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Chanel Nasiri

0 · 4,253 views · located in New York City

a character in “City Living”, as played by predictmeifyoucan

Description

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Birth Name:
Chanel Nasiri

Age:
22

Date Of Birth
June 11

Sexuality:
Heterosexual

Occupation:
Freelancer
Barista
Sugar baby

Origin:
Oahu, Hawaii [0-1]
Austin, Texas [1-2]
Newark, New Jersey [2-4]
Raleigh, North Carolina [4-5]
Orlando, Florida [5-7]
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania [7-20]
New York City, New York [20-present]




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Personality:
| Kind | Manipulative | Selfish | Carefree | Indulgent | Curious | Materialistic |
Chanel does her best to be as nice to people as she can. The majority of the time, she's wearing a smile or is laughing. She tries to see the good in people and situations and is all around just trying to live life with as few restrictions as possible. This makes her come off as immature to some as she's already 22 and doesn't have a clear projection for the future, but to others she is seen as very free spirited and relaxed. She's always ready to do something fun, almost too much to the point that it actually inhibits are ability to get things done. She would much rather go to a concert or walk through Soho instead of doing actual work. To quench her extrovertism and need to do right by the world, she occupies a good chunk of her free time with social activism. In this way she can still interact with people while actually being productive. Her carefree nature can be charming, but also reckless. She likes to pretend the rules don't apply to her since growing up she was used to always getting things to go her way. She doesn't like being told that she can't do something, and if that something is even as trivial as her buying something she doesn't need to buy, she'll still ignore what she should do in place of whatever satisfies her in that given moment.

While she is an agreeable person, this isn't how she is by nature. Even as a child she has always been very manipulative and calculating, determined to get what she wanted. Because she also incredibly charismatic, her ways were mostly ignored, or completely masked for what they really were. She loves gossip and drama and always being in the know whether that involves having knowledge she shouldn't or following the latest trends. She feels the need to have the best and be the best because at her core she is very competitive. She's what most would call incredibly fake, and she was honest enough with herself to admit that such was probably true. Her cold nature comes through projecting her own insecurities in the disguise of confidence and aggression. She's always forced her ideas and personality onto people in a way that made it hard to resist, partially because she was intriguing, but also because she was intimidating. None of this changed until her brother's suicide attempt when she was eighteen. After that she was consumed with guilt because it was the people like her that almost took her brother from her, and even now she accepts some responsibility for his attempt. Her kindness and activism, then, is more so out of a need to make herself feel whole again and distract from the guilt she still feels over her brother's suicide attempt. Deep down she knows that this friendly persona isn't who she truly is and so she tries harder if not to convince others, then to convince herself.

Likes:
| Shopping | Novelty | Oranges | Candles | Organic | Collectibles |
Chanel loves buying things and acquiring new items. She's always up for trying new things and indulging herself. Much of her recklessness comes from little luxuries that add up. Although she is the exact opposite of a Type A personality, she likes to give off that aesthetic so that other people know as well. So she'll waste money on expensive organic juices, a multitude of curly hair products, pricey items from so called 'boho' stores, and expensive gym memberships. Her finances don't allow for it, but she chooses to ignore this and does as she pleases. Of all things, she has a guilty pleasure of buying authentic jewelry and pieces of art with lots of cultural backstory. Her dresser, if not her body, is an array of trinkets and bracelets that she 'just had to have.' She's also very big on music and loves going to concerts, even if that means going out of state to see someone live. Because she gets bored easily, she likes discovering new things. This is where her excessive shopping habit comes in, but also her tendency to scope out new restaurants and places she's never been before.

Dislikes:
| Settling | Work | Her Guilt | Restrictions | Familiarity | Pumpkin anything |
Chanel hates feeling tied down which is the main reason she hasn't found stability in the two years since moving away from home. Although she is trying to be a better person, she's used to being spoiled and thinking that only the rules she likes actually apply to her. Sitting for too long makes her anxious and as though she's not doing enough which in turn opens the door to her closeted guilt. She busies herself not only because she physically cannot sit down but for so long, but because she needs a distraction from her own self.




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Background:
Born to a veteran and a dance instructor, Chanel lived a relatively modest life. Before second grade, her family moved around a lot due to her father working in the military and within that time her younger twin brothers were born. Once her father finally retired, the family settled down in Pittsburgh where they carried an average but fulfilling life. Her childhood was a good one what with memories of the smell of Moroccan cuisine and the familiar, nostalgic sound of Arabic spoken by her father. Things were relatively simple and happy. One of the earliest turbulent moments that ever happened to her was when she was 10 years old. Her mother had gotten into a brutal car accident that reared her unable to to teach dance anymore. Similar to Chanel, her mother was unable to sit still for too long, her mother went to school for two years to get an associates in Nursing and has since stayed with that.

Apart from that, she would say she really enjoyed growing up in Pittsburgh where everything seemed to go according to plan. Her home life was good, as was school which was never problematic for her especially since she never had problems with fitting in. This lack of issue didn't stem from her simply not being concerned with the peer pressure that came with growing up. In fact, the opposite was true. Out of fear of being left out, she was very dominating over everything and formed her own rules and cliques, always being the ring leader of whatever she did. Her teachers dubbed her a leader because of her vivaciousness and willingness to take charge, but to others she was intimidating and even somewhat of a bully. However, due to her charm and discreet manipulative nature, she was able to keep friends and was well-liked among the majority of the peers.

Even though this was true, it could also be said that most liked her only on the surface, and didn't really enjoy her for what she truly represented. Such caused a lot of drama and tension when she entered high school. Chanel always found herself entangled in some form of drama and her cattiness only got worse as her need to be a part of something intensified. While her flaws were a driving force in the way she acted, it was never conspicuous enough in the presence of her persuasiveness and natural charisma for people to totally exile her. People knew that she was, for lack of a better term, fake. She would use people and tear them down and seemed to play games with people, just to prove that she could. Nevertheless, there were still many who would say that they didn't necessarily dislike her, but that there was something about her that made them wary of her true intentions.

By the time high school graduation came around, she was sick of all of her classmates, and they felt the same towards her. She'd lost most of her 'friends,' but didn't seem bothered by it all too much. So while she got through school mostly unscathed and used to being in control of everything, it wasn't until after she got her diploma that she started to experience the exact opposite. Chanel had decided to take a gap year before going to school, just working and enjoying life. Unlike her, one of her brother's had always struggled in school both academically and socially. It had been an issue for so long that Chanel pretty much ignored it, even as it worsened through middle school and into high school for him. She was at a party when she got a call from her mother, frantic and in tears, telling her that her brother was being rushed to the hospital after trying to kill himself.

To think about life before that moment is odd her now. To be able to fathom that her life was so normal before it happened feels almost surreal. After her brother's attempt, everything at home changed. With all of the stress that was now put on the family, her parents began fighting more, her brother declined mentally, and Chanel became consumed with guilt. She didn't understand the exact extent to her brother's bullying, but it was because she chose ignorance over action. Not only that, but she felt responsible because she was one of the types of people who drove her brother to suicide. Even with everything going on at home, she attended university the following year as planned.

At first it was a relief, a good distraction from her problems--from her guilt. She went in with the intent on being a graphic designer, but after just a semester she was convinced that college wasn't for her. She stayed another semester before dropping out and moving back in with her parents. She busied herself with working and tried to mend relations with her family. While things had improved over the past two years, she still couldn't look her brother in the eye without feeling guilty. Eventually, it became too much to handle and she left for New York City. The reason she gave her parents was that she didn't want to be a burden and wanted to go and start her own life, but in reality it was for far more selfish reasons.

While at first the idea of moving to the city was thought to be temporary, she has since stayed and tried to reinvent herself in different ways. She became more involved in social issues and now will sometimes write for different papers or websites if she is able to find a gig. Outside of that, she hasn't really settled down like she told her parents she would. Instead she had been doing many small jobs and typically only long enough to get her to the next paycheck before she gets bored and quits. As her interests continue to vary in this phase of reinvention, she completely thrusts all of her energy into a hobby and will try to find a job that correlates. Since she quickly bores, though, she never really sticks with anything and so has only really gotten her feet wet in the past two years since being in New York. To make her lack of security seem like less of what it is, she calls herself a freelancer, which isn't necessarily false. While the types of jobs she'll freelance varies, she has consistently stuck with social awareness writing and jobs that involve graphic design of some point, mostly for small companies. As of now, she's still all over the place but relies heavily on freelancing as a means of making money. This is harder, though, because she does not have a college degree and most clients are looking for someone with more qualifications. When finances become too tight, like now, she will get a more stable job, and so currently she works part time as a barista at a small coffee shop, but she's already considering quitting.




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ImageHeight:
5'10

Weight:
123 lbs

Face Claim:
Imaan Hammam

Hex code:
#c7256e

So begins...

Chanel Nasiri's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Ruby Barr
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Hex Code: #c7256e
Outfit: This
Chanel was completely oblivious to the tension between the two as it was easily concealed on both ends, and Ruby's exhaustion just came across as fatigue from moving. It was for that reason that Chanel felt compelled, despite being ready to pour a glass of wine and taking a nap, to offer the girl some assistance. It was clear that the movers were, in fact, Ruby's, but Chanel still thought it was a bit distasteful to not try to help at all. The girl was already reaching for the box, so Chanel continued her pace to the door. "You don't have to apologize. Here let me get that for you." She said, opening the door before laughing at what could only have been Holly's commentary. "That's me. The neighborhood giraffe chef. You're probably talking about Holly, but I'm not that great. I did make some paella last night, and a lot of it, so it's still fresh and you can feel free to help yourself to some. I have some leftovers I need to finish anyways," she said, raising the baggie in her hand. "So you'd probably be doing me a favor to be honest."

Once her new roommate was in the door, she went to the kitchen to put her food in the fridge, afterwards returning to converse with her. Her bed was still calling her, and even more now that she was so close, but she already felt bad about not having a proper welcome prepared for the girl, and seeing how busy she looked, it seemed like even more of a mess up on her part. "Sure would be great to have an elevator, huh?" It was definitely a huge bummer and pain in the ass when she was moving in, and it only made the process all the more stressful, especially when her family was complaining about it even more than she was. She had no idea how much stuff the girl had or how efficiently they had been moving, so it was a wonder if she was close to done or not, and she still felt it necessary to offer. "Do you need any help with anything? I wanted to have something in order for you to make you feel more at home, but you know how it is getting caught up with work, especially after the holidays," she said with a soft laugh. "I see you have your moving guys, but if you need help unboxing or anything, I love doing that kind of stuff. And you can just move my stuff around in the kitchen and make space in the fridge. But I get if you don't have food, obviously, because you're moving, so again, you can borrow some of my stuff. And I can show you where the cleaning supplies are as well if you want to tidy up."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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Ruby Barr
Outfit
Hex: #A52A2A
"Thanks," Ruby said, smiling as she carried the box inside. Her head really was hurting now, and though she was aware that it was from stress and not any biological ailment, stress headaches were often the worst for her. It wasn't that the pain was necessarily more severe than "normal" headaches, but the pain was there and coupled with her self-criticism of even allowing herself to get stressed over something, and that was what always got to her. She didn't even know if she had a right to criticize herself right now though. This wasn't getting stressed about having to spend another holiday lying about pretend boyfriends to her conservative family to hide her homosexuality (something that was deserving of the stressful title, but was too common by now for Ruby to think of it as being severe), or getting stressed over a patient who she felt she couldn't help adequately. This situation had a lot to be stressed over, all at once. She was stressed over the unexpected animosity that her old family-friend was showing her. She was stressed that she had been told she was fucked for her living arrangements. She was stressed that she was apparently going to be living with a drug addicted free-loader and her mentally challenged and/or neglected little sister. And she was stressed about moving in general. She would have gladly taken just the last stress factor though. She had been prepared enough for that that she wouldn't have developed a headache over it. Cara's description of her roommates was bleak enough to make anyone worried and anxious, but just given Ruby's persona and profession, it made it even worse. She liked real like case studies. She liked observing people, and helping them, and just witnessing how they lived and thought. It was different when she could go home at the end of the day, or back as a resident, at the end of her shift, though. Besides that, if one of her roommates really was being neglectful to a minor, wasn't it her legal obligation, not only as a doctor, but as a human being, to do something about it? 'Ugh. I really am fucked,' she thought, trying to keep her smile on her face as she listened to Chanel speak.

