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the majority of mardra’s cooking experimentation lately had been for herself, with the occasional leftovers for her roommate. she looked over at eliza, her eyebrows beginning to furrow. she wanted to do something fun, but the last thing she wanted was to overtake things. “no, it’s totally fine. honestly, i don’t know how the sauce will turn out, so it would probably be best to use pasta that’s already made,” she suggested, not wanting to accidentally mess things up. all she wanted was for eliza to be her friend, although she considered them already to be friends, and she didn’t want to make things weird of uncomfortable. “at least the cookies will turn out perfect, right?” she asked with a chuckle.

she saw the way mardra backtracked, and almost felt...bad, for it? which was odd. because in a sense, eliza was getting her way, here: a chance to put off something so she could better prepare for it. but all she felt was weirdly guilty, instead of relieved. “okay,” she said, “but we’re definitely making pasta from scratch on our next sleepover.” because she wanted there to be another one, and maybe she’d invite clem over, too. or they could go somewhere where she wouldn’t feel like a highschooler, dodging her brother whenever he walked out of his room. “honestly, we could have made the cookies from scratch, too, but lijah finished the chocolate chips the other day.”

heather always had a way of living in la vie en rose, seeing things through rose colored glasses. naomi admired it, she truly did, but she couldn’t help but think that she was simplifying it a little. love wasn’t brave, it was a distraction. it was something she didn’t need, something she didn’t want. the first time you fall in love, you never forget them, but you also never forget the pain you feel when they leave. “sometimes i wish i could see things the way you do, it would probably make things a little easier,” she said with a chuckle. sure, her outlook was positive on most things, but she did her best to avoid ‘love’ or any similar feelings, or at least as much as she could.

heather hummed, thinking of what to say. the way she saw things...was it easier? she didn’t know if she thought so. “i mean,” she shrugged, “i’ve had my heart broken a whole bunch of times.” she had. by partners, friends, people in her life that didn’t love her as much as she loved them, in whatever way that was. heather wore her heart everywhere: her sleeve, her palm, her face, her chest, on every part of her. there wasn’t a single inch of heather that wasn’t soft, and she had long since stopped trying to guard every inch of herself. “but i’ve seen what the whole...not letting love in, i’ve seen what it turns people into. and i’d rather get hurt a thousand times over than be like that.” 

“that’s fair and actually pretty smart.” august giggled. “i need to start doing that myself. why take a bet knowing the odds may not be in your favor, right? then again, sometimes the risk is more fun than the actual winning of the bet.” he shook his head, not wanting to get off topic. “but yes — i think he’s still alive and i can’t wait for season four. hopefully we get those episodes soon.” he pouted, “it would completely suck if he was, i agree with you. so let’s all hope he isn’t, yeah?”

“fair enough, mi lady. you totally win – this round, anyway. you make good points, i won’t lie.” he held one hand up in mock defense and nudged her with his elbow. she was right, again. she’d obviously given this a lot of thought, and luke admired that. “i’ll read whatever it is you’d like to share with me. i don’t want to pry. i know that sort of stuff can be pretty personal. why won’t you read me one of the pieces you’re really proud of?” he smiled at her, hoping she’d agree. he was genuinely curious to hear something she’d written.

“because i’m one of the least liked people here.” and that was sierra’s own fault but it was the past and she owned it. it’s not like she was going around being a complete bitch anymore. she was mostly just keeping her distance, and allowing conversations to be brought to her instead of the other way around. she hadn’t gotten herself into any drama lately, and it felt good. she just hoped she managed to keep it up more. “i think so too.” sierra shrugged, “i suppose i just throw one regardless and see what happens, right?”

there wasn’t necessarily anything stopping naomi from believing in luck, although the majority of her good fortune came about due to the family into which she was born. she thought to herself about symbols of luck, whether they actually worked or if it felt more like a myth, and for the most part naomi tended to believe you could make your own luck. “i always try to turn over pennies if i see them on the ground, that way someone else can take it,” she said, which was entirely true. when she was a child, she actually used to leave pennies face up whenever she was outside, which was almost all of the time. “i stopped leaving them around outside when my parents yelled at me for wasting them,” the explanation caused her to laugh, since it sounded like something mr. krabs would do.

for lindsey, luck played into karma and the law of averages, things had a tendency to balance themselves out, as far as she was concerned. but then there were times when luck made no sense at all, and that was why she often landed on the flip-flop side of her feelings about it. “what? naomi, shut up. that’s honestly the cutest thing i’ve ever heard in my entire life.” the idea of a little noami walking around, making luck for others, was so endearing. “well, you can leave them around now, if you want to. i don’t think it’s a waste, you could make someone’s day with that.”

