. achilles heel

[calvin keller]

To Calvin, nights are sometimes a crushing sense of deja vu. Another vaguely decorated home with minimalist art, another sea of blurred faces and whispered names, the hint of orange on an old fashioned rim. The glassware may shift from art deco to thin stemmed and the entertaining company may shift from the familiarity of academia to the slight blonde he'd been lazily seeing all summer, but it all felt unabashedly dull. Slipping through his fingers, each night indistinguishable from the last. Until tonight. There's a humming edge in his bloodstream as the beer floods, as a line goes, cautious of hard liquor while his senses already feel tense and wired. A fateful reunion of so-called best friends, the undercurrent of a minefield they all navigated together. It was exhilarating and exhausting and the distinguishing factor that keeps dark eyes scanning open doors for their presence and for exit routes. Waiting for the swish of a lolita ponytail and sweet perfume, shock blonde and a wide smile, sharp features and itching restlessness. Treating his current company as a stop gap until the real party arrived, and the fun finally, truly began.

[dominic vinten cuvo]

Dominic leans back in his loafers, surveying the wall with a small group. A martini glass in one hand, the other briefly lifted his sunglasses. “Look at this travesty. The figures are overemphasized, almost cartoonish, which completely undermines the intensity and realism that makes Baroque art so compelling,” he explained, practically disturbed by his proximity to the piece. “The artist didn’t grasp the essence of tenebrism at all. Caravaggio would be rolling in his grave,” he decided, earning a chorus of rich (no, actually rich—there were millions in this group alone) laughter. "People in LA always have the worst art," he muttered, fingering the snuff vial in his pocket. Someone seemed offended by this and he briefly wondered if it was the owner of the painting, since he still didn't know whose house this was or why he was here. That wasn't uncommon, however, nor worth spoiling by asking the obvious question. Instead he continues to meander, picking off a champagne flute from a tray floating past just as his drink drained. Eventually he was thrilled to recognize the familiar posture and back of someone's head. Sidling up next to Cal, Dom looked at him over his shades. "When did you get here?"

[kitty smith-sato]

Hard marble hurts her knees, though Kitty has to concede that this was an immaculately clean toilet. She'd know, being mere inches from the bowl and having plenty of practice at this stance, in such a variety of bathrooms that she could create a jaunty montage of all the memories. Pressing the handle end of a toothbrush down her throat, it doesn't take much for bile to burn its way up her throat, a violent act of self-harm that she had managed to refrain from for quite some time-- until now. She's forgotten the brutality of it, her body shuddering and her eyes welling with tears, coughing and spluttering as she emptied what little her stomach had to offer. Once done, she flushes and goes to wash her hands and brush her teeth, that same toothbrush proving its dual use. When she runs her tongue over her teeth they feel chalkier... the last time she had been to the hygienist the woman had taken a look, then glanced at her figure and gone to say something, only to think better of it. It had terrified Kitty (did her teeth look bad?) and flattered her (did she look scarily thin?) in equal measure, but she'd resolved to stop the gross practice nonetheless. Rinsing her mouth with one of the individual sachets of mouthwash she had shipped in from Japan, she fixes up her lipstick, satisfied with her reflection for once. It's a relief when she finds herself quite alone on the other side of the door, the din of the party carrying up the stairs and making her feet feel like lead. She decides against going down there just yet, sitting on an overstuffed pouffe and texting Violet. Are you here? I might go home.

[calvin keller]

He hadn't the faintest idea how he'd ended up here. Lost in the uninterested blur of his memories, Calvin's eyes roamed the the lifeless walls over the shoulder of his current court and fully tuned out. Nothing said was providing value, nothing admitted was sparking curiosity - the evening felt like another waste of hours he'd likely prefer to waste elsewhere, stretching as endlessly as the muted tones of this foreign house. For all he knew he was at a neighbor's, maybe in another state, pulling another sip from the bottle dangling loosely in his hold and finally, audibly, breathing a sigh of relief when a familiar mirage appeared at his side. As if testing the apparition Calvin flicked the tip of his sunglasses, briefly revealing the blitzed gaze he'd know stone cold sober and lightyears away."Thank god." He deftly steers them away without much of a goodbye, halfway waving his hand to dismiss himself before dropping onto an abandoned chaise lounge, head flung back with the bridge of his nose pinched in his grasp. "Too long," he mutters to Dom's question eventually, eyes drifting open once he realized they'd been shut. "Where have you been? Telling someone they need to fire their curator?"

