Realistic or Modern City Living

[electric]

Elijah was busy making drinks when Chanel walked in, so with his back to the door, he didn’t initially see her. The moment that he spotted her was quite clear, simply from the way his expression changed. The wide grin that appeared was as authentic as it could get. She was already headed towards him at that point, so it took a few seconds to piece together that the guy he had served a few minutes ago seemed to be trailing her at an uncomfortably close pace for strangers. The smile dropped partially then, and then fully once he noticed that Chanel’s expression suggested displeasure. Elijah didn’t know what was going on and he wasn’t a maniac, ready to jump over the counter and pound Nick’s face in without knowing the facts, so he tried to remain composed and... open minded.

“Hey, you made it!” he exclaimed to Chanel. Signaling that he knew a patron was typically enough for one-too-many drink offenders to back off, so he hoped that was all that it would take here. “Look at you, one foot in the door and you’re already making friends?” he added with a chuckle, meeting Nick’s gaze then. “You good, man?” His tone could have just as easily been interpreted as him asking if Nick needed another drink, and that was why he was coming over, with him asking Nick if he really wanted to get his face punched in. The ball was in Nick’s court now, on how it would need to be intended.

 

[cure]

Chanel wasn't even the top who was afraid of confrontation. Not in the way that Brooklyn wasn't afraid of confrontation to the point that confrontation wasn't in her vocabulary. Chanel didn't go out of her way to seek anything but harmony—not that she wasn't here for sipping some hot tea—but she just as much wouldn't break her back to keep the peace. Like anyone, though, confrontation could leave her shaky, which was definitely what her jittery veins were signaling right now. It wasn't fear-based adrenaline happening right now though. She wasn't afraid of Nick trailing behind her about to do God knows what, namely because her train of thought wasn't even on that right now since, for whatever reason, she was still thinking Nick to be a reasonable person. She really didn't think anything was about to go down like that, or else she probably wouldn't have turned away from Nick and Roman like that. If she knew what they thought they knew, she wouldn't have walked away from the opportunity to let them know that no one put their hands on her. Did something happen to Cara though, and Cara being the kind of prideful person she was, include Chanel's name as some form of protection? It was the rapid ad hoc thoughts like that that were swarming through her mind while she was trying to process a lot of new and totally unexpected information that caused her to feel like she was walking into something looming.

She could feel the prickles forming in her throat, which only made her angrier because she wasn't even upset enough to start crying. She was certainly overwhelmed enough, but her mind wasn't there yet. She quickened her pace as though the sooner she could put distance between herself and the boys, the sooner she could move past this. Or at least, the sooner she could table it. She stopped abruptly, causing Nick to walk into her, but only just. She was on the verge of responding to him when Elijah came into the picture. She was so involved in her own situation that she only realized retroactively that Elijah had even greeted. If she could have prevented it, she wouldn't have approached Elijah looking so pissed and like Nick was bothering because, again, she wanted this to be done with. She wasn't going to be put on the spot to answer some nonsense, especially nonsense she couldn't even answer because she didn't understand it because it was nonsense. "A friend," Chanel scoffed, in response to Nick and Elijah. Roman and Nick, those idiots, really thought they could just come in and play pretend big brother because she slept with someone at her adult age? "What I did at my birthday is between me and the fence post, not whatever crime show you and Roman are trying to run. Maybe if you weren't too busy selling drugs to my little brother, you'd know what you're talking about. Tell Roman, Cara, or whoever it is whispering in your ear, that nothing happened last weekend. So you can either leave now or I'll let Brooklyn handle you as soon as I'm done texting Cara," she said as she unlocked her phone and began texting her friend.

To: Cara
did elijah do something to you that you didn't tell me about?

To: Cara
bc if not, why are you telling roman and nick that elijah 'fucked us over' last weekend?

To: Cara
whoever you're talking to, you need to call off the dog fight. i'm literally at the bar right now and these two are talking crazy

To: Cara
and don't act like you don't know what i'm talking about because I was standing right there when you texted Roman

To: Cara
which also...

To: Cara
roman???? nick???? wtf

Reaching out to Cara opened a bag of bones she probably shouldn't have opened if she was really trying to table the situation, because now her feelings were hurt. Cara really went around and told everyone about what happened? God knows what details she embellished; Chanel didn't even know what she was defending by this point. It was then that Roman made his appearance and Chanel couldn't help but roll her eyes. Why in God's name didn't she stay at the park with her insufferable friends?

Roman didn't know what was going on right now, but clearly this guy behind the counter was involved for whatever reason. He looked to Elijah. "Look, one of your employees put their hands on her and another friend of ours."

"What the hell are you talking to about? You weren't even invited."

Roman was getting pretty tired of people telling him he wasn't invited to this stupid party. "But I was there and I saw this guy put his hands on Cara and had to beat his ass right there. So you might not want to point him out, but I will find him." He looked to Elijah again. "His name is Elijah."​

 

[electric]

To put it plainly, Elijah was incredibly confused about what was unfolding in front of him. Chanel seemed to have identified these guys as friends, which helped in a sense because it meant that Elijah didn't have to toss them out of here, but at the same time, made it more complicated, because she seemed bothered by them enough still, that throwing them out still sounded like a good option. It was tricky because he still didn't know Chanel that well. He could read social cues just like any other person, but he wasn't trying to overstep his boundaries and offend her self-identified friends. He was curious if these guys were also courting Chanel, and whatever the hell they were going on about was just a front for them not wanting her to be with anyone else. They weren't enough to intimidate him, even if they both did look like the type of guys who would throw hands in the middle of a nice establishment like this one. It was hard to follow all of what was being said between Chanel and Nick, so when Roman addressed him personally, it offered him a bit more clarity, at the very least. Perhaps inappropriately though, the comment allowed a smile to surface on his face. Batman and Robin clearly had the wrong guy in their pursuit of justice. Had they not been referring to something that happened at Chanel's birthday party, and included his name, Elijah might have given it more thought. He really liked all of his employees, as he did the hiring himself, but could he see Chris having a couple more drinks than he could handle and doing something that ended with him getting punched in the face? No doubt.

"Yeah, I'm sorry to kill the adrenaline high, but I think you've got the wrong people. I saw Cara for like, what?" he said, glancing to Chanel for a second. "Thirty seconds? And it definitely didn't involve putting hands on her." He wanted to give Cara the benefit of the doubt, but there was an inkling of a thought in the back of his mind that she would be the one to cry wolf over Elijah doing something vile and reprehensible just because she thought that he wasn't good enough for Chanel. He hoped that wasn't the case though, and he wouldn't assassinate her character by voicing that possibility right now. "I'm the only Elijah that works here, and I can promise you that no one who works here would've ended up at a party like that," he added with a chuckle. While he could have responded to the situation in a way that met them where they were all at in terms of tension, Elijah opted to turn it around and lighten the mood. Maybe he was the only one feeling semi-light about it, but he wasn't about to get worked up over a rumor, or miscommunication, or whatever it was. He reached behind him and grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniels, before pouring two shots out. "But hey, wish you guys the best in finding your culprit. This one's on me." He didn't think that Chanel was a whiskey drinker and besides that, getting her liquored up wouldn't be the best look in front of two guys that apparently thought he had harmed her. He nodded his head to the side though, once he met her gaze. "I'm going to close out one of these drawers. Wanna chill in the office for a minute with me 'til I finish?"

 

[lauren.]

Cara's response to the texts that she received probably bothered sociopathic, but... what was she supposed to do?! It wasn't her fault that Roman was a complete and utter moron who couldn't keep his mouth shut. Hadn't she made it clear that he needed to not get Chanel involved in this? She couldn't remember exactly, but by default, she wanted to believe that she had made that very clear. This wasn't her mistake. She was trying to help Chanel, because even if she continued to see him after this, at least Elijah would be aware of what would happen to him if he ever decided to hurt her. This was supposed to just be the introductory course in why he needed to treat her friend appropriately... a warning. Chanel wasn't supposed to have to get involved with it! Cara wished that she had told Chanel that she shouldn't see Elijah ever again, because then she could have at least spun this into asking Chanel why she would be so dumb and continue to see this maniac! At least with that, Cara could admit that she hadn't taken that stance exactly, and yes, she could see why especially following her text asking Chanel for the name of his bar, that this looked bad. Again though, this wasn't her fault. Nothing ever was.

