save my money, don't save no bitches.

maya groaned, dragging a hand over her face. "please don't call me cute right now," she mumbled, though the way she was smiling betrayed any real annoyance. "you're impossible," she let out a quiet laugh, shaking her head. "you seem weirdly committed to making me question my sanity." she paused, biting the inside of her cheek. "and... it's working, by the way."

“i’m not sorry, if you’re expecting an apology. it’s true.” she insisted, watching maya’s smile brighten up the room singlehandledly. “funny enough, you know, i get that a lot.” she joked, finding herself staring into the blonde’s eyes. “i’ll take that as a compliment.” she chewed the inside of her cheek, then pursed her lips together before releasing them with a pop the same way she always had when she was trying to understand things.

"i uh wow — " she scratched the back of her neck. " that came out wrong." well , kinda. " it's not that it's not on the cards — " she wasn't sure how to backtrack. it was easier to double down than to make jada seem like she misheard her. she let out a sigh. " it's not ... i don't want to get married." plain and simple. no need for explanation ... right ? probably wrong. " things are just going so well for us at the moment. ive seen marriage change people, and yeah my parents are still happily married but ... everyone around me ? it changes things."

yeah, no shit, jada had wanted to say, but the moment still partially had her stunned. when her girlfriend had flat out admitted to her face that she didn’t even want to get married at all, jada’s heart sank, but she just sighed, then nodded. “no, yeah. uh… for sure, i get it.” jada definitely did not get it. but anything she said wouldn’t really change aidan’s mind and if anything, only make things worse so she just kept quiet. “and what if things started going better?” she posed the question.

kyara watched her silhouette bend to scoop her jeans from the floor. while she was down there she might as well picked up her heart, she would ultimately and inevitably stomp on. she should say nothing, let her go. that was the practiced routine. smooth the mask back on, breathe, pretend she needed the space anyway. but her throat burned with all the things she’d folded away. the mattress sighed as kyara sat up. muscles complained; tonight’s class had run long, and lucia’s hands had found every knot after. “lucia.” soft, but it held. "what the fuck are we doing? you come over here, and we —" her hand gestured in the air, because honestly there weren't words that could comprehend the magic she felt when they were together, skin to skin. "and then you just leave like it's nothing? like im nothing?" she hitched the sheet higher over her bare chest, yet chill seeped straight through the cotton, colder than she’d ever felt.

lucia didn’t think anything of it. hell, if anything to her, kyara was just a warm body and a nice ass to hold onto. show up, blow her mind in the bedroom, slip out. that was the practiced routine. that was business as usual. she’d massaged the knots out of her shoulders and then probably put a couple new ones back in during their nightcap, but there was something in kyara’s tone that froze her in place. almost like she’d been petrified. “what, ky?” she questioned in response to the way the other woman had said her name. “we’ve been doing this for long enough. it’s a casual thing, right? so why are you acting like it’s supposed to be more than that?”

an eyebrow raised. " i don't ?" the woman had immediately braced herself if the stranger had ulterior motives. when there was no active movement from the other , she stayed in place but her guard still remained. her shoulders had only relaxed slightly at the other's explanation. they seemed true to their word. harmony did study body movement after all. that and usually she could tell if people were not being genuine. " no need to sleep on the floor. there's an extra bedroom. has its own shower and everything." all harmony could do was believe the stranger at their word. if it bit her in the ass later , so be it. she showed the other compassion, and empathy. harmony took a step towards her and held out her hand. "im harmony." a small smile on her face. " unlike my name , i actually cannot hold a tune so brace yourself if you hear me singing in the shower." a soft chuckle left her lips. " im going to take the opportunity here to believe what you're telling me. it looks like you had a day. everything you need , charge the room."

preemptively wincing at the eyebrow raise, jayla was sure she’d somehow shattered the thin ice she’d been standing on. “uh— no.” she reiterated a little less sure of herself this time. instead of getting kicked out, she had to do a double take when the other woman had told her about the whole other bedroom she’d missed in her five-second impromptu self guided tour. “oh, uh… good to know.” she blinked in disbelief, looking the other woman in the face as the other woman held a hand for her to shake. another double take later, this time from hand to face before she snapped out of it and shook the woman’s hand. “jayla.” she offered with a polite smile. at the woman’s lighthearted words, she laughed, then just nodded. “and are you sure i’m not a burden? i mean… why do you have two whole bedrooms if you’re the only one here? i’m not stealing someone else’s spot, am i? like a… boyfriend? girlfriend?” she averted her gaze at the question. she hadn’t meant anything by it, she just happened to be inquisitive and put two and two together judging by the amount of bedrooms that surely there must have been someone.

