𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕪 / *

open starter // in reference to [ x ]  @hillstonreblog​

soo-min didn’t check the enmity. far too certain in her ability to stay above their radar, unaffected, unmoved. yet today she had been proven wrong, so terribly wrong. a forwarded message from her sibling, simply read: ‘is this true?’. within minutes the space atmosphere soo-min falls cold, it creeps up her forearms with quick prickles, squeezing — constricting — to the point min can’t find the aptness to breathe. nails dig mindlessly into her sternum, gazed still fixated on the screen.  “no.” a low, breathy mutter, follows a cold drop from deep within the womans chest, pooling within her tummy. soo-min feels she about to be sick, fumbling backwards for the brick wall behind her. quivering towards a sitting position on the ground. what a pathetic sight to behold, like a new born horse, in their feeble attempts to walk on new legs. this had to be dream. a dreadful dream that she’d wake up from any moment now. there was no way any else but joshua knew about the plans, which obviously never came to fruition. a week before they’d planned to leave for germany, the lawrence brother was dead. 

            she was minding her own business,   not really in the mood to stop  & comfort someone.   then she  almost  ran into the woman.  it took a minute to place her face  but eventually it came to her.  as much as it was a cliche,   in a small town,  everybody knew everybody.  nora knew this woman.  soo-min,  the subject of the  SALACIOUS  gossip article.  a part of her was envious.  what a  dream it would be to be the talk of the town.   the look of this woman told nora that this was a feeling that wasn’t shared by everyone.   soo-min practically stumbled over  &  the caring side of nora kicked in.    

         troy doesn’t appreciate the ambush , not when he’s mid-sip of his coffee at least. it’s in his instinct to turn and scold whoever finds it entertaining to pop out of nowhere and take up the available seat , though when he finds nora’s glare when his head turns that soon changes. there’s something in the look that screams urgency , a plea for help almost. he’s seen it before — if not done it before. it takes him a split second of blankly staring at her to realise before he’s catching on with soft , faux laughter , believable at that. bringing the coffee back to his mouth , he gestures it to her and dips his head only just. “ i know you do , nora. i’m just a pleasure to be around. ” he murmurs before taking a sip. 

         that wasn’t exactly what she wanted him to say.    it should’ve been more along the lines of   how amazing you are,    how much i adore hanging out with you.    you just couldn’t get the staff these days.   nonetheless,   she let out a fake laugh  &  went with it.   what choice did she have?   ‘ oh troy,   you’re so funny. ’    she gritted her teeth as she nudged him.

Robbie’s lips parted to greet Nora in a friendly manner but before he could even find the words, she’d insisted he laugh at nothing and so that was exactly what he did. Now sure, Robbie had his fair share of talents as a gifted athlete but acting was so far beyond his wheelhouse it wasn’t funny, as demonstrated by the awkward laugh he let out aloud on cue. 

“Yeah,” he agreed when she spoke, nodding his head to reiterate it, “-and I love hanging out with you,” he repeated her words, essentially, proving that improv wasn’t his strong suit either. “It’s always great to see you,” he added, it was a little better than his initial attempt but not particularly astute either. “What are we doing, exactly?” he asked a moment later, lowering his voice to a barely audible whisper.

            at least he was trying ...   or so she assumed.   it was hard to tell when his performance was as wooden as a  FUCKING   log.   was it that hard to pretend to be having a good time ?    that was the only way nora was able to stand hanging with all the creepy guys she did.   well,   that  &  the fact they showered her with attention.

unacceptable!! — dora had heard this groan before, she knows exactly what it means. though it hasn’t stopped her from poking the bear before, so why not now? the younger blonde turns onto her side, head resting in a palm, propping up on one elbow. “most of the nice boys i know aren’t into manicures and champaign breakfasts.” which is ridiculous, expensive breakfast foods and nail maintenance should never be turned down. plus, it was too early for what nora was implying she should go do. “but you are.”

closed starter // nora. @ofberkleys​

“wake up nora.” isadora groans, shaking the sleeping sister by the shoulder. no response. the younger blonde pouts, flopping down on the bed beside sleeping beauty herself. “i’m bored and no ones picking up their phone.” she’s convinced nora is pretending to sleep just so isadora would go away. figures. “so you need to get up and hang out with me.”

Carina wasn’t stupid. She knew when another woman was in need of saving. Though, in her mind, it was probably some creepy dude from the bar who was hitting on Nora, probably asked for her number or made some wildly inappropriate comment about her outfit or her body. It’s not like she was doing anything but waiting for her to-go order before going home and buying every article of designer clothing that had dropped during the week. Suddenly, she’s putting on the biggest smile she’s worn in days and laughing harder than she’s laughed in nearly a month. “God, Nora, you kill me, shut the fuck up!” she laughed, playfully nudging her shoulder.

                it was a little much,    but she went with it.    beggars couldn’t be choosers.   nora chuckled back,   clinging on to carina’s arm in a friendly manner.   ‘ i know,   it’s so funny. ’   she raised her voice so that it could be heard across the room.  he heard her.   he knew from the way he was now patting his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief.   foolish to bring your wife to a place you knew your  mistress  no,  sugar baby  hung out at.    ( mistress made her sound like an old woman )

cameron had been minding his own business and absentmindedly scrolling through apartments in michigan on his phone when someone shocked him out of his slightly depressed daze. it wasn’t often someone he didn’t know sat down next to him and ordered him about, so he felt he had the right to be a little taken aback. “um…” the look this random woman gave him, however, managed to coerce him into playing along, nervously laughing and nodding along to her demands while glancing around the shop. people usually only acted this weird with a reason and cam was pretty sure he found hers in an older man staring at her. “are you okay?” of course his first reaction would be concern.

