#yes the little girl in the mirror is william slash me

[monarchofrymden]

Look, it's you. Good as new. New hands, new throat, new living tissue. You've earned this new purpose. Lifetime achievement award.

[artificialqueens]

Not Nineteen Forever (1)(Branjie/Scyvie)- Ortega

a/n: in all seriousness could whoever deleted this not just send me anon hate or something similar like a normal fucking person? this was wildly inconvenient to go through and re-italicise all over again xo

Trigger Warning: mentions of alcohol, drug use, and a graphic description of vomit. lovely.

Summary: Brooke, Yvie and Nina are three flatmates who forged a friendship in their first year of university and picked up some other waifs and strays along the way. Now in their final year, there are feelings that need to be unravelled and confessions to be made whilst navigating drunk nights, hungover mornings, takeaways, group chats, library meetups, cafe gossiping, and the small matter of getting a degree.

***

Brooke wished her friends were the type of girls who all got up early, went for a run and then grabbed a granola-and-pastries brunch in a cute, kitchy cafe somewhere before their tutorials.

Instead, she found herself woken at 11am with a pounding headache, nausea swirling through her stomach, and a piercing buzz from her flat’s intercom system ringing through the hallways. Groaning, she lay back and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping and praying that one of the other girls would answer. To her anguish, the noise came again.

“Fuck,” she sighed, the sheer action of rolling over in bed making her want to throw up as she grabbed her dressing gown, trudged to her door and then into the hallway the size of a shoebox to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Delivery,” came the crackly voice on the other end of the phone. Brooke frowned.

“We didn’t order a-”

“Yes we did,” a voice hissed, as the loud click of a fire door echoed through the hallway and a guilty-looking face with last night’s makeup smudged all over it peered round the door.

Brooke’s speech caught in her throat. Shaking her head, she spoke again. “Yeah, send it up.”

Rolling her eyes as her flatmate slunk out of her room, Brooke fixed her with a stare. “Yvie, I’m going to fucking drown you in your large Fanta, you know that, right?”

“Ugh, what a beautiful way to die,” the other girl drawled, her vocal fry even more pronounced than usual as her dry, cracked vocal cords suffered under the effects of way too much alcohol (and what could have been a hit of the bong when they got home- Brooke couldn’t remember). Yvie was draped in a hoodie that was two sizes too big for her but still didn’t cover the fact that she’d neglected to put on any pyjama pants and was about to answer the door to the UberEats driver in her underwear. Shaking her head, Brooke pushed open the door to the kitchen and was immediately hit with a backdraught of eldritch fumes- the combination of her wine, Yvie’s rum and Nina’s gin from last night’s predrinks knocked her for six and immediately had her running to the bathroom and wrenching the lid of the toilet bowl open. As she fell to the ground and immediately started spewing up inexplicably orange foam, she could hear the delivery driver arriving and Yvie taking her food. Trying to control the nausea, Brooke took a deep, shuddery, fragile breath in through her nose.

“That is grim,” came Yvie’s voice from the doorframe. “Are you suffering, boo?”

Brooke narrowed her eyes, but didn’t turn round from her position on the floor. “No, not at all! I’m fresh as a fucking daisy, bitch! Ready for round two! Get pouring the Sauvignon-”

Unfortunately, she cut herself off with another round of bile that shot itself out of her mouth. Brooke could tell Yvie was rolling her eyes and she hadn’t even turned around.

“I bought two twenty nug boxes, but I won’t eat them all. I’ll be on the sofa with them when you’re ready.”

Brooke gasped and shuddered, wiping her mouth, standing up shakily and finally flushing all the evidence of her rough night of drinking away. She tottered to the sink and looked at herself in the mirror, horrified by the mess of a reflection staring back at her. She’d managed to get herself into her pyjamas when she’d got home but had piled all of her hair on top of her head like a blonde birds’ nest and secured it haphazardly with a single hairtie, making it stick out from all different angles. She’d got most of her makeup off but a good amount of her eyeliner and shadow still remained, and the dark pink liquid lipstick she’d been wearing had left a ring of colour around the outside of her lips. She frowned as she lifted one arm and saw a set of three scratches, like fingernails, going from her elbow down to her wrist. Brooke had less than zero recollection of how they’d got there.

Reaching for her toothbrush, she squeezed entirely too much toothpaste onto the head, ran it under the tap, then scrubbed harshly at her teeth like she was scrubbing barnacles off a big rock. There weren’t many positives to a hangover, but the feeling of brushing her teeth the morning after a night out was like heaven to Brooke. It got rid of a multitude of sins and left her one step closer to feeling like an actual human again.