"Oh no, I'm okay. Thank you though!" she insisted. Even if she did need help, she was the type of person who wouldn't want to burden anyone with it anyway. She didn't have that much stuff, so unpacking wasn't going to be too much of a hassle, and she guessed that her movers wouldn't be more than fifteen or twenty minutes at this rate. They probably just needed to make one more trip down to the truck once her bed was re-built, which shouldn't have been a long task in itself, given that it had barely been broken down... just enough to get it to fit through the hallways. "I was actually going to try out a local takeout place tonight! I've never lived this far downtown so I don't really know what's good in the area. And yeah, thanks for the reminder. I probably should add 'grocery shopping' to today's to-do list. Do you know if there are any grocery stores nearby that are closer than Whole Foods?" She needed to buy cleaning supplies too, that was another good reminder. She had brought only the basics with her - Clorox wipes and Lysol spray, simply because she had run out of boxes at that point, and figured that she could buy whatever else she needed after the move.

Setting the box down just outside of her bedroom door, she peaked in to see that the bed was reassembled, and she smiled at the men as they passed by, insisting that they were nearly done. She appreciated the efficiency, though that was probably just good business on their part. The quicker they got through with her, the quicker they could move on to their next client. Even with her bed and dresser inside, the room was still fairly spacious... definitely so by New York's standards, at least. Aside from the location, the price had been a big selling point to Ruby. There were few apartment buildings in New York where you could get a comfortable sized room for a fair price. This building seemed clean, and the apartment as a whole looked modern and nice enough, so physically, it seemed like a great deal. She didn't think that would outweigh the apparent roommate problems, but she was still very conflicted about that. As the men exited the room, she decided to be impulsive in an out-of-character move again. "Can I ask you something?" she whispered to Chanel, motioning for her to come inside of the bedroom. 'God, you really are dramatic!' she thought to herself, but now it was too late to back down. And was she really dramatic? Cara hadn't offered her the comfort she was looking for to convince herself that she should even spend a single night here to test it out, so was it that wrong to hope that maybe Chanel could be the saving grace she needed? At this point, did she really have anything to lose?

As she shut the door quietly behind Chanel, she answered that question to herself. Still whispering, and with a conflicted expression definitely pasted on her face, she continued to speak. "This is probably going to make me come off as a horrible and dramatic person, which is the opposite of the first impression I'd like to give off, so please don't take this the wrong way. A few minutes ago when I first came up, Cara and her roommate told me that I'm..." Oddly, Ruby felt improper cursing in front of this girl, despite knowing that she was obviously old enough to handle it. "...fucked with living here. I really had no idea what that meant, so I just went back over to talk to Cara and she explained that the sisters who live here too are... I guess... problematic?" With a deep breath, she continued, still mentally berating herself for feeling like she was coming across as some gossipy, drama-obsessed bad roommate, herself. "I tend to get along with everyone, and I hope you don't get the wrong impression of me for asking, but I just kind of am hoping for some clarity after what was said." Her headache seemed to only grow by the minute. Now she was stressed about everything from before, but on top of that, she was also stressed about being so uncharacteristically chatty and intrusive-feeling.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Ruby Barr
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Image
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Hex Code: #c7256e
Outfit: This
While Chanel had agreed to be asked something, she didn't expect it to involve her going back to Ruby's room. She was confused at first, but wasn't too bothered by following the girl, figuring it might be a question on the room. That wouldn't have explained why she was whispering, but Chanel didn't think it could really be anything that serious. When she got into Ruby's room, she glanced around, looking for something that would anticipate whatever question the girl might have, btu when she saw the girl begin shutting the door, her face shifted into one of slight discomfort. It wasn't like Chanel thought she was about to get murdered or anything, but Ruby's behavior was strange and vague enough for Chanel to feel the need to get a little more straight face and take half a step back. Chanel's mind couldn't quite think of the worst possible realistic scenario that would make this situation make sense, and because of that, that only made her all the more concerned and weirded out. She did try to maintain a tight smirk to conceal her discomfort and the worry that something bad was about to happen.

"Okay..." Chanel muttered lightly at Ruby's initial disclaimer, which was mostly for her own sake than her roommates. Oddly enough, Chanel's instinct was to believe that Ruby was the freak that Ruby was concerned she was living with. What came out of Ruby's mouth next allowed Chanel to breathe a bit of a sigh of relief, but it didn't forfeit her confusion. She narrowed her eyes at Ruby's words, trying to fathom what she was hearing as the situation she was in finally began to process. The only other roommates Cara had were Brooklyn and Collin, and she doubted Collin would participate in Cara's antics. Brooklyn was far more believable, and if it had just been her, she would have rolled her eyes and told Ruby that Brooklyn was just that way and it was best if she was ignored. Why she was so perturbed learning that Cara had her share of words was hard to understand because she knew Cara wasn't the nicest person. Because Cara was her friend, though, she didn't want to hear that her friend was doing things that were hard to excuse, especially when they were being done to friends that definitely didn't deserve to be talked about. It was even more troubling and disheartening considering that conversation she had just had with Makayla the other day. She had tried convincing Makayla that there was nothing to worry about, but it was also to convince herself. Chanel was no stranger to being a hypocrite and a bad friend. This situation wasn't even all that unfamiliar. The issue was that now she was in this situation a different person where she actually did care about the repercussions. Usually she would go and run her mouth to the advantage of whoever she thought of most favorably in the moment. What made this additionally harder was the fact that Cara's alleged actions reflected what Chanel was trying to break from which caused quite the dissonance that was far too tired and far too sober to deal with.

Placing her hand to her temple, she exhaled slowly, shaking her head slightly. She should have just kept her mouth closed and gone straight to her room because now she was in another predicament. It was already uncomfortable, not knowing who she should address first, if anyone. There was the added concern that involved her specifically, the worry that maybe Chanel wasn't immune for this kind of behavior and was just unaware of it. Chanel figured this still had to do with Disney, but Chanel had been involved too, so it would make sense that Cara would be upset with both of them. Chanel was her friend, but Chanel didn't think she was that special to Cara to not warrant a grudge being held. Makayla wasn't Cara's friend, not really, but the girl had never done anything to her, so in Chanel's mind, if Cara would do that to Makayla, and Holly it sounded like, then what the hell was saying about Chanel? She was also now skeptical of Ruby. Not because the girl came across as mean, but you were the company you kept, and if Cara's actions were making Chanel feel vicariously responsible, then Ruby couldn't be ignored either. She didn't know she was overestimating the extent of the girls' friendship, but why would Cara just say that to Ruby for no reason whatsoever? In Chanel's mind, she had every reason to think that Ruby was very similar to Cara, and that therefore this was some kind of set up, a test of sorts.

It was a lot to process, all on the spot no less, and with little energy and after feeling like she'd just wasted her weed because she wasn't feeling anything, so she was officially frustrated and irritated. Chanel began opening the door, ready to just shut off for the rest of the day. "It's funny," she began. "I actually don't think they're the problematic ones in this situation," she said, trying to keep her voice light and friendly. It wasn't an intentional dig, but Chanel's mood was exponentially lowering, and she didn't have the best reasons to worry about coming across as unfriendly to Ruby. She mostly meant Cara just then, but knew that it insinuated Ruby as well, which she was fine with. She wanted to tell her that if she got along with Cara, then Makayla and Holly were the least of her worries, but she refrained. She knew this apartment complex was different from Cara's usual style of living, and since she was friends with Ruby, Chanel figured Ruby had a similar mindset as Cara and that part of the reason she was 'fucked' living here was because it wasn't posh and unnecessarily extravagant. She was making a lot of assumptions, but she was taken off guard and going off what made the most sense to her given what little information she had. She was well versed in people dancing around what they actually meant, using euphemisms to mask a more bothersome sentiment. Had Ruby not had her status and her connection with Cara, Chanel wouldn't have been as on edge, but it sounded like she wanted confirmation that the place and people here weren't suspicious, something that definitely seemed Cara-ish. Her mood definitely didn't help any of this and played into why she didn't just leave it at that. "But I guess if you're used to having a doorman, a Whole Foods, and a bunch of white people, then yeah, you're probably fucked and should lock your door at night." While Ruby didn't say all of that, it was hard to ignore and not get irritated what she perceived as being a poorly-veiled classist mindset--thinking places or situations that weren't of a particular standard were scary and to be avoided. Especially when those people were coming from places that were homogenous in looks, wealth, and experience. She laughed off her own comment, trying to soften the bite but indirectly verifying Ruby's fear that she was coming across as dramatic. "There's a Westside Market about five minutes away though. Should fit all your needs," she called from the hallway once she remembered the girl's first question. Chanel went to the kitchen to get glass of wine, ready to retire to her room for the rest of the day.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Makalya Wright Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri
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#, as written by Bandit

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H O L L Y . M A D D O N
Outfit: This[/url]
Hex Code: #db0083

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M a k a y l a ~ W r i g h t
Hex Code: #FF8400
Outfit:
"I think she really likes me!" Holly chirped, willingly following Makayla back into their bedroom. Obviously, Holly could have spent hours with Ruby, talking about any and everything. She could do that with anyone, but with a new person, there really were no limitations to where their conversation could go! Holly had so many questions for her, but she took Makayla's words into consideration and decided that she could give the girl some space. For now. "Brooklyn bought me popcorn!" she announced as she sat down on her bed, pulling her winter jacket off and kicking off her shoes. She tossed the bag up in the air, falling onto her side on the bed as she tried to catch it before it landed on the floor - though she failed to do so. Laughing out loud, she sat back up and looked at Makayla. Her expression changed from one of amusement to anger as her train of thought changed too. "In case you didn't know, Brooklyn knows how to be nice to me. She doesn't leave me alone all day in an empty apartment all alone!!!" she snapped dramatically, sending a glare towards Makayla.

Makayla sighed. She was glad that Holly had not given her trouble about leaving Ruby alone, but depsite feeling like she was being unnecessarily patient with her after the mess she had made the night before, she didn't think that her patience could stretch much farther to deal with a whiny and complaining Holly today. "Let's not start with an attitude," she warned, sending a stern look back Holly's way as she picked up the girls shoes and coat and put them away neatly in the closet. "You're gonna have to start learning how to occupy yourself, Holl. You're sixteen, and you need to be able to stay here alone for a few hours without causing trouble. What do you think you're going to do once you graduate school? You think I'm gonna come to college with you to keep you company?" In reality, Makayla was well aware that the chances of Holly going to college were very slim. Even taking finances fully out of the picture, the idea that Holly could handle any sort of college coursework was highly unlikely. With the Individualized Education Program that she was on, Holly was scheduled to graduate when she was nineteen or twenty, depending on whether she could pass her state exams in time. Because of her disabilities and how far behind she already was, the district was willing to work with them, waving many of the classes that would have forced her to spend four years in high school as long as she met the government-mandated requirements. That in itself was one of the major reasons for why Makayla hadn't left Manhattan, despite the horribly high cost of living. The area that they grew up in was far less expensive than where they were now, but the public schools here were actually willing to help Holly. And even if it meant that Makayla was always tired, and over-worked, and frustrated, she wanted Holly to one day be independent, and she needed a high school diploma for that.

"Well it would be nice if you did!" she fired back, switching back to a cheerful tone in an oddly quick manner. "But I'm not going to go to college! I'm going to learn how to make candy and open up a candy store!" she exclaimed. Holly didn't see herself going to college either. It wasn't because she didn't think that she could handle it (but that was only because she wasn't considering the workload). Instead, she just hated school. She wasn't going to go to school any longer than she was forced to. "Brooklyn didn't go to college and she's rich!" she added. She was going to ask Makayla if she thought making purple dogs out of chocolate sounded like a good idea, or if koala shaped gummy bears would be better, when she heard Chanel's voice in the hallway talking about a market. "Chanel's home!" she announced with excitement. She wasn't supposed to bother Ruby, but Chanel surely would enjoy her company. Before Makayla had a second to stop her, Holly was hopping off of the bed and bursting out the door. "Chanel! You're home and I'm home too!" she called out.

