Camille "Mil" Rossi

He chuckles softly as she mentions being fancy, Lucian had a taste for whiskey, it went down well. He wasn’t a cocktail kind of guy, but that was probably absentmindedly down to the stereotype that was held with a man drinking cocktails on the regular, instead his usual choice of drink was between whiskey and beer, simple, easy, a nice choice for an overactive mind. “Fancy is always good.” He answers finally, agreeing with her, even if the concept didn’t stand for himself. His brow cocks softly at her questions, a shrug rolling off of his shoulders. “Not really, eight months or so?” Had it really been that long? “I’m from Oxfordshire, but I’ve moved around quite a lot.” Which wasn’t a lie, Washington, various universities to get his medical degree, and then hospitals to do his surgical training, residency, and attending, before moving to Silver Lake and buying a house. That was the settling point, he’d never purchased a house before, or set up his own business. “How about you?” 

“Oh so you are sort of a ‘newbie’ to this area. Have you lived somewhere else in L.A. before or is this your so called first touch to it?” It really was no lie that Camille loved getting to know new people and she definitely was a talker. She could probably talk someone’s ears off if she chose to. Of course she was a brilliant listener too, that came from the facts of being the oldest sister and from her work as well. A therapist who didn’t listen would be a really bad therapist. “I’ve lived most of my life in here, actually. But like I mentioned, I was away for about five years and now been back almost two years. But getting back here has been a bit of an adjustment. You know, getting a new house, a new job, all that jazz. Though I have to admit, I’ve missed living here. Even the stupid traffic jams.”

Nirvana: We love you too. I hope you know that.

Nirvana: If we ever have to help you bury a body let us know.

Mil: Of course I do. But I wouldn't mind you guys telling it to me more often. ;)

He glances down at the drink in front of him and then back at the woman, before being distracted as the bartender returns with her drink, offering to put it on a tab, Luke nods his head, and off they go again, leaving him to return his attention to Mil. “Sometimes theres something wonderful about simplicity, don’t you think?—” he remarks, lifting his drink and taking a sip before tilting his glass towards her in a cheers kind of manner. 

The smile on Mil’s lips only grew bigger when he confirmed her guess. “I can’t deny that. Sometimes it’s definitely a plain old G&T day. But today I felt abit more fancy”, she gestured towards her Negroni. Not that it was that special either, but definitely more complicated than a gin & tonic would be, or a glass of whiskey. “Have you lived here for long? If you don’t mind me being curious about who you actually are and what makes your mind tick. But if you’d rather be left alone I can also shut up and just guess things in my mind.”

“Anything will do, really,” he says, not too fussed with his living arrangements as long as he can show Lucian that he can support himself. “Beggars can’t be choosers, after all.” He offers her a smile, grateful for her kindness. Granted, she might not end up finding something, but the thought is what counts. “Truth is, I wouldn’t actually know the first thing about buying my own place. So I guess applying as a roommate would be the wisest decision, right?” This is the sort of thing that he should ask Lucian, but they’re not known to have these kinds of conversations. Not that he ever tried, but, well, every conversation ends up with his brother rolling his eyes at him or trying to sermon him for something he already knows. He takes it in stride because he’s living under his roof rent-free, but he wishes Lucian would go easy on him a little. Though, to be fair, maybe going easy on him is what’s gotten him into this mess in the first place. 

He shakes his head as if to rid it from his trouble for the night. They were at a club, for fuck’s sake, they should be having fun and ogling cute boys and cute girls, not talking about apartments. “Hey.” He raises his brows as he looks over Camille’s shoulder. “What’dya think ‘bout him?” If Camille were to look behind her, she’d see a guy sitting a table with his friend, stealing occasional glances at Camille which does not go unnoticed by JJ.

“Oh come on, you aren’t a beggar.” Of course Camille knew JJ wasn’t swimming in money, but he definitely wasn’t a beggar in her eyes. “But okay, someone looking for a roommate. I’ll keep my eyes open and let you know right away if I find something.” That was a promise and that promise Mil was going to keep. There was no quarantee she would find someone looking for a roommate, but two pairs of eyes looking for a place was always better than just one.

Mil looked a bit surprised when JJ all of a sudden asked her thoughts about some guy behind them. “What, are you trying to wingman me?” she asked with a chuckle and then she of course had to look over her shoulder to see who this guy was JJ was talking about. She met the gaze of the guys, flashed them a smile and then turned back to JJ. “They look a bit young, don’t you think? I don’t want to be any crib robber, you know.”