Finally ready for social interaction, she went back into their kitchen-slash-living room, the stench of the alcohol not making her want to completely die this time around. There, she found Yvie curled up on the green couch under the not-quite-clean, not-quite-dirty blanket that had been there when they’d moved in and hadn’t been washed since. She was watching something that she’d stuck on TV and was munching at a cheeseburger with a grim determination. Brooke threw herself down onto the battered old armchair beside her and peered into the cavernous McDonalds’ bag.

“Nugs?”

Yvie reached into another bag beside her and produced a rectangular box. “Nugs.”    

As Brooke took the box from her and ripped it open, Yvie pulled a doe-eyed face and simpered. “Maybe nugs will be our always.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Brooke laughed through a mouthful of chicken nugget. She cast a glance to the wall behind them and frowned. “Is Nina alive?”

Yvie shrugged. “Doubt it.”

Panic rose up in Brooke’s body, which Yvie clearly sensed. “Bitch. She got home fine, don’t worry. She got an Uber with me and Scarlet. I’m literally amazed she was still standing. She was drinking gin here, then had some of Akeria’s wine when we got to theirs and then she was drinking God knows what else in the club. Beer, vodka, I’m sure I saw her with tequila at some point. Always the quiet ones.”

“Nina, quiet?” Brooke laughed, Yvie joining in loudly. Brooke cast her flatmate a sideways glance. “So you and Scarlet took Nina back?”

Yvie kept her eyes trained firmly on the TV screen. “Yeah, well we ordered the Uber to here and dropped Scarlet off on the way. Just to make sure she got home safe.”

Brooke nodded noncommittally and watched with interest as Yvie continued to look at the screen, then lifted her phone from the arm of the sofa and checked the group chat. Brooke decided to say nothing. “What are we watching?”

“Coronation Street,” Yvie deadpanned, Brooke groaning as the other girl howled another laugh.

“Turn it off, Yvie, I’m serious. My brain can’t take much more. Why are you literally fuckin’ 40 years old?”

As Yvie continued to laugh, Brooke’s phone pinged loudly.

Kim Kardashian-West: Is anyone alive????????????????

Brooke snorted. Yvie was typing quickly, her long nails tapping against the screen.

Dave the Laugh: we’re next door come thru

Mere seconds later, there was a noise from out in the hallway, the bang of a fire door, and then the shuffling appearance of a hungover flatmate wrapped in her duvet and looking entirely too much like the Caterpillar from A Bug’s Life.

“Helloo,” Nina said quietly, in a voice that was eerily similar to Robin Williams as Mrs Doubtfire.

“When did you wake up? I had to answer the door for Yvie’s fucking McDonalds order,” Brooke frowned affectionately, then handed the box of nuggets to her other flatmate who had sank down on the sofa beside Yvie and had stretched her legs out over her lap.

“Nah, I woke up then too. I was just hoping someone else would get the door before me,” she shrugged, one hand reaching for a chicken nugget and the other hand pushing back her huge mane of wild blonde hair, her dark roots sticking up and suffering from serious bedhead.

Yvie pouted. “Ninaaa, you’re meant to be the responsible one.”

Nina snorted, sat up straight, folded her arms, and did her best Hell’s Kitchen contestant impersonation that Brooke and Yvie always loved. “Yeah, but I’m not no bitch!”

As the girls laughed, Brooke had to wonder how they got there- three friends, once all nervous, eager, bright-eyed first years now fully evolved into hardened, exhausted third years (or, as Yvie sometimes described them, war vets). Nothing much had changed in that time, she supposed. They still all lived together, except now they had moved into a flat instead of the student halls they’d all lived in back in first year- Brooke in the room opposite Nina, and Yvie in the block beside theirs. Miraculously, none of them had dropped out of their degrees and they were still all studying the same things. Nina had been glad of a night out as a break from her relentless teaching placement in a nearby primary school, Yvie was keen to celebrate a good mark on her criminology hand-in that she’d had back, and Brooke was just happy for a night out with her friends as her portfolio wasn’t due for another month. She was still in denial about how little time that actually was to get three prototypes ready, so she’d been glad of a break. Torn out of her own thoughts, Brooke’s phone went off again.

large incongruous silkworm spiced praline: BITCH WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED LAST NIGHT

large incongruous silkworm spiced praline: I GOT A BOY FROM THE RUGBY TEAM IN MY BED HE WON’T LEAVE

“Of course you do,” came Yvie’s unimpressed voice from the sofa. Brooke raised an eyebrow as Nina frowned and thumped Yvie with a couch cushion. The other girl flinched in surprise. “Ow! Bitch!”

“Play nice,” Nina scowled at her, judging.

