Cara Forrester's Story

Cara lay on her back, staring up at the plain ceiling. "I don't have to be at my convention until three," a hoarse voice uttered from next to her. She could feel the man's weight shifting next to her as he rolled over to face her. Cara instinctively closed her eyes, hoping that he'd assume that she was still asleep but even if he did think that, it didn't stop him from pulling her thin body on top of his. "We've got all morning, baby," he added, pressing his lips to her neck. Her legs were tangled in the white hotel sheets but Cara managed to pull away from him and roll back onto her back.

"You know I can't stay," she whispered, leaning in to gently kiss him before sliding out of bed. She could feel the man's eyes on her naked body as she grabbed her bra, underwear and black bodycon dress off of the floor. "I'm going to take a quick shower," she said, giving him a small smile as she turned into the bathroom. Once the door was closed behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her head was spinning from a hangover and even though she wanted to go back to sleep, she wasn't interested in participating in round two with this man. Cara could vaguely remember him explaining last night that he was from Texas but in the city on business for the week, with a wife and two children at home. For a moment, Cara felt like she was the home wrecker, just like Emma had been to her family, but she tried to assure herself that it was totally different. Emma had come in and ruined her life on purpose. Cara was just trying to make some money in a one night stand type of deal. She wasn't going to be moving in with this guy.

She turned the shower on, waiting a minute for the water to get hot before stepping in. The positive to prostitution was that on top of the money, it gave Cara a free bed, shower and usually a next-day meal. It wasn't exactly an equal trade off but Cara felt like it beat selling drugs or working another job. Unlike most of the others, Cara had a high school diploma and could probably get a job somewhere in retail or the food industry. Nothing big, but something respectable for a twenty year old. Honestly, Cara wasn't sure why she didn't just get a normal job like that. Part of it was probably the passive-aggressive side in her that just wanted to embarrass her father, regardless of whether she still spoke to him or not.

Fifteen minutes later, she stepped out of the shower and dried off. She brushed her hair out, opting to let it air dry before slipping on the tight dress and heels she had worn the night before. It was an outfit more appropriate for the night time, where she blended in as just another girl headed to a club or party, but at one o'clock in the afternoon, she knew she'd look out of place.

A few bangs on the door and his voice asking, "You want to grab lunch with me?", hurried Cara along. She opened the door to find him already dressed in a suit and ready to go. Although she was hungry, she wasn't in the mood to spend any more time with this man. "I have an appointment down at... school," Cara lied, trying to think of a better excuse. "If you come back to the city, you've got my number," she said, a seductive smile returning to her face. Cara was one of the few in the warehouse who had a cellphone. She claimed that it was a prepaid phone that she would pay for monthly, depending on how much extra money she had leftover after the necessities, but the truth was that it was still being paid for by her father. He had never cancelled the plan and until then, Cara intended on reaping the benefits.

After being paid $150 for the night, Cara left, relieved to be done with work for the day. She was showered, well rested and now all she needed to do was eat. She wasn't looking for anything fancy but had never been one to eat fast food when she was sober, so she opted for a small cafe a few blocks away. It was nothing special but served fresh salads that Cara was currently craving.

Brooklyn was surprised when Roman apologized for what had happened earlier. She had temporarily forgotten about him talking to her after the altercation with Nick. At the time, he had pissed her off, but that was mainly because she was in such an emotional state and wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, nonetheless listen to Roman tell her that she was wrong. She was over it now, though. It was strange how Brooklyn was with little things like that. Roman's comments, which were more extensive, were forgivable, but Hailey's two word "good job!" remark still led Brooklyn to hold a grudge against her.

"Forget about it," Brooklyn said. It was her own way of saying that he didn't need to apologize because he hadn't done anything wrong. She didn't want to dwell on it any longer and continued to walk with him, unsure of where they were going until he stopped in front of a cute cafe. It was one of those little places that was decorated nicely and was frequented mostly by locals, something that was always a good sign in New York.

As Roman walked inside, Brooklyn paused for a second to read the quote that was delicately written on the chalkboard outside of the cafe. It read, "One day you lose something, and you say: 'Oh my God. I was happy. And I didn't even know it.' - Unknown, Humans of New York". It was probably meant to be inspirational or at least to remind people to appreciate what they have now, because they'll miss it when it's gone. You know, that kind of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" type of thing. It was simple, but it was so true, and Brooklyn could relate to it in more ways than one. She could remember being in elementary school and having friends that enjoyed her, a family that loved her, and a warm home to return to every night. After her sister had gotten sick, Brooklyn was still able to see her, to love her, to have her there, and even after she died, there was over a year when things between her parents weren't that bad. Brooklyn knew that "nostalgia was a dirty liar that insisted things were better than they seemed" but she still couldn't help but to hate herself for not appreciating every good moment that she had had, because the stupid chalkboard quote was right. She was happy and she didn't even know it at the time.

Although Brooklyn wanted to smear the chalk so it was no longer legible, she maintained her composure and followed Roman inside, suppressing any negative emotion that had emerged a moment before. She studied the menu, barely noticing when he rested his head on her shoulder. After skipping breakfast, Brooklyn was hungry and this was enough of a quality meal for her to want to order something.