To: Chanel
Idk what you're talking about but come drink!!

To: Chanel
I'm uptown, idk what those weird freaks are doing. Come!

To: Chanel
Should I post this or do my eyes look weird?

She wanted to text Roman and lay into him with all of the annoyance that she was feeling, but if Chanel had apparently been reading over his shoulder a few minutes ago, she wasn't going to risk it again now. Before leaving the bar area, she added a generous extra pour to her drink. Clearly, thanks to Roman, she was going to need it.
​

 

[Collapsed]

Where the fuck did a fencepost come into play? Did this sick piece of shit do something to her outside? Dragged her into the bushes and assaulted her against a fencepost? The idiom went right over Nick's head, and it threw him off for a moment, and thinking about that probably lessened how Chanel's comment about him being some sketchy drug dealer would have stung. He wasn't sure what Roman had dragged him into, but he was certain that he was confused about it all. He still wasn't sure if they should believe Elijah, despite Chanel's insistence that he was innocent. It went over Nick's head that Roman had apparently seen the dude that they were looking for, and didn't think it was the man standing in front of them. That obviously would have been the giveaway that they didn't have the right guy, but there were too many details in this story to follow, and Chanel's reaction to what Nick thought was good-doing left him with even more questions.

Somehow though, after studying Chanel's expression for a moment, he decided that he would roll with it. Maybe she was embarrassed of having a one night stand with this dude at her party, and made up a story about it being something it wasn't to relieve herself of that feeling. Plus, Nick could objectively note that this guy was good looking. That didn't mean that he couldn't also be a sexual predator, but it wasn't like she was defending a guy who looked like Chuck E Cheese. When he offered them a shot on the house, it only solidified that maybe this was just one big misunderstanding. It wasn't like Roman was a great communicator in the first place, so he probably just fucked up the message somewhere along the way when he had been talking to Cara. Speaking of that, why was he talking to Cara, and why would Cara go to him, of all people, for help? Hadn't she just called them all trash at her party a few days ago? There were a million dudes there who were obviously linked to Chanel and/or Cara somehow, so he momentarily wondered why she wouldn't go to one of them, over someone that she openly criticized on a daily basis. Then again, most of the guys there had seemed like little bitches, so he couldn't blame her for wanting real men to take care of it. "Chanel's got a boyfriend," he said to Roman with the kind of smirk that suggested he felt like he had just cracked the code and discovered Chanel's dirty little secret. "You could've just told us that instead of claiming he assaulted you guys." He raised his shot in the air and toasted jokingly before tossing it back. "To the couple whose already taken over my spot as having the most unstable relationship. Cheers."​

 

[cure]

"Let's do it," Chanel said to Elijah, more than happy to be away for this weirdness, though clearly not quite. She hadn't finished scowling at the boys when Nick began his teasing. "I didn't claim anything!" Chanel hissed. She really could have gone back and forth with these two numskulls despite her desire to also want them far from her line of vision. "Like I would really go to you of all people if a guy put his hands on me," she said to Nick before meeting Roman's gaze. "I don't even know why you're here." She grabbed the remaining shot and stood there for a second, pondering. "I'm trying to think if I have anything else to say before I kick you out. Um..." She thought aloud, raising her gaze to the ceiling for a moment. When she decided, she poked Nick in the chest. "I liked you better when you were just my stupidly attractive drug dealer who minded his business. Now you're just some guy with tattoos who sells me weed that just so happens to have a really nice jaw line." She looked to Roman then. "And I still don't like you! And stop texting my friend! And thanks for trying to defend me but you're both still idiots! And he's not my boyfriend!" She took the shot that was meant to be for Roman before setting it down on the bar again. "Smoke me out and I won't tell Brooklyn how desperately you're still trying to sleep with Cara," she said, taking Nick's hand to give him a handshake as though they were making a deal. "Now you can get out before you lower the property value. Hmph!"

She spun on her heels in what was supposed to be a serious manner, and it still was, but Nick and Roman weren't really the enemies here. Nick's stupid mouth surely was, but she definitely snuffed him out just then. But just to make sure they knew she meant business, she looked over her shoulder and flicked her middle finger at them. Dummies, she thought to herself. She followed Elijah towards where he'd nodded, her face still contorted into a pout until her view of the boys was fully blocked. Hmm, she thought as she looked around. This would be a good place to assault someone. Maybe she should have had them stick around. She rocked back and forth from her heels to the balls of her feet, feeling she owed some sort of explanation. "My dealer," she said, offering a tight, apologetic smile. "And his roommate. They're my neighbors. And evidently make up in imagination what they lack in critical thinking."​

 

[Bandit_]

Right now, Makayla was convinced that the only major difference between ten year old Holly and sixteen year old Holly was that sixteen year old Holly had an attitude that her younger self didn’t have. Growing up, Holly really was as sweet as one would imagine. She was still easy to love now (if you weren’t her caretaker, at least) and she was well intended 99% of the time, but Makayla was really the only person subjected to her attitude. It wasn’t anything horrific, nothing that Makayla couldn’t handle, but it still annoyed her when it reared its head. Ruby would tell her that it was normal for kids her age to act that way and that if anything, it was healthy that she was starting to test boundaries in an attempt to develop a sense of self and independence. That did little to relieve Makayla’s aggravation in the moment. Holly had moments that were worse than this, so Makayla would let this slide for now. She could have easily ruined the rest of Holly’s day by reacting, but it would have ruined her own mood as well, and she didn’t want that.

Plus, she still had to remind herself that some of the things that came out of Holly’s mouth, even in one of these moods, weren’t actually meant to be bratty. What would be interpreted as being offensive based on societal norms and standards didn't come from Holly in that manner, because she didn't understand those things. Makayla obviously did her best to educate her on things, but getting it to resonate with her was the issue, and it stemmed from innocence. To Holly, telling someone waiting in line in front of them that they smelled like McDonald's wasn't an insult, because she liked McDonald's. Telling an obese stranger on the train that they looked like Ursula from The Little Mermaid was a compliment, because that meant she was basically famous. It was hard to reason with her sometimes, and Holly's brain didn't work in a way where she could categorize things as similar situations and therefore apply the same manners. She basically needed the logic of why something was wrong to be explained to her for every individual comment or situation that arose. It was tiring, but Makayla understood that was how Holly's brain worked, and tried to react reasonably. Right now though, she could tell that Holly was being argumentative intentionally, so it felt warranted to put her back in her place.

"You need to calm down, Holly," she said, though it came out in a rather gentle tone because she wasn't trying to argue. She really just wanted her to calm down. Once the energy settled, Holly's comments probably would to. Ruby painting her nails would hopefully help with that, especially because Ruby in general was a pretty calming person. She set a glass of wine down in front of Ruby, before taking a seat again with her own glass in hand. "Are you doing anything tonight?" she asked Ruby, trying to seem casual and curious. She never wanted Ruby to feel like she was trapped hanging out with them. She probably had tons of fun, young friends, and colleagues from her different experiences in life, Makayla was sure she was bland compared to them.​

 

[electric]

Elijah played his cards correctly, because his response to it all seemed to deescalate the situation. Nick no longer looked like he was going to attempt to lunge across the bar, and Chanel seemed more annoyed now than she did angry, or at least frantically angry. He was still confused about what had just transpired, but it seemed like not a single one of the three were talking about the same thing that either of the others were, so he wasn't going to blame himself for that. He nodded to the two men before turning and taking the cash drawer out of one of the computer registers behind him, before slipping out from the bar area and leading Chanel towards the kitchen area. "So, you're telling everyone that I'm your boyyyyyyyfriend?" he inquired teasingly, as he smirked at her. "Can't say I blame you. I tend to have that effect on people." His smile remained for just a few moments before he grew a tad more serious, though not in a truly bothered way. "You're gonna have to give me more than that, though," he said, referring to Chanel's explanation of who the two guys were, at least. They didn't look like the kind of people he would pin as her social group, so he guessed that it made sense that they were her neighbors. The drug dealer thing wasn't shocking either.