“Do you use that as a behaviour management technique?” Brooke quipped dryly. Nina scrunched up her face and waved a hand dismissively.

“No. It’s Year 6 I teach, remember? I just hack their bodies to bits with a chainsaw I keep in the desk drawer,” she said sarcastically, Yvie barking out a laugh. Nina continued. “The class teacher’s very supportive.”

Plastique Bague: He is definitely not in the rugby team

Plastique Bague: He definitely said that so you would sleep with him

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: I MEAN

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: she was gonna sleep with him either way let’s not lie!!!!!

Brooke’s heart gave a small leap. Okay. Vanessa was up. She was on the chat. This was fine. Was it fine? Had Brooke said some horrendous, embarrassing thing to her last night that she shouldn’t have and she just couldn’t remember? No- it was fine. If she had, Nina or Yvie would have told her. Except, of course, if they couldn’t remember. Looking at the two girls deeply engrossed in the world of social media, she decided to find out. Tactfully of course.

“So…” Brooke began, Yvie’s head snapping up with intrigue. “Anyone do anything embarrassing last night?”

“That rugby player?” she said innocently, howling in pain as Nina’s ankle jolted up and kicked her thigh. “Ow, Jesus, Nina!”

“Aw, come on, give her that, Nina. Silky’s always doing cringey shit on a night out,” Brooke pouted sympathetically. She did love her friend, but the memory of Silky breaking her middle toe while trying to do a death drop in the middle of Levels still haunted her.

“I don’t think so. Everyone was pretty tame. At least, I think it was tame. I’m going to be blatantly honest- I can’t remember,” Nina continued, shrugging lightly.

“I think Vanjie went home with somebody,” Yvie said nonchalantly, her thumb flicking at her screen.

Brooke’s heart froze over in the space of a second. “Really?”

“No, I’m fucking with you,” Yvie chuckled an evil laugh, causing Brooke to break out in a scarlet blush and deflate with relief like a very red balloon.

Nina burst out laughing. “Okay, I’m sorry. That was mean. But it was funny. Funny sometimes outweighs mean.”

“I’m not speaking to either of you for the rest of my life,” Brooke sighed, wishing she could stop blushing.

“Bitch, you’d barely last a minute,” Yvie laughed, pouting as she looked at Brooke’s face. “Aww, don’t be embarrassed! It’s cute!”

“No, it’s idiotic. I’m behaving like a fucking teenager, it’s ridiculous.”

“Do you think you’ll tell her before we graduate?” Nina asked, batting her eyes. Brooke rolled hers.

“Of course I will! I’m just…I need to just know that she likes me back first.”

Brooke didn’t miss the look that passed between her other two flatmates. She didn’t know what it meant, and was too hungover to try to find out.

It wasn’t some dumb teenage crush, Brooke knew that, although at times she did sit in lectures and want to draw hearts and initials and Mrs Vanessa Hytes and Mrs Brooke Lynn Mateo all over her notebook. So what if the only thing stopping her from doing it was Plastique sitting beside her? They were adults, after all- although, being 21, Brooke hadn’t very much experience at the whole adulting thing- and Brooke would tell Vanessa everything eventually. It didn’t matter that she’d waited two years and three-and-a-bit months to do so. Brooke had had lots of practice of confessing her feelings to Vanessa because she did it most nights, just before she went to sleep. Every scenario was different- sometimes they were outside in the smoking area on a night out, sometimes she was round at Vanessa’s flat under a blanket and watching a film, sometimes they were drinking cider together in the park on a sunny evening. But every time, Brooke said the same thing- Vanessa, I need to just get this out there, and I’m sorry if it makes things weird but I (pause) just (pause)…really fucking like you. And I know we’re friends and I don’t want to fuck anything up, but I still remember that time after Akeria’s 19th when we walked home together in the dark and we got chips and you threw them over those guys that yelled at us from across the street and took my hand all protective and I’ve just been in my feelings about you since then, and I know that if I didn’t say it today I would never get the chance. So…yeah. That’s it. Sorry. If it ruins anything. Then Vanessa would reply back. Sometimes she’d launch into a big memory of exactly when she fell for Brooke. Sometimes there was no talking, just Vanessa’s hands on either side of her face and a fierce kiss that Brooke had imagined so much she’d almost dreamt it into reality. Sometimes, on some of Brooke’s not so great evenings, Vanessa would just wrinkle her nose up, furrow her brows, and just look at her, disgust seeping out of every pore and scaring Brooke so much she wouldn’t imagine the whole situation again for a couple of days. But she’d always come back to it, of course. Especially on days where Vanessa had given her a lot to work with- predrinks where she’d been extra giggly and flirty and touchy, dinners where she’d sat just the tiniest bit too close, huge sleepy pileups on Nina’s bed where she’s thrown herself over Brooke’s tummy and rested her head against her chest before gradually falling into a nap.

