To Caress My Day

Simone sighed to herself and leaned back in the bean bag chair she was currently sharing with Twigs in her bedroom. She spoke to Seth through the speakerphone.“I was looking for a 1-2 bedroom apartment, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s in the cards for me. Everything is so expensive in California, man.”

“Welcome to California, darling.” Seth concurred from the luxury of his mansion in Beverly Hills. He had originally called to hear from his girlfriend, Twigs, and how she had been faring. It turned out her roommate, Simone, was moving out of the country to California for her career. Little did she know how costly it would be to find a place to live. Instead of ditching the women to their hunt, he found himself wishing to serve them. Perhaps it’s because California was his stomping grounds and he was acquainted with a lot of the people and places...which is exactly how a singular address came to mind. “I think I might have a place that you can live at.”

“REALLY!?” Simone shrieked, both her and Twigs now balanced at the edge of their bean bag chair.

“Like I said, I think so. Don’t get too excited just in case we’ve already missed the deadline, or it doesn't meet your preferences.” Seth adamantly prompted them, not wanting to get their hopes up.

“We promise we won’t, babe!” Twigs vouched with grins on their faces anyway. “What place do you have in mind?”

“Well, it’s not an apartment, for starters. It’s a small ranch house with a Spanish flair to it.” Seth began to recount it from memory, his eyes spacing out on the wall opposite him as he conjured the details of the exterior of the home. “It’s not newly built, but it’s decent and livable.”

“How much is it?” Simone inquired, her brows furrowing with looming fear.

“Over $2 million last I checked.” Seth responded with little hesitancy. He was so used to having so much money that kind of price tag was equivalent to a dollar to him. But for two average women like Twigs and Simone, that was astronomical.

Both women slumped into a dead silence, their bodies becoming rigid as they gaped at each other in disbelief. Simone opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to muster the words to say. When her brain finally commenced again, she barked into the phone. “2 MILLION DOLLARS!? JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!? THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND!?”

Seth jerked back from the phone due to the shouting, and stared in bemusement at the device. He was boggled as to why she was hollering at him until he recalled that he was the only one out of the three that could glimpse at a price tag like that and not have his hair turn white. Naturally, she was insulted. She couldn’t afford a place like that. Seth had to laugh at his idiocy and then sought to mellow things over. “No, of course not! Look, don’t let the price tag scare you away from an exceptional opportunity here. Give me a chance to at least try and secure you a lesser charge.”

Twigs frowned questioningly at the phone. “Wait, what do you mean by that, exactly?”

Seth could literally hear his girlfriend hanging up on him if he dared to use his own money to abet her friend, and so he quickly expounded. “I mean, Simone and I could sit down and talk a deal out between the two of us. After she informs her team of the place, of course. If they won’t help her with it, I will.”

“You wha-” Twigs began but was disrupted by her roommate who couldn’t stifle her thrill.

“Oh my god, I can’t wait!” Simone squealed with excitement, flinging her arms around Twigs in an overjoyed embrace. “I’