[violet spencer]

Her wardrobe was still limited post rehab. As Violet tries on seventeen outfits, trying to find an option that wasn't too baggy on her extra slender figure. Settling for black on black, a corset top hugging onto her now flat chest, Violet tosses her hair before digging into the closet. Anxious to see if there was any remaining hidden liquor that wasn't discovered by her father's sweeping crew. Pushing past a few of her dresses, Violet's eyes light up seeing the top of a small flask, tucked away into a pocket no one thought to check. Tonight she was heading back into another lion's den, with all  kinds of temptation in every direction. The liquor was supposed to bring some courage..or maybe supply her addiction. Two shots (of vodka she learns) fall back quick. Violet shoves on some heels, dabs at her lipstick and gloss combination before heading down to the driver waiting for her. "John, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell my father my whereabouts." She states, as she slides into the black car. Knowing well that he was under her father's contract, not hers. Her phone buzzes with a message from Kitty as the car pulls up to the home.   I'm walking in now. Her cheeks are kissed by many faces that she's not seen in a a while. Every glance landing on her hand that didn't occupy any alcohol yet. They'd all see the articles and all the gossip about her night out with Dom and Calvin. Waiting to see when she'd  The truth was, she hadn't been able to make her way to the bar yet, having been stopped by different people. Violet stops in the middle of the hall, close to the stairs just as Kitty is coming down from up top. Excusing herself, the girls meet at the last stop. "Not having fun? Hi." She says in person to her once best friend, since her stint in rehab.

[dominic vinten cuvo]

It's all a game. Flash a smile, shake a hand, drop a name. Excuse himself, snort a line, plan an exit. Like clockwork Dominic is left craving excitement—maybe a party crasher, perhaps a medical emergency. Mid-conversation his eyes would glaze over, entertaining his most intrusive thoughts, urging him to say something tactfully out of place to steer the topic elsewhere. If he was really feeling brazen, Dom might suggest something outrageous just to test the reactions, daring anyone to interject. Like now, strutting around with thousand-dollar sunglasses on indoors, waiting to see which came first: someone pointing it out, or him inevitably losing them by the end of the night. The click of Cal’s finger against the dark lens forces him to reality, Dom scrunching his nose and ducking away. “Don’t,” he hissed half-heartedly, “I just got some Botox. I will not be the first one to get crow’s feet.” His choppy brunette head tilted to the side, appraising his friend who looked equally bored but remiss to do anything about it. Dominic remained standing as Cal lounged, relieved that his wandering gaze was presently concealed. "Oh just 'talking shop' as it were," he claimed, grin eclipsed by the rim of his glass. Art history, Cal wouldn't understand. Exercising a long breath, Dominic surveyed the scene, disappointed by the older skew of this crowd. Worse than being bored, in his opinion: he didn't have anything nice to look at! "What do you think would happen if I dropped dead in the middle of this room?"

[kitty smith-sato]

Almond eyes scan the text. Time to face the music. Getting up, Kitty uses one hand to press back her slick ponytail, working on her game face. She was not interested in the house or who owned it, barely having taken in much of her surroundings beyond the porcelain toilet bowl. It was a stage and it was time for her perform. Lifting the hem of her black sheer skirt with the other hand, she carefully walks down the stairs, conscious that stacking it would not announce her arrival in quite the style she desired. As soon as she sees Violet her breath catches in her throat. She had anticipated seeing the blonde of course, but she's still caught off guard by her sameness and her not-sameness, really looking quite alarmingly thin. Her stomach twists with envy.  Despite it, a smile spreads across her face as she throws her arms wide open, pulling her in for a hug. "Oh V," she says loudly enough for anyone to hear. "It's so good to see you. God, you really are looking thin. Shall we go get you something to eat?" She slips her arm into the crook of Violet's, leading her towards the main room. Lowering her voice, a trickle of her natural tone slips into what she says next, "this party's a dud. We should aim to get out of here as soon as we can, we can't be associated with this."

