glory & gore.

elsie hartford, thirty-two personal assistant to caroline solano aspiring empress ♕♕♕ "i only want what a god wants: to own it, all."

[elsiehartford]

[incoming text] elsie ↔ lillian

Lila: I'm nothing if not sweet 😉

Lila: I wouldn't call it a party, there's not nearly enough alcohol here

Lila: Sure, lots of presents. One of them being Caroline's good mood

Lila: Yes, why do you ask?

Elsie: not enough alcohol in the Solano household? that's a first

Elsie: oh, you know, just curious..

ELsie: did you like it?

[thorodinsson]

[elsiehartford]

henry.

It was a familiar sight. The raven-haired woman, settled comfortably in the immaculate Solano home. She seemed perfectly suited to it, carrying with her an air of superiority and certainty that only those born to it often did. Even at first glance, from the football field of UCLA, he recognized it within her. Not simply the cut-throat nature, or the penchant for acting in self-interest first… But the blinding desire to achieve all that one could. Perhaps it was Henry’s own ego, but it resonated with him. After all, he was the same. Naturally, it did not take long for the pair to come together. The wild enigmas of the California campus, causing a stir and a scandal wherever they turned. Henry was hardly self-contained or particularly thoughtful, and falling in step with Elsie was instinctive. And while the sight of her now still spurred on that feeling of familiarity, he saw something else now. A woman who took his friendship and generosity, and used his family’s vulnerability to cement her place in it. “Thank you.” Henry responds coolly. The distance between them had grown over the years, and his unflinching loyalty to Lissa certainly did not do them any favors. But Elsie knew what Caroline meant to him, just as she knew that Henry was not her enemy. Not yet, anyways. Henry wasn’t particularly strategic (it was Adrian’s lot in life to be), but he knew both his brother and Elsie like the back of his palm. If luck and his brother’s reason was on his side, she would be a passing fancy. Of course, Elsie would do her best to be more than that. His place in it, was to guarantee it was in his brother’s interest before hers.

“You don’t think I know that?” He asks rhetorically, casually leaning over to inspect the new trinket hanging off of Elsie’s wrist. “We both know you get coziest with whoever’s the highest roller.” As if to prove his point, his hands trace along the bracelet. For all of their distance, he had always paid close attention to Elsie, and her choices in jewelry were no exception. “Besides, you’ve got enough Solano’s buying you present, haven’t you?” Licking his lips, he glances down at the poker chip. A sentimental present. That was a surprise. But he knew Elsie’s mind too well, to think of it as a solely friendly gesture. “I didn’t think of you as sentimental.” Henry says simply, running his thumb along the engraved initials before placing it back in its respective box. “Except, maybe, for that lost weekend in Vegas on your 21st birthday. But that might have more to do with the case of Dom Perignon we cleaned out and the forty-eight hours we spent fucking at the suite of the Bellagio.” Henry thinks out loud, casual as he places the box back on the desk.

It was as endearing as it was annoying, the way his gaze immediately found the delicate platinum-encrusted diamonds around her wrist, the whole thing, from the graze of his fingers to the sting that didn’t quite land, a clear power move with the word ‘man’ written all over it. She didn’t mind him pointing out her partiality for money and expensive things, calling her a gold-digger in all but the name. He wasn’t wrong, after all, and pointing fingers was easy with a silver spoon between the teeth. It was him parading his supposed knowledge of her above her head that vexed her more, and his ability to back up every bark with a bite. Because Henry Solano did know her — better than most people, definitely better than any of his siblings. There was a reason they said birds of a feather flocked together, and oh, there’d been a time he’d worn their shared colors beautifully. Until he’d pricked a finger with her teeth and suddenly there were lines you didn’t cross, and people she wasn’t good enough for. Snakes never made for very good pets, she’d thought he knew that, but now here they were. “You disappoint me,” she said, a slight pout to her lips, the comment carrying more weight than just that of a forgotten Christmas present. “Even your sister got me a card.” 

