To Caress My Day

When Twigs woke up the next morning after partying with her girls, Neon Jungle, and the newly formulated band, GRL, she was taken aback by her unaccustomed surroundings. She wasn’t in her boyfriend’s California mansion above Beverly Hills! No, she was in…raising her head from the navy-blue couch she was curled up on, she could now inspect her starling white surroundings and soon recognized them as her former roommate Simone’s new but second apartment located in West Hollywood.

Letting out a sigh of relief that she woke up in at least a recognizable place, Twigs began to sit up more comfortably, but very slowly because her stomach was feeling agitated this morning. Draped on the other side of the couch was an unconscious Emmalyn Estrada with her arm hanging off the edge and her hand wrapped around the neck of a tilted liquor bottle. Asami was lying before them asleep on the two brown leather footrests pushed together to make a bed. On the two leather armchairs on either side of Asami slept Natasha Slayton and Paula Van Oppen. Everyone around her was past out from the night before from all the drinking they had chugged…the same consumption that Twigs had participated in too but unlike the rest of them she hadn’t intended to have stayed overnight.

At that reminder, Twigs was suddenly overcome with a surge of her brief dismay and then quickly remorse for having overstayed her welcome and not informing her boyfriend that she was going to stay the night. Then again, she hadn’t planned on staying the night in the first place. What with all the alcohol mixed with good company, somewhere along the way she forgot to pace herself before it was too late.

“Shit.” Twigs mumbled to herself before attempting to hoist herself off the couch. She wasn’t certain if she’d be able to stand upright on her own, and so when she finally got herself back up on her own two feet she remained still for a few minutes. Accomplishing that feat, she got to work on making her way to her handbag abandoned on the kitchen counter. With unsteady legs, she then navigated her way there by leaning on any steady furniture that would keep her from crumbling to the floor. In minutes she leaned herself against the marble counter for balance, snatched up her purse, and called her driver. If her boyfriend wasn’t such a huge celebrity, she’d let the poor man sleep and grab a cab to Seth's place instead, but she couldn’t. That cab driver could find out that she familiar Seth and then god knows what would happen next.

“Need a ride home?” Derek immediately answered the call.

Twigs frowned that he knew she hadn’t returned home yet before remembering he was the only driver she used in the state of California and in London. “Yeah…unfortunately. Shit, I’m so sorry Derek, I honestly didn’t intend to drink until I passed out here. I truly did plan on heading back to him after all that partying, but…clearly things changed.”

“I hear you. He called me an hour ago asking if he heard from you.” Derek informed her on his end. “Don’t worry, I set his mind at ease when I reminded him you were in the company of your friends that would never allow anything terrible to happen to you, that seemed to calm him down considerably.”

“My god, Derek, how can I ever repay you for being such an incredible human being?” Twigs whine with guilt, a hand coming up to over one side of her weary face.

“Be ready outside when I get there.” Derek directed. “And don’t make me come up there and get you.”

“Deal! See you then.” Twigs ended the call and didn’t waste anymore time preparing for her quick departure. She got to writing out a short note to Simone pertaining to her absence and informed her to text her later before rushing out the door to await outside on the curb for her ride.

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Back in Seth's mansion, Twigs located her boyfriend standing by his poolside with his hands deep in his pockets, staring down in the cool chlorinated waters below. It didn’t take a genius to see that he was bothered by his furrowed brows. Now eaten up with guilt, Twigs stepped out onto the back patio and walked over to her man, a soft whisper of his name spilling from her full lips. “Seth…?”

Having already been informed of her arrival by his employee and good friend Derek via text message, Seth glanced over his shoulder at her, his face blank and devoid of any devotion towards hers. “Tahliah, it's nice to see you’ve made it back safely. Where have you been all this time?”

No smile. No kiss. Damn, she must have really distressed him. Fiddling with her fingers, Twigs began her tale of late-night partying and drinking. “Well, it all started when I met up with Simone at her apartment and got a quick tour of her place before we left to go to The Sound nightclub where we met up with her band members and Neon Jungle. We all got to drinking and dancing…and I guess we must have gone back to Simone’s place where the drinking continued until we all passed out drunk.” Not wanting to stand on her own two feet anymore, Twigs helped herself to one of the pool loungers and relaxed back. “I hadn’t meant to stay that long or drink that much but…I must have got ahead of myself, I guess. I’m sorry, if I worried you, baby.”