"Jesus Christ." By default, Makayla was forced out of her bedroom, following Holly into the kitchen. "Hey Chanel," Makayla said, catching up to Holly and giving her a warning squeeze on the shoulder. "Holly, get yourself a glass of water and then we're going to start your homework in our room," she said. She didn't think doing the girl's work that was due Monday was urgent, but she wasn't going to subject Chanel to any mindless chatter when she assumed the girl had been working all day too. Nodding her head backwards towards the bedroom hallway, she whispered, "She seems nice... normal?" about Ruby. She didn't know, of course, that Cara had just trash talked her to the girl, and Ruby had then asked Chanel about them.

"Chanel our new roommate is here!" Holly said in a sing-song voice, disregarding the fact that it was likely that Chanel knew that and had been talking to her about the market thing. "Her name is Ruby and she's Cara's friend and..." She was perplexed that she didn't know anything else about the girl. "And she has brown hair..." That wasn't a sufficient fun fact. "Well, I'm going to learn more about her tonight! We're watching The Wizard of Oz! You can too, Chanel! Because we've missed you a lot while you were in China all year!"

Deep breath. Deep breath. Deep breath. Makayla seemed to have those words running through her mind on auto play lately. "Water, Holly," she said, trying to refocus the girl. Again, she faced the conflict of being overly controlling and enthusiasm-squashing in the girl, versus being a courteous roommate. As she saw Chanel reaching for a wine bottle, she smiled, tempted to ask if it was that time already for her too, but she refrained. She felt like she had already been too friendly with Chanel yesterday, not to an extent where it was uncomfortable or weird, but just to a point where it felt like she would seem overbearing by continuing with that too intensely today too.

As she grabbed a glass, unsure of why she was even doing so since she wasn't thirsty, she continued to speak excitedly. "Chanel, did i ever tell you that I'm going to open up a candy store one day? I'm going to be the first person in the world who makes gummy bears shaped like dogs that can turn into real dogs if you say a magic word!" she announced with a laugh, twirling in excitement as she filled her glass with water.

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Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Makalya Wright Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri
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Hex Code: #c7256e
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While Chanel didn't see or hear the girls when she came in, she wasn't surprised to hear Holly's voice beaming from the hallway. At Makayla's question, Chanel pondered for a second and then nodded. Ruby did seem nice enough, and pretty normal despite the brief lapse when Chanel was wondering why she was being closed in the girl's room. She figured it would be pointless to bring up what Cara said right then, and she wasn't sure if it even needed to be brought up at all. It would surely only cause drama, and she wasn't sure how it would help Makayla at all. If it got repeated back to anyone, it would be Cara, but she wasn't going to deal with that right now. She was just going to get her glass of wine and, god willing, take a hot bath and then fall asleep to something on Netflix. ""Hopefully she's cool with..." Chanel pinched the air and placed her fingers to her lips twice before pumping her brows at Makayla.

"Oh, cool. Do you have it on DVD or something?" Chanel couldn't think of the last time she had seen the movie. She had to have been younger than Holly. It was a stupid question to ask, but because she didn't know that many people who just had The Wizard of Oz lying around, it felt natural to ask how they were going to watch it even if she knew the most logical answer. While Holly wasn't her responsibility and there was no denying that such cheerfulness all the time could get tiring--and that was coming from personal experience on her end, even if she wasn't to the same level as Holly--Chanel still felt an obligation to be as kind as possible with Holly, as someone would a child. Chanel always felt conflicted with her treatment of Holly, because she wasn't sure how to balance treating Holly like the way she acted, which was more childlike, or recognizing that she was in her mid-teens and treating her like a kid could be infantilizing, even if the girl didn't register it as such. It wasn't like Chanel was walking around pinching her cheeks and buying her pacifiers, but it was something she tried to take notice of so that she did treat Holly appropriately. Typically, though, that tended to err on the more kid-like treatment because had it not in this moment, Chanel wouldn't have really cared about Holly's candy idea and would have been perplexed by it. There was no denying that it was hard to be harsh to the girl, even if she could only be kind to her tiredly. Nevertheless, it did make Chanel laugh, Holly's excitedness, even if it was a mere chuckle.

"No, you didn't! I had no idea I was rooming with an entrepreneur, a future Guiness Record holder, and a magician." Chanel poured her cheap red wine that she got from CVS after a drunken night out with friends a while back led her to McDonald's and she felt it would be a good combo to mix the liquid with nuggets and sweet and sour sauce. In memory, it tasted good. The nuggets and the wine cut with Sprite, that she had to discreetly pour into her cup underneath the booth, tasted good. Sober, it tasted the way her hangover felt the next day. In all truthfulness, that was probably why it was still in her cabinet because Chanel was good for going through wine like it was a part of the food pyramid, but that experience soured her appetite for it, and it was just a bit too dry for her. She was tired of looking at it though, and the New Year made her even more eager to switch things up. Because she didn't fancy it that much, she usually paired it with some food, and she felt it would taste nice with her paella. Despite not being hungry, she wanted to stuff her face with something and supposed that that stuffed feeling would help her food coma she was hoping to enter into within the next hour. She pulled the appropriate tupperware out and began fixing a small bowl. "Are you going to make certain dogs or can it be any dog I want?" she asked Holly before looking to Makayla and inching the tupperware towards her, raising her brow. It didn't look like it had been touched since last night, and while she had given Makayla her blessings, she knew the girl was too tactful and ginger to actually take any so she felt the need to go ahead and offer once more.

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Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Makalya Wright Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Ruby Barr
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#, as written by Bandit

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H O L L Y . M A D D O N
Outfit: This[/url]
Hex Code: #db0083

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M a k a y l a ~ W r i g h t
Hex Code: #FF8400
Outfit:
Chanel had that right. Most of the time, it felt like smoking was the one thing she had to look forward to at the end of each and every day. It was her only outlet and release, and though Makayla was very couteous about purposely doing her best to hide the smell and not do it in plain sight, regarldess of the fact that Chanel was cool with it, her ways of hiding the smell wasn't always foolproof. If Ruby was someone who was very anti-smoking, she would probably figure out sooner than later that either she or Chanel parook in the activity, and though Makayla was adamant about being a good roommate, she didn't know if that was something she could truly give up. "You've got that right," she nodded.

"It can be any kind of dog that you want! Except for Pit bulls! I know that some of them are nice but when I was younger one of them bit my arm for no reason! My skin grew back so I forgive him, but I don't want anything to ever bite you and your beautiful smooth skin, so we're not gonna even risk it!"

Makayla rolled her eyes. She remembered that dog bite incident like it was yesterday. Though she didn't think that any of them were actually owned by her father, people quite frequently brought dogs over to their house. Because of the nature of her father's work, there rundown townhouse styled apartment was basically a trap house. Random people could be found passed out on the couch on a daily basis, her father probably slept with a new woman every week, despite housing one or two at a time as his "girlfriends", and for whatever reason, some of her father's friends or customers sometimes brought their dogs over. One of her father's regular customers (who actually ended up OD'ing in their house, before her father's friends dumped his body in an ally to alleviate their own associated guilt) who often came by for crack always brought his Pit bull with him. He claimed that it was trained for protection, but it seemed unnecessary, since he was always the first to brag about the Glock that he carried around on him nonstop. Makayla had never been much of a dog person, and coupled with just doing her own thing in general, she never paid the animal much mind. Holly, understandably, could not do that. No matter how many times Makayla warned her not to go near the animal that was often left chained to the railing of their staircase, she would always catch Holly trying to touch it, usually pulling her hand away just before the thing tried to snap her arm off with its teeth. Makayla couldn't be home 24/7 though, so it was only her luck that she came home from work one night to find Holly doped up on pain medication and some sort of sedative that had her basically passed out, but not crying from the large bite wound on her upper arm like any child in that state should have been doing. Makayla never asked what her father and Holly's mother had specifically given the girl to put her into such a drugged up state, because she knew that she didn't want to know.

She just remembered how "lucky" she felt that it had occurred over summer break, because then Holly didn't have to explain the wound to any teachers, and the authorities would never get involved. Thinking back on it now, Makayla wished that it hadn't happened that way. She was programmed (and probably with good reason) to think of the police and the government as being bad and out to get her. Historically, they had been. In a situation like the one that she was in, though, she knew that had someone stepped in when Holly was young and still "had a chance", things probably would have turned out better for the girl. She could have been adopted or something, or at least taken away in time to save her from some of the years of physical abuse that she faced living with them. She couldn't change the past and she knew it, but it was stories like these that had her rolling her eyes for multiple reasons, but mostly because it reminded her that despite this bloody incident, Holly had continued to be dumb enough to continue to harass that same dog until Makayla smacked her hard enough to knock some sense into her.

When Makayla noticed Chanel offering her more of the food, despite her stomach saying yes, she gratefully shook her head to say no. "I'd feel too guilty eating any more of your food, regardless of how good it was," she admitted, before adding, "And I'm basically still full from how much I ate last night." That was a lie, of course, but she really didn't feel comfortable accepting anything more from Chanel. Not only would it make her feel bad, but as sad as it was, she also didn't want her body to get used to being able to eat so well consistently. It was a reflection of her financial background, but Makayla knew that it was easier to ignore the feeling of hunger if she was used to eating a scarce amount regularly, compared to if she had a lot to eat and then went back to eating nothing. She didn't starve herself by any means, but she was so used to eating whatever was left over from what she could afford to give Holly to eat, that that was just a habit by now.

"I'll make you the same dog that Bo Obama is! Do you know what he looks like? He's really cute and if you're ever feeling sad you can Google 'Bo Obama in Hawaii' and it'll make you feel better! Oh! I have a picture of him that I printed out at the library the other day! I'll show you! B-R-B!!!" Holly scampered away, consumed with her own excitement over the thought of the picture of the dog wearing a lei.

"Any fun plans for the night?" Makayla asked, opting to break the silence that existed for just a few seconds after Holly's departure. She wasn't really one for small talk, but this didn't feel forced as she looked inside of the fridge to do a check on what she needed to buy the next time she went out. Unlike herself, she knew that Chanel had a social life and friends, so she imagined that the girl was going to be doing something exciting on a Saturday. Makayla, on the other hand, couldn't wait to crawl into bed and go to sleep... after smoking at least a bowl.

Holly didn't make it to her bedroom before temptation found her. She was passing Ruby's open bedroom door and... well, she just couldn't help herself! She had tried to be good and give Ruby space, but she still felt like there was no harm in being friendly. "Hi Ruby!" she exclaimed, though purposely in a quiet enough manner that Makayla wouldn't hear her. "Can I help you unpack your stuff? If you ask Cara, she'll tell you I'm good at helping with stuff! One time I helped her build a gingerbread house!" she insisted with a laugh that was incorporated for no reason other than that she was happy enough to laugh for no reason.

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Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Ruby Barr
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Ruby Barr
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Hex: #A52A2A
Ruby didn't know how she was expecting Chanel to respond to her questions, but the way that she did respond certainly was not what she was hoping for. She interpreted Chanel's words as being offended, and maybe even biting out of retaliation. They left Ruby silent on the outside, and ready to curl up into a ball and start crying on the inside. It wasn't that she was overly sensitive and Chanel had hurt her feelings. It barely had anything to do with Chanel at all. If anything, the interaction had just been one more signal to her that this living situation wasn't going to work out. She had already been warned that two of her roommates had issues of her own, thanks to the heavy accusations that Cara had made about them, and now the third roommate seemed to dislike her for what was only an innocent attempt at figuring out what everyone was telling her. Ruby had no reason to suspect that Cara had been lying about anything, and really, she had more reason to trust her than strangers. Though she was typically an optimistic and easily satisfied person, anyone in her situation likely would have reacted in the same manner. Actually, many people probably would have reached out to the landlord immediately to insist that they wanted their deposit back, and that they weren't moving in after being told that they would be living with a neglectful drug user. Ruby wasn't responding to the situation in an inappropriate way, even if after Chanel left the room, she did consider contacting the landlord.