"So, Cara told your dealer and his boyfriend, that I assaulted you? And they thought they were gonna stroll in here and jump me?" He had to chuckle again at the thought of that. He would have cracked his best bottle of liquor over their heads before he would let them jump his ass! Not in his own establishment, not a shot. Elijah didn't really realize that Cara lived in the same building as Chanel and Ruby. He had seen her at Ruby's place a few days ago, but never in a million years would he picture Cara living in a building like that (and that said something, since it was a pretty decent spot to live). That made him a bit more concerned over it, just because then, it solidified that Cara and Chanel were probably best friends if Cara knew Chanel's neighbors that well to go spreading rumors to them. She was probably over all the time, and if she didn't like Elijah, she would probably have enough hold over Chanel to convince her that he wasn't worth her time. He didn't get it though, because he had literally interacted with her for five minutes -- if even that, and though he knew of her before the party, he doubted she knew anything about his reputation (which wasn't bad anyway). He was confused, but he tried not to make it seem like he was too bothered by it. No one in his position could say that a wealthy blonde white girl going around spreading false accusations about you being a violent and sick person was comforting, but Elijah hoped that he was just misconstruing what had just went on. "Should I be concerned about who else she's telling this to?" he added with an inquisitive smile.

 

[lauren.]

Ruby has been fairly satisfied with just having a brother growing up, but she always wondered what it would be like if she had a sister. There were a pairs of sisters who attended school with her, and it seemed like it would be fun to have a sister close in age. Ruby was never the most popular girl in school, and if anything, she was more of the quiet and geeky type, but she had some friends. Still, she had always been the type who was reserved enough that she never got super close to any of her friends. To have someone to confide in, to always take your side, to share clothes and advice with... a sister it seemed like a built in friend. Ruby would have been happy with a younger sister too, though, as Holly had taught her. She could take on the motherly role fairly easily, and she actually enjoyed doing things like this: painting nails, watching movies, listening to Holly tell her stories. The teenager had a way of making anyone feel special and needed, which Ruby could appreciate in the same way that Cara did. She raised her eyebrows in curiosity, but didn't touch upon Holly's request to reach out to Roman regarding a movie, since Makayla seemed to want her to simmer down a bit.

Spending time with the two girls beside her had begun to feel easy and natural, so when Makayla asked her if she had any plans for the night, she almost felt compelled to chuckle aloud. It wasn't like Ruby didn't have any friends outside of them, but she wasn't incredibly social by nature. Maybe once a month she would meet up with friends to do something, but other than that, she spent most of her free time at home. It was the only reason why she had roommates, really. Being able to save money was nice, but she could afford her own place if she wanted one. For her, the company was what made a roommate situation worth it. Even if she spent the entire day in her room without speaking to any of them, it was still nice to know that there were people there if she needed them. It allowed her to feel social without actually being social, and was comforting in a way.

"No, I don't have any plans. I figured that I would hang out with you guys." She dipped the nail polish brush back into the bottle before returning her attention to Holly's hand. "Are you working?" she added after considering that maybe Makayla had asked her that to see if she would be willing to look after Holly for the night. The answer would obviously be yes, but Ruby would be disappointed too, because she wanted to spend the night with Makayla. Things were only just beginning to feel semi-not-so-weird after this weekend, and a chill night in would hopefully smooth things over. Relationships (or whatever this was) weren't things Ruby was great at in her personal life clearly, and she wasn't sure if a situation like this was something that they needed to attempt to flesh out again, or just move past. Her nonconfrontational nature preferred the latter option, but she also didn't want it to be something that weighed on Makayla until it eventually came up again in a future argument. "This color is perfect for you!" she said as she looked up from Holly, one hand finished with a first coat of pink. "You can never go wrong with pink, right?"​

 

[cure]

Chanel was seriously going to kill Cara. She hadn't even read the girl's response to her texts and she was certain she would be going to jail tonight. Maybe this was a sign that she was making the wrong choices though? No! Cara was responsible for her actions and was (supposed to be) an adult just like Chanel who was simply getting to know someone platonically. We weren't all quick to judge and write others off like some people.

Chanel sighed. "At least you always know where you stand with Cara, even if you don't exactly know why. I don't know what's going on to be honest, but I told her to cut it." To Chanel, this all seemed very random, and in a way it was since it was Cara just coincidentally blabbing her business on the same day that Chanel and Elijah were going to hang out. If this was how Cara was acting without knowing all the details, then Chanel definitely couldn't confide in her. She secretly felt relieved that she had listened to her hesitation earlier about keeping this meet up with Elijah a secret. The most troublesome thing of it all was that if Chanel had told Cara about seeing Elijah today and this had all happened, Chanel would have likely reasoned it off to Cara being dramatic. Not that it excused her actions regardless, but that it could be even be rationalized was problematic and spoke a lot about what Chanel expected of Cara by this point and what she would discount. She probably would have been trying to defend Cara right now and blaming her own self. Because the only person responsible for Cara's actions was the person complaining about them. Ugh! She couldn't believe her, but she could believe it, and it was so messed up. In her angry internal circular rant, she found herself pouting again. "But no, they're the only losers you'd have to worry about, and they're obviously no real concern." Eyeing the drawer in front of him, she clasped her hands together, pointing her pointing fingers at him as though she was holding Elijah at gun point. "I'm the one you need to worry about. This is a stick up."

Elijah hoped that Chanel was right. He wasn't feeling fearful, per se, just cautious. It was a weird turn for the day to take, and being accused of something like that understandably left him feeling a bit unsettled. He was going to take Chanel's word that there was no real concern, but his fear wasn't that Cara was going to send other people to come attempt to fight him, but more that she would spread that rumor around. Even if they didn't share the same friends in New York, a lot of people he grew up with knew of her, and as big as New York was, it was also small. One rumor like that was enough to ruin someone and probably their business, too. Even if Chanel obviously wasn't claiming that she was a victim or a crime committed by him, if Cara still was, then he was still in a bad spot. He tried to convince himself that it was just a weird misunderstanding though, as they headed into his office and he set the drawer down. "Damn, got me scared enough that I might have to hit the panic button," he joked sarcastically, as he unlocked the safe that was nested under his desk. He nodded to one of the chairs in the office to signal she could sit if she wanted, as he sat in another. "So, you live next to a drug dealer? Can't say I expected that."

"Were you expecting me to have a doorman, instead?"

Elijah glanced up from the money he was loading into the bill counting machine to see if she was being sarcastic in a way that her tone didn't suggest. "At the very least," he admitted with a chuckle. "I would've guessed you were living in the same building as Beyonce and Jay Z with how hard you went last weekend with that party."

"Beyonce was your minimum?!" Chanel gasped. She guffawed as she sat in the chair he offered her and crossed one leg over the other. "Compliment of the century. I live with your..." She was at a loss for how to describe their situation, and she would rather not add more gas to today's fire, so she cleared her thought after a pause. "Our sweet, precious Ruby and we live with the sweetest, strangest kid on the planet and her big sister and we all live next to my drug dealer." She explained it like that because so far, Chanel's track record was to defy this celebrity perception he had of her by being just a regular degular person. "I don't know what it's going to take for you to realize that party was all Cara and I just happened to be the guest of the evening." Chanel didn't feel out of place around the mix of guests last weekend, but she didn't think she fit in that well. She still didn't know what to do with the outrageously expensive gifts she received considering she had a bunch of student debt accumulating that could never benefit from being paid down for what virtually was for free. "What if that party never happened, hm? Then what would you think of me? That I'm just any other broke twenty-something—which I am. I'm telling you we probably have way more in common than you're willing to admit. Don't tell me you don't like Shakeshack!"

"I've got nothing against Shake Shack!" Elijah rebutted, hands slightly in the air in a declaration of innocence. "I've just got something against guys who take girls to Shake Shack on their first date," he explained playfully. "When you start something off with the bar that low, you'll end up with just a box of chocolate on Valentine's Day, thinking that's enough." He watched as the machine on the desk zipped through the stack of money he had put into it, before pulling out the bills once it was done, and loading it with some more. "I know damn well your fine-as-hell-looking self knows better than that." He was speaking lightly, but also honestly. He wasn't trying to butter her up, just state the facts. She was gorgeous, probably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in person. He still wasn't sure if he believed the broke part, because she lived with Ruby, and it wasn't like Ruby was broke, but he knew very well that she wasn't just some average twenty-something-year-old.


