[001] another year closer to death

                              Celia is all dressed up like a perfect little doll - her hair is straightened, she's dressed in off-white silk, and her makeup is absolutely perfect. She looks like the picturesque wife alongside Roman. And upon first glance, it seemed as though Celia and Roman were absolutely fine. Who could possibly believe that the couple who had basically been arranged to be together with no love in sight, would ever have any problems in their marriage?

                              On the inside, Celia was fuming of course. Roman still hadn't budged, determined to keep Celia within his grasp. And that meant that Celia was forced to be here and attend Logan's eightieth birthday party, pretending as though she was happy for the old man who basically set her up to be in this situation in the first place. And worst of all, she had to pretend that she gave a shit about her piece of shit husband.

                              But the only thing that was keeping Celia from going completely insane was the fact that she had a plan in motion. One that would give her exactly what she wanted when it was finally complete. Because there was no way she planned on failing.

                              "You look so gorgeous," Marcia greets her, momentarily distracting Celia from all of her planning.

                              "Not nearly as gorgeous as you. The blue is wonderful on you," Celia gushes with a smile.

                              "Thank you. You and Roman look perfect together," Marcia compliments. Unfortunately for her, it was probably the worst thing Marcia could've said to her at the time.

                              Celia's smile falters for a moment. "Thanks."

                              Marcia smiles, patting her on the shoulder before she walks around the apartment to continue and socialize. Logan Roy's latest wife was beautiful and a socialite in the making. Celia liked her but she was confused as to how someone like her ended up with a grumpy man like Logan.

                              "Can you at least try to look like you're happy to be here?" Roman asks from beside her.

                              She turns to look at Roman, a frown gracing her blood colored lips. "What do you mean? I'm playing the role of the happy housewife, just like you wanted."

                              "Then how come you look like you wanna strangle me with my tie?" Roman questioned.

                              "Oh, because I do. The fact that I haven't should shows my self control," Celia answered.

                              "I love it when you talk dirty," Roman teased. He enjoyed messing with Celia and pissing her off. It was entertaining.

                              "Where's Kendall?" Celia asks. Half of it was genuine concern but she also wanted to set Roman off.

                              "Probably crying while jerking off. Why?" Roman shrugged.

                              Celia rolls her eyes. "I'm just curious."

                              "You're never just curious," Roman says, eyes narrowed in suspicion. He knew something was up. He just didn't know what.

                              "Maybe I am. Besides, I'd rather talk to Kendall instead of you," Celia shakes her head.

                              Before the two could start arguing, Shiv walks in with her boyfriend, Tom, and the two of them are momentarily distracted.

                              "Hi!" Marcia exclaims.

                              "Hi!" Shiv responds back.

                              "How are you?" Marcia asks as she hugs Shiv.

                              "Good," Shiv responds. "How are you?"

                              "Good. You look great. What a beautiful color," Marcia replies. And she was right, Shiv looked very pretty. But then again, Shiv always did. She and Celia had a little competition when it came to dressing up and looking their best.

                              "Thanks. Same. Love that," Shiv instantly responded.

                              "Thank you," Marcia replies before she walked away from them to talk to the other guests.

                              Celia and Roman share a look before they make their way over to the other couple.

                              "Hey, Global Tom. How you shaking? You still fucking shit up for us?" Roman remarked before he pulled Tom in for a hug.

                              "Still cleaning up your mess, pal," Tom retorts before hugging Roman back, patting the shorter man's back in response.

                              "Yeah, right," Roman scoffs.

                              "Hello, Celia," Tom greets her with a small smile.

                              "Hi, Tom," Celia responds back, equally polite. The two weren't terribly close but Shiv seemed to really like him so Celia did too. Tom obviously wanted to be with Shiv, enjoying the perks that came with dating a Roy.

                              "Hey! It's been ages, hasn't it?" Shiv smiles over at Celia and the two women hug each other.

                              "Yeah, it's been far too long. We should definitely hang out sometime," Celia agrees with a nod.

                              "That's a deal," Shiv responds. "Fuck, you look gorgeous."

                             Celia giggles, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I try."

                              "Hey, sis," Roman interjects.

                              "Hi," Shiv says back.

                              "Politics still boring the living shit out of you?" Roman lightly punches her arm.

                              "Yeah, you know, I'm burying the bodies, counting the cash," Shiv replies teasingly.

                              "Look at you. You look like, you know, an actual human person," Roman commented.

                              "Well, thanks, buddy," Shiv chuckled.

                              "Mhm," Roman responds as Shiv suddenly hugs him. "Oh, hi."

                              "Oh, what is that? Date Rape by Calvin Klein?" Shiv teased him once again as the two siblings pull away from each other.