[calvin keller]

"Just the first to have an aneurysm," Cal lofts back, gaze simultaneously focused and hazy on the slope of his best friend. Knowing that mitigating his expressions would do little to skew how Dom really felt; he waxed poetic so often it was more fun to watch his mouth twist words over his eyes, the hint of a snarl melting easily into a lopsided smirk, or slack jacked curiosity. It's what Cal studies now, digging the boredom out of his lilting voice with ease because he felt the same. Listless, numb...the adjectives could go on, craving another bump as he swigged another sip. At least the beer was Italian, strangely his favorite as he finally recognized the label. "If you're looking for mouth to mouth just announce that, I bet that entire group would jump at the chance." Cal motions openly to a mixed group whose eyes have yet to leave them, watching them turn in shame. Annoyance flickers in his head, eventually unfolding from the couch on another droning sigh. "If I'm here any longer I might drop right next to you, we should leave." He takes Dom's hand as he weaves through the crowd, heading for the door until the hint of something sparks him, loosening his hold to toss a gaze over his shoulder. As if he knew they were being watched, maybe had been found, Kitty and Violet's bodies casting tiny shadows against the wall as he whipped back to intercept them. "It's so dull in there, we need to leave. My house or out to LA?"

[dominic vinten cuvo]

Hoping Cal is the one offering CPR in his hypothetical death, Dom’s features fell imperceptibly with the realization that this was not the case. He also hadn’t realized that a crowd still lingered, turning a glance toward the random faces who probably would volunteer, making a shooing motion with a limp hand for them to leave. Anyone else would simply interrupt their banter. Barely a moment later that same hand is in Calvin’s, amused by the near-urgency of his friend to seek higher ground from this swelling sea of boredom. After all, Calvin always had more initiative between the two of them. Following his lead eventually leads to an impromptu reunion, facing off with their female counterparts: Violet and Kitty. “Now there you are,” he announced, as if he had been expecting them the whole time. Surely he was here because of one of them, the reason currently escaping him. Kitty he had just recently seen for a night of ecstasy and mutual masturbation, while Violet had last been his source of entertainment at Chateau. “Very funny, great practical joke,” he said of this particularly dull occasion, mocking a villainous slow clap. “Which one of you is behind all this?”

[violet spencer]

It's a split second of glancing at each other, before Kitty engulfs Violet in a hug. She leans into the embrace, her arms going around her friend. A smile spreading on her face as the hug feels familiar, and strangely nice. Despite everything that's happened between the two, it feels forgotten in the moment, a source of happiness flying between them on being reunited. "It's so good to see you too, Kitty Kat," Violet follows the lead of Kitty, making a scene for everyone in the room to look in their direction. One comment about her weight and of the mention of her needing to eat. Before she entered the home, she told herself that she was going to keep a mental tally of how many people lingered on the topic of her weight loss. The girls lock elbows as she's lead more into the home, and the party. Kitty's voice drops to a lower octave as she describes the mood of the party. "Why is it so dull already?" It was early, the after parties were more fun typically anyways. Being away for some time, Violet had forgotten about the amount of parties they'd attend that would only lead to them leaving shortly after arriving. By the looks of it, this particular one was heading in that same sort of fashion. "Whenever you're ready, I'll follow." She agrees, seeing the various people scattered across the house as they entered a different room. Cal finds them, Dom following closely behind. The two of them with the same complaint of a dull evening.  Dom brings the dramatics with a slow clap, desperate to know who's doing it was to bring the party down to such a bore. "I vote we go out, when are we ever in LA all at once?" The four standing together making a decision. "The night is still very young," a mischievous smile gracing her lips.

[kitty smith-sato]

For a split second Kitty considers the possibility of events having unfolded differently. She had never really thought about it, an event that was without one of her famous contingency plans, a blindspot in her Batman-esque ability to pre-plan... but with Violet in her arms, her slight friend looking frail, she realizes she really could have died. She also realizes that this would have been a tragedy, no matter how glib she tended to be when talking about that night. For just a moment she squeezes her almost imperceptibly tighter. The sentimentality dissipates as quickly as it appeared, though to look at them you'd think they were the absolute best of friends. "Everyone in LA is so obsessed with looking like they are having a good time that they forgot how to actually do it." It doesn't take long for them to stumble across the boys, or them to stumble across the girls, whichever. It's clear from their body language that they share her sentiments, though Kitty quirks an eyebrow at Dom's question. "Dominic darling," she says crisply, lowering her voice to ensure they aren't overheard by mingling partygoers, "have you just been kicked in the head by a horse? This is your party, idiot." She doesn't unlink Violet's arm, waiting to see what the group consensus was. As always in these settings, she tended to observe more than she contributed at first, finding it helped to shape her game plan. So she shrugs at the question posed. "I don't care what we do, so long as it's not here."