“Brooke! Would you put your damn phone on silent like a fucking normal person!”

Brooke jumped, Yvie’s frowning eyes trained on her and making her look at her phone, each new notification from the chat coming relentlessly. It had been moving at quite the pace since Brooke last checked it, and she had 21 unread messages.

large incongruous silkworm spiced praline: VANJIE IM GONNA KILL U

Plastique Bague: AHAHAHAH VANJIE

Dave the Laugh: shut up Vanjie omg ahahaha

Kim Kardashian-West: Hahahahahahahahaha!!!

large incongruous silkworm spiced praline: IF I DON’T KILL THIS SIX FOOT TALL BIGFOOT ASS SPICEBOY FIRST

Akeria Sainsburys Bag for Life: lmfao Vanjie

large incongruous silkworm spiced praline: MOOOOOOOOOOOOVE ASSHOLE!!!!!!!!!!

Kim Kardashian-West: Is he awake?

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: think the bitch fucked him to death

large incongruous silkworm spiced praline: ILL FUCK U TO DEATH!!!!!!

Plastique Bague: You guys are killing me ahahahaa stop

Akeria Sainsburys Bag for Life: we’re out of teabags

Akeria Sainsburys Bag for Life: kill me dead

Plastique Bague: Rip in peace

Dave the Laugh: I got Mcdonaldssssss

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: shut the absolute fuck up

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: i’m coming over

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: hey is BrookeLynn awake???????????

Akeria Sainsburys Bag for Life: I’m coming over to eat ya fries

Kim Kardashian-West: nah she died

Kim Kardashian-West: death by £4.99 tesco white zinfandel

“Let’s have the girls over,” Brooke said suddenly, her heart rising as she read the chat. Nina smiled.

“I’d be down!”

Yvie rolled her eyes. “Ugh, guys, we already have so much shit to clean up from last night, the living room smells like shit, and Brooke’s probably blocked the toilet from her radioactive fucking puke.”

Brooke pouted, already typing on the chat.

Cananana Canadada hey hey hey bingo: sorry guys, mum says no :(

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: BROOKLYNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!

(Vanessa used no less than sixteen sparkly heart emojis to accompany the message- Brooke counted.)

Akeria Sainsburys Bag for Life: Nina wtf u bitch

Nina audibly gasped. “Why is it that everyone thinks I’m the Mum of this friendship group?!”

“Because you are the Mum. You do Mum things. Like getting us to drink water in between drinks in the club,” Yvie said, shrugging.

Kim Kardashian-West: EXCUSE ME, THAT WAS YVIE!!!

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: YVIE SUCK A CAN OF DICKS

Plastique Bague: why is everyone shouting

Dave the Laugh: a can that’s inventive

Plastique Bague: i don’t like it when mum and dad fight

used Tampon: Guys!!!!! I just woke up! So many messages wtf!! Anyway are we all going round to Yvie’s or something???

Brooke choked a laugh. Slowly, she turned to look at her flatmate, who appeared to be pressing her lips together to stifle a smile and had gone a rather fetching shade of pink. Brooke looked at Nina, who snorted and immediately read her mind.

Kim Kardashian-West: sorry Scarlet, we’re not allowed to host :(

Cananana Canadada hey hey hey bingo: yeah Yvie says no :(

Kim Kardashian-West: too much mess from last night :((((((

large incongruous silkworm spiced praline: HE’S FINALLY GONE THANK JESUS CARTWHEELING CHRIST

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: NOBODY CARES

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: BrookeLynn just have a revolution!!! it’s ur flat too!!!

Kim Kardashian-West: and me, who also lives here

“The fuck does she mean, it’s your flat too? Like I’m a fucking dictator? What the fuck is that?” Yvie snarled, typing angrily into the phone.

“Down, girl,” Nina joked, hitting her with her heel again.

Yvie slapped her calf in annoyance. “Bitch, you have the boniest foot ever!”

“It’s from all that extra cankle.”

“Guys, are we hosting or not?” Brooke yawned, bored. “We better decide soon because I think some people might be making other plans.”

Frowning, Yvie checked her phone and jumped, typing frantically when she saw the message that was there.

used Tampon: Aww, that sucks :( I guess I’ll drag my hungover self into the lib then

Dave the Laugh: FINE

Dave the Laugh: FINE

Dave the Laugh: ur all the fucking worst and u better be here in at least half an hour or all the food will be gone

large incongruous silkworm spiced praline: GOD IS GOOD

FORD TRANSIT VANJIE: WE LOV U YVIE!!!!!!!1

used Tampon: Yay!!!!! Love u Yvie xxxxxxxxx

Brooke stifled a laugh as she saw Yvie’s face break out in a small smile. Not willing to waste any more time, however, she decided she needed to get ready if Vanessa was going to be coming to the flat. She stood up, greatly misjudged how hungover she still was, then immediately sat back down again.

