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[img]https://i.imgur.com/olAAFqr.png[/img]

[b][color=darkgray][i]A Collaboration Between[/i] [color=#006400]🎅[i] The Fake [/i]🎅[/color] [i]&[/i] [color=#D091A1]👼 [i]The Angel[/i] 👼[/color][/color][/b]
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[color=darkgray][indent][indent]While the majority of the Alexandrina Prep students were up bright and early enjoying the vast amount of festivities set up around campus, there was [i]one[/i] student not currently partaking in the activities. Marlena Castillo was still very much fast asleep under the white and mauve covers of her king-sized bed, taking advantage of her classmates’ absence and the cancelled classes to sleep off a raging hangover.

The past night had been… Draining, to say the least. During her regular scrolling through social media, she’d found herself staring at a photo of the man who’d ripped her heart out arm in arm with his new wife, and all the feelings she’d been trying so hard to bury came bubbling right back to the surface. The Mexican girl had shook her head, blinked away the tears, and decided to take a few shots of Tequila Rose to drown the pain away. But somewhere between the fifth and seventh tequila shot, her mind had decided to replay their last night together in a loop instead: his touch on her skin, his lips on hers, his promise of loving her no matter what and then getting married that very next day to somebody else... Before she knew it, Marlie was slumped on her balcony floor at three in the morning, alternating between sobbing and screeching along to the lyrics of Rihanna’s ‘Fool In Love’. How she’d made it back to her bed was still a mystery.

Theo watched as the fan above him moved in lazy circles, ignoring the way his glass of water rippled with every beat. Most of the students must have chosen today to be out and about, enjoying all the greatest entertainment that money could buy. Either that, or they were far too cowardly to come and bother him. Otherwise, he might have had a small angry mob of neighbors complaining of his rather spiteful morning activity.

Pressed against his wall were two massive speakers- the kind he normally reserved for the occasional Tuesday night kegger. It had taken him the better part of ten minutes to drag them across his room, scraping a part of the dark wood floor in the process. Nothing that one of the many rugs in his room couldn’t cover. 

He wondered if her beloved Rihanna sounded just as good this side of dawn. 

When the magical Robyn Fenty suddenly started blasting through the speakers next door, Marlena had wondered if it was all just a bad dream. She groaned loudly and threw a pillow over her head, wishing with all her might for the world to go silent so she could sleep in peace. But it seemed that not even in the saddest of moments would her [i]lovely[/i] neighbor for the year would take the foot off her throat, because the music only seemed to grow louder instead of softer. Positively seething with hatred now, the short girl flung the pillow across the room, stormed out of bed and stomped next door.

[color=D592A5]“Theo?!”[/color] Marlena furiously yelled, ignoring the way her head throbbed painfully as her closed fist violently banged against the young man’s loft door. [color=D592A5]“[i]Theo[/i]! Boy, you better open this fucking door [i]right now[/i], or I’ll feed you your own shotgun, [i]pendejo[/i]!”[/color] 

As soon as the banging on his door started, Theo yawned and pulled himself up into a sitting position on his couch, digging his toes into the bear skin rug. He paused to take a drink of water, stretch, pick up a blanket, put some bread in the toaster etc. before finally making his way to the door. 

[color=darkgreen]“Marlena. What a pleasant surprise! You are looking radiant this morning,”[/color] he said, a cocky smile glued to his face as he leaned casually against the door frame. 

In normal circumstances, Marlie’s eyes would have secretly feasted on that perfectly tanned, beautifully freckled bare torso. Today, however, her boiling anger prevented her from wanting nothing more than to wipe that cocky smile off his face with a few solid punches.

