𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔

in truth , if gaby knew this many people would attend what her friend called a  small get together  she definitely wouldn’t of come .  it isn't for the social part of it , because if she wants to play nice  &  charm away the crowd , she could . no ― it was the principle , the fact she now has to  suffer  through a conversation where some  idiot  musician thinks everyone around the table is interested in his life story .  she isn't  .  hell , there are very little things that could’ve entertained the singer / actress  &  a story about raising from the ashes of poverty certainly didn’t make the cut .  ❝ … if i have to listen to one more word i think i might stab myself with this fork , ❝  the words slip from her glossed lips so effortlessly that one might assume she's being sarcastic , if it weren’t for the  resting bitch face  gracing her features , twirling the fine piece of silverware in her hand .  ❝  i’m getting a migraine , ❝

       her  fingers  nervously  tap  on  the  half  empty  glass  of  champagne,  and  lily  is  thinking  of  almost  any  sort  of  excuse  to  get  her  out  of  this  party.  maybe  if  she  texts  her  mom,  her  mom  can  call  her  crying  and  then  she  can  leave.  or  maybe  ⏤  gaby's  words  stop  her  train  of  thought,  and  she  almost  laughs  in  the  middle  of  the  guy's  speech  (  or  at  least  what  he  thinks  is  ).  "i  don't  know  if  you'll  have  to  do that,"  lily  laughs  under  her  breath,  turning  to  gaby.  at  least  she's  not  the  only  one  suffering  as  much.  "do  you  want  me  to  start  crying  so  we  can  leave?"  that  way  her  mom  doesn't  even  have  to  know.

it’s not exactly often the child star finds herself in places like these , because after all , her squeaky clean disney image has been something that keeps her career going , fans happy  &  the world adore her as  america’s sweetheart  .  but alas , it’s always increasingly hard for the blonde to pretend she’s happy whenever news about her  estranged  family  talking shit  about her to the press resources again .  each time when cassie thinks they had enough of trying to hurt her while getting money out of it , they prove her wrong  &  each time , she feels like shit afterwards .  in truth , cassie knows she shouldn’t care about what they’re doing after all this time , but it’s hard when it’s your own parents selling stories to tmz  .  latest news ?  how utterly devastated they are that cassie didn’t spend christmas with them: parents tell it all .  the whole article makes the blonde sick to her stomach , a feeling she foolishly now tries to get rid off by buying two bottles of the world’s cheapest wine  &  some chips  (  in a place no star should ever be at alone )  thankful that the old man behind the counter fails to recognize her  (  he’s probably too old to anyway  )  .  the bell above the door ring  &  she turns ,   shame washing over her cheeks  as she meets a familiar face .  ❝  can we pretend for both our sakes that we haven’t seen each other here ?  ❝ 

       he  almost  doesn't  even  register  that  it's  cassie  at  the  counter,  feeling  so  exhausted  after  shooting  all  day.  brandon  likes  spending  his  days  shooting  and  running  lines,  but  doing  it  until  the  evening  sometimes  gets  a  little  too  much  for  him.  "i've  never  seen  you  before,"  he  says  deadpan,  but  there's  a  hint  of  a  smirk  on  his  features  as  he  walks  past  her  to  go  to  the  beer  cooler.  he  just  needs  a  six  pack  to  take  home  for  the  week,  but  it's  just  enough.  "that's  the  best  flavor,  by  the  way."  he  points  down  to  the  chips,  getting  in  line. 

LIPS TURNED DOWN IN A FROWN , aurora mindlessly swirled the purple boba at the bottom of her cup around in circles . “ i'm conflicted , ” she said on a sigh. “ i think my building is h a u n t e d and i'm not sure if i'm being paranoid or if i should move . ” she was honestly more inclined to pack her things and find somewhere else to live , but she adored her apartment — it had everything she could possibly look for .. and apparently something she definitely did not want , as well.

       brandon  stops  doom  scrolling  for  just  a  second,  enough  of  following  his  father's  latest  movies  through  sources  like  tmz  instead  of  going  to  the  man  himself.  "what  makes  you  think  that?"  he  asks,  making  a  mental  note  of  never  going  over  there.  "all  i  would  have  to  do  is  think  for  a  second  that  it  was  haunted  and  i'd  be  out  of  there  so  fast." 