Twenty minutes later Brooke had showered, dressed, and even mustered the strength to put a small amount of makeup on. Her hair was still up in its nest and, tugging out the band that was holding it up, she ran her fingers through it and shook it out as she tried to tame it in some way. She growled as she couldn’t get her parting right, then frustratedly decided to leave it. Checking the clock, she strode through to the kitchen and opened the window up wide before she sank back down into her armchair. Yvie, who hadn’t moved, raised an eyebrow.

“Nice leggings,” she said, something coating her words that Brooke couldn’t quite decipher. She snapped her neck round to face her.

“What?”

Yvie snorted a little. “Nothing! I’m saying nothing.”

A pause.

“Were your hotpants in the wash?”

“Oh, fuck off,” Brooke laughed, grabbing the cushion off the back of the armchair and covering her face. Yvie’s evil laugh was back.

“Brooke, you do realise that Vanjie really fuckin’ likes you, right?” Yvie leaned forward, her voice loud and brash and not really making it much of a secret. Brooke blew a bit of hair out of her face.

“No, I didn’t realise! That’s only, what, the 36th time you’ve told me that?”

Yvie gave a long-suffering sigh. “I only keep saying it ‘cuz it’s true.”

Brooke pulled the collar of her cropped jumper over her mouth and sighed, hot air creeping over the skin underneath. “Just let me wear my running leggings that show my bum and my legs and will hopefully make the girl I’ve liked since first year fall in love with me in peace, okay?”

Just then, the buzzer went off loudly through the flat, Nina running from her room to get it and anticipation fluttering in the pit of Brooke’s stomach. Nina shouted through to the living room.

“It’s Scarlet!”

Brooke watched Yvie carefully as she lifted her phone and checked her reflection in the blank screen. It only took two minutes for Scarlet to arrive, panting and out of breath from climbing all the stairs to their top floor.

“Yvie!!” she exclaimed happily, falling forward to where Yvie sat and enveloping her in a huge hug. Scarlet was weighed down from her huge yellow raincoat, mittens and hat but Yvie didn’t seem to mind, pulling her onto the seat beside her and not yet letting go of her waist. Brooke watched the whole display, amused. She didn’t not like Scarlet, it’s just the whole reason she was in their friendship group was all because of Yvie, so she hadn’t really had a chance to connect or bond with the girl on her own yet. From what she did know of her, she found her ever so slightly grating- her constant picking and preening at her appearance, her dorky attitude, the way she typed- but Brooke didn’t dislike her. Besides, any friend of Yvie’s was a friend of hers and Yvie had met her last year when she’d gone to a pole dancing class for a grand total of three times before she rolled her ankle. She’d met Scarlet there, who was trying the class out but realised if she couldn’t dance full stop then dancing whilst on a pole would be a little trickier, so they had both stopped at the same time but had never stopped bumping into each other around campus and had gradually become friends. Brooke knew that to Yvie, Scarlet was a little more than just a friend- in fact she’d liken it to her friendship with Vanjie- but she had a desire to keep all her limbs functioning and firmly attached to her body, so she’d never brought it up with her. Watching them now, however, she supposed she didn’t really need to- Scarlet had rested her head on Yvie’s shoulder and her brown curls cascaded down the other girl’s chest as she talked about her plans for the day and laced their fingers together. Nina came to join them in the living room, the three girls laughing uproariously about something that had happened the night before which Brooke couldn’t remember being there for, so she stayed quiet. As the others spoke, Brooke heard the buzzer go off again, and she was up like a shot to get it. She, in the nicest way possible, prayed it wouldn’t be Plastique.

Her heart soared when she picked up the phone and heard the immediate loud voices of Silky and Vanjie bickering.

“I SAID FLAT 3F1, BITCH, YOU PRESSED EVERY DAMN BUZZER ON THE DOOR!”

“YOU KNOW I AIN’T GOOD WITH NUMBERS!”

“…WHAT IS THERE TO GET, HOE? IT’S A THREE, AN F AND A ONE! A WHEEL OF CHEESE COULD FIGURE THAT OUT!”

“Um. Guys?” Brooke spoke up, hoping that none of her neighbours were listening to the debacle. “It’s Brooke?”

There was a beat of silence and a crackle of laughter on the other end of the phone. Akeria’s voice followed. “Thanks, boo. Buzz us in.”