[color=D592A5]“And you’re looking like you could use a fucking black eye,”[/color] she growled, choosing to ignore his fake compliment. [color=D592A5]“Can you tell me why the [i]fuck[/i] are you blasting music at this time of day with your fucking speakers pressed against [i]my[/i] wall?”[/color]

[color=darkgreen]“That’s not a very lady-like thing to say,”[/color] he teased. [color=darkgreen]“As for my reason, well, you should know. In this hall we worship Rihanna. It’s in the bylaws that she must be played, loudy, at all times,”[/color] he shrugged. [color=darkgreen]“I’m sorry, but this is completely out of my hands. I’m sure you understand,”[/color] 

If she wasn’t so hungover and upset, Theo’s comment would have scored him some major brownie points and earned him a smile-- maybe even a snort. It was truly a shame that the brunette was in no mood for jokes at the moment.

[color=D592A5]“[i]I just want to fucking sleep[/i]!”[/color] she screeched at him, getting in his face as much as their foot-long height difference would allow. [color=D592A5]“Turn the music off [i]right now[/i], or I swear I’ll make you regret it!”[/color]

[color=darkgreen]“Funny, I was having the same thought around 3am last night. Who knew we had so much in common,”[/color] Theo took a step back away from the door, putting a couple of inches between the two of them. He let out another yawn. [color=darkgreen]“Moral of the story is, guess you're stuck with RiRi all day long.... Unless… Ah, no, you’ll never go for it.”[/color]

[color=D592A5]“[i]Puta madre… [b]What do you want[/b][/i]?”[/color] Marlie whined in resignation, rolling her eyes and slumping her shoulders.

[color=darkgreen]“How about a good morning kiss from a lovely little lady?”[/color] 

The Mexican girl couldn’t hold back her immediate snort. How amusing was it to see that his supposed lack of sleep hadn’t interfered with his shitty sense of humor. [color=D592A5]“Listen, Theo: I don’t know what crack you’re smoking, but you need to lay off of it a bit. It’s frying the two brain cells you had left.”[/color]

[color=darkgreen]“Well then, if that is your final answer, guess I’ll go back to my crack pipe. Just know, the next time you come by, the price might just go up,”[/color]  Theo gave a disinterested shrug before stepping back into his room. 

Marlena had opened her mouth to give Theo another piece of her mind when it registered with her that he hadn’t yet agreed to grant her the gift of silence. And as much as she hated what she had about to do, she knew there was no way around it.

[color=D592A5]“Wait…”[/color] she pleaded, placing a hand on his bedroom door to prevent it from getting close. [color=D592A5]“Look, I’m sorry about last night, okay? I was feeling fucking shitty about something, and I thought that drowning it would make me feel better. But all it did was make me do stupid shit and feel a hell of a lot worse,”[/color] she begrudgingly explained, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. [color=D592A5]“I’ve thrown up about three this morning and I feel like I might get a migraine. All I’m asking for is some peace and quiet so I can sleep this off. Do you think you grow a heart and do this for me, just this once?"[/color]

Theo watched Marlena, mulling it over. [color=darkgreen]“Fine,”[/color] he said, walking back into his room and unplugging the giant stereo. The room became eerily quiet at once. [color=darkgreen]“Let’s just say you owe me a favor.”[/color]

[color=D592A5]"[i]Thankyouthankyouthankyou[b]thankyou[/b][/i]!"[/color] Marlie happily exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief. [color=D592A5]"I'll make it up to you, pinky promise!"[/color] she assured him, backing away from the door. [color=D592A5]"Who knows? Maybe I'll make that morning kiss fantasy of yours a reality one day… You know, when my breath doesn't reek of bile and stale alcohol."[/color]

Theo threw himself down on the couch and gave her a dismissive wave. [color=darkgreen]“Yeah, yeah. Just be sure to shut the door on the way out.”[/color]

The young man watched as Marlena departed and closed his loft door shut when suddenly his phone buzzed, falling off the table and crashing onto the rug below. With an exasperated sigh Theo leaned down and saw a message from Isaiah on the screen:

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

This couldn't be good news.[/indent][/indent][/color]