When In Rome

1. Il Sotterraneo

"No– it's this guy I knew in school, he's really nice from what I remember," Maya mutters as she applies her dark lipstick in the mirror, her lips pulled over her teeth making it hard to talk. "Yeah, I'm down." Fergus responds, getting up from the floor and moving towards the other side of Maya and Cora's shared room. The three are sprawled across the rather spacious room, all getting ready for their loosely planned Saturday Night.

Maya is sitting on the floor in front of a tall mirror stuck inside of her wardrobe. Next to her, Cora is bent over digging through Maya's pile of clothes looking for an outfit to wear. The bed creaks as Fergus drops down on top of it, an unlit joint sitting between their lips. "Mind that bed," Maya warns; "those planks are shite." Fergus quickly quips: "Yeah you'd know, wouldn't you slut. Bet you're bouncing up and down all night on this bad boy." They sit up and wink at the girl, who's rolling her eyes in the mirror, before lighting their joint.

"Speaking of sluts... Coco..." Maya pops her lips together and glances up at Cora. She scoffs and nudges Maya's back with her knee. "Oh c'mon Cora! You haven't gotten with anyone since we got here. I thought this was gonna be your slut era, babe."
"Ugh, no... I don't know, it just feels weird..."
"Is this about Gideon? Still? Are you serious?" Maya gawks, and Cora pauses sheepishly, "Cor, that was fucking forever ago. Get over it."
"Leave me alone, Maya. It's tough, okay?"
"She's got a point, darling." Fergus drawls as smoke floats out of their mouth, "Gideon was months ago and you haven't even tried to find someone new here. Don't you think it's time?"

Cora sighs deeply at her friends' confrontation. She knows they're right, but her heart beats faster at the thought of even attempting to open up to someone new. Contemplating silently, she buttons up her oversized shirt, leaving way too many undone for it to be a practical outfit. "Maya can you give me your black eyeliner please? The glitter one," Maya reaches the pencil out; "Here, babe..." Cora sits at her desk, using her small mirror to do her makeup. She tugs on her eye slightly, dragging the dark black pencil across her waterline, happy to have moved on from their prior topic of conversation. However, her mind lingers as she continues doing her makeup on autopilot. Flashes of her ex-boyfriend's face cross by, and she remembers how heartbroken she was her first few months in Rome. She recalls the sadness; all the nights she spent in bed while her friends were out partying, getting high and watching 'Gilmore Girls' on repeat to distract herself.

"Oi," Fergus' fingers snap in front of her face, "Wake up." Cora flinches, nearly poking her eye with the eyeliner; "Fuck off." She swats their hand away and looks up at the ceiling, blinking to stop her eyes from tearing up.

"So who's this guy again Maya? Is he gay?" Fergus questions before returning to their seat on the bed. Maya cackles; "Far from it, mate. Hate to say it,"
Cora turns to her friends, watching as Fergus becomes more and more enamoured by how Maya braids her long blonde hair. They don't blink, and they're swaying along to the movements of their friend's fingers through her hair. "Jesus Fergie, you're stoned."

"His name is Josh, he's really sweet. He's in a band with his mates and they're performing at Il Sotterraneo tonight."
"Oooh! I've wanted to go there for a while now." Cora adds.
"Yeah, I matched with him on Hinge yesterday and he recognised me! Isn't that mad!"
"Fabulous, babe..." Fergus whispers, eyes hyper-focused on the girl's fingers weaving between her locks.
"Sound," Cora says as she closes her mascara, "Are they any good?"
"I'd say so. We can always leave if they're shit, can't we?"

"There's a rave I wanna go to tonight – we can just go there after?" Fergus says and moves over to where Cora is still sitting at the desk. "You're so gorgeous... What are you gonna do with your hair tonight?" They lean down and kiss Cora's head lightly, making her smile.
"Thanks boo, love you," Cora replies. Fergus makes a dramatic kiss sound in response.
"Should I just leave it down? I'll wash it tomorrow so it can get messy tonight,"
"Yeah, do. Stick some volume in it though, my hairspray's over there on the thing,"
"Love." Cora states, walking over to Fergus' collection of rubbish on Maya's bed.