"Well yeah, but..." Chanel began with a chuckle and a light shrug of the shoulder. "This isn't like a date date, so you don't have to overthink it, y'know?" Her tone posed the question as though it was for both of them because was it supposed to be a date date? He said he wanted to hang out, and Chanel wasn't dumb enough to think that they could just start off physical and pretend things had always been platonic, but that was then. She wanted to hang out with him too, but because he seemed like a genuine guy! Ish. Kind of. There was clearly something he wasn't telling her that was the root of all the ambiguity on his end and confusion on her side, but it felt less...slimy. She felt that by this point she could tell when a guy was lying to her to cover his ass and pull a fast one on her. But was he thinking that it would continue like it started? Is that what they agreed to yesterday? Maybe she was being a little flirty... But that's just who she was! And she didn't mean that just because she was comparing him to other romantic relationships that he was also one! Just that as a guy in general that already clearly had some baggage, she had to at least benefit from hanging out with him too since she knew how much guys like to waste her time. "I mean, it's not like you picked some crazy fancy restaurant or anything."

"Damn, you'll sleep with me but you won't go on a date date with me?!" he countered, feigning offense, though he was half distracted as he stuffed the bills into an envelope and into the safe, before beginning to restock the drawer with its normal starting amount. He wasn't going to admit that he had made a bunch of reservations to a bunch of places, since he definitely wanted to play the 'I'm not an overthinker' card now, so he looked at her with a hint of curiosity as he closed the safe. "Sending in your boys to come mess with me in my place of business, but I can't even take you to a nice spot?! You're an interesting one, I'll give you that." He was just teasing, but now he was wondering what she thought this was. Did she not want something serious? It wasn't like he was trying to jump into a relationship either, and he wasn't even expecting to sleep with her again tonight (though he certainly wouldn't have been opposed to it) but did she just want to be friends? Maybe he had really missed the mark, and was on a completely different page than she was. "The place next door makes good cocktails if you're down. I'd make you one here, but just in case your boys are still here, I don't want you to make us look any more 'unstable' than you apparently already have," he stated teasingly, referencing Nick's claim.

"Because I don't want you to think I'm bougie!" Chanel exclaimed in partially contrived defense. She shouldn't have cared what he thought about her. If an attractive man wanted to court her, then who the hell was she to say no? What was going on between him and Ruby wasn't her business, and he seemed trusting enough that he believed his side of the story—namely because it benefited her, but she wasn't going to admit that. She wasn't going to admit that she was more intrigued by him than she was defending Ruby. It made her sound like a really shitty person and so far, she'd been getting better about not doing that. She was definitely not trying to compromise that. Didn't she at least deserve to be treated nice by a guy who seemed more genuine than the other people she'd been with? Her track record was so poor that she was convinced it was too much to expect to find a guy who didn't have something about him. She shouldn't have cared what he thought about her, but she kind of did. She didn't want to keep being this fantasy to the men she encountered. And maybe that spoke both to how poor her past was and to how good her time was with him last weekend. She just wanted reassurance that she wasn't already feeling this guy more than the other way around because that would be embarrassing. But that felt like a weird ask. It wasn't like he was her boyfriend. He didn't need to make her feel seen. But it would be a lot easier to hold onto that Nigerian prince encounter from last weekend if it wasn't shattered by the reality of knowing that he was just like the others. On the flip side, though, it would also be a lot easier to appreciate their encounter at the party if she wasn't trying so hard to keep it from being shattered. "I want to hang out with you because I actually liked hanging out with you at the party. Nigerian prince or not. And I got the vibe you did too, but I was also super drunk so I could have totally misread things. So you can take me on a date date if you want. I just don't want to get your hopes up thinking I'm a certain kind of girl." Feeling oddly vulnerable after saying that, she waved her hands in front of her. "Not that I really care. You can think whatever you want. You can take me on a date date, whatever. I just feel like that would probably be super embarrassing for you is all if you totally had your hopes and dreams shattered. Would probably ruin the suave thing you're going for, so I'm just looking out."​

 

[cure]

And Cara really couldn't figure out why he and Brooklyn didn't like Chanel. One look at Elijah and he knew that that was Logan. "That's definitely not the guy," Roman said, though that had been established. "This guy was a bitch. Cara must have been too drunk to remember." He really couldn't figure where the gap was happening, but he could tell that they had to be talking about different things because in retrospect, Chanel sleeping with a guy like Logan made absolutely no sense. Chanel could probably blow on Logan and he would fall a part. "Look at us being heroes." Roman put his arm around Nick's shoulders. "I had no idea you were so fond of damsels." As they stepped back into the warmth of the city, Roman looked around. "Where did you send Brooklyn off too?"

 

[Bandit_]

Coincidentally, just as Ruby asked her about whether she was working tonight, she received a text from her boss. Weekend shifts were a lot more lucrative than the usual weeknight shifts she typically worked, so when he asked if she could come in later, she knew she was going to have to take it. Even if she was hoping to transition into her dental hygienist career within the next few weeks, it wasn't like she had a job doing that yet, and she wasn't in a position to turn down a night of good tips. Even though working weekend shifts were a bit hectic, the time tended to fly by much faster than they did during the week. "Speaking of work, they just texted me, so I actually think I'm going to go in tonight," she explained, before taking a sip of her wine. She didn't want Ruby to think that meant that she wanted her to sit home here and entertain Holly, though. She figured that Ruby would feel guilted into doing that anyway, but she didn't like how that was the expectation. Granted, Makayla did feel much better leaving Holly in Ruby's hands than she did leaving her alone, but she had been leaving Holly alone at night to work for years and thank god, nothing bad had happened so far. Now that Holly was older, Makayla hoped that she knew better than to pull any stupid shit while she was gone, but then again, this was Holly they were talking about. Still, she preferred that risk over Ruby thinking that she had to plan her entire life around them. "Holly's going to go to bed early tonight anyway," she said, eyeing her sister. "So you should reach out to your people and do something! It's Saturday, there's bound to be fun stuff going on."​

 

[lauren.]

Cara didn’t think anything of Chanel not texting her back immediately. Okay, maybe she was upset, but she would eventually text Cara back and Cara would explain that this wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t sure how she would do that yet, though she was inclined to go the route of denying any involvement, just because that felt safer than trying to rationalize why she would share Chanel’s personal information about that. She took a sip of her drink, momentarily pondering what her next step should be, before deciding that the right words would come to her when she needed them. They always did.

To: Roman
Um what happened bc Chanel is blaming ME for this now??? Was she there????????? Did you tell her that I told you about her sleeping with Ruby’s boyfriend??????

Chanel’s texts had made the scene sound chaotic, but Cara doubted anything physical had actually happened. She only wasn’t worried about Roman in that capacity because she knew that he could hold his own in a fight, and if he had Nick there too, that was even better. Considering what he had done to her brother, she didn’t think she had anything to worry about in that regard. Still, she wanted the details because that would help her figure out what her story was going to be when Chanel did answer her.

To: Roman
I told her to come over sooooo can I hang out with you later ? I have to fix this now

To: Roman
But I do owe you so let’s do something later

In the meantime, Cara headed up to her roof, with a cocktail shaker full for when she needed a refill. She sent one more text on the way up, though.

To: Holly
Hi Holly !!! Do you want to come over? I’m at my dad’s house uptown and I can send someone to pick you up so we can hangout.

Was Chanel really going to be mean with her if she showed up and Holly was present? Problem solved! And just to be safe, she would spend the time in between shopping online for something that could be express shipped to Chanel. A late birthday gift, perhaps. Chanel would get it tomorrow, assume Cara had purchased it a few days ago before all of this, and remember just how good of a friend she was!​

 

[Collapsed]

Oh yeah, Brooklyn! Nick pulled out his phone and texted Brooklyn before even answering Roman. He wasn’t actively anxious about this whole thing, but he knew better than to just hope for the best. Brooke was smart, and she had a right to not trust Nick based on their history. He didn’t like that, but it was what it was, and he was grateful that they were in a good place right now. He didn’t need to go and screw that up for a situation where he truly wasn’t trying to get away with something bad. He simply lied about the reason for his departure because he knew that telling her the truth would have caused more trouble than it was worth. It was an innocent white lie that he wasn’t going to allow to spiral into anything more.