Leaning back on her seat, she watched him open the present, taking note of the flick of his tongue and the slightest rise of a brow as he rubbed the chip between his fingers, surely seeing it for exactly what it was — a power move to match his own. “But you do think of me,” she smirked, taking his words and tearing them out of context, twisting just enough to fit them into her own little game. “Only dirty things, I hope?” With her teeth digging into her bottom lip, she let out an amused chuckle, their minds clearly moving down the same routes. “Ah, yes,” she offered him a small nod, “Back when you could carry both of our weight without your legs giving out. I can see why your mind would go there.” It was a low blow, but they’d never much liked playing by the book. “For my thirty-third, though, do you think I should go for a seventy-two-hour reservation instead? I feel like forty-eight just won’t cut it for your brother and I.” 

[elsiehartford]

[incoming text] elsie ↔ lillian

Elsie: so i got your card today

Elsie: very sweet of you, by the way, and very festive, goes perfectly with the holiday decor in my living room

Elsie: oh, and i take it the party's going well? with lots of presents?

Elsie: did you open the one from your mother yet?

[elsiehartford]

Caroline made me do this. ;) Merry Christmas.

- Lillian

[elsiehartford]

eileen.

“Have you ever tried fucking the sad out of a man?”

When Aaron’s uncle passed, Eileen could see the cracks in the family grow. His father’s arrest just pushed him over the edge. She tried to comfort him, give him what he needed, but what he needed was his father back and that was something Eileen couldn’t provide. No amount of sex would change that. “Sex is great but it can’t mend a broken heart,” she said. “No matter how good it might be.”

"I didn’t ask if it worked, I asked if you’d tried it,” Elsie replied coolly, the beginnings of a smirk playing at her lips. “I have, and I mean you’re right, it’s bullshit, of course, but it’s not exactly the most unpleasant strategy, so can you blame a girl for trying?” Exhaling a cloud of smoke, she went on, eyes fixed on the end of her cigarette. “Women at least have the decency to fake it, men just make sure everyone around them is just as miserable as they are. It’s boring, really.” Might’ve been a bit on the nose, considering the state she’d found Eileen in, but if anything, it would do her some good, shake her out of that misery a little bit. “So maybe you are lucky, getting out when you did. I mean, you can miss him, sure, but can you really say you miss that wallowing?” 

[elsiehartford]

henry.

@elsiehartford​

“Order a couple of vases of hydrangeas for the New Year. She’ll pretend she won’t want them, until she does.” Henry says calmly, the knowledge and level-headed concern for Caroline Solano forging his behavior. The day after Christmas was always a tizzy in the familiar home. His mother, undoubtedly clutching a virgin cocktail while sporting a headache from too much activity, laying comfortably in her bedroom. Since the events that rocked the foundation of the Solano family, it seemed everyone took their new role. In Henry’s case, he appeared as the last vestige of calm and reason. Quite a surprising feat, given the underboss’ well known temperament. But today, with Adrian and Lillian off to their own devices, Henry was focused on the care of his mother. Which meant, tangling with Elsie Hartford.

It was a long-established friendship, of sorts. But one muddled by their self-absorption, ruthlessness, and the ways Elsie seemed to be tangling a crooked web around his brother. Since their college days, he had come to know and even grow affectionate towards her. All the same, it seemed she was determined to be the next empress of a great dynasty. It was almost impressive, if it wasn’t a by-product of his brother’s grief. “My old man used to arrange it every New Year.” Henry explains to Elsie, coming to her side as they sat in his mother’s office. He leans his back against the wall, his lion-head cane on his left side. “How’s she doing?” Henry had always favored Caroline, and vice versa, and the concern was palpable in the typically light-hearted underboss. It seemed things were much changed since then. “Come on, we’re friends, aren’t we? You can tell me anything.” He baits, with a crooked and challenging smile.

Despite the copious hints she’d dropped, and the time she’d spent picking out, ordering and making sure Caroline’s presents ended up under the tree for her, wrapped and embellished with pretty bows, Elsie had been unsuccessful in securing herself an invitation to the Solanos’ Christmas party. Not that she’d expected anything more. As much as Caroline liked her, she liked her granddaughter more, and even in all her grief and misery, the woman wasn’t delusional enough to believe Lissa would bring her around with Adrian’s mistress in the house. So, not feeling like going to her parents’ house, Elsie had taken her generous Christmas bonus straight to the fancy liquor shelves, spending the day usually reserved for families getting drunk instead, the cup of Starbucks’ Iced Ginger Drink now perched on the edge of Caroline’s desk the only indication of the hangover she was still nursing. She’d always worn her hangovers well, obvious to no one except for maybe Henry Solano, who’d seen her pull the same tricks countless times before in college. Not that he’d care. 