She smiled at Roman's question about the writing and wondered the same herself. "I bet if Cara was here, she'd use her cute little iPhone to Instagram a picture of it for all of her rich bitch friends to see," Brooklyn said with a roll of her eyes. She had no negative feelings toward Cara. In fact, she got along with her more than she did Hailey or Holly, but Brooklyn didn't buy the story that Cara could afford paying for an iPhone's monthly bills just on her prostitution money. She knew that Cara had a falling out with her family, so it wasn't likely that someone else was paying her bills, but she knew that she came from the Upper East Side, so Brooklyn doubted that she was really as financially independent as the others were.

Brooklyn didn't argue when Roman offered to pay for her meal. She didn't need him to pay for it, and she wasn't looking for a free meal, but she knew that she'd return the favor another day this week. "I'll have an avocado sandwich and a grilled kale salad," she said to the woman taking their order before playfully adding, "Don't I have the sweetest boyfriend in the world?". The woman only smiled and nodded politely, putting their order in. "After you win tonight's match you better take me out for a steak dinner too," she said, turning to Roman.

Hailey breathed a sigh of relief when Braden said that he would watch Holly for her. It's not that she minded having Holly tag along with her, Hailey just knew how uncomfortable the drug deals made Holly, and how much Holly complained when she went inside with Hailey, which usually got states and disgruntled noises from Nick's clients, who acted like they were taking from some 3 year old children and not 17 year old- basically- adults. Hailey smiled at Braden slightly before pressing the buzzer to get into the building. The door unlocked almost immediately after she murmured the 'secret' code into the speaker, which always happened to be 'bananas' and Hailey scampered inside before Braden had the chance to change his mind on her.

Once Hailey got up to the third floor, she was greeted by the overpowering stench of marijuana and greasy fast food,

"God, do you all live off pot and Mcdonalds?" Hailey asked in a playful tone. Usually, most drug runners didn't conversation with their clients, but Hailey loved talking to the ones she'd grown accustomed to delivering too, and, sometimes, she even got a few jokes and smiles out of them,

'Nope,' replied Juan, the one Hailey was most comfortable with, 'We eat Wendy's too.' - this pulled a giggle from Hailey, and also made the other people in the room- Juan's cousin, Derrick, Derrick's girlfriend, Michelle, and Michelle's older brother and sister, Chris and Kim, chuckle. Hailey pulled out the dress that was covering the drugs and laid it on her shoulder, pulling out the 'inventory' to make sure it was all there,

"Two grams... Four adderals... And two ecstasy." Hailey looked back up to see Juan nod and wink at her, which was a non-verbal agreement. Juan soon pulled out his wallet, and started to count the cash before Hailey's eyes,

'Two... Three... Three-Sixty. There you go, sweet cheeks.' Juan said gingerly, and Hailey smiled at him,

"Thanks Juan," Hailey said softly, gathering the cash and stuffing it into the bag. As she did so, Brooklyn's dress fell onto the floor, right into a puddle of god-knows-what. Hailey murmured a mental 'oops' in her head, and just shoved the dress back into the bag, not really caring, seeing as it was Brooklyn's, and not hers, Holly's, or Cara's. Hailey waved to the group before they could ask her to stay and hang, and soon Hailey found herself back outside with Holly and Braden whom were waiting by the door,

"Miss me?" Hailey said teasingly (mostly to Braden,) and then she looked at the both of them, "Let's get going. I really, really, really need a shower after going in there."

After nearly inhaling a Caesar salad, Cara left the cafe and headed back to the warehouse. She hadn't been there since yesterday morning and was curious as to what everyone was up to. There was always something interesting going on when you lived with seven other people, especially when they were all outcasts of society.

Cara was the newest one in the group and even after being there for nine months, she still wasn't extremely close to anyone. There was Robbie, who was always her go-to guy. Even though he had abandoned his comfortable lifestyle in Boston years back, Cara still felt connected with him. Like her, he knew what it was like to live carelessly with a seemingly endless flow of money and then to switch over to having nothing. He was the person that she would go to after a night of drinking when she wanted to sleep with someone who thought of her as more than just a sex toy, or during the day when she was bored, assuming that he wasn't already high. Besides Robbie, Cara had befriended the three other girls. She wasn't best friends with any of them, since Hailey and Holly already had each other and Brooklyn had Nick, but it wasn't like Cara was really looking for a best friend anyway. Even though she would never boast about her past lifestyle, she knew that she was different than the others. If she hadn't become homeless, there wasn't a chance that she would have given any of them a chance at being friends.

She was only a block away from the warehouse when crossed the street and spotted Nick a few feet away from her. Catching up, she nudged his arm and tugged the bottom of her short dress down, something she had to do every few minutes when she walked to prevent it from riding up.

"Hey," she said cheerfully as she walked next to him. "Where are you coming from?" Because of her attire, it was obvious that she had spent the night working and didn't need to explain herself. It wasn't like Nick would ask anyway. He was always a nice guy, one that didn't try to make anyone feel uncomfortable or out of place. In fact, he had been the one to welcome Cara into the warehouse when he found out that she was homeless. He had been the main dealer for her friends whenever they needed weed, ecstasy or Adderall, so Cara had known him for a few years, although he was never more than a friendly acquaintance.

