Introduction
New York, New York
This story focuses on the lives of the tenants living on the fifth floor of the apartment building at 304 W 14th Street, in Manhattan, New York. This particular building is located on the border of the West Village and Chelsea, and is approximately a fifteen minute walk from both Union Square Park and Washington Square Park. The building isn't the nicest, so at least once a month, you'll probably be knocking on the building manager's door about a leak, pest problem, or utility issue that you know will never be fixed, but considering it offers decent, livable apartments in one of the most expensive cities in the world, it's not a horrible place to live either. It's a walkup building, with no doorman or elevator service, though there is a keypad at the front door of the building as a puny security measure. Pets are not permitted in the building, and it does not offer any services such as a rooftop area, gym, or swimming pool. However, on the block and in the surrounding area are many restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, and schools.
The building has seven floors of apartments, with ten apartments per floor. The majority of them are single, one bedroom apartments, with a few studio apartments, and two and three bedroom apartments in the mix. Studios generally run around $1500 a month with a kitchenette/bedroom and bathroom per apartment. One bedrooms separate the bedroom from the kitchen/living room, and also have one bathroom, and run around $1800 per month. A two bedroom apartment, with two separate bedrooms, a kitchen and living area, and one bathroom will run you $3000 a month, and a three bedroom apartment, fitted with three separate bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and living space will cost approximately $4500 a month. The fifth floor consists of a mix of all four of these apartment types.
Apartment 5A is a two bedroom apartment, currently being occupied by one male, after his roommate just recently moved out. Colton King currently works at a deli, and likes to believe that he's living a simple, yet fulfilling life. He has enough money to pay his bills and afford as much beer as it takes to make him pass out each night, and up until now, that has been enough to keep him content. He does wonder, however, if that's going to be enough to keep him content forever.
Colton King | FC: Harvey Newtown Haydon | Age 24 | Taken by Thunder
Apartment 5B:
Apartment 5B is a three bedroom apartment. The first of the three rooms is occupied by Chanel Owens, a girl who is known for her bubbly personality and ability to befriend almost anyway. She's currently unemployed, but has a history of working jobs such as a barista in a coffee shop, and freelance graphic design work. Recently, the second bedroom's occupants changed, and now Nick Moreno and Roman Killens reside there. Nick is the neighborhood drug dealer, while Roman makes most of his money through underground, illegal street fighting. The third bedroom is occupied by Kacey Rogers, an aspiring actress and waitress.
Kacey Rogers | FC: Keke Palmer | Age 21 | Taken by Thunder
Nick Moreno | FC: Diego Barrueco | Age 24 | Taken by Collapse
Roman Killens | FC: Ash Stymest | Age 21 | Taken by Predictmeifyoucan
Chanel Owens | FC: Imaan Hammam | Age 22 | Taken by Predictmeifyoucan
Apartment 5C:
Apartment 5C is a three bedroom apartment. It was originally only occupied by Caraline Forrester and her brother Ryan, a sibling pair who grew up on the Upper East Side with their father, after their mother passed away in the 9/11 attacks. Ryan, a student at NYU, recently bit off more than he could chew, when he slept with Brooklyn West, and in an impulsive move, moved back home with his father to avoid the drama. Following her breakup with Nick, thanks to him sleeping with Cara, Nick left her bedroom, but Brooklyn still remains in the second bedroom, and Holly and Makayla now occupy the third bedroom, that once housed Ryan and Roman. They're not biological sisters but were raised together and think of each other as being the closest thing to family that either have ever had. After Makayla's father was sent to prison with Holly's mother two years ago, Makayla assumed custody of Holly. With her father and his drug money gone, they were evicted from the house they were living in in Queens, and the sisters were homeless for a month before Makayla resorted to prostitution.
Caraline Forrester | FC: Lindsay Ellingson | Age 22 | Taken by LaurenAFI
Brooklyn West | FC: Amber Heard | Age 23 | Taken by BurningBridges
Makayla Wright | FC: Jhene Aiko | Age 22 | Taken by Bandit
Holly Maddon | FC: Ariana Grande | Age 16 | Taken by Writer
Rules
Character Sheet
The building has seven floors of apartments, with ten apartments per floor. The majority of them are single, one bedroom apartments, with a few studio apartments, and two and three bedroom apartments in the mix. Studios generally run around $1500 a month with a kitchenette/bedroom and bathroom per apartment. One bedrooms separate the bedroom from the kitchen/living room, and also have one bathroom, and run around $1800 per month. A two bedroom apartment, with two separate bedrooms, a kitchen and living area, and one bathroom will run you $3000 a month, and a three bedroom apartment, fitted with three separate bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and living space will cost approximately $4500 a month. The fifth floor consists of a mix of all four of these apartment types.
Apartment 5A is a two bedroom apartment, currently being occupied by one male, after his roommate just recently moved out. Colton King currently works at a deli, and likes to believe that he's living a simple, yet fulfilling life. He has enough money to pay his bills and afford as much beer as it takes to make him pass out each night, and up until now, that has been enough to keep him content. He does wonder, however, if that's going to be enough to keep him content forever.
Colton King | FC: Harvey Newtown Haydon | Age 24 | Taken by Thunder
Apartment 5B:
Apartment 5B is a three bedroom apartment. The first of the three rooms is occupied by Chanel Owens, a girl who is known for her bubbly personality and ability to befriend almost anyway. She's currently unemployed, but has a history of working jobs such as a barista in a coffee shop, and freelance graphic design work. Recently, the second bedroom's occupants changed, and now Nick Moreno and Roman Killens reside there. Nick is the neighborhood drug dealer, while Roman makes most of his money through underground, illegal street fighting. The third bedroom is occupied by Kacey Rogers, an aspiring actress and waitress.
Kacey Rogers | FC: Keke Palmer | Age 21 | Taken by Thunder
Nick Moreno | FC: Diego Barrueco | Age 24 | Taken by Collapse
Roman Killens | FC: Ash Stymest | Age 21 | Taken by Predictmeifyoucan
Chanel Owens | FC: Imaan Hammam | Age 22 | Taken by Predictmeifyoucan
Apartment 5C:
Apartment 5C is a three bedroom apartment. It was originally only occupied by Caraline Forrester and her brother Ryan, a sibling pair who grew up on the Upper East Side with their father, after their mother passed away in the 9/11 attacks. Ryan, a student at NYU, recently bit off more than he could chew, when he slept with Brooklyn West, and in an impulsive move, moved back home with his father to avoid the drama. Following her breakup with Nick, thanks to him sleeping with Cara, Nick left her bedroom, but Brooklyn still remains in the second bedroom, and Holly and Makayla now occupy the third bedroom, that once housed Ryan and Roman. They're not biological sisters but were raised together and think of each other as being the closest thing to family that either have ever had. After Makayla's father was sent to prison with Holly's mother two years ago, Makayla assumed custody of Holly. With her father and his drug money gone, they were evicted from the house they were living in in Queens, and the sisters were homeless for a month before Makayla resorted to prostitution.
Caraline Forrester | FC: Lindsay Ellingson | Age 22 | Taken by LaurenAFI
Brooklyn West | FC: Amber Heard | Age 23 | Taken by BurningBridges
Makayla Wright | FC: Jhene Aiko | Age 22 | Taken by Bandit
Holly Maddon | FC: Ariana Grande | Age 16 | Taken by Writer
Rules
- More than anything else, the most important rule in this roleplay is that you must be active! I really don't want to be that annoying GM sending PM's every week asking if you're still interested, so if you don't have the time to post at least once every three days, don't join. More important than the three day guideline, though, is that you just need to post to an extent where your character is slowly down the scene. I ran this roleplay a few months ago and it went great for a while, but all it took was one character to stop posting regularly for the entire thing to fall apart. I really do not want that to happen again, so if you are just looking for a quick roleplay to satisfy a craving, please do not join this!
- Being active in the IC is obviously very important to me, but I would love it if everyone was active in the OOC too! I want this to be a fun and social roleplay, so I think it's important that we all are comfortable with each other and are willing to bounce ideas off of each other!
- I won't obsess over minor grammatical errors since none of us are perfect, but please make sure your posts are understandable. Read everyone's posts so you aren't writing completely out of the current plot and try to put effort into your writing. I hate putting numbers on posts, since I do prefer quality or quantity, but I think a minimum of 300 words per post isn't asking too much of anyone.
- Multiple people can try for the same role since this will not be a first come, first serve roleplay. When you post in the OOC, please just state that you will be able to post once every three days, to stress that you read these guidelines. Please also include the character that you are trying for, and what face claim you will be using if you'd like to swap it for a different one. You have three days to get a WIP up, and five days to finish the character sheet. The character sheet code below is simply an outline. Make it as fancy as you want, but make sure your writing is as detailed as all of the frilly, prettiness ;D.
Character Sheet
- Code: Select all
Full Name:
Preferred Name:
Age:
DOB:
Sexuality:
Personality:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Background:
Job:
Hometown:
Height:
Weight:
Face Claim:
The Story So Far... Write a Post » as written by 14 authors
{Written with Writer}
Even though she had lived in New York for all of her life, Makayla had never been to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade before. Obviously, growing up, her family was never actually family-oriented, so the idea of them making the trip into Manhattan to see the floats was laughable. Even as a teenager, though, she never went, and last year, she didn't even think of it in time to bring Holly to it. This year, she took advantage of the festivities and decided to go see it with her sister. Honestly, she didn't do it for herself as much as she did it for Holly. Anything new to distract her and keep her occupied was worth trying out, and even though it was only eight in the morning when she and Holly headed out, Makayla was already ready to crawl back into bed, so she opted to walk the hour-long trek uptown, rather than take a cab. She hoped walking there and back would tire out her sister, who was always bursting with energy. Plus, Makayla knew the cab fares would be substantially greater on a busy day like today, and she didn't have money to throw away like that.
By the time they reached the parade area, the streets were so packed that they could barely get a glimpse of the floats passing. Luckily, Holly didn't seem bothered by it, and Makayla was happy enough that the girl managed to remain content with standing on a corner and essentially staring at the back of people's heads for forty minutes before growing antsy, giving Makayla the signal that it was time to head back home. To many, spending over two hours total commuting to and from the parade, for a lackluster view would seem pointless, but it was free, and Makayla tried to take advantage of as many free activities as she could with Holly. It was essential to keep her moving and out of the apartment, or else everyone would go crazy, Makayla included.
"Can we get brunch today?" Holly asked, noticing a sign outside of a small cafe a block away from their building that was advertising brunch specials. "Since we didn't have breakfast or lunch yet, we can combine it into one."
Leave it to Holly to try to turn a trip that was supposed to be free, into one that would cost Makayla good money that she didn't have. She and Holly never ate out at restaurants. Cara would take her sometimes, and sometimes Chanel would insist on a lunch out, but it just wasn't something that Makayla could afford, and she hated feeling like charity. It was one thing for someone to treat Holly, but Makayla stuck to the food that her food stamps could buy, or fast food if she needed something on the go. "We can have brunch at home. I bought you that cereal you said you wanted yesterday, remember?"
"You're not supposed to have cereal on Thanksgiving, Kay! That's not something pilgrims would eat." Mimosas and fancy omelettes probably weren't served at the first Thanksgiving either, but cereal didn't sound exciting or festive.
"We're eating our Thanksgiving meal tonight, remember? Cara invited us over, so we'll have food pilgrims would eat then. And you told her you would make cupcakes, right? So we need to get back home to work on those." At first, Makayla had wanted to smack Holly when her sister volunteered that they would bring cupcakes. Knowing Cara, she would expect some organic, gluten free, thirty dollar box of cupcakes from some bakery in the Upper East Side, and frankly, Makayla didn't have the money for that. She knew she couldn't complain, since she was going to get a free meal (and hopefully, lots of free booze) out of the evening, but she still couldn't toss money to the wind like that. However, Holly insisted that they make the cupcakes, and Makayla could deal with that. She had already borrowed the baking materials from Cara the night before, had spent five dollars on the cake batter and icing, and had the eggs and other needed ingredients in their kitchen. Not only was it an affordable option, but one that would again keep Holly busy, and one that Cara couldn't complain about, because it just seemed like Holly wanted to bake, not that Makayla was being cheap.
"I wish that you got the vanilla and chocolate frosting, Kay. I think Nick would like chocolate more than vanilla," Holly stated as she followed Makayla inside of their building. The thought of a fancy brunch was out of her mind now, as baking cupcakes did sound far more interested. She was excited for Thanksgiving at Cara's, especially since it was going to be the first real Thanksgiving she would ever have. Or the closest thing to a real Thanksgiving, since this was last minute too.
