind texting me Chanel's number? There were a few people I was talking to at her party about potentially filling a few open bartender spots I have, but I didn't get their numbers. And I know this might be a crazy long shot, but how impossible do you think it would be for you to convince Caraline Forrester to bartend for me? Even just guest bartend. Her crowd is the kind of crowd I'm trying to attract, and I know they travel in packs, so if I've got her anchored down there for a few hours... just seems lucrative," he admitted. The last part was true, he did think getting someone like Caraline behind his bar would be an easy money grab, but the first part wasn't as true. He just wanted Chanel's number to talk to her, but he felt weird admitting that to Ruby.

"Yeah, yeah, of course." At this point, Ruby probably would have said yes to any favor that Elijah asked of her, so she barely even realized what he had asked until she already agreed. She didn't have her phone in her hand and that played in her favor because she wanted to check in with Chanel before sharing her number, but she didn't think it would be a big deal anyway. His last request was... yeah, just as he said, a long shot, but Ruby would at least ask on his behalf. She doubted Cara had a job, and maybe-- yeah, no, Ruby already knew that wasn't going to happen, but whatever. She would at least try. She owed him that much.

They departed ways and Ruby closed the door behind her just before Holly bolted out of the other apartment, which was at least one thing going in Ruby's favor right now. "I hope you're happy," she said, as she headed into the kitchen to address Makayla. ​
 
"Hmmm...." Makayla pondered, masking the amusement that she was feeling. "Happy isn't the right word." And it really wasn't. She wasn't happy that Elijah was gone, just as she wasn't mad that he had been here. It really had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with Ruby. Yes, it was unfortunate that his comfort and feelings had to be collateral damage, and sure, Makayla probably could have handled it differently, but that wasn't the point. When Ruby was the one who had done wrong in the first place, it wasn't Makayla's response that needed to be judged based on maturity level. And damn, if what she had said was really bad enough to send that boy running, then maybe he needed to grow a pair and toughen up. That was just the warmup, honey. Even if she wasn't happy that he was gone, she also wasn't bothered by it. She didn't feel guilty or like anything had been accomplished, because even if getting under Ruby's skin for a little while brought instant gratification, it didn't solve the underlying problem here. It didn't make them "even" or allow Makayla to feel like now everything could be good and peachy. She liked Ruby, she liked Ruby a lot. She had been ready to step into a relationship with this girl, and while that label probably didn't carry an extreme amount of weight for most people, it was rare enough for Makayla that it did for her. When taking into account that Ruby had been the one pressing for something more serious, it made sense that Makayla was shocked and hurt when Ruby, literally hours later, turned around and claimed that she had a fake boyfriend because her parents were homophobic. It was disrespectful and the way that Ruby went about it so flippantly made it sting all the more, because it invalidated how Makayla was feeling. Makayla could recognize that Ruby wasn't mean spirited and that it had been a poor choice on her part, and she could also recognize that they did need to address this in a more adult manner, but she didn't like how it felt like Ruby expected her to have already moved on... and so much so that she would be able to break bread with the person that Ruby had recruited to fill her spot.

While she was hurt, she wasn't hurt to a point where it explicitly showed in the sense of appearing devastated. That wasn't how Makayla processed her feelings, for starters. She wasn't a crier to begin with, and only really got visually upset like that when she was extremely frustrated, not really sad. Burying her feelings or being passive aggressive was the route she typically took, and she knew that it was unhealthy, but she didn't feel particularly inclined to change that, at least not right now. Still, she knew that it wasn't fair for her to expect Ruby to be a mind reader. Even if she was supposed to be trained in this and even if she could advise other people from an outside-looking-in perspective, she clearly didn't have enough life experience to recognize how to deal with her own interpersonal conflicts. Makayla wouldn't fault her for that. They both had room to grow, but at the same time, if Ruby planned on maintaining this fake-boyfriend gig, then maybe there was no reason to attempt to grow together. Makayla was no side piece, even if the other person was a façade.