She really wasn't given much time to think about it though, because the moving guys came in with the last of her things, she thanked and tipped them, and just a minute or so after that, Holly came in. At that point, Ruby was sitting on the edge of her bed, debating whether it was worth it to even make the bed when she didn't know if living here was even going to be in her future. She smiled at the girl, still confused by her being as a whole, but opting to just roll with it for now. With the way that her head was pounding, and with the internal conflict she was facing, she really had no other choice.

"A gingerbread house?" Ruby repeated with a smile. "That sounds fun and I don't think that unpacking my boring things will compare that even slightly on the fun scale, but if you'd like to, you can."[/color] In truth, Ruby would have preferred to sort through her things on her own. She had purposely put an effort into organizing everything into the boxes and plastic containers before she moved out of her last apartment, so that moving in to this new one wouldn't be that difficult. Although that probably should have been her own cue to start unpacking her things herself, she didn't move from the edge of her bed. Instead, she looked at the girl curiously. She definitely didn't look or act neglected. She was upbeat and chipper, and very outgoing, apparently. While yes, Ruby knew that neglect came in all shapes and sizes, she also knew that there were typically a lot of outward signs of neglect. This apartment was clean and Holly looked clean, happy, healthy and taken care of. However, Cara's comment about drugs aligned with Ruby's initial suspicion that Holly had to be on something to be acting in such an odd way. Even in her studies, Ruby never met a teenager who acted the way that Holly did. It seemed like something more than ADHD for sure, and though she felt alarmed over all, just about the situation that she was in, as she watched the girl, she didn't feel like she needed to feel wary of her, in particular. "Why don't you tell me about yourself?" she suggested, sliding off of the bed to sit down on the floor where she removed the lid from one of the containers storing her clothes. "I would love to get to know you."

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Character Portrait: Collin Forrester Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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C O L L I N - F O R R E S T E R
Outfit: This
Hex Code: #7d9959
Collin's phone conversation with his grandmother was uneventful, but he ended up taking most of it on the second floor, since a group of movers steered him out of the stairwell early into the conversation. He preferred to speak to his grandmother on a distant floor anyway, because he didn't need Cara teasing him about how good he was at acting like he really cared about what their grandmother was saying. He wasn't acting, as he and his grandmother had a lot of similar tastes. She was often the one taking him to Broadway shows as a kid, and even if she was grandma-ish in every single way, she wasn't lame and Collin enjoyed her sincerely. Regardless, he didn't feel like dealing with the teasing from Cara, so he was content with taking the call on a floor that wasn't theirs, where he didn't run the risk of crossing paths with anyone he knew.

He had received multiple texts and a call during his conversation with his grandmother, but he didn't check who they were from until they ended their call. The number was unfamiliar, and it was only once he read the messages that he realized they were from his Uber driver from just a few minutes ago. The driver was reaching out about a wallet that he had just found in the car, and apparently after looking inside, he recognized the license photo as being Chanel and was offering to swing back around to return it before he left the area. Collin was lucky that even though the man had reached out a few minutes ago, he answered immediately when Collin responded and Collin was able to meet him out front and get the wallet only a couple of minutes later.

To: Chanel
Sober and still capable of leaving your wallet in an Uber? Suspicious for sure. I know better than to bring wallets over to your apartment with my Christmas rejection, so you know where to find me Image

He was only being playful in his text, maybe a bit boldly so thanks to the alcohol in his blood, and if Chanel didn't answer in a few minutes, he wasn't going to mind going over there to deliver it to her himself. In fact, he clearly wasn't thinking much at all, because if Cara was home, how was he going to explain Chanel coming over to get her wallet? Obviously, their brunch had been completely innocent and coincidental in its existence to begin with. His sister wouldn't think that way though, and he could already see her playing the offended card as if she had been excluded, or as if he was out of line for hanging out with her friend. He didn't consider that as he returned to his apartment though, finding Cara and Brooklyn in the kitchen.

"Collin, you're a spoiled bitch too," he was met with by Brooklyn, as soon as he walked inside. "Weigh in - is your sister a huge and delusional asshole for telling people that Makayla neglects Holly and is a druggie, or am I crazy?" Collin's eyes widened in surprise at the words he was met with, even if coming from Brooklyn, that sort of language wasn't really surprising. He looked between the two girls, trying to figure out if they were fighting or not, since Brooklyn's tone didn't really hint at there being any animosity there, despite the content of her words.

"Um..." He knew that whoever he disagreed with was going to berate him for it, so in a no-win situation, he opted to go with the side he actually believed in. "I don't think anyone counts people who just smoke as being druggies..." he reasoned. "And Holly's the happiest person I think I've ever met, so no, I don't think she's neglected... I don't really know either of them that well, but it's pretty obvious that Makayla loves her a lot."

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Character Portrait: Makalya Wright Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri
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#, as written by Bandit
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M a k a y l a ~ W r i g h t
Hex Code: #FF8400
Outfit:

Image
Image
Hex Code: #c7256e
Outfit: This
"Girl..." Chanel exhaled just before take a short sip of her wine. "Hopefully sleeping for the next eighteen hours. I opened today and had to cover my friend's shift, which is fine because more money, but I'm seriously stomped. I'm about to take a hot bath and then hop in the bed," she said. She considered going on about how she would probably have to work tomorrow since all her co-workers seemed to be equally incapable in unison. She felt bad thinking that since one of them was having family issues, but Chanel had a hard time finding sympathy despite needing the extra money just because it didn't feel fair. The girl was new and already causing problems, even if she couldn't be blamed for all of them. Because Chanel was unsurprisingly dubbed the friendliest of the bunch, she had inevitably gotten roped in with the girl thinking they were buddy buddy. Since none of the other people really liked interacting with her, she always came to Chanel, albeit in an indirect manner. So Chanel wasn't actually 'on call' but the girl had mentioned three times how her grandma still wasn't doing well and how she wasn't sure how she was going to get her shift covered. Chanel knew the girl was waiting on Chanel's text, and since she wasn't in the best mood, and was irritated by that situation on its own, she decided she wasn't going to text the girl to confirm until after she woke up. If that happened to be the next morning, then so be it. "You gonna start that bag tonight?"

"I feel that," Makayla nodded. She had basically opened today too, though since she worked at a store that was open for 24 hours a day, it wasn't technically opening the store - just the early shift. It wasn't one that she typically worked, because normally, she didn't work her retail job on the weekends. She did her best to coincide her work schedule appropriately with Holly's schedule. That meant that she worked her retail job during the day on weekdays, so she could ensure Holly got to and from school safely, and then she worked her night job at the gentleman's club as frequently as she could. The money was too good to pass up, but since she was still considered to be one of the newer people, she typically got the last pick when it came to shift assignments. Unfortunately she wasn't working tonight. She was tired enough that she didn't want to physically work, but Saturdays definitely came with the biggest tips, so it was disappointing in regards to that. Today had felt especially tiring, and that said something, given that fatigue seemed to be more of a personality trait for Makayla at this point, rather than a temporary physical state. She didn't even think that it had much to do with drinking last night, since she had the capability of drinking a bottle of cheap wine on her own without feeling extraordinarily terrible the next day.

She definitely planned on smoking tonight. "With the way she's been getting on my nerves lately, I'll be damned if I don't end this night high as a kite," she admitted, referencing Holly, whose prolonged disappearance didn't go unnoticed. She hadn't been gone for that long, but with how excited she typically was around other people, it was peculiar that she wasn't still trying to talk to Chanel from all the way across the apartment. However, for the moment, Makayla let it go. "He really hooked us up," she noted in regards to the amount Nick had sold them for the price. "I don't even wanna know what kind of drama's gonna be happening on that side of the hall with him being back, but it'll work to our benefit with this, I guess."

"Who cares," Chanel said with a mischievous smirk as she took another sip. "So long as I get to look at him." With the way Chanel acted, one would think she had the biggest crush on him, and it was a wonder why she actually didn't. Presently, she was too fatigued with men to even want to seriously entertain liking a guy, all the more reason why the situation with Collin the previous month was even more of a problem. Not only was it distasteful on all grounds, but it presented the possibility for opening far too many wounds. Asides from that, Chanel just had an intrigue for Nick. It wasn't enough for her to truly admire him or want to seriously befriend him anymore than she liked befriending anyone she knew, and that was probably because a lot of interest in him was just because he was good looking and had a chill personality that, for whatever reason, made him seem more attractive. "I actually just ran into Roman on the stairwell. I accidentally implied that I thought he was hooking up with Brooke behind Nick's back, so I'm sure he hates me even more than before." While she was bothered by the interaction, her tone was light and self-deprecating.

She leaned against the counter, waiting for her food to warm up. It was then that she felt her butt vibrate. Figuring it was her brother being an asshole again, she ignored it for the time being. "You're talking about the drama as if you're ever involved in any of it. I need to get like you and learn how to mind my business, man."

Makayla shook her head but laughed to herself. "Lord, if he's doing that, then that whole friend group is a mess". Makayla felt pretty impartially about Roman. They had no relationship at all, really, and both possessed the kind of personalities where they were content with avoiding small talk in passing, and going on about their business. He didn't seem like the nicest of guys, and maybe that was just because she thought of him as having the potential to be just as snarky and provocative to Holly as Brooklyn (maybe just by association), but she could respect that he minded his business. She was tempted to say that she still found it hard to believe that Nick had cheated on Brooklyn with Cara, but she knew that Cara and Chanel were friends, so she wasn't going to go there. Maybe she was good at staying out of drama when possible, as Chanel noted. Makayla didn't think that it was anything spectacular, and she attributed more so to the fact that she just didn't have any friends. Without that, it was kind of hard to have any drama. As sad as that sounded, she had come to terms with it for the most part. She felt like she was always too tired and broke for friends anyway. "Oh, come on," she said, sitting down on one of the kitchen chairs. "It's not like you have drama with any of these people either."

In a way, Makayla did have a point. At least on the surface, she didn't have much of any drama with the people on the floor. And even taking into account everything else going on, compared to how her relationships were prior to her move to New York, things were actually pretty stable and calm. Chanel would never consider herself a perfectionist because she just wasn't uptight enough for it, but in a lot of ways she actually was one because she had a tendency to be too hard on herself. It really reflected itself when it came to her interactions with people, since that's where a lot of her issues stemmed from. So it was a lot easier for her to dismiss any progress she'd made interpersonally, and that was why it took a second to think over Makayla's words to realize that she actually wasn't totally wrong. She might have been right, but it didn't feel like it. Chanel just didn't feel that satisfaction that she would expect to have from knowing that she was finally drama free (at least almost entirely). She wasn't sure where the deficit was that was causing her to not be satisfied, but she assumed it was because Makayla didn't know the details of everything, even if the details were only recent ones.

Instead of flat out rejecting Makayla's statement, she simply lifted her brows for a second. "I guess it depends on what you count as drama," she said, knowing she was making it seem like she had beef with everyone. After the microwave beep, she took her food out of and began to stir it, distributing the heat. "But yeah, despite everything, I guess this hall is pretty chill. I will say that I've never heard of an entire hall being this...involved with one another, you know what I mean? I feel like usually you'll just recognize people's faces and go on with your life but I feel like it would be weird if someone just left. I could be looking too deep into things."

Chanel's comment about what counted as being drama-free left Makayla curious, because it was sort of an ambiguous answer, but Makayla wasn't the type to pry. It probably was a good testament to Chanel's comment about her being drama-free. Even if it could mostly be blamed on the lack of a friend group to develop drama with, she also did just have a personality where she minded her business whenever possible. She didn't like people prying in her business, so it seemed natural to keep her nose out of theirs whenever possible. If someone wanted to share something with her, she would openly listen, but otherwise, she kept to herself.