Nick wasn't sure where Brooklyn would be after crossing Finnigan's off of the list. It was possible that she had went to hang out with one of her work friends, was out shopping or maybe she had went to work early. There were too many possibilities for where she would have went and in such a big city, it would be close to impossible to find her now. Nick turned back in the direction he had come from, figuring that it would be easier to just wait for her to come to him. He wanted to get it over with because the guilt from snapping at Brooklyn was wearing him down and he hated the idea of tension being present, he had no way of tracking her down now and decided to go back to the warehouse. Maybe he would go watch the game later if Brooklyn wasn't back.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Cara appeared, brushing against his arm and greeting him happily. She was dressed in a tight and tiny black dress with high heels to match, but it wasn't out of the norm for her. She had been gone last night, like she frequently was, and Nick knew that it meant that she had been working. The idea of any of the girls working as prostitutes always made Nick a little bit uncomfortable. It seemed so degrading and inhumane to allow someone to do what they wanted with you for money. He knew that Brooklyn had done it for a while when she had first left home, and even her working as a stripper didn't always sit well with him. However, it was a way to make money and it wasn't like Nick had a better alternative to offer any of them.

"I was looking for Brooklyn. She's pissed at me... to say the least," he replied. He didn't go into details, mainly because he didn't want to stress himself any more about what had happened. Instead, he decided to change the subject. "Don't those heels kill your feet?" he asked with a grin, eyeing her shoes. He couldn't imagine walking around all night in something that looked so painful to wear.

Cara frowned when Nick said that he had been looking for Brooklyn because she was upset with him. Brooklyn always seemed to be upset with someone so it wasn't alarming that they had gotten into an argument, but she still felt bad that they were fighting. Cara tried to be the mediator in most of the warehouse arguments. She was good at listening to people's problems, mainly because she knew what it was like to have no one to listen to hers. She felt that it was important to just let people talk about what was bothering them, whether she could offer good advice or not.

He then asked whether the heels she was wearing killed her feet, getting a slight smirk out of Cara in response. "A few blisters is a small price to pay for looking this good," she joked, dramatically flipping her damp hair. She was sure that she looked anything but good right now, wearing last night's outfit, high heels, wet hair and no makeup. "Besides, it couldn't hurt too more than it did to get those tattoos," she said, pointing to the inked area of his arm. "I was going to get one last year but I chickened out last minute," she said. She and her friends had planned on getting small tattoos on their inner wrists during the last week of high school. At first, she thought that it would be nice to get something to remember her mother by, but she really had no memories of the woman and didn't think it would make sense to try to make up some story to associate with a symbol. She ended up deciding on a small black cross. She was Catholic, but she really just liked the way that it looked on pictures she had seen on Tumblr. However, Cara had never been good around needles and ended up fainting before it was even her turn to go.

They approached the alley and Cara made her way past the large dumpster and through the door. She was surprised to find the building empty and turned to Nick, curious to see if he knew where everyone was. "Did you and Brooklyn scare everyone away?" she asked lightly, not knowing that there fight really had been big enough to cause more tension than usual.

Killens merely nodded at her witticisms as they stood approached the locker rooms. The humidity from them could be felt just outside of the door; some people could be heard talking, showers running from inside. He nodded.

"Yeah, I'll see you. I won't take very long."

He went inside, feeling more than a little out of place. It wasn't as full as he thought it would be which was comforting. It wasn't that he was afraid of the possibility of seeing naked men; he'd shower in places like these before, but the entire building just made him feel like some type of criminal. Like he told Brooklyn, he didn't take long at all. He stayed in a few minutes longer given the fact that he figured she would, but the shower itself was enough to make him want to stay. The heat was powerful and the pressure not at all weak. Fifteen or so minutes after entering the locker room, he was just as soon out of it. He found somewhere to sit provided Brooklyn wasn't already out there when he was.

When it was finally time to leave, he walked with her outside onto the bustling street, making sure to thank her.

"Those towels are pretty soft," he confirmed. "I considered taking one but I figured I ought not to."

After the gym, he walked back towards the warehouse. He wasn't sure if this entire time Brooklyn was trying to keep from going back, but he decided it was best to go back for now. When they got back, Cara and Nick were there; he didn't know where Robbie was though. Roman quietly said hi before giving Brooklyn a side glance between her and Nick. The rest of the day was uneventful for him. He rested best he could, took the pills, and left a little earlier than he usually did. He wanted more time alone for this one. For some reason he just had a bad feeling about the night. It wasn't that he never got nervous because he did, but they were the good nerves. The ones he had that evening made put an uncomfortable weight on his chest.

He walked for a while and then sat in a small park until it got dark enough for him to leave. The place wasn't well known, as it wasn't supposed to be. Theoretically, street fighting was illegal, and for good reason. There were rules like there were any other match, but they weren't always enforced. The only thing that really mattered was that you didn't lose. He'd gotten into some bad matches before. Where people, despite it being disallowed, brought in accessories like knives or brass knuckles. He supposed after years of doing this, he knew his way around those kinds, although sometimes there might be some idiot he would try it. The guy for his first match wasn't too big, or so he'd heard. He didn't like meeting them beforehand. The second one, though, was a lot larger than him. The pain was numbed from the pills, though, so he let that settle him. A crowd began to form in the less desirable part of the city. There was an open space on the street with the sidewalk filled with masses of people.