                              "Yeah, you wish," Roman remarked.

                              "You wish?" Shiv remarks, eyes wide. "What is up with your husband?"

                              "He's a very special individual. You'll need a scientist to understand his brain. And even then, they'd be confused," Celia snidely remarks.

                              Shiv raises a brow, almost instantly sensing her hostility. After all, the two women had been friends for years. But Celia just denies it with a shake of her head and walks off, itching for another drink. She was willing to wait around for Kendall, no matter how long it took.

                             But soon enough, someone special would arrive instead. 

                             "Folks, he's back! He's back. Find a place. Hide for the surprise. Come on!" Marcia orders, forcing everyone to go and hide.

                             Roman wraps an arm around his wife's waist, keeping her close as they hid along with the others in front of the elevator. Celia wasn't too thrilled by it but she couldn't afford to complain. "Oh, he's gonna love this. Think the last time I surprised him, he took a swing at me."

                            "Your dad's really fucked up," Celia remarked. "I don't know why we're doing all of this. We're just celebrating another year closer to death."

                            "It's a good thing you're pretty because you have a very dark mind," Roman stated.

                            "I thought that's what you loved about me, baby," Celia retorts.

                            Just then, the elevator dings and the doors open to reveal Logan Roy with a taller stranger standing behind him.

                           "Surprise!" everyone exclaimed.

                           Logan weakly smiles but it's clear that he was annoyed by it. Celia remembered how much he hated surprises so it was no surprise that he was angry by it. "Great. Excellent. Wonderful. Go ahead, go ahead."

                            He had been directing his last words to the tall guy behind him and the two left the elevator together. Celia quickly walks away and Roman trails right behind her as Logan makes his way further into the room, briefly stopped by Marcia who assumedly told Logan to play nice. Shortly after, Logan decided to greet all of his children one by one. Celia doesn't think he'd pay much attention to her but after he's finished, he focuses his attention right onto her.

                          "Cecilia," Logan says her name in a way that makes her tense, resting his hands on her shoulder. "You look beautiful as always. Your father would be so proud if he were here to see you."

                          Celia almost laughs. If her father was still alive, he'd be disappointed at the monster she became in his absence.

                          "Thank you," is all Celia says with a small, taut smile.

                          He nods before he briefly looks over at the tall man that had been following him, waving a hand in his direction. "Oh, everybody. This is, uh... Craig, by the way."

                         "Craig? It's Greg, no?" Shiv asked, confusion written all over her face.

                        "You mean like Cousin Greg?" Celia says out loud. She had only met him a couple times years before but he hadn't been too significant in her mind. Back then, she had only really been paying attention to Kendall anyway.

                         "Yeah, yeah. Uh, Greg. People sometimes, like, mistakenly call me Craig too, so... I - I'll answer to both," Greg quickly answered.

                         "Here. This is just a token of my very real and enduring admiration, in the hope -," Tom begins but before he could finish with his royal ass kissing, the elevator doors opened again and Kendall walked out into the room. Celia smiles, feeling a lot better now that he was here.

                         Roman quickly noticed Celia's change in mood.

                        Logan was one of the first to notice, peering over Tom's shoulder to get a look at his second born son. "Kendall? You came?"

                       "Yeah, of course. Happy birthday," Kendall awkwardly responds before deciding to hug his father.

                       "Uh-huh," is all Logan says, not the least bit happy that Kendall was there.

                       "I guess you're finally going to be in a better mood now, huh?" Roman bitterly remarks, causing Celia to look over at him.

                       "Maybe," Celia shrugs, "Just don't do anything stupid to piss me off."

                       "No promises," Roman shrugs.

                        But Roman manages to be on his best behavior as the rest of the party seems to go off without a hitch. Celia and Shiv talk here and there but for the most part, Celia remains on her own. She had to keep her focus on Kendall, waiting for the right moment to get him alone. But it seemed as though Celia wouldn't get that chance. Rava and the kids would show up, causing him to momentarily step off to go and talk to them.

                             That didn't mean that Celia couldn't sneak off and go eavesdrop on them.

                             Celia sneaks off from the others after Kendall leaves, deciding to go and talk to him. If Roman did notice, he didn't bother to stop her. Celia makes sure to keep her footsteps quiet as she leans against the wall, listening to the conversation playing on between Kendall and Rava. She knew that things were going disastrously between them, Rava finalizing the divorce between them. 

                             It made Celia feel a little better. She still would've pursued Kendall even if he and Rava were happily married still. But now it wouldn't make her look like a homewrecker when Rava and Kendall weren't even together anymore.