To: Brooklyn
False alarm lol. Idk wth Roman is on but no one did anything to Makayla apparently so we’re coming home. Lmk what you want me to pick up on the way home

He knew that it was possible that she had already eaten, but he wanted something, so he offered anyway. “You’re the one who called me over here,” Nick pointed out, then smirking in a similar fashion to the one he had worn with Chanel just a moment ago. As he stood up and headed out with Roman, he continued. “So, which one are you into? Chanel, or Cara?” There was no way that Roman was basically making up stories to invent a reason to defend these girls’ honors if he wasn’t trying to sleep with at least one of them. “Looks like you were a little too slow if Chanel was your first choice, not gonna lie,” he said, as if Roman wouldn’t have realized that Chanel was into Eli from that encounter.​

 

[A_Writer]

Holly laughed with excitement as Ruby complimented her nail polish choice. She was right: it was very pretty, and pink was never a bad option! It may not have beat having one nail to fit each color of the rainbow, but it was still cute! Considering that Holly was usually already at a ten out of ten on the happiness scale, it wasn’t difficult to hype her up, and she fed off of positive energy with ease. “Yup, pink is the best!” she agreed, as she resisted the urge to pull her hands off of the table to wave in the air proudly. Ruby was working on her second hand, and it was doubtful that Holly was going to be able to sit still for long enough for her to do more than one coat on them. “If pink was a number, it would be four,” she exclaimed, with the statement making little sense outside of her head. This color pink was soft in tone, and somehow reminded her of the number four. She wouldn’t be able to explain the connection out loud, but it made sense to her and as usual, felt like a necessary contribution to make to the conversation.

“Oh no, don’t worry Ruby, I’m not,” she interjected after Makayla spoke on her behalf claiming that she was going to go to bed early tonight. That certainly wasn’t the case, but Holly’s tone wasn’t a bothered one, since she assumed Makayla had just spoken in error. Luckily, she was here to clarify though! “I’ll be here to hang out with you all night! We could go to the movie theater and get popcorn and candy, or if you want to go shop—“ Holly stopped speaking abruptly when she heard her iPad beeping down the hall. “Oh! That’s Brooklyn! I think she wants to invite me over tonight, but don’t worry Ruby, you can come too!” She still had a couple fingers to go, but Holly couldn’t focus on that right now when Brooklyn was waiting for her to accept her invitation! She had already made Brooklyn wait to talk to her once today, so she wouldn’t dare to deprive Brooklyn of such stimulating conversation two times in a row!

For the first few seconds on the move, she had done a good job at keeping her fingers fanned apart, paying mind to the wet paint on her nails, but her mind had moved on from that by the time she reached her doorway. “It’s actually Cara!” she yelled out to the girls, as if they were anxiously awaiting her report. She clicked to send back a voice message to Cara, since that was her preferred way of communication when she remembered it existed. “Hi Cara! Yes I do want to come over to your house so I will be there soon!” she said, sending the message. She quickly sent another though, adding, “Can you tell Ruby how to get to your dad’s house because she’s going to come with me and she’ll paint your nails for you!” One more message felt necessary, so in a whisper, she added, “It won’t be as good as when the ladies at your place do it because she can’t make a flower design on your nails but it’s still good!” Okay, just one more... “And maybe you can invite Brooklyn over too because she misses me a lot!”

With her other blonde bestie on her mind, she attempted to FaceTime Brooklyn, but the call was quickly declined. Holly didn’t think anything of it, though, and texted what she thought was just Brooklyn, but was the same group chat they had been in earlier.

To: Brooklyn, Cara, Chanel
Hi Brooklyn I can talk to you now so you can call me

To: Brooklyn, Cara, Chanel
Ruby is painting my nails for me I will send you a picture when she’s done

To: Brooklyn, Cara, Chanel
Hi Chanel it’s Holly I can’t open any presents for you right now because my nails are wet but when you come home later I will help you open them if there are any left ok But if you already opened them all without me that is ok

She returned to the kitchen with iPad in hand, somehow only smudging a single nail in the process of all of that. As she laid her hands back out for Ruby, she nodded to the iPad she had set beside her. ”Cara said I can come over to her dad’s house but I told her you could come too,” she informed Ruby with clear excitement. ”Her dad’s house is really fun, I promise!”​

 

[lauren.]

Ruby was visibly disappointed when Makayla said that she was working tonight, partially because she felt like it was a decision that was made only because Ruby had brought it up. It forced her to overthink a bit, wondering if Makayla was still bothered with her to an extent where she would volunteer to work over spending time with Ruby. She didn’t mind the idea of spending the night with Holly alone, because obviously Ruby wasn’t going to just sit alone in her room if Holly was home alone, but still... she was disappointed. She was caught in her head for a moment, indulging in a bout of self-pity, so she nearly jumped when Holly suddenly jerked away and ran off. She had missed the sound of her iPad going off down the hall, so she looked with a mixture of curiosity and concern as she bounced down the hall with a purpose.

“I’m sad you have to work!” she admitted, now that Holly was gone. “I totally get it, but I feel like this weekend was crazy and we haven’t had a chance to just relax in a while. Are you off tomorrow? Maybe we can do something?” It wasn’t like she didn’t spend a lot of time with Makayla. Even today, they had spent most of the morning and afternoon together doing stuff, but she meant alone time. Holly was a hinderance for obvious treasons, but she didn’t even just mean Holly. She meant hanging out in a way where they were both actually relaxed and able to talk and connect again, without this weird tension.

Holly was back within seconds so Ruby couldn’t expand on her thoughts. She switched back to a smile, eyes widening just a bit as Holly declared that Cara had incited her over. Sometimes Holly’s interpretation of what people said to her was... off, so Ruby peered across the table curiously, turning the iPad to see what was actually said. She couldn’t see Holly’s response since it had been sent as a voice note, but apparently Cara had actually invited her over. There wasn’t any mention of Cara inviting Ruby (not like Ruby wanted to go anyway), but she appreciated Holly’s sentiment in trying to include her as well.

“I’m sure it is,” she said as she motioned for Holly to lay her hands back out flat on the table, as she finished up. “But I don’t think I have enough energy to hang out over there all day,” she admitted gently. “If Makayla says you can go over, I don’t mind bringing you up there, though!” she offered, looking to Makayla for a decision. Even if she couldn’t hang out with Makayla alone tonight, maybe they could spend a few hours together before she had to leave. ​

 

[electric]

Elijah laughed as she explained herself, though not in a depreciating manner. It wasn't like she was confessing her soul to him, and this playful air she carried was amusing. He understood by now that maybe she wasn't exactly who he initially thought she was, but he also couldn't be blamed for still thinking that she ran with the Cara crowd. He barely knew Cara, and he barely knew her, but normal people didn't have birthday parties like that. Plus, growing up on the outskirts of that environment kind of had him on the defense about that stuff to begin with. It was easier to joke around about how someone else was probably wealthier and way out of his league initially, since it was usually true when it came to people from that crowd, so that it wasn't the awkward elephant in the room. Elijah didn't grow up poor, and he was well aware of how blessed he was since his parents drilled that into his head, but relative to his environment, he was basically one of the "poor kids" growing up, loosely linked to that society. His thoughts on Chanel's status still stemmed from realistic expectations based on how he had met her, but they reflected an (old) insecurity of his just as much.

"Well, I appreciate it. Good to know that the girl that tried to have me jumped is looking out for me," he teased, shaking his head through a smirk. "But I'll be real with you: I like to think of myself as being up front and honest," he began, knowing that those two words probably didn't mesh well with the dating-your-roommate person she thought he was, but continuing anyway, because that wasn't him, damnit! "I did enjoy hanging out with you, and I want to get to know you more. If that ends in my hopes and dreams being shattered, I'll accept the L on it and hope that your Shake Shack prince does a better job at winning you over."

"How about I meet you half way?" she said, scooting her chair closer to the desk. "Tell me first, where are you taking me today?"