“Consider it done,” Elsie nodded, jotting the idea down in the margins of her notes, ready to latch onto every bit of information that’d lift her in the eyes of the Solano matriarch. She wasn’t foolish enough to read into his words and the intentions behind them more than there was. She’d have seen him helping her back when she’d started out, straight out of college and green, but not anymore, the limp he sported enough to leave her an inkling of whose side he stood in her involvement in his brother’s marriage. In fact, hadn’t Henry’s fondness for his mother been so obvious, she’d have thought twice before considering his advice at all, no matter how close they’d one been. A smirk playing at the corners of her lips, she took her time clicking off her pen, before turning to look at him, brow arched in feigned surprise. “I’m sorry to say, but so is your mother, and unlike you, she got me a Christmas present.” Well, technically, she’d given her money for it, but that didn’t stop her from wearing it around her wrist in a dainty Tiffany’s bracelet. “Speaking of which, being the good friend that I am, I did get you something.” Still smiling, Elsie produced a small package from her purse, handing it over. “For luck,” she explained, waiting for him to unpack the navy poker chip with an UCLA bruin and his initials engraved on it. Just sentimental enough to remind him of ‘the good old times’, she thought. Or rub them in his face. 

[elsiehartford]

lillian.

A hint of a smirk graced Lila’s lips as the woman watched the charade she set up unfold and finish after only one scene. Elsie dismissed the possibility of dating the poor cashier in a matter of seconds, without so much as taking a proper look at him. To be fair, the blonde didn’t feel sorry for him. The poor man was better off without an Elsie or a Lila in his life. The only person the two had in common was Adrian, though, and the brunette seemed to be oh so eager to mention him, almost as if she was looking for an opportunity to brag. It wouldn’t work on Lila, she was a Solano, it’d take a lot more to impress her than a date with her brother. The sparkle in her eyes, though– Lila had seen it before; girls and boys, friends and foes swooning over her older brothers ever since they hit goddamn puberty. “What kind of plans?” Lila questioned further, why not hear Elsie out? When in Rome… Or better say, When stuck in Rome with a woman resembling an ancient goddess (just as pretty, just as determined). Either way, the blonde highly doubted Adrian was taking Elsie anywhere. Regardless of his feelings for her, the man was barely able to function on his own, let alone plan a romantic evening of sorts. Trained to keep her emotions at bay in uncomfortable situations, Lila maintained a neutral expression, but something about Elsie’s words stung her. Yes, Lila wasn’t around as much as she used to be. Mainly because she refused to carry the entire family on her own shoulders. Mainly because she didn’t know how to do that. Elsie seemed to be Adrian’s shadow in more ways than one, not only following him around but also reflecting his words. “Mm, that’s your job. It’s what you’re paid to do.“ Lila reminded, hopefully making it clear she understood Elsie wasn’t fooling her with her heartfelt monologues. The reason why she showed up at the haunted mansion every day surely wasn’t Caroline’s well-being. As for Lila’s, she almost smirked at the last part. I hope you’re doing better than Caroline? “I’m afraid it doesn’t get any worse,” she remarked dryly before leaning forward to take a soothing sip of her coffee. “Don’t tell me you’ve missed me, Elsie.” Blue orbs flickered up at Elsie in amusement. Although she was unsure of how she felt about Elsie letting her know she kept tabs on her. “I’m fine. I make sure I am.” Lila replied in a true Solano fashion. It was a tactic of hers which consisted of finding temporary distractions but there wasn’t a long-term solution in sight. “With the holiday season approaching, I’ve been busy with the charity projects,” was all Lila was willing to share with the other woman. “Has any caught your eye?” As far as Lillian was aware, Caroline was satisfied with Elsie as a personal assistant– it was her fault she’d never directly asked– but the Solano daughter had decided to see for herself just how dedicated the brunette was.

