Don't Give In

"You got kids? You're talking to me like you've got kids who think I'm actually a festive sweatshop worker." Strad glanced around, making sure they weren't saying such belief-shattering things in front of any small ears. "Mm, shame. The shorts and candycane leggings combo is such a look. What kind of side hustle is that? You a card counter?"

"Oh god no, I've just been spending so much time with my niece and nephew it's starting to rub off on me. One is totally coherent and the other is just learning how to lift his head so the kid speak/baby speak code switching has just gotten me all caught up. Thanks for the consideration though, you really are good at your job." Dulcie laughed, thinking about the leggings and also about her as a card counter. "Shit, I wish. That sounds so much more badass. I just help people with their financial records for cheaper than the big banks and businesses do. Help file their taxes and stuff. Sexy. I know."

"My family's the snobbiest of snobs," she chuckled, and even that felt like an understatement. Not that it mattered- her grandma wasn't exactly rushing over for a visit, and what the rest of the Chadwells, aside from a select few, thought didn't mean much either. "Noo, that can be done right. As long as it looks purposeful, not just metals clashing haphazardly."

"Well are they going to sit by your true and act like Joan Rivers? If not then I'd definitely say fuck it. It's your tree. My mom gets super strict about the tree in the weirdest ways but it's all sentimental stuff. Used to be a lot more fun when I was younger and misplacing ornaments was seen as cute, you know? And yeah, I mean anything can be done if you have enough confidence but sometimes the clashing just causes too much chaos. I learned that from my best friend. She's my fashion guru. But enough about trees, the real important question is do you own any dancing santas?"

"What, you never seen a fuckin' elf before?" Stradlin kicked off from where they'd been leaning on the wall outside Magnolia's, very clearly having escaped from the Santa photo setup in the mall. Yeah, they looked stupid, but money was money at the end of the day. "Everyone's got a side hustle."

"Oh no, I definitely have, just not one outside of Magnolia's. But it would make sense since their stuff is so good. Has to be elf magic." Dulcie held up her hands in defense as if to prove she hadn't been staring even if she had. "You're absolutely right. Mine doesn't include as good of a costume though. And a lot more numbers."

Though Adeline lived in a few places by herself at this point, this was the first she'd stayed in long enough to really decorate and make her own. She tried moving back into the Chadwell mansion but if her family wanted her in Rosewood that just wouldn't work out, she needed room to express herself -and to put up her own Christmas tree. "What are your thoughts on mixing silver and gold?," she asked as she held up two rolls of garland, going total maximalist in the craft aisle.

"Depends on what you're doing it for but I think these days no one really gives a fuck, do they? I mean well unless you have like snobs coming to critique your tree which is possible." Dulcie was of course loving all of the holiday spirit despite how lonely the holidays could make her feel. But with all of her friends around and her niblings around to love on, it was still sure to be a sweet one. "Now silver and gold jewelry..that's a totally different story."

"Yeah? Maybe we should compare notes some time," he joked, not unlike the way he would with someone like Nixon or Lennon which was strange in itself. "Nah, not really. Sounds like a lot of fuckin' work. What about Tahani? She's got money, likes to party."

"Mm, maybe we shouldn't. I think some things are better left a mystery," she told him with a laugh. She really didn't need to know if there was any accidental overlap. He might get too much of a kick out of that. "Well a little bit of work is not something I've ever shied away from. Um because I'm not just going to hit up my best friend for money like she's an ATM. Even if she does like to party. If I was ever going to straight up ask her for funds, it would definitely be for emergency purposes only. I mean do you hit up Nixon for money just for fun? Actually don't answer that, I don't need to know either."

Mariela shrugged as she didn't really feel that sense of overwhelming joy when she'd found herself surrounded by the people she considered to be 'friends'. But then again, were they really her friends or people she'd continue to hang out with because of their shared past. Aside from Chase, she didn't really have reason to interact with most of them. "No, I can't say I've felt that. But again, my circle of friends, we were more trauma bonded than anything else." She disclosed to Dulcie, because she had been fortunate enough to call the woman in front of her a friend. "Oh my god, she's still pregnant, right? That baby has to be popping out any day now. We definitely have to take her out on the town like tomorrow night." Mariela let her know. "Then we're going out, and don't worry about a thing, it's on me." She said, with a wave of her hand. "Please, we can do anything we want, a man is not nessacary. Now, if we want someone to front the bill, why not throw that over in a mans direction?" Mariela said with a shrug, as she didn't see anything wrong with that. "Is that so? Well, I'm sure he could get out of her snatch for two minutes to give us some of his contacts. That is if you want to tackle a party. Which, I should remind you, comes with willingly letting some of these people in your home." Mariela smiled. "You know, I try sometimes." She nodded. "He most definitely would. Oh, please, we both know that for him, a good night out involves the dumb dumb squad." She said with a roll of her eyes, as she referred to her boyfriend's friends.

"Really? I mean I guess that makes sense. The Performing Arts program sounded super intense. I mean I had to deal with nuns and shit but you guys over there, sounded cutthroat. Well, you're my friend now. With or without my cousin, but I doubt he'll be that much of a knucklehead a second time. Either way, I'm here. She is still very much pregnant. I'll text her and see if she'd down. Oh it's on you? Okay. I love this friendship already," she told her with a wink before laughing. "Okay fair. But I think Flynn actually just scams a lot of people. Either way, I have a few people in mind who could help us out in the financial department. And resources. You're right, I'm not a total nobody, I know a few people. I mean all I have to do is text my group chat from the Latinx club and I'm pretty sure all the hotties will come through with help. Coyotes included. I know, I know. But if we find somewhere that's not my home, then I think we can totally make it work. No way I can convince my parents to just let me throw a party. Unless I somehow convince them to come to the party but I don't know. Maybe if Phoenix asks, you know my mom is a softie for him but even then. My Dad would totally be down but that's because he loves an excuse for people to buy him beer and listen to his spotify playlists." She let out a snort of a laugh at Mariela's nickname for them. "Unfortunately so. Try growing up with them. They've actually kind of mellowed out in their ancient age," she teased with a smirk. "But we can tolerate them together. For my cousins's sake, of course."

