hustle and bustle

matt: I mean I guess I could give them the money. It'd just be for the thrill for me. You in?

matt: Damn......played myself. Ur good

matt: So could we buy a 10k heart and then sell it in Ukraine for 200k

erin: technically yes

matt: Do u actually know a guy or two lmaooooooo

matt: Alright nvm I want u on my side tbh

matt: Out of curiosity like how much does it cost to buy organs on the black market

erin: here i am thinking you have a good sense of humor

erin: depends on the country, a kidney costs around 200k in ukraine if you want to sell it

matt: Don't threaten me with a good time Erin

matt: Gross secret or it goes up

erin: i am not kidding

erin: i know a guy or two...

matt: I'm bored, tell me a gross secret or I'll put that pic of u on twitter u know the one

“I can only imagine why–” Some kids could really be cruel at that age. Brandon thought the trend of being an ass just to be considered cool was just so damn stupid. He didn’t see the appeal, and always thought it was rather childish. “I didn’t have any out classmates then. They all slowly started to come out after high school, and I don’t blame them. – One girl I have on facebook, she wrote a post about it, and pretty much said it felt like a survival tactic; remaining silent about it, and all.” There was a decent pause before he added, “I’m assuming your brother is a lot happier now?”

“He has the last laugh though, now he is making a lot of money and working as a designer, whereas all of his bullies ended up becoming young fathers, getting fat and losing all of their hair. I call it Ethan Curse.” Erin chuckled at the thought. “It makes sense. I even told him not to come out at first, not because I was ashamed or anything, I was just scared for him but Ethan has always been too honest for his own good.” She shrugged. “Absolutely.”

@erin-chambers​

Lucian still wasn’t totally over the fact that Major had destroyed this poor woman’s garden, even more so that she’d taken it so well. Or maybe that made it better, at least she wasn’t a seventy-something with their prized roses in tatters. Either way, here he stood on her doorstep again, 7:57pm, alone. Major was safely tucked up at home under the watchful eye of one of his siblings. He exhales, he’d debated picking up flowers to bring to her, but that just seemed like a kick in the teeth with everything that had already happened regarding flowers, so he’d opted for wine instead, a consolation prize of sorts. 

Glancing down at his watch, it’d hit 7:48pm by the time his free hand was reaching up to knock at the door, following it with a step backwards as he waits for her to open the door. 

Thankfully Erin wasn’t someone who liked holding grudges, especially over little things. Sure, her garden being destroyed wasn’t a little inconvenience by any means but at the end of the day there was not much to do about it. Erin put a midi length green dress and paired with white sandals, hoping they weren’t going to go somewhere extremely fancy, not that she expected but since she didn’t know much about the guy, she wasn’t sure. 

She reapplied her lipstick in front of her mirror after hearing Lucian knocking the door, she grabbed her purse and opened the door. “You are early.” She mused, tossing her blonde locks aside.

“Just a couple shutter clicks of your time,” Viv replied, a smile briefly crossing her face. She hated asking people to do this sort of thing, which is 1) why she would never be an actual influencer and 2) usually did her shots at home. But desperate times….desperate measures. She slid her camera towards the other woman, quickly posing as she took a couple photos. “I really owe you one - can I get you a coffee or something? Or those aforementioned pictures in return.” 

“It’s totally fine.” Erin took the girl’s camera, trying to adjust the lighting as much as she could, she wasn’t a professional by any means but she was better than an average phone user. “There you go.” She handed the camera back to the blonde, smiling. “Coffee sounds nice. And you can tell me all about the influencer lifestyle.” She grinned. “I am curious.”

“Oh–” He should have seen that answer coming. “Yeah, I’ve been playing since then, so– good connection.” Telling her that information must have slipped his mind, but luckily enough for him. Though, he had to admit that he was curious if there had been another sign other than the obvious.

“I guess I just didn’t really see the point in it all–” That was a lie. Brandon did see the point, and there was a faction of him that wished he would have been able to participate. It was just unfortunate how his life had panned out; not really allowing him to go through those milestones during his teen years. But when you have a poor excuse for a father, well, you sort of forced yourself to grow up and recognize what should actually be important. “Those parties. Ah, well.”

“See, I am observant.” She winked at him playfully, chuckling. 

