To Caress My Day

The next morning, Neon Jungle went down to their favorite café to meet up with Simone and Twigs. It just so happened to be the very same café Twigs met her current boyfriend, Seth MacFarlane, at. Once inside the establishment, the group looked around the cozy place to locate their two friends, and upon spotting them, they went ahead to join them at their table. But once they reached it, they noticed something was wrong. Simone wasn’t her usual buoyant self, and Twigs was sitting close by her side rubbing her back while softly whispering words of warmth to her. Clearly, something was upsetting Simone, and Twigs was trying to comfort her distress away. Amira was the first to speak up out of the group. “Whoa, what’s going on here, ladies? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, are you okay, Simone?” Jess asked her as she followed Amira to a chair and took the one next to her. The other girls followed suit until they were all seat and leaning over the table with all their focuses directed towards Simone and whatever was ailing her.

When Simone remained hushed on the subject and merely shook her head in response with a short but feigned smile instead, Shereen’s eyes drifted to Twigs for assistant. “Twigs, tell us what’s going on here.”

“Maybe we can help or something.” Asami offered with a shrug, her eyes filled with the same amount of interest as everyone else at the table.

“Look, it’s not really my place to share someone else’s information.” Twigs regretfully replied before turning her attention to Simone and leaning forward to whisper in her ear again. “Go on, Simone, tell them! They’ll probably have a better chance at helping than I ever could.”

Simone hesitated, not wishing to burden her friends with what she had to say. It was a huge favor to ask of someone, she knew that, but she’s been trying to reach for her own dreams for years herself, and has clearly gotten nowhere with it. Perhaps Twigs was right, maybe with Neon Jungle’s help she’d have a better chance at actually getting somewhere for once. Sighing deeply, Simone waited for the waitress to walk away with Neon Jungle’s order before raising her eyes up from the tabletop to look at them with remorse. “Guys, I…I’ve been having a difficult time pushing my own career for a long time now, and…I don’t know, everyone else seems to be reaching their goals but me. I was hoping that I could ask you guys for…a favor that could really help me out here.”

“Of course!” Shereen exclaimed, desperate to get the old happy Simone back again rather than this low one.

Amira nodded in agreement and reached across the table to pat Simone’s hand. “Honey, we’ll do whatever it take to help you in any way we can with whatever power we have.”

“So, tell us, what’s this favor you wanna ask us?” Jess urged her to spill just as they received their orders of muffins, and coffee.

Simone smiled with relief even while the waitress was there. She waited, however, until the lady had gone before elaborating on what exactly was bothering her to her friends. “You all remember how much I love music, and singing, right?” When she received nothing but nods of confirmations, she went on. “Well, what I haven’t told you guys is that I want to make it big now. Like BIG big!” Her excitement at that announcement dimmed somewhat as she let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, I’d rather make IT sooner rather than later, but nothing I seem to do is getting me closer to that the finish line.”

“Hold on.” Asami cut in, holding up a single hand. “Are you telling us you want to be a musician? A proper one?”

Simone establish that question with a firm nod. “Yeah, exactly.”

This time Amira cut in, not that all surprised on her career choice. “That’s cool and all, but where exactly do we all fit in with your situation?”

“Yeah, I’m not following either. What do you want us to do about your struggle exactly?” Jess seconded, resting her chin on her hand inquisitively, genuinely confused.

“Well, you guys are in the music industry.” Simone reminded them. “You guys are surrounded by dozens of connections everyday which means you can also help get me into some good connections, so I can start my own career. At least this way I can be living it by next week instead of having to wait until I’m 85 years old if I have to rely on myself and myself alone.”

“Wow, I can’t believe you want to be a singer too.” Sheeren repeated in wonder to herself.

“Me too.” Jess agreed with a smile of pride on her face. “I mean, I already knew you were a talented singer, but I never considered that you might want to take it to the next level and become famous like us!”

Simone affirmed her statement with a nod. “What can I say, I want to make it big too.” She then shrugged and looked down at her now cold coffee, murmuring more to herself than to the others this time. “I need to make it big.”

Twigs picked up on what sounded like to her was fear laced in Simone’s low tone and it was serious enough to send a chill of dread down her spine. Her big brown eyes snapped to her roommate’s face with alarm. “Why? Are you in trouble or something, Simone?”

Simone turned her head to give Twigs smile that convinced her that she had jumped to conclusion too fast again. “No! I’m fine, silly. I just…” She hesitated then reached out to take Twig’s hand in hers. “Any amount money would help at this point, right?”

“Amen to that! The struggle is for real out here.” Amira agreed, raising her coffee cup as if it were a shot glass before bursting out into laughter at that, prompting everyone else to join her at the reality of her words hit home for them all. Everyday folks would surely agree to her statement too. When they were all calmed down, Amira reached out again for Simone’s hand to grab her attention, and once had clasped it in her own, she reassured her troubled heart. “Hey, don’t worry anymore about all this stuff, okay? The first thing we’re gonna do when we get back to the studio is take every opportunity we can to spread the word of the undiscovered talented Simone Battle and find a way to bring you in.”

As surprising as it was for them to see, tears of happiness filled Simone’s beautiful brown eyes as she clasped tightly onto Amira’s hand. “You mean it!?”

“Of course!” Asami cried out happily, leading the rest to follow along.

“Have we ever led you astray before?” Jess asked her with a wink.

“If we gotta turn the world inside out to get your dreams to come true than we’re gonna damn well do it!” Shereen promised her passionately.

“See!” Twigs said to Simone with excitement. “I told you you can always count on your girls to get you right.”

“And we will!” Amira promised with an accomplished smile.

Just like that, Simone’s face scrunched up with the need to cry at how lucky she was to have friends like them. “Oh damnit.” She whined, not wishing to make an emotional scene in front of them, but not being able to prevent it from happening.

“Aww!” All the girls cooed as they all either reached out to place their hands over the conjoined hands of Simone and Amira or rubbed her arm comfortingly.

If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, Simone accidently let out a loud sob that caught the attention of many of the other customers minding their own business. She clamped a hand over her mouth and ducked her head, but her friends wouldn’t stop there to comfort her. No, they went as far as to get up and crowd around her chair to give her a big group hug. Simone welcomed the hugs, not caring if it was equally making a scene. She loved her friends. However, after a while of all the hugging, it became awkward. She began to push them off her with a smile. “Alright you guys, get off me now!” They all went back to their seat with a laugh as Simone wiped her tears with a napkin. “I’m sorry about crying on you guys like that. I’m just so damn grateful to have you guys be a part of my life and, I feel awful that there are people out there that don’t have people like you in their lives.”

“What a coincidence!” Amira exclaimed with a smile.

“We feel the same about you.” Twigs assured Simone with a nudge of her elbow.