Obeying, Brooke pressed a nail to the buzzer and stood waiting at the door, her heartbeat growing faster as she heard the soft, displeased muttering coming from the three girls drift its way up the stairs. Akeria came into view first, flipping her long, straight blonde hair over her shoulders as she strutted up the stairs in her heeled boots. She could easily have been on her way to another night out, having complete disregard for any form of jeans, leggings or pant-like clothing and wore skirts or dresses at every opportunity. Today she wore a long t-shirt dress with a belt around the waist and a huge, fluffy pink fur coat to compliment the cold weather. She arrived at the doorframe and gave Brooke a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“How you doin’ girl, you feelin’ it?” she pouted sympathetically, Brooke only nodding in response. Akeria squeezed her arm. “That’s too bad. I don’t mean to be rude but I’m gonna die if I don’t eat chicken nuggets in the next five minutes so I’m gonna just head on through.”

Brooke nodded understandingly but hardly had time to look back into the stairwell when she was crushed in a huge bear hug by Silky, in jeans and a loose leopard print top which was a far cry from her glittering, bodycon dress she’d had on the night before. She barely had time to say hi to her when she was ambushed by the girl she’d been waiting for to arrive- Vanjie, all tiny and soft in her pink Ellesse tracksuit that Brooke knew she reserved for lazy, hungover mornings, her dark, wavy hair swept up in a neat bun.

“Brooky!” she squealed happily, kissing her mid-hug and instantly sending Brooke to cloud nine. She moved to pull away almost as quickly as she’d initiated it, and the moment was gone way too quickly. Pushing down her brief disappointment, Brooke smiled at the girls.

“How are we today, ladies?” she asked, laughing as Silky rolled her eyes.

“SO,” she started, Vanessa raising her eyebrows at Brooke longsufferingly. “Not only do I have to kick some foetus-ass, rugby impostor out of bed first thing after I wake up…I also don’t get a single moment to relax because Miss Vanjie’s runnin’ through to my room, yelling and screaming we gotta go round to Brooke’s bitch, we gotta go round to Brooke’s, c'mon let’s go! like a fuckin’ CHILD for ten straight MINUTES!”

Brooke burst out laughing, wondering if she was imagining the blush that hit Vanjie’s cheeks and the slight push she gave her flatmate.

“It wasn’t ten minutes, Jesus, I was just excited for hungover fun with my girlfriends,” she muttered, rubbing at her forehead and slightly smudging last night’s makeup that was still firmly on her face. It didn’t matter though. She was still utterly fucking beautiful to Brooke.

Catching herself before she kept the dopey smile on her face any longer, Brooke shrugged. “Well, I’m glad you made it if only so you could stop Yvie descending into complete obesity with her forty nuggets.”

“Hm. Too late for some of us, bitch,” Silky deadpanned, causing Vanessa to double over laughing. They wandered through to the living room together, where Akeria had squashed herself beside Yvie and Scarlet on the sofa and Nina was busying herself washing glasses and chatting to them. Foregoing niceties, Silky ran and threw herself into the armchair, causing Vanjie to raise an unimpressed eyebrow at her and sit on the floor, her back against the arm of the sofa. Thinking, Brooke gestured to Yvie for a pillow and the other girl obliged. Brooke propped the pillow up against the sofa then sat down and rested her back on it, leaving enough room for Vanessa. The girl gave her a grateful smile as she relaxed against it, at once too close and not close enough. Brooke smiled back at her, feeling her recline against her side and sighing happily.

Silky was busy engaging all the girls in a conversation about all the gory details from her faux-rugby-player encounter, so Brooke looked at Vanjie and nudged her a little. “You have fun last night?”

Vanjie snorted. “Bitch. I always have fun when I’m out, ain’t no need to worry about that. Helps when you come out with us, though.”

Brooke hoped she was covering up her blushing with her smile, playing it off by shrugging. “Aww, you’re cute. No, well I’m just always so busy with portfolio shit. Nobody believes me when I say the design department work you hard.”

“I always believe you!” Vanjie exclaimed, affronted. Brooke couldn’t help but laugh.

“You once believed Akeria when she said pineapple was a vegetable, there’s no hope for you,” she teased, laughing as Vanjie pouted beside her. Christ, she was fucking adorable.

“You’re lucky you gave me so many compliments last night so I can’t be mad at you,” she said in passing, Brooke’s heart immediately standing still.

What the fuck did I say?

“Really? I don’t remember this. This doesn’t sound like me, I would never give you a compliment.”

Vanessa laughed and leaned in closer to her side, giggling. “Shut up, boo, you say nice things to me all the time! Think you were especially attached last night though. Kept talking about how cute I looked.”