"Depends on what you're in the mood for. The Standard Grill is only a few blocks away and they have a good burger if you're still craving that." You couldn't go wrong with The Standard, and it seemed like a safe pick considering that it was nice without being too stuffy, and trendy enough to quench the influencer vibe she gave off. "Or I can also get us a table at Le Bernardin if you want seafood. Your pick," he offered. Getting a table at Le Bernardin definitely wasn't as casual of a feat as he wanted to make it seem, especially last minute. He had actually never been there before, and would be fronting, at least a little, by taking her to a spot like that, but he hadn't been sure of what to expect this girl when she said Shake Shack! Impressing her had seemed worth saying 'fuck this month's budget' though.

Hmmm. Since this is the second time it's come up, she decided it must have been a sign. "Let's do Bernardin! Do you think they'll let us take the food to go? We could eat here or at your place, and then when you're nice and full, you can use all that energy to make that grilled cheese you were bragging about. Mmm," she cooed as the thought marinated in her head. "Grilled cheese and seafood actually sounds really good. That way it's not a dusty Shake Shack date, and I get to keep my standards low via a kitchen or apartment date! And I also just really want to talk trash about your grilled cheese because there's no way it's going to be better than last time."

"I don't think they deliver," Elijah said, though he took out his phone to double check. He hadn't eaten there before because it had always been too upscale for him, but he figured it was that kind of place that thought their food was too good to ever see the inside of a to-go box. "But there's this really good place called Marea that we should actually try. I know we can get stuff delivered from there." Elijah enjoyed food a lot, and liked trying new restaurants when he could, so he didn't struggle to come up with a backup plan. He texted her a link to the menu. "You think we need to order something for your friends too, or did you scare them off?" he joked, though if they were still here, he probably would opt for them to go to his place. He hoped that they would end up there later anyway, just to chill if anything, but he didn't want to seem like he was trying to get her back to his place like that, even if she was the one to suggest it.

"You're just jealous 'cause I got riders," she said as moved his hand away. "I trust you. We can go there tonight. Not gonna lie to you, though, I don't know what I was thinking inviting myself over here, so hopefully you've got more backup plans because you're stuck with me for the rest of the day. Which I guess is good since you need me to protect you from my goons." She stood up then and paced around the room for no other reason than to just move about. She looked back at him situating the money and tilted her head to the side some. "I can totally come back later if you want. I honestly wasn't expecting you to yes."

"No, you're good, I'm basically done. Your friends just reminded me that I shouldn't be keeping a ton of cash out there all day," he explained, only half teasing. On busy days like today, he had to change the drawers at least once a shift since they filled up quickly. While most people paid with credit nowadays, they still had enough customers on the weekends that cash still found its way in, which Elijah preferred anyway. While the credit card fees were minimal on their end per transaction, they added up and unnecessarily ate away at profits. He was done though, so he wasn't lying about what he said just to appease her and get her to stay. "How does Cara know those guys?" he asked as he closed up the safe and picked up the drawer that was now restocked. He wasn't trying to harbor on the topic of her, but if they were drug dealers, it seemed weird that she would know them. He considered that maybe he had missed something in her story about them all being connected, though. "Let's head back out, I want to introduce you to some of my people," he suggested as he stood up.

"Cara and I are also neighbors!" It was certainly a weird situation to be this close knit to your neighbors, but Chanel kind of liked it. Maybe not so much when she wanted space from them, but in general, she would preferred it. "Cara and Nick—the guy with the lighter hair, the drug dealer—she lives with Nick's girlfriend, Brooklyn. Who is best friends with Roman, guy with the accent." She decided to leave out the complications between Nick, Cara, and Brooklyn just because she needed to prove to herself that she wasn't as petty as Cara. Though at the very least she was petty enough for it to come to mind. "They're actually pretty chill, I promise." She looked at him and smiled then. "Don't tell me you don't have an uncharacteristically close circle with your neighbors. Do you live in the area?"

See, this was why the situation was so confusing! Chanel was over here claiming that Cara was one of her neighbors, but Elijah knew that there was no chance that Caraline Forrester lived in that apartment building. There was nothing wrong with it, and Ruby living there and being an MD spoke to that, but it definitely didn't scream billionaire... nonetheless spoiled brat billionaire. Maybe Chanel had already explained this to him somewhere along the way, but it still had him confused. The only logical conclusion in his mind was that when Chanel said "neighbor" she meant that they just lived in the same neighborhood. Maybe Cara lived across the street or something, in a glitzy new building with units that had bathrooms the size of his entire apartment. "Yeah, I only live a few blocks from here but unfortunately, I don't think I've ever even seen the people who live next to me," he chuckled. It was actually probably a "fortunately" situation, because the idea of befriending the neighborhood dealer who simultaneously was trying to get body guard training wasn't something that Elijah was really pressed on doing right now. "Maybe I should be more friendly though. I didn't realize it was possible to just discover a billionaire friend like that."

As they reached the bar, Elijah pulled out one of the stools for Chanel to sit, before slipping behind the bar himself. Some of the people for the next shift had started to trickle in, with Harlow and Dom being two of them. They were both behind the bar, and both pairs of eyes immediately jumped to him when he appeared, though they didn't linger long before turning to Chanel. Elijah caught this, but tried to remain unbothered in appearance. He didn't want to Chanel to see that he was nervous that they were about to say something, exposing that he had "bragged" about catching the attention of a girl as pretty as she was. He hoped that these two would be on their best behavior, but he knew that was a long shot, so he expected the worst when Dominique opened her mouth.

If Harlow hadn't elbowed Dom in the ribs as Elijah emerged from the back with an unfamiliar girl, she wouldn't have noticed. She was in her own world most of the time, so she wouldn't have been perceptive enough to notice Elijah pulling out a chair for Chanel before he stepped behind the bar to return a drawer to a register. However, since she was watching now, she couldn't help but to pick up on what was going on, and the way that her eyes lit up with pleasure spoke to that. Of course Harlow wasn't going to say anything; she was the type who would silently observe from afar and offer her two cents when necessary, but she didn't meddle. Especially not when it came to Elijah's love life, since whatever they had had at one point still felt complicated to her, at least. Dominique didn't mind being the voice here though, because her curiosity was going to eat her alive if she didn't meddle, just a little. "Oooooh! You must be the model slash billionaire slash love-of-Elijah's-life that he met this weekend!" she gushed as she approached Chanel. "I can't believe you're actually real!" she said, looking to Harlow with surprise. Harlow had mostly been teasing Elijah when she had insisted that there was no way this girl was real, but Dominique had been serious in wondering if Elijah had conjured her up in his imagination. She didn't doubt that he could find a girl like that because he was attractive, but it wasn't common for him to come around bragging about a date like that, which somehow made it feel imaginary.

"Not love of my life!" Elijah jumped in quickly, shoving the drawer into the register so that he could turn himself around and position himself beside Dom. "I didn't say that," he clarified, looking to Chanel. He didn't want to sound like he didn't like Chanel, but what the hell was Dom doing acting like he was a crazy person claiming that a girl he had just met was the love of his life?! Yeah, that was really the crazy person image he was trying to give off. Smdh. "Chanel, this is Dominique, one of our lovely, delusional bartenders. She clearly has a great imagination, so don't believe a word she says."

"Don't be silly! Girls like guys who wear their hearts on their sleeves, right, Chanel?!"

Elijah was going to need to apologize for this menace later, but for now, he just wanted to make Chanel a drink so they could move away from her. He was sure it was only a matter of time before Harlow started to chime in with her own little smart remarks. "Ignore her," Elijah insisted, rolling his eyes and wondering how he had gotten so unlucky that there wasn't a single customer at the bar who looked like they needed Dom's assistance right now. "What can I make you? And don't worry, we can sit at a table," he said, trying to focus on Chanel since it was clear that Dom wasn't going to take a hint and leave him alone until they were out of speaking-range. If she wasn't closer to a friend than an employee by now, he would have just told her to go do something, but he would play nice in front of Chanel.