           ‘  seriously ? ’      she raised her eyebrow at his attempt at laughter,  ‘ you sound like i’m holding you   hostage ! ’     thankfully it didn’t appear like the balding man at the counter noticed.    too busy with his wife.   gross.   nora was never getting married.   well,   maybe not NEVER .   a rich man with poor health could sway anyone.  

               how  dare  he  bring  her  here.    arm  in  arm  like  a  picture  ripped  out  of  a  GODDAMN  stock  photo.    he  knew  what  he  was  doing.    she  habited  this  coffee  shop  regularly,      she  liked  the  way  they  made  a  heart  shape  in  her  cappuccino  with  the  coco  powder.    it  was  cute.    now  it  was   tainted.      she  tilted  her  head  …  his  kid  was  ugly  anyway.    suddenly,      he  looked  in  her  direction.  she  spotted  someone  sitting  alone  in  a  booth   &  made  a  beeline  for  them.    

/ @hillstonreblog​

the sunglasses over her eyes were the first giveaway — zara calloway was, without a doubt and painfully at that — hungover. she wasn’t usually a big drinker, but the effects of her fight with isaac and the… discussion with her mother, had led her to consume more than she usually would on given point. zara could hold her lqiuor — but not when sadness was involved.

the bell over the door of black cat records chimed — and zara’s head pulsed. “oh christ. customers.” she mumbled, probably a little too loud: and glared at whomever had entered. “i know we’re a music store, but fuck. pipe down.”

                 by  the  time  she  entered  the  shop,      she’d  forgotten  what  she  was  there  for.    which  is   PRECISELY   why  the  country  club  very  rarely  got  her  to  run  errands  aside  from  her  usual  waitressing  job.  she’d  often  come  back  with  the  wrong  thing  or  completely  forgotten  what  she’d  even  gone  out  for.      a  deliberate  tactic  to  stop  people  asking  her  to  do  things  that  weren’t  in  her  job  description.

/ @hillstonreblog​

the enmity post was a problem. something he hadn’t planned for, something he hadn’t expected. evan had meant it what he said to sam, some weeks before — it was a blog, written by a bored kid and they’d go away before long. if they didn’t, he had all the money in the world for expensive lawyers to make them go away. ( and other means of violent, painful persuasion if that didn’t work. ) in short, there wasn’t anything evan wouldn’t do to protect his interests, his companies, his assests and his loved ones.

there was a creeping darkness clouding his sense of self — because if this blog could find out something about a pretty little socialite… there may not have been a limit.

with a curse, evan closed the blog page — eyes closing and tipping to the sky. not even the sun and the promise of a bright, happy day could manage to shake the darkness from his mind — no, there was something in evan that needed a fight. that needed to draw blood. his hand had clenched tightly around his cup of coffee — so much so moment later, it popped and spilled from his hand, the expensive keep cup smashing into tiny shard of glass below his feet. “oh for fucks sake!”

           she’d  been  loitering,   hanging  back  watching  the  man  scroll  through  the  website  that  was   everybody’s   mind.       how  envious  she  was …  to  have  such  NOTORIETY.    it  was  all  fun   &  games  to  nora.      not  like  anybody  got  hurt.        secrets  was  always  destined  to  be  exposed.    she  too  went  about  her  private  business  with  that  in  the  back  of  her  mind,      precisely  why  she  kept  details  on  the  men  she’d  been  with;      so  that  her  secret  alone  would  not  be  the  only  one  exposed .

there was no sense in delaying the inevitable, as far as lucas was concerned. a week and he’d been so careful to avoid his public social media feeds  — a precaution he took with less complaint now that an unknown amount of people had seen every inch of him. literally. he settled on the park bench, shades pushed high up on the bridge of his nose and ripped the bandaid off. twitter loaded quickly, quicker than he’d have liked. immediately, his notifications were piling up to a ridiculous level. 

some of it was funny  — the photos having been edited so a cartoon eggplant covered the most explicit part of the photos, others placing him inside famous historical photographs without context. then there was the thirst, cringe-worthy and enough to bring warmth to his face even as he scrolled quickly past the worst of it. shame may well have been a heavyweight on another’s shoulders, but if he had something to be grateful for it was the way his name hadn’t left trending since before he’d left la. 

lucas mendes, an up and comer no more, it’d seem. the irony wasn’t lost on him. 

“hey,” he turned to the familiar face beside him with a grin, “feel like grabbing lunch? it’s on me.” ( @hillstonreblog​ )

              wow,      an  offer  of  a  free  lunch  from  someone  who  was  under  the  age  of  forty ?    she  didn’t  even  have  to  flutter  her  eyelashes  for  it.   maybe  nora  was  moving  up  in  the  world.      it  was  funny  how  life  did  things.        she  hadn’t  come  out  seeking  gifts  but  there  one  was.        don’t  get  ahead  of  yourself,        it  was  likely  an  offer  out  of  kindness,        not  the  desire  to  actually  have  lunch.        nora  was  expected  to  say    thanks,      but  no  thanks  &  be  on  her  way.      screw  being  kind,      she  was  hungry.

╰ ♡ MUSE 24, JODIE COMER, CIS FEMALE ┊ have you seen NORA BERKLEY-YATES around hillston? the 25 year old is said to be a WAITRESS at the HILLSTON YACHT CLUB. the neighbours would say that they’re ATTENTION SEEKING and SELF ABSORBED, but they’re actually ENCHANTING and GREGARIOUS. SHE often reminds people of bitten lips, bambii eyes and stumbling around is a pair of heels. watch out, though. you wouldn’t believe that SHE ACTS AS A SUGAR BABY FOR MARRIED MEN IN THE COUNTRY CLUB. ( echo, 22, gmt, she/her )