Elsie’s lips pursed, a hint of dismay and amusement, at Lila hooking one of her perfectly manicured fingers behind the string of details she’d been hoping to avoid, pulling until she relented or the whole thing fell apart, whichever came first. She should’ve known, it’s exactly what she’d have done in her place. “The kind I’m sure a sister wouldn’t care to hear about,” Elsie replied, barely missing a beat, the transition to a knowing, sisterly smirk so smooth the pause might’ve not been there at all. Her expression didn’t falter, even at Lillian’s mentioning of her paycheck — another not-so-subtle reminder of her place (or the lack thereof) in the family she didn’t intend to take. With the cup halfway to her lips, she let out an easy chuckle, her eyes mirroring the amusement in Lila’s. “Is it really so hard to believe?” Elsie questioned, her gaze firmly on the blonde, unwavering even as the barista arrived with their order. She wasn’t in the mood to flirt, not with the boy in a silly apron, and with Lillian Solano sitting opposite her, there was a much bigger catch for her to reel in. So she sent him away, with nothing more than a customary ‘thank you’ and a wave of her hand, before sliding right back into the conversation he’d interrupted. “I know your opinion of me must be, well, whatever, but I’m very fond of your family. Caroline’s always treated me well. I consider her a friend, and there have been times she’s been more of a mother to me than my own ever has. So, paid employee or not, I worry for her, and miss her.” It was an exaggerated, embellished version of the truth, like a cheap piece of jewellery with a layer of gold dusted over it. Not entirely fake, and looking real enough, but a ruse all the same. She liked Caroline, that much was true, but without the promise of money and power, Elsie wouldn’t have bothered with half of what she’d done for the woman and her family. “And that extends to her children, too. Henry’s an old friend, Adrian’s, well, you know, and you.. I think highly of you, Lila, I really do. You’re stronger than your brothers, whatever they may think, and definitely the most fun.” Elsie smiled, leaning forward on her seat to pick up the spoon laid out for her. It was true. Lillian was a tough nut to crack, one she’d have plenty of fun with breaking. Digging the spoon in her souffle, she went on, not as much as raising a brow at the other’s sudden inquiry into her.. more charitable side. “There are the staples, of course. The children’s hospital, food bank, the homeless. But Caroline and I have been discussing a few projects in collaboration with the ALS Association of Los Angeles? Not just for the holiday season, but in a long run too, make it an annual thing. She was hoping to discuss it with you, I believe. Something about using your father’s name?” She didn’t think Lillian had been expecting her to contribute her own money, considering how much smaller the number on her bank account must’ve been compared to the Solano wealth. Time? Yes. Money? Not yet, not until she had free rein with the Solano millions. Bringing the spoon to her lips, she let out a quiet ‘mm’, enjoying the sensation of the souffle melting on her tongue. “Thanks for the dessert, again. It’s delicious.” 

[owochimuwu]

I've done nothing wrong. Except for all the atrocities. Besides that I'm innocent

[elsiehartford]

eileen.

Elsie’s confidence radiated off of her; she exuded power and independence, clearly sure of herself and how to achieve her goals. It was a quality Eileen envied. While she hid her insecurities well, Eileen knows how desperate she was on the inside. Elsie, on the other hand, just seemed solid, through and through. 

“Don’t you have Adrian Solano on speed dial?” Eileen asked, the affair not exactly a well kept secret, considering she read about it online. “Seems like he’d be better company than someone you find at a club. Not that I’m judging. I just couldn’t put in the extra effort.” 

She hummed a slow confirmation, flicking the embers off her cigarette. Talking about Adrian didn’t bother her, the mistress’s title like a badge of honor, rather than a scarlet letter. It was a stepping stone, and Elsie would rather be someone than nobody, no matter how many dirty looks it got her. After all, the only thing worse than being talked about, was not being talked about. 

“He’s not much of a dancer right now,” she replied, throwing Eileen a knowing look. All they’d been doing was drinking and fucking, which, while fun, wasn’t exactly what she’d call a progress. But having played this game for as long as she had, Elsie wasn’t about to get impatient now. And neither was she gonna turn down a good ranting opportunity if one presented itself like that. From one Solano girl to another. “Have you ever tried fucking the sad out of a man?” She asked, looking at the other. “Or did you break up before his old man got locked up?” 