"I just feel like it was disrespectful that you felt like you could bring him around here again, without us ever addressing how fucked up it was that you pulled that right after you asked me to be serious with you the night before. I know you were drinking, so if that's where it came from and you wanna go back to being whatever we were before all of this, I'm fine with that. I wasn't the one trying to change that in the first place. I just am not here for me being the only one making a sacrifice or stepping out of my comfort zone, as if I have so much less to lose compared to you." This wasn't the best time to have this conversation, because she expected Chanel, Cara, and Holly to reappear momentarily, but she supposed that it would need to be continued some time tonight. She carried her plate and glass over to the table and sat down. "We can talk about it later though," she offered neutrally before musing, "This penne alla vodka is bommmmmmmb."​
 
Wait, what? How was this Nick's job, out of all of them? Cara was the one who had brought Holly into the apartment, Brooklyn was the attraction that lured Holly over to them, and Roman was the one who prompted her to run out of the apartment in search of cookies, and yet somehow, Brooklyn was looking at him as if he was the stupidest person on the planet for not feeling inclined to abandon his dinner to go chase Holly down? He wasn't even trying to be lazy or difficult, it just didn't make any sense to him at all. Roman didn't seem like he was in a rush to chase after her, and he was the one who started this so...? It didn't make sense, and honestly, Nick didn't feel that impending sense of doom that Brooklyn must have felt when Holly left. Insomnia Cookies was literally right outside of the apartment building. Nick knew that Holly was challenged in a lot of ways, especially ones that seemed like common sense to most people, but could she really fuck this up? And fuck it up so quickly that they couldn't just yell for Cara to go chase her?

It was really only the urgency in Brooklyn's voice that compelled Nick to get up and dart out the door. The reaction was more of an unconscious one just based on Brooklyn's demeanor more than it was by Holly's action, like that immediate panic-response people have when a loud alarm goes off. Maybe Brooklyn's concern wasn't as unfounded as he suspected, because even though Holly had maybe twenty seconds on him, max, she was already out of sight. Luckily, he could hear her laughing to herself as he hurried through the stairwell, only managing to catch up with her on the stairs between the second and first floor.

...Now what? Nick didn't consider himself to be particularly good with kids. He liked Holly, and could interact with her in certain settings. He had surprised himself with being able to chill with her for a bit on the beach as he helped her dig a moat for her sand castle, but all of their interactions were based on group interactions. He wasn't used to having to deal with her on his own, and doing so felt oddly difficult, just because he really didn't know how to deal with her like that. "Slow down, you've gotta wait for Brooklyn," he insisted, albeit unsurely, because he didn't know if she actually did have to wait for Brooklyn. It was probably stupid, but he had no idea if Holly was allowed to come down here by herself. He understood that she probably wasn't capable of going across the city on her own, but maybe Makayla let her do little things like this, and that was why she had acted so impulsively and done it anyway. He felt weird attempting to exert authority over her when he didn't know if it was needed, though that mindset in itself really just spoke to how unexperienced he was in the Holly-department. It probably would have been common sense to the others that this wasn't something she was supposed to be doing on her own. ​
 
Holly was so excited to get cookies, and so pleased with how well the evening was going. First, Ruby made brownies! Brownies that smelled so delicious, and would taste so delicious right after Holly had some of her cookies. Secondly, Chanel was home, and it had felt like forever since she had seen her, so that was fun! Plus, she got to go into Chanel's room and smell her candles. Elijah was neither good nor bad, but a new person was exciting on its own, so he had that working in his favor today. Then, out of nowhere--Cara! Cara came over without warning, a very much welcomed surprise on Holly's part. She let Holly come over, which let to the next amazing event of getting to see Brooklyn. After that, Roman surprised them all by being nice and giving her twenty dollars, and making sure she knew that the cookie shop was about to close so that she could get down there in time! The only thing that could make today better was seeing a dog, but she was set on showing Chanel pictures of Dalmatians later on her iPad, so even if she didn't get to see a dog, today was still going to go down in history as a very, very, very, very good day.

Holly didn't expect Nick or Brooklyn to follow after her, but she also didn't not expect it. It just wasn't something that she was thinking about, because it wasn't a priority. The priority was getting to the cookie shop before it closed. She wasn't startled when Nick caught up with her, but she would have preferred it be Brooklyn (even if she was probably luckier that it was Nick). "Slow and steady does not win the race, Nick," Holly informed him in a serious tone, before continuing down the stairs. "And I know what kind of cookies Brooklyn would want, so it's okay, because I'll get them for her even if she's not here. Me and Brooklyn like the same things. We have the same mind!" she said, laughing as she pushed open the building door and stepped outside. "You and Roman look like the kind of people who like oatmeal raisin cookies," she declared, her facial expression clearly portraying how disgusted she was by that. "But me and Brooklyn... we don't like that kind of behavior so... so I'm not going to buy those for you with my money. Maybe you could buy some for you and Roman to eat in your own house, and you and Roman can go there, and then me and Brooklyn can stay at her house and eat ours."​
 