She nodded at her last comment. The connections were unique, and like Chanel said, Makayla had never lived anywhere where neighbors were so socially connected. Living with Holly didn't help, however. If Makayla had it her way, even her roommates wouldn't know her name, but with Holly, that was obviously impossible. "It is weird," she agreed. "You didn't know the Forresters before moving in, right?"

Chanel couldn't help but smile at Makayla's question. "Nope!" The question and Ruby's move only brought in more memories of that day and made her think of just how much things had changed, including herself. Even though she had willingly left home, she was actually far more nervous moving to New York than she was moving into college. University and a big city like New York were different ballparks, but Chanel was a personality on her own, so it wasn't like she was coming in as a timid person. With college, there is a sense of script to it, whereas moving to a city last minute all on your own didn't have much precedent. She had stayed with her then-not-really-boyfriend for a few weeks while she looked around, claiming to her parents it would allow her to get a better feel for the space and if she actually wanted to leave, when in reality she was just trying to escape her house as quickly as possible. After basically living out of a suitcase for a few weeks, it was exciting and a bit humbling to actually have her place to call her own. While she didn't expect to bounce from place to place frequently, it was hard to think that this year would be her fourth year here.

This apartment was basically luck, as finding some place to stay permanently in the middle of the summer was impossible since she was trying to avoid subletting. After some maintenance issues that causes the previous tenants to move out the first half of the year, driving the rent down, the landlord allowed the last 6 months of the year to count as the 'first year' until the actual January start date. Chanel didn't know a single face, and she didn't realize how much of a problem that was for a social person like her until her family left and she didn't really have anyone familiar or that reminded her of home. She definitely had a few contacts, but it was different than having an entire network of people you grew up with your entire life. "I didn't really know anyone when I moved here, and they were all from P.A., so those two definitely weren't on my radar," Chanel explained, putting the tupperware back in the fridge. "Kind of cold turkied it, but I got lucky and met you guys! Do you plan on staying here for a while? Like, New York I mean."

The smell of Chanel's leftovers made Makayla wish she had taken the girl up on her offer to have some more. Makayla wasn't much of a picky eater to begin with, but Chanel had really done a great job on the paella last night, and Makayla would have enjoyed a second night of it. Over her dead body would she accept a handout two nights in a row, though, even if Chanel didn't seem to think of it as a handout. Although she had told herself that she wasn't hungry enough to eat, and that it made sense to wait until dinner time when Holly was going to be eating too, she decided that eating a little something right now wouldn't hurt. It would probably help her mood and allow her to be more patient and calm, if nothing else. As she popped a piece of toast into the toaster, she followed Chanel's words. Thinking about it, it was probably odd that they had lived together for a solid chunk of time and were just having conversations like this now. Chanel had been a blessing of a roommate, not only because she seemed to tolerate Holly, but because she did her own thing. They didn't not know each other in an awkward or malicious way... it was just how their roommate relationship had happened. "And I guess that depends on what you count as lucky," Makayla said, slightly altering Chanel's comment from earlier, only in a half-jokingly self-depreciating way.

"As long as I can afford it, we'll be here 'til Holly graduates," she confirmed. "She has her IEP plan worked out at her school and it's a good district, which isn't something I'll get in any place that I can actually afford comfortably, so it works for us for now," she explained. She couldn't really afford the apartment right now, at least by the standard of how much you were supposed to spend on accommodations, but they managed. Some months it was easier than others, and some months it felt like things just couldn't get any worse, but in the end, they pulled through. "You too? I mean, you'll be here 'til you graduate at least?"

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Character Portrait: Collin Forrester Character Portrait: Makalya Wright Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri
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M a k a y l a ~ W r i g h t
Hex Code: #FF8400
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"Yeah, I mean I guess that's the plan," Chanel said with a humored sigh. This year she would be twenty-four, meaning if she had stayed on track with school after her gap year, she would have graduated a year ago. Instead, she stopped and started and now with being out of school for almost a year, she was anxious about going back. It wasn't necessarily because she was afraid of the workload, but because she was worried about having to face the fact that she was coming up with fewer and fewer answers. She had always wanted to do graphic design, but now it wasn't something she even cared about. That was something she had openly admitted to herself, because doing so would mean realizing that she was just delaying her graduation even more, which meant wasting more time, which meant wasting more money. By this point she just wanted to drop out, but after the debt she accumulated, she needed to people to secure a job that could adequately pay it off. Working as a barista wouldn't do that. She was setting aside money with her sugaring, but she was mostly spending that, and she didn't like it enough to want to just rely on that. "Which means I'm probably going to be here until I'm thirty-two since I don't really know what I want to do."

There were moments like now where it seemed like she had made a mistake moving out, no less to New York. Thinking back, she wished she had just stayed with her parents, or at least nearby, and gone to school online or something. She could always move back in with her parents, but that would be another year from now with the lease, and she just wasn't prepared to be back home. She wasn't sure if she'd ever be ready to actually be back for good, which was a saddening thought because while New York didn't feel foreign anymore, it still felt like she wasn't actually from here. It was hard and she liked and missed the relaxation she had from living with her parents. Her parents helped her out a lot here, so she couldn't really complain, but it was a lot harder here than it was in Pittsburgh, but it was clear that she would much rather struggle than go back home and face all the feelings and thoughts she was trying to make disappear. What made her miss home more was that she didn't realize until much later how permanent her decision really was. It just felt absolutely impossible to move back in with her parents, and that wasn't something realized when she moved out. So in a way it felt like she didn't have that formal separation because in the back of her mind, this was all a guessing game and she hadn't at all planned on still being here. She was stuck, but she also wasn't fighting too hard to not be. She was just trying to make the fit more comfortable.

"I really need to find an internship or something to make myself stand out, but I of course picked the worst city to have that problem in," she joked. "And after taking the longest break ever, it feels even worse. Like I just finished hanging out with my family, but you know before that with Disney and everything. I feel like I shouldn't have even gone and should have just worked, even if the trip was free. I wouldn't have missed anything, but I'm glad Holly got a chance to go. Did you guys ever look at the pics? I forgot to and I don't know where my band thingy is."

"I didn't," Makayla said, shaking her head. "Cara made Holly a photo book with a lot of the pictures of her, and I'm sure I looked half dead in any other ones, so I don't think I even want to see them," she joked. She had enjoyed the trip. As Chanel had pointed out, it was free, so it would have been impossible for Makayla to say no to it, especially with Holly being involved. It was the one vacation the girl would ever get to go on until she was at least an adult, and unless Makayla won the lottery, she couldn't see herself going on vacation ever again, at this rate at least. The likelihood of them ever being able to afford Disney, especially with the way that Cara did Disney, was slim to none. It had really been a once in a lifetime trip for them, but she supposed that to someone like Chanel, whose family had been capable of going on an international vacation, that it wasn't as big of a deal. Even if Chanel often claimed to not be rich, comments like those about how she wouldn't have missed anything by missing the Disney trip, reminded Makayla that they weren't alike. Even the fact that she was able to live in this apartment while she figured out herself, taking a break from college and all, reminded Makayla that they were different. Even if her family wasn't Cara-level wealthy, they were comfortable. Sometimes she wondered how she had gotten so unlucky to not only have only ever known a financially unstable life, but an emotionally unstable one as well.

"I'm sure you'll figure everything out," though, she added in a sincerely reassuring manner. "Probably not much comfort, but no one in their early twenties knows what they wanna do. And, I mean, I'm not typically one to recommend indebt-ing yourself to someone else, but if there's one thing that growing up in New York has taught me, it's that money equals power and connections. I bet she could get you an internship with fucking Beyoncé if she wanted to," she said, with a laugh, but serious intent, referencing Cara and assuming that she didn't have to say the name for Chanel to know who she meant.

Chanel couldn't gauge the humor-to-seriousness composition in Makayla's words. She obviously knew well enough that she didn't actually mean Cara could get her a real position with the actual Beyonce. Cara was rich and connected, but in Chanel's eyes, Beyonce was a different ball park. She realized then that she actually wasn't sure how much the girl's family was actually worth. It was that realization, coupled with how she didn't take Makayla's words to heart, that it apparent she didn't really know Cara all that well and vice versa. She wasn't even sure of the girl's middle name. Maybe if she saw it in a multiple choice format she would recognize it, but she wasn't even sure if she knew it and just couldn't recall it or flat out had no idea. It was easy to overestimate the strength of a relationship when you were in constant close contact with it. Cara played an important part in her life, not in that it was detrimental to her if she didn't know Cara or associated with her anymore, but in the way that she was a part of her greater normalcy. She was adjusted to the girl being in her life in a certain way, and while she didn't consider the girl to be her closest friend, it wasn't like they were going weeks on end up without talking to each other. By the same token, she didn't know--she didn't think?--the girl's middle name or even something absurdly random about her that could only be justified as normal for people who were in a close relationship. Not every relationship required a magnitude of depth, but with how much time she did spend with Cara, even if in just small ways, it was strange, and perhaps a bit telling, that she couldn't say they knew much about each other. No one knew about her little brother, but if anyone were to know, she would think logistically it would make the most sense for Cara to know, just due to proximity. But from a realistic mindset, it made total sense that she would never tell Cara because she just wasn't comfortable doing so. She wasn't actually comfortable confiding in the girl, she realized, but she wasn't sure if her security in the blonde was shaken due to the recent information she had just gotten from Ruby.

Regardless, Makayla's words only stood out to her because it was apparent that even Makayla overestimated how close they were. Chanel wasn't above using her connections or asking for what she felt she deserved (and she could give you ten reasons why she should be working for Beyonce), but it would feel weird to her to ask Cara to help her out. When she questioned why, it was from a place of timidity, unsure of overstepping. There wasn't a high amount of transparency with them, which had never bothered Chanel. Cara indirectly provided a lot of familiarity and, in a way, allowed Chanel to participate in the side of her that she was trying to escape, hide, and evolve from. She would have never claimed that things didn't start from a bit of a shallow place. Cara looked like someone she would socialize with, which is why when she first met her, it was a bit of a relief because, even though she didn't know her, she could just kind of tell that this girl was on her level. Like in school, it was no accident that certain social groups emerged and the aesthetics tended to stay the same as time passed. It was easy to look at the freshmen and gauge who they would evolve to and where they would likely end up. Things for the two of them had clearly evolved because the girl was a friend. She was close enough to the girl where, if she were to get married tomorrow, Cara would be invited to the wedding. But at worse, Cara would simply be a guest in the wedding, and at best, she would be a bridesmaid--though perhaps not in this moment. You wouldn't expect the same things from a bridesmaid as you would the maid-of-honor, and Chanel understood then that she had never had a real maid-of-honor in her life. No one who really, truly had her back or whose back she really, truly had as well. She was the perfect example of having a large quantity of friendships, but little quality.

It definitely made the wine taste a bit bitter, and yet she took an even bigger gulp. "I know we're friends, but I definitely don't think I could do that. I mean, we're close and hang out a lot but we're not that close, you know? I mean, if she hooked a girl up just out of random, then yeah, but I don't think I've ever even brought up the whole school to thing to her, which I guess is kind of weird. But then it'd be even weirder to just bring it up and then ask if she could swing something for me. She's always comping me, so I don't even know if she'd really care like that, or maybe she would, but I don't know! I feel like I'd have to be discreet and that would feel icky. You know her and Ruby are family friends or something like that?" she said, looking up to her for a second. Still not wanting to stir anything but not entirely able to ignore what she just heard, she lowered her voice and mumbled. "Hopefully that's not a sign of something worse to come..."

"Girl, if I were you, I'd get close," Makayla said with a chuckle, though she flashed Chanel an "I'm serious!" look. "That girl's family just dropped damn near thirty grand at least, I bet, on that trip for us, and then those Christmas gifts? And what the hell are we to her? You gotta step that friendship up one more level and stop caring about pushing the boundaries because people like her don't think like us!" Although she was giving what probably sounded like a motivational speech, she spoke lightly and not intensely, almost as if she was half-kidding, though she wasn't. "She's your Golden Ticket!" she exclaimed, a bit more enthusiastically, as she glanced back at Chanel while she buttered her toast.

