[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/qRnBaDw.png[/img]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/b5oXiCR.gif[/img]

[sub]Starring: [color=6593f5]Aaliyah[/color] | [color=e81b00]Shawna[/color] [/sub][/center]


[indent]While the two other queens or rather queen and cowgirl made their way around the crowd, Aaliyah couldn’t help but get lost amongst the decorations. Having never been this drunk she couldn’t help but rub her hands across everything while stuffing her mouth and moving around in an awkward dance. Her feet were moving on their own bringing her closer and closer to the middle of the room. Cup in hand, liquor was splashing all over. Luckily for her, both dress and makeup was saved from getting splashed. It wasn’t too long before she crashed into something or rather someone. 

[color=6593f5]“Oh...haha...sorry I didn’t see you there”[/color] Aaliyah said repositioning her crown. Her smile quickly turned to shock and panic when Cleopatra was actually Shawna. [color=6593f5]“Shawna! What are you doing here?!”[/color] She shouted. 

Shawna didn’t expect to have company calling her name outside of her immediate clique, at least not unless Mac suddenly decided to return from … wherever the heck she went off to. Who could tell? She seemed pretty flighty. But turning and spotting someone from her past, her far dorkier, nerdier, so far from her current image that she was projecting, especially in front of the girl that she was trying to build something more than a relationship with, past. That was extremely unwelcome, probably just as much as Aaliyah from the sounds of it. Her former colleague in a lot of facets in her old life was now here like a ghost, which was fitting considering she was in some Day of the Dead getup that looked professionally done. Far from the last image she had of her fellow debate club, quiz bowl and chess club compatriot. 

Cleopatra readjusted her crown and quickly turned her away from Kellie Anne and Sunshine as she tried to cover things up. [color=e81b00]“Shawna? I don’t know what you are talking about girl!”[/color] She started to slowly work away from her two other friends as she led Aaliyah towards one of the quieter rooms. [color=e81b00]“I am mother fuckin’ Cleopatra! The baddest bitch on the Nile!”[/color] As they moved well out of earshot of the alcohol table and into a side room that could be considered more of a pantry or a closet, she dropped the act. [color=e81b00]“Aaliyah, what the fuck? What are you doing here?”[/color]

The room started spinning and her head could not catch up. All she heard was shouts and saw waves of colors. Cleopatra had ripped her away into a darker more personal enclosure. [color=6593f5]“Oh thank god I was starting to get sick in there,”[/color] Aaliyah said, chuckling while tripping all over herself. Her hands crashed into the walls keeping her stable. [color=6593f5]“What..what were you saying? OH that’s right! Shawna! What am I doing here? What are you doing here? What are you wearing?”[/color]

Shawna paused and closed the door behind them, flipping the light on just to try and good a good look at Aaliyah. The girl’s eyes were already hazy, like she had pounded a six-pack of Ice or something before entering the party. It was clear to see even under all the zombie makeup on her face...and the crown on her head. Great minds still think alike. [color=e81b00]“What am I doing here? I’m living my damn life! I’m out there with my girls, having a fucking time! Least I was until you nearly dumped whiskey on this … very expensive Cleopatra costume rental.”[/color] She took off the wig for emphasis, revealing the tossed brunette mess underneath the sheek black before setting it back into place. [color=e81b00]“But anyway, what are you doing here? You were never about this kind of life! I think I would have noticed if you were!”[/color]


Recoiling from the lights turning on, Aaliyah hissed in dismay looking for the light switch. [color=6593f5]“Ahh turn off the light! Too bright too bright!”[/color] She shouted until her hands found the switch. Aaliyah straightened herself out as Shawna began to speak to her. Who was this person? She was being so loud and vivacious, two things Shawna, and Aaliyah for that matter, weren’t.[color=6593f5] “You and your girls? Since when do you have girls? We weren’t even girls. At least I never thought you wanted to be,”[/color] she said. [color=6593f5]“Well sorry, I didn’t expect you to stand there like a tree. I’ve made some girlfriends too! I’m tired of playing chess and figuring out what the anti-derivative of 2lnx is.”[/color]

The recitation of calculus formulas snapped Shawna back into some kind of more sedate stage. As much as she didn’t want any reminder of her past having any part of her life now, it was clear that maybe Aaliyah had reached that same state that she did. It looked like she was trying anyway. She sighed. [color=e81b00]“I didn’t want girls before,”[/color] she admitted. [color=e81b00]“And I didn’t think you did either. You seemed perfectly happy living that overachieving life.”[/color] She leaned against the wall, trying to take what comfort she had in the third of a solo cup of whiskey she had left. [color=e81b00]“But, things change. They change hard, and I do have girls now. Pretty sure of it. We’ve gotten tight. And wait, who the hell are your girls? Where are they?”[/color]