“Yeah, probably.” He answers softly, a nod following soon after. “Well this one—” he turns, nodding at the bartender preparing his drink. “Has a good memory, so theres that.” He was joking somewhat, he didn’t really spend much time talking to whoever was behind the bar, but he appreciated them either way, they knew the deal, they knew his order, they never refused to pass a drink to the other end of the bar on his behalf, which happened to be a decent conversation starter. “Thanks man—” Luke murmurs to the bartender as they go to get Mils drink. “Well, nice to meet you Mil.” He offers her a smile, chuckling softly as she asks his. “I’m Luke.”

Mil looked at the bartender and nodded at the man’s words. “It seems like it.” After all the bartender did remember this guy’s drink even that he didn’t even say what he wanted. So definitely a good memory. “Nice to meet you too, Luke”, she replied with a matching smile. “Though now I have to ask”, she started and then pointed at the glass Luke had. “What’s your signature drink? It can’t be something as simple as whiskey on rocks, can it?”

atticus rossi

“The neighbors should honestly be used to it at this point. Weirder things have happened on this street,” he said, fondly thinking back to the last summer when he’d just moved in and rented a big bouncy castle just to put himself on the map. Actually come to think of it, that was a solid Rossivision idea and now felt like an enormous missed opportunity. Next year, he supposed. Or maybe a ball pit. 

“I have to source a coffee table for that author up in Los Feliz ‘cause apparently the first six were horrible,” he made a face and finished the rest of his drink for good measure, “But that can only really be more tolerable if I’m just a tiny bit hungover.” The time difference helped them out a bit in that regard… or at least in theory it should. Usually it didn’t quite work out that way. Even if the Eurovision show was done before dinner, the Rossis never were and the party usually lasted well into the night. “You guys heard from Simone? She was supposed to be here, right? Did she forget to cancel on me again? Swear she does it on purpose.”

They all raised their glasses and drank to that. If people thought giving twins too much sugar was the craziest idea, then they should have thought about putting all the Rossis together under the same roof. If the place was still standing by the end of the day…. well, that’s what Nirvana called luck. 

Thank God for the a/c being on, otherwise, the blonde’s head would have exploded from wearing that wig. “Ah, how is that going? If you need any help… you can always try and bribe me.” Nirvana grinned at her brother, before downing her drink. “Tiny bit of hangover you say? We’ll see.” It has been a sad day when the real competition was canceled, though the Rossis would never allow the universe to play them that way. No, they were too crazy for that. “She’s cramping her life away, so she texted me that she won’t make it. I’m angry okay – I wanted to see her costume.” ( @milrossi )

“Hunting down a coffee table doesn’t sound that complicated unless it’s covered in leaf gold and has duck egg colored marble legs or something. Which probabl is the case considering what kind of persons your clients tend to be..” Mil was once again teasing her little brother about the weird stuff he had to hunt down time to time, but then again, she knew there was a hint of truth there considering how some of the clients could be extremely excentric on the way they wanted their homes to look like. “Maybe we should videocall Simone at some point and demand her to put on a costume even though she’s not here with us. And then make her do a lipsync version of a Eurovision song so we know she’s truly a Rossi.” ( @atticusrossi​ )

He pulled out his phone, adding her birthday into her contact information, “Alright. Locked it in.” Now he wouldn’t forget and Camille could expect a nice little gift sitting on her porch on her birthday, “Actually it’s comin’ up in a bit. It’s July 1st. This year feels like it’s going by so fast.” He smiled as she spoke, “I like the sound of brave little gnomes. I’m happy to donate my socks for them. As far as the other ones go, don’t be mad at me, but I’ve never seen Harry Potter. I know I am a Hufflepuff, and I am a proud one at that, but that’s about where my knowledge ends.”

Hollis nodded, “That’s how I feel about my past relationship, how it ended. Like a card house.” He repeated before a small smile grew on his face, “I know we will. I feel like, all things considered, Silver Lake has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. Regardless of the bad that’s happened here, my best friends are here. If I hadn’t moved here I wouldn’t have met you for example, or any of the other great people who are so kind.” A smile, “It feels like a new chapter in my life and I’m starting to feel really good about it.”

A bright laugh, “I’m not taking you to Walmart! You’ll have to tolerate my being a slow poke and all but that sounds like a plan. We should go, I’m serious. I get a lot of inspiration from nature for some of my side hustle stuff I’m working on. We could bring sketchbooks.” He shook his head, “I don’t think that’s weird. I think home made meals always taste the best. I was telling a friend I make a good grilled cheese. I even like to make the tomato soup myself. Maybe not the fanciest meal but hey, it’s my specialty.”