Leaning against the counter, with her plate in one hand, she used the other to take a bite out of her toast. It was no paella, but it was something to satisfy her stomach for the moment. It was quick, simple, and cheap, and somehow it tasted better without Holly's voice in the room. Even if she wasn't alone, today she just felt like she needed more of a break from Holly than she usually did. Although it probably didn't seem like it lately, Makayla was typically very patient and tolerant when it came to her sister. Burnout was real though, and she was feeling it lately. It probably had something to do with them just recently coming off of that extended school vacation where Holly was home for a while, but whatever it was, Makayla wished that it would go away soon. She disliked feeling tense and high strung and impatient, and she disliked knowing that she savored those moments without her sister, because she did love Holly. "I probably sound like a bad person," she said with a small smile, shaking her head after swallowing a bite. "I just know how New York works...at least for someone like me...and you know, having a connection like that is one that people would kill for. I deadass would bet money that her family's worth at least a hundred million dollars, no joke." She felt like she was saying too much, so she took another bite, but it was hard not to express her fascination, and insistence that Chanel use Cara for all she could, because Makayla herself wasn't in a position to do so. Not only did she feel like having to raise Holly was enough to stifle any career she had a shot at pursuing to begin with, but she also wasn't close with Cara. It wasn't even that they weren't close - she knew (or had convinced herself), at this point, that not only were they not close, but Cara explicitly disliked her. Chanel didn't have either of those things working against her. Cara was more financially privileged than Chanel, but if Chanel exploited that for her own gain, she could have similar connections and a better personality than Cara, which seemed like an automatic setup for success.

Chanel might have been more sensitive to the topic because of her new source of information. It managed to relate back to her and have her thinking that she was somehow vicariously responsible for Cara's words just by way of association. This would have been a terrible thing since she was really trying hard to remove herself from that older version of herself. Then to hear Makayla's advice, it sounded and felt more like exploitation. Though how someone in her position could actually exploit Cara, or whether she even could, was a matter of debate and probably semantics, but at the end of it, she still felt wary on the matter. Makayla's words didn't fall totally on deaf ears though, because it solidified Chanel's choice even more to remain mum about what Ruby had told her. This wasn't just for Makayla's benefit, but for her own. Because surely if she opened her mouth now, then utilizing any of Makayla's advice would go out the window. With that in mind, it seemed like she was in a 'damn if i do, damned if i don't' scenario. If she was going to feel exploitative and manipulative, she might as well have something to show for it. "Yeah, maybe you're right. I'm probably looking way too into it. We've had spa days before, and I've looked at the services menu and the prices were insane. Like, more expensive than my textbooks kind of thing. I was actually just talking to Collin about that stuff earlier," she said as she pulled out her phone to check the vibration she just felt that signified an incoming email. She was eagerly awaiting confirmation about her refund check, even though she knew it was still too early. It turned out it was just an email from her bank about some policy update, which made the situation a bit bittersweet because while it wasn't her refund check, it wasn't her credit card statement either.

"Speak of the devil," she said when she saw that it was his name in her notifications and not her brother. When she actually read the message, it would have been a fool's game to try and not roll her eyes. Not just at his comment, but at the fact that she seriously did what she did. She wasn't sure what was up with her today, and she tried not to get extra frustrated with herself because it wasn't like she didn't have her wallet right next door. Being aware of that--how she was being frustrated over nothing--somehow made it even more frustrating. "I swear to god, this day is so annoying. I left my wallet in the Uber, but Collin said he picked it up. I need to stop smoking, girl. Do those top-exec, prestigious type jobs get drug tested? I feel like they couldn't because they'd literally all get flagged for cocaine. Especially because it's only, like, poor people where the rules like that apply." She looked back up to Makayla, feeling the need to clarify. "Because if Cara does actually get me something super crazy and top level, I would need to plan in advanced because my advice would need a serious detox," she said with a smile, though it was probably an exaggeration. She was tall, skinny, healthy, and fairly active--all cumulative factors which would drastically decrease how long marijuana stayed in her system.

To: Collin
boy meet me in the hallway before you get got. pockets inside out too

She was clearly joking about insinuating that he stole from her. That would be the event of the century. Chanel didn't immediately get up and go to the hallway just because she wasn't in any particular rush and didn't expect him to be waiting in the living room, by the front door, waiting on her reply. She wasn't sure why he would think it was a smart move for her to come to his place to pick it up while his sister was there, but it was pointless in bringing that up--at least through text. While Makayla probably wouldn't think it was too big a deal, still, for discretion's sake it was just easier to get it from the hallway.

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Character Portrait: Makalya Wright Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri
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M a k a y l a ~ W r i g h t
Hex Code: #FF8400
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Makayla nibbled on her toast, listening intently to Chanel speak, but also taking note mentally of how Holly was definitely up to something, given her prolonged absence. She was similar to a child in many ways, but one that was relevant at the moment was how parents often said that when you leave your toddler alone and things seem oddly peaceful and quiet, you know they're up to no good. That was what Makayla suspected now, though with Holly literally just a couple rooms away, she tried not to get uptight about it just yet. “I’m not sure. They probably only try to fuck with the poor people on stuff like that though, so in that kind of job I bet you’d be fine,” Makayla offered. Although the conversation with Chanel probably seemed playful and light hearted, Makayla hoped that Chanel would take her advice seriously. Although they weren’t close, after living with the girl for years, Chanel seemed like a friend, even if they weren’t really friends. Maybe it wasn’t even “friends”, but just the maternal instinct that Makayla seemed to have, whether she wanted it or not. She was just a few years older than Chanel, and in truth, she had no more education or work experience to seem more wise or qualified than her. However, life had clearly treated herself and Chanel differently. Makayla didn’t like to victimize herself, and she often reminded herself that she lived a better life than millions upon millions of people. Holly was often an easy way to remind herself of that, because even compared to Holly, Makayla’s childhood seemed great. However, Makayla was someone who only knew a lower class life. She didn’t grow up in a home that was stable financially or emotionally, so she was at an even greater disadvantage than her peers who were never well off financially, but had both or at least one parent who at least truly tried to care for them. Through the struggles though, Makayla had learned how the world worked. She had seen how cruelly life could treat people, and it had made her stronger. Simply because she had experienced and witnessed it first hand, she grew to feel compelled to protect other people from having to experience the darkest parts of life when possible. She minded her business for the most part, and rarely interjected her opinion into things, but even if it was just metaphorically from the corner of her eye, she felt the need to look out for Chanel. If not in a way reflective of a wisdom difference, than simply out of friendship based reasons.

Even if she was speaking light heartedly, she wanted to see Chanel do well in life. The girl was so sweet and energetic and understanding that she deserved it. Sure, Makayla wanted to do well in life herself, too, but at that point, escaping the life that she had lived for so long seemed impossible. She was hopefully going back to school next month, so that was a start, but even completing the semester seemed like a shot in the dark. She had to take care of Holly and work to keep rent paid and food on the table, and that already left her feeling completely drained most days. She was determined to get her degree, but at the cost of her mental health, it seemed more unlikely. Regardless, she was already a million steps behind where Chanel was. Chanel had a chance. A real, fair chance of using this connection to get the life that people dreamed of. Not just some forty-thousand dollar a year job. Makayla knew that people like Cara laughed at salaries like that. Even someone like Cara who clearly wasn’t fit to work a day in her life would end up with a job in a few years, making six figures. Makayla doubted that she would ever actually be delegated work, but she would get some fake title from her father’s company, or a friend of the family’s company, and life would be simple and easy, and the money would come just like that. If Cara deserved that, then someone like Chanel who was actually personable and had the capability to contribute to society deserved it too, and because Makayla felt some sort of alliance with Chanel, simply because of the years of her being such a great roommate, she wanted to see Chanel get there.

Chanel's comments about her wallet and Collin being involved somehow were peculiar, simply because she didn't understand why Collin would know that her wallet had been in an Uber. Although Makayla wouldn't have been shocked at the idea of Chanel hanging out with him, she also wouldn't jump to that conclusion, especially since she was under the impression that Chanel had just come home straight from work. It was a piece in the story that she didn't understand, but she wasn't the type to be nosy, so she didn't question it. "Before I forget, I'm going to try to get a carpet cleaning service to come Monday afternoon to get rid of those wine stains," she said, referencing the wine stains that Holly, or her mysterious imaginary friend, had left behind last night. Although she had threatened to pawn Holly's new iPad to pay for it (and was honestly still considering it to some extent), she knew that in the end, she would likely use her own money for it. That American Express gift card that Cara had just given her had provided them with an unexpected financial cushion for the moment, even if it wasn't going to stretch that far. There were a million other things that Makayla planned on spending the money on, but as always, things like this came up. "I'll make sure it's some time when I'm home, but just letting you know so you're not surprised if you see them."

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Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Collin Forrester Character Portrait: Makalya Wright Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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Wednesday, February 1st, 2017 || 3:00 PM

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Character Portrait: Collin Forrester Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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C A R A - F O R R E S T E R

Location: 304 W 14th Street
Outfit: This
Hex Code: #1BB3F5
They were two and a half weeks into the spring semester, and Cara was already stressed out. This was the first semester she was doing full-time since her first semester at NYU. Part-time had been fine for her. She wasn't stupid, and had never gotten less than a B in any of her courses. She just didn't like school. She didn't like doing work that felt meaningless. Unfortunately for her, she hadn't yet found anything in life that felt meaningful. Over the past few weeks, she had realized that she had really enjoyed hanging out with Holly. That wasn't something that she had ever doubted, but now that she was silently protesting that, she realized it more. She didn't really feel like what she did with Holly was charity work. She knew that it was a favor for Makayla, and that was why she pulled the plug on it, but she didn't consider it to be the type of community service that it probably could have qualified as. Holly was her friend, and it was as simple as that. She didn't consider that if she enjoyed Holly, that there were fields like social work, child psychology or even teaching that she could go into. None of them offered much in terms of salary, but Cara didn't need money. She had enough money to live multiple lifetimes with comfort. She needed a purpose, and those careers had the potential to offer that to her. She was a psychology major, and currently had 70 of her 128 credits needed to graduate. This semester she was enrolled in 15 more credits, so technically, by next spring (but more likely summer) she would graduate. Despite only taking nine credits over the past four semesters, she had been able to transfer six credit's worth of general education classes in from AP exams, and her father had forced her to enroll in summer classes (and a semester of winter classes) to keep up with her promise of consistently going to school if she wasn't going to work.

The prospect of being able to graduate within the four year window of enrolling (or a summer semester past that) was uplifting, but given that all of her friends were already working professionals or in graduate school, being a junior in undergrad still didn't feel very special. Not only did it not feel very special, but already being overwhelmed this semester made her feel like it wasn't even worth it to care about the degree. Could it really be worth all of this stress if she didn't even care about it? She didn't want to be a psychologist who sat in an office and tried to talk kids out of killing themselves. She didn't want to conduct research studies about the effect of poverty on child development. She didn't care about this stuff, and that was partially probably because mentally, she attributed shcool as a whole to something she was forced to do. That petulant and disorderly side of her automatically disliked anything that she felt she was being ordered to do, and sadly, even at twenty-three, Cara couldn't shake that mindset.

Part of why she felt so overwhelmed this semester was probably because she had crammed four classes into a two day span. She was on campus Monday and Wednesday, taking classes straight from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon. Additionally, she was taking one online class. It probably wasn't a lot for the typical college student, and to get such a great schedule commute wise (despite her commute not being bad to begin with) was definitely lucky, but for Cara, it felt like a lot. She had her first exam on Monday in her "Personality and Social Psychology" lab class, and she was convinced that she was going to fail it.