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up now. I just got finished talking about how nice you are, and you're gonna hit me with an insult like that? What about me makes you think that I like oatmeal raisin cookies?!" There was no logical reason for why Nick was actually taking her comment seriously or to heart, but he fired his question back at her with serious curiosity, and a hint of insecurity. It was literally probably the most trivial comment she could have made, but shit, Nick wasn't about to be the oatmeal raisin cookie kind of guy. Classic chocolate chip? Fine. Snickerdoodle? No problem. Double chocolate chunk? Gladly. But oatmeal raisin?! She was wrong for that. "I get it with Roman because of his accent and all," he rationalized aloud, as if this was a real debate that needed his time and energy, and as if Roman's accent having anything to do with what cookie type he identified with made sense. "But nothing about me should speak 'oatmeal raisin' to you."

They were outside now, and approaching the tiny storefront that sold cookies. Nick still wasn't sure what his purpose was here, and he hoped Brooklyn would show up sooner than later to do whatever she wanted to do. He didn't know if the point was that Holly wasn't actually allowed to buy cookies, or that she wasn't supposed to be here without consulting Makayla first, or that she wasn't supposed to leave in general, but now that they were here, at least he could get dessert after Roman set the mood for it. These cookies were no fried Oreos, but they were usually warm and soft and hit the spot nicely. He truly still could have had at least another plate full of food upstairs, but he could take a break from the main course to indulge in his sweet tooth's cravings for the moment. Mexican food tasted better high anyway, so he didn't need to be disappointed knowing that it would still hit the spot later tonight.​
 
"I don't make the rules, Nick," Holly answered solemnly, patting him on the arm as if that would be of some comfort to him. "I just enforce them!" she added a beat later, laughing, because that somehow made it funny. It wasn't her fault that he was an oatmeal raisin cookie lover, and if Ruby was a cookie, she would be a graham cracker, Holly thought, laughing aloud at that too. She imagined Ruby's face on a graham cracker, like the Snapchat filter she had discovered earlier in the day where her face would show up on a banana. She thought about Roman's accent then, since Nick had brought it up. Sometimes it stuck out to her so starkly that she couldn't focus on anything other than the way he was talking, and sometimes her mind treated it as an uneventful, normal thing, probably in the way that most people who already knew Roman spoke with an accent treated it. Holly couldn't imagine what it was like back in India, where he was from, with all of those people talking that way, drinking their tea, and eating their oatmeal raisin cookies.

"And Harry Potter's from where Roman lives," she said to Nick, as if that tidbit of information was related to their conversation and not just her internal train of thought. There was a couple in front of them at the counter ordering which Holly initially wasn't pleased about because she was impatient and she wanted to make sure they got a chance to order before the store closed, but at least she had a conversation to distract herself with for now. "What if Roman's related to Harry Potter? They could be brothers, since they both wear glasses," she considered, despite having never seen Roman wear glasses. She looked up at Nick then with a mixture of excitement at the life-changing realization, and shock at the horror of Roman's true identity. "Or what if he's related to Voldemort?! They have the same nose!" Holly couldn't believe that she hadn't realized Roman was the son of Voldemort before right now. "And the same attitude!" She gasped. And to think Brooklyn was up there, all alone with him! "When we get back, we have to throw a bucket of water on him, and if he melts, that means he's the son of Voldemort, and if he doesn't melt, then... then he's okay to be friends with us still." She was mixing up Voldemort and The Wicked Witch of the West, but they were basically the same person anyway, and Holly hadn't finished watching the one Harry Potter movie she started because it was too scary, so she didn't know how to actually defeat Roman or his father anyway.​
 