“July first?” Mil repeated, got up from her chair and walked to the calendar that was on her fridge. She turned open July, picked up the marker next t the calendar and wrote ‘Hollis’ on the July 1st -square. “And now I won’t forget it either”, she said with a smile as she returned back to the table. “Oh don’t worry about not reading or watching Harry Potter. I read the books for my work and then watched the movies because my younger siblings wanted to. They aren’t really my cup of tea at all, but I do know I’m a Ravenclaw.”

Camille listened Hollis words with a small smile on her lips, nodding in agreement. “This is a nice place to live in. We are still in a huge city but it’s somewhat peaceful around here. In a way I wouldn’t mind living in the middle of nowhere, but I know I’d start to miss people a lot really quickly. So maybe being here in the middle of the people is the right place for me. Besides, I can always just go somewhere with a bit less people if I want to be surrounded by nature or something.“ Mil’s smile grew a bit bigger. “But I truly am happy to hear you’re seeing all this as a new chapter. Sometimes bad things have to happen for the good to show up. After all, the sun will always shine, even through the thickest shadows.”

“We definitely should go. Get a tent, sleeping bags, sketchbooks and so on. It’d be great.” Camille was really looking forward to this, whenever it might happen. But she knew it’d be a fun trip for sure. “All those sounds great. I want to taste those, so maybe you’ll have to make me some tomato soup with some grilled cheese on the side. Or the other way around.”

Nirvana: ....i'm on older soul though!

Nirvana: Sometimes I have no idea how you put up with us.

Mil: We can agree to disagree on that one, Vanvan. ♥

“I should grow a cherry tree or something in my backyard, it’d save me some money.” She mused, initially distracted. “Maybe they’d just be nice and enjoy having something to look at then? They wouldn’t have to do the work themselves if you expanded,” she paused, “unless they actually use their backyard.” That again would be assuming her neighbors were actually nice and even willing, which she couldn’t guarantee. But Mil was having fun and that over-rode everything else. “I’m not fully sure I have the commitment to stick to something new just yet.”

“You definitely should. Although it’ll take up to few years before it’ll start making fruit, but once it does it’s worth the wait.” Camille might have to get few apple trees on her yard because she loved making apple pies and getting apples from her own yard would be amazing. “I think I might take over one of my sibling’s yard and start planting stuff there so I don’t need to bother my neighbors.” Probably her siblings wouldn’t even mind if all of a sudden their yards would be full of plants and flowers. Although that might mean they’d have to hire a gardener because Mil had her doubts about her siblings actually going around the yard few times a week to water all the plants. “Well, keep your eyes open if something fun comes your way so when you have the time you can hop on that hobby.”

Atticus was about to (teasingly) roll his eyes as she talked about her session, but the ending to the sentence caught him off guard and he burst out laughing, “Sounds about right. And honestly? What a steal. Restoring people’s faith in the world would be worth a lot more than two grand, so you’re honestly doing them a favor by not charging more.” He was well aware that it was all just jokes, and he was in no position to comment on her rates either, considering how his own had made more than one person spit out their drinks.

“I know it, your intuition is just,” he gave a chef’s kiss, and that was entirely truthful. Mil had a way of knowing when he needed to talk about something… or when he needed help mitigating some disaster. It was almost like a sixth sense, and he very much appreciated it, even if he’d never admit to how often it had saved his ass. “You can do some landscaping at my place, it’s not exactly raising the property value right now. Mom would be embarrassed… in fact I know she is because she told me that.”

Camille joined in her brother’s laughter. Two grand per session definitely wasn’t what she charged from people, it definitely was an amount she threw in the air as a joke. She didn’t really speak much about her rates because she didn’t think it was needed at all. People dear to her knew she could really easily live her life without no stress about money so that was all that they needed to know.  “Just think of their faces when they’d have to pay money for me opening the curtains. I think they wouldn’t be that satisfied customers afterwards”, she chuckled, but she knew both of them knew that Mil would never really do such thing even though she was joking about it. She was too kind to even really consider such.

Chef kiss brought a smile on Mil’s lips. “Maybe my intuition is my sixth sense.” She really wouldn’t be surprised if that’d be the case, especially when it came to her siblings. When Atticus said she could landscape his yard Camille definitely looked surprised. “You really mean that? Because I definitely will start planting everything there if you let me to do that. Although you probably don’t want a sea of flowers in yours, so we should go with more on the line of ‘a lot of greenery’.”