As she returned to the apartment building, she decided to text Chanel. She was stressed, not just from school, but in the short-term sphere, also because she had been forced to walk home because standing in her school building's lobby to wait for an Uber seemed unbearable since she had been caught in conversation with some annoyingly chatty girl from her last class. She had originally only started walking with the intention of just getting out of sight from that girl, and then calling a car, but given that the drive would probably take ten minutes anyway, finishing the twenty minute walk didn't seem that bad... at least in theory. Now as she was doing it, the cold felt even more intolerable and only continued to harm her mood.

To: Chanel
Do you have school in the AM? I'm craving a wine night. Might kill myself tn without one.

To: Collin
Dad wants to do family dinner this week. You go. I'm over it.

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Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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Hex Code: #c7256e
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Chanel definitely wasn't looking forward to go backing to school. Despite having only taken a semester off, she still hadn't been in school since last spring. She wasn't really the type to get nervous about things, even things she dreaded. She wasn't terrible at school either which made it all the more unusual, and that peculiarity of her feelings only intensified them. She was very self-assured and always had been, so when she suddenly took herself by surprise it was taken a bit more extremely than the average person. She thrived in being self-sure about herself in many aspects, even despite all of her internal issues that she was dealing with. Chanel didn't like feeling as though she didn't have a handle on herself because it was one of the few things she did have a handle on. She was, however, excited about finally having a change in routine after a month of nothing but working and anxiously waiting for the first day of classes. Given her personality, it was probably no surprise that she was non-committal and got bored easily. In fact, the only reason she was still at her current job was because she knew she couldn't risk quitting. That didn't mean that she hadn't been casually browsing for other positions, not even ones that offered better pay, but just ones that piqued her interest. She even started doing research on how to be a dance instructor, but for now, she had to focus on what was in front of her.

It was only her third day back, having started that Monday. Even though she wasn't stoked to be back in school, she was thankful enough that her schedule wasn't a pain in the ass. She didn't have Friday classes and none of her classes were before 11am or after two on any of the other days. It made it a lot easier for her to pick up hours since she could work an early morning shift or an afternoon one. The fact that it was only a five minute walking distance from the apartment was also an added plus after taking into account that it took her 30 minutes to get to school. Her manager was pretty understanding of her being in school, so she wasn't too stressed about getting hours, but it was still a relevant enough worry. The past two days she had actually come in early and finished her shift in the afternoon but today wasn't one of those days. While she normally would have relished in having a day off, she was anxious to get in as many hours as she could.

It shouldn't have been as much of a stressor as it was given her unique circumstance surrounding the extra ways she brought in money. The thing was, while she knew she was a pretty girl and had never minded exploiting her looks in innocent ways--like getting free drinks when she was out with friends--it wasn't like she was so full of herself where she felt totally justified in getting paid for it. Granted, she wasn't just sitting in a room while an old man admired her face, but it was exploitative on both ends. It was still odd to her and the many interactions she had had were enough to make her want to never talk to another man again, but she wasn't in a position where she could deny going to dinner for a couple hundred dollars without feeling like a complete idiot. Still, she didn't actually enjoy it so to speak, as she couldn't ever shake the fact that most of these men were old enough to be her father and many of them older them him, which was why she was still banking on pulling in as much cash as she could from her own labor. It meant less time needed to be spent 'sugaring,' but when she did find out she wouldn't be working today, she didn't pass the opportunity to schedule a date with one of her bitches. She still didn't know what to call them without feeling totally weird about it. She sure as hell wasn't going to call them her daddies and they weren't her friends either, and 'client' made her feel like more of a prostitute than she ever felt. Calling them her bitches made it feel like she had more power in her hand and was funny enough to make the whole ordeal a lot more lighthearted, which was what she needed. She wasn't necessarily ashamed since it wasn't like she was literally sleeping with people for money, but she was insecure and embarrassed about it enough to have not told anyone. It had started out as a joke between two friends and after they all freaked out after Chanel successfully 'sugared' after a date with someone, Chanel had no intention of keeping it up. She wanted to see how far she could go with it though, and it was too much of a security now for her to want to totally abandon it, especially after she got deeper into world of sugaring and learned more about it.

Chanel was home shortly before three. She didn't want to not do anything for the rest of the day despite being pretty tired from the past few days. Luckily for her, because she had been so busy lately, she had fallen behind on a lot of chores. She needed to clean out her leftovers, do laundry, and go grocery shopping. Clearing out her leftovers was the easiest thing to do and she figured she could unload her groceries while her laundry was in so she would go ahead and go out now. She was still fully dressed and only needed to slip her coat on, but when she got a text from Cara, she became excited at the prospect of having plans. The girl had only mentioned tonight, but Chanel figured it wouldn't hurt to ask about doing something right now. She didn't take into consideration that girl wasn't actually home yet since she just assumed the girl was out of class for the day and had no other responsibilities to take care.

To: Cara
omg I need one too!!!! you're a psychic this is why i love you :) are you okay though? i was about to head out anyways if you wanted to tag along and take your mind off things

To: Cara
or just be a good friend and keep me company anyways ;D

Since she was already on the way out, instead of waiting for a response, she decided she would just knock on the girl's door to speed up the process, and because she was getting a little impatient to finally do something spontaneous and fun.

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Character Portrait: Collin Forrester Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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C O L L I N - F O R R E S T E R
Outfit: This
Hex Code: #7d9959
Oddly, like his sister, Collin only had class on Monday and Wednesdays this semester. The other three days of the week, however, he was expected to be completing his eight credit internship at his father's investment firm. The majority of the company's offices were in Connecticut, but they still maintained a floor of an office building in the financial district as their New York location. Collin had spent more time at the Connecticut headquarters than the smaller New York location as a kid, since that was where his father typically worked, but the majority of his internship would occur at the New York location. His father had always been a workaholic, and he expected Collin to be that way as well. His company was his life, and as Collin and Cara both jointly seemed to believe, it was the most important thing in his life. Even if Collin knew that his father loved him and Cara, he was still confident that if asked, his father's proudest achievement would be his company. It had always been the priority over his kids' academic or extracurricular activities, and though that had never bothered Collin horribly, he definitely grew up feeling distant from his dad. If it wasn't just from the lack of free time that his father had, as for much of Collin's youth, his dad made the commute (albeit only about an hour and ten minutes) to the Connecticut campus, than it was because he and his dad didn't have much in common. Agreeing to be a finance major stemmed partly from Collin's desire to connect with his dad and feel valued. He wanted to make him proud, and if that meant following in his footsteps and eventually taking over his father's prized possession of a company, than that was what he was going to have to do. Luckily for Collin, his upbringing had given him a head start in many ways, but in this situation, in terms of his knowledge of the financial industry. He did well in all of his major related courses because he had a strong background in it. It was really all his father talked about over family dinners growing up, and when Collin turned eighteen, his birthday gift had been a sizable amount of money that his father had helped him invest, and that he had been trading with since then.

Typically, Collin would have been in the office until five or six. If he was a typical intern, the hours would have extended much longer, but as the son of the founder of the company, he was cut a little bit of slack. Today was an exception though, because he had spent the morning in Connecticut. His father wanted him to sit in on an important meeting with a new international client, and by the time he got back to the city after that, it was nearly three o'clock. He only had time to swap his formal attire for sweatpants and a t-shirt when there was a knock at the door. Assuming that it was Cara or Brooklyn knocking because they forgot their key, he was a tad bit annoyed, but because he didn't know which of the two it was, he didn't move too slowly to answer it. Had he been sure it was Cara, he would have dragged his feet as much as possible, but he wasn't that comfortable with Brooklyn (or willing to purposely annoy her). On his way to the front door, he checked his phone and realized that it likely wasn't Cara, because she had just texted him.

To: Cara
It's Alice's birthday tomorrow. He wants to do Nobu and I don't think you can get out of it but good luck.

When he opened the front door, he was surprised to see Chanel. He smiled though...he definitely smiled. "Hey, what's up?" he asked in a way that was surprisingly cool given how pleased he was to see her. He wasn't in love with her, but over the past few weeks, Collin had come to realize that he had a crush on Chanel. He knew he had no business feeling that way about his sister's friend, especially with that time in Disney, but he couldn't help it. Between that brunch, and then a more recent encounter this past weekend when Chanel had come over to his place while he was hosting a party, he just knew that he had feelings for her. She was beautiful, funny, sweet, energetic... her vibe was just as attractive as she was. He was aware that a girl like her was way out of his league, though, but that wasn't enough to keep him from hoping for a miracle.

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Character Portrait: Collin Forrester Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri
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Hex Code: #c7256e
Outfit: This
Since she thought Cara was home, she thought the door would open immediately. While she wasn't waiting for a long time, Chanel was now excited to hang out with her friend after a busy couple of days. To keep her excitement up, she instinctively pulled out her phone and opened Instagram. She checked the notification at the top right of her feed, indicating she had a DM. As expected, it was from the group chat she had with three other girlfriends where they just sent each other things they saw. They were typically funny videos or makeup tutorials, and a lot of political ones from one girl in particular. What she was greeted with wasn't anything to get excited over though, as it was just five back to back posts relating to Rihanna and a cute quip mentioning that Chanel needed to model for the celebrity so that the rest of them could finally get the in. Humoring herself, she responded that that would be nice but she wasn't tall enough, which was ultimately met with a prompt 'fuck you' from the shortest girl of the group.

"Hey girl," Chanel said when she heard the door open, her eyes still on her phone for a brief second. When she looked up, her face mirrored her surprise. "Or girl's brother who obviously lives here so I shouldn't be surprised when he opens the door." There was also the added fact that Cara and Collin obviously sounded different because they were opposite sex, but it was easy to miss obvious things when glued to your phone. While it wasn't the Forrester she was expecting, she still maintained the excited look on her face, not just because she was still able to socialize (unlike if Brooke had answered the door), but she was also pleasantly surprised to see him. After their brunch last month, they had actually hung out a few more times. In Chanel's mind, it was innocent enough, but that was what she had to tell herself to silence the odd feeling she got that told her she wasn't supposed to be hanging out with her friend's little brother. Even if it was innocent, it wasn't like Cara knew about it, so there was a questionable element to their interactions, and that was only furthered after this weekend. Nothing crazy happened. They hadn't slept together or anything, and it was just by mere coincidence that she saw him in the hall carrying a case of beer and he invited her over. Being the known social butterfly she was, when she got enough drinks in her, she had even fewer boundaries than before, so she easily got a little cozier with Collin than she probably should have been. But still, she told herself there was no harm in him having his arm around her at a party or her being physically close to him at times. That might have easily been the case, and easily acceptable if it didn't sound like an alibi instead of simple fact. Acting normally was the best option though, because that felt like actualizing the fact that nothing secretive was going on.

"But I am surprised you're still in sweats at three in the afternoon," she said, looking him up and down in mock contempt. "If you continue being that lazy, you'll get nowhere in life," she mused. With Collin, one of the main ways she liked teasing (or arguably flirting) with him was by purposely acting like he wasn't as wealthy as he was and by 'lecturing' him on the principles of hard work and pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, neither of those things that Collin would have had to do given the cards he was dealt in life. "My Uncle Al did the same thing and now he's living in his car outside of sketchy gas stations. You won't have that moderately pretty face to rely on forever, but," she said with an exasperated sigh, as if she was truly exhausted over having this conversation. She waved her hands in surrender, "Don't take my word for it. I'm only a trillionaire, what do I know."

She was done being silly, but she still interrupted her antics by laughing at herself. "No, but seriously. I was just here to pick up your sister and give her a little cheer up!"