“Where are you from? Wait, actually, don’t tell me. I’m guessing you don’t surf. So I’m going to assume you’re either from Somewhere in South Florida or like, lower Texas?” She tried to pin point the places that were still Central or East Coast, but weren’t landlocked. It was always fun to guess based on that. “Right? Even being far enough from an ocean it just feels weird. I know people think it’s like, fresher, but it’s really not.” She preferred the sun on her skin and the ocean breeze. Otherwise, what was the point of being anywhere that long? 

She couldn’t believe that Kai guessed it so quickly. Maybe not down to the dot, but- still, south Florida. “Mhm,” she smiled, “I’m from Miami.” It wasn’t home, not anymore, not since her heart found a place in New York City, but Lindsey did tend to miss it, from time to time. She wondered if it was that she missed the actual, or that she missed her family. “What’s fresher than an ocean breeze?” There was nothing, as far as she was concerned, that could really compare to warm sand and cool ocean. It was heaven.

tapping her finger against her chin, mardra nodded as she tried to think of a good recipe. honestly, anything with cheese and cream would work well, but also cheese and butter was the original fettuccine alredo. she opened eliza’s fridge, looking for something to pull together. “we can! he has a few dough recipes where you don’t need a machine,” honestly, mardra was excited at the prospect of following the tutorial. smiling over at the other woman, she started to feel a bit guilty for taking over, “we can do whatever you want.”

it sounded like a lot of fun, more fun than eliza’d properly had in her kitchen in a while. well...not counting ezra’s weekend over, but that was something else entirely. “what?” she shook her head. “no, i definitely want to. i’m just not a very...off-the-cuff person? i don’t know if you know that about me.” she laughed a little, almost...embarrassed, for her lack of spontaneity in most things. “i don’t follow recipes, really, but i do tend to plan ahead when i’m cooking. so making pasta from scratch out of nowhere, it sounds fun, just...i’m a little...underprepared, i guess?”

luke had stopped counting the amount of days it had been since he’d last seen eliza, since it was apparent she was no longer interested in him. it sucked, but he was never lucky when it came to that department, anyone who thought the opposite obviously didn’t know about his life that well. but here was eliza in front of him, helping him with his fallen papers. to be honest, knowing eliza, he would not have expected her to just walk by without helping, but given what had happened between them, he wouldn’t have been shocked if she’d decided on avoiding him and hoping he hadn’t seen her, and maybe he wouldn’t have if she didn’t stop to help him. “oh.” he muttered the word quietly under his breath, and avoided making contact with her when he took the papers to fix them back into his briefcase. he made sure to shut it tightly this time, and stood straight after he had locked it. “thank you.”

Milo understood nothing about sports, really. He just hated competition in that sense of the word. His parents always wanted he and his sisters to be athletes, but that never necessarily meant sports. “It’s people chasing a ball a lot of the time. If you think about it. Hit the ball with a stick, throw the ball, someone catch it, someone hit someone else with your body or the ball, or throw the ball in the net…” That’s all he’d seen anyway. He always got the argument that it was like watching theater, but what story was there behind them throwing a ball across a field? “I think you’d like it. It’s not like Les Mis or something, it’s great.” He didn’t want to use the word digestible, because he didn’t think it was right to, but the musical was digestible, created for an audience that didn’t necessarily know theater or like it. “Well, it’s kind of like, I blush, she blushes… We say things…” he feels the butterflies again.

Sports were never Eliza’s thing. Her brother’s, either, but he maintained that it was because he was a gay kid raised near Broadway. She thought it was just because he was uncoordinated. But as far as she was concerned, it was just uninteresting. “I can only think of...two sports, off the top of my head, I think, that don’t involve balls- wait, no. Just the one, yeah, ‘cause I’m pretty sure it’s a ball in field hockey.” Not that she really knew, she did her best to get out of participating in team sports the one year she took gym in high school. “You two are hopeless, huh?” Not that Eliza had a lot of room to talk: her situation wasn’t exactly the stuff of romance novels, either.

one of the many things that josie appreciated about her roommate was the mutual lack of judgement in regards to both of their sleep schedules. on weekends, she always seemed to find herself going to bed as the sun was beginning to rise and waking up in the early afternoon. sometimes, like heather, this came about as a result of late night inspiration for projects that she was working on, but more often it was due to staying out late. truth be told, she had only gotten out of bed about 20 minutes prior to her roommate and was nursing a mild hangover. “heather my love, i am of the belief that it’s never too late to eat breakfast food. and you know what? nothing in this world sounds better than blueberry pancakes right now. if you’re making some, would you please consider making a couple for me too?”