[calvin keller]

Cal's emotional spectrum oscillates wildly as he flicks his gaze from left to right, touching briefly on the tight link of their tiny, bony arms. With Violet it's a tug of protection, of middling guilt at his distance from what happened to her and a gentle, coaxing curiosity for what would play out next with her. If she'd send herself off a cliff again for a good time, unable to gauge her limits even now as her wide, almost innocent eyes stared at him even if he found them anything but. Kitty on the other hand, was a swift and vicious anger, dipping into lust when he'd least expect it only to soar swiftly back into the tight grip he had to sometimes hold around her. Give too much and he knew she'd take it and run, a deck of cards where they traded aces in equal fervor. Not that he'd ever tell Dom that, annoyed that she'd played their secret so quickly to him as he again rolled his eyes at her pointed fact. "Jesus - who even are these people?" Another look and he knows this isn't even Dom's house, abandoning his drink on the edge of the stairs as he pulled open the door. One listen to the silent air clues him in they're not even in Malibu, rolling waves missing from his ear as he shot a quick text to his driver. "Downtown it is - are we feeling late night? I have a spot," Cal confirms, tossing a quick grin at Violet for making a call before he gently crowds them out. It takes him a minute but he finally turns to Kitty, grin quickly turning sharp. "Long time no see, KitKat."

[dominic vinten cuvo]

“What are you going to tell me next, that this is my house?” he chuckled to Kitty’s comment, glass brim paused at his lips in consideration of this very possibility, eyeing the surroundings suspiciously. But his refusal to believe it was as good as it being the truth. In any case, it must be by divine intervention that they had wandered together, meaning they would be leaving together. But the girls' apparent lack of enthusiasm bothered him—they had been given a clear out. Fortunately Cal was already a step ahead, prompting Dom to shoot a few texts of his own to make way for the night out. “Violet my dear,” he sang pleasantly, dashing an arm around the blonde's nonexistent waist. Although he suspected he could get both hands around her if he tried. “Can you please tell that hilarious story again for everyone? About the girl in your jail who would pluck an eyelash every time she had the urge.”

[violet spencer]

And there they were, the four of them. Making their own plans, trying to slip away from a party to something that they believed was better. Violet grins at Cal's approval smile he's thrown in her direction. If they were heading down the same path that they were a few weeks ago, at Chateau, then it would be a late night. Before she left her father's house, she deleted her conversation with Zac. Making sure that temptation was gone from her mind, the memories of her drunk texts making her cringe internally. "OK, let's see this spot." Violet encourages, the itch for a drink making her skin crawl as the alcohol from the flask begins to wear off. She has always been intrigued by the mind of Calvin. Not in the same category of Dominic, but scheming in his own ways. Dom's cologne permeates her senses, and she laughs at his memory of the story she'd relayed off her time in rehab. "You mean when she ran out of her own eyelashes that she tried to come for mine?" Violet's body relaxes in his embrace. Her recollection brings a few bits of laughter as Dom's boasting voice brought a few people in to hear the infamous jail story. Speaking of urges, she feels her own kicking in. Unable to fight back, she untangles herself from Dom. "I'll be back. Don't leave without me." She looks to Kitty, hoping she'll remember as Violet's feet carry her to the place she knows hold her poison, liquor.

[kitty smith-sato]

Calvin was his usual Rorschach self, his body language and his facial expression out of sync, presenting clashing narratives that left Kitty having to decide what she was seeing. Some tension around the jaw, a flash of heat in his eyes... she'd have to monitor him more closely as the night went on, hoping that with alcohol he would start to tip his cards enough for her to catch a glimpse. She'd only need one tiny slip up and she'd be in there, able to play her best hand with the knowledge of what was in his. Kitty lets Violet move from her as Dom takes over on propping up duties, something she's grateful for, unconvinced that the girl could stand on her own. She goes to step out when Violet disengages, meeting her eye for a split second before leaving the group. "Addicts," he murmurs, shrugging her tanned shoulders, glistening with glittery Tom Ford body oil. Left with the boys, she turns to Calvin, a smile spreading across glossed lips. "Hello," she says pleasantly, like she's speaking to a school acquaintance she just about remembers. "How are you?"