if anything, evelyn sat there with complete anger taking over her expression. watching the way jada was freaking out was only more evident the two of them weren't nowhere near close to tying the knot together. the older woman dragged her hands over her face before getting up to go after jada, "breathing fresh air isn't going to help. we're going to need to go through the process of - fuck, i guess getting a divorce. nothing despises me more than marriage, now i'm a fucking married woman. and i just know there's no way in hell i was the one who suggested going to the fucking chapel. if anything jada, it was probably you. you've mentioned how you and your ex almost got hitched in vegas - we don't need to be married to each other. we don't - we aren't even good girlfriends." evelyn was clearly letting everything roll off of her mind freely. the mix of a hangover and nerves overtook her.

as the blame somehow shifted to her when it wasn't even her fault, jada could only stand there, frozen in place and stunned at the venom in evelyn's words as she stopped right in front of the door. "how the fuck is this my fault?" she practically shrieked in shock, evelyn's words doing little else besides throwing her for a loop the more she talked. "so you think just because this almost happened with my ex, this is somehow my fault?" she blinked. even if they didn't need to be married to each other-- and both clearly didn't want it, evelyn's words about them not even being good girlfriends had stunned jada into silence for a few minutes as she just let the woman say her piece. "anything else you want to add while you treat me like a piece of shit right to my face?" she just sighed, throwing her hands up in resignation. for as often as they'd argued like this and things tended to blow up, the good moments usually outweighed the bad, but this was the worst jada had ever seen it. "you know what? when we get home, we're done. i mean it." she huffed.

" you didn't say it. " rory points out , and she wonders if she really wants to go down this path with jordyn. this was her best friend. it was just a lot to unpack and though there was reason to believe there was something between them , it was clear they both wanted to let it be buried. " i just feel like you get weird when i bring it up. like your mood changes , i don't know. maybe i'm misreading it. " she could be , but she felt right. she knew everything about the other , the second her mood shifted she could tell. " but even tonight before i left , you were so upset. "

"i think you're misreading it," jordyn groaned in response, shaking her head as she looks over to her best friend. as rory called her out for being upset earlier, she just sighed. "okay, so i was. but it wasn't-- it wasn't about that." she clarified. "it's nothing." and there went the defensive walls as jordyn begun putting them up one brick at a time, mostly trying to protect herself from her own thoughts, and protect rory from getting hurt by said thoughts, or risk making things as weird as rory was portraying.

" yeah , i get that. " rory responds , smiling softly at her. " it's fine because it wasn't good and you had to come rescue me anyway , so. i should've just not even bothered and come over to see you in the first place. " rory didn't want to think too hard about what all of this meant , so she chose not to. " but i'm just . . . wondering , i guess - " she pauses before continuing. " why would you not want me to go on a date ? "

smiling back at her friend, she nodded. "i wouldn't have complained," she joked playfully. jordyn also didn't concern herself with trying to decipher the little hidden unsaid things about their friendship. she reckoned her energy was better spent showering said friend in attention. there was still the unsaid presence of that night four years ago lingering between them, but it would continue to go unsaid a while longer. "when did i say i didn't want you to go on dates?" she blinked in surprise, the words nearly stunning her into silence.

running her hand over her face the woman couldn't help but press jada. "who fucking cares," she handed her the certificate and waited to see how she'd react. evelyn could feel her heart racing and her head pounding from the stress that was beginning to whelm up inside of her. "what the fuck happened last? god, this isn't good. what the fuck." she knew the younger woman wasn't entirely the one to blame, but she still found a way to spin it on her. "we should have never came to vegas, look at the shit we got into. this is fucking hell." she huffed before looking up at the ceiling as if she could find help.

at the lack of concern for her, jada stiffened up and shook her head, snatching the certificate out of evelyn's hand. "what the fuck?!" she shouted involuntarily, then immediately came to regret it as her head pounded harder. "shit, i was about to ask the same thing." she groaned. "i mean, i wasn't ready for marriage yet! i told myself i wouldn't even think about marriage until i'm like, thirty five!" watching evelyn clearly trying to find some way to blame her-- she could tell by that frustrated, scrutinizing look on her face, jada let out a huff of her own. "i need some fucking air." she groaned and tossed her clothes back on, then scurried to the bathroom to splash some water on her face before making a beeline for the door. "no, no no no. this can't be fucking happening."

