C A R E L E S S

Fel scrunched up her face, “That’s so bullshit though and your brothers are really mean for saying that stuff. I’m the youngest too and the only girl but my brothers never really say that stuff. Unless they’re joking, but never seriously.” Frowning still, she tilted her head, “What did you parents say about it all?”

Via shrugged. “One of them doesn’t have his shit together at all, so when he feels insecure about it, he gets heated and makes jabs at me or our brothers, and the oldest one usually goes along with it,” she explained. “My parents think I’m being ridiculous about not going over there on Christmas, but they haven’t really tried to change my mind.”

He snickered, deciding that the woman looked too young for problems of any importance. “Ah, restless soul, weight of the world. Want to talk about it?” A pause. “Wasn’t a genuine question, I don’t actually care.”

“Wow, vague assumptions and rude comments. How very New York of you,” Via said, her voice flat, rolling her eyes as the word came out of her mouth.

“It’s important. It isn’t like a major food critic is coming to my restaurant, but people that follow this blog are still going to see it. I need to make sure it’s set apart from the other billion Italian restaurants in New York.”

“But it is set apart from the other billion Italian restaurants in New York. Because you’re actually here running it. Not just barking orders via text constantly,” she offered with a shrug. “But also I’m kinda biased now but I swear that hasn’t influenced my opinion at all.”

Remy: Girl, you know I can't cook, how am I supposed to help you

Remy: Did you know they have delivery services these days? It's easy, you just call or order online

Via: whaaaat i didn't know delivery services were a thing

“I’m used to small apartments. Mine isn’t exactly the biggest either, but it’s cosy. Huskies? Plural? How many do you have? But no, I can handle dogs. Been thinking of getting one myself.” Ben smiled softly, appreciating her invite. It does beat sitting all alone at home during the holidays, even if he wouldn’t mind that, it’s still nice. “Hmm, tempting offer. Well, my favorite Christmas movie of all time is Elf…” Smirking, he realised he hadn’t given her a proper answer yet. “Count me in.”

“Oh, god, no, I _wish _I had more than one. I just have the one, though. His name is Nova. He’s four years old,” she smiled.·“Elf is acceptable. I can respect that,” she said with a grin, before realizing she had actually just invited a stranger to hang out with her on Christmas.·“Perfect! Shit-- I haven’t even told you my name. Hi, I’m Via,” she said with a half-wave.·

Cassian ran a hand through his hair, shrugging a bit. “That sounds lovely, Via. Celebrating in real A Christmas Story style, hm? Peking duck and all?” he asked with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. “If it makes you feel better I’m stuck spending Christmas dinner with my parents. And not just spending it with them, cooking it for them.”

“Yes, actually. Maybe when I go to pick up my food, the staff will sing Deck the Halls for me,” she said with a small laugh. “Wait hold up, I get that you’re a chef and all that fun stuff but why are you cooking dinner for your parents?”

Felicity frowned, hand freezing in their toying with a green braid. It was one of the good things about having the style of hair that she had, she always had something to play with. “What happened? No one should have to be spending Christmas alone, that’s just not fair I don’t think. Wanna talk about it?”

Via shrugged. “We have family dinner every Sunday at my parents’ house and this past Sunday one of my brothers complained that I seemingly got more attention and whatever and one of my other brothers agreed and said it was because I’m simultaneously the baby but also the only girl... So it turned into a huge argument,” she said with a sigh. “The brother that’s two years older than me was the only one that didn’t agree, but, I decided to ignore Christmas at my parents’ this year so that my brothers can be in the spotlight again...”

“Welcome to the club.” Ben chuckled softly, not really having any plans for the holiday himself. His parents weren’t home so his siblings made other plans. Not that it was so bad, but it would’ve been nice not to be alone that day. “I like your choice better. You can’t go wrong with Chinese food and whiskey. And then probably some Christmas movies.”

Via smiled. “Well, if you don’t have any issues with huskies and small apartments, you’re welcome to join me?” she offered. Sure, she was okay with spending her day entirely with Nova, but it wasn’t the same as hanging out with an actual person. “I’ll even share my whiskey and let you pick a movie.”

“Oh shit,” the male’s voice rang suddenly, his body became completely still when he heard the familiar strum of a guitar come down from the overhead speakers. His chin tilted up and his eyes found the source of the sound, willing every noise around him to disappear as he listened intently for a moment to make sure he wasn’t utterly delusional. “Oh shit.” Ian repeated as more of an affirmation this time, a disbelieving giggle following as he remained frozen aside from his wandering eyes, glancing at the people around him as he took in the location. “I’m gonna need you to pinch me so I can make sure I’m not lucid dreaming right now.” He uttered, completely serious, to the person nearest to him.

Via shrugged, looking up from her iPad and over at him instead. She reached over and pinched his arm, hard enough for him to feel it, but not hard enough for it to actually hurt. Picking up her coffee cup and taking a sip, she gave him a curious look. “Now are you gonna tell me why I just pinched you?”

On the front steps of the Commerce Street Luxury Apartments at 2 in the morning, Cillian heard footsteps break the silence on the darkened street. He stifled a yawn and continued to stare blankly ahead. “Nope, didn’t lock myself out of my apartment, just thought I’d wait to see the sunrise on a weekday. What’s your excuse?”

Via had a lot on her mind already, and combined with the huge blowout that happened at her parents’ house just days before Christmas hadn’t helped. So, she did what anyone in New York would do, and decided to take a walk, leaving Nova behind for once. She jumped at the sound of another voice, having been completely lost in her own thoughts before then. She sighed and shoved her hands in her coat pockets. “Too much on my mind to sleep,” she shrugged.

Remy: Holy shit dude, I put my phone down for five minutes, three missed calls

Remy: What's the emergency?

Via: well that's your own fault for putting your phone down

“I don’t know why I’m so nervous about this,” Marco rambled over the drink he’d ordered while he tried to calm his nerves. “I’ve been interviewed plenty of times. I don’t know why this feels so new to me now.”

“Maybe because this is important?” she suggested, taking a sip of her own drink. “Or maybe it’s not important, but I’m guessing if it wasn’t important, you wouldn’t be nervous... So completely disregard that,” she said with a small laugh, feeling a little unsober herself.

“I should have never let Lily have a bath bomb last night. Now she thinks that she should be the only one using them and cried when I said the last one was for me. Looks like I need to either invest in a ton of bath bombs or learn to make them from online.”

Via laughed. “I have to go to Lush to finish Christmas shopping if you want me to pick some up in the meantime?” she offered, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Alternatively, I can help you make them. Or do both?”

“The one time you are is the one time you’ll call me and I’ll have to come after you for disrupting my beauty sleep.” She bumped Via’s shoulder playfully as she stood back up. “So much slobber” She wiped at her cheek with her sleeve and followed her over to the kitchen, taking the pizza as she handed it to her. “Thank you, jerk” She countered, sticking her tongue out

“Right, cause you’d ever come after me,” she said with a laugh. “I still just-- why? How? Everyone eats cold pizza and I just can’t do it.” she mused, opening the bottle of Jameson and taking a large swig from it.

“It’s, easier just to…call people what they want…rather than what, you think they should want.” 

“Exactly, I agree one hundred percent. I think that maybe because my brothers don’t have names that can be shortened, people just assumed I didn’t want mine shortened. But, when your mom’s yelling four different names, at least one of them should be relatively short,” she shrugged.