isa is right, there’s nothing the two of them couldn’t talk themselves out of. pretty privilege is nice, but having the brains to go with it makes them practically unstoppable. tricky won’t stand a chance. besides, with a night as eventful as this one, he’ll be the least of their worries. for now, ana is able to push them all aside thanks to isa’s company. and a couple more shots. she feels lucky to be here with her, surprisingly there’s nowhere else she’d rather be. and it’s hard to not spill all the secrets she’s holding back when isa presses on for further information. ana bites down on her bottom lip, deliberately buying time to find the right words. “what hasn’t happened…” she sighs, dramatically, “mila and milo swear their divorce is amicable, i don’t believe them. plus, i’ve managed to have an argument with both easy and fallon. i’ll never understand those two, or you for getting along with them.” however, there's a perfect explanation: isa is much nicer of a person than ana. if she's lucky, some of it will rub off on her. “please, tell me the party has treated you well.”

isa nods solemnly as she listens to ana’s account of the night. what went on between mila and milo was beyond isa. the picture-perfect couple on paper. her eyebrows raise at the mention of arguing. “easy and fallon? how’d that happen?” isa frowns. she tried to think about what ana could have done to piss either of them off, but comes up short. she tries to sense if there’s something more to her friend’s words, but isa doesn’t have the capacity to think too hard about it, a mixture of inebriation and fatigue. when the question turned to her, she sighs a little. “i don’t know about well...” isa trails off as she thinks about the conversations that had occurred over the night, the lack of comfort that always came with the sharp awareness of being in colossal, a rhythm she was still trying to find. “but surprisingly, i did survive the night with little incident. i think the worst thing was getting a little too drunk, like a couple hours ago,” she said with a handwave and a laugh. “i guess i’m always just wondering if i’m doing the right thing, you know?” 

the second ana mentions being hungry, hungrier than the bowl of pretzels can satisfy, mila sets her sights on taking care of that. her first stop is limericks’s kitchen; she’s eaten through enough of the menu over the years to be pretty confident there’s something in the fridge she can bring ana. though, she’s less confident that she’s sober enough to make it edible. if nothing else, there has to be bread and cheese back there, and that’s basically impossible to fuck up. apparently mila isn’t the only one with the idea. for a moment, it feels good to have the same idea as the future lawyer, but it’s quickly replaced by annoyance that isadora thought of it first. not that mila lets it show, mirroring the smile on isa’s face. “hi.” she echoes. “uh, maybe?” taking a few more steps into the kitchen, mila rests her arms on the counter, her head tilting as she watches isa. “i don’t think the party snacks are really cutting it anymore. i just wanted to see if there’s anything in here that we could make that could count as like, an actual meal.” she points to the package on the counter next to where isa is standing. “is there any more ramen?”

“unfortunately this is the only pack i have…” she’s tempted to leave it just at that, but her manners get the better of her. her father would not appreciate her being unkind to someone who really, had done nothing wrong. funnily enough, mila and isa had plenty of  friends in common — primarily being frankie and ana. nevermind the fact that she also spent a considerable amount of time at the alcantaras’ while she was dating noah. their circles intersected so often... and still, despite it all, isa was always left with something bitter in the back of her throat. jealousy always seemed to bear a watchful gaze she could never quite shake.  before she forgets herself, she continues. “but there’s plenty. feel free to take some if you want.” she eyes the fridge nearby, gestures to it. “or you can take whatever’s in the fridge and beg tricky for forgiveness later,” she offers as an alternative. eyes wandering back to mila, shrugs her shoulders, raises her eyebrows — as if to say, whichever way, be my guest.

a glance at her watch tells fallon that she’s officially thirty minutes past her self-imposed curfew, and she knows the minutes will only continue to crawl by until jamir’s ready to go home. for now, she’s waiting it out at limericks where she knows she isn’t allowed but can’t bring herself to care. it’s not as if she’s raiding the alcohol stock; she just wants to sit and not have to talk to anyone. beyond a few shared classes in high school, she and isadora never interacted much but fallon remembers her valedictorian speech, the proud look on her face that day, her whole life laid out ahead of her. running back to colossal is a move that fallon knows well but she has an inkling that isa’s less than relieved about it. when isa greets her, she looks up, surprised. “hi.” for a moment, she thought the other might have ignored her under the guise of being a busy bartender. “as long as the party stays in the basement, the party’s going fine for me.” she watches for a moment as isa sorts through the supplies. “how’s bartending? i hope you’re at least getting tipped.”