"He'll get over it," Makayla insisted, nudging Holly to walk faster up the stairs. After that walk, the five flights up really had Makayla wanting to crawl into bed again, but it was only eleven o'clock, and she knew she couldn't do that for at least another twelve hours. "Put your jacket in the closet and then we'll have cereal, and then work on those cupcakes," Makayla instructed as she set her bag down in the kitchen of the apartment. She wasn't sure if Marie or Chanel were home, but she was curious as to whether they were coming to Cara's too or not. She wouldn't have been surprised if they weren't. Though she knew little about their pasts and family lives, she always felt like people's lives had to be more normal than hers.
A rush of heat burned her fingertips before she could yank them from the flat iron that unraveled her curls. Now two hours into the task and still not finished, she was beginning to regret the decision to even straighten her hair. As she sucked her finger, her phone slid across the dresser some as it began to vibrate. When the screen brightened and a picture of her mother surfaced on the phone, a quick surge of fear ran through her stomach as she sat the flat iron on the towel she had placed down. It wasn't so much that her mother had such power over her to make her afraid, but it was knowing the reason she was calling that made Chanel hesitate before gliding her thumb across the screen. Before she was able to get a word out, her mother beat her to it.
"Chanel, you were supposed to call back. Are you okay? You didn't call back," her mother said in her newly characteristic frantic way. She'd never really been a helicopter parent. Not so finicky. At least not before...
"Actually, Mom, I...uh. I think I'm going to stay in New York this year."
"What?" Her mother gasped. "But why? You didn't say anything."
"I know, I know. But I just got this new job, and the boss kinda hates me, and he wants me to work tomorrow, so I kind of have to. I mean, I don't have to, but if I want to pay the rent and have a place to stay and..."
"Chanel." Her mother said sternly, indicating that she was talking too much. Or at least she hoped that's what the tone signified, and not the fact that she could detect every ounce of lie she was telling. "You never said anything about a new job."
"Yeah, well." Chanel danced the phone in her hands a bit, staring at the picture that reflected. It was one of her and her mother about two years ago, a little before she'd moved out. Her heart clenched. "Look, I'm straightening my hair, and I kinda want to finish. I'll call you later, okay?"
"You know what I said about using that flat iron so much. It'll ruin your hair. Do you want your hair to fall out?"
"I think I'd look good bald actually. Mom, I'm kidding, I'm kidding," she said as soon as her mother began to panic. Another five minutes passed before she was actually able to hang up. Chanel sighed and grabbed the flat iron, running it down the fine pieces of hair near her ear. Part of her felt guilty, but another part of her felt relief. No, she didn't get a new job anywhere. Nothing came up. Her suitcase was still packed in the corner of the room, her train ticket bought and wasted. She'd packed a week in advance and bought the ticket two weeks early in hopes that it would prevent her from flaking. But here she was straightening her hair for nothing and avoiding her family. Then there was another part of her who told herself that they'd have just put her in a bad mood anyway. And they would have. It wasn't her fault they were so overbearing to the point of pushing her away. None of this was her fault. It wasn't.
When she finally finished, and now in a freshly bad mood, the room was a couple degrees warmer and her neck was already damp with perspiration. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun and unplugged the straightener. As she exited the room to get somewhere cooler before she sweated her hair out, she fiddled with her phone, looking for a distraction. She swiped through her messages before getting to Cara and it was then that she remembered Cara saying something about coming over. Chanel opened the fridge and dug out a breakfast smoothie she'd made the night before. It wasn't very filling, or all too tasty, but hours of unqualified google research told her that this small 'meal' would give her plenty of energy. It was bullshit, but she was too cranky to really care. "Hey. Is the offer still on table?" When Cara finally responded confirming the invitation, she quickly responded with "All right. I'll be over in a bit!" It was now eleven, and Cara was right down the hall, so she figured she could take her time. Besides, she had to mentally prepare for the day if she wasn't to project her shitty mood on others. Taking a quick swallow of her smoothie, she hopped on the kitchen counter and opened Instagram, losing herself in others' lives to distract from her own. Before she could be completely consumed, though, Makayla and Holly entered the room. Chanel smiled widely, putting her phone down. "Hey, you guys. Busy morning?"
"Chanel, you were supposed to call back. Are you okay? You didn't call back," her mother said in her newly characteristic frantic way. She'd never really been a helicopter parent. Not so finicky. At least not before...
"Actually, Mom, I...uh. I think I'm going to stay in New York this year."
"What?" Her mother gasped. "But why? You didn't say anything."
"I know, I know. But I just got this new job, and the boss kinda hates me, and he wants me to work tomorrow, so I kind of have to. I mean, I don't have to, but if I want to pay the rent and have a place to stay and..."
"Chanel." Her mother said sternly, indicating that she was talking too much. Or at least she hoped that's what the tone signified, and not the fact that she could detect every ounce of lie she was telling. "You never said anything about a new job."
"Yeah, well." Chanel danced the phone in her hands a bit, staring at the picture that reflected. It was one of her and her mother about two years ago, a little before she'd moved out. Her heart clenched. "Look, I'm straightening my hair, and I kinda want to finish. I'll call you later, okay?"
"You know what I said about using that flat iron so much. It'll ruin your hair. Do you want your hair to fall out?"
"I think I'd look good bald actually. Mom, I'm kidding, I'm kidding," she said as soon as her mother began to panic. Another five minutes passed before she was actually able to hang up. Chanel sighed and grabbed the flat iron, running it down the fine pieces of hair near her ear. Part of her felt guilty, but another part of her felt relief. No, she didn't get a new job anywhere. Nothing came up. Her suitcase was still packed in the corner of the room, her train ticket bought and wasted. She'd packed a week in advance and bought the ticket two weeks early in hopes that it would prevent her from flaking. But here she was straightening her hair for nothing and avoiding her family. Then there was another part of her who told herself that they'd have just put her in a bad mood anyway. And they would have. It wasn't her fault they were so overbearing to the point of pushing her away. None of this was her fault. It wasn't.
When she finally finished, and now in a freshly bad mood, the room was a couple degrees warmer and her neck was already damp with perspiration. She pulled her hair up into a messy bun and unplugged the straightener. As she exited the room to get somewhere cooler before she sweated her hair out, she fiddled with her phone, looking for a distraction. She swiped through her messages before getting to Cara and it was then that she remembered Cara saying something about coming over. Chanel opened the fridge and dug out a breakfast smoothie she'd made the night before. It wasn't very filling, or all too tasty, but hours of unqualified google research told her that this small 'meal' would give her plenty of energy. It was bullshit, but she was too cranky to really care. "Hey. Is the offer still on table?" When Cara finally responded confirming the invitation, she quickly responded with "All right. I'll be over in a bit!" It was now eleven, and Cara was right down the hall, so she figured she could take her time. Besides, she had to mentally prepare for the day if she wasn't to project her shitty mood on others. Taking a quick swallow of her smoothie, she hopped on the kitchen counter and opened Instagram, losing herself in others' lives to distract from her own. Before she could be completely consumed, though, Makayla and Holly entered the room. Chanel smiled widely, putting her phone down. "Hey, you guys. Busy morning?"
Cara could not believe that she was spending Thanksgiving alone. Yes, she had invited some of her neighbors over, but in her mind, it was still alone. It beat spending it on the other side of town with her father, stepmother and stepmother's family, but it still sucked. As of two weeks ago, she had been planning on flying out to Rhode Island with her boyfriend, to spend it with his family, but after sleeping with Nick, she abruptly ended that steady relationship, and was now left without any decent plans for the holiday. Even after extending the invitation to celebrate at her place to Makayla and Chanel, Cara was still desperately searching for other plans all morning. All of her girlfriends who lived in the Upper East Side were celebrating with their families, and many of them were celebrating on vacations out of state. By eleven o'clock, finding other plans seemed like a hopeless endeavor, but around that time, Cara realized that she didn't actually have any food to fulfill the dinner invitation that she has extended to a few of her neighbors. She liked to think of herself as a girl who could be domesticated, a younger and prettier Martha Stewart, if you will, but that wasn't really the case. Anyone with money could make an average apartment like hers look a little more upscale. It didn't mean that she was actually creative or crafty, just wealthy.
She definitely wasn't a chef, but ordering in on Thanksgiving didn't seem appropriate. At home, her family always had a personal chef prepare their Thanksgiving meal, but she didn't have that here, and she wasn't about to call her dad and beg to borrow the chef for a few hours, after she had made a huge deal about how she didn't want to celebrate with his new wife, who she would never see as family. She wanted a classic Thanksgiving meal of turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing, and everything like that, and like she was with everything in her life, she wasn't going to settle for anything less than what she wanted.
To: Chanel
Do you know how to cook a turkey? And where to buy one? I think it's just going to be me, you, Ryan, Kay and Holly. Maybe Nick too :).
To: Chanel
And then I guess Brooklyn too. Which means the future heroin addict might come too :/. UGH literally this is what I get for being nice and inviting Nick
To: Chanel
But yeah, I need a turkey that will be ready by dinner time. Where do people buy those? Let's do a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's run ASAP!
To: Ryan
Help me cook stuff for tonight :) <3?
After sending the three texts to Chanel, and one to Ryan, Caraline returned her attention to her full length mirror, where she analyzed her outfit choice for a moment, before deciding that it would have to do, and continuing to finish her makeup and hair.
It wasn't that cold out today, but Holly tended to get cold easily, so she was somewhat relieved when they got into the building and were met with a wave of warmth. Upon Makayla's nudge for her to take the lead, she led them up the five flights of stairs to their apartment. "I wish we had sprinkles for the cupcakes. Sprinkles and chocolate frosting, because not everyone likes vanilla, Kay. And some people like sprinkles, like me. Did you forget to buy them or did you not buy them on purpose?" Holly continued, still stuck on the topic of the cupcakes as they entered the apartment. Makayla seemed to be over it, instructing her to take off her jacket and get ready to eat, but Holly wasn't going to move on that quickly. She wasn't planning on moving on that quickly, at least, but when they stepped into the apartment, Chanel was in the kitchen, and the sight of another person had her switching her train of thought immediately. "We went to the parade," she exclaimed when Chanel asked if they had had a busy morning. They had, but judging by Holly's energy, you would never know. All of the walking would hit her later on when she would become fatigued, but living in the city meant that they walked a lot in general, and coupled with Holly's unusual abundance of energy every day, she tended not to crash until the night time, regardless of what she did that day. With everything that was going on today, from spending an hour walking uptown and an hour back downtown and nearly every minute of that time talking to Makayla about everything and anything, and then all of the festivities at Cara's later that night, it was possible that she would crash sooner, though.
"Why didn't you go? There was a balloon of Ronald McDonald and we almost got brunch but we didn't because we're going to have cereal instead," she continued, glancing towards Makayla at the thought of cereal, and only then remembering what her sister had told her to do. She left the kitchen abruptly and briefly - only for long enough to toss her jacket onto her bedroom floor and kick her shoes off before returning, and continuing the conversation as if no time had passed. "Want to have cereal with us? Makayla finally bought Fruit Loops, and then we're going to make cupcakes to bring to Cara's. But just cupcakes with vanilla icing." She sat down at the small kitchen table, looking towards Makayla for a second as if she was preparing to say something to her, before looking back to Chanel. "Why does your hair look soft today?"
She couldn't really be too disappointed. She'd technically gotten to sleep in late, but it still feel like she'd just woken up since most of her time awake had been spent straightening her hair. So when Holly's burst of energy came full force, she couldn't say she was totally prepared for it, but she also wasn't surprised. Chanel opened her mouth to respond, only getting a "Well," out of her mouth before Holly disappeared into her bedroom and returned just seconds later, this time without shoes or her jacket. In that time, she took to glancing at Makayla who definitely looked like she'd just been out for some time, unlike Holly who was not sitting at the table looking completely unfaltered. It was strange how consistently energetic she was, albeit admirable to an extent, and Chanel tried feeding off of this positivity.
"Fruit Loops actually sounds pretty bomb," she said. And it did. She preferred Apple Jacks, but that wasn't what resulted in her saying, "I'm just gonna stick to this though," as she raised the hand with the smoothie in it. She kind of had an idea that no one was helping Makayla. She didn't like to pry or anything, but she'd feel kind of like she was mooching if she helped herself to some. Not only that, but she did have some of her own cereal. "Oh, awesome. I think Cara likes vanilla, so that should be good. I should probably figure out what I'm bringing, now that I think about it." Just as she thought that, her phone vibrated before her three times back to back. She raised her brow as she grabbed it. Speak of the devil."