                            "No? Are you... Is that not... Are you seeing someone?" Kendall questioned.

                            "Yeah. I am. And I'm just hoping this one doesn't leave coke smeared all over the kids' iPads," Rava retorts.

                            Celia flinches at the silence that follows. Kendall's coke addiction was definitely no secret. He had been struggling for years - Celia still remembers when she had found him one day years ago, having overdosed on cocaine. He could've died but thanks to Celia finding him in time, he'd remain alive. Kendall was always a little nicer to Celia after that. Maybe he felt guilty for putting Celia in such a predicament, but she saw it as him liking her, figuring they had a chance.

                            "All right, that's fair," Kendall nods.

                            "Oh, God," Rava sighs.

                            "It was three years ago, but...," Kendall trailed off.

                            "Kendall, I'm fucking with you. It's okay, it's okay. You're good. This is a big day. Coronation day," Rava encourages him.

                            "Yeah."

                            "Hey, you deserve this. Seriously. After everything."

                            Celia accidentally moves forward and stumbles out from her hiding spot, smiling weakly at the two of them. "Hey, you two."

                            "Hey, Celia," Kendall greets her first.

                            "Hey, Ken," Celia responded back.

                           "I should go and check up on the kids," Rava says before heading upstairs, leaving Celia and Kendall alone.

                           "How have you been?" Kendall asks her.

                          "Uh, fine. I've been fine. How about you?" Celia shrugs, beginning to approach him.

                          "Fine," Celia lies.

                          "Really?" Kendall narrows his eyes. He too sensed that something was off with Celia.  Was she that transparent?

                          "No. But I'll be fine," Celia admits.

                          "You look fine. I mean...," Kendall trails off, realizing that he had said more than he should have.

                          Celia giggles. "Aren't you a casanova?"

                          "Not usually," Kendall admits, shaking his head.

                          "You're joking, right? I mean, you could've had me fooled. You did for a while back when we were younger. I thought you were so cool," Celia responded.

                          "I'm surprised you even noticed me with Shiv keeping you so close," Kendall chuckled.

                          "I always did," Celia admits.

                          "So did I. Notice you, I mean. It's pretty hard not to," Kendall assured her.

                          Celia's smile grows.

                          "Guys, lunch in ten!" Marcia announces, interrupting the moment between them. As much as she loved Marcia, her time was really shitty.

                          "Listen, uh, just two minutes before lunch, in the sitting room," Logan declares, holding on to a stack of files, "Kids, can you just give me two minutes?"

                          Roman glances between the two of them but while Kendall looks away, Celia just smiles at him. Eventually, the rest of the siblings go into the room with Logan to talk. Celia was still thinking about her conversation with Kendall, allowing it to play over and over again in her mind. It was a little bit of progress, but it was progress nonetheless. 

                          Maybe Celia's little crush on Kendall hadn't been so one sided after all.

                          After the conversation between Logan and his children end, it was obvious that the conversation hadn't been a good one. But Celia could only guess. More than likely, Roman would rant about it to Celia later. She was more focused on Kendall, the two of them sharing looks throughout the dinner. It was subtle but held plenty of intention.

                         Celia felt confident that she'd have him wrapped around her finger in no time.

                         Suddenly, Frank Vernon tapped at his glass before rising to his feet, capturing everyone's attention. "Yeah, if you'll excuse me... Logan Roy. Dorn in Dundee, Scotland, eighty years ago today, raised in Quebec by an uncle with a print shop and a few advertising billboards and an aunt with a herd of cattle. Logan himself has made a decent way for himself these past sixty years. Fifth largest media conglomerate in the world. A pal to prime ministers, a truth-teller to presidents. He's tough, he's wily, but he's always true to his word. I arrived to give him legal advice thirty years ago, and I never got out the door. And since that day, I'm proud to call him a friend. So, let's raise a toast. Logan Roy."

                          "Logan Roy," they all cheered.

                          "Thank you," Logan nods, "So... I think it's time to play the game."

                          "We're playing the game?" Kendall questioned.

                         Celia looks over at Roman. "You're joking, right?"

                         "Prepare to get your designer heels dirty, sweetheart," Roman grinned.

                         "Well, yes. It's my birthday, so yes, we're playing the game," Logan answered.

                         "Do we have to play the game?" Shiv laughs.

                         "What's the game?" Greg asks, only to get answered by nothing but laughter. He was completely out of the loop. "What's the game?"

                         "You'll see," is all Celia answers.

( 💵💄👗)

word count: 2561
notes: i hope you all liked this chapter! i would've done more but i couldn't see celia doing a whole lot during the game. but the next chapter, we're going straight to the hospital baybee