Solace and Sage stumbled into the apartment, dreary and exhausted.

They had ironed out the plan to spy on the senator's number one enemy, being Harrison Davis, on their way back home. Sage would do some research and a deep dive into the man's background, and if that came back clean, then plan B would commence tomorrow.

But for now, Solace's mission was to shower and fall asleep in her own bed. She only had a few hours until class, so she would make every minute count. Her backpack fell with the thud on the floor as she threw her coat on the dining table chairs. A mug filled with cold coffee sat at the end. It must have been Emi's from last night. She must have been waiting up for them before she finally got Solace's text.

"Do you mind if I take a shower first? I'll be quick," asked Sage, but he was already pulling out spare clothing from his bag.

At least he was trying to be polite. I'll give him that. "Sure. Just use my body wash sparingly." She had only bought it two weeks ago, and it was almost empty. She was pretty sure Sage now had an obsession with smelling like coconut butter.

"But it says to apply a decent amount," Sage fired back as he walked backward to the bathroom.

"A decent amount as in a few drops. Not lathering yourself in it," she called out, but he had already stopped listening and shut the door. Note to self, go shopping.

She dragged herself down the hall, creaking open Emi's door to see her snuggled in her blankets. A pang of guilt slammed into her when Solace saw she was clutching her phone to her chest. Quietly, she made her way over to the bed and crawled underneath the covers. She turned to her side, gently removing the phone from Emi's grasp.

"Hey, Ems," she whispered, poking her cheek.

"You're back," Emi muttered, her eyes fluttering open.

Solace smiled softly, rolling onto her back. "I'm surprised that woke you up. I thought I would have to scream in your ear."

She yawned, resting her head on her shoulder. "Didn't get much sleep," she said hoarsely.

"Me too," Solace sighed, tilting her head, so it rested on top of hers. "I'm sorry I made you worry. That wasn't cool."

"No, it wasn't," agreed Emi. "Were both of you safe, at least?"

Solace played with the soft material of the blanket, her eyes following the path of the strips of LED lights on Emi's walls. "Yes, we were safe," she promised. And they were. They weren't in any imminent life-threatening danger.

Emi tugged the blanket up her chin. "And did Sage take care of you?"

She rolled her eyes with a huff. "I can take care of myself," she said defensively.

A chuckle escaped her. "I know you can. You're one of the smartest and most determined person I have ever met," said Emi sincerely. It brought a smile to Solace's lips. "But we both know whatever the two you are doing is dangerous, and Sage has some experience. I know you hate listening to him but follow his lead when you have to."

"I will," she vowed reluctantly. She couldn't deny that he was the one who got them out of the mess with his quick thinking. But he was also the one that got them locked in the office in the first place. It was strange how they worked. When she was panicking, he was level-headed. And when he lost it, Solace had it under control.

Emi nudged her in the side. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Uh-huh," she said absentmindedly.

"Does this job have anything to do with the painting?" she wondered curiously, but she sounded as if she already knew the answer. Solace froze in her spot. "I was tending to this table at work. They were all art majors, and they were looking at this painting. It looked exactly like the one you made. I searched it up, and guess what I found? Senator Moore bought it. Weird, huh?"

"So weird," she said awkwardly. Solace didn't give her enough credit. Emi got it spot on. She could lie, but that would be useless. She wasn't about to come clean either. Emi already knew too much.

Emi laughed knowingly. "Is that all you're going to say?" she asked playfully.

"Pretty much." Her roommate sighed, and Solace racked her brain to change the subject. "How's work?"

The shift wasn't subtle, but Emi answered anyway. "Laurence keeps scheduling me on Monday and Tuesday mornings when I keep telling him I have class," she complained. "He acts like a snob when I tell him. Like calm down, you're the manager of Olive Garden. And then he's acting all nice and sucking up to us after he read a bad Yelp review about him."

Solace's lips tugged up in a smirk. "Was it about how the manager is an uncivil and insolent manager, who yells at his employees, thus creating a toxic environment?" she asked innocently.

Emi gasped as she pushed herself up onto her elbow. "That's the one. Was it you?"

