After texting Chanel, Cara had a quick change of heart on her outfit. At first, she had on a pair of dark jeans and a cream colored cardigan. It was simple and conservative, an everyday outfit for her. On Thanksgiving, she was normally celebrating with family in the Upper East Side which automatically would have warranted a fancier, yet still conservative outfit. Today's Thanksgiving was a whole new thing for her, so at the last minute, she decided she could change her style to fit the occasion too. It wasn't like her grandmother was going to be there to offend, and usually, when she dressed up more, she felt more confident and happy. Her hair and makeup were already done, so all it took was five minutes in her bedroom to change out of that outfit and into a textured black dress, with some black bracelets to match. It didn't scream Thanksgiving, but Cara thought she looked perfect, and if Ryan or anyone else wanted to make a comment, she would remind them that it was a long sleeved dress, and that it wasn't her fault that she had long legs that made any dress look short. She could claim all she wanted that the outfit switch was simply to boost her own mood, but it may have also had to do something with the sight of Brooklyn earlier. The girl was in pajamas, not done up at all, and yet she still looked attractive. Cara had an ego every day of the week, but like anyone else, she also had insecurities, and even considering the possibility that she was competing with a girl as beautiful as Brooklyn made her feel like she needed to step up her game.
When she finished dressing, she returned to the kitchen and found Chanel's text message waiting for her. Ignoring the last sentence, it was impossible for her to not giggle quietly to herself at her friend's message. Chanel was so... Cara didn't even know how to describe her. She was lively. A breath of fresh air. It wasn't like she was so different from the girls that Cara normally hung out with, to a point where she had nothing in common with her. If that were the case, Cara never would have considered befriending her in the first place. She was just different though. She had a level of energy that was different, and the way that she rarely seemed to let other people's bad moods discourage her from being positive was admirable too.
"Tick, tock, Ryan! It'd be great if the turkey was ready before Easter."
"Shit, Cara, would you stop acting like such a damn princess?" Ryan snapped. His voice wasn't as sharp as he wanted it to be because he wasn't a cutthroat person to begin with, but his sister knew how to push him more than anyone else. She was the definition of a princess, really. A girl who was coddled her whole life to a point where she either couldn't do anything on her own, or she just refused to because she expected other people to do it for her. She could be demanding, nasty and thoughtless, and today of all days, when he could have been sitting in his family's gorgeous penthouse inhaling a professionally made meal, he didn't have the patience for it.
"You ruined my party, so no," she responded, her face vibrant with the offense she was feeling. How dare her brother curse at her, when her bad mood was completely his fault?! First he invited over his misfit friends, and now he was trying to be Wolfgang Puck by pulling the turkey out and putting it back in every two minutes, as if it was really going to make that much of a different. Did he not realize they were on a schedule?
He rolled his eyes. Arguing with Cara was pointless, because she was so childish that she always had to have the last word. Another minute went by before his timer officially went off, and with a little bit of struggle considering the weight of the dish, he pulled the turkey out to rest on the top of the oven. As he had told Cara earlier that day, he was no chef. It looked good and it smelled good, but if for some reason it didn't turn out good, he wasn't taking the blame.
Talking to Ryan and watching him potentially screw up her Thanksgiving had distracted her from Chanel coming in, and she only noticed her friend when Roman had walked across her line of sight to set a bowl down in front of her, and then heard Chanel's voice. His presence usually brought out a scowl from her, and Chanel's would usually bring a smile, so they evened each other out to leave her straight faced, and sipping her wine to keep herself from saying anything for the moment. She set it down as Chanel wrapped her arm around her, and then, decided to smile. It lasted for only a few seconds though, because Chanel insisted on acknowledging Roman, and the thought of her ever needing his help made her want to laugh out loud. The only time he would ever be touching her, nonetheless dragging her somewhere, was if he had put a date rape drug in her drink, and she was knocked out cold, or if he killed her. With how low she thought of him, neither of the two seemed too far fetched in her mind. She only allowed Chanel to take her glass because she knew she could pick it back up once the party began and everyone else started drinking too. "Get your pudding, get a glass of wine, and that's it. Ryan's got everything under control. Like I said, he ruined the night by inviting the cast of American Horror Story: Freakshow to dinner, so it's whatever. He's got it taken care of, and if we all end up with Hepatitis A through C by seven PM, I guess we're just going to have to live with it."
Chanel laughed, and reassured Cara that everything was probably going to be okay, reminding Cara of why she loved the girl once more. "But that's not going to happen, so we don't need to worry about that. The table looks great, the food is perfect, and everything's gone according to plan so far." It could have been a cute friend moment, with Cara standing up to give Chanel a quick hug before sending her out to get that pudding, but the resident drug addict had to look up from his phone and open his mouth, as if anyone had been talking to him. "She's right. Now the only thing you have to worry about is your attitude ruining everything."
Cara wasn't really used to being challenged, so when Roman had begun to bite back at her own biting comments months ago, she didn't know how to react really. Sometimes she'd just allow her mouth to hang agape, in an "is he really serious?" move. Most of the time, she'd come up with something to spit back at him, and if she felt like it was one of her weaker comebacks, she'd automatically spin away and roll her eyes, muttering something abut how he wasn't even worth her time. Between their different schedules, Cara spending a lot of time out of the apartment and Roman doing the same, the two weren't fighting 24/7, but when they were in the same room, they tended to be. Fighting wasn't even usually the word. It was just snapping back and forth at each other until one decided to be the bigger person and walk away. Cara wasn't in the mood to be that person today. She stood up and carefully pulled her wine glass back from Chanel, as if it was some weapon that was necessary in the moment. "Why don't you just leave before you ruin my night and yours?" Okay, that was definitely one of her weaker remarks, but it wasn't one that was supposed to kill him.
The way he responded only infuriated Cara more. He had the audacity to not only put his dirty, disease-filled hands into the salad and grab a leaf to chew on, but he laughed and said, "Now what fun would that be?" She was easily fired up, and bothering her wasn't a difficult task, so a scowl instantly appeared on her face. Chanel grabbed her arm before she could say or do anything, and interjected with, "Hey. I know it's the season of giving, but I'm gonna need you two to not go at each other's necks until after Chanel has had some bird, okay?"
"Fine," Cara responded, as if she would patiently wait until that time to kill him. She shot Roman a glare, feeling it intensify as soon as she spotted his smirk again. "But for the record, no one wants you here, so it's just embarrassing that you're staying. Literally so embarrassing for yourself." She turned away from him immediately at that, as if she had the power to just end the conversation, and took another sip of her wine before rolling her eyes towards Chanel, but meaning it to refer to Roman's behavior. "Be quick," she said, meaning when she went to get the pudding. "I really just can't even deal with this."