Shayla Nico

**Shayla Nico** is Elliot's drug dealer, neighbor, and girlfriend.

She was portrayed by Frankie Shaw.

## Background

Shayla Nico moved in to next to Elliot's apartment at 207 East Broadway, NYC sometime in 2014. She first met him after she dropped a fish in a glass bowl given to her by her 6 year old niece in the hallway. Shayla saves the fish and asks Elliot to help her move a dresser in her apartment.

They later smoke weed outside. They get to know each other, in so much that Shayla deals drugs and Elliot doesn't like most people. She accepts the challenge to be the one, special person he does like. As she realizes she's late for a drink with her female friends, Shayla offers to contact a supposed psychopath who can get Elliot his suboxone he requests with his morphine, claiming Elliot might be worth dealing with a psychopath. She leaves, giving him the fish, Qwerty.

Elliot recalls a memory when Shayla brought him to Coney Island. While riding the ferris wheel, she notices he is agitated. She explains that she saw a family photo at Coney Island on his book shelf and she thought it'd be nice. Elliot is annoyed she went through his stuff and simply wants their relationship to be between dealer and customer. He doesn't want to get personal because of his social skills.

After the ferris wheel, they walk on the boardwalk and have a good time. Back at his apartment, they smoke weed laying on his bed. She says she likes staring at his face and asks to not be forgotten when Elliot's memory becomes corrupted.

Shayla takes promises seriously, likes humming songs she makes up, and often smokes weed and takes ecstasy to forget her problems.

## 2015

### Season 1

In early March, Elliot calls her over to get a refill on suboxone while high on morphine he takes to combat his loneliness. She offers them on the house, but he wants to pay like a regular drug deal. Shayla asks what he's doing tonight, as she couldn't find him on *Facebook*. She offers to do pure molly together and they both wind up having sex.

The next day, Elliot and Angela walk into his apartment to find her still naked and asleep. Angela supports him getting into a relationship and leaves. Elliot wants Shayla to leave, while she wants to know if it's Wednesday so she can move her car. (“eps1.0\_hellofriend.mov”)

19 days later, when Elliot returns from his meeting with Tyrell Wellick, he sees Shayla Nico and Fernando Vera outside their building. Vera is aggressive while Shayla tries to shoot him down. Vera leaves in a car with his gang while Elliot walks with her inside. She asks if his radiator is broken as it is very hot in her apartment. Elliot wants a refill on morphine, which Shayla finds suspiciously early. When he doesn't care that she doesn't have suboxone, she reminds him of her promise to make sure he had suboxone. She gives in, but makes him promise he won't do a lot until she can get subs from Vera.

Elliot gives his dog Flipper to her for a while when Darlene appears in his apartment to take him back to work. Later, at her apartment, he finds Vera in his underwear on the bed who says Shayla is in the bathroom. Once Vera leaves, Elliot picks the lock and finds her naked and unconscious in the tub full of water. She explains that she called Vera for Elliot's pills, they smoked, but she doesn't remember anything after, especially having sex. He wants to go to the police, but Shayla refuses, explaining that she makes good money on the split. She makes him promise he won't go to the police and asks him to sleep over in his room. After seeing that Vera boasts about raping Shayla in code on Twitter, he sends an anonymous tip and has Vera and his gang arrested. (“eps1.1\_ones-and-zer0es.mpeg”)

Shayla is called to the hospital when Elliot falls off the boardwalk, as he has listed her as his emergency contact. She is confused when he doesn't remember talking to her when she first arrived a few hours ago. She leaves the room so he can talk to his therapist, Krista Gordon. Shayla walks home with Elliot, stopping at a convenience store as he buys cigarettes and a 5 Hour Energy. At his apartment, she asks if he busted Vera. She's worried about her financial situation and that he broke his promise when she notices the lock to his door has been picked. Inside is Darlene. As Elliot confronts her, Shayla wants to know what's going on and Darlene wants to be introduced. Elliot kicks her out. Shayla wants to know what is happening, but Elliot says he has to go to work, much to her objections.

Later that night, Elliot goes to Shayla's apartment to ask her if he'll go to dinner at his boss's apartment. She refuses to be used and suggests he take the girl from this morning. She says that he doesn't really know her, not the superficial online stuff. When he asks to hear about the real her, and presses through her embarrassment, she shows him cloth tapestries that she makes. He asks to kiss her. She kisses him and says not to ask next time, before telling him to not let her down.

Together they attend the dinner with Angela Moss, Ollie Parker, and Lloyd Chong. She mingles with people when Elliot turns on the TV to see news of the *Washington Township* leak. He leaves abruptly, followed by Angela. (“eps1.2\_d3bug.mkv”)

On March 29th, Angela comes to the apartment looking for Elliot. Shayla is preparing to walk Flipper and invites her to walk with them. At the park, she offers Angela ecstasy to help with whatever is bringing her down. Angela hesitates, as she doesn't do drugs except weed. Shayla says that she deals with her problems by forgetting about them. Later that night, they go to a club. Shayla sells the last of her drugs in the women's bathroom while Angela laughs that she has to be at work in four hours. Shayla says she's to be a waitress to earn her money. Angela asks if she's worried starting a new job. Shayla makes her look in the mirror and tells Angela that she, Angela should only worry about herself because she's a badass bitch. They later makeout. (“eps1.3\_da3m0ns.mp4”)

On March 31st, Shayla is working at a cowboy themed restaurant as a waitress. She is told to shadow a waitress. When asked about her previous job, Shayla says she worked in pharmaceuticals, but then Obamacare happened. Later that night, she talks with Elliot on the phone from the kitchen. She talks about getting used to her job and is surprised when he says he had a good day. She says if he's around he should come tell her about his day. They part ways. When Elliot and Darlene arrive at his apartment sometime afterward, he finds a phone with Vera on the other side, claiming he has Shayla. (“eps1.4\_3xpl0its.wmv”)

Sometime later, Elliot meets with Shayla at a diner. They talk for a moment before she is pulled away by Vera homie D.J. Elliot spends April 1st figuring out how to break Vera out of prison by the night. He succeeds. As they wait outside the fences, Vera kills his younger brother Isaac Vera and runs off with D.J and another of his homies. He also reveals that Shayla has been with him the whole time, meaning that her dead body has been in the trunk of the car they've been riding in all day; when Elliot opens the trunk, he sees her throat slit and stares in sadness before leaving. (“eps1.5\_br4ve-trave1er.asf”)

### Season 2

The FBI have linked Shayla's homicide to Elliot through their common residence in their web of investigating fsociety.