Nick was still trying to convince himself that Holly was high on some shit if she thought he was an oatmeal cookie kind of guy when she brought up Harry Potter. It seemed like it was coming out of nowhere, but he just figured that she had missed something she had said in between cookies and this that would have been the logical transition. Then again, this was Holly, and randomness was her thing, so he didn't put too much thought into what prompted the switch. He was somewhat surprised that Holly even knew what Harry Potter was. She didn't seem like the kind of person who would be into anything fantasy related, outside of unicorns and rainbow dogs that could speak. She did seem to enjoy watching television though, or at least Brooklyn claimed that it was an easy way to shut her up, so he supposed that she may have seen the movies. He had seen them all, though he wasn't some diehard fan and he hadn't read the books. When you spent most of your life high and didn't have a nine to five holding you down, there was ample time to chill out and watch movies, so Nick was pretty well versed in film and television shows that could be streamed. He wasn't picky about what he watched, either. He was into the typical stoner stuff: Rick and Morty, Futurama, Archer, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Parks and Recreation, and so on, but he also liked watching documentaries, sci-fi films, comedies, really anything that could hold his attention.

"Harry Potter's not a real person," he told her, unsure on how she grasped the boundary between real and pretend. "It's just a movie, you know? Like how Spongebob doesn't really live in a pineapple at the bottom of the ocean." He stepped aside to let the couple in front of them, who had just finished paying, leave, before stepping up to the counter with Holly. "Besides, if Roman was related to any British person from TV, it'd probably be Stewie from Family Guy, or that little green haired dude from that Disney Channel show. What's his name again? You know, the one with the brother whose head looks like a Dorito?" he asked, somewhat distracted as he glanced at the cookies in the display case to see which flavor would catch his attention today. He probably would've just been fine with plain old chocolate chip, but now since Holly had basically called him an ugly, boring, dry as fuck bitch, he felt inclined to order something a little more exciting just to prove a point.​
 
That was easy. He certainly wasn't expecting her to lose her shit and bolt out the door as if the apartment was on fire, but that was the kind of under promise, but overdeliver approach he needed right now. Brooklyn brought this upon herself. "Next time, make sure you get dessert so you can avoid situations like this," he said as he made his way into the kitchen while she put her shoes on. This was a much more efficient, and undoubtedly entertaining way, of getting what he wanted. If Holly hadn't shown up, he wouldn't have gone downstairs himself to get cookies. He didn't want them that badly. But if there was a chance to prove a point and mildly inconvenience Brooklyn, and get those cookies, then he was going to seize the opportunity. It wasn't his fault that he was a master at his craft. Brooklyn would have probably just endured Holly's presence and complained about it, Nick a quiet and unassuming bystander, but Roman was done with his plans being changed this evening. Especially since Cara was the one who brought Holly over, he figured that the girl was here to be babysat. If he could get five minutes of silence, even if it was just to mentally prepare him for her return, then he was well within his rights, God damnit. "Get the M&Ms!" he called as Brooklyn disappeared behind the door. He was sure she heard him, unless she was really that distracted with getting to Holly, but upon second thought, he knew it didn't matter one way or another. Even if she did hear him, she would probably just ignore him. So, he sent Nick a text.

To: Nick
get the m&m and double choc mint ones

She'd only been here for less than two minutes, but he was already relishing the silence as she seemingly zapped what little energy he was running on. Being with Nick and Brooke was a solid distraction. As he filled his plate with more food, a yawn escaped easily. He was certain that he could flop on that couch and knock out, and he was nearly tempted to if for no other reason than to take what felt like a rare opportunity. It wasn't like he was never tired; quite the opposite. But his sleep still sucked. It still felt forced and unfulfilling. His lids felt like two ton during the day, but then it was one in the morning and he was either staring in the dark, or drifting in an in-between state of consciousness and sleep. Even if he did suddenly want to just collapse onto a pillow right now, he knew it would be a stupid thing to do because he couldn't sleep more than three hours uninterrupted. He also enjoyed the quiet for a moment to ensure that it remained. Finally seeing Cara's text from earlier, and being far more confused than he had been when she agreed to eat with Brooklyn and Nick, he left his food and made his way to her room. If they had caught up to Holly soon enough, she easily would have been brought back; he had a few minutes.