isa actually wasn’t sure if the greeting was going to be returned, so it almost catches her by surprise that she didn’t open the conversation for nothing. she wouldn’t have taken any offense if fallon had chosen to ignore her, but she's glad to make the small talk.  she nods once at her statement. “yeah, i get that.” she means it, too. the creeping sense of guilt that crawled with every minute, for the fact that her brain would needle her with shouldn’t you be somewhere else? “i mean, bartending is fine,” she says with a shrug as she scans the shelves, “getting used to it, weirdly.” she fails to elaborate further. frowns. “and now that you mention it, maybe i should have brought a tip jar along.”  she grabs a bottle of simple syrup, before looking back to fallon. “how’d you get roped into this?” she asks, a quirk of her brow. “if you’re, you know... just hanging up here.”

back in the present, shane leans down to rest his arms against the pickup counter, props his head up with a hand. ❝ now, you wanna tell me why i had to turn the coffee machine back on right before closing on a monday, or … ? ❞ he trails off, brow raised and only the slightest bit actually annoyed. sure, fast breaks was technically still open for another ten minutes, but his manager wasn’t here. had isa been anyone else, he might not have done it.

isa’s face lights up as the coffee alights in front of her (she’s not one to complain about extra caramel). she takes it into her hands and lets the warmth spread to her palms. she hums happily as she takes a sip of the foam, licks her lips to taste the caramel. “thanks, again, for handling a last minute order.” she felt a bit bad for running to fast breaks right before closing, but it was a much-needed order. even though she didn’t particularly wake up early or anything, but she could feel her body already anticipating the night ahead. “mm. it’s for a great cause, actually,” she says dramatically. “did you hear about the basement party?” she asks with a quirk of her brow. “they wanted me to bartend a little for it. make custom drinks and what not.” she waves her hand as if it could signify the text message she got asking for her to join in. “i don’t mind,” she says, and she means it. she had come around to appreciate the artistry of cocktails, even if the setting itself was not quite so fancy. “but i think i’ll need the extra energy for tonight,” she says with a laugh. it was funny that the newest face in town was becoming a person she could easily talk to. something about the weight of the past bearing lighter on her shoulders whenever they met. “are you gonna be there too?” 

Of all the Strip managers, Julien is Easy's favorite. Long time neighbors, long time friends, it's difficult to separate his love of the guy even if he bosses Easy around all week. He lifts his head after making a chop and volleys back the question. "How about you? Feeling free?"

muscle memory takes over as she pulls out a bottle of gin and some simple syrup, carefully measuring to go lighter on the gin as she mulls over his question. sometimes colossal felt like moving through quicksand. sometimes she felt that she had everywhere to go and yet nowhere to be. “maybe too free,” she decides to say, but she colors it lightly with a laugh. “i mean, it’s nice to have this little party.” awkward would be more accurate, but friendly faces like easy’s made the whole situation much more bearable. “but, i think sometimes it still feels weird that this” – she gestures vaguely to their surroundings – “is my normal now. does that make sense? i don’t know.”

after a moment, parker tilts her head, nose scrunching. "did that even make sense? it made sense in my head, but less so coming out of my mouth. i think i need an espresso shot, immediately." muscle memory takes over, and in an instant she's swept behind the counter. "want anything? it's on the house."

her eyes light up at the suggestion of coffee, shoulders relaxing, relieved to hear parker say it first instead of isa having to guiltily ask her while she’s off the clock. “you read my mind. i was just thinking of asking you or shane for a coffee, actually.” it almost felt like this was any other day: isa stopped by fast breaks every day, and she always ended up catching either parker or shane’s shifts. the familiarity surprises her. when had this become her normal? “is a macchiato too much of an ask? i’ll owe you a drink at limericks.”

whether they were snowed in or not was irrelevant to victor. retreating from the basement activities was his only plan of the evening, and he’d been so close to shelter until ana found him and easy. refusing to let his mind wander to the conversation taking place between the other two, victor busies himself with simple clean up. he moves robotically—wiping the splashes of water on the kitchen floor, washing the water glasses, and drying them off with a towel before placing them back in the cabinets.  the knock causes his shoulders to stiffen until he registers it’s isa. “no one’s home,” he mumbles, barely above a whisper and half to himself. he turns anyway, each step to the front door deliberate, as if he might change his mind halfway there. by the time he reaches the door, he decides isa on the other side isn’t the catastrophe he envisions it to be. once he reaches the door, he pulls it open before he can talk himself out of it. he nods once in her direction. “you need something?”

when he opens the door, she has to straighten from her position of trying to listen in, which the most she could hear was some muffled grumbling and shuffling. isa gives him a polite, almost sheepish smile, as if to say sorry for intruding. the curtness with which he speaks, coming from anyone else, might bother her, but by now she'd like to think she's grown accustomed to it. “oh, hey, yeah. um. i was looking to see if you guys had any more blankets to spare. it’s getting colder…” she makes a face — she’s never been one who could deal well with the cold. judging from the shuffling, she makes a conjecture that easy probably isn’t up here either. “is it just you up here?” she asks, curiously, with a quirk of her brow. everyone had scattered a bit by the time they realized that their fates were quite sealed for the next twelve hours, minimum, so it was hard to judge where everyone was now. “hiding out from the party?”