“Oh so you were too cool for high school parties.” Erin nodded in realization, although she didn’t really believe that was the case but hey if he wanted to believe that, she wasn’t going to burst his bubble. “That certainly wasn't my brother’s reason, he wanted to have a normal high school experience but back then high school kids weren’t as open minded as they are now. He was the only openly gay kid in his class, he only had two friends and obviously couldn’t wait to graduate.”

“What’re you looking at?” Holden asked curiously, looking around but not seeing anything. “Okay, so what are we doing?” he asked, chuckling at her comment, but then his question was answered. “Is that what you wanted me over here for? To try food? Because I could eat anything you make. Do you want me to be like a taste tester?” he asked. “That sounds amazing. How many different foods am I trying?” he asked, narrowing his eyes teasingly. “Italian is one of my favorite types of food. Um, you got whiskey? Otherwise, a beer or water’s fine.”

“Nothing.” She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Of course, why else would I invite you over? Taste tester sounds good, I should call you that.” She mused, chuckling. “For today, you are just going to try two desserts, nothing more. I wouldn’t want you to end up having a food coma.” Erin told him as he made her way to the bar. “Yes I do. To be honest, I am not a big fan of whiskey but I keep one bottle just in case.” She took the bottle, then grabbed a whiskey glass from her cupboard and placed it in front of Holden. “There you go.”

** time skipping bc we’ve got shit to do

Emilia was thrilled that her suggestion had been accepted and Erin let herself be dragged down the street to a bar that seemed about as sketchy as their hotel, but appropriately so. That was the vibe they had picked for the night, so now they were committed. The drinks weren’t half bad either. In the tradition of nasty bars that you should probably stay away from, the alcohol content was through the roof. “You can’t let me have more than like, two of these,” she told Erin, stirring her drink with the straw it came with, “I still haven’t fully recovered from being carried out of a frat house, and I’m not gonna make you drag my drunk ass around.”

Of course, Erin noticed Dylan’s presence, at this point she didn’t even understand why he was bothering to hide. Still though, she did her best to ignore him, if he wanted to live in the shadows, she would let him. The bar they headed wasn’t the most sophisticated one but drinks were decent, so she didn’t mind. “Don’t worry, I won’t.” Erin smiled at the younger brunette, taking a sip from her cocktail. “Besides, I sent our location to Belinda, if she didn’t hear from us more than hour, she would call the police.”

“Can you do me a favor?” Viv asked the question super apologetically, her already big eyes widening at the person sitting opposite from her. “Normally I’d never ask this, but I am trying to edit a photo for this look,” she waved a hand in a circular motion over her face, indicating the full face of make-up she had on, “since the video is going up, but I’m just realizing all the ones I took are garbage so I…need new options. I promise I won’t be, like, super annoying, but could you just take a couple for me? The lighting here is gorg, and if you’re the type for it, I’ll totally return the favor.” @slchat​

“Depends on the favor.” Erin replied honestly, smiling at the blonde. She wasn’t a hostile nor a rude person by any means but she wasn’t the type who would do people favors without expecting in anything return. Luckily the other woman wasn’t asking anything big, so Erin didn’t mind helping her out. “Sure, it’s just a couple of pictures, not a big deal.” With a shrug, she extended her hand out, waiting for blonde to hand it her camera.

Hollis knew she wasn’t being condescending. But he still kicked himself because of course there were a lot of things here jesus. But he could face palm later. He was on a mission. “Maybe not, but when I tell you I haven’t been to a mall in maybe two years I’m being sincere. – Sorry, How are you Erin?” He exhaled, “I get worked up and then I just… ramble on. I don’t mean to interrupt your shopping.”

The chuckle relaxed him, a small smile returning to his face, “Well, I, uh, agreed to have someone come help me get fitted for a nice suit ‘cause I’m pretty bad with this kind of stuff.” To be fair, he looked fine, but when the majority of what he had in his closet was what he was wearing right now: flannel shirt, jeans, canvas sneakers… that was kinda a problem, “And she already dragged me for wearing plaid which is valid so…I feel like I can’t show up like,” He motioned to himself, “This.”

“I don’t even know how you live like that.” It was beyond Erin, really. “I am great, I just bought bunch of skin care but the high will wear off soon.” She joked, letting out a chuckle. “No, no. You are not interrupting anything.” It was a good thing actually, she absolutely didn’t need another pair of shoes.