Whitney, her own drink in hand, smirks at Lily's expression after the first sip. "Espresso martinis can be a hit or miss, right? But hey, can't complain when it's on the house." She takes a casual sip of her own drink, glancing over at the man who bought them, a knowing twinkle in her eye. "Absolutely looking forward to shooting. There's something magical about bringing a character to life on screen, don't you think? Even with the chaos of the industry, that part never gets old. What about you? I bet that first table read will just light a fire under everyone." She leans back, curious to unravel Lily's cinematic aspirations.

       "they're  definitely  ...  something."  she  feels  bad,  but  whitney  has  a  point.  at  least she didn't  have  to  buy  it.  lily  decides  she'll  take  small  sips  just  to  make  it  look  like  she's  not  wasting  it.  lily  nods  her  head,  and  finally,  it's  something  that  she  can really talk  about.  "that's  always  my  favorite  part,  seeing  how  people  take  the  words  on  the  page  and  then  create  the  whole  persona  of  the  character.  i  always  like  seeing  how  they  think  their  character  were  to  think."  lily's  too  new  to  the  industry  to  really  try  to  start  branching  off  what  she  already  knows,  but  she  does  enjoy  taking  some  creative  liberty  when  she's  given  it.  "oh,  for  me,  they're  always  so  scary  at  first.  what  if  people  don't  like  the  way  i'm  doing  something?  i'd  rather  crawl  into  a  hole  and  never  come  back  out." 

       she's  thankful  she  has  a  drink  in  her,  otherwise  she  wouldn't  be  able  to  speak  to  santi.  lily's  still  getting  used  to  the  culture  here  compared  to  her  small  town,  and  thankfully,  or  maybe  not  so  thankfully  if  she  wakes  up  with  a  hangover,  santi's  been  one  to  help  her  through  it  all.  "oh,  i  will  definitely  do  worse."  lily  admits  honestly,  her  laugh  escaping  easily  and  unapologetic.  she  looks  at  the  darts  in  her  own  hands  before  looking  back  up  to  santi.  "you  may  want  to  vacate  the  premises.  i  have  no  idea  where  these  are  going  to  go."

“  i  went  to  one  once ,  but  it  was  quite  a  long  time  ago .  but  from  what  i  remember ,  everyone  listens  to  the  same  song  because  they  transmit  it  via  radio  or  whatever  and  the  signal  gets  picked  up  by  the  headphones  .  .  .  or  something .  i  tried  to  get  a  friend  to  explain  it  to  me  like  i  was  five  and  that  was  all  i  could  pick  up .  ”  it  was  one  of  those  things  he  did  just  for  the  kick  of  it ,  and  so  he  could  say  he  did  it  at  least once .  however ,  it  wasn't  his  cup  of  tea ,  the  experience  being  quite  surreal .  “  i'll  say  it's  really  weird .  the  whole  listening  to  music  with  headphones  and  then  taking  them  off  and  the  whole  place  being  silent  made  my  head  spin  a  little .  ”

       her  eyebrows  knit  together  as  milo  tries  to  explain  it,  and  it  sounds  easy  enough,  but  she  just  doesn't  know  what  exactly.  "interesting,"  she  muses,  looking  back  down  at  her  phone  but  also  ...  she  wants  to  know  why  milo  decided  to  do  it.  "was  it  at  ...  like  a  party  or  something?  do  they  happen  often?"  lily's  embarrassed  by  how  fixated  she  is  on  this,  but  it's  milo,  so  she  doesn't  think  he'll  judge  her  for  it.  "if  you  could  choose  the  song  everyone  would  listen  to,  what  would  it  be?"