She smirked and shook her head as she wrote back. "What did I tell you about dragging people, Cara? Let's go to Trader Joe's. I need to get some conditioner and some turmeric for a face mask I've been wanting to make. Give me like ten minutes and I'll be over." If they were to have this turkey done at a reasonable hour, they'd need to go now. Chanel grinned some at Holly as she jumped off the counter. "Because I straightened it. I like it like this for the holidays, but it took forever so I'm not doing this again for a while." After chugging the rest of her drink, she put rinsed it in the sink quickly. "I'm about to go out, so I'll hit you guys up later. Just text me if you want me to pick up anything while I'm out." she said. Normally she'd invite the two of them, but right now she sort of just wanted to hang out with Cara. After the conversation with her mom, she wanted to just worry about herself. And this turkey that was somehow going to be cooked within the next few hours. "Holly, you can tell me about the parade later on, all right?" she said without really waiting for an answer. She was sure she wouldn't hear about it anymore if something more excited happened between now and when she saw Holly next, but anything was possible. After taking five minutes longer than she said she would to get dressed, she rubbed her lips together to blend in her lipstick and was out the door with a final wave to the others if they were still in the kitchen. Within the next moment, phone in hand as she'd gotten a text message from somebody else, she knocked on Cara's door. As she waited, she thought back to Cara's earlier messages. She wasn't quite fond of Roman either, and she didn't have any particular opinion about Brooke, but part of her felt weird about not inviting them. Especially if Nick were to come. It wasn't any of her business or her place to decide who was invited, and maybe they had other plans, but she didn't know. It wasn't that dire anyway and soon she'd forgotten the whole ordeal and instead began obnoxiously drumming on Cara's door in some made up rhythm.
"Fruit Loops actually sounds pretty bomb," she said. And it did. She preferred Apple Jacks, but that wasn't what resulted in her saying, "I'm just gonna stick to this though," as she raised the hand with the smoothie in it. She kind of had an idea that no one was helping Makayla. She didn't like to pry or anything, but she'd feel kind of like she was mooching if she helped herself to some. Not only that, but she did have some of her own cereal. "Oh, awesome. I think Cara likes vanilla, so that should be good. I should probably figure out what I'm bringing, now that I think about it." Just as she thought that, her phone vibrated before her three times back to back. She raised her brow as she grabbed it. Speak of the devil."
She smirked and shook her head as she wrote back. "What did I tell you about dragging people, Cara? Let's go to Trader Joe's. I need to get some conditioner and some turmeric for a face mask I've been wanting to make. Give me like ten minutes and I'll be over." If they were to have this turkey done at a reasonable hour, they'd need to go now. Chanel grinned some at Holly as she jumped off the counter. "Because I straightened it. I like it like this for the holidays, but it took forever so I'm not doing this again for a while." After chugging the rest of her drink, she put rinsed it in the sink quickly. "I'm about to go out, so I'll hit you guys up later. Just text me if you want me to pick up anything while I'm out." she said. Normally she'd invite the two of them, but right now she sort of just wanted to hang out with Cara. After the conversation with her mom, she wanted to just worry about herself. And this turkey that was somehow going to be cooked within the next few hours. "Holly, you can tell me about the parade later on, all right?" she said without really waiting for an answer. She was sure she wouldn't hear about it anymore if something more excited happened between now and when she saw Holly next, but anything was possible. After taking five minutes longer than she said she would to get dressed, she rubbed her lips together to blend in her lipstick and was out the door with a final wave to the others if they were still in the kitchen. Within the next moment, phone in hand as she'd gotten a text message from somebody else, she knocked on Cara's door. As she waited, she thought back to Cara's earlier messages. She wasn't quite fond of Roman either, and she didn't have any particular opinion about Brooke, but part of her felt weird about not inviting them. Especially if Nick were to come. It wasn't any of her business or her place to decide who was invited, and maybe they had other plans, but she didn't know. It wasn't that dire anyway and soon she'd forgotten the whole ordeal and instead began obnoxiously drumming on Cara's door in some made up rhythm.
“Here, put this on,” a shirt was tossed back and with a quick, swift motion of his arm, Oliver caught the shirt that Collin had tossed him. “Is this really necessary?” Oliver whined behind him. Collin turned his attention away from his closet and towards Oliver, who was sitting on the edge of his own bed. “Yes Oli, my parents will be here any minute and the last thing I need is for you to be looking like you just came in off the streets.” Collin turned back into his closet, his voice mildly muffled by being turned away from Oliver. He continued to talk to Oliver while rummaging through hangers of clothes. “Believe me, my parents will be happy to see you trying. Besides, you rarely ever get dressed up. It’s time you look like a man.” Oliver groaned and swung his head back, landing just under his pillow.
Collin turned to see his friend and roommate laid across his bed, rubbing his hands over his face while muttering something just under his breath. Collin walked over to him, holding another button up shirt, and sat down beside him. He looked down at the shirt in his hands and played with a loose thread while talking. “Listen, if you don’t want to see my family that’s fine bro. I just figured with your parents not coming to visit, the least I could do was make sure you weren’t stuck here along on Thanksgiving day, you know?” Collin turned his head to look over his shoulder at his friend who had been quiet. “Come on, Oli. You don’t have to dress super nice, man. Just wear something that you’ll be comfortable in that looks nice. Join me today, would ya? I’d hate to see your day go to waste.” Oliver sat up, leaning himself against his elbows and forearms. He looked at Collin and with a shy smile, he nodded. “Fine, I’ll join your family. But listen, I’m not wearing any of your weird silk shirts.” The two laughed together. Collin playfully pushed Oliver over and went back to rummage into his closet. “Fine, but you’re wearing something nice.” Oliver sat up, then pulled himself off the bed. “Alright, alright. Lay something out, I’m going to jump in the shower before Isaac gets in there.” Oliver walked out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom as Collin continued to look for clothing for himself and for Oliver. Once Collin had picked out an outfit for himself to wear, he looked for one for Oliver. Collin had picked himself a simple gray suit to wear with a black tie over a white dress shirt. For Oliver, he kept it just as simple, with a black blazer and pant combo with a simple white dress shirt.
* * *
The shower was Oliver’s favorite place in the apartment. He had a few favorite places to go and hide away from the real world but he truly loved the shower because to him, it was the most productive hiding spot. No one bothered him in the shower, and in the meantime, he’d get clean and create lists in his head for every aspect of his life. The shower was his thinking space as well as a hiding space. As the hot water beat down on his back, he couldn’t help but think about his family and the fact that they weren’t coming to visit. He knew his parents were separated but to not be able to spend one day together so that you can spend time with your son, he just didn’t understand. It was enough to bring an empty feeling to his gut. He was appreciative of Collin and the fact that he offered up his family for him to spend time with, which he was planning on doing, but it still made him upset that he wasn’t going to see his family on Thanksgiving. At this point, however, there was nothing that Oliver could do anymore. He tried to convince his parents to come for just a few hours, but neither of the two would budge. The issue was either money or the other parents. Regardless, Oliver was enraged at both of his parents. Midway through his shower, Collin banged on the door, “Ollie, let’s go! Get moving!” Oliver rolled his eyes, rinsed his body one last time, and turned the water off. He wrapped himself in a towel, and opened the door to see Collin smiling. “Let’s go princess, they’re on their way here from the airport now.”
* * *
While Collin waited for his family to arrive and for Oliver to get dressed, he got together all the final details of what his day would consist of. He walked over to Isaac’s bedroom door, which was shut, and knocked on it. He spoke through the door before awaiting a response. “Isaac, you better be getting ready in there. My family is almost here, and I know you’re not skipping out on us. Get your ass up.” He banged on the door a few times, loudly, to make sure that Isaac was awake. He walked away while removing his phone from his pocket. He sent out a text to Isaac, in case he hadn’t heard what Collin yelled through the door; to Marie, to ask if she was still coming over; and finally, he texted his mom to catch a status of their location and arrival time.
To: Isaac
bro, you better be up. Momma King will not be happy to hear you’re not joining.
bro, you better be up. Momma King will not be happy to hear you’re not joining.
To: Marie
hey you, you comin over??? Rents will be here soon
hey you, you comin over??? Rents will be here soon
To: Momma King
Ma, where are you? What time will you get here? You know where you’re going right??
Ma, where are you? What time will you get here? You know where you’re going right??
To which his mother replied:
From: Momma King
Yes, Collin. We know where we’re going. We’ll be there shortly. Just leaving JFK now.
Yes, Collin. We know where we’re going. We’ll be there shortly. Just leaving JFK now.
Despite it being four o' clock in the morning, a car horn blared loudly from below, but it was uninterrupting. He should have been asleep. Not so much because of the hour, but because over the past three days he'd gotten less than twelve hours of accumulated sleep. Instead, though, he sat shirtless on a bed that was not his own as he ate Cinnamon Toast Crunch and watched Popeye. As a child, he wasn't really allowed to watch much television, so he couldn't help but wear a small smile on his face as he gazed at TV screen. The girl who slept next to him, the one he'd been staying with for the past few days, was huddled in an arrangement of blankets, her back to him. Her name was Hannah. She wasn't a complete stranger, as they'd met a few weeks ago, but he still didn't care enough about her to notice how she was probably freezing since he had almost every window open. Killens glanced over when she rolled on her back and tapped his leg. "Hey," she said. "You wanna turn that down? I'm trying to sleep." She gestured towards the TV and Roman raised his eyebrow.
"You need to get up early and do something?"
"Well, yeah. It's fucking Thanksgiving. I have to visit my family. I'm pretty sure I've told you this half a million times." And he was sure she had too, but still he only nodded as if it was the first time hearing it because in all honesty, he'd forgotten about Thanksgiving. He still wasn't entirely sure what the purpose of the holiday was. He knew it involved turkey and pumpkin pie, and that you ate with family, but that was really about it. Roman found the clicker and turned the volume down, trying to focus on the show again, but he could feel Hannah's eyes on him. "You never told me what you were doing," she inquired, to which he didn't say anything. "You must be visiting relatives too, right?"
"I don't--," he began. Before he'd stopped, he was going to say that he didn't have any family here. Which wasn't exactly the entire truth. His grandparents were still in New York, he was sure. But everyone else was in England where it'd just be the day before Black Friday for them. All that was too much to say, and too much information, so instead he settled with, "No. I'm not."
"Why not?"
"I thought you were going to sleep." He frowned.
"Well, now I'm up," she said as she sat upright. Her eyes danced around the room as she thought, opened her mouth, and then closed it, clearly trying to decide whether or not she should say what she was thinking. When she finally did speak, there was a clear bashful, unsure tone. "Look...If you don't have anyone to go see, come with me. Like to eat with my family and stuff. It'd be cool."
Killens smiled some and chuckled which only awarded him with a harsh look from Hannah. Even he knew how inappropriate that'd be. Just from the way she had been acting around him, Roman could tell she thought this was something more, and her naivety wasn't his problem. He should have figured that staying here would send the wrong signals, and now here she was inviting him to meet her family. Seldom things did he find funny, but this was laughable. Hannah sat up and pushed his arm.
"I don't want to meet your family, okay?"
"You don't have to be an ass about it."
"I'm not being an ass--you're just being ridiculous. I mean, why would I want to meet your family? I barely even know you."
In the next moment, the bowl of cereal he'd held in his hand was pushed onto him and a violent, "Fuck you," erupted from Hannah. Roman shook his hands which were now soaked in sugary milk and soggy cinnamon squares. "You knew me enough to stay in my fucking apartment, eating my god damn food, and running up my damn electric bill with all the TV you've been watching." As she yelled, Roman stood up and looked the other way to roll his eyes. He headed towards the bathroom to take a shower, but Hannah intercepted him. "No," she said. "You're dismissed. You can go. Find somewhere else to wash that attitude of yours." Killens stood in front of her for a long time as she blocked the entrance to the bathroom. She shoved him back enough for him to stumble half a step. "Go," she said, pushing him back just as he was in the midst of turning away, which in turn caused him to trip some. He spun around quickly, his nostrils flared. "Don't--" he started before she slapped him. "Or what? Or what?" she yelled. He only shook his head and turned away.
As he pulled on his shirt and shoes to the sound of her fussing at him, he worked to control his temper. It wasn't so much that he was easily angered, but he knew what she was doing. She knew he fought; it was at one of the matches that they'd met each other. She was really like the rest of them. They saw him as broken, as able to be fixed and softened, and whenever there was conflict, they dared him to get angry and expose his other side. That's what Hannah was doing as she pushed him out the door and slammed it behind him. He tugged at the roots of his hair hard enough to cause some pain and exited the hall and into the crisp November night. It was then that he realized he'd forgotten his jacket upstairs, but there wasn't any going back now. It took twenty minutes to walk back to the apartment--twenty-five when he decided to smoke before going inside. His exhaustion was finally hitting him, and he was thankful for it so that by the time he was finally in his room, he'd barely had enough energy to kick his shoes off before collapsing on his bed and falling asleep.
