❛   —   NOPE,  just  wanted  to  make  sure  there  wasn’t  any  confusion.   ❜   she  hovered,  not  wanting  to  be  outwardly  rude,  but  also  wanting  to  have  as  limited  contact  with  the  boy  as  possible.  not  only  was  he  the  ex  of  her  good  friend,  who  she’d  regrettably  hooked  up  with  (  twice  ),  but  he  also  just  wasn’t  the  sort  of  person  maddy  wanted  to  associate  with.  joaquin  corona  wasn’t  exactly  congruous  with  her  good  girl  image.  ❛   —   OH.  um,  did  you  have  anything  else  to  say  ?   ❜   polite,  and  yet  (  hopefully  )  still  dismissive  enough  he’d  take  the  hint.

——   “  YOU’VE  CUT  IT  .  “  she  stated  ,  after  her  eyes  had  followed  his  motions  ,  landing  on  his  hair  .  it’s  different  from  what  she’s  used  to  seeing  on  him  but  it  suits  him  .  “  it  looks  good  on  you  .  “  she  compliments  giving  him  a  genuine  smile  .  “  you  have  no  idea  .  “  her  words  referring  to  being  on  edge  .  it  seemed  that  the  feeling  was  a  constant  in  her  life  now  after  last  year  .  “  and  it  has  been  way  too  long  but  i’m  glad  to  hear  you  are  doing  okay  .  “  he  was  right  .  it  had  been  forever  for  them  .  dani  thought  this  was  the  most  the  two  of  them  had  talked  since  they  had  called  it  quits  .  she  wasn’t  sure  how  much  longer  the  conversation  would  last  but  she  was  happy  that  it  was  happening  at  all  .  it  wasn’t  until  she  had  to  take  a  step  back  to  allow  the  man  through  that  she  realized  they  were  still  near  the  door  .  she  shot  the  man  a  mini  glare  of   her  own  before  joining  in  on  key’s  laughter  .  it  was  a  sound  she  didn’t  realize  she  missed  hearing  .  “  ah  ,  that  whitton  hospitality  .  got  to  love  it  !  “  

lauren roles her eyes at his first comment and she shakes his head.  “ dont call me princess,” she says and grimaces at him. “ and don’t be so sure. “ she points out. it’s almost comical how different her moods can be when around key.  she glances up to him and her head tilts.  “ who knows, maybe i’ll grab starbucks and actually focus on my work. or maybe i’ll go out. “

“ WELL IT WAS ? ” she replied, tone distant as she examined her eyebrows in the mirror. it wasn’t a rare occurrence to have key show up at her door ready to unleash his grievances against the world, just the same as she did with him. it wasn’t their fault that they were superior – it was just the way that the world worked. “ i think that we both know that title belongs to me. ” stas’ remarked as she turned around in her chair towards him. “ who cares what she thinks anyway ? she’s nothing, a mere blip on your radar. ”

a sigh leaves his lips , shaking his head. “ key , buddy. ” he lets out a soft chuckle , running a hand through slack curls. “ it’s fine , you know i don’t really care if we talk about her. but you should know that even if she did , i’m sworn to twin secrecy , so i wouldn’t tell you shit. you’re my bud , but i’m ALREADY risking dani being pissed at me , don’t think i’m that ballsy. ” their friendship was a slight risk , though he feels his sister would understand. “ are you missing her , or what ? ”

veronica and key were at the same pregame and although they didn’t particularly get along, they hadn’t had a problem with one another in a little while. usually things would go down between them at parties though, so to show up to the pregame and find her among the group was alarming. he just hoped she didn’t try to mess with his game with any of the others, but he knew it was a long shot to ask for that. as the night went on, nearly thirty minutes into the pregame, he left one of the bathrooms and bumped into someone on his way back downstairs. he dropped his cup, the contents spilling onto the floor. “what the -”

——  THE  CORNERS  OF  her  mouth  slightly  upturned  into  a   small  smile  as  dani  was  comforted  by  the  fact  that  she  wasn’t  the  only  one  who  felt  tense  with  their  exchange  .  even  then  though  ,  her  mind  was  racing  in  an  attempt  to  find  the  right  words  to  respond  .  she  finally  settled  on  something  short  and  sweet  as  it  had  always  worked  in  their  past  conversations  .  “  same  old  ,  same  old  .  was  just  picking  up  something  to  eat  . “    she  stated  ,  finally  moving  through  the  door  key  still  held  open  .  “  how  have  you  been  ?  “  ,  she  asked  ,  her  mind  no  longer  focused  on  actually  finding  food  .  

lips curled into a frown, salena quickly capped the water bottle she had just taken a healthy swing from. it took everything in her not to wince at the taste of the liquid burning through her mouth and throat. “that was vodka, not water. clearly the universe is either giving me a sign or playing russian roulette with my life.” salena gagged at the taste still lingering in her mouth. “do you have a bottle of water, or something on you?”

key watched as she took the sip, confused when she looked disgusted as she gulped down the drink. he took the water bottle from her bag and handed it to her. “that’s fucked up. how did you not know that was vodka? isn’t that yours?”