"Remember when I stopped by your work two weeks ago? I saw him yelling at you, so I wrote a review talking shit about him after you told me he reads them religiously."

She fell onto her back with an airy laugh. "Keep them up. That was the nicest he has ever been. You should have heard him," she said, clearing her throat and dropping her voice an octave. "Emi, darling, I wanted to let you know how lucky and thankful we are to have you. Oh, please, let me kiss your ass and give you a promotion."

"I can just picture him smiling like the Grinch with his Botox," remarked Solace with a snort.

"Dude, I heard he got Botox in his armpits, an eyebrow lift, and a facelift," she gossiped. "But he claims it's all natural."

She kissed her teeth. "There's nothing wrong with plastic surgery, but he should be upfront about it." Solace hated when social media and Hollywood promoted and perpetuated unrealistic beauty standards. It was even worse for people of colour since Eurocentric features are idolized. She can't say how many times she wished her nose was smaller or her skin was lighter when she was growing up. As a dark-skinned woman, there was rarely any representation of people that looked like her when she was a child.

"I know right," sighed Emi. "And then yesterday, this guy tried to send back his dinner because he didn't like it. But he already ate three quarters of his food. Like who the hell does that?"

Solace winced, feeling sorry for her and how she had to deal with idiots on the daily. "Sounds like you had a bad shift."

"It gets worse," she exclaimed, wide away and her eyes crazed as she recalled the memories of yesterday. "This family of five came in, and their total was 235.56 dollars."

"That's specific," she snickered.

"Guess how much he tipped. Guess!"

After considering the distraught expression etched on Emi's face and her frantic voice, she said, "Three dollars."

"Nope! He tipped fifty cents. Fifty cents," Emi emphasized angrily with her face flushed. "The appropriate amount is at least fifteen percent. But no, he couldn't even tip one percent."

"If you can't afford to tip, you shouldn't be eating out in the first place."

Emi clapped. "Exactly! Servers depend on tips. Freaking cheapskate. I can't wait until I'm a rich video game designer and I never have to work at a restaurant again."

She chuckled at how riled up she was. She patted her hair softly, attempting to calm her down. "How is your game coming along?" Not only did Emi love playing them, but she had also started to create one of hers. She was always telling Solace about the avatars she planned on creating and the world she wanted to build.

"There's still a lot of flaws that I have to sort out, but it's coming along. I was going to get started on adding the quests and rewards once winter break finally starts."

"I want to play once it's up and running," she said excitedly. Solace didn't know much about video games, but she would do anything to support her best friend.

"Of course," grinned Emi. "You know what would be super cool? If you went into video game design. So many of my classmates can code and build the game, but they aren't nearly as artistically talented as you."

Solace frowned. "Ems, I'm in political sciences. I don't do art anymore, especially not digital art."

"I know, I know. But you would have so much creative freedom, and you would get the hang of it so quickly. I'm not saying it's easy to make it into the video game world, but it's definitely easier than having your work placed in a museum or an art show," she explained, trying to convince Solace and her stubborn mind.

She couldn't lie. It did sound appealing. She had always thought of art as a traditional one-way track. Solace never realized that there were so many opportunities when it came to art. "I'm happy with my major now," she said firmly, but she couldn't even buy her own lie.

"Okay," drawled Emi dubiously. "But if you ever change your mind..."

Solace rolled her eyes. "I'll know where to find you," she finished. "Now, if you excuse me, I think Sage is finally done taking a shower." She rolled out of bed and headed to the door.

Emi snuggled back into bed, even though she had to wake up in thirty minutes. "I think Sage is great and all, but the bathroom is always steaming after he showers."

"It's like he tries to cook his organs," retorted Solace.

"I can hear you!" shouted Sage from the hallway. She had no doubt he was sporting a scowl.

"Shut up, Sage!" they yelled back in unison.

***

Author's Note:

Hi everyone!

Also, I know from my experience as a brown woman, I never grew up with any representation in Hollywood and when there was like Ravi from Jessie, the characters were played into heavy stereotypes. It also doesn't help that colorism is huge in parts of Asia and I always wished my skin was lighter. I feel like a lot of BIPOC can relate with this.

Until next time – m.k.t