Aaliyah couldn’t lie to herself. Shawna’s words burned harder than any of the liquor she had this night. Maybe it was the alcohol speaking or maybe she really had changed. It was almost enough for her to leave the room but her curiosity outweighed her pride. [color=6593f5]“I always wanted friends, real friends. We’re wasting time just missing out on experiences because of school,”[/color] the emotion welling up in her throat [color=6593f5]“They don’t need to completely change. Don’t forget that. They’re the cowgirl Chanel and Queen Elizabeth, Julie.”[/color]

An eyebrow was raised. Apparently Aaliyah overachieved even when shooting for girls to hang out with. Chanel and Julie were pretty high on the social totem pole. Hell, Julie was just named Homecoming Queen before that mind-numbing trio of talks that were far from being applied here. Those were some pretty lofty circles that she was trying to fly in. [color=e81b00]“Well shit girl,”[/color] Shawna remarked. [color=e81b00]“Definitely reaching up in the world. Amazed you freaking remembered me at all.”[/color]

She drank the remaining couple sips of her whiskey while thinking to herself. [color=e81b00][i]Fuck, I really hope those bitches aren’t just setting Aaliyah up for some kind of fall. Pulling some kind of My Fair Lady act. Or She’s All That. Yeah that’s better. Still. Better not be evil or something.[/i][/color] She tossed the cup to the back of the tiny room. [color=e81b00]“Look, I’m not gonna lie, I came to that same conclusion you did, and fuck if I didn’t hate myself for it. How much time we wasted going nose deep into something that wasn’t even making me happy. Us happy, if I’m reading you. And you know what? I think you’re right.”[/color] Shawna rested a hand on Aaliyah’s shoulder. [color=e81b00]“They don’t have to completely change. Especially if you’re not here to give me some sort of throwing your life away speech and instead want to join me in this world of drunken debauchery. You know what, Aaliyah? I think we can add to each other’s girl rosters.”[/color] She took her hand off her now current compatriot’s shoulder. [color=e81b00]“Just keep your hands off Kellie, OK? We have a thing going, and I’d like to think things are gonna keep moving forward there if this night is any indication.”[/color]

The more she spoke the more she realized they really had been nothing more than teammates in the past. They were the same, but too different in everything else. The conversation was nauseating enough to make her forget about how drunk she was. Sobering up from Shawna’s words she didn’t like the direction the conversation was going. [color=6593f5]“I was happy, I just wasn’t fulfilled. That’s the difference.”[/color] Her hand almost felt foreign and unwelcomed. [color=6593f5]“I’m not here to give you any kind of speech. I want to be your friend Shawna. I really do. I wanted to back then, but I never had the nerve. You don’t have to worry about me and Kellie, I don’t keep Queens in check, I only take out Kings.”[/color]

[color=e81b00]“Hey, I can get down with that,”[/color] Shawna told Aaliyah. [color=e81b00]“One king in particular I may need to take out if he’s here, but yeah, queens got queens. All right.”[/color] She made a move to the door, but hesitated. [color=e81b00]“You gonna be OK if I open this door, Aaliyah? I mean, I’m pretty hard to miss in this getup and you almost took me out like the Medici taking out Machiavelli.”[/color]

[color=6593f5]“Don’t worry about him, whoever he is, he won’t be able to deal with the trinity,”[/color] ensuring the girls safety, there was strength in numbers. Aaliyah could feel the come down, but not enough to walk a straight line or tap her nose with each arm. [color=6593f5]“Yeah yeah I’m fine, next time I’ll hammer my 95 theses to your back so every makes sure to watch out for you. Let’s make a toast,”[/color] she suggested as the two walked out of the room.

Shawna felt a giggle escape her lips. It felt good to laugh again after all that, especially in the presence of someone she had basically written out of her life for making that kind of joke. [color=e81b00]“All right, sounds good,”[/color] she confirmed as she led the way back to the alcohol table. [color=e81b00]“Maybe I can introduce you to Kellie and Sunshine and…”[/color] Her voice trailed off as she didn’t see any sign of Snow White or Dorothy by the spot she had left them. [color=e81b00]“Shit. Where’d they go? Ah well, we’ll catch up later. Toast time!”[/color]


[color=6593f5]“Yeah I would like that”[/color] Aaliyah said toasting the Egyptian’s glass. [/indent]