rory cherished her closeness to jordyn , and she certainly wasn't going to let anything get in between her and her best friend. she would choose just about anything over her , but as of lately rory was attempting to do some soul searching and trying to go on some dates , and it seemed to put a weird air between them. she assumed , or more so hoped , she was imagining it. " oh. " she smiles then , not thinking much of it. " why didn't you just tell me ? you know i would've chosen hanging out with you over going on a date. " except she had been pretty excited about this one.

jordyn hadn't exactly been a fan of rory going on dates since that usually meant time away from her best friend, but she wasn't going to tell her to just never date again to her face so she swallowed it down instead. "i didn't want you to.. miss out on stuff 'cause of me, you know? what if you stayed with me and missed out on something actually good?" she questioned curiously, watching her friend.

" thanks again for the rescue last night , that date was seriously the worst , and i felt bad that i left you alone when you were in a bad mood anyway. i think i should just quit trying at this point. " rory speaks to the other , her attachment to her friend growing deeper as each day passes. sometimes she'd just rather be with them than go on dates with people , but the depth of that thought too much for her to try and unpack. " what was wrong , anyway ? is everything okay now ? "

"oh, don't worry about it," jordyn teases playfully, glancing over at her best friend. they'd been friends from the minute they were born, having been born in the same hospital, at close to the same time and having gone to the same school. they might as well be platonic twins with their bond, if jordyn was to be honest. although she was older by about twenty minutes. a fact she never let rory live down usually. "yeah, no, everything's fine, i just... really missed you," she admitted.

evelyn’s head was throbbing and the sunlight that entered their hotel room only ached her head even more. her eyes could barely open as she felt the tiredness in her body weigh down on her. glancing over her shoulder, she saw jada comfortably snuggled into the sheets. evelyn yawned as she rubbed her eyes before managing to stand. the woman couldn’t remember what the two of them got themselves into, but she was happy they managed to get themselves back to their room. “fuck,” she mumbled to herself as she made her way towards the bathroom. turning on the shower she stood there with her eyes closed. she wanted to go back into her slumber, but she didn’t want to spend the day in bed. during the majority of her shower, she still felt a bit dizzy from the night prior and kept her eyes closed. only exiting the shower and drying herself off, she noticed a cheap metal around her ring finger. a bit confused she ignored it before going back into the room, only to notice a commemorative marriage certificate set on the desk. stopping in her tracks, she rubbed her eyes trying to make it vanish - it was still there and her heart sank to her stomach. hurrying to the bed, she lifted jada’s left hand and furrowed her eyebrows. shaking jada’s thigh she said loudly, “jada, wake up.”

jada had slept like a baby in evelyn's arms, at least until she found herself not in the woman's arms and waking up to being violently shaken awake. "what?" she groaned loudly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up, her head pounding and instantly making her regret sitting up as quick as she had, not even noticing the cheap ring around her finger as she looked up at evelyn, who looked like she'd just seen a ghost and lost a fight with it. glancing around the woman, jada took in their surroundings. "where are we, anyway?" she questioned through an exhausted yawn. "god, my head..."

"oh my god," sage breathed out, taking a long sip of the wine in front of her. she could feel the tension settling deep in her chest despite the warmth of the alcohol washing over her. it was annoying, honestly. no matter how many times she told herself she was fine, they always seemed to find a way beneath her skin. "i swear you always do this." she rolled her eyes, dragging in a slow breath as if it might somehow untangle the knot forming inside her. "it's like you're on and then you're off. like you're trying to drive me crazy." their relationship had been complicated for what felt like forever. every time sage thought she'd found solid ground, something shifted beneath her feet again. it was exhausting. confusing. and somehow, despite all of that, she still found herself sitting here having the same conversation. "besides, weren't you the one who wanted this whole break up anyway?"