When it was his time, his body felt looser than it usually did; his arms heavier and the ground lighter. The shouts and vandalism shouted by the onlookers were hazy as if they were under water. His wrists and hands were wrapped tightly in thick gauze. By the end, they were stained with bits of red.

That day at the gym spun an eventful two weeks for Hailey. When she wasn't busy taking care of Holly or making drug runs, Hailey was usually out by herself, or out with Braden. She and Braden had grown closer over the past two weeks, which put Hailey in a better mood, since she had not only alone time, but time to just talk with Braden, and at the same time, she knew Holly was being taken care of. Hailey trusted Cara to take care of Holly, so Hailey usually left Holly with Cara when she went out. Cara was very patient, or so she seemed to Hailey, which made her the perfect one to take care of Holy when Hailey was away.

This morning, Hailey had done just that. She left Holly with Cara... to go to the doctor. The fits of sickness she had the morning they first went to the gym had became almost a daily occurrence over the two week time span. Nine times out of ten, Hailey would spend the better half of her mornings outside at the dumpster. By about two days ago, Hailey decided it was time to go to the doctor. So, before most everyone got up, she talked to Cara and just said she was 'going to get something checked on,' before leaving Holly with her and going to the clinic that was about two blocks away, nearly right in front of Central Park. Being as early as it was, the clinic wasn't crowded, and she was the only really sick one there, so it didn't take long for a couple of nurses to usher her into a room. By the time the doctor came in, though, her fit of sickness had just about worn off. But, the doctor questioned her, anyway, about if she smoked, drank... if she had unprotected sex. The last question hit her like a brick wall, and it kind of became clear to her what could be going on, but, she pushed the thoughts out of her mind, and just gave a simple answer to the doctor. Who, in turn, gave a slight nod and just handed her a small box, with the instructions of, 'go to the bathroom, see what that says, and, if it isn't positive, we'll do a blood test.'

Hailey couldn't even respond. She just drug herself to the small corner bathroom at the end of the hallway, clutching the box in her hand. She spent ten minutes just staring at the box, but, sooner or later she gathered the courage to just get it over with and take the test.

And, of course, it was positive.

Hailey stared at the test for another ten minutes or so and then just shook her head, trying not to start crying, mostly out of disbelief. She sanitized the test and then put it back in the box, just so she would have it as proof to herself. And came out of the bathroom to see the doctor standing by the door. She just nodded, got some general instructions and a few pamphlets on "teen pregnancy" and other stuff, and she walked out of the clinic. She managed to hide the box and pamphlets in the small purse she'd brought with her and then walked back to the warehouse. Her first thought was how to tell Braden, and how to hide it from the others. The doctor said because how fast she got a result, and how dark the line was, she probably already about 2 or 3 months along... so, she'd probably start showing soon. Hailey ran a hand through her hair as she walked back into the warehouse. Dropping her stuff off at her mattress, and escaping to the roof.

"Come on Holly," Cara said cheerfully. She tugged at Holly's arm, pulling her through a crowd of shoppers and up an escalator. Because Cara usually only worked at night, most of her afternoons were free. She didn't like sitting around idly in the warehouse, mostly because the longer she stayed there, the worse her situation seemed to be. If she only spent her nights there, it was dark enough that everything looked a little less crummy than it really was.

Today, she had offered Hailey to take Holly out because Hailey had mentioned that she had to check on something. Although Cara wasn't sure what it was that Hailey was doing, she didn't think much of it and was happy to help out. Unlike the others, Cara rarely got overwhelmed with Holly. Watching her was like taking care of some of her friends after a night of drinking- Cara had to keep an eye on her at every moment or else she'd wander off, but most of her antics were entertaining and harmless.

After getting sandwiches at a deli, they spent a few hours walking through Central Park and the surrounding blocks. When they reached 5th avenue, Holly had insisted on going into the Apple store. Although Cara knew that patrons were welcome to test the gadgets that the store sold, she didn't want to risk Holly accidentally breaking something, or making one of their pricey items her next most wanted item. Instead, she brought her into the FAO Schwarz store that was close by. Although Holly wasn't a child, Cara knew that the bright lights and colorful toys would keep her occupied for a good while, and she was right.

They went through each section and Cara watched intently as Holly examined nearly every toy on the shelf. She made an effort to put everything back in the correct places after Holly put them down, but once they reached the "Newborn Nursery" area, Cara latched onto Holly's hand. This floor was less crowded than the first one was and she didn't want Holly making a mess and disturbing other customers.

"Don't they look real?" Cara said, staring into the glass case that held a bunch of realistic looking baby dolls. She remembered coming to the store years ago with her father on one of her birthdays. He let her pick out one of the dolls and although she only played with it for a few days, it still felt nostalgic to be back in the store.

After a few more minutes of browsing through the toys, Cara pulled Holly back downstairs and out the door. She knew that if they stayed any longer, Holly would insist on buying something that she didn't need and Cara hadn't brought much money with her. However, she did note a few of the less expensive items that Holly was particularly mesmerized by and hoped that she would find time tomorrow to come back and pick one or two of them up to give to her the next day on her birthday.

"Let's go see what everyone's doing at the warehouse," Cara said cheerfully, pulling her hair into a ponytail before taking Holly's hand in hers once more. "Do you want to get a hot dog or pretzel on the way back?"