“um, yeah, it’s no problem.” to be fair, she wasn’t really doing it for him. it was more like she was doing it as a nice gesture for the rest of her friends who were here. without the bartending to occupy her, she was pretty sure she would be out the door much faster, or maybe glued to cj’s or ana’s side all night.  “i don’t think anyone else here actually knows how to bartend though…” she looks around briefly with a snort to herself. she happened to be the only limericks worker in attendance. “although i suppose anyone is welcome to try anyways.” a raise of her eyebrows, as if to challenge him to make his own later. isa fails to suppress a laugh at his recitation. “i think it’s the other way around. ‘beer before liquor, never sicker. liquor before beer, you’re in the clear,’” she corrects him, schooling her face. “but uh, whatever has been working for you, i guess.” she looks around at the small collection available. “okay… are sweet cocktails your thing? or more sour?”

A beat, then softer, sincere. “C’mon. We’ll be quick. In and out. I’ve got you. You know that by now, right?”

his sincerity makes her heart swell, and she hopes a wider smile conveys her gratitude. was she really sure of it before? in any case, she nods, with equal sincerity. “and i’ve got you.”  she pats his shoulder as confirmation and turns up towards the staircase, taking the last few steps up to the door, clasping the cold metal of the keys into her hand and making for the lock. she fumbles to find the right one and fit it properly into the keyhole, but soon one finds purchase and turns smoothly aside.  she pushes the door open and into the quiet of paperweight, dimly lit by the moon and streetlights outside. “okay, partner,” she says dramatically, turning back to him again. “where should we start?”

it is ridiculously late for ana, who swears by eight hours of beauty sleep. she should’ve found some quiet nook to crawl into already. however, the adrenaline racing through her system is telling her otherwise— it’s directing her to follow isa’s lead and pour another shot. and that’s exactly what she does. but just as isa mentions tricky, ana nearly misses the landing when turning the bottle right side up again and spills a good portion of vodka over the make-shift bar. oh no, how did she forget about tricky? the employees were going to be in so much trouble. hopefully she doesn’t look too disheveled by the time he comes to save them, or else he’ll never fall for the insane amount of pretty girl privilege she’ll be using to get out of this one. to survival, she repeats with a tap to isa’s glass.  ana tilts her head back and takes the hit of alcohol like a champ, no chaser needed. it’s been a miserable night, she's surprised to not be hanging over a toilet seat by this point. yet, in the presence of isa, she’s full of giggles and maybe the most relaxed she’s been since 9pm. “isa, if you weren’t here i’d be in a corner crying,” if they stay locked in this place much longer, that may be ana’s next order of business. “thank you for moving home and being my escape from all this drama.”

isa giggles as her friend spills some of the alcohol across the surface before them, lightly grazes her thumb over the light furrow between ana’s brows, as if to wipe the worry that flickered across her face. “don’t worry, i think with the two of us, we can convince him if he thinks otherwise. all my years doing debate have to amount to something, right?” she says with a smile. it often feels like with ana by her side, the world was splayed open in their palms. especially with the alcohol to numb her recently surmounting worries. she grins at ana. “thank you for being here to make home worth coming back to.” like finding a path through the woods that led home, ana’s presence in colossal comforted isa more than she could express in words. but isa doesn’t miss the second half of the sentence, which makes her eyebrows raise. she sways as she sets her cup down and tilts closer to ana, lips pursing slightly. “drama? why, did anything happen tonight?”

They're not really supposed to be up in the bar. Even Easy and Victor aren't supposed to use the indoor entrance to their apartment - it has a whole separate lock. Tricky's cool though, usually, and Easy figures that as long as they don't swipe a noticeable amount of bar alcohol and they clean up after themselves, it should be cucumber cool. Hopefully. "Okay, boss, where should I start?"

she walks behind the bar, tying her hair up with the scrunchie on her wrist. she cards through the drinks she’s made before for him — she was finding it fun to memorize her friends’ orders, their preferences for cocktails and whether they preferred decadent or refreshing, sour or sweet. she thinks back to the one that had made his eyes light up at the taste. “oh!” she exclaims as she recalls the drink. “a gimlet? alright then, first things first…” she reaches inside her tote and tosses a lime his way. “you want to juice some limes for me? then you can start on cutting the lemons for everyone else.” she lays out a small cup and a fruit juicer for him. “are you happy that julien’s out of town?” she asks as she fetches the other tools from behind the bar. “i feel like everyone’s glad to have the strip to themselves for a bit.”