⸻⸻⸻  it  isn't  too  late  ,  but  it's  dark  out  when  raine  finishes  up  the  last  of  her  meetings  ,  her  brain  just  a  hair's  breadth  from  shutting  down  and  body  aching  to  sink  into  the  plush  mattress  of  her  california  king  .  she  clicks  her  tongue  ,  a  text  from  her  driver  reading  sorry  ,  i'll  be  late  ,  and  in  retrospect  regrets  not  having  driven  to  work  herself  .  she  turns  around  to  wait  inside  the  building  ,  and  is  startled  by  a  figure  behind  her  .     “  jesus  !  ⸻  what  the  fuck  ,  dude  ?  you  scared  the  shit  out  of  me  !  ”

       while  raine's  luckily  about  to  leave,  brandon's  just  about  to  start  shooting  his  own  scenes.  at  least  today  he  was  able  to  nap  throughout  the  day.  "shit,"  he  says,  jumping  himself  while  almost  dropping  his  phone.  "you  scared  me!" 

               he’s  looking  at  his  phone  screen,  a  tabloid  pulled  up  with  a  headline  stating  he’s  once  again  on  the  one  night  stand  train  with  a  photo  of  someone’s  back  and  a  woman  infront  of  them.  with  no  other  photo  provided,  he  can’t  help  but  let  out  a  chuckle  that  vibrates  his  throat,  head  shaking  from  side  to  side.  “  —  ah.  tabloids.  just  assume  it’s  roman,  you  know,  sluttin’  it  up.  ”  not  a  far  fetched  assumption,  although  he  could  be  hooked  up  to  a  lie  detector  this  moment  and  pass  easily  —  that  man  in  the  photo  was  definitely  not  him.  everyone  knew  his  hotel  of  choice  was  the  ritz.

       placing  his  empty  glass  back  on  the  bar,  brandon  smiled  easily,  the  gin  obviously  taking  effect  since  he's  feeling  more  talkative  than  usual.  "i  haven't  looked  at  tabloids  in  months.  i  found  out  i  was  engaged  even  though  i  wasn't  dating  anyone."  he  had  been  buying  jewelry  for  his  mom's  birthday,  but  the  paparazzi  ran  wild  with  it.

Or send hc + two words and I’ll try and come up with one that links those two things together!

What is the one thing that could make you happy, but you refuse to do it because you’re afraid of what others would think?

       brown  eyes  look  from  the  other  girl  to  the  drink  placed  in  front  of  her,  and  she's  never  had  an  espresso  martini,  but  she  figures  now  would  be  the  best  time.  especially  if  it's  free.  "oh,  well,  thanks."  lily  laughs,  actively  avoiding  looking  over  at  the  man  who  bought  her  a  drink.  she  takes  a  sip  and  makes  a  face  instantly,  and  she's  glad  it  was  free.  "are  you  at  least  looking  forward  to  shooting  or  no?"  for  someone  like  lily,  she  couldn't  imagine  to  not  be  excited  about  film. 

           champagne  glass  is  emptied  then  discarded  on  passing  tray,   she  needed  all  the  liquid  courage  to  endure  the  boredom  inducing  small  talk.  spotting  a  window  of  opportunity  at  the  bar  across  the  room  raven  haired  actress  slips  away,  ignoring  the  questionable  looks  as  she  zigzags  across  the  venue  in  dangerously  high  heels.  she'd  have  a  word  with  vivi  later;  the  stylist  required  a  reminder  so  it  appeared.   “  god,  i  can't  deal  with  another  mind  numbing  conversation  about  women  in  the  arts,  ”  she  mutters  to  no  one  in  particular,  flagging  down  the  bartender  to  order  a  fruity  drink.   “   i  mean  it  would've  been  fine  if  the  people  starting  the  conversation  weren't  ancient  crusty  white  men.  ”

       brandon  thrives  at  places  like  this  because  all  the  old  men  in  hollywood  will  buy  just  about  anything  he  says  to  them.  most  of  them  only  want  to  know  about  his  parents,  but  in  his  eyes,  any  conversation  is  good  conversation  for  now.  executive  producers  are  still  producers  in  his  eyes.  he  takes  one  last  sip  of  his  own  drink  before  placing  it  on  the  tray  as  well.  "next  time  you  should  pretend  that  you're  getting  sick.  none  of  them  would  know  what  to  do  with  that."