Who: Amarlie-Rose Satori, Blaize Lamont, Zenith Novak, Asher Brennan and Layla Morton
What: Hangout/Business/Date/Sex/???
Where: Casa de Campbell (sans any Campbells), Upper East Side
When: After this

Amarlie flopped onto the squishy sofa and kicked off her purple sparkly heels with a grin. For the first time in a few weeks, the whole squad had logged on to Zoom to film a dance party Justin put together to raise money for Shades of Rainbow in honour of the Sydney Mardi Gras. Justin and Sash were still away camping in Australia but they still logged on with everyone else. They recorded themselves all dancing together to I Think We're Alone Now as an homage to the scene in Umbrella Academy.

It was a very brief distraction from the fact Layla was coming over soon to stay with them so she and Amarlie could be in a lockdown bubble together to start working on their business idea together. Up until now, it had mostly been a pipe dream with Layla's brainchild of starting a charitable business that did full makeovers - including a new custom-tailored wardobe - for young people who had survived cancer and were in remission to help them try to find their way back into some semblance of a normal life. Justin had been the one who suggested to Layla that Amarlie could use her talent and skills she was learning a fashion design college to design the final big reveal outfits for the participants. It really was just a backhanded suggestion he made before he got called away on a business phone call but since then, Gen - Amarlie's birth mom - had told them if they put a serious business proposal together, she and Paris would consider funding their business venture and help them get it off the ground. It was exciting but terrifying all at the same time.

In amongst that, there was still the huge fact Layla and Amarlie had gotten drunk and slept together when Amarlie had always thought she was straight but maybe a bit of bicuriosity that apparently came out when she was drunk and a gorgeous babe was right there in front of her. Since then, there had been one other time they ended up in a passionate embrace that got interrupted and cut off before it could heat up, pre-covid. Amarlie had been doing a lot fo soul-searching and self-reflection about who she was and her identity.

And she hadn't been able to stop thinking about Layla. She knew they needed to talk. It would be a juggling act figuring everything out so they could still work together to pull off their dream. Amarlie hadn't been this nervous since meeting Gen for the first time.

Who: Amarlie-Rose Satori, Keegan King, Blaize Lamont, Zenith Novak and Asher Brennan
What: Secrets Revealed
Where: Alec's apartment, NYC
When: After this and this

The last thing Amarlie wanted to do was burn this soup. She had been obsessively checking it, adjusting the temperature, stirring it. It gave her something to do over than the crippling overthinking she had been stuck in. It had only been after Justin called her out on avoiding a deep conversation with Keegan that she knew it was true. But for no other reason than she didn’t know how to have this conversation with him. Last time she had to face a horrible mistake like this, it ended terribly. Deep down, she knew Keegan was nothing like the horrible asshole who treated her badly last time she accidentally fell pregnant, but she was scared nonetheless.

Keegan had arrived in New York and Justin accompanied Amarlie to see him. He was staying with Alec, where his big brother, Kade was already a frequent guest. Kade and Alec were dating long-distance and it seemed to work, though Amarlie knew Alec would be over the moon if Kade stayed in New York. Kade just hadn’t been able to take the leap of faith and commit yet. Back when they were teenagers, they had been friends-with-benefits for years. Then they dated before their respective chosen careers - Alec, joining the military to study being a psychiatrist, and Kade, an Olympic-bound swimmer - split them worlds apart. They knew they had to set their relationship aside for their ambitions. Now they found each other again, but Amarlie knew that the relationship thing had to be hard, especially long-distance.

( That was another thing stressing her out. She knew she had feelings for Keegan... )

RP LOG, COMPLETE

Who: Amarlie-Rose Satori, Blaize Lamont, Asher Brennan, Zenith Novak, Justin Campbell and Sasha Stanford
What: Bat Call Answered
Where: Paris, France
When: After this

The thing was, this would inevitably be one of those running jokes Amarlie would never live down and she was sure she would eventually be able to laugh about it. Probably sooner rather than later, if her boys had anything to do about it. The dare seemed harmless at the time. Sasha was pretty grossed out by the thought of trying escargot. Gen and Amarlie knew it didn't taste bad at all. The way they cooked it, it was like a delicacy. Justin outright refused but Sasha ultimately gave in. And the damn things nearly killed him when he started to have an allergic reaction to it. The effects of it hit slower than if he had a full meal. He had a nibble, at best and the gag reflex kicked in when he couldn't achieve mind over matter. No one wanted him retching all over a table in a Paris Michelin Star restaurant.

He was starting to feel sick before the meal was over, so Justin took him outside to get some fresh air to see if that would help. They had a little walk down the block and when it didn't seem like Sash was going to feel better, Justin took him back to their hotel in a cab and sent his mom a text explaining where they were going. Gen and Amarlie finished up the meal and by the time they got back to the hotel themselves, Sasha had projectile vomited in the elevator and all over the bathroom in the hotel room. He had painful stomach cramps and had broken out into cold sweats and all-over body shivers. It was a rapid decline then into a rash sprouted all over him, followed by chest pains and struggling to breathe.

Epinephrine and antihistamines were given by the paramedics and there was more medical intervention at the Emergency Department. It was terrifying by the time they got him there because they had to put a tube down his throat to help him breathe. The thing that completely shocked Gen and Amarlie, though, was Justin handled it incredibly. He was scared and panicking, but he kept it together and made sure he knew everything that was going on. Eventually, Sasha started to bounce back and they took the tube away, admitting him for a couple of nights to make sure he was okay while his body recovered from the reaction. The doctors diagnosed him with a shellfish and mollusc allergy, likely needing to carry epi-pens from now on as they could be the basis for ingredients in various products. Allergies like these could come out in teen/twenties years and it likely hadn't come forth yet because Sasha wasn't a seafood eater. Apparently snails fell into the mollusc category.

There had been no hesitation in Blaize, Ash and Zen jumping on a plane to come over. It was just the sort of friendship they had. When she saw them all coming up the hospital corridor together, she ran up to them and wrapped them in a massive group hug. "Oh my god, I'm so glad you came! I nearly killed him! It was horrible! I'm never daring anyone to do anything ever again!"