“Yes, but most birds don’t fly 20 stories high,” Caroline pointed out, shaking her head and taking a long sip of her coffee. “Birds are dumb, Key. They’ll forever fly into buildings and windows and whatnot, there’s no cure for it,” she smirked, shrugging once again. “You know, birds shitting on you means good luck.”

“i guess?” he chuckled at the exchange before taking a sip. “i mean, we can try to make windows more visible. y’know, not clear. they are stupid though.” he shook his head, “no. birds are evil. i don’t trust them. gross.” he wanted to throw up thinking about it. “have you ever shit on?”

PRIVATE // @keycoro​

JOAQUIN

“hello, you.” preston took a seat next to key – at least that’s what he was told. maybe it was short for something. it didn’t really matter though — preston just felt the need to say hello. he was already tipsy, and could hold a few more drinks. he ordered a tequila, licking his lips before he spoke again. “preston.” he reached out a hand, putting on his signature smile. “nice to finally meet you.” he’d seen him around –  and decided what better time to strike up a conversation than over drinks and good music. “did you come here on your own?”

“  if  you  want  me  to  move,  you’re  going  to  have  to  move  me  yourself.  i  can’t  feel  my  body.  ”  mila  can’t  move  to  even  see  where  she  has  more  or  less  collapsed.  she  can  barely  hear  over  the  beating  of  her  own  heart,  her  mind  too  occupied  with  the  state  of  her  body  on  the  verge  of  shut  down  after  such  an  intense  work  out.

“Kind of,” Caroline explained. “I don’t really drink it regular just… in things. But yeah, generally, I think it’s sweeter.” Caroline shrugged, taking another sip of her drink and rolling her eyes at him. “My building is huge, I’ve never seen a bird on top–it’s too high.”

his eyebrows scrunched together, “a building too high for a bird? you do realize they have wings, right?” he leaned over to pick up his coffee and took a sip before setting it back down, his hands still around the cup. “birds do have an issue with those glass buildings, though. so many accidents happen a year. like, in one of my classes we were talking about how to make the windows more visible for birds and stuff.” key shrugged, “i know some pretty interesting stuff, right? this one time a bird shit on me while i was arguing with my mo and it was like, the fucking worst. like i was already mad, why shit on me? i think i had something against birds ‘til like, a week ago.” 

“ i do not hate parties. “  lauren comments,  a roll of pale blue eyes emphasizes the point, punctuates it too really. joaquin is someone who annoys her one minute and yet she can’t get out of her head the next. it  infuriates  her.  “ i just don’t like parties with you.”  she offers him a superficial grin.

﹙  *☆ ┆ 𝒇𝒕.  𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲  𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭.

          she  jumped  at  the  sound  of  key’s  voice,  not  having  noticed  he  was  there  (  somehow  ).   as  he  browsed  through  hooks  in  the  next  aisle  over,  she  crossed  her  arms  across  her  chest,  determinedly  looking  at  a  point  over  his  left  shoulder.   ❛   —  that’s,  um,  yeah,  that’s  the  PLAN.  not  cause  you  said  it,  though.  just  cause  it’s  the  logical  next  step.  so  i  should  probably  get  going  and  find  them.  before  they’re  sold  out.  online.   ❜

p r i v a t e  s t a r t e r    /  lauren + key.  ( @keycoro​. )

her short stance does not alter nor impair her quick step. iced coffee rushes the sides of the clear plastic of her cup with every small bounce in her stride, walking with a mission, or at least a clear destination. it’s seems it would be near impossible to stop her, until she hears him. the words settle and lauren pauses mid step, turning on her heel to glance at him. delicate features pinch together in a rather … incredulous frown.   “ as if ! “

“It’s okay, I’m trying to cut dairy out so I got my drink with oat milk instead,” Caroline explained. Lately, dairy had been hurting her stomach, and while her doctor said she wasn’t lactose intolerant, she suggested the Carol switch to some alternatives. She liked oat milk, so oat milk it would be. “Why do you sound sarcastic?” she half asked, half teased, shrugging. “I was thinking of laying out on the roof of my apartment building, get some last minute sun. You?”

“oat milk. is it sweeter than milk? only other milk i’ve had is soy milk. that’s pretty good.” key had to compose himself after that little tone. he just didn’t like thinking about that place. memories he didn’t want to remember. “no, i don’t know. sorry. you’re a generally nice person,” he said with a grin. “do you really just go lay on your roof? are you not scared of a bird shitting on you?”