Isaac's room was always dark, it was kind of a thing. He only had a singular bulb in the fixture, and a blackout curtain over the one window in the room. It was perfect for the kind of person who liked to sleep until two in the afternoon, or woke up hungover more often than not. Like he was now. He felt like straight up death. Death that had been run over by a truck. Twice.
He sighed as he finally pried his eyes open, the small sliver of light shining across the floor where the drapes couldn't cover it assaulting his eyes like it had something against him personally. He ought to thumbtack it shut...later, when he had more energy. As for now, his arm just fell loosely off the edge of his bed, his fingers colliding into the bottles littering his floor, the clinging of glass making him wince and bury his face into the soft cotton of his pillow. He could still hear the damn noise bounding around in his head, causing it to throb.
He really fucking hated being sober. There were only a few times a year he did it on purpose, and lately such occasions had started to count as 'Family Time'. Not his family, of course, because there was no fucking way that bridge was ever being crossed, but Collin's. It still felt a little weird, sometimes, to know there were people out there who actually wanted him around. Who cared if he ate a decent meal on Thanksgiving, cared how he was doing. It still made his head spin.
Granted, his head was spinning for a lot of reasons currently. He could hear the others moving, hear the hot water heater as it started up, and he muttered a curse as he tried to burrow even farther under his pillow. Which was completely in vain, because in the next ten minutes Collin was pounding his fucking fists against Isaac's fucking door.
Isaac groaned and sat up, his hand grabbing one of the bottles off the floor as he pouted while he listened to Collin yell at him. He wasn't getting ready. He really needed to. He needed a shower too, because he smelt like sweat, and his sweat always smelt like alcohol. Probably because the only liquid in his body was alcohol. He shrugged a little, lifted the bottle to his mouth, and swallowed what little was left. Straight Vodka. He made a face, shuddered, and dropped it before climbing out of bed. He was a little shaky, but who knew when the last time he ate was...he'd fallen asleep sometime around four am the morning before last...slept all day yesterday...trying to be sober for today. It'd worked, unfortunately.
He found his phone in the pocket of some jeans laying on his floor, and dug it out only to frown at it. From: Hey Jude. Message: bro, you better be up. Momma King will not be happy to hear you’re not joining. He didn't bother replying. Instead he dropped the phone and finally left his room.
It was worse out there. Light everywhere, window blinds open, he hated it with a passion. Collin wasn't far, typing away on his phone. "Hey Jude!" he called, and when his roommate glanced up Isaac shot him a grin and the finger. He was grumpy when he was sober - and up before the clock changed to PM times - but they both knew it was all in good fun. Even an irritated Isaac wasn't a cruel Isaac.
The shower helped. The hot water soothed his sore muscles, the scented soaps helped clear his head a little, and he actually liked being clean. He washed off twice, just because they were having company, and he was a little nervous. He also brushed his teeth twice, once he got out, aiming to get rid of any lingering alcohol, shoving the bristles so far down his tongue most people would gag. Once satisfied he wrapped a towel around his waist and headed back to his room.
He took longer than Collin would probably like to find an outfit, well aware they were on a time crunch, but eventually he pulled out a pair of black trousers and his one button down shirt. He found a blazer somewhere, and had no fucking clue where it came from. After he pulled everything on though, he had a feeling he'd stolen it from Collin's closet, because it was a little long...and didn't quite match his pants. He pushed his sleeves up to his elbows so they wouldn't fall over his hands, and rolled his eyes at his reflection in the mirror. Isaac liked nice clothes (it was the gay in him), he just didn't know how to wear nice clothes (which was the 'raised hella poor' in him).
He spent the next thirty minutes trying to do something with his hair, which just ended up being as messy as it always was, and then pulled open the top drawer of his dresser. Pill bottles got knocked off balance when he did, falling all over each other, and he rolled his eyes as he stuck his hands in and shifted through the mess before finally finding his Adderall. It wasn't his favorite high - he didn't like the focused clarity. But the energy, the confidence, the general happiness...he needed that. Good mood, plus a functioning person? Perfect for family time.
He considered railing them for a moment, but in the end just tossed back the handful his tolerance demanded and swallowed them dry. The high would set in about half an hour, and surely he had that much time to scrape his mood up off the floor and be a person again.
He threw on some cologne before leaving the room, and then went to lean in the doorway of his roommates room, nodding appreciatively at Oliver, who rarely ever looked his age or so well put together, then glanced at Collin. "When are the rents getting in?"
It was the day of thanks giving and all she knew was that Cara was hosting something. Collin had invited her over to meet his parents. Marie didn't really question it too much although she had forgotten all about it when she had gone out late to the bar alone. Well to be fair it was a lesbian bar, and she couldn't exactly take her usual bar hopping buddy known as Collin. Marie had stayed up late dancing in the bar with some smoking hot girls, that she so badly wanted to take home with her, however it was them that took her home. Marie ended up at their place, as they were lovers apparently looking for a third and Marie wasn't going to complain.
The whole night they fed each other more liquor and got more and more frisky as the night went on. One thing led to the other, and Marie had really enjoyed her night. It had been awhile since she enjoyed the touch of a woman. Last woman she had slept with was actually Makayla a couple weeks back, but they were so drunk and Marie just wasn't sure where they stood. Besides the fact it was difficult for Marie to do the whole commitment thing. She has never been able to do it as she has a hard time trusting, so she keeps things purely physical.
It's not that Marie doesn't want anything more, it is just that she has never been able to open herself up like that and trust another human being in that way. She is terrified of someone breaking her trust. Most people don't even know her real first name, but she'd prefer to keep it that way.
It was when she heard her phone go off in the morning that she groaned. It was far too early to get up at eleven and her headache was severe. Marie was laying on the left side of the bed, still naked from the night before. She looked over to see the two hot chicks she had gotten with last night and smirked at her success, they were still sleeping which was good. Grabbing her phone, she swiped the notification away not reading it, and then pulled out her camera to take a picture, for bragging rights. Sometimes no one would believe her if she mentioned she had slept with two amazing girls.
Soon enough her phone went off again. "Fucking hell." She muttered and noticed that this time it was a text from Collin. Her eyes glanced over it and she groaned. She had set a reminder on her phone, which was likely the notification that woke her up in the morning to begin with, but none the less she forgot all about meeting Collin's parents. "Shit." She frantically looked around, they were still asleep. Silencing her phone she got out of the bed and searched for her clothes.
Was this even her bra? Marie didn't care. She put on the bra and it seemed to fit regardless. One of them was about her size and a pleasurable size at that. Marie also grabbed her jeans slipping them on and a tank top. She knew she couldn't go and meet his parents still drunk or hung over, whatever you called this state, so she walked to the kitchen. Looking around she found the alcohol cupboard and she rummaged through it finding her favourite drink, baileys. Digging into her pocket she pulled out ten dollars and put it down under the bottle after she put some in a flask.
With that she grabbed a pair of sunglasses, that weren't hers and she put them on. Finger combing her hair she slipped on her ankle boots and she walked out of the nice looking house. Taking the subway she ended up near her apartment. First things first she needed coffee to go with this baileys.
Ordering a coffee with one cream and one sugar she made sure her co-worker, Jess added an espresso shot to it. Walking out of the coffee shop she poured the baileys in and walked across the street.
She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Collin,
To:Collin
"Be there in two minutes top."
"Be there in two minutes top."
With that she walked into her apartment building and began to get up to the floor she lived on. Upon getting there she found the one titled "5A" and she knocked once and opened the door. She didn't see his rents there yet, "I'm here!" She exclaimed as she sat down on the couch taking a sip of her coffee.
Three weeks ago, Nick and Brooklyn had one of their weekly arguments. It wasn't abnormal, no matter how loud he yelled and how close she got to throwing one of Cara's nice wine glasses at his face. The two of them engaged in fights like that far too frequently for Brooklyn to have expected that following that, he would go and sleep with Cara. Now, she wanted to slap herself for being so dumb, for being naive enough to really believe that Nick was a loyal boyfriend. After four years together, she thought that she knew Nick better than he knew himself, but that clearly was not the case. What shocked her even more was that ir wasn't Nick, or even Cara who came clean about their little night together. It was the last person who Brooke would ever guess would be on her side - Makayla. Before that day, two weeks ago, the girls only interacted with each other through mutual glares in the hallway, and Brooklyn telling her that she was going to kill Holly if she bothered her once more. After finding out, she didn't stab Nick or Cara like she wanted to do. She never brought it up, and when Nick apologized for the fight, she smiled and pretended like everything was okay. She thought that she could pretend for as long as it took for her to figure out what she wanted to do next, but it was now two weeks since Makayla told her, she still didn't know what to do, and her patience with herself and him was wearing thin. Brooklyn wished it was as simple as just breaking up with him, and the logical part of her brain wanted to do that, but her heart didn't. As cheesy as it sounded, Brooklyn loved Nick, and it was something that she wasn't sure she could give up yet. She had never opened up to anyone like she did with him, and she was sure that if she lost this, she would convince herself to never open up to anyone else again either.
"What do you want to see tonight?" Brookyn asked, swirling her straw around in her can of soda as she peered across the pizzeria's table at Nick. It was a tradition of theirs that every Thanksgiving and Christmas, they would get a cheap dinner and see a movie. Neither of them had families to go home to anymore, and it seemed better to completely start their own tradition than to try to be traditional with just the two of them. Even now, when they were no longer living in a basement and actually had the means to have a real home cooked meal, it seemed better to just stick to what they were used to. Not only was Brooklyn not someone who would ever attempt to cook like that, but since finding out that Cara was a complete and utter slut, Brooke had done her best to stay out of the apartment as much as she could. She could pretend to not know with Nick because she had genuine feelings for him, but her old friendship with Cara was not meaningful enough for her to not come close to punching her every time she saw her. "That James Bond movie? I think that's supposed to be good," she added, pulling her gaze away from him to take a bite of her pizza.
Cara heard the knocking on her apartment's front door, but she took a minute or two to answer it, as she needed to finish getting ready. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" she sang, grabbing her purse as she hurried out of her bedroom and to the door. Earlier texts had suggested that it was Chanel at the door, but with five people living in their apartment, Cara wouldn't have been surprised if it was someone else. She knew that Nick and Brooklyn were out, and so was Ryan, and she didn't keep tabs on Roman, so she knew it was possible that it was him knocking on the door too. As she neared it, though, she identified the knocking pattern as one that would be typical of Chanel and she smiled in relief. She wouldn't have minded seeing Nick sans Brooklyn, or Ryan on a normal day, but she knew that he was still annoyed with her for refusing to go along with their father's dinner plans. "Oh my God, I literally love your hair like that," Cara gushed as soon as she opened the door. "I'm telling you, you have to wear it like that more often. Literally flawless." She shut the apartment door behind her. There was no need to invite Chanel in or waste any more time. It seemed like hosting Thanksgiving was really happening, and it was already as last minute as it could be, so there wasn't any more time to be wasted. When Chanel responded with, "I'm not sure if charring my fingers is worth the look, but I've never had my priorities in check so, I guess we'll see," and a wink, Cara smiled but nodded. "So true, and you know I love your natural look anyway. Natural is so in."
As they headed down the stairs and exited the building, she continued talking. "But staying on topic, are you sure Trader Joe's sells turkeys? I'm sure they'll have pies and stuff too. Then what else will we need? God, I feel so domestic! Like a legit housewife! This is going to be fun," she continued. She wasn't as excited as she sounded, because this definitely wasn't her first choice plan for Thanksgiving, but she was trying to convince herself that it could be fun. She could engulf herself in that housewife vibe if she wanted to. It wasn't going to be a Thanksgiving she was used to, but it would be a Friendsgiving. Again, not exactly with her preferred group of friends, but Chanel was cool enough to not make her feel pathetic. And then Holly and Makayla would come, and she would be doing her good deed of the month, and maybe if she was lucky, Nick would come and Brooklyn would be working or something. People who were trashy enough to go to strip clubs in general probably didn't magically develop standards on Thanksgiving. Maybe her workplace really would be open and Cara could spend her first Thanksgiving (of what she delusionally imagined to be one of many) with Nick.
