Aubree made the most of her time in the shower, partly because it was nice to just have time to unwind and relax in the steaming hot space, but also because she assumed that Holly and Brooklyn were still sitting on the couch that was supposed to be her bed. There was no use in hurrying out there, just to have to awkwardly sit beside them until they were finished watching, especially after Holly had made a huge show about how she didn't want Aubree to stay there. That in itself had taken Aubree by surprise. She wasn't surprised so much, that the girl lacked manners and had the temperament of a five year old, so the temper tantrum wasn't shocking. The way that she had been so upfront and rude had been more unexpected though, because that wasn't what she remembered Holly to be like. She was disrespectful in terms of defying any sort of social barriers that people put up, but no matter how many times she had been reprimanded for that, she always seemed to do it again. Aubree knew that she had never been quite as sisterly to Holly as Makayla was, but could she be blamed? She had been convinced, day after day, by her mother, that Holly's skank of a mother was the one who came in and took their place in the apartment. They were kicked to the curb the second those two showed up, and Aubree had to beg her father for a bed in that house, just to keep herself out of a homeless shelter. That instilled the initial dislike she had for Holly in her, but then the girl didn't make her case any easier to work with. Aubree would come home from a long day at school, only to find more of her father's "girls" in her house, usually high on dope, in the process of shooting dope, or cooking it. Sometimes they would bring their kids with them, and the house would reek of diapers that hadn't been changed, and vomit that hadn't been cleaned up from the people who couldn't handle the night before's binge drinking.
If Makayla was the one watching Holly and those other kids who were in the house, than Aubree often times found herself being forced to do a lot of the housekeeping. It wasn't like her doing the dishes that tended to pile up at an alarming rate, or trying to kill off the roaches that always seemed to seep out of the cracks in between the floor and the wall, did much to make the apartment actually livable, but it was a daunting task for a teenager who just wanted a normal life. When all of that was over, and she had faced her own sets of verbal abuse from her father and anyone else in the house who felt like they were authoritative figures, she would hurry off to her bedroom in hopes of just getting a moment's peace, and hopefully, one that didn't involve finding some stranger passed out in her bed. So could she be blamed when day after day (and coincidentally, usually on her worst days) Holly had defied her countless warnings and was in her bedroom, touching her things? Aubree didn't think so. No one in their home had much in terms of material things, so no, she didn't think she was overreacting when Holly would smear her dollar store brand lipstick all over a sheet of paper as if it were a crayon, or when she would be rummaging through her things and accidentally knock over and break a five dollar bottle of knock off perfume. It wasn't like she was directly telling her father to physically abuse Holly, or her uncle to do more than that... Sure, she knew that that was what was coming, when she did snitch on the young girl, but what else was she supposed to do? Telling her to stay out didn't work, and in Aubree's own defense, she was struggling with her own problems and her own stress, and as someone who was also just a minor at the time, it wasn't right of any of the adults in the house to expect her to be able to cope with that, on top of Holly. Aubree had never felt much real remorse for what she had indirectly put Holly through, but that was mostly because after she moved out, she rarely ever saw or spoke to Makayla or Holly. It was one of those things where if she didn't see the problem, it no longer existed, and though maybe if she was to spend more time with Holly, she would feel bad, right now, the way that Holly had treated her initially wasn't a reaction that was going to lead to much repentance on Aubree's part. She wasn't mature enough to accept her wrongdoing right away.
After at least an hour in the shower, Aubree got out and changed into her pajamas, which consisted of nothing more than a tank top and a pair of underwear. She was so used to wearing that where she used to live that she didn't think twice about doing it here, and even if she wanted to wear something else, she didn't actually own any real pajamas, and wearing real clothes meant that she would be one outfit closer to having to do laundry, which wasn't helpful. Thankfully, her shower cap had done her well and her hair that had been straightened the day before was still dry when she unveiled it. She pulled it back into a loose braid before putting all of her belongings back into her bag, and carrying it out into the living room. She was happily surprised to find that Holly was no where in sight, and the couch was empty, and the television was turned off. The only person in the room was the blonde from earlier, who still hadn't introduced herself, leading Aubree to still assume she was Cara. She looked like she was focused on her phone, so after setting her bag down next to the couch, Aubree approached her. "Are you done with the couch now? And do you know if the two of them already asleep?" Although she didn't see a clock in the near vicinity, she assumed that it couldn't be much later than nine or nine thirty, which seemed pretty early to go to bed. The knock at the door caught her attention, but again, despite her skimpy attire, she didn't think to leave the room despite the good possibility of someone else coming in now. Since it wasn't her place, though, all she did was look towards the door, and then back at Brooklyn, somewhat curiously.