 

[Bandit_]

Makayla was the last person who enjoyed working, and she would have preferred spending the night in too, but she also had to think about the money. She was doing better than she used to be doing, and was finally, kind of, sort of getting a grip on her finances, but she still wasn't in a position to turn down work, especially weekend work. The tips were too good, even if the work was more demanding than usual. More people just meant more disgustingly drunk men, with the worst of them always being the ones to refuse to tip when their bill came. Still, just the increased influx of people inevitably meant more money. Plus, unlike the dancers, the bartenders and servers were seen as much more expendable. People didn't show up just to see Makayla in the way that certain regulars would come and specifically request Brooklyn for a private room, probably netting the clubs thousands in table fees alone in a single night. Even though this wasn't her scheduled shift, with the way office politics worked in these jobs, her refusing to cover for someone would basically be seen as being just as bad as her calling out, and she'd probably get shit for it. At the same time, staying home in pajamas and sipping wine did sound nice. Very nice.

Like Ruby, Makayla was inclined to tilt Holly's iPad closer to her to actually read what had transpired in her conversation with Cara. She was annoyed that Holly was texting her to begin with, but only because her instinct was to assume that Holly had been sending her a thousand texts an hour, with Cara only responding out of pity. Thankfully, she didn't read the group chat with Cara, Chanel, and Brooklyn, because she would have seen just that, plus Holly randomly sending a photo of her to them. She would have been equally annoyed and embarrassed, which wouldn't have fared well for Holly, especially a Holly making requests right now. Surprisingly, it seemed like Cara did initiate this one, and invited Holly over without Holly having to invite herself. Makayla still felt inclined to think that Cara was doing it out of pity, but she knew that it wasn't right to always jump to that conclusion. As much as she loved her sister, she knew that Holly was a lot to deal with, so she defaulted to feeling like Cara didn't genuinely want to hang out with her when she did stuff like this because... well, why would she? Holly was a wonderful kid, but that still didn't really clarify why a twenty-something year old who had lots of friends of her own would want to spend her Saturday night with her. It wasn't often that her sister had plans of her own though, so she was grateful for Cara nonetheless. Not only had it clearly made Holly's day, but it was also going to make Makayla's life easier whether she did decide to go to work or not.

To: Brooklyn
Vince asked me if I can work tonight but I don't think I can. Do you think they're going to use it against me if I don't go in

Makayla knew that Brooklyn had an in at the club. She seemed invincible, honestly, with the way management treated her versus the majority of people who worked there, so Makayla was hoping that Brooklyn would either offer to pull some strings for her, or reassure her that it would be fine. She didn't want to owe her, but a night to relax in itself was rare, but a night to relax without Holly here was even more rare. "Are you going to be able to sit in an Uber by yourself without talking to the driver, touching the window button, or opening the door while the car is moving?" she said, looking to Holly. The answer to at least one of those was likely no, but she supposed that maybe with an incentive on the line, Holly would feel more inclined to behave... at least for the first five minutes. "If the answer is yes, you can tell her that you can go."​

 

[A_Writer]

Holly wasn't really listening to Makayla's list of demands. She hadn't asked for permission to go to Cara's; she was just being polite and informing her that that was what she was going to do. She was already calling Cara by the time Makayla finished speaking to "Hi Cara! It's Holly. When should I come over?"

"Hey Holls! I'll send a car to pick you up now, okay?"

"Okay! Ruby doesn't want to come. She said she doesn't want to spend her whole day at your house."

"That's okay, I don't want her to come anyway."

"Oh, Ruby, it's okay that you don't want to come, because Cara doesn't want you to come anyway!"

"Nice, tell her I love her too."

"Ruby wants you to know that she loves you too."

"Okay. Is Chanel home?"

"Nope!"

"Okay, no worries. I'll see you in a little!"

"Okay, bye!" Holly ended the call, and then looked back to the two other girls excitedly. They obviously heard every word of the call since it was playing from the speakers and not earbuds, but she still felt it necessary to inform the others of what had been going on in the call, since they hadn't been apart of it and in turn, should have stopped their ears from being able to listen. "Cara said she'll see me in a little bit because she's going to send a car for me right now." She was already running down the hall halfway through that sentence though, because she needed to put on shoes! She reemerged in the kitchen just seconds later with them in hand, and sat down on the floor to put them on. "I'm bringing my Mr. Purple too so he doesn't get lonely!" she exclaimed with a laugh, as she struggled with her shoes for a moment, before popping up and onto her feet. ​

 

[BurningBridges]

Simply because God hated her, Brooklyn happened to arrive home just as Holly was pushing open the front door to the building to leave, with Makayla and Ruby at her side. She had made a quick stop on her way back to pick up conditioner, not because she needed it, but just because she felt like spending money. With small purchases like this, it wasn’t a big deal, but in the past, Brooklyn definitely had a spending problem. She hadn’t wanted to call it that because she was only spending money that she had, and she did save a fair amount of money still, but it was just wasteful. She had toned it down this year, but she still sometimes gave in to those cravings to just buy things. It was somehow comforting, especially when she felt that urge to “indulge” but couldn’t partake in her current bad habit of over drinking. That was another story in itself, and one that Brooklyn hadn’t gotten around to addressing yet.

It was very obvious that a person like Brooklyn needed therapy, from every angle, really. The trauma that she endured in her teenage years clearly had never been worked through, and from there, everything else was just treated similarly, in the sense that it wasn’t treated or acknowledged at all. She didn’t know how to cope with things in a healthy way, and instead, responded to anything that her brain interpreted negatively with either anger, or distraction. While there was no way to deny that Brooklyn wasn’t necessarily a great person, she was aware of that, at least. She could take responsibility for her actions. What she struggled to take responsibility for, was her emotions. She wouldn’t hesitate to acknowledge that she had thrown a full wine glass at Nick, just barely missing his head one night, but she wasn’t going to tell you why she did it. At least not why she really did it. You would hear about how Nick was a lying piece of shit and how if he wasn’t such a deadbeat, she wouldn’t have to respond in such a manner, but she wouldn’t admit that she was hurt by the way he treated her, or that she was embarrassed or frustrated, or any of that. At this point though, Brooklyn didn’t have any plans of delving into her past or attempting to change her ways via professional help. She was certain that no one would understand, and she didn’t want to deal with the emotions that would come with trying.

She had received Nick’s text a few minutes prior about Makayla not actually being hurt, and though she was confused, she was glad she saw it before running into the trio. She would have been pissed if Nick and Roman had made her look foolish in front of them. She responded to Nick only to say she didn’t care what kind of food they picked up, but unlike Nick’s text, she hadn’t responded to the one she had received a few minutes ago from Makayla. “Maybe instead of working tonight, you can teach your kid what an emergency is, and how she shouldn’t blow up my phone all day unless there is one,” Brooklyn said pointedly to Makayla, and only because she was walking straight towards them so conversation was inevitable, unfortunately. “I really am going to block you one of these days,” she added as she looked over to Holly, though she sounded less convinced of that than she would have liked to.​

 

[cure]

"Don't act like you weren't tripping over your feet to get to the action back in there," Roman teased back. Of course, that was just the difference between the two of them. Neither went out of their way to get into trouble, but Nick had one switch that, while difficult to flip on, was also a bitch to turn off if it ever got to that point. Roman, on the other hand, had several, more sensitive switches, but a special combination was needed for him to really go off the wall. Even if Logan had Roman get violent with him, if they had found him instead of Elijah inside, Roman wouldn't have been foaming at the mouth in fury. He was quick to get this 'situation' handled, but he wasn't jumping to coat his face in Vaseline or anything like that. Roman wouldn't have had any issue going to toe with Logan had he been at the restaurant, but he really needed a present trigger for his temperature to rise.