Seth simply stood there staring at her as she described her night away from his home and his bed. When she was finished and glanced up at him apologetically, he gave her a nod of acceptance before his brown eyes returned to the surface of the water of his pool in silence. He believed her, there was no doubt in his mind that what she said was accurate, but he still couldn’t erase the strain in his shoulders at her devastating absence this morning. He had trusted she’d return to his side before morning but instead he found himself waking up alone. He wasn’t used to that kind of mistrust when it came to his beloved Twigs. Then again she was only human like him so it was expected for her to naturally make mistakes every now and again, last night, of course, being one of them.

“Are you…still angry with me, love?” Twigs tentatively asked him in a tiny voice laced with worry. She was now sitting up with her arms wrapped around her legs. She couldn’t relax her body anymore what with knowing that he might be enraged with her for staying overnight without alerting him.

It took awhile for Seth to respond in a sentence he felt was fitting than the previous more rudely possessive remark that almost blurted out of his mouth. With his eyes still on the chlorinated water contained in his pool, he asked her. “Can you give me a warning next time when you plan on staying out overnight? Just so I can at least know you’re in good hands and not out in the streets somewhere.”

Twigs let out a sigh of reprieve that he wasn't mad at her. Yeah sure, he still wouldn’t look at her in the eyes, but at least his tone held a hint of softness instead of coldness. “I promise you next time you’ll know ahead of time before I ever let the alcohol get the best of me again.”

Again, Seth only gave her a nod of acknowledgment to her promise, still not appearing the least bit satisfied by it.

“Seth, is there something still bothering you?” Twigs asked him, wishing to know what continued to ail her lover now that they made amends. It was beginning to worry her that he still wasn’t happy.

Seth doesn’t answer her this time, instead walking over to her lounger and helping himself to a seat at the end of it, his body facing hers.

Twigs immediately scooted closer to him, willing to do whatever he asked just so long he’d flashed his brilliant smile at her again. She waited patiently for him to speak but her big brown eyes were practically screaming for him to tell her what was on his mind right now.

Lifting his brown eyes to hers, he arched a thick dark brow her way. “How did you feel when you met my sister at that Halloween Party I hosted here?”

“Your sister?” Twigs repeated questionably but only received a nod in response. “I already told you how I felt. As much as I enjoyed meeting a member of your family, I kind of would rather talk about what’s bothering you right now instead if you don't mind.”

“No, I want you to be more specific about this for me right now, Tahliah.” Seth urged her with a stern look in his eyes. “How did you feel meeting my sister?”

Twigs sighed in defeat before complying to his demand. “Well, like I said before I was nervous at first about how she’d feel about little old me dating her incredibly talented big brother, but very soon after being around her it became very easy to just be myself. She’s funny, beautiful and I bet just as talented as you and not as judgmental as I fear she could have been towards me. She’s truly a blessing and you should be grateful to be the one man on this planet to call her your sister.”

Seth couldn’t help but flash her that smile she loved and missed so damn much that always made her grin right on back.

“So why are you even asking me that anyway?” Twigs couldn’t help but inquire.

Without a word, Seth reached out with both hands to cup her small face as he grinned down at her adoringly. “Do you know how much I love you, Lady Tahliah Barnett of Gloucestershire?”

Twigs happily giggled as she placed her soft dainty hands over his framing her face. “Yes, I’m certain I do.”

“You better.” Seth playfully threatened his girlfriend. Reaching down, he took both of her hands in his and forced her eyes upon his. “I still don’t feel like I’ve thanked you enough for meeting my sister that Halloween night. Honestly, I can’t express how much that meant to me especially knowing just how difficult it must have been for you to go against your desire to keep our relationship out of not only the public eye but also with our family and friends. Not that we’ve done such a good job at that anyway…”

“Yeah, we weren’t entirely successful on keeping the people we care about out of the know but it’s safe to say we didn’t make the wrong decisions on the ones we decided to open up to.” Twigs pointed out the pro to the risks that they both took. “And besides, in the end I’m actually glad we let those people into our little secret. They've become part of our little family, after all.”