Hailey was off taking care of unknown business which meant that Holly was spending the day with Cara. At first, Holly had insisted going with her sister to where ever it was that she was going, but when Hailey claimed that it was going to be boring, she agreed to hang out with Cara. Cara was always kind to her, and really everyone else in the warehouse, so she was usually Hailey's top choice for who she would leave Holly with when she had to do something on her own.

After roaming around the city for a few hours, they ended up in FAO Schwarz, a large flagship toy store. There was an overwhelming amount of toys, and music and people which just meant that Holly's attention span was even shorter than normal. She would pick up one item and begin to tell Cara how she had seen a commercial for a similar toy when she was kid, but would stop halfway through her sentence and start talking about another item.

After they reached the top floor of the store, Cara led her to the section filled of baby dolls. Holly had never been a fan of babies. When she and Hailey lived with her mother's first boyfriend, there were frequently other woman who would come in to help manufacture drugs, and many of them had children of their own. She and Hailey were only around eight or nine, but they were usually expected them to occupy the infant and toddler children while their mothers "worked". Of course most of the weight fell on Hailey's shoulders, but Holly disliked how they were constantly screaming and crying and more so, how Hailey had to focus most of her attention on them when they were over.

A few minutes later, they were back outside onto the bustling New York City street that they had started on. Cara suggested that they return to the warehouse but offered to get her a pretzel or hot dog on the way back. "Pretzels!" Holly replied quickly and like nearly every other street corner in New York, as they approached the corner, there was a pretzel cart waiting for them. Holly waited patiently in line next to Cara and took the pretzel after Cara paid for it.

"I'm so tired," Holly said as they headed back towards the warehouse. It was unusual for her to be tired, even though she usually only got five or six hours of sleep each night and was up and active the rest of the time. Typically though, she did "crash" once or twice a month, where she would sleep for over twelve hours at a time. Although Holly hated sleeping for so long because she felt like she was missing stuff, she sensed that tonight would probably be one of those nights.

Cara was glad that Holly was content with getting pretzels because just a few feet away from them was a food cart selling them. Before coming out onto the streets, Cara refused to touch most of the foods that the street vendors sold. She imagined that the people who worked them rarely cleaned their stations or followed standard health precautions, but most of that worrying had disappeared when she realized that being selective wasn't going to help her survive.

She ordered two pretzels and handed one to Holly before continuing towards the warehouse. After ripping a piece of the warm pretzel off with her teeth, she felt bad for her old self for not indulging in one of New York's most signature foods. It was nice to not have to worry about how many calories she was eating or how carefully it had been prepared, and the warm bread, while fairly plain, tasted heavenly today.

When Holly spoke up, exclaiming that she was tired, Cara glanced over at her with a confused expression. It was out of character for Holly to be sleepy and even more so for her to say it out loud. Holly was like a child in many ways, but when it came to sleeping, she reminded her of one even more so. A lot of little kids, even when tired, would claim that they really weren't and didn't want to sleep so they could continue to play or be involved in the excitement of whatever going on, and Holly mirrored that behavior. Cara knew that whatever disorders she had probably played a role in why the girl was rarely ever able to sleep soundly as well, so it was even more surprising that Holly would express being tired now.

"I am too," Cara agreed. "We probably walked like five miles," she continued after taking another bite of the pretzel. After navigating through the alley and past the barrier of a dumpster, Cara pulled the door open and allowed Holly to walk in before her. Her eyes first shot towards Holly and Hailey's section, where she noticed Hailey's absence. She was unsure of what Holly's sister had been doing all day but doubted that it would have taken her this long to return. However, she couldn't think too much of that because her eyes caught sight of what looked like the end product of a scuffle between Nick, and possibly Roman.

Cara took Holly by the arm and pulled her towards Robbie, who was also in the warehouse. "What's going on?" she asked quietly with a concerned expression on her face.

Roman stood standing at Nick after what he said. They both stared intently at each other and he watched as Brooklyn quietly gave him napkins for his lip. "Yeah, well I wish you did too. Would have felt better than this." He could feel himself shaking with anger as looked at them. Nick was watching carefully to make sure he didn't do anything else. Roman looked angrily between Nick and Brooklyn.

If there was anything he feared growing up, it was failing someone. Since coming to the streets, he'd grown afraid of being left alone. Nick was the first one to really take him in permanently, and at the time being that he was hardly even a teenager, he'd always feared that one day Nick would change his mind about him and drop him. This fear became even stronger after Brooklyn came into their lives. He hadn't liked her from the beginning. It took a while for her to grow onto him, and he only did it for Nick. If there was anything that would come between them, Roman always knew it would be her. She was beautiful enough to get away with the shit she did, and Nick was dumb enough to fall for it. It was only a matter of time before he picked her over him, and Brooklyn knew it too. He looked at her just then, his face turning redder and he believed this theory more and more. The only victim he saw in the situation was himself and Brook was the predator.

He turned away calmly at first but then kicked the mattress so it slid across the floor a foot or so. Roman snatched his backpack off the floor. He grew quieter as he said, "To think I gave a shit about you. And you know what, I want to leave. I don't need you. After she came along and messed everything up and you try masking it by starting a fucking clubhouse. We all and know, Nick. We know that you'd choose her over any of us. Me being gone won't change the fact that Brook successfully fucked her way to your brain."