This was bad. This was horrifically bad. Brooke momentarily looked up to Nina for help, but she was sitting on the arm of Silky’s chair, too engrossed in her story. Brooke gave a cough that was meant to be a laugh, and stumbled over her words. “When was I…when did I say all this?”

Vanessa was back to being nonchalant and was looking at the TV, still aggravatingly playing soap operas. “Aw, you know. When we were queuing at the bar, when we were out smoking, when we went to go pee. Quite a few times.”

Brooke gave a fake laugh which she hoped hid the absolute terror pulsing through her veins. Vanjie joined in, then poked her. “Part of me was like, does this bitch wanna make out with me or something? That would’ve been funny as shit. Can you imagine, Brooke Lynn?! Oh my God.”  

Brooke at once felt her laugh come way too loud and too harsh and too fake. Mercifully, thankfully, she was distracted by a cry from Yvie.

“Oh my GOD! We’re out of food.”

Nina shrugged, fingers already at her phone. “Plastique’s still to come, I could get her to stop by Greggs on the way?”

There was an ethereal moan of delight from each girl in the room, leading to a big bubble of laughter immediately after and calls for Nina to be anointed. Brooke smiled affectionately as Vanjie threaded her arm through Brooke’s own, cuddling in further to her side.

She hadn’t told her last night. She would soon.

[theoriginalsfan124]

The killer within Part one:

Caroline cringed while looking at herself in the mirror. She has always loved wearing black clothes but not for these occasions and right now she despised how she looked; her dusty blond hair tied into a high ponytail, wearing a simple black dress with spaghetti straps, she also wore a black jacket to cover herself, because it was the middle of fall and it was pretty chilly outside, she wore black flats to complete her look. She hated the fact that her two dorm mates were dragging her back to the barn, turned into a party turned into a crime scene, to honor the victims that were murdered. The girl knew that this honoring thing was only a cover up for the college students to get drunk and hook up, but she was going for one of her dorm mate’s sake, after all she did discover the two bodies of fellow college students.

But the barn didn’t bring only bad memories from that night, because after all she did meet Noel Aijima, the silent, cool and composed Noel Aijima. Right from the moment she started going to this college she was intrigued by him and his friends, but mostly just him, because he, unlike his friends, was a real mystery. Of course he had killer looks too; he was tall, well built, he had blond hair and baby blue eyes, everything that a girl liked. She was surprised he sat down next to her on the old couch in the barn, but excited nerveless.

 “Well this sucks” someone commentated while plopping himself next to Caroline on the old dusty couch.

She turned her head and looked at the voice owner and saw none other than Noel Aijima.

“The party?” she asked.

“Yeah” he answered quietly. “I’m not much of a party person”

“Me neither” she smiled lightly.

“So what are you doing here? At this party I mean. I’ve never seen you attend one of these.” He asked curiously.

“My two dorm mates slash best friends dragged me here.”

“I guess we are on the same page, my friends drag me here too.” He smiled slightly.

She sweetly smiled back at him.

“I’m Noel by the way and you’re Caroline, right?”

“How did you know?” She asked surprised

“One of your best friends is dating Yuzuki, my friend.”

“Right, right. Totally forgot.” She chuckled and so did he.

 They started talking more, asking about random things about the other, laughing and smiling.

“So you’re a law major?” Noel asked.

“Yeah I am.”

“Why?”

“Well I’m following my aunts footsteps kind of, she’s an F-“

Her sentence was cut off by a bloody scream and both of them were on their feet and on their way to the place where the scream came from. She saw her roommate Fuko holding her hand on her mouth sobbing uncontrollably, Caroline rushed to the side wrapping her hands around her friend. She then turned her head to her side and to her horror she saw the bodies of Rachel Adams and Abigail Stael fallen from an old crate. This was a night none of them could ever forget.

 Caroline shivered slightly at the memory. Shaking her head she got out of the truck that she and her two best friends drove to the barn with.

 “Emily is going to kill me when she finds out.” She muttered under her breath.

“Chill she’s not going to find out” Grace reassured her.

“This town is so small of course she’s going to find out and when she does I’m dead”

 The town was indeed very small, the population being only slightly more than 3000 residents. Most of the town consisted of college students going to the local college in the center of the town and because of that the small town of “Forksville” earned the nickname “Student town”.

 “Just tell her it was out of respect for the victims” Fuko chipped in.

“Out of respect? Are you fucking kidding me? We are going to a crime scene of a murder she’s investigating! “Caroline practically yelled.

 Her aunt, Emily Prentiss, was an FBI agent and the unit chef of one of the teams of the BAU which was assigned to investigate this murder and find the killer.