Nirvana: You're not that old in alien years!

Nirvana: Prefer the bedroom, I mean, i like the bathroom too??? JK. Ok you need to close your ears because like, i'm kinda high right now.

Mil: I think I'm still older than you even in alien years!

He nods his head as she speaks, in a sort of silent agreement. Not for the same reasons, but he understood fully that stuff changed, that was definitely the case for him. “I get that.” He adds finally, his gaze skimming down the bar as she mentions the change of bartenders, the corner of his mouth upturning ever so slightly. “That long? I don’t even think half of the bartenders from six months are still here.” That was when he’d found this little pick up spot. “I guess they move onto bigger and better things, huh?” He speaks, bartender placing a drink in front of him. “— and whatever, sorry, I didn’t catch your name, do you want another drink?” He asks, head turning towards Camille. 

Camille couldn’t help but chuckle. “Most likely something better was in the horizon. But it’s a bit sad my favorite bartender isn’t here anymore. We had great talks.” It was literally the circle of life how people changed jobs and moved on, but it was still a bit sad not to see your favorite face at your favorite place anymore. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t give it yet”, she apologised and then flashed him one of those bright smiles of hers. “Mil. And I won’t say no to another Negroni. May I request your name in return too?”

“Actually nah, she was pretty nice about you. Her twin brother, on the other hand,” he chuckled, letting the sentence drift off, because in truth, they hadn’t talked that much about her siblings. But enough that he could recognize her sister on the street, at least. “It’s nice to meet you too. Do you live with her too? Here, on Silver Lake?” he questioned, curious. “Oh, you know what? That might actually be of help. Would certainly save me not being able to see where I’m going and crashing into someone else. You can take that one and I’ll get this one,” he pointed to the lighter box for her to pick up, while moving towards the heavier one. “It’s just up the ways here, not far, I swear.”

Camille grinned at Jude’s words. “I know, she’s not one to throw me under the bus.” Their relationship definitely was extremely close and they both loved each other dearly and they wouldn’t go shittalking each other to others. They only shittalked right to each other’s faces and maybe to their siblings, but never to those outside of their little circle. “Atticus is.. Atticus”, she chuckled, not going to go to any detail what kind of person her little brother was. He was his own personality and Mil loved him as he was. “I have my own house here on Silver Lake, yes. Not too far from Nirvana’s house though. But I did stay at hers when I moved back here and didn’t have a place of my own.” Camille picked up the extra box and headed towards the studio. “If it’s the studio I think it is, it definitely isn’t far.”

He cards his fingers through the front of his hair to put a little faux volume on his clipped curls then puts one hand on the side of Camille’s face while she presses a kiss to his cheek and smiles into the camera, waiting for the blinding flash, and another, and another, before pulling away. “Perfect,” he mumbles, and returns to his drink. He peeps at the screen when she shows the photo to him. “Aw, we look so cute,” he muses, and sips his beer, a smile pressed into the rim.

A new DJ takes his place in the booth, though he’s still setting up. JJ knows the guy, though he can’t say he’s too pleased to be in his company for the night. They had a summer fling once, after Nirvana and before his latest ex, but that hadn’t ended amicably for either parties. He makes sure to turn his back fully towards the stage when he responds to Camille. “I’ve been good, yeah. Just trying to take on as many gigs as possible. Trying to look for a new place, you know? I feel like Luke’s just too nice to tell me to fuck off.” He laughs. “So if you know anyone who needs a cheap roommate and doesn’t think EDM is the devil’s music, hit me up.” He raises his bottle towards her.

“New place?” she repeated, in a way bit surprised JJ was looking for a new place, but at the same time she knew way too well how it’d be nice to have a place for yourself instead of staying at your sibling’s place. After all, Camille had done the exact same some time ago. The devil music made her chuckle. “I can’t say I can name a person right away, especially not without checking the case of devil music. But I’ll keep my eyes and ears open in case something comes up. Are you looking like a small apartment, an actual house, or just apartment with roommates? And from what area or does location matter at all?” It was important to get enough details so if she’d find a place she wouldn’t go spamming him with messages about it if it’d be in completely wrong place or too expensive and so on. But she definitely wouldn’t just be ‘keeping her eyes open’ because it was more than certain that she’d go for a little apartment hunting herself to help JJ out. After all, that’s what friends did to the other.