It was no secret that Cara was just as privileged as she was well off, and so by this point some of things she said didn't come off as surprising as they used to. And even still, Chanel was past the point of being shocked by some of things people said. While she didn't grow up nearly as well off as Cara did, she was still very fortunate for everything she did have. That included the suburban neighborhood she was raised in and the decent-for-a-Pennsylvanian-public-school education she'd received. But even with all that, it was nearly inevitable for her to be the token brown kid. It wasn't until middle school that'd it begun to bother her, and in high school where she began to pick up on the questionable things some of her white counterparts would say. By now, there weren't very many surprises. But growing up in a mostly white neighborhood, she still identified with that culture, at least partly. It wasn't until she'd tried her hand at black organizations in her one year in college that she really began to hang out with more people that looked like her. Even with them, though, she felt a distance. With Cara, there came a sense of familiarity. Cara represented not only the kind of people Chanel had associated herself with in school, but the kind of people she tried to be like without even realizing it. The discomfort that came with generally being the only 'splash of diversity' was so nostalgic that it was almost, ironically, comforting. Sometimes she wished it wasn't like that, but that didn't stop her from actually enjoying this fictitious persona that felt like a disguise whether she was around white people, or her own. Even with all that being said, it was hard not to glance at Cara from the side of her eye with the slightest brow raise. She might have been used to this, but that didn't mean she was exactly numb to it either. Chanel's released some of her frustration by rolling out her neck as if that would prepare her for the smile she gave Cara the next moment. "That's the spirit," she said as they walked.
"So the closest Trader Joe's is like a fifteen minute walk from here; on Avenue of the America's." She shouldered through a group of people who were taking up a large part of the sidewalk as she dabbled on her phone. "And they also sell turkeys pre-cooked at...like, four dollars a pound. It's in store order only, so we can do that and just pop that bad boy in the oven when we get back. I can also whip up a mean banana pudding, now that I think about. That stuff is like an aphrodisiac. Maybe you can share some with Nick," she said before nudging Cara some. Chanel quickly shook her palm through the roots of her hair and raked it back through the locks, taking notice of how easily it slid through her strands before remembering that her curls were no longer there. Flipping her hair over her shoulders and tucking it behind her ears, she actually enjoyed the way its new texture cascaded over her shoulders. Maybe she would straighten it a bit more, but right now her main concern was getting to Trader Joe's as soon as possible because she wasn't wearing gloves and her hands were properly freezing. "I'm just gonna start making a list while we walk. Call out whatever comes to mind. So I need some conditioner, because your girl is low and that shit runs at, like, five dollars. Banana pudding stuff. I have seasonings at home. Let's see, what else? Stuff for a salad...pies. Rolls, maybe? Is cranberry sauce still a thing? Also, do you have wine at the apartment? This is an important question, by the way. If you don't have wine, I might have to reconsider all of this and quite possibly re-evaluate this friendship."
"So the closest Trader Joe's is like a fifteen minute walk from here; on Avenue of the America's." She shouldered through a group of people who were taking up a large part of the sidewalk as she dabbled on her phone. "And they also sell turkeys pre-cooked at...like, four dollars a pound. It's in store order only, so we can do that and just pop that bad boy in the oven when we get back. I can also whip up a mean banana pudding, now that I think about. That stuff is like an aphrodisiac. Maybe you can share some with Nick," she said before nudging Cara some. Chanel quickly shook her palm through the roots of her hair and raked it back through the locks, taking notice of how easily it slid through her strands before remembering that her curls were no longer there. Flipping her hair over her shoulders and tucking it behind her ears, she actually enjoyed the way its new texture cascaded over her shoulders. Maybe she would straighten it a bit more, but right now her main concern was getting to Trader Joe's as soon as possible because she wasn't wearing gloves and her hands were properly freezing. "I'm just gonna start making a list while we walk. Call out whatever comes to mind. So I need some conditioner, because your girl is low and that shit runs at, like, five dollars. Banana pudding stuff. I have seasonings at home. Let's see, what else? Stuff for a salad...pies. Rolls, maybe? Is cranberry sauce still a thing? Also, do you have wine at the apartment? This is an important question, by the way. If you don't have wine, I might have to reconsider all of this and quite possibly re-evaluate this friendship."
Normally, Cara would have just taken a cab to the store, but a fifteen minute walk wasn't horrible, and though it was brisk, the sting of the cool air somehow felt refreshing to her today. It would likely wear off before they got to the store, but for now, she was content with walking She planned on buying a lot of things once they got there, so they would have to take a cab back anyway, so walking one way wasn't going to kill her. "Okay, yes, definitely a salad, obviously the turkey and banana pudding if you know how to make that... definitely a yes to rolls. I feel like those are just a staple, and I can deal with carbs when it's a holiday," Cara responded as Chanel began to list things they needed. When the girl brought up wine, Cara faked offense as she gasped dramatically. "What kind of question is that?! Of course I have wine, but between you and Makayla, I should definitely pick up a few more bottles." Cara hoped that stores other than Trader Joe's would be open in the area. While it was a holiday, this was also New York City, so no matter what day it was, you could usually find a store open at any hour of the day selling what you needed. "And some liquor too. Just in case," she added with a playful grin. She hadn't commented directly on Chanel's remark about Nick, but the knowing look in her eyes spoke that that remark somehow involved him as well. While Cara hadn't told Chanel about her night with Nick, she had always hinted that she liked him. Usually, it was just in little comments that she thought were universal feelings, just gushing about how attractive he was or how she didn't understand why Brooklyn took him for granted. Honestly, Cara was probably closer to Chanel where she should have told her over Makayla, but because she felt like Chanel was more on her level, she was also more concerned about judgement from her. Sleeping with someone else's boyfriend was obviously a bad thing to do, but Cara was the type of person who could not keep things to herself, and since she had to tell someone, she felt like less of a bad person saying it to someone who she felt like was far from a saint too. She didn't think Makayla was a bad person at all, and actually liked the girl a lot, but sleeping with Nick when he was dating Brooklyn still seemed less contemptible than selling her body for money like Makayla did.
"I feel like pies are totally a staple too, so we'll get a bunch of those when we pass a bakery because I don't know what kinds people like. Oh, and I think Makayla said Holly's going to make cupcakes, but we should def get some other desserts too. And things like mashed potatoes, and like vegetables? And stuffing?" Cara was oblivious sometimes, but she knew better than to list some of the things that her family usually dined on on Thanksgiving. On the menu were always the classics, but it wasn't Thanksgiving unless her father's favorite caviar was served, as well as filet mignon for her grandfather and thousand dollar bottles of wine. "Oooh, I can totally bake cookies too, and you have to take a picture of me doing it so I can Insta it with a Martha Stewart hashtag," she added enthusiastically. "Why'd you end up staying in the city by the way? I know the idea of spending Thanksgiving with me is good enough to turn down any offer," she teased, "but did your family's plans fall through or something?"
Tired was an understatement of what Ryan was feeling today. It was ironic, considering that it was a feeling he had desperately tried to avoid. He had pulled an all nighter earlier that week to finish all of his school assignments, so that from Wednesday until Monday, his schedule would be completely clear. School work wasn't weighing him down, but the stress of the holiday was. Ryan knew that compared to a lot of people, he had it good. Cara would dispute the claim, but they both had a home and a family to go home to on Thanksgiving. Their father and stepmother had planned to spend the week away in the Caribbean, and had invited Cara and Ryan, but at the time that the trip was being planned, Cara was dating some snobby rich guy, and was planning on visiting his family for the holiday. Ryan could have went with his dad and stepmother, but he didn't want to be the person keeping them from having a romantic trip, so he planned on spending Thanksgiving alone in the penthouse. His father agreed to still have their chef make him a meal, and Ryan had actually been excited at the idea of getting some alone time. He didn't hate living in the apartment that he lived in with Cara, Nick, Roman and Brooklyn, but he definitely missed having his own space.
A few weeks ago, though, Cara broke off the relationship with her boyfriend, and shortly after, their parents' trip was cancelled and their stepmother's family was now coming over to the penthouse for a few days. Cara had literally banned him from participating, claiming that he would be betraying her if he showed up to their father's house instead of spending the holiday with her. Ryan wasn't particularly in love with the young woman his father had recently married, but he didn't hate her. Definitely not in the way that Cara did. Being the good brother that he had always been, Ryan had agreed not to spend Thanksgiving with their family, but at the last minute, he caved. Roman hadn't been at the apartment for a few days, so RJ couldn't complain about not having space to himself, but he didn't want to sacrifice the holiday just because Cara was a brat. So, after his classes ended on Wednesday, he took a cab to the Upper East Side and spent the night at his father's house. It wasn't like the apartment he and Cara had was a third world country, but compared to the luxuries at their childhood home, it kind of felt like it, and after only one night back, he didn't want to leave. However, he had told Cara that he was just spending the night at a friend's apartment, and even by eleven o'clock Thanksgiving morning, she was already bothering him with texts, so he knew he couldn't stay. He left off with his father on the note where there was a good possibility that he might end up back there for dinner in a few hours, but that he wasn't sure yet, before leaving the building and hailing a cab to take back downtown to 14th Street.
To: Cara
Unless you're cooking toast, you know i'm no help. Want me to pick something up? I'm on my way home now.
To: Oliver
Hey man. I don't think I ever asked you what you were doing today. Going home for the holidays or you still in town?
Makayla tried to focus on getting their late breakfast together as Holly went on and on to Chanel. Between her and Marie, and both of their tolerances for Holly's... Holly-ness, she knew that she had to be grateful. Even after knowing her for so long, and growing to love her like a sister, Holly was a lot, and it didn't take a genius to see that. She didn't understand a lot of social clues, was always rambunctious, and rarely ever stopped talking. Makayla loved her, she really did, but she knew that others didn't need to love Holly as much as she did. Marie and Chanel both could have easily gotten sick of her after a month of them living together. They could have gotten genuinely angry by the way that Holly would sometimes leave their bedroom without Makayla noticing and wake one or both of the other two up. They could have been bothered by her constant need for conversation, or by how she would sometimes watch television with them, even though Makayla couldn't afford to chip in for the cable bill. Their own family members couldn't even tolerate Holly, so the fact that two girls who had been strangers to them could, seemed like nothing short of a miracle.
Aside from smiling at Chanel when they walked in, Makayla hadn't said anything to her. Holly was doing enough talking for the two of them, and really, she was tired. What she really wanted to do right now was smoke, but she was out of weed and out of money, so she didn't want to test her own patience by trying to be more friendly than she felt. She had only pulled the cereal out from the pantry when she realized that the room had suddenly gone silent, and she glanced over her shoulder to see Holly gone. For a moment, she furrowed her brows and considered going down the hallway to make sure that Holly wasn't in Marie's room or something, but a second later, her sister bounded back in, now without her coat or shoes. Rather than commenting on it, Makayla took advantage of Chanel keeping Holly's attention for another minute as she finished getting the cereal ready, and she poured the last of the lemonade they had into a glass for Holly. Their food stamp benefits weren't going to be refilled until the third of December, so running out of one more thing only had Makayla's mind back on how badly she needed to smoke and relax.
As she carried Holly's bowl of cereal and drink to the table, Chanel was hopping off the counter, doing something by the sink, and then waving goodbye to them. Makayla hadn't been following the conversation at all, having been zoned out in her own thoughts, so she offered a smile and said, "have fun," hoping that was a relevant response to wherever Chanel had said she was going. She sat down across from Holly once they were alone in the kitchen and smiled. She was tired, she wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep for the rest of the day... or maybe the year, she wanted to roll a joint right there, or down a bottle of vodka, but she had to pretend like she was okay because she needed Holly to be okay. Makayla didn't like getting sentimental, but it was hard not to acknowledge that Holly was the strongest person she knew. Through everything that they had ever been through, Holly had always maintained her smile and her hopefulness. She didn't know any better... but at the same time, she did. She had experienced enough in her sixteen years to know how cruel the world could be, and Makayla was determined to do whatever it took to make sure that Holly had a reason to keep on being happy and hopeful, now that they were on their own. "We'll start cooking when you finish that," she said. "And then maybe we can go across the hall and see if Cara needs help with anything else."
{Written with Bandit}
Now that Chanel was gone, Holly knew that she was going to be bored. Makayla was fun, but she had spent all morning with her and Holly could tell that she was tired. "Can I see if Marie is in her room?" she asked after Makayla explained that they would start cooking once she finished eating.
"No, we need to leave her alone. I don't know if she's in there, but if she is, she's probably sleeping." She pushed Holly's bowl of cereal towards her, signaling for the girl to start eating.
"I won't wake her up if she's sleeping," she objected. She would just knock on the door, and if no one answered, she would go in just to make sure that Marie was alive if she was in there.