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Character Portrait: Collin Forrester Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri
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C O L L I N - F O R R E S T E R
Outfit: This
Hex Code: #7d9959
Chanel was an interesting girl. In a lot of ways, she was actually quite similar to Holly with how she behaved. She didn't cross boundaries, and she didn't act like a five year old... there were obviously many things that set them apart, but her vivacious personality was similar to the younger girl's. Additionally, as seen here, her capability of taking one subject and spinning it into something random mirrored the younger girl's. In Chanel's case, the tangent at least connected with the topic at hand to an extent, so it wasn't totally Holly-like, but she was still quirky. "Well, unlike your Uncle Al, I actually just got back from Connecticut. Had to sit in on some meeting with new international clients from Singapore. I'd tell you what it was about, but I doubt a graphic design major like yourself would really understand." Collin was only teasing Chanel too, and the silly smile on his face coupled with his tone, spoke to that. He truly wasn't the kind of person that felt like people whose strengths fell outside of math and science were dumber than those who were good at STEM subjects. In fact, he would be the first to admit that he couldn't draw a stick figure if his life depended on it, and that he didn't have a creative bone in his body. Surprisingly though, he always had a strong appreciation for the fine arts. One of his favorite pastimes to this day was watching Broadway shows and other musical or acting-based productions, and he had visited every art museum in all of the boroughs.

"Cara's not here though," he explained, masking the disappointment in his voice that came with realizing that Chanel wasn't here to see him (even if he knew that it was unrealistic to believe that to begin with). He pressed the home button on his phone to check the time before looking back at Chanel. "I'm guessing that she's on her way home from school. What does she need a 'cheer up' for?" He didn't know if he was going to regret asking that. The last thing that he wanted to hear about was any "girl" problems that his sister might have been having. He didn't need to know who she was sleeping with or trying to sleep with, who had broken her barely-existent heart, or what girl she was sending vicious text messages to for some petty social crime. "She's been complaining to me about having to go to our stepmom's birthday dinner at Nobu. If you want an opportunity to remind yourself of how normal your family is comparatively, feel free to tag along and watch Cara's purest bitchy side come out and my dad cut her down." He raised his eyebrows and smirked as he added, "Sometimes it gets tense, but it's always an entertaining show, for sure."

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Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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Hex Code: #c7256e
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Chanel didn't react to hearing that her friend wasn't home until a beat later, as she was watching Collin for some indication that he was just being an asshole and pulling her leg. When that didn't happen, she was a bit confused and didn't yet process how it wasn't too surprising by the time Collin mentioned that she was likely back from school. Even as the semester progressed, Chanel would probably still have to ask Cara when she was done with class just because she always struggled with grasping other people's class schedules. It wasn't that big of a deal because her own friends had to clarify with her as well. Since Cara's schedule was pretty tame this semester, though, Chanel having to consult the girl on her availability probably wouldn't be much of an issue. Not only did she not know her friend's schedule (understandably), she also didn't have any idea why the girl needed a cheer up. She still hadn't received a response back from the girl, so she couldn't do much in the way of answering Collin's question, but those three things together (her nothing being home, not being there because of school, and not knowing why she needed a pick me up) made her realize just how hastily she was moving.

"Hey!" Chanel said with a soft glower as she extended her arm and swatted Collin in the chest. "Don't call my precious sunflower a bitch, bitch." Chanel knew well enough that 'precious sunflower' wasn't the most conclusive description for Cara, but she did feel obligated to stick up for the girl even if she knew that Cara could be mean to Collin. When Cara presented a similar sentiment about her brother in his absence, Chanel didn't jump to his defense in the same way she did for the girl. She had never known the boy that well, but even now she couldn't really defend him in the same manner because it would definitely seem weird. That being said, she would tell Cara to play nice and try to vouch for Collin a little bit, not out of any allegiance to him, but mostly due to her own issues with her siblings on top of the fact that, from what little she had gathered from their brief, surface interactions, he didn't seem that bad. Of course, she couldn't be a total hypocrite, since she was pretty similar and it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine with her brothers either. Collin didn't seem as bad as her brothers, who drove her to her wits end, but she was definitely biased against them.

"But I can assure you my family is not as normal as you give them credit for," Chanel said with a soft chuckle. "That could be what's bothering her though." Chanel didn't actually know about the Forrester's as a family, but this wasn't the first time she had heard of this stepmother. It didn't come up enough for Chanel to say anything with confidence, but if memory was to be trusted, she wanted to say that some of the issue with the stepmom was because she was young. Or was it something else? She wasn't entirely sure, but Chanel knew enough that Collin mentioning their stepmother didn't have her confused. What it did make her question was why he didn't have any issue with the woman. And even if Cara could be pretty dramatic, she didn't think that she could dislike the woman so bad as to not want to go to a birthday dinner. Of course, Chanel was being a bit shallow on the topic as well, as it wasn't that odd or unheard of to not to be around someone who you disliked, and being obligated to made things worse. Even still, she wouldn't have thought that a birthday dinner would incite a wine night, so she still felt like there was something more to the story. Even if there wasn't, and while Chanel did appreciate the invite and wouldn't hesitate to provide some moral support to her friend, she doubted the girl wanted her friend to see any shenanigans. Or, on the flip side, maybe she did, so long as it was Cara herself who was causing them. It was a coin toss for sure. If she were to be objective and honest with herself, though, there wouldn't be any denying that she would also be interested in going because Collin would be there, even though she wouldn't be able to fully interact with him like they were now. It probably wouldn't even seem as strange as Chanel was thinking in her head, because even before now, Chanel had always been friendly with Collin, like she was with most other people. She considered anyone who was nice to and receptive of her to be a friend, so technically Collin had been her friend for as long as his sister, but that was really just semantics and didn't speak to the depth of their relationship, which was basically non-existent outside of him being her friend's quiet younger brother. Chanel's sweet and talkative personality made it hard for it to seem strange with her being extra friendly with anybody, regardless of how well she knew them, and it wasn't like she was going to be holding his hand or spoon feeding him. She was simply overcompensating for the thoughts going through her head that she wanted to ignore. In a way, going to the dinner would be like killing two birds with one stone, but she wasn't yet there to that realization.

"I wouldn't go for entertainment, I'd go for moral support. But only if she wants me to come," she said, raising a brow at him. Then, in a way that was quite indicative of her character in not wanting to hurt people's feelings unintentionally, and the added fact that she cared more than before to not hurt Collin's feelings, she waved her hands as if to erase her words. "Not that I don't appreciate your invite, but you know," she said, shrugging to signify what should be known. Given how things had been going between the two of them, it made sense to assume that by 'you know' she meant that was what she meant. And in some ways it was, but she didn't want to address that because then it would, again, make it seem like something was actually happening, and of course it wasn't. So she clarified lightheartedly. "I feel like she might kill you if you try inviting her friend to something that might turn into the Upper East Side version of a telenovela," she said with a smirk. "But, I will see what I can do. Unless it's one of those places where there are like 4 different forks, then I'll just have to be a bad friend." Probably evident from her quip, she had never heard of Nobu, but she didn't want to agree to something where she felt totally out of her realm. "I'll be back over later anyways because we're having a wine night, so you might want to put that invite on hold anyways because only the best can handle Chanel two days in a row," she humored before realizing Collin hadn't actually stated when this dinner was taking place. "Wait, when is the dinner actually?"

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Character Portrait: Collin Forrester Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri Character Portrait: Caraline Forrester
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C A R A - F O R R E S T E R

Outfit: This
Hex Code: #1BB3F5

To: Chanel
I'm omw home! Where are you going?

She didn't acknowledge Chanel's question regarding her state of wellness, not because she didn't see it or because she was perpetrating inattention, but because it wasn't something she could explain over text. Even just trying to think of a response to acknowledge that quickly over her phone made her feel like she was being dramatic. Maybe she was, but she was still entitled to her feelings. She was allowed to feel overwhelmed with school when she wasn't used to taking this many credits. She was allowed to be annoyed with someone she barely knew who was talking her ear off after six straight hours of class. She was allowed to feel spiteful towards Collin after he pointed out the obvious, regarding how it would be difficult for her to get out of her stepmother's birthday dinner. It was the last of those things that was bothering her the most, but dealing with it on top of everything else only made it worse. Some would say that Cara was dramatic merely for making a big deal about being forced to attend a birthday dinner. It was unlikely that it was just going to be Alice, her father, her and Collin. There would probably be a couple friends there as well, maybe ten or fifteen people in total, so it wasn't like she was going to be forced to interact with the woman directly. It wasn't about that though. This was about the principle of it all, and that principle was that she did not like this woman, and because of that, there was no reason that she should be expected to occupy the same space as her. The number of times that she had been reprimanded for being "disrespectful" to this woman felt infinite. Her father was a smart man by many people's definition, so why he could not comprehend that they would never be able to co-exist was beyond her. There were so many reasons for why Cara disliked this woman, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to guess that someone would find it difficult to accept a woman who was only four years old older than her as a stepmother. Four years! The thought of that could send Cara's blood pressure skyrocketing almost immediately.

To: Collin
Idk why the fuck anyone would want someone who hates them at their birthday party... Is she that friendless and desperate that she needs one extra body there to make it look like she has a life? When I kill myself I'm going to frame her to make it look like a murder and I swear to god if you don't tell the private investigator that she threatened to kill me numerous times, I will haunt you forever.

Okay, so maybe Cara was dramatic. A tiny bit... .00001% of the time, if you asked her. She didn't think so though, and given her stubborn tendencies, it was unlikely that anyone else's opinions on the matter would ever change her mind. Her whole life was a drama, narrated by herself, and somehow she was always the victim, but it was a spot she was comfortable in at this point (probably because in reality, she was typically anything but the victim).

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Character Portrait: Collin Forrester Character Portrait: Chanel Nasiri
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C O L L I N - F O R R E S T E R
Outfit: This
Hex Code: #7d9959
"It's tomorrow," Collin answered. He understood Chanel's reasoning for not wanting to immediately accept his invitation. It was smart for both of them, really. She was right that if Cara found out that he was going around inviting someone who was supposed to be her friend to a family event, she would probably be annoyed at best. Speaking to his own paranoia, Collin also figured that it could be suspicious. The last thing that he needed was his sister suspecting that he had a crush on Chanel. It was bad enough when she found out that he had slept with Brooklyn a few times, but oddly, he thought that having a crush on her good friend would be different than having a crush on her enemy. At the very least, he was sure she would see it as an equal level of betrayal as feeling that way towards Brooklyn. "But yeah, that makes sense," he agreed. "It's mostly sushi and that kind of stuff, so I don't know if that makes it an automatic no for you, but at the very least, there's always tons of alcohol at any Forrester family event, so that'll work in our favor," he offered with a chuckle. The claim wasn't completely true, because most Forrester family events were supposed to be proper enough that it wasn't supposed to be centered around drinking, but even if it was supposed to be a background element, there was always a plethora of alcohol. When they went out to eat at establishments, money wasn't an object to their father, so it wasn't unusual for him to purchase bottles of wine, even if they only ended up drinking half of it as a table before opting for a different one. He was sure that a birthday party for his stepmother was sure to be a lively one, especially since she was only turning twenty-eight. Like Cara, Collin found the stark age difference between his father and stepmother to be peculiar. It was uncomfortable at first, but unlike his sister, Collin took the time to realize that Alice wasn't trying to step in and be their new mother. She was a nice girl who was supportive and sweet, but not overbearing. Her youth showed not only physically (because even Collin thought she was hot), but in her personality too, because she definitely had played a role in the divide between herself and Cara. Collin couldn't blame her, really, but she had definitely been petty and stirred the pot her fair share too, even if it was just as a reaction to Cara's hostility. The bottom line was that Collin didn't have a problem with her though, and he knew that his father appreciated him being kind to the woman.

He glanced at the message that Cara sent him and couldn't help but to roll his eyes. "This is what I have to deal with on a regular basis," he said, shaking his head, though mildly amused at his sister's drama. "She just texted me saying, 'I don't know why the fuck anyone would want someone who hates them at their birthday party... Is she that friendless and desperate that she needs one extra body there to make it look like she has a life? When I kill myself I'm going to frame her to make it look like a murder and I swear to god if you don't tell the private investigator that she threatened to kill me numerous times, I will haunt you forever.'" He looked back at Chanel as if he was expecting some explanation from her for why the proclaimed "precious sunflower" was acting like this, but only jokingly so, since this was nothing new to him. "Which means that you better be drinking wine if you plan on hanging out with her tonight."