“Honestly, it’d be a godsend sometimes,” he said, not so sure it was a bad idea after all. The more he thought about it, the more it started to make some kind of sense. “Most of our clients are great, fantastic people but then occasionally there’s some… less than that people. They could probably do with some Mil guidance to help them see the light.” Or maybe he just wanted to involve his sister. One of the two. He shrugged at her question, “Ah, not much new. Haven’t done anything horrifically stupid in a while,” he chuckled, though he was pretty sure it was just a matter of time. Had to cherish that statement while it was still true. “How about you? Better be doing something more exciting. I swear all I do is work lately, it’s pathetic.”

"Well, just start sending them to my office and we’ll see am I able to make them see the light. Maybe I should just open the curtains and tell them the world is a wonderful place. And then ask for two grands for the session.” She would never really do that, but she could be silly about the topic nevertheless. She was a therapist, she took her job seriously, but she was still a Rossi and that meant she had the goofiness in her genes. “If you would’ve done something hottifically stupid I would’ve come to haunt your dreams several days ago”, she joked, but most likely they both knew what a mama bear Camille could be when she had to and none of her siblings were safe from that when they did something stupid. “Me, doing something exciting?” she started to laugh.

“Well, tell you what, for your birthday or christmas… whichever comes first you won’t be insulted if I get you some really cool socks, will you? I for one, think crazy socks are necessary part of anyone’s wardrobe.” He smiled, “Speaking of, when is your birthday? Did I miss it?” Hollis was pretty practical… But he was also a bit of a chaotic bean sometimes and when there were socks with little macaroni noodles on them he had to buy. Immediately. “That’s fair. One sock always likes to run away. I swear I’ve lost ½ of so many pairs of socks and I’ve checked everywhere.”

He smiled, “I have a cat and that’s enough work for me right now.” He tilted his head, “I don’t wanna pry, so don’t feel like you have to answer but, bad break up?” A understanding nod, “I feel the same way, honestly, if I had kids they probably would have been with my ex and that…” He shook his head, “– Not a good situation to raise children.” Another smile, “One day. Until then I’m happy to have you keep me busy with house projects.”

Hollis face brightened at the mention of a day trip, “You know what? I’d love that. Where are we going? Do you like to hike?” He eagerly, took a fork-full of his food, chewing thoughtfully for a moment, “Well, Camile, I have to say, when you open your restaurant I’ll be your main patron. This is delicious. – I’m not going to serve you mac and cheese!” He laughed, “Though there is absolutely nothing wrong with boxed mac and cheese. A perfect food, really.”

“In the end of September, 27th to be exact. So you got time to choose good socks”, she replied with a smile. “When’s yours? I’ll get you a nice non-toxic hanging plant.” She had started to write the list of non-toxic plants already, but it wasn’t even near being finished yet so she was going to continue writing it and give it to Hollis in few days. “You know, I’m sure the home elves go and steal the socks. And no, I don’t mean the Harry Potter home elves, more like those tiny gnome-like ones. When I was a child there was this animated tv-show called The World of David the Gnome. There were these really brave and tiny gnomes doing many kind of things. So every time I think of home elves I think of those gnome like elves. So whenever there’s a pairless sock I’m sure one of them took one for whatever purpose they needed it.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t mind answering”, she assured, “But yes, you could call it as a bad breakup. Or more like a bad divorce. A bunch of jealousy and too much working, and eventually it all came down like a card house.” Camille sighed softly. “I know it’s better this way and it has been almost two years since I came back here, but still sometimes I miss him. But as a therapist I know it’s just a normal part of the process. After all, I lost someone who was really important to me for so many years. But it had to be done.” As she listened how Hollis had gotten similar story from his past a soft smile came to her lips. “One day we both find the right person and get to start our family. I’m certain of it.”

Luckily Hollis got excited about the day trip -idea because it was a great excuse to leave the bit bittersweet topic behind for now. “Honestly I’d be up for any kind of trip. Even if it’d mean we’d go to Walmart”, she laughed a bit, “But I have to admit, I haven’t gone hiking in a long while, but I would definitely be up for that.” Her smile only grew bigger and you could tell how happy she was to hear Hollis liked what she had made. “I probably never will put up a restaurant, but your’re always welcomed to come over to eat. And what comes to mac and cheese, I’m the weird one who likes to make it all fancy by making it from a scratch.”

Nirvana: More like three, but hey, better late than never! 👽

Nirvana: That was ONE TIME Millie, we can always use the bedroom.

Mil: See, I'm old and numbers are getting hard to remember.