[elsiehartford]

lissa.

Lissa couldn’t blame anyone but Adrian for the fact he’d gone sniffing around outside of his marriage. He was the one that had betrayed her. She knew that in all rational, adult conversations, she should acknowledge as such and treat Elsie as an unfortunate side effect of Adrian’s indiscretions and nothing more. But no logic or ideologies could protect her from the searing honest hatred that ignited in her chest at even the thought of his mistress, let alone the sight. Made only worse by the jealous way her stomach turned at the woman’s beauty. When Elsie grabbed for her coffee, the lack of self awareness was all Lissa could fixate on. It was unsurprising, she reeked in every way of someone who’d never learned not to touch things that were not theirs.

“You know what, you can go ahead and keep that,” Lissa smiled. She wouldn’t drink it for ten thousand dollars cash right here and now on principal alone. The rational extended from a coffee to her husband, the moment she’d found out… you couldn’t have paid her any amount to put her lips on him again.

Ah, she thought she’d smelled bitterness with her caramel macchiato, the source of which became apparent the moment she laid her eyes on Adrian’s soon-to-be ex-wife. Lissa Briganti. Elsie had never been out to get the woman, not really, barely paying any attention to her up until Caroline’s worried whisperings of a trouble brewing in paradise, finally seeing her chance to rise while Lissa’s marriage crumbled around her. She’d been a casualty, not a target. And now she was a nuisance. Right along with her plump-cheeked, golden-haired daughter. 

“Cute,” she replied, touching two perfectly manicured nails to the side of her cup to slide it back towards the woman. “I’ve got to pass though. I saw your order and let’s just say that it turns out our tastes are not so similar after all.” Elsie shrugged, making a show of a pleasant smile. “Who would’ve guessed, right?” Something told her Lissa wasn’t the type of woman to go to her ex with sob stories about his mistress, but she wasn’t about to risk it by causing a scene or getting too cocky. She was working on it, but her relationship with Adrian wasn’t quite there yet. She was still just the woman who kept his bed warm while Lissa was the mother of his child. For now. 

[elsiehartford]

roman.

* * *

Ambition always looked different on women. Roman knew how to spot an ambitious woman a mile away. It wasn’t a bad thing, there were fewer dangerous things than an ambitious woman. They were like playing with a knife that had no handle. You were bound to cut your own hand off. There were rumors and more about this one, and Roman only pitied her and the Solano. It was going to end badly for the both of them. But weren’t they all just busted and sad stories from an era that was long gone?

“That’s the wrong cup,” Roman repeated. It wasn’t his and instead nodded to the bambi eyed girl standing across from them who was desperately trying to gain the correct order. His order came across - a Cafe de Olla - and he took a sip. They almost had it down here. Roman offered the barista a smile. She was trying to get it right and they usually had a nice conversation. She was young, and making minimum wage, he remembered those days. “Might behoove you to pay just a little more attention.”

Elsie recognized him immediately, the face of a rivaling family’s head one she knew well, though never from quite this distance, close enough to catch notes of brown in the eyes that appeared depthless black on the tabloids’ glossy pages. Following his gaze to the girl, and then the two cups in her hands, she smiled, returning the one without the Solano name without as much as a roll of her eyes. “A slip of a hand,” she explained, her eyes finding Roman’s again. “We’re all human, right?” Some more than others, but Elsie was sure that if cut, Roman Navarro would bleed just the same as everyone else. At the end of the day, these ‘monsters’ were nothing but men with fancy titles and a bit of guts, and she’d had one just like him in her bed just the other night. 

“Is playing everyday hero part of your job description or is it more of a fun pastime?” She asked, her tone light and playful, more honey than venom. Elsie wasn’t delusional enough to think herself invincible in this tug of war between the three families. She was a pawn in queen’s clothing. If they wanted to start a war, they’d go for the (ex-)wife and kid; if they wanted to send a message, a mistress would do just fine, and Elsie wasn’t about to light up the target on her back by giving this man an attitude. She wasn’t a coward, no, but she wasn’t stupid either. 

[elsiehartford]

adrian.