"You can ask Cara what she was smoking since I'm sure the only reason I was brought into this was because you weren't around. Or maybe because I already dealt with him last week. There's no telling with either of them." Roman wasn't nervous about getting caught with Cara, but it was shortsighted for him to get Nick involved so quickly. Then again, it really seemed a small risk to take in comparison to what he thought the real situation was. He saw the messages from Cara coming in then and chose only to process the one about her bailing for the time being. The others were already raising more questions that he didn't need anymore of. "Where we eatin?"

to: cara
no worries. i'll catch you around. ​

 

[A_Writer]

It only took Holly a couple of minutes to get ready for Cara, and just as soon, she was bounding down five flights of stairs like it was a race. Even with Makayla and Ruby a flight or two behind her, they were still kept in the loop of the conversation that she was essentially just having with herself, because of how loudly she was speaking. She waited for them at the bottom of the stairs, surprisingly remembering Makayla’s daily request for her to do so. Most of the time, Holly would be outside talking to a stranger or ready to reach for an empty candy wrapper from the ground by the time her sister caught up with her. To her pleasant surprise, when they walked outside, they ran into Brooklyn. Yay!!! “Why would you block me when you were the one interrupting my work?” Holly asked with genuine confusion, though the perplexed look only longer for a moment before happiness returned. She loved seeing Brooklyn! Her body seemed to flood with endorphins just at the sight of her friend, probably in a similar way that a puppy’s would when their human got home from work. She only used the word “work” in her response to the blonde because that was what she assumed Brooklyn was doing every time she told her that she was busy. It didn’t make sense that any other thing in her life would be of higher priority than Holly, other than that. “I was busy working with Ruby, but I did text you after when I became available!”

“I’m sure it was Ruby who was doing to ‘work’ and clearly, she has a lot more of it to do.” Brooklyn really couldn’t be bothered by Holly right now, and she only lingered to look at Makayla more closely, just to confirm that she actually didn’t show any signs of injury. “To think you’re still like this when you have your own live-in shrink is really sad,” she commented, her tone bored. “Are you even a real doctor, or just one of those social workers pretending to know how to fix people’s problems?” she added, looking Ruby up and down before settling on an unimpressed gaze. She didn’t need to be rude like this, but it was the default way that she interacted with people she knew, especially when she was annoyed. She knew that it wasn’t kind, but she didn’t care.

“Yup, she is a real doctor!” Holly piped up, before waving her hands near Brooklyn’s face. She wasn’t quite there yet with her mind, but she wanted to show her how her nails were freshly painted! “She can even give you medicine if you want! Like maybe for your anger management problem or — look at what I got done, Brooklyn! Ruby painted them for me and I picked the color and I’m going to Cara’s house if you want to come!”

“Goodbye, Holly.” Brooklyn side stepped the trio, offering Makayla an eye roll as if that conversation had just drained her of all life. Even if her expression wouldn’t suggest it, she was happy to know that Cara wouldn’t be home for a while. Even better, she realized, as she headed up the stairs... Holly wouldn’t be home for a while either. Not even a hallway and a locked door could keep her annoying ass out of Brooklyn’s business, so at least now she could have a few hours of peace.​

 

[Collapsed]

Nick smirked, only because Roman had a point. He hadn't been to the gym in a few days, so he figured that he should add that to his to-do list for tomorrow, if for no reason other than to release a bit of energy he had stored up. Working out was a nice stress reliever and even if he felt like it was too corny to admit, it did help with getting rid of some pent up anger that he sometimes discretely clung to. He probably would have been more eager to jump into a fight than your average person, but it wasn't something that he felt was flawed. He just enjoyed a nice dose of vigilante justice, or Nick-imposed karma. It wasn't like he just attacked people who didn't deserve it... and yes, Collin did deserve it.

"She says she doesn't care what we have, but you know that means she secretly does care, so what's that place she was talking about the other day? You know, with the food and stuff? She said she thought it looked good, or something, and you agreed with her," Nick was completely pulling that out of thin air, but he spoke with certainty, as if it was something Roman should have been paying attention to just as much as he had clearly been. He figured that it was quite possible that Brooklyn had mentioned a place that she had wanted to try recently and maybe Roman had picked up on it, since he hadn't.

To: Brooklyn
Ok we'll be back in a minute

To: Brooklyn
Also don't mention the Makayla thing to Roman. He's embarrassed ​

 

[Bandit_]

Even though everyone knew that this was just the way that Brooklyn was, it still made Makayla at least a little bit uncomfortable when she called her out for not keeping Holly in check. It actually had less to do with Brooklyn than it did with her own insecurities and relationship with Holly in general, because she much preferred the idea of Brooklyn complaining about it, than someone like Chanel or Cara. Brooklyn was bothered by just about everything, and while that didn't discount that Holly was probably annoying her, it allowed Makayla to disassociate with some of the embarrassment that came with being told that Holly was bothering her. It was also only because she knew that this was the way that Brooklyn was, that she didn't always jump to Holly's defense with anger, as she would have if someone else spoke to her in such a way. Brooklyn wasn't kind to Holly in a direct sense, but Makayla knew that for whatever reason, Brooklyn tolerated her. Her threats were always empty, and she had a better heart than she wanted to admit. Makayla wouldn't call Brooklyn out on that though, because she was aware that this aggressive front that Brooklyn put up must have held some purpose for her. It wouldn't have served any purpose for Makayla to attempt to force her to acknowledge that she wasn't as mean as she tried to act, especially since it very rarely seemed to actually bother Holly. In fact, somehow, Brooklyn was probably Holly's favorite person in the world.

"And there goes any hope of me not working tonight," she grumbled to Ruby, as Brooklyn headed past them and into the building. If she hadn't already seen her text about helping her get out of having to work, she certainly wasn't going to feel any more inclined to be nice after this interaction. As they stepped onto the sidewalk, she placed a hand on Holly's arm, partially to hold her attention for a moment, and partially to ensure that she didn't go running off, chasing after a plastic bag caught in the wind or some stupid shit like that. "Have you been bothering her? I swear Holly, I will take that iPad away in a heartbeat if you're out here doing dumb stuff on it." Cara had sent them an ETA for when the car she had sent was supposed to arrive, but they still had a couple of minutes until then. She sighed, speaking a bit more softly. "It's okay to text people sometimes, but if you text them too often or about silly things, they might think it's annoying and not want to deal with it anymore, and since you live right across the hall from Brooklyn, there's probably nothing you need to say to her that can't wait until the next time you see her in person, right?"
​

 

[cure]

"Hot n Juicy Crawfish?" Roman asked in a tone whose quizzical nature was shared in part due to the rising confusion he was having in re-reading Cara's text. Ruby had a boyfriend? That Chanel slept with? Why would he just know that? It wasn't clicking that the boyfriend in question was Not Logan, but it wasn't something of importance. Putting his phone in his pocket, he looked at Nick and repeated himself. "Hot n Juicy Crawfish. I think it's some Cajun seafood place." If you had asked him before he came to the what Cajun seafood was, he would have just guessed that it was something spicy. While he wasn't some connoisseur in southern American cuisine by any stretch of the imagination, he was definitely exposed to more things while living in the city. He had decided from a young age that he didn't like seafood for no other than reason than the smell bothering him. He could eat fish and chips, but only when he was picking off his mum's bundle when they were at the beach for the summer. Eating the small pieces of fish she would break off for him alongside a mouthful of fries made it far more tolerable. Of course, his mum lying to him and saying that it was actually chicken fingers from the jump played a role. As wildly smart as he was a child, he was still in fact a child in most arenas. So while he wrapped up mandatory school before he hit double digits, and figured out on his own the logistics of Father Christmas's ability to go from the North Pole to childrens' houses all in a night, this didn't disprove the existence of Father Christmas in his six-year-old brain. It confirmed that there was such a thing as magic. Father Christmas being real was a fact, and he didn't care that the rouget barbet being served in three-Michelin-star restaurant in Paris was something he should be grateful for having the opportunity to 'experience.' It was literally an entire fish just without the head, and it was gross.

His parents might not be particularly impressed that he was eating in what they would consider to be hole-in-the-walls, but that would definitely be the least of their concerns if they were to ever run into him again. While their son definitely could enjoy seafood now—he still had to know what it looked like beforehand because if it looked weird, he wasn't eating it—he also looked like and hung out with people who were...uninitiated. He handed Nick his phone after pulling up the menu. "You want to do that and have it delivered or pick it up?" A second later, seemingly on a trend of delayed-processing today, he curled his face and looked at Nick with incredulity. "Chanel?" There was nothing wrong with Chanel. Even he wouldn't say she was ugly, but they were polar opposites and it was obnoxious Chanel of all people. She was way too cutesy for him. "You're really taking the piss, that one."​