"Your moments? Please, I think you know you're right like about 98 percent of the time." Mariela told the other woman with a scoff, as she knew Dulcie knew that far too well. "Really? Because I have found that some of my most fun nights come from partying with a bunch of strangers. Lower stakes that way." She said. "Maybe that's what you need, a night out in the city away the same ol'-same ol'." The brunette suggested. "Ohh, so you really want something here? Okay, well, then we probably should definitely get Flynn on the phone." Mariela let Dulcie know. "Both because he knows everyone and that guy doesn't care to spend a dime in the name of having a great time." She twisted her lips, as many a things came to mind. A great DJ of course, people who actually cared to dance, and— "This is going to be so selfless of me, but I'd love it if your cousin came to one of these and just had fun. No worrying about rent or doing overtime in his mind when it comes to his job. For him to actually enjoy himself." Mariela said with a laugh. "I've come to learn, your family members, yes, you included— are a bunch of overachievers."

"I mean yeah but I like to play coy about it from time to time," she joked and flipped her hair over her shoulder before laughing. "I mean yeah but haven't you ever partied with your friends and just felt like..overwhelming joy? I know Oddie needs a good party, she won't admit it but I know she wants one more good ass shake before she pops that kid out. Tahani is always down for a good time. I barely have to ask. I mean maybe, I won't ever say no to a night out in the city with you." Dulcie did her best to have fun but some times when she put too much thought into it, she ended up not drinking enough or too much. "I mean, yeah, why not. But are you seriously saying we can't do this without a man?" Dulcie was mostly joking but now that she thought about it, she figured that it couldn't be so hard. If she could solve some of the hardest formulas in the world, surely she could throw a party. "I mean I wouldn't mind asking for his advice but from what I can tell, he's been busy in California with his girlfriend." Dulcie didn't know him too personally but she knew him the way everyone kind of did. And she followed him on Instagram. "Oh how selfless of you. I would love to see him have some fun too. And we can't help it. God gifted us with these brains, it's only right we use it," she added with a dramatic sigh before laughing. "And we know he'd have more fun if he knew I was going to be there. I mean do you think he'd have more fun around strangers or people he knows? Just saying."

"Bueller got a monopoly on parties now?" Personally he didn't give a shit who threw the party, and he definitely didn't care about any the status that apparently came with throwing the best, whatever that meant. "About how many women is that, like single, double digits...? Gotta be a small pool, right."

"I mean yeah, that's kind of his whole thing. You know how picky people are here. Small pool? Fuck off, it's actually a very large, super huge pool," she told him with a smirk, though that wasn't true. It was medium sized at best. If there was a lesbian in Rosewood, chances were Dulcie had met them at some point. The general pool was only so big. "You want to help me throw a party? I have no idea where we'd do it and I don't have the budget but I'm sure we can figure something out. Maybe, either way I deserve one really good slightly reckless time before going back to Rhode Island."

"You know, you're hella right." Mariela commented as she sure as fuck hadn't been to a blow out yet this summer. That wasn't to say that she hadn't been enjoying herself, her nights out now included dinners at the it restaurants in the city and behind the velvet ropes of VIP at the most hyped clubs. Perks that came with being one of the head dancers in the city's premiere ballet production. "Please, shut it. People know who you are, Dulcie." She scoffed, shaking her head. "Now that, that's a problem. I can't even lie to you there."

"I do have my moments of being right," Dulcie replied with a smirk, happy to be spending time with Mariela. They had of course hung out a bit during the summer but she always enjoyed a bit of down time with her. "I mean some people but like people who are my friends. Which is fine, I generally don't need a bunch of strangers to party with. Still, I haven't had much of a summer fling and I only have one month for something spicy and sexy so what better way than throwing a party, you know? But I have to find someone with a bank account that didn't just pay off my fall semester tuition." Even wish scholarships there had still be a bit that Dulcie had to pay, including her apartment back in Rhode Island so she was waiting for her next week's pay for her internship to actually come through. "What would you want out of a summer party?"

“Hey…” Eden said as she reclaimed one of Araceli’s hands as she drove them, “I appreciate you.” She kissed the back of her hand, “And I love you.” She kissed it again, “And I promise I’m okay, okay? It’s fucked up but I’m pretty tough so I can handle it.” She’d be lying if she didn’t say she hadn’t thought about getting a place of her own with Araceli, but Eden could also get on board with her girlfriend living with her sister if it was something she was interested in doing, “Why do you think she’s moving in that direction? And how do you feel about that ?”

“You are tough, but you shouldn’t have to deal with that shit,” she replied, her mood lightening when Eden told her she loved her and brought Eden’s hand up to her lips to kiss it. “I love you too.” She blushed as she said it, not because she was shy but because sometimes she was a bit taken aback by how successful they had been at sustaining their relationship. Dulcie was right, one day something just happened and someone goes from a stranger to one of the most important people in your life. “I think they want to finally get out of the house, give my moms their space. They’ve been a little restless. I mean when I was younger living with them in an apartment was like a big dream but now I kind of wonder if it’s just a way for them to not feel lonely. You know? And I want to support them but also I kind of want them to have their own journey. Maybe living on their own could be good for them, I don’t know. I hadn’t even thought about moving out this year. I mean I think about living with you one day and having our own space eventually. But I don’t know. I kind of want another year with my moms. And also still being close to my abuela’s house. She’s got me spoiled.”