Adrian lifted his chin slightly under Elsie’s touch, barely listening to the words that left her lips. His mind wandered to her bed and as if she read his mind, she suggested they take the bottle to go. Adrian nodded, a smirk on his mouth as his hand grabbed the side of her face and pulled her close for a quick rough kiss. “Let’s go,” he said, standing, offering Elsie his hand. Since the separation, Adrian hadn’t bothered hiding his affair from the crowds. Lissa knew; didn’t matter if anyone else knew, too. Besides, any of his people give him lip for his adulterous behavior, they’d probably get a bullet to the brain.

Before walking out of Il Salone, Adrian made a quick stop at the bar, leaning over to grab a bottle from behind. The bartender wished him a pleasant evening. 

“We can take my car,” he said to his mistress, despite the alcohol pumping through his veins. Adrian was no stranger to drunk driving, at least these past few months. Reckless, he knew, but he didn’t care. Hadn’t cared since Luis. So, he weaved through LA streets, speeding to Elsie’s place, unbothered by the honking protests of others criticizing his driving as he passed.  

There was something about danger that fascinated Elsie — lured her in and took her out of herself, made her feel alive, one heart-thumping second after another. That’s why she’d been drawn to Henry Solano her freshman year of college, or why she was dipping her toes in organized crime, or sitting in the front seat of Adrian’s car minutes after the taste of liquor on his tongue melded with that on her own. Yes, she wanted the power his name came with, but she didn’t enjoy the thrill of his hands on her body any less, knowing the same fingers that pressed down on her hips had choked out men twice her size. 

The invincibility of youth and beauty still on her side, she opened the bottle of whiskey as he drove, the noise of the traffic and deep bass of the music blurring into one, more convinced with every sip of the tangy liquor that touched her tongue that there wasn’t anything she wanted more than what Adrian Solano could offer her, including living, desire pumping in her veins by the time they reached her apartment complex and got out of the car.  

“Fuck, you look good,” she breathed out, his suit-and-tie form painting a perfect picture of tall, dark and handsome in the dim streetlight. Taking another sip of the whiskey, she pressed the bottle into his hand, closing the distance between them for a hasty kiss, before pulling him towards the apartment building and the elevator inside it. Once the doors had closed behind them, she tried to take a sip of the drink with his hand still around it, a light chuckle bubbling up from her throat as the whiskey dribbled down her jawline, all the way into her cleavage. “Wanna do something about it?” Elsie smirked, arching a brow at him. 

[elsiehartford]

lucia.

It seemed that was most of America these days powered by caffenine and wouldn’t know what to do without it, at least for a day or two, but she couldn’t blame anyone she was as addicted as the next guy. “ I suppose your right I couldn’t afford the slip up, so I guess the world’s signs will have to be ignored for now.” She agreed, though really if any slip happened it wouldn’t be because of coffee, but it should be avoided at all cost. In her line of work slip ups were dangerous things, often a matter of life or death for most. “Nice to meet you Elsie.” Lucia smiled, but racked her brain for any memory of an Elsie Solano. She couldn’t think of anythng, but she couldn’t claim to know everything or any mention of the rival family.

 Lucia looked over the cafe at the question, turning to the table she’d been sitting at moments before this conversation had to be sparked. She was suprised to notice no one had taken it since, though she supposed it hadn’t actually been that long. “ I was planning on staying around, if you don’t have anything to rush to you could join me?” She offered, figuring the conversation hadn’t been too bad and there wasn’t harm in inviting her over and learning more about her. “ The table I left is still open.” Lucia pointed over to the empty table a few feet away from them.

Elsie liked being told she was right, almost as much as she liked being right, which must’ve been a part of the reason she found herself taking a liking to Lucia. For the time being, at least. Enough for her smile to be genuine as she tilted her head in a small nod, the word ‘likewise’ slipping past her lips with ease. Elsie had never been much of a girls’ girl, but she liked to pretend she was, enjoying a good gossip session or mindless chit-chat just as much as the next girl. It was the other girls that tended to dislike her, not that she blamed them — girl code, after all, had no place in her vocabulary or sway on her moral compass. 