Roman finally stepped away and headed for the exit. As he passed the others, their confused somewhat frightened stares speaking for them, he glared. "What the hell are you looking at?" he yelled. "I don't need any of you."

He pushed past them, out the door and down the alley. Roman walked past the pretzel stand and the familiar scent of dough and salt. He hurried down the street, not sure where he was going, but he had time. The sun was still active and burning down on the city. The streets were getting less crowded as the day came to a close. For some reason, as he moved down the sidewalk, it felt like he was running away again. His mind kept going back to what had just happened and it took a toll on his energy. Anxiety began to well in his chest once he looked at the size of the city. Sure, he'd basically given up on the warehouse, and he'd done so for almost two weeks, but for some reason this felt different. It was nostalgic, almost like deja vu, and left him with a sense of fear. Deep down he knew that, like the first time, this was his fault. For some reason, he couldn't run away from this.

So after a block more or less, he'd grown tired and heavy. He found an empty spot in front of a store and sat against the wall. Roman lit a cigarette, leaving him with four left.

Nick maintained a steady and focused stare as Roman responded to him. He could tell that Roman was emotional but what kept Nick from feeling bad was that all he could see in his expression and hear in his words was anger. He didn't appear to be sad or remorseful for what he had done a moment ago. No, he was only fuming with rage and in Nick's mind, he had no right to be acting that way.

Roman's voice grew louder as he headed to the exit and shouted at Cara, Robbie and Holly, clearly pissed off that they were watching the affair go down. Nick wasn't sure when Cara and Holly had gotten there but he was glad that Roman was leaving now that they were back. The last thing that Nick wanted was for this unnecessary drama to ruin everyone else's day too.

When Brooklyn offered him napkins, Nick took them a muttered a thanks to her as he pressed them to the cut on his lip. Just acknowledging the damage that Roman had done made him even angrier. Who did Roman think he was? Yeah, they had been good friends for a few months before he met Brooklyn but that didn't mean he wasn't able to have a girlfriend or like anyone more than Roman. Honestly, as Nick replayed what Roman had just said, he thought that his best friend, or possibly former best friend, sounded more like some spoiled child than a rough and tough street fighter. Just because he didn't get his way and wasn't Nick's favorite person in the world meant that he had to throw a temper tantrum and blame Brooklyn for it. Deep down, Nick knew that it wasn't as trivial as this but as he pressed down harder on his bleeding lip, it comforted him to think that the problem was just Roman being a brat than something bigger.

"Go cry to your mum, you fucking bitch," Nick shouted, imitating Roman's accent with the word 'mom'. The door was nearly shut by the time the words got out and he guessed that Roman hadn't even heard it, which was probably better than the alternative. Maybe it was Brooklyn rubbing off on him that he felt like he needed to get the last word in but as his eyes fell back upon the three other warehouse residents who stood by the door, he tried to compose himself again.

"Those pretzels look good but I think popcorn would have been more of an appropriate choice to eat while watching Roman's soap opera worthy performance," Nick said, still wanting to make a slight dig at Roman but also trying to lighten the mood. He gave a final bit of heavy pressure to the cut on his lip before pulling the napkins away. There was a fairly large red stain on them but after pouring a bit of water on his face, the bleeding had mostly stopped. He balled the dirty napkins up and stuffed them into an empty plastic bag and then into his backpack, deciding to throw them out later, before turning to Brooklyn.

He spoke quietly now, not wanting to continue the topic of the fight with the others. "He's out of his fucking mind," Nick said, shaking his head before making eye contact with Brooklyn. "Are you alright?" He was surprised that she hadn't fought back against Killens as remaining quiet under criticism was something that he wouldn't normally expect of Brooklyn.

The door to the warehouse opened catching Robbie’s attention away from the scene if only for a second, showing Braden. It was enough of an interruption to reboot himself and realizing he was still holding onto the matches, pocketing them as he walked to his area. He may be curious on what he got into last night but that can wait till later.

He didn’t really want to get involved in the situation but a moment later the door opened again this time revealing Cara and Holly. Cara almost immediately asking what was going on. The question swirled around his head for a while, he didn’t really know what to say. Nick just kicked out Killens. Killens punched Nick. It wasn’t the fact that it was hard to say, it was that it was hard to believe. Robbie never thought in a million years that anything would tear Nick and Killens apart, the two were like brothers. At least that what it seemed.

“A falling out.” he said turning his head towards Cara as Killens barged out with his bag spewing bullshit about how he didn’t need anyone. When you’re on the streets the one thing you need is a friend or at least someone. “I think they just need to cool off. For now.” He added as Nick yelled out at Killens. At least that's what he hoped is all that was needed. Killens had been acting completely out of character for the last couple weeks but to actually start a fight with his best friend, that's a step too far.

Killens words confused Brooklyn. She wasn't sure why he was acting like all of this anger was caused by Nick replacing him with her, when they had been dating for what, seven or so years? Now, all of the sudden this was some big problem which was only started because of his poor attitude and yet it was somehow her fault. Brooklyn willingly and sometimes proudly accepted that she had earned the reputation of being a bitch, but not in this situation. She had done nothing wrong and Killens' outburst was so uncalled for that it almost scared Brooklyn. She had never seen him like this before. It was like he had hit rock bottom.

