beautiful, dirty, rich.

Ever since she got out of the hospital, she had been keeping a low profile, keeping her injuries a secret from Val for the most part and keeping her nose out of the police’s radar. She’d had enough of everyones interference and she was focused on getting her job done. Standing next to Valentina, just like she always did, she kept her mouth shut but within seconds she heard gunshots, and she had to make sure it wasn’t her again, flashbacks puncturing her memory as she stood there shocked to reveal a dead man on the floor. “What the –– Valentina, you can’t just,” she looked around to notice how many people were taking note of the noise. “You can’t just kill a man,” she told her, struck with fear.

Letting out what seemed to be an eternal breath she had been holding forever, Valentina turned to Evie and felt the urge to shoot her, too, only out of frustration. She had hired the girl to stand by her side and take whatever came, but lately she was unreliable and getting herself in the hospital. “Yes I fucking can,” she said between gritted teeth. “Do you have a problem with it?” Valentina challenged Evie. 

Lurking in the shadows was something the girl was always good at, especially with her job. Her beautiful plump lips were always shut in a moment where they should be open and screaming when it came to business. Leaning against the wall, her black coat tied snug around her, the cold air seemed fitting for the scene folding in front of her. The man was dead as soon as the woman fired the gun and that’s when she made her presence known. Everyone who was involved knew Emmy. She was Ryan’s number two, that was huge and a bigger deal that most would think. “Impressive.”

Jumping scared would have been the normal reaction, but at this point, Valentina felt nothing. “Who the fuck are you?” she asked the stranger, though it only took her a few seconds to recognize the face that almost all but belonged to Cotter. No one knew about Valentina and this little ploy might have just earned her the rep of a volatile stupid woman. “What do you want?” she reiterated shortly after her first question. 

“Y’know I’m not super religious or militantly atheist,” Chris remarked, staring at the store window with it’s overly festive mannequins. “But can we hold off on the christmas stuff until after november? There’s only so much holiday cheer I can take before I start going crazy.”

“Is this the part where I’m supposed to call you The Grinch?”

“I never actually do this Halloween thing, but my friend’s throwing a party this year and I’m pretty sure I’m not getting out of going.” he commented, “Do you have any idea where I could get some kind of last-minute costume? She say’s it’s villain themed.”

“Party city is always the obvious choice, or just grab something from your closet and get some makeup done to get the costume done.”

@chvndlcr

“You’d never believe what happened,” Sofia started, sitting down in front of her best friend, the small café quiet around them, slow jazz music playing in the background. Sofia and Aya used to frequent this place, especially after a crazy weekend and a need for unwinding. 

“I am the east and Juliet is the sun,” Roger huffed as he literally threw the book behind him. “Now what kinda stupid bullshit is that. I’m dropping this stupid fuckin’ course.” 

“Why so salty, Roger?” Sofia chirped from behind the boy as she sat in one of the chairs. “Maybe you should just drop classes altogether. It’s just so boring.”

The elevator had come to a juddering halt between floors and although help was on the way, the maintenance crew had informed that it might be awhile. “Well ain’t that just great,” Nathan sighed as he leaned his back against the wall, checking his phone. “Guess we’re stuck in here, huh.”

“You gotta be kidding me,” Sofia groaned as she felt the elevator stop right in the middle of the floors. 

    He looks up at Sofia, a bit of shock in his eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you.” Dimitri swallows down his anxiety and slips a cig between his lips. He quickly lights it and debates on telling this stranger what’s going on. “My dad won’t go to the doctor…” He starts after clearing his throat. “I’ve tried to get him to go but he insists that he’s fine, but we both know he isn’t.”

“It’s simple logistics,” Sofia started with a small shrug, “you can’t help someone who does not want to be helped. While you may think forcing them is a good idea, it won’t work if they’re not willing to accept whatever they need.” She put her phone away and looked at the blue eyed man. “He’s sick?”

“Well, I guess not everyone can understand what all goes into it.” she said, adopting an attitude to match the younger girl’s. “Trust me, every building would be a lot uglier if there was nobody thinking about interior design. You really think the guys in charge of a lot of places know how to decorate?”

What the other was saying made sense and Sofia did understand what she meant. “I don’t wanna sound like a sexist idiot -- my friend Dillon would be very upset -- but men who are good with design? Wild. So I guess your job is pretty important. And cool. You could design like sets and rooms and all that right?”

“It won’t fit me, are you crazy?” she snickered. “I’m gonna march, by the way… protesting against another shitty politician who thinks he owns our bodies, you know? And we’ll gram the shit out of it.”

“Then we’ll get you something that does! The possibilities are endless.” Sofia made a face when her friend mentioned protesting.. Again. “Is there anything else you do, Dillon? Those marches are getting boring.”

“Do you think if I keep this glasses on my dad won’t realize I’m high?” Derek said with a laugh, looking over at the person nearest him.

“Yeah cause that’s totally not obvious.” Sofia’s nose wrinkled as she smelled the weed off the guy. “You could at least change clothes... Or shower. Both, really.”

“You got a lot of followers?” she asked, “I thought I had a killer outfit for this weekend, but I have a feeling more people would’vee looked at you, cause I mean…”

“Oh shut up you, you’re just as gorgeous. You can always borrow something of mine, duh.”

Emlyn shrugged, “It is when it’s a show about interior design.” she explained, “I mean, right now I’m just working as an assistant, but that’s how you build up. I’m hoping they’ll let me work on my own and then - well, end goal is my own show, of course.”

Sofia made a face when the other mentioned it was interior designing. “Oh, and here I thought you were a real designer...” she shrugged. “My mom watches those shows but I find them so boring.”