 After they got inside Caroline hurried over to the couch she was sitting just two nights before. She plopped herself down and took a deep breath preparing herself for the countless drunk men that will try to get in her pants. Noel noticed the petite blond woman and left the company of two of his friends making his way towards Caroline.

 “Your friends dragged you here too?” He asked as soon as he sat down on the couch.

“Yes. Yours did too?” she raised an eyebrow at him

“I wouldn’t be here otherwise.” He chuckled lightly

 She chuckled lightly too. They started talking just as last time, but this time Noel was flirtier, not that Caroline noticed.

 “Want to get out of here and go to a park?” He suggested

“Sure, why not.” She agreed and both of them left the barn getting into his car and driving to the local park.

 She of course texted her friends just in case they go to look for her. Caroline shivered slightly and put her phone in her pocket.

 “Are you cold?” Noel asked noticing goosebumps on the girl’s skin.

“A little bit.”

“Here-“He pulled off his jacket with one of his hands, while the other was stirring the stirring weal, and he gave her it.

She blushed slightly and smiled sweetly at him.

“Thanks”

He only smiled and kept driving.

 After a little while they got to their destination and stepped out of Noel’s car.

 “Want to go to the swing sets?” she asked him.

“Sure” he agreed and followed Caroline as she was already leading the way.

  After a couple of hours they both agreed to head back home. He drove her to her dorm and led her to the door.

 “So I guess this is it.” He said smiling at her.

“Yup.” She said not really knowing what to say more.

Just as about both of them start to lean in the door opened revealing Caroline’s aunt with a worried look on her face.

 “Thank goodness you’re okay!” She yelled pulling Caroline into her embrace.

“Call down, Emily. What happened?” Caroline asked her aunt.

“Didn’t you two hear?”

Noel and Caroline looked at each other and shook their heads.

“The body of Kate Hudson’s was discovered by another student stuffed in an old crate in the barn, also Sara Nail and Adam Vince just went missing.” Emily said with worry and concern.

“Oh my god” Caroline gasped her palm gripping onto Noel’s palm.

“Shit” Noel muttered under his breath. “ So the rumors were true, this town’s got a serial killer on the loose.”

“Yes. And that’s why my team and the police are setting a curfew; everyone will need to be at their dorms at 10pm each night until we catch the killer.”

 Shivers went down Caroline’s spine. A serial killer was on the loose and out there for blood. Noel saw this and slightly caressed the short woman’s back.

“It’ll be okay. I am sure your aunt and her team will catch this son of a bitch.” He reassured her.

Caroline gave him a weak smile and a nod.

“I have to go now, the guys are probably wondering where I am by now.” Noel said.

“Okay, be safe.” Caroline answered worryingly.

“I will don’t worry.” He smiled one last time at her and retreated to his car driving off.

 Caroline stood there watching his car speed off, shaking a bit.

 “Let’s get back inside, Grace and Fuko are there worried out of their minds.” Emily said pushing Caroline inside the house.

  The next few weeks were one of the worse weeks the town has ever experienced. The bodies of Sara Nail and Adam Vince were found after just two days of being missing and the body of Veronica Charles was discovered just three days ago, also Katherine Pierce, Elena Williams and Jacob Saner went missing just yesterday.  Everyone in the town knew this killer was thirsty for blood and won’t stop even with the FBI in town and as the FBI stated the killer is organized and doesn’t leave anything behind that could be used as evidence except for the bodies.

  This few weeks were tortures on Caroline too, her aunt was keeping her almost on lock down, her best friends were terrified out of their minds too, she couldn’t deny she was too. But on the bright side, she got closer to Noel; they constantly texted each other and talked for hours when they hung out. And now she was even in his car just going to the park as always, the twist was that it’s wasn’t the local park, it was an old abandoned park just outside the town. When they stopped, Caroline and Noel stepped out of the vehicle and went to a bench were they always sat at.

“Shit did you hear about the people that went missing yesterday?” Noel asked sitting down.

“Yeah, quite scary.” She answered shaking her head.

“Shit the way he tortures his victims for hours before killing them just brings shivers to my spine” Noel said looking up into the sky.

Caroline’s eyes went wide.

“That-that- that wasn’t told to the public…” She battered her mouth going dry and she was getting ready to run.

Noel froze a bit.

“Shit-“He cursed under his breath.

She was on her feet and running in mere seconds but Noel was faster and caught her in his arms, tightly holding her and putting his palm on her mouth to stop her from screaming.

“Shit babygirl I didn’t want to do this, you should have kept your mouth shut and ignored it.” He whispered in her ear pulling something from his back pocket and putting it close to her neck.

 Caroline tried to protest and get free, but in mere moments her world went black and she slumped in Noels arms.