Even if Killens anger did stem from Nick preferring her over him, what did he expect? Nick was dating her, not him, and in a lot of cases, Brooklyn actually felt like Nick valued his friendship with Roman and some of the others over her anyway. It was clear to Brooklyn that Roman was in fact, "out of his fucking mind" as Nick claimed, or was projecting his own feelings onto her and Nick. The behavior was something that Brooklyn knew all too well, having done it frequently herself, so even though Killens was acting absurdly, she wouldn't crucify him for what he had done and part of her knew that Nick wouldn't either.

She could tell that once his rage faded away, Nick would feel bad, or at least unhappy, with the way that things had panned out. Killens was right in the fact that he and Nick had a lot of history and their relationship wasn't comparable to hers and Nick's. Not that it was better or worse, but it was just different, like a brotherhood or something.

"Shhhh," Brooklyn said, standing up when Nick made a last attempt to get a snide remark in at Roman who had stormed out the door a moment earlier. Once she realized that Roman wasn't returning to continue on the fight, she felt more at ease, as if this was the calm after the storm.

She examined his lip and after he splashed water on the split lip and the bleeding subsided for the most part, she turned her attention to the small crowd that had formed by the door. It was Holly, Cara and Robbie and Nick quickly made a joke about the fight. Although he probably said it with the intentions of putting everyone at ease, Brooklyn didn't want them to be involved at all. She punched Nick in the arm lightly, signaling for him to be quiet, but nodded when he asked if she was alright. Honestly, the comments that Roman made didn't hurt her too badly. If he had been normal Roman, her friend Roman, then she might have taken what he said to heart, but Brooklyn wasn't really offended by what he had said. In fact, she thought that he was probably right. Nick would choose her over any of the others and in her mind, it should be that way. If it wasn't, she would have no desire to be with him anymore.

"Where have you guys been?" she said, giving Nick one final 'chill out' glance before taking a few steps towards the three others. Although Brooklyn complained about Holly frequently, she didn't mind her or Cara at all when compared to her dislike for Hailey. After all of the shouting that had just occurred over the last few minutes too, she really wasn't in the mood for any additional bad energy with anyone. "Your sister's upstairs, by the way," she added, looking to Holly. During all of the commotion, Brooklyn hadn't even noticed Braden coming in and also going up to the roof.

By the time that they had reached the warehouse, Holly was ready to go to bed. It was probably only eight or so at night, but her legs felt heavy and her eyes strained. She didn't object when Cara pulled her towards Robbie and asked what was going on. She could hear Roman angrily shouting to Nick and Brooklyn who stood at the opposite side of the warehouse but Holly was in a dazed state, her mind already beginning to shut down and she couldn't focus on what the others were arguing about.

In a matter of seconds, Roman stormed out and everything was quiet for a second before Nick made a comment about the pretzels that she and Cara still held in their hands. Holly had eaten only half of hers and wasn't hungry for any more, but when Brooklyn spoke and said that Hailey was upstairs, she decided to offer the rest to her sister. She hadn't seen Hailey in a good few hours and was anxious to be back with her. The two were almost always together and because she Hailey had always been her only support throughout childhood, Holly probably was a bit too attached to her. It wasn't bad enough where she couldn't be separated from her for a few hours, because obviously that happened occasionally when Hailey had things to do, but Holly couldn't remember a time where she went more than twelve hours or so without seeing her sister.

"I'll be right back," Holly said, her voice trailing off as she headed up the stairs. She tried to rub the tiredness out of her eyes, wanting to channel the energy to tell Hailey about her day and ask her what she was doing, but it didn't work very well. When she spotted Hailey and Braden sitting next to each other on the roof, she narrowed her eyes. Her sister had been hanging out with Braden more often than usual and although Holly didn't really suspect anything, she just found it weird that Hailey would want to be in his company. Even though he had been nice to her a few weeks ago when he gave them his extra gym passes, he still didn't seem that fun or interesting to be around. "Why are you up here?" she said, making her presence known to the two whose backs were faced to her.

As Hailey responded, Holly nodded twice: once to confirm that she had been tired out from her day with Cara and again to signal that she wanted to go downstairs. Normally she would object to being tired or going to sleep this early, knowing that most of the others stayed up until the early hours of the morning, but she was too worn out to fight it.

She turned back towards the stairs and looked over at Hailey. "The boys were fighting down there," she said plainly, watching her feet as she carefully walked down each step. Holly couldn't even remember how many times she had managed to trip on those stairs. Whether it was coming up or down, she was normally running and with all of the exciting news she had to tell whoever she was looking for, she never paid attention to the steps and typically got her foot caught on one of them. She was too tired to run now though, and wanted to get to her bed without any bumps or bruises on the way.

"We went to the park and the big toy store... not Toys R Us, and we got pizza and pretzels!" she said, remembering the half eaten pretzel that she still held. She handed it to Hailey, whether she wanted it or not, and shook the excess grains of salt off of her hands. When they reached the ground level, Holly found that Roman was still not back in the warehouse, which probably shouldn't have been much of a surprise, and everything was pretty similar to how she had left it.

Holly's eagerness to go to bed was even more obvious when she headed straight to her bed without engaging Brooklyn or Nick about what had happened, or filling Cara in on the little information she knew about what Hailey had been doing. She flopped onto her mattress dramatically, not bothering to shed her leggings and tank top for the sweatpants and t-shirt that she normally slept in. "Are you going to go to bed too?" she asked, glancing up at Hailey.