"No, Holl. We'll see her later. Maybe Cara will invite her over if she's not doing anything for dinner." Makayla wasn't sure who Cara had invited at this point. She imagined that Nick, Brooklyn, Roman and Ryan would be included since they all lived there, but she also knew that Cara wasn't friends with Roman, and that obviously, she wasn't a great friend to Brooklyn either.
"Want me to go ask her now if she's inviting Marie?"
"No, I want you to eat now."
"Why aren't you eating?"
She wasn't in the mood to eat, but now thinking about it, she was kind of hungry. Makayla appreciated the fact that both she and Holly had small appetites. It paid off when they were low on money and food. She would usually force Holly to eat three meals a day, just to keep her healthy, but there were some days where Makayla went on just a few snacks. A lot of the time, she wasn't starving, but sometimes, she was hungry but just knew that it would end up being more stressful if she ate and they had no food, over not eating and still having enough for Holly. "I'm going to, I just don't know what I'm in the mood for."
"Scrambled eggs? Toast? Fruit Loops?" Holly began to list off things before putting a spoonful of cereal in her mouth.
"We need to save the eggs for the cupcakes, but maybe I will have toast. Good idea," Makayla responded with a smile as she got up to prepare her toast. It seemed like it would be light enough to not make her feel sick, but hopefully enough to quench her hunger until they went to Cara's later.
"Maybe Marie would want some toast too. Want me to ask her?" Holly said, putting her spoon down and getting ready to stand up.
"Nope. Eat." She looked at Holly with a glare that told her to sit her ass back down without it having to be verbalized. Marie was nice enough where Makayla doubted that she would really be bothered by Holly storming into her room unwanted, if she was even in there, but Makayla wasn't going to test the theory. She did her best to keep Holly reigned it, because if she let Holly hang around their roommates as much as she wanted to, there was no way that the girls would be able to tolerate her like they could now. She wasn't trying to be mean to Holly, but it was in everyone's best interest sometimes.
"Where do you think Chanel went?"
"I'm not sure, Holly."
"Can you make me toast too?"
"No, eat your cereal." She wasn't trying to be mean, but it was all too typical for Holly to insist on having one thing for a meal, and then change her mind halfway through and ask for something else. Sometimes Makayla went along with it, just because she wanted her to eat, but by the end of the month when they were running low on food, she couldn't entertain that side of Holly, even if she wanted to. They didn't have the resources to just waste food like that.
Nick knew he had screwed up the minute he had pressed his lips against Cara's, but that intuition wasn't enough to stop him from sleeping with her that night three weeks ago. He had been so angry with Brooklyn and so tired of the constant fighting. After years of that, he needed something new to make him feel alive, and there was Cara, and he went for it. It wasn't a healthy way to cope with his anger and a bad fight, but nothing about his relationship with Brooklyn was healthy anyway and that night, he didn't care. He was feeling so reckless and out of control that if he hadn't indulged in sex with Cara, he probably would have drank himself to death or used hard drugs or jumped off a building. It had really been that bad, or at least he continued to tell himself that now... that what he had done with Cara was inevitable and the best option that was on the table that night. He wished he was able to believe it on days like this, where he was sober and hanging out with Brooklyn and completely weighed down with the guilt or knowing that he had done something very wrong. He felt like he should tell her, but he also knew that that would be catastrophic. Sleeping with Cara had been a mistake, or so he thought it had been, but if Brooklyn found out about it, Nick thought that she would never speak to him again. No excuse he had would be good enough to redeem himself and he didn't want to lose her like that.
Since that night with Cara, he tried to overcompensate by being with Brooklyn as much as possible. He would go out in the early morning or late at night when she was working to do make his drug deals, and tried to always be available to hang out. He would be the one to suggest nicer places to eat, or getting the more expensive thing on a menu, even though he didn't make enough money to actually live that recklessly. He had even gone to the extent to fill out a few job applications at retail stores in the area, knowing that the fact that he didn't have a reputable job was one of the biggest complaints on her list for him. He didn't know if it was obvious that he was doing more to compensate for betraying her, but he couldn't relax and feel comfortable around her if he wasn't trying too hard. Strangely, he preferred that volatile relationship they had before than this one.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, that one would be cool with me, but I'll see anything. Whatever you want," he smiled, her voice pulling him out of his thoughts. He had finished his two slices of pizza and can of Coke within five minutes of them sitting down, so he was just waiting on her to finish. It wasn't like he was in any sort of rush, though. They had no where else to go, and Brooklyn had said that she wanted to head back to the apartment after they ate. Normally, he wouldn't have minded but he really had been doing his best to avoid Cara as much as possible, especially when he was with Brooklyn. Cara agreed to keep it a secret, but he still didn't want to feel any more awkward or guilty than he already did. "What do you say about maybe spending the night at a hotel?" He knew it was a stupid idea. Hotel prices in the city skyrocketed on holidays like today, but he also knew that Cara was going to be in the apartment all night, hosting a little party that she would probably expect them to attend if they were there. Avoiding that anxiety was worth depleting his small savings fund if that was what it was going to take.
As they walked, Chanel made sure to add pumpkin and sweet potato pies to the list. She knew that Holly and Makayla were bringing cupcakes, but she felt like having a backup 'just in case' wasn't a bad plan, and so she also wrote down 'Cupcakes???' After two years in New York, she still didn't entirely know her way around. It was just such a big place. This didn't necessarily bother her, and when she was alone, she realized her novelty a lot less, but with Cara, for instance, who'd grown up in the city, she found herself eyeing the girl to make sure that she was indeed going the right way. From the looks of it, she was. "You seriously need your own TV show. Some of the stuff you say, Cara." Chanel laughed before continuing, still giggling some. "Also, depending on if Makayla and Holly have finished their cupcakes, I might be able to use my kitchen to make some food; just to speed things up. You should definitely wait to do the Insta pic until everyone is there though. Make it seem more festive." Speaking of festive, did they need decorations? Like little pumpkins or corn or whatever it was that people put out around this time. When Cara unexpectedly, though understandably, brought up Chanel's staying for the holidays, she had to mask her unease. Family wasn't really a red topic. It didn't take much being around Chanel to understand that she had a relatively stable home life. It wasn't that she talked about her family all the time, but it was in small instances that accumulated. Nearly everything that reminded her of something either pertained to something that happened at school or something that happened with her family. If anyone was really paying attention, they'd notice that most of these familial recollections never surpassed her brother's suicide attempt in date. Other than that, she talked to her parents regularly. Less than she probably would like to, and much less than her parents' enjoy as she almost always hears how she never calls enough. It was just that sometimes the weight of her phone was almost as heavy as the weight of her guilt.
Because Chanel never really liked dwelling on the negatives in life, she tried not to bring up the bad parts of her own. If not to pretend they didn't really exist, then to force a false sense of perfection onto others. She relied to heavily on others' opinions perhaps, and so if they thought she and her home life were more normal than they actually were, she could more easily convince herself that it was the truth. Still, though, sometimes she did want to be able to vent even though to do that would mean to actualize everything she was avoiding. And to be quite frank, she was still too selfish to want to do that. While she loved gossiping, she was more nosy than anything, and even more eager to hear about other people's problems than talk about her own. So while she wasn't ready to open up to Cara about the real reasons she stayed home, she'd have had no issue with Cara talking to her about something equally as troublesome. Chanel reasoned with herself that it was just because she was a good friend, but her and her sub-conscious knew that this wasn't true. She reminded herself that she'd have to try to harder. As a sort of start to this reminder, she smiled, not really at anything or anyone. Chanel circled her tongue over her teeth before rubbing her lips together. The air was making them a bit dry, but she couldn't lick them less she wanted NYX Vamp-stained teeth. Her eyes hovered over Cara's figure and, for a second of second, she considered being honest. She ultimately decided against it. Maybe not because she didn't trust Cara; they'd never gone through a situation that really tested how strong and deep their relationship was. It was more so due to the fact that she didn't trust herself. She didn't believe she was ready to allow herself that therapy. She didn't trust that she wouldn't start using this as some sort of sob story and get reliant upon her brother's misfortune just to benefit herself. So, at least for the present moment, things would remain the same.
"Well of course your favorite dumbass forgot to get the ticket. I mean, I got a ticket. I told you this already. But I didn't actually check it until two nights ago--because I was supposed to leave yesterday--and it said my departure date was Monday instead of Wednesday. So I couldn't call them until Wednesday morning, and they ultimately said they couldn't do anything about it, not even give me a complementary ticket. Chanel inhaled deeply to accumulate enough air for the over-exaggerated sigh she let out next. It was somewhat shameful how she could so quickly come up with a lie on the spot like that, but it proved a useful skill. As her father always told her, take no skill for granted. She'd like to believe that included the less acclaimed ones. "I mean, I obviously got the wrong ticket as an excuse to spend the day with you, but that's my cover up," she said with her charismatic grin. As they broke through the crowds and wind, Chanel's eyes fell upon a boy on the other side of the street. He was well dressed with dark denim jeans and an expensive looking coat that suited his haircut just right. "I know what you can get me for Christmas," she said. "I want one of your Upper East Side boys. If not to have an actual boyfriend than to just have someone to kiss me on New Years. I want to ride more than just the subway next year. It'd be a lot better if his wallet were as big as...other things," she said with a suggestive wink before laughing her loud, memorable laugh. The thought of Christmas led her to remember that the holiday shopping season would go into full force tomorrow, for Black Friday. Well, technically it was in just a few short hours since so many store were now opening sales on Thanksgiving."Are you going Black Friday shopping?
Because Chanel never really liked dwelling on the negatives in life, she tried not to bring up the bad parts of her own. If not to pretend they didn't really exist, then to force a false sense of perfection onto others. She relied to heavily on others' opinions perhaps, and so if they thought she and her home life were more normal than they actually were, she could more easily convince herself that it was the truth. Still, though, sometimes she did want to be able to vent even though to do that would mean to actualize everything she was avoiding. And to be quite frank, she was still too selfish to want to do that. While she loved gossiping, she was more nosy than anything, and even more eager to hear about other people's problems than talk about her own. So while she wasn't ready to open up to Cara about the real reasons she stayed home, she'd have had no issue with Cara talking to her about something equally as troublesome. Chanel reasoned with herself that it was just because she was a good friend, but her and her sub-conscious knew that this wasn't true. She reminded herself that she'd have to try to harder. As a sort of start to this reminder, she smiled, not really at anything or anyone. Chanel circled her tongue over her teeth before rubbing her lips together. The air was making them a bit dry, but she couldn't lick them less she wanted NYX Vamp-stained teeth. Her eyes hovered over Cara's figure and, for a second of second, she considered being honest. She ultimately decided against it. Maybe not because she didn't trust Cara; they'd never gone through a situation that really tested how strong and deep their relationship was. It was more so due to the fact that she didn't trust herself. She didn't believe she was ready to allow herself that therapy. She didn't trust that she wouldn't start using this as some sort of sob story and get reliant upon her brother's misfortune just to benefit herself. So, at least for the present moment, things would remain the same.
"Well of course your favorite dumbass forgot to get the ticket. I mean, I got a ticket. I told you this already. But I didn't actually check it until two nights ago--because I was supposed to leave yesterday--and it said my departure date was Monday instead of Wednesday. So I couldn't call them until Wednesday morning, and they ultimately said they couldn't do anything about it, not even give me a complementary ticket. Chanel inhaled deeply to accumulate enough air for the over-exaggerated sigh she let out next. It was somewhat shameful how she could so quickly come up with a lie on the spot like that, but it proved a useful skill. As her father always told her, take no skill for granted. She'd like to believe that included the less acclaimed ones. "I mean, I obviously got the wrong ticket as an excuse to spend the day with you, but that's my cover up," she said with her charismatic grin. As they broke through the crowds and wind, Chanel's eyes fell upon a boy on the other side of the street. He was well dressed with dark denim jeans and an expensive looking coat that suited his haircut just right. "I know what you can get me for Christmas," she said. "I want one of your Upper East Side boys. If not to have an actual boyfriend than to just have someone to kiss me on New Years. I want to ride more than just the subway next year. It'd be a lot better if his wallet were as big as...other things," she said with a suggestive wink before laughing her loud, memorable laugh. The thought of Christmas led her to remember that the holiday shopping season would go into full force tomorrow, for Black Friday. Well, technically it was in just a few short hours since so many store were now opening sales on Thanksgiving."Are you going Black Friday shopping?
