So, the new Brooke reveal had me chomping at the bit to have a little story writing time for Audrey. I thought I'd develop her character a little more. That and why not show a little hint of the bond between her and Tiffany, too?

This one works as a standalone but it'll do just fine as part of my wider series, too.


Family Problems

Didn't matter how hard Audrey tried to shake off Tiffany's curiosity. She kept on coming back. Time and time again. She was a caring friend, sure. It was the same with the smooth-talking singer she'd been seeing this past month, too. That's how all of them started out. Friends. Right until she let them closer. And then? Wham. They'd hit her where it hurt. They'd yank out her heart and stand all over it.

That was the good thing about plates of brownies and gallons of booze. You could swill 'em back 'n munch 'em down without a single care in the world - all because they'd never come back to bite you in the ass later. Didn't matter if you made an ass of yourself in the heat of the moment, either. It was so easy to forget.

Not like people. Never like people.

"I told you, Tiff. It's not a big deal. Fuck sake. Just drop it, aight? My dipshit of a dad 'n my idiot of an uncle are the last people you wanna worry about. How about we talk about the singer I'm seeing? I swear... dude goes down like a-"

Tiffany shook off her head and doubled down with that concerned routine of hers. Somewhere stuck between a plush doll and a sad puppy dog. She snapped up Audrey's hands and held them in hers. "No can do, sorry. Not until you tell me what's had you so... distant these past few weeks. I saw it, you know? The scowl you had when the limo pulled up outside Lusties?"

Great. Just great. She saw her. Worse, it didn't look like Tiffany was going to let it slip, either.

"Tiff, please. It's no biggie, gurl. No biggie."

Play it cool, Audrey. Play it cool. You're the life of the party. There's not a thing in this fucked up world that'll ruin your day.

"You're lying," Tiffany doubled down with a knowing stare. Her blue eyes invaded Audrey's reddened rubies. "You always act like this when something's got your back up. Same as the time those jerks from the football team started spreading rumours."

She's not buying it. Fuck... why is she been so insistent?

Audrey's usual choices weren't working. Cutting the conversation dead only made Tiffany twice as adamant. And trying to move the conversation onto something more worthwhile (like her new blond-haired green-eyed fuck piece) had fallen on stony ground. Shit. She'd not even mentioned his name.

And yet... Tiffany kept staring into her with those big blue eyes.

"Fine... fine. If this is the only way I'll get you to back off then fucking fine."

Audrey broke off their game of eye contact. There was no way she'd let the cheerleader stare into her over a shitty topic like this one.

"The bitch in the club? The whore more plastic than brains? That's my aunt. She's a complete fuckwad."

"Your aunt?" Tiffany gasped at the revelation. Audrey shivered at just how surprised she came across. "I didn't think you had any other family apart from your dad, and I know he's... not the best."

Sure, Tiffany was trying to be considerate, but her squishy attitude just pissed off the party girl even more. "I don't tell you everything," Audrey spat, her attention fixated upon the ripples in her coffee cup. "Long story short? One side of my family's loaded. The other half? Flat broke..."

Being this honest made Audrey's skin crawl, but if there was somebody worth an ounce of care and kindness (no matter how iffy it made her feel) it was Tiffany. They'd gone through school together. 'N if anyone knows how fucked up things can get at home... I guess it's you, Miss Perfect.

"I'm sorry," Tiffany sighed, setting aside her mug and bedding down on the dorm room floor with a sleeping bag. She gave Audrey an 'I'm here for you' smile. The redhead met her halfway - with one of her defiant hair flips. "It wasn't my place to pry... but someone around here needs to stop you and Nikki from burning yourselves out."

A teasing smirk. A roll of the eyes, too. Audrey had a reputation to uphold, even if Tiffany knew her better.

"You're gonna compare me to geekazoid? P-lease. Least I'll burn out in style. Not with six-packs of Beast Energy and mountains of discount chips."

Tiffany giggled. "Be nice. She's smarter than both of us and you know it."

"She needs to be, wearing sweaters like those."

The duo shared a laugh, but Tiffany was quick to return to the topic beforehand - eye on the ball as always.

"What do you have against her? Your aunt. You were perfectly fine until she turned up. I've never seen you fly off the handle like that."

Audrey didn't regret her overly emotional outburst or the abusive barrage she shelled out, either.

"Like I said, long story. And boring as shit. But-"

"Okay... okay. 'Suppose you can have the quick version, for old time's sake." That'd do fine for putting everything into shape, and it wouldn't be too bruising to relive with only a couple of special brownies left on the plate.

