midnight sky

There was no point arguing with Maya, the actress knew better than that, that despite her own feistiness, she wouldn’t be settled until she’d won in some form. It was a quality that she had to admit that she did love about her best friend. Although, her remarks about Matthew had her tittering on the edge of vexation. With a grumble and a solid frown, she arched her back and tilted her head towards the other. “He is not a loser,” she defended bluntly. “And he’s definitely not some obnoxious hipster, he’s actually… really sweet and kind, and — “ Could she be up this guy’s ass any more? Realizing she was sounding attached, she cleared her throat and shrugged. “He’s good with his tongue. Noah would have needed another ark down there.”

“God, Brooke...” Maya sighed, rubbing her temples gently as Brooke described the guy, rolling her eyes. How could her friend to be this naive? “Is this going to be Rigs 2.0? Because, like, you are still not over that mess and you certainly do not need another one.” Making a funny face, Maya nodded her head. “As if that’s so hard. I can assure you I am very good with my tongue too but that does not mean people should develop feelings for me.”

“You offering?” Baz counters, his eyebrow raised. “Cause according to a board we keep out back, no one’s taken it up the ass in the garage so far but I’d be happy to change that.” 

Alex snickered at that, some amusement flitting across his face. She sounded like his youngest sister whens he was being petulant. “Me? No, not at all.” Another sip of coffee and shrug. Maybe there was something to be said for open asshole-ry in America. No pretense. Though, there was something fun at thinking of clever ways to insult. He gestured around them with a hand, “but karma? Maybe. Heard she’s a bit of a bitch when she wants to be.”

Harlow looked over at Maya with a raise of her eyebrows, letting out a small snort of laughter. “No, but your shoes look like they could fund one, which is probably why they’re hoping you’ll give them money.” 

“Thank you. They are a new pair of Jimmy Choos.” She smirked at the brunette. “They are barking up to the wrong tree because I don’t do charity.”

Brooke held her hands up in a mock surrender, attempting not to roll her eyes at Maya’s sensitivity. “I’m pretty sure those good samaritans and countless charities do,” she corrected, halfheartedly. She was about to counter her argument about karma, because the young actress did in fact believe in the principle, which was something she wouldn’t openly admit without needing to. However, when the so called loser was brought up, she had a much larger need to defend her time with him. “Are you talking about Matthew?” Now it was her turn to scoff. “I am not soft, and certainly not because of him. He’s just… a distraction.”

“Since countless charities do something about homeless, I don’t have to do anything.” She shrugged her shoulders, shaking her hand dismissively. “Yes I am. Unless you are fucking another loser.” Maya rolled her eyes, she never knew how Brooke always ended up picking those boring guys. “Come on B! You can do so much better. Like, a guy like him shouldn’t be your distraction. You should be chasing better looking guys with better resume. Not some obnoxious hipster z-lister from New York.”

Maxence was grateful for Maya to have begun speaking for the woman on his other side had been talking about something dreadfully boring. He quickly turned to her and rolled his eyes. “You look liked you have enough to spare,” he threw out casually.

“I do enough to spare,” She started with a smirk, tossing her long locks aside. “But do I want to? No. I like spending my money on things that are useful to me. And a homeless person is definitely not one of them. Unless they deal coke, then that’s a different story.”

“You think they like asking? That they get a kick out it?” Jack’s eyebrow’s arched at the other’s words. “Have a little compassion”

“I can’t really make assumptions about crackheads since I am not one.” Except on weekends of course but her drug of choice was coke -- not crack nor meth. “My compassion is reserved for people I actually care about. The rest... well, I don’t give a shit.”

“Believe me, the feeling is mutual,” she responds with a roll of her eyes. “It’s safe standing this close to you, right? I don’t need to worry about you going all Long Island Lolita on me, do I?”

“You shouldn’t worry about that because I know I can’t survive jail,” Maya stopped to smirk, looking at the blonde. “I can’t deny though, I would love to shoot you in the face. If anything, it would be a favour to you, god knows you desperately need a new one.”

Baz’s eyebrow raises at the visual, which was far more graphic than he anticipated. Neat. 

“That sounds like an actual fear of yours. There a reason for that?”

“Are you new to LA?,” Dante frowned giving the other a whimsical look, she had been stopped by her fair share of homeless people here, way more than back in New Jersey, but the other’s statement sounded harsh even by LA standards.

“No, I am not.” Maya responded with a scoff. “I’ve been dealing with these filthy people for years and still manage to get frustrated by them every fucking time.”

Ingrid hadn’t expected the attitude of the woman speaking to her and her eyebrows instinctively lifted, giving away her surprise before she could even attempt to conceal it. “You don’t seriously think you’re that special, do you?” she responded, waiting for the punchline if there was one. “I mean, for one, you live in Los Angeles, it’s kind of expected and two homeless people literally ask anybody and everybody for money, they need all the help they can get. I don’t think they took a second to think about you personally, babe,” 

Maya rolled her eyes, letting out a quiet scoff. It was quite funny how people didn’t miss an opportunity to showcase how considerate they were about homeless people, yet nothing has been done about the situation. “You seem like you do know a lot about homeless people.” Maya said with a mocking pout, shrugging. “Judging from how you look, that does not surprise me actually.”

“You’re telling me,” Bowie grimaces, always surprised to see Maya wandering around given it’s either miracle or money that she could do so freely without a looming live warrant. 

“No, you do look like you would join the board of charity though just to dismantle it for fun.” 

Her lips curled into a sly smirk once Bowie finally responded her. His sarcasm didn’t go unnoticed but at least he responded, this was a progress. 

Brooke laughed as she noticed her eye roll, but she soon mirrored her action when Maya continued on her rampage on the homeless epidemic of L.A. “You clearly haven’t smelled yourself after a night out then.” She teased, making a vomit gesture. It wasn’t completely within the actress’ heart to agree with any of it, apart from that something needed to be done about them — something humanitarian, but unfortunately, she didn’t care enough to do anything about it herself. With a scoff, she glanced around quickly to confirm that fact. “I do care,” she protested. “I just… I think you could go easier on them. You’re an editor, MJ. You could spare a burger and fries for someone less fortunate. Think of the karma!”

“That wasn’t funny, B.” Maya’s demeanor quickly changed. Mean jokes were only fine when they were about other people, not about each other. “Why? Who gives a shit about homeless people?” Or other people. “Sorry to break it to you but there’s not such a thing as Karma, that’s just something a made up word to stop people from doing whatever the hell they want. I am not worried, neither should you.” She scoffed, tossing her long brown locks aside. “You have gone so soft ever since you’ve started hanging out with that loser. So boring.”

Alex wasn’t unused to her type in big cities, especially American ones where there was no call for decorum or general politeness. People just said what they wanted, as she was doing now. Taking a sip of his coffee, he shrugged at the young woman. “No, but you sound kind of like a dick.” Though, he suspected she couldn’t care less if she did. 

“Oh, how unfortunate, I thought your use of Michael Kors was meant to indicate your representation of the Salvation Army.” Sam shrugged, taking a long drag of her magenta Sobranie spliff. "Perhaps try paying a Skid Row resident for styling tips. Could be a mutually beneficial exchange.”

Leave it to Sam Blackwood to get under Maya’s skin. If this comment came from someone else, she would just roll her eyes and say something dismissive in return. But with Sam, it was different; not only she was the enemy, she was also the person Maya idolized. “Is that where you get your styling tips from?” Maya stopped momentarily to look at the blonde from head to toe for that dramatic pause effect. “It makes a lot of sense actually.”