Cara responded with a small laugh at Chanel's comment about a television show. She knew she was dramatic sometimes, but she honestly wasn't sure what she had said that spurred the remark from Chanel. She continued walking with Chanel, tucking her hands into her pockets as the cold started to make her fingers sting. "Oh my God, that sucks. Your parents didn't even try to buy you another one?" she exclaimed. In Cara's world, such a thing would be as easy as that. She didn't think of Chanel as being poor or middle class. When she accepted her as a friend, she knew that Chanel wasn't someone she would have been friends with a few years ago, but now Cara felt like she had grown as a person and was more diverse, and Chanel didn't seem that different from her. She had good style, knew how to shop, loved fancy and expensive organic food, and knew how to take the best pretend-candid photos of Cara for social media. "Whatever, don't even worry about it. Family holidays are so overrated and we're going to have fun tonight," she said, waving her hand to dismiss the thought. Cara didn't know if Chanel's family holidays were bad, but she definitely was trying to convince herself that her own were overrated. It wasn't the easiest task to do. Cara's father was hosting Thanksgiving in the Upper East side, in their penthouse. It was in one of the nicest buildings in the city, with spectacular views of Central Park, and yet all of the amenities it offered didn't make dealing with her father and stepmother worth it. Cara was stubborn, maybe even more than stubborn, and she didn't want to see like she was okay with the idea of her father marrying that woman. As a form of protest, she refused to ever visit the apartment she grew up in when the woman was there, and she expected Ryan to do the same.
"I mean, I guess I could help you with that but honestly, Upper East Side boys are just as overrated as family holidays," Cara said, giggling a bit when Chanel mentioned what she wanted. Upper East Side boys really had never treated Cara poorly. She had never been in a relationship where she had been cheated on or misled. In all of her relationships, she had always felt like she had the upper hand. She was a pretty girl, the kind that you could bring home to your parents, and at the same time, she was wild and fun enough where you wouldn't end up disappointed after a night in bed with her. And she knew it. She knew that she was pretty and could get any guy by batting her eyelashes a little and flirting, and that probably helped her in being confident and in control of her relationships. She was always the one to leave her partner, sometimes for no reason, sometimes for a good reason, and sometimes just because she wanted to end it before they did. Her last boyfriend, Patrick, was an Upper East Side guy. His father worked at Cara's father's company, and they were introduced over the summer at a company party. He was cute and treated her right, so Cara entertained the relationship, but he was boring. At least compared to Nick. The shallow side of Cara would never date a drug dealer, or really, anyone with a net worth less than her own, but she craved the excitement that she felt like a bad boy like Nick possessed. Plus, Cara was the kind of girl who wanted everything, so someone being off limits or taken only made her want them more. And anyone with eyes could tell you that Nick was attractive.
She considered telling Chanel about what she had done with Nick in that very moment, but the girl brought up Black Friday shopping and it had Cara wrinkling her nose. "Definitely not," she responded, shaking her head. "Like, I don't get why people go through all of that hassle for stuff when they can just buy it any other day. People call me materialistic, and yet I would never deal with crowds like that." She didn't know the struggle of not being able to afford things at their normal price, or how sales like Black Friday sales allowed parents to buy their kids their dream gifts without going into major debt. "Why? Are you going to?" she asked, her voice chipper again, as if it somehow wouldn't be awkward now if Chanel said she was going to, after she had just bashed it. As they walked, she responded to Ryan's text message.
To: Ryan
nvm! chanel and i have it under control
Brooklyn finished off the slice of pizza that she had ordered as Nick spoke. Her gaze switched between the food, to him when she looked at him imploringly. "A hotel? Are you crazy? Rent is due in a week, and you want to blow hundreds of dollars on a hotel room? Why?" Surprisingly, her voice remained calm, and actually more curious than belittling. Since finding out about Nick's affair, Brooklyn did evaluate herself. She wasn't the type of person who ever took responsibility for her actions, and she still felt like no matter what, Nick wasn't justified to step out on her like she did, but she wondered if she was really that bad of a girlfriend where she could push him to do something like that. At this point, she was over that insecure phase and didn't think it mattered even if she was that bad, but it had caused her to be a little bit softer over the past two weeks. She kept herself from snapping at him for things that normally would have pissed her off, and she spoke less in general. She wanted him to be able to tell that something was off without her having to reveal that she knew what he did. With her change came a change in the way he was treating her too, which threw off the entire normal balance of their relationship. He seemed present more, not only just physically, but mentally. She wasn't sure if it was that he was smoking less, or that he was just trying to be nicer to make up for what he did, but it was different. If she didn't know that he was doing it to compensate for cheating on her, she would have appreciated. This Nick was the kind of Nick she wanted to be with, and in her mind, if he was always like this, she wouldn't have a reason to get some angry and aggressive with him.
"Now that we have an apartment, we don't need that." Had it been a year ago when they were living in an unfinished basement under a pub, with Roman, the idea of spending a night in a hotel would have been enticing. A clean, warm bed, a nice, hot shower and the privacy would have been welcomed. Now, they had all three of those things. The apartment they shared with three other people wasn't completely private and Brooklyn was sure that everyone could hear what was going on in their room through the thin walls, but it was enough privacy for her to be content. "Didn't you say that Cara was doing something? Having Makayla and Holly over or something? We could always do that before our movie. I don't mind seeing a late night movie, and I'm sure she's ordering food in from some fancy place," she smiled, reaching across the table to squeeze his hand. "Might as well take advantage of it." She was finished with her food at that point, so she tossed her napkins, plate and empty can onto the bright orange tray it had been served on and stood up. "Let me text Roman and make sure he's okay. I haven't seen him in like, three days, honestly," Brooklyn said as she moved a few feet away to dump their tray in the garbage. It wasn't abnormal to go a day or two without seeing Roman. He didn't always come back to the apartment, especially on nights when he was fighting. Brooklyn worked late nights too, so on the days following those nights, she could sleep until three in the afternoon. Sometimes, their schedules didn't match up, and it wasn't something that was a big deal but Roman would always be someone that Brooke cared about, even if she didn't act that way.
To: Roman
are you alive?????
"Definitely not," Chanel said in response to Cara about Black Friday after the girl had promptly smashed it. For a moment, Chanel wasn't sure what Cara meant, but then it clicked. When she was a teenager, she used to make a big deal out of it and would want to get up as soon as she could so she could go shopping with her mom and aunts and cousins. It was kind of a family thing. Of course, many times her mother didn't want to get up early, and Chanel would always complain that the good sales were gone. She had never done it in New York, and quite frankly she was a little scared to, but if Cara was interested, she wouldn't have minded going. Pittsburgh was a big place, but there was a lot more in New York City. Asides from, going on her own would be pretty depressing. It'd just remind her of her not being with her parents, who she honestly did miss, but at the same time didn't want really want to be around. All in all, it was for the first that she spent tomorrow slightly hungover and in bed watching Netflix all day. "Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't know what to get. I've been pretty bad with the whole gift-giving this year."
Despite her selfish tendencies, Chanel really did like giving people presents. Maybe not as much as she liked receiving them, but there was a unique joy and pleasure she got from stressing out at the mall and trying to envision the recipient getting the gift and determining if they would really like it. Of course, this in turn only spoke to her own personality and how she was actually taking the meaning out of Christmas by making a big deal out of presents. She tended to place too much value on material things, which in turn made this time of the year quite the hassle, especially with her being such a procrastinator. Chanel was quite used to living up to her parents expectations, of people thinking very highly of her, and she wallowed in that view, but she also crashed under it. However, that wasn't going to stop her from going to five different stores only to wind up at the first one she went to to get the 'perfect present' this year, just as it didn't stop her in previous ones. One of the reasons she enjoyed present shopping was because she got an excuse to go shopping. She could finally be reckless and not get judged because everyone was making stupid purchases around this time. In a way, she shopped for herself when she went out for others' gifts. She tended to get them what she thought they needed, but she would always convince herself that it was something that they really wanted, even if it wasn't entirely true.
"So have you officially invited Nick?" Chanel said, a bit randomly. She adjusted the hat on her head, now cursing the fact that she'd even put it on. It was bound to cause frizz, and since it was made out of cotton, it was going to soak up every ounce of moisture she had it in after her frying session this morning. "I mean, Nick without Brooke, because if you did, I'd love to know how you went about that since I can't really see him not bringing his girlfriend." They walked a bit more, Chanel now remembering that she needed to pick up some gloves. She had some back at the apartment, but she couldn't find them and it was a lot easier to just find another pair that she really wanted. Useless spending was was part of the Christmas spirit anyway, and she wasn't want to kill the holiday mood, even if it meant doing so to her credit score. "And you can shut me up with this next part if you want, but I will warn you that your attempts will be useless, but...does he know you're crushing? I mean, do you know you're crushing? Like, I don't blame you. That boy is a god send with that jawline and his everything else, but...I don't know. I'm just trying to vicariously live through your slightly movie-esque love triangle to make up for my lack of a life life, I guess," she said while wiping away a fake tear. "But Brooke is really pretty too," she said after another moment. She didn't realize that she was beginning to talk just to talk, but by this point it was really too late. She had woken up a bit more, and as she rubbed her hands together, her mood was brightening a lot more, especially with prospect of a fairly interesting, albeit somewhat shallow, topic."Your roommates are actually pretty attractive, Cara. Even the heroin addict is all right from a certain light. A very dim one, but a certain light nonetheless. You know who else is really cute on our hall? Collin. His parents did good on that one. I think him and Marie are having a little fling, though, because he's been over in the morning a few times. So I guess he's off limits as well. Maybe I'll just marry my pillow or something, I don't know."
Despite her selfish tendencies, Chanel really did like giving people presents. Maybe not as much as she liked receiving them, but there was a unique joy and pleasure she got from stressing out at the mall and trying to envision the recipient getting the gift and determining if they would really like it. Of course, this in turn only spoke to her own personality and how she was actually taking the meaning out of Christmas by making a big deal out of presents. She tended to place too much value on material things, which in turn made this time of the year quite the hassle, especially with her being such a procrastinator. Chanel was quite used to living up to her parents expectations, of people thinking very highly of her, and she wallowed in that view, but she also crashed under it. However, that wasn't going to stop her from going to five different stores only to wind up at the first one she went to to get the 'perfect present' this year, just as it didn't stop her in previous ones. One of the reasons she enjoyed present shopping was because she got an excuse to go shopping. She could finally be reckless and not get judged because everyone was making stupid purchases around this time. In a way, she shopped for herself when she went out for others' gifts. She tended to get them what she thought they needed, but she would always convince herself that it was something that they really wanted, even if it wasn't entirely true.
"So have you officially invited Nick?" Chanel said, a bit randomly. She adjusted the hat on her head, now cursing the fact that she'd even put it on. It was bound to cause frizz, and since it was made out of cotton, it was going to soak up every ounce of moisture she had it in after her frying session this morning. "I mean, Nick without Brooke, because if you did, I'd love to know how you went about that since I can't really see him not bringing his girlfriend." They walked a bit more, Chanel now remembering that she needed to pick up some gloves. She had some back at the apartment, but she couldn't find them and it was a lot easier to just find another pair that she really wanted. Useless spending was was part of the Christmas spirit anyway, and she wasn't want to kill the holiday mood, even if it meant doing so to her credit score. "And you can shut me up with this next part if you want, but I will warn you that your attempts will be useless, but...does he know you're crushing? I mean, do you know you're crushing? Like, I don't blame you. That boy is a god send with that jawline and his everything else, but...I don't know. I'm just trying to vicariously live through your slightly movie-esque love triangle to make up for my lack of a life life, I guess," she said while wiping away a fake tear. "But Brooke is really pretty too," she said after another moment. She didn't realize that she was beginning to talk just to talk, but by this point it was really too late. She had woken up a bit more, and as she rubbed her hands together, her mood was brightening a lot more, especially with prospect of a fairly interesting, albeit somewhat shallow, topic."Your roommates are actually pretty attractive, Cara. Even the heroin addict is all right from a certain light. A very dim one, but a certain light nonetheless. You know who else is really cute on our hall? Collin. His parents did good on that one. I think him and Marie are having a little fling, though, because he's been over in the morning a few times. So I guess he's off limits as well. Maybe I'll just marry my pillow or something, I don't know."
{Written with Bandit}
Holly ended up only requesting toast a couple more times before agreeing to just eat her cereal instead. She was a slow eater, mostly because she got so easily distracted and ended up talking more than eating, so before she was halfway done with the bowl, the Fruit Loops had gotten soggy and she wouldn't finish it. She wasn't hungry anyway, and after a bite of Makayla's toast, she was ready to move on from breakfast as a whole. "Let's bake," she insisted, hopping off of her seat and heading towards the counter where the box of cupcake mix sat. She had chosen the Funfetti mix at the store, but they didn't have the funfetti icing to go with it, so she had to settle for plain vanilla frosting. While she preferred vanilla over chocolate, she was still convinced that someone was going to be upset that Makayla refused to buy both vanilla and chocolate icing.