"Few years back there was talk of my uncle letting me stay with him. Guess he felt guilty over how his deadbeat piece 'a shit brother turned out after my ma left. I dunno. They talked it over and it was all set to happen, until Brooke weighed in with those silicone tits and threw in her two cents."

"Brooke?"

"My skank aunt's name, Tiff."

"Ah. Okay. You were saying?"

"Anyhow," Audrey swept up a brownie and wolfed it down - much needed Dutch courage. "I'm sat in the drive, all set to leave. Next thing I know, Uncle calls. Apparently he's 'Sorry to get my hopes up', but I'm 'already a grown woman' and I 'should be able to look after myself'. Told him to fuck himself after that. He still sends me a pretty hefty cheque once a year for my B-day, though. That always comes in handy."

Tiffany took a nervous sip of her coco and smiled weakly. She was never much good with tense topics. Probably because they're too close to the wire.

"How do you know it was Brooke? Did your uncle tell you or-"

The brownies and vanilla vodka couldn't contain the searing anger Audrey felt in the pit of her stomach.

"Because Brooke gets every fucking thing she wants! All she's gotta do is whip out those plastic hooters of hers and flash some leg."

Audrey hissed through her teeth - fists clenched tight.

"Self-obsessed. Gold. Digging. Bitch."

The air was thick in the aftermath of Audrey's outburst. She found Tiffany (wilted like a flower) eyes wide out of concern - or maybe fear.

"Sorry, Tiffany." Audrey gave a mighty sigh and grabbed for the smokes from her frilly dress pocket. "Lemme light up. That'll help."

One cigarette became two. Two became three. Half the pack was gone before Audrey finally realized. Her throat was raw by the time she let up.

"That's better..."

The room was too quiet, but on the upside?

Audrey exhaled. "I feel chill. Been wanting to let that out since the other day," followed by a smile. "Guess you're prying helps sometimes, Little Miss Perfect."

The cheerleader pouted and folded her arms.

"I wish you'd stop calling me that..."

"You know you love me," Audrey winked. "We should do these little meet-ups more often. It's kinda like junior high, don't ya think?"

Tiffany picked up their empty cups and made for the kitchen in the corner of the room. The upside of having a dorm with en-suite.

"Except you weren't getting as drunk back then..."

Audrey waved off Tiffany's concern with a cool smile. "We've all got our vices."

And with that, it felt like the right time to move the conversation forward. "So," Audrey was ready for all of the new gossip. "What about this new guy you met on the football field?"

"Him?" Tiffany's cheeks lit up like fairground lights at Corkscrew Carnival. She almost dropped their mugs too. "W-Well. I knew him when I was little... but he doesn't remember me. He's as much of a sweetheart as I remember... but he's so much taller now. And gosh... handsome too. He's a musician-"

'Welcome to my life, fuckin V.I.P. I see I see you lookin' at me. Cuz I just got paaaaid. Lets get laid.'

Speaking of hot pieces of ass, Audrey's awaited. She paused Tiffany's gooey-eyed blush-fest and flipped up the screen of her old-ass phone.

"Errrr yeah. Sup, Pretty Boy? Didn't think you were free until tomorrow. Drinks? You know it."

Drinks... and if he looked at her with those sexy green eyes of his, maybe a little more. Audrey hurried the conversation to a close and set her phone away. Tiffany picked up on her 'gotta bounce' vibe - but smiled for her all the same.

"I guess you're going to head out, aren't you?"

"Yeaaah," Audrey replied, scoffing down her last brownie and getting to her feet. "Free booze and a chance to shake my ass. You know what? Fuck it. You should come too. I bet you'd like the guy I'm seeing. Not bad looking. Name's M-"

"I can't. I have early classes in the morning with Miss Yumi. But maybe tomorrow night?"

"Totes, gurl," Audrey swept in to give her bestie a quick hug before making a beeline for the door. "Take it easy, aight? Tomorrow. You better not forget."

"Like you'll let me."

"Nope." And Audrey was out, giving her baddest smile on the way out of the door.

It wasn't until she was halfway down the hall that she dropped the surface-level shit and let herself enjoy a genuine twinge of gratitude.

"You're the best, Tiffany."

Sure, her home life was messy too. But there was nobody out there more dependable than Tiffany Maye. She was one of the few things out there Audrey could be happy about. She rolled her eyes at how stupid she'd been to close off about the fam situation, too.

"Of course I can trust her. She's as real as they come. Nobody's going to get in the way of that, either. Not a damn one."

End

How did that go? It took me a couple of hours to put together so I hope it's good. Is anyone else hyped for the whole 'Brooke being in Huniepop 2' thing? It sure gave me some good ideas if we're talking story-wise.

Anyway, keep on supporting Huniepop and Huniecam Studio. I'll see you in the next chapter!