“Um, yeah, why not,” Elsie agreed, already heading for the table the other had pointed out. Before Luis’s death, her lunchbreaks had consisted of good coffee and expensive takeout in Caroline Solano’s office, gossiping and laughing with the woman like she’d been a friend rather than an employee, and even if it’d all been part of her plan, she sometimes still found herself missing it. So no, she wasn’t in a rush. “i’m surprised no one’s snatched it up yet, these tables tend to go faster than you can say ‘check, please’,” she let out a small chuckle, settling down opposite the woman. “Must be another sign.” Not that she believed in signs, she just liked the sound of it. “So, are you from around here?” 

[snowbairdd]

shay mitchell || instagram

[elsiehartford]

eileen.

“Too bad Aaron doesn’t bring you around anymore.”

As her ex-boyfriend’s name left the woman’s lips, Eileen could feel herself sinking into the sand. She lit her own joint, and inhaled deeply, causing her to cough up the harsh smoke that filled her lungs. “It’s his loss,” she said, even if she didn’t really believe it. She felt lost without Aaron; she loved him and he just pulled the rug out from under her. She didn’t want his face to haunt her thoughts, but Eileen couldn’t shake him. No matter how hard she tried.

Eileen wouldn’t, however, beg for the pity from a stranger. Self-pity and wallowing in her sadness was one thing; she couldn’t bring someone else’s mood down. Even if all she wanted was to sob. 

“My friends are on the dancefloor,” Eileen replied, looking over her shoulder to the crowded club in the distance. “I doubt they’ve noticed I disappeared. As for anyone cute…” she trailed off, not really having an answer. Eileen shrugged. “Not really anyone in my league.”

“You?”

Elsie had the decency — or maybe she just didn’t care enough — not to make a face as Eileen’s lungs forced up the smoke she’d inhaled, the girl’s coughing disappearing into the heavy bass coming from the club’s open windows and doors. “That’s the attitude, men ain’t shit,” she commended, even as she could feel the itch of a snort in the back of her throat. Whatever had happened between the two, Eileen had lost a Solano, and a big screen darling or not, no amount of fanmail and social media followers compared to the power of belonging to one of the ruling families of upper and underground LA. So no, it wasn’t his loss. 

“Same,” she replied, following the girl’s gaze to the club behind them. “The cuties, not the friends bit. I prefer to come to these things alone. I’m here to let loose, not to keep anyone from making stupid decisions, you know?” With a shrug, she brought the cigarette to her lips again, convinced it was a sign of independence not.. well, a lack of decent friend group, for one. “Besides, I never leave alone. Not unless I want to.” Though lately, with her keeping her bed empty for Adrian Solano, leaving alone was becoming a rule rather than an exception. 

[elsiehartford]

max.

She went right in for the kill, not wasting any time. Truthfully, Max respected that. At least she was upfront about what she was interested in, instead of being underhanded about it. Too many people in LA wanted something from you but wouldn’t just say it. Max took a sip of the coffee Elsie had almost stolen from him, burning his tongue like he did every damn time because he was too impatient to wait for it to cool off. “I let people pay me to say I like whatever they’re selling on Instagram,” Max answered, a cheeky tone to his voice. He wasn’t sure what it was that he didn’t like about the word influencer, but he didn’t. It just felt like it was covering up what it really was, which was accepting money to say he couldn’t live without Postmates or his “favorite” black hoodie that he wore for a photo and then never again.

He had her interest right up until the end of the sentence, when the word ‘Instagram’ broke the spell and the air of mystery that had her latch onto him in the first place dissipated, only to reveal.. well, a nobody really. “Oh,” Elsie hummed, her lips curling around the vowel like he’d just confessed to something tragic. “Is that what the kids call it nowadays?” She teased, the smile she offered him now a far cry from the million watt grin she’d been ready to throw at him just moments ago. Working in publicity, kind of, she knew what a good social media post could do for a brand or a person, but in this particular case, she doubted he’d have anything to offer her, which is why the next time she opened her mouth, Elsie didn’t bother with charm, settling into the role of a fellow customer having a chat in the coffee shop like she should’ve done from the very beginning. “I wouldn’t have taken Cafe Hollywood as a place that needed influencers to bring in the crowds.”