Makayla had put two pieces of toast into the toaster but barely finished one piece, including the bite Holly took out of it, by the time her sister was apparently finished with eating and ready to move onto the next thing. Marijuana usually made her more tired than she already was, and that wasn't going to help her feel any less washed out today, but she couldn't get her mind off of the drug today. She didn't have energy on most days, but at least when she was high she felt lighter somehow. She would still feel tired, but it was like she didn't care as much about all of her problems. As she finished up her last piece of toast, she sent a text message to Nick, and responded to Holly. "Alright, get the eggs from the bottom shelf," she said, still eating as she nodded towards the fridge. "And then get the oil from the cabinet, and the measuring cup from the drawer over there," she continued. She knew she would have to stand up at some point to make sure that Holly didn't put the entire egg in the batter or something, but she really was really very fatigued suddenly.
To: Nick
can you hook a girl up for $5 :)? friend discount or something?
As soon as Makayla directed her to where the ingredients were, Holly began to search for them. Their refrigerator always had a good amount of food in it, but Holly knew that she was basically forbidden from touching anything that wasn't on the shelf that Makayla put their things on. It didn't stop her from occasionally testing out an organic drink that Chanel would bring home, or something cool that Marie would keep in stock, but she never did it to "steal". She just didn't seem the harm in it, especially when it never seemed like anyone else cared about money or wasting food as much as Makayla did. "How much do I pour in?" she asked, looking back towards the table once she had retrieved the ingredients.
For a moment, Makayla felt guilty for wasting money on drugs. She didn't think it was wasting money, since it was the one thing that kept her sane, but she sometimes felt like it was wrong of her to spend money on it when she could have been chipping in towards the cable bill, or offering more money to Cara whenever she looked after Holly. She didn't feel guilty enough to retract the request from Nick though, so she just set her phone back down as she looked towards Holly. "I don't know, Holls. Bring me the box."
"Are your legs broken?" she asked with a grin, though she eagerly returned to the table with the box, along with the measuring cup and the oil. Holly wasn't good academically, but even out of school, things that involved math and reading didn't go over well with her. She was definitely insecure about it, so a part of her failure was probably tied in with her overthinking things and getting nervous, but she just wasn't good at the subjects in general. Her dyslexia would make it impossible to pour the oil to the right level in the cup, no matter how hard she tried to remember and match the number up with what Makayla said, so it was easier just to have her do it for her.
"I'm tired!" Makayla groaned, shooting her sister a deviant smirk when she suggested she was being lazy by not walking over to her. "Let's take a nap and then we'll bake. I'm too tired to do this now." She expected the response that came a beat later, but it was worth a shot by trying. "Nooo, I want to make them now. They won't be ready in time for Thanksgiving if we wait," Holly objected, extending her hand to grab Makayla's arm to pull her to her feet. "And Chanel said Cara loves vanilla, so she's going to be so disappointed if we don't make them, okay?"
"Oh my God, Nelle. Take that back and go get your eyes checked. That boy is not attractive, and definitely not when you throw in the fact that he's legit a heroin addict. I mean, basically, at least. I don't even need evidence to support that theory, like it's just written all over his body in all of those tattoos." It wasn't fair of Cara to call Roman unattractive, because that really wasn't the case. She didn't think of him as being her type, but he didn't have bad genes in the slightest. Additionally, it wasn't fair of her to call him a heroin addict. She knew he did some sort of drugs, but so did Nick, and that obviously wasn't enough of a deal breaker for her to be turned off there. Nick was just an exception in general. An exception to her socioeconomic rule, to her "no tattoos" rule, to her drug user rule... to all of it in general. Honestly, Cara didn't know if she was crushing on him in a real way. She didn't know if she only wanted him because he was off limits, or if she only wanted him because she had never been with a guy who wasn't clean cut, with a trust fund to fall back on like her. He seemed dangerous and exciting and new, and as Chanel pointed out, that jaw line could take anyone from a 0/10 to a 10/10 in an instant. Since Chanel had continued on with the conversation after the initial question about Nick, she didn't feel the need to respond to it immediately. "But yeah, Collin is cute. So is the other boy he lives with, the one who Ryan's friends with. Oliver, I think his name is. I could totally see you with Collin. Get Marie out of the picture and pounce on that!" she grinned as she nudged Chanel lightly with her elbow.
Part of her wanted to try to get away with just responding to those parts of Chanel's comments, or maybe trying to abruptly switch back to Black Friday, but there was the gossipy, scandalous side of Cara that also wanted to gush to Chanel about what she had done with Nick. On one hand, it was nothing to boast about, but on the other hand, sleeping with Nick was a bit of a conquest, especially when, like Chanel pointed out, Brooklyn was really pretty. "Okay, so I didn't know if I wanted to tell you this, and you have to promise not to judge me," Cara then began, grabbing onto Chanel's arm as she looked at her excitedly. "But I slept with Nick! Not even in a homewrecking slut way because he came on to me first, but I totally went for it, and like, it was so worth it." She released Chanel's arm to run her fingers through her hair as she spoke. "Like, at first, I kind of felt bad because Brooklyn and I are friends, but it's obvious that she's basically abusive to him and he's just not into her, like, at all." She didn't know how Chanel was going to respond, so out of nerves that came from a mixture of anxiety and excitement, she just continued to speak. "And yeah, I officially invited him. Or at least I think it was official. Maybe I should text him and see if he's definitely going to come. What do you think I should say? I don't want to be too pushy and desperate, so what about like 'Hey Nick! We're going to eat around 5 so if you're around, feel free to come hang out with us' and then a smiley face to just make it super casual?"
Oliver walked, towel around waist, from the bathroom to his bedroom while Collin worked on getting everyone who needed to be present….well, present. He closed and locked the door behind him, tossed his clothes in a hamper in the corner of the room, and worked his way over his bed where the clothes that Collin had laid out for him were spread out. He looked at the clothes and couldn’t decide whether or not he would look good in them. He was partially sure he would because Collin had picked them out from his own closet but the other half of him was skeptical because Oliver and Collin were very different people with different styles and body shapes. Perhaps, however, it wasn’t the clothes that made him uncomfortable but the fact that he’d had to put on a happy face for everyone when in reality he felt like just crawling into bed and laying there until earth stopped rotating. He felt miserable. To Oliver, he was the reason was his parents split and now that all these family oriented holidays are approaching and the last people he’s spending time with is his family, it made him feel as though his family was permanently torn apart – and it was all his fault. Oliver shook the idea out of his head and sighed, telling himself that he was going to pretend to be happy until he was. “Fake it ‘til you make it, right?” He mumbled to himself. Oliver dressed and took a peek in the mirror Collin had hung on the back of the door. And much to Oliver’s dismay, he looked well put together.
Once Oliver had finished dressing himself, he started his way towards the kitchen. Opening the door to the hallway, he could see and hear Collin banging on the door to Isaac’s room. Oliver chuckled quietly to himself and continued to the kitchen to pour himself some juice and eat a snack. Collin followed to the same path, stopping just short of the kitchen. Collin frantically texted everyone while Oliver calmly sat himself on the couch with a cup of orange juice and a box of Frosted Flakes. “You’re gonna get carpel tunnel texting like that dude,” Oliver joked while inserting a handful of cereal into his mouth. Without taking his eyes off his phone Collin extended his arm towards Oliver, flipping him the bird. Oliver could only smile in amusement. Without so much as a second passing Isaac was out of his room and messing with Collin as well. ”Hey Jude” was all that was needed from Isaac to send Collin’s eyes darting from his phone down the other side of the hall. Isaac meant it all in good fun, especially when he shot Collin a grin and the finger. “So we’re all gonna be fucks today?” Collin said jokingly, but loud enough for Isaac to hear as he moved into the bathroom. “We just want to be more like you,” Oliver joked, which Collin glanced towards Oliver mockingly for.
“Dude, relax. You’re really uptight right now. You’re acting like me.” It was interesting for Oliver to see Collin this way. Collin was usually the type of guy to be very relaxed about everything, he didn’t let most things bother him the same Oliver did. So to see Collin running around the apartment as though the world just caught on fire was strange for Oliver. “Yeah…” Collin sighed and sat beside Oliver on the couch, throwing his feet onto the coffee table. “It’s just that my dad is coming and he can sometimes be a dick about things so I always have to just stay on my toes with him. He doesn’t like that I moved out here and thinks that my life is going to shit pretty much so I need to be able to impress him so that he doesn’t try to, like, kidnap me back home or whatever. I need him to see that my life is put together, you know?” Collin turned his attention to Oliver from where it was fixated on the wall. Oliver nodded, he knew exactly what it was like to feel as though you were a huge disappointment. “Don’t worry though. You’ll be fine. You are the King after all.” Oliver smiled warmly at Collin. “Yeah… Thanks man.” Collin smiled back.
* * *
Collin and Oliver sat on the couch together, waiting for the Kings, Marie, and for Isaac to finish getting dressed. While on the couch, Oliver received a text. He pulled his phone from his pocket to see that the text was from a friend of his, Ryan, who lived in 5C just across the hall. He typed back:
To: Ryan
Collin’s parents are comin’ over. We’re probably going to lunch with them then coming back here and chillin for dinner. What’re you up to today?
He slipped his phone back into his pocket. Collin questioned him on what was up while he read his own text coming from Marie. “Oh, it was just Ryan from 5C. Wanted to know what our plans were for Turkey Day.” Collin nodded, only half listening to what Oliver said. Collin’s phone buzzed again, while in his hand, this time with a text from his mother.
From: Momma King
Two blocks away, Collie xoxo
“Ah, fucking hell. They’re nearly here.” Collin sprang up from his seat, just as Isaac walked into the room asking where his parents were. “Two blocks away. If you’re not ready, get ready.” Collin rushed from the room to find his shoes and his coat. “Someone call Marie and ask her where the hell she is!” Collin yelled from the inside of the closet in his room, barely audible. Just then, Marie came bursting through the door like the personality she was and sat herself onto the couch where Oliver and Collin had just been sitting while shouting her presence known. Oliver, who was following Collin into the room, replied back to Collin. “She just walked through the door.”
* * *
Collin and Oliver joined the rest of the group out in the living room as Collin’s parents approached. Everyone stood around making small talk while Collin went downstairs to greet his parents and his brother.
“Hey mom. Dad. Seth,” Collin smiled as the three got out of the taxi.
“Hi honey,” Collin’s mother walked to him with arms spread to greet him with a hug. He returned the favor and pulled away to say hi to his brother and father, who he too hugged.
“You guys ready to come upstairs?” His parents exchanged looks, which Collin noticed. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Did I not tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Honey, we’re not staying. We told Uncle Paul that we’d be there to help early so we have to drive out there. We’re going there now.”
“Wait, what? What the hell? I thought we were doing lunch?”
“We want to but we just don’t have time. We have to go help set up for dinner. You know that Uncle Pat is having a rough time with Aunt Lucy passing. We need to be there for him today.”
Collin sighed, sticking his hands into his pants pockets. He wasn’t sure if he had the right to be upset with his parents right now or not. He thought they had plans but he wasn’t going to deny his Uncle Pat the help he needed right now, especially after his wife passed away from cancer that she had been battling for nearly two decades now. Reluctantly, Collin nodded. “Yeah…” He was upset but tried his best not to show it. “I should let you get going then. I just wanted you guys to meet everyone but I guess we’ll just have to do it another time.”
“Sorry honey. We’ll plan.” Collin’s mother smiled warmly and forgivingly. Collin nodded and hugged his family as they readied to leave. “Give Uncle Pat my condolences.” His mother smiled at him as she got into the taxi. “I will honey. Take care of yourself okay? Tell the gang we’re sorry and hello.” He smiled warmly at her, nodded, and shut the door of the taxi cab as she got into it. The cab drove away slowly. Collin stood there, watching it leave wondering just what he was going to say to everyone so his head didn’t get chopped off. He sighed, kicked his feet against the ground, and turned to go back upstairs.
Collin took the elevator up, the entire time thinking of just what to say to everyone who had been pressured into this exact moment. When he opened the door, alone, he could see waiting and questioning eyes land on him. “So…” He started nervously. “They’re not coming. My aunt passed away and this is my uncle’s first holiday without her so they went over there. They told me to say hi to everyone and apologize. Soooo….” Collin paused. He rubbed the back of his neck while staring at the ground and then back up at everyone. “So if you guys want; you can go do whatever now. Sorry.” Collin, upset, walked into his room, gently shutting the door, and sat on his bed.
Unsure of what to do, Oliver looked up at Isaac and Marie. “Should I talk to him? Maybe we could plan something else to do. To cheer him up. And us.”
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