To Caress My Day

Later on that night, Twigs sat in Simone’s room looking up available apartments in West Hollywood for her roommate to move into. They were both on their own personal laptops browsing here and there. With so many things going on in her life at the moment, Twigs kept forgetting Simone’s list of demands, and so after rolling her eyes in annoyance, she inquired for the third time. “I’m sorry, honey, I forgot what kind of place you were looking for again. I know it’s an apartment, but I don’t remember the rest.”

“It’s fine, Twigs.” Simone settled her, raising her eyes from her screen to glance at her petite friend curled up in her bean bag chair in the corner of the room. This apartment shopping was the first time she’d be moving out, but she wasn’t stressed. If she couldn’t find a place, her team promised they would locate an excellent spot for her. In the meantime, they were giving her a chance to find something of her own choosing. “I’m looking for a 2-3 bedroom apartment with more than one bathroom. That’s pretty much it. I have a feeling I’ll be spending most of my time outdoors enjoying the perks of California.”

“With all that decent weather available 24/7? I wouldn’t expect anything different.” Twigs smiled at her before resuming her search.

Two hours passed and neither of them could dredge up an apartment within Simone’s price range. Scowling to herself, Simone leaned back against her headboard, feeling discouraged. “Goddamn, this place is hella expensive! I can’t find nada over here!”

“Me neither. Perhaps if we look for smaller places we’ll find something...” Twigs contemplated with a shrug. “Let’s try downsizing.”

“I thought that was as small as I could get, but I guess we can try again.” Simone sighed with defeat, before straightening back up and searching away for even smaller places. Dejectedly, that didn't work either. The selections were just too expensive for her to afford. Embittered, Simone threw her hands up and exclaimed. “You gotta be fucking kidding me here! How the hell does anyone afford to live in California at all? This is practically robbery!”

“My eyes are about to start bleeding if I look at one more price tag.” Twigs lamented, rubbing her aching eyes.

Setting aside her laptop as gently as she could muster when really she wanted to hurl it into the wall, Simone let out a forlorn whine and clutched her throbbing head. “Oh my god! What the hell am I gonna do now? I got myself all hyped up to find the perfect house for me in West Hollywood and now THIS happens!”

“How about w-” Twigs began to recommend something else when she was cut off by an incoming text dinging on her phone. Diving her hand into her hoodie pocket, she checked to see that it was sent from her boyfriend, Seth. She couldn’t resist smiling dreamily at his name.

Simone read that smile, and smirked. “Let me guess, it's your loverboy.”

“It is.” Twigs confirmed, so set on viewing the message. It turned out not to be a message at all, but a photo instead. There stood her handsome boyfriend trying to look like a badass behind dark sunglasses on his backyard patio with his refreshing pool in the background over his shoulder. With him were Seth Green, the voice of Chris Griffin, in the background jumping into his pool with another man she hadn’t met before. Both were wearing nothing but their underwear. Unable to control herself, Twigs burst out laughing so suddenly she had to slap a hand over her mouth to not startle Simone.

Captivated by what she found so funny, Simone edged to the end of her bed to find out for herself. “What is it? What did he send you?”

Twigs scooted to the side as much as she could in the bean bag chair and felt Simone plop down next to her. Showing her the image, the two laughed together over the humorous men. They didn’t catch the ringing of the phone before they saw Seth’s name flash over the screen. Simone scurried back to her seat to give them some privacy. Twigs immediately answered the call, gesturing to Simone with a finger over her lips to be quiet in the background. “Hey, baby!”

“Pixie, did you get my picture?” Seth immediately inquired, having finished his own round of laughter over the photo he took himself.

“I did! I HAD to show it off.” Twigs giggled, her tummy aching from all the laughter. “It was so hilarious, babe, thank you for sending it to us. We really needed that.”

“Us?” Seth repeated, his brows furrowing. “Who else saw it?”

“Oh, just Simone.” Twigs answered before putting him on speakerphone. “Say hi, Seth, I got you on speaker phone.”

“HEY, SETH!” Simone hailed, beating him to it.

“Hey, Simone!” Seth greeted as he reclined on his couch with a glass of whiskey. “So, what are you lovely ladies up to?”

“We’re trying to find an apartment in West Hollywood for Simone.” Twigs replied, biting her lower lip because she still didn’t like the idea of her friend moving out on her to live in a whole other country across the damn ocean.

“Why does she need to find an apartment in West Hollywood?” Seth asked curiously. “Wait, is she moving over here?”

“I sure am!” Simone answered him with an excited grin.

“Well, I’ll be damned!” Seth said in reverence. “Are we gonna be neighbors?”

Simone laughed out loud, wishing that to be true. Perhaps one day they would be if her career went right. “Sadly, no. We’re not gonna be neighbors.”

“What made you decide to move, Simone?” Seth inquired, taking a sip from his glass. “Was it the sunny weather?”

“Actually, my team suggested that I make the move. They believe it’ll make it easier for me if I just lived within the same state as them instead of a whole separate country across the sea.” Simone explained, seeing their point 1000%. They made it hard to debate against them.

“That makes sense with you being in the UK, and them being in the US. You’re literally a plane ride away every single time. I imagine video calls aren’t all that reliable at times either when you’re composing music and rehearsing dance routines.” Seth presumed with a nod.

Simone nodded too on her side of the phone. “Exactly!”

“So, you’re really gonna do this, huh?” Seth grilled her. “You’re gonna leave my precious baby all by her lonesome self in cold dreary London?”

Twigs smiled and rolled her eyes to Simone but her heart was stinging at the same time though. Her boyfriend knew her well. Much better than she had expected considering he wasn’t there to read her face. She had to ensure these two that she was okay with Simone’s decision, though she was the complete opposite internally. “I’ll be fine, babe! I’m a big girl that can take care of herself.”

“You heard her! She’ll be okay.” Simone recited for her. “Besides, my parents swore to me that they’ll keep an eye on her for me. And if that isn’t enough I plan to blow up her phone three times a day just to be sure everything is going smoothly over here without me.”

“I’m thankful for that.” Seth told her warmly. He loathed the fact that he couldn’t be there to hold his girlfriend through this tough time. Hell, tough might be an understatement. Since moving out to begin her own life, Twigs had settled into an apartment with Simone and they’d been fast friends ever since! Now, their destinies were splitting them apart, and Seth knew it was hurting his girlfriend severely. Of course, he’d do his best to check up on her as often as he could from California to make sure she was okay, but that was nothing compared to holding her in his arms and kissing her sorrows away. Clearing his throat, he fixed his focus on Simone to make sure, as his girlfriend’s friend, that she was picking a suitable place for herself. Since he lived in California and was familiar with the land, he could abet her. Not to mention so could his wallet if necessary. “Alright, I wanna know all the details, ladies! Don’t leave anything out, because I am now in this since I’m a Californian and know the lay of the land better than you two put together.” Upon their sounds of compliance, Seth inquired. “Let’s start then, Simone! What kind of place are you looking for over here exactly?”