All that Robbie offered on what had gone down was "a falling out". It seemed like that, to say the least. Cara opened her mouth to ask him to give her more details when Roman barged towards the door. She instinctively pulled Holly closer to her. She knew, or thought, that Roman wasn't someone who would hurt any of them and of all people Holly, but she also never would have imagined that he would hurt Nick and that had happened. He shouted at them for looking at him, something that Cara knew she should have expected as a response. The last thing that she would want in a state of rage was for everyone to be watching wide-eyed as if it was a show, but this was such an unexpected thing to walk in on that she couldn't help it.

After Roman left, Nick gave one last punch to his ego but the door had already slammed shut and Cara assumed that Roman was already on the other side of the alley by the time Nick said it. However, she held her breath for a moment, almost expecting for the door to swing back open with Roman coming back for round two. Luckily, he didn't and Cara hoped that the tense situation was over for good.

Brooklyn seemed to want to move on from it too, because she stood up and asked them where they had been all day. Holly took the last part of her comment, about Hailey being upstairs, and headed to the stairs, leaving Cara and Robbie to chat with Brooklyn. "Holly and I were just hanging out," she said, pulling her ponytail tighter as she looked behind Brooklyn at Nick. She was conflicted with what to say or do. Cara enjoyed playing the role of the peacemaker in arguments that occurred between the others, but a fight between Nick and Roman wasn't something that she felt prepared to deal with. Hailey and Brooklyn were easy because they were both girls and Cara had dealt with her fair share of cat fights even before coming to the streets. Even Brook and Nick's fights were doable but whatever had just happened between Nick and Roman seemed like something that was too far out of her league. There was a lot of history between the two boys and Brooklyn and even if Cara had lived with the three of them for a year, she didn't feel like it was her place to step in here.

However, she did whisper, "Is he okay?" to Brooklyn, nodding her head towards Nick. It would have been against her character to not have at least asked about his well being. The whole aura of the warehouse felt so strange now and it was unsettling for Cara. She then looked back at Robbie and gave him a confused look. "I'm curious to know where the hell you've been too," she said with a giggle as she studied his disheveled appearance.

After Brooklyn got up to talk to Cara and Robbie, Nick moved from his chair and rummaged through his backpack. He wanted to smoke but doubted that it would be a pleasant experience with a freshly split lip, so instead he grabbed a nearly empty bottle of Jameson's and took a swig of the whiskey. Finn had given it to Brooklyn a few days back, claiming that it was his favorite brand of Irish whiskey and that they needed to start drinking "quality" liquor.

Drinking the alcohol wasn't the most pleasant experience either, because as soon as the liquid hit the open cut, it began to burn. The physical pain was enough to distract him from the emotional distress that Nick had started feeling after replaying what had just went down, though, so he took a few more gulps of it. However, it wasn't long before the thoughts came flushing back into his mind.

What a fucking inconsiderate prick. Who does that kid think he is?! I could have left him for dead out there. I should have. Maybe it was wrong to say that I should have killed him, but I know I should have at least left him out there on the streets to make his own way or get killed by someone else in the process. I let him be a cockblock for years when it was just me and Brooklyn and this is how he repays me? By messing my fucking lip up and embarrassing me in front of everyone? I'm going to fucking kill that kid the next time I see him.

The bottle soon emptied and after searching through the rest of their bags, Nick realized that they were out of alcohol. He knew he'd get a buzz off of the whiskey that he just drank but that wasn't going to be enough to get him through the night, especially if Brooklyn was going to be gone at work. After stuffing the empty bottle into the same bag as his blood stained napkins, he grabbed them and his backpack and headed towards the door.

"I'm going to pick some shit up," he said, glancing back at Brooklyn before leaving. The air was brisker than it had been earlier, but was still considerably warm compared to how cool it had been a month or two back at this time. He dumped his trash in the first garbage bag he passed and walked aimlessly for a few blocks, unsure if he wanted to just grab some booze at a convenience store or go to a bar and drink there.

As soon as Brooklyn mentioned Hailey being on the roof Holly left their presence. Cara said something about how they were hanging out and turned to Robbie questioning his looks. He stepped back and looked down at himself "What?"

A sly grin came across Robbie’s face, not really knowing how to answer that. Rubbing a hand threw his hair he thought about what he could say. He had no recollection of what occurred last night and no guesses either but somehow ended up in an alleyway with new clothes and money when normally the opposite would happen. Tonguing his split lip he said “I woke up in an alleyway. Must have blacked out at some point last night, cuz I don't remember anything.” Gesturing to the cheap pair of black sunglasses on his face "Had to pick up some sunglasses. My eyes were super sensitive and don't get me started on how loud everything was."

Snapping his fingers he made his way to his area as Holly returned from the roof with Hailey. “That’s actually what I was gonna ask..before...ya’know.” He mumbled nodding towards Nick and the exit hoping they understood that it meant Killens. “I don’t know what I did last night,”he stripped off the shirt, neatly folding it and placing it in his duffel bag “I hate not knowing.” he added putting on a brown t-shirt.

Robbie crossed his arms and leaned up against a support that was next to his mattress "It was really just a regular morning." he joked.