"i always do what?" kyla bristled at that statement, scoffing slightly. "i don't do shit except be loyal to you and this is what i get in return, so you fucking tell me." she chuckled dryly as she watched the other woman. kyla's loyalty was a lie, but only partially. she'd been mostly loyal, but it wasn't like sage hadn't had her own fair share of action on the side. hell, kyla had walked in on it most of the time. "you're one to talk when you're hooking up with random bitches in the bed that i paid for, in the house i paid for. and when the hell have i ever said anything about breaking up?" she blinked. one thing kyla would never voluntarily do, was let sage move on from her even if she'd tried. some, very twisted, deep down part of her loved the woman too much to break up with her, and even if they did split it was never usually for long.

smile immediately faltered at what was in jada'sa hand. fuck. she had completely forgot about that. " oh," was all she could say. she had a reasonable explanation for it. " not very long." she answered. a soft sigh left her lips and took the small box from her hand and opened it to show her. " it's a fake." she wanted to laugh at it , but also wanted to already nip it in the bud. she absolutely loved jada , but aidan wasn't ready for marriage. at least not right now. " my brother needed help running some lines to the movie he's gonna be in, which needed the ring. he forgot it and i was keeping it safe for him until he's able to come and get it before he has to film that scene." she explained to her. a free hand scratched the back of her neck. " you know marriage ... it's not in the cards currently .. for us."

watching aidan's expression hit the floor once she noticed the ring, jada stiffened slightly in preparation for whatever would leave her mouth next. however, the words that did leave aidan's mouth next had completely thrown her for a loop. "what?" she blinked, shaking her head as she tried to process the explanation, which her own processing was shattered at aidan's final statement. "w-what do you mean it's not in the cards?"

sarcasm usually made nyla bristle. it felt too similar to condescension for her to appreciate it. however, instead of tensing at paloma's reply her grip on her glass stayed comfortable. paloma's sarcasm felt like a joke they were both in on, it was inviting instead of a threat. "you're not making any arguments to prove me wrong." she noted, her tone light and melodic. it had been a while since she had easy banter with someone. nyla took a long swig of her drink to ready herself to share personal information. vulnerability was something she tended to avoid but she couldn't run away from it when faced with someone she had years of history with. "i fractured my hip when i was twenty-four and the divorce was finalised almost two years ago." she supplied, something that was enough information for paloma to fill in the gaps and create a picture of her life. the vagueness of her ex's answer made nyla snort. she was impressed by her ability to be more evasive than her. "am i allowed to know where you've travelled and what jobs you've worked or is that classified information?"

"my bad, was i supposed to?" paloma quipped playfully as she did the same with her own drink as she listened to the woman fill her in on the events she'd missed. "so you fractured your hip, like, a few months after we broke up? 'cause i was there for your twenty-fourth birthday and you were fine then," she hummed. "if anything, you've only gotten finer now." she teased with a light eyebrow wiggle. "what happened with the divorce? like, what caused it? you don't have to share, i'm just... being nosy," she bluffed. as her ex indirectly called her out, she shrugged, holding up a hand and counting on her fingers. "greece. italy. brazil, england, ummm... paris. that's basically everywhere." she answered. "as for the jobs.... well, journalism kinda takes me everywhere really, but before that i was a manager at a restaurant downtown here. and then i got poached by another restaurant that paid more," she snorted. "and then i realized the culinary business wasn't it for me and found my passion for journalism."

"my dad will probably say i can't cook at all, as if he's the best damn cook in the world and i'm merely just decent, but you do that." sasha could already imagine the way her dad would roll his eyes and say he didn't teach her everything he knew, making him the best cook in the family, but she also knew that he'd offer to teach paris to cook too. her parents were just as curious as she was about the other woman not wanting to discuss the whole marriage thing, so both of them would take any chance to get her girlfriend alone to question her themselves. taking another bite as her girlfriend just added to the teasing, she would have let it continue if not for the lingering tension between them. and as soon as paris seemed confused on what she meant, all sasha could do was sigh. "if we don't talk about work on vacation, all that leaves is talking about us — or you know, working out the issues we obviously have. you know, the ones you run away from every time i mention them?"

"well, we both know he's a little biased to himself... a little." paris snorted. she knew full well that sasha's parents were curious, and it certainly didn't help that sasha's mom had pulled her aside twice already to try and figure out what was going on and why paris kept skirting the issue. as soon as she watched her girlfriend sigh, paris deflated a little and shrugged. "well, there's work, and you know, the regular small talk, and i'm sure the trip itself would give us plenty to talk about with the resort and all, and the beach, and.... stuff," paris bluffed, instinctively avoiding said issues in question yet again.