tying her hair back, heather opened the pantry and felt a little more than relieved that there was still pancake mix. she wanted pancakes, but wasn’t sure if she wanted them badly enough to make them from scratch. “just two?” she asked, getting the box down, and going into their fridge to find the fruit, butter, the other things she needed to make their breakfast. knowing josie, heather also got out coffee creamer, because if her roommate hadn’t already had coffee, she was going to want some soon. “oh, shit, yes, the whipped cream isn’t finished yet.”

although she completely understood why the other woman would be frustrated with celebrity scandals, josie did enjoy hearing about the latest antics from eliza. “what’s going on now?” she asked, interest piqued. “and whoever it was, were they wearing anything good?” while josie didn’t really enjoy writing about what celebrities had been seen wearing, people seemed to enjoy reading about it. perhaps she could use whatever celebrity scandal was arising to her advantage in regards to work.

sighing, and feeling all-too dramatic and not giving a damn, eliza turned her phone towards josie. “yet another nonsense headline, yet another story full of drivel about people shooting themselves in the foot by being caught.” gossip had intrigued her as a kid, sure, but now it was something to talk about for entirely different reasons. “honestly, it’s the same thing every other week. check in next tuesday to find out what designer drug a kardashian is doing, or who’s cheating on who in the LA a-list. doesn’t anyone ever get tired of stories being recycled?”

“look. i do love my craft. it’s great. better than great. what i don’t love is listening to execs or assholes trying to tell me how to do my job when they don’t know shit. don’t they know my degree isn’t for nothing?” he didn’t care about them and they didn’t care about him either - he still delivered, despite them thinking they know anything and everything there was to know. but that’s because eli was good at filling in their cracks. it was fine. everything was fine. “let’s fucking go. if they wanna be mad later they can take it out on everyone else.” he slung his bag over his shoulder and made his way towards the door, tugging it open and waiting for lindsey to exit before following after her, turning off the switch and locking the door behind them. “i can hear it in the distance. it’s begging to be eaten.” 

well, it was true: people were always telling lindsey and elijah how to do their jobs, how to be photographers. and even if she didn’t have a degree in it, she’d still be annoyed, because it was her job, and she knew how to do that: masters wouldn’t have hired her- hell, nowhere would have hired her if she couldn’t do her job. so to be treated like she had no idea what she was doing...maybe infuriating was a bit much, but. “i feel like,” she laughed as they left, “that one song from enchanted? i’ve been dreaming of this day...i don’t know the words, actually. but do you know what i’m talking about?”

the photograph looked good. or, at least, josie thought it did. that being said, she had basically no idea what she was talking about. “okay, i’m gonna be honest with you here. i don’t know a ton about photography. BUT i think that looks really good. i like what you did with the lighting a lot.” she looked back over the photo once again, admiring the other woman’s work. “you know, i really like photography. i almost took a class for it in my sophomore year but didn’t end up doing it which i kinda regret. what was this shoot for?”

relief flooding through lindsey in a way that was almost palpable. it was just her own inner critic, she told herself again. the photos were great. “it’s a fashion shoot at a roller rink, it’s supposed to be highlighting the retro comeback in street fashion, and also give this place a little bit of publicity,” she explained, smiling broadly. she loved talking about it. “i’m really glad you like it, i’m...trying to be proud of it?” she offered, shrugging. “oh, i mean, you could probably still find somewhere to take a class on it, if you want.”

it wasn’t that she was hurt by eliza’s mistake, mostly because she knew it was a mistake, but also because it was something that eliza wouldn’t have known if it weren’t for whoever circulates office gossip. she frowned a bit, because she didn’t mean to make eliza feel badly, but also at her pasta choices. “well, he taught me how to make a few simple dough recipes. jeremy schek, i’m sure you’ve seen him – oh my god, i’ve tried his authentic fettuccine alfredo and it’s insane. what are we feeling, more cheesy or more tomato-y?” she asked, unlocking her phone and pulling up the app so she could access it easily.

closing the cabinet, eliza ran a hand through her hair, thinking about that option for a second. “iii’m feeling cheesy today, honestly.” she usually was, if she was being honest. “are we making our own pasta dough? because i’m pretty sure i don’t have a pasta roller, which i think is kind of necessary.” sure, maybe they could make do, somehow, but she wasn’t sure how. she’d never actually made pasta dough before, and as much as eliza was willing to try anything, she liked to at least be a little prepared first.