If he knew what Cara's train of thought was right now, he probably would have been mildly less enthused about greeting her. Even still, he felt like at this point he knew Cara well enough to know that it couldn't have been anything that serious. What could he have possibly done in the past few days of not having seen her? With that line of thinking, he fully expected the feeling to be mutual in regards to getting a moment alone. He wasn't expecting her to run into his arms or anything, but really had no reason to conclude that she felt anything unpleasant towards him currently. It wasn't like he'd just sent Holly flying out the door. "Hi," he said, footing the door some to let it open all the way. He stepped into her room, but only just. He leaned back until he was supported by the doorframe. He presented less goofy than he felt. He was keen to see her, sure, but he didn't realize how much. "I've just seen your text," he began, figuring that was the only other thing he had to say besides I missed you. That was weird. It'd been what? Three days? Four? Definitely too much. "You have me confused."​
 
Oh yeah, Holly could see that. Roman did have a big head like Ferb. "Moooooommmm, Phineas and Roman are building a time machine!" Holly exclaimed, mimicking the older sister from the show. She laughed, before abruptly becoming more serious as she looked back to Nick. "You're right, he would fit right in," she agreed, deciding that his name could easily be substituted for Ferb's without any major quality interruptions. If Roman was Ferb, then Brooklyn would have to be Isabella, because Isabella was pretty and so was Brooklyn. Brooklyn didn't have black hair and she didn't wear pink bows, but that was okay. The only thing that she didn't like about the idea of Roman potentially being related to Ferb was that Ferb was cool enough to dye his hair (just as Holly was), but everyone knew that Roman could never be cool like that. She looked at Nick, imagining him with different colored hair. No, he couldn't pull it off either.

She didn't like how Nick had claimed that Harry Potter wasn't real, but she had moved on before she could linger on it. Holly's understanding of real and pretend was blurred, with no real reasoning behind what she understood to be fake, and what she thought to be real. She understood that Spongebob wasn't real, but it was more difficult for her to grasp for non-animated things. When they had been in Disney World, she understood that the characters like Mickey and Minnie were just people dressed up as them, like on Halloween, but she easily believed that the Princess Tiana she saw was a real princess, in real life, and not just an actress making minimum wage to play the role for eight hours a day.

"Our turn, our turn!" she beamed with excited, as the couple in front of them exited the shop. "Hiiiiii!" she greeted the girl at the counter, who offered her a friendly smile.

"What can I get for you guys?"

"Oh, we need a lot of stuff!" she answered, her eyes scanning the cookies encased behind glass. "We need five of the ones with the rainbow sprinkles, five chocolate chip, five s'mores, five sugar cookies, five M&M cookies--" she paused, looking to Nick. "Do you think you and Roman will be able to share five oatmeal raisin cookies, or do you want to get six instead?"​
 
Nick laughed at Holly's impersonation at one of the characters from that Disney Channel show. How he was familiar with it, he wasn't even sure, but it got a chuckle out of him nonetheless. As they approached the counter, Nick was momentarily distracted by Roman's text. He had expected it to be some explanation for why Brooklyn hadn't already made it down, though in reality, it hadn't been more than three to five minutes since he had run out of the apartment. It felt like longer, but he attributed that to how quickly Holly had jumped from one thing to the next, making it feel like they had covered more territory than they really had. Roman's text had no mention of Brooklyn, but did request specific cookie types, which Nick noted. As Holly was busy ordering what she wanted, Nick tried to decide on what he wanted, now that he specifically had to be extra. Roman's requests sounded pretty good, and he figured he would just go with that, after another look over of the choices.

"I don't like oatmeal ra--" he stopped himself mid exclamation to look at the poor soul behind the counter, who probably wanted nothing to do with their shenanigans right now. "Okay, serious question: when you look at me, what kind of cookie do you see as my go to? You know what, don't even tell me. Just give me two of those, and then two M&Ms, and two double chocolate mints, and then I think we should be set." He hadn't heard everything that Holly had just ordered, but it also wouldn't have occurred to right away that there was no need for them to be ordering over thirty cookies in total. Not only was it unnecessary proportion wise, but he also didn't have any money on him, and the twenty dollars she had wasn't going to come close to being enough for everything they had just asked this poor girl to box up for them. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm an oatmeal raisin kind of guy, kid. Roman just handed me that 'best tattoo's contest because he knows mine are sicker, and you're gonna claim I look like the kind of dude who eats oatmeal raisin cookies?! Come on, I thought better of you, Holl." It definitely wasn't as deep as Nick was making this out to be, and he wasn't in tears over it, but shit, he wasn't a weirdo oatmeal raisin cookie eating ass bitch! For such an innocent assumption, it felt like an insult, and her repeating it somehow felt like she was taunting him. It was the kind of taunting that he knew wasn't serious, but kids were brutally honest, and it had him wondering if he really was as dry and washed up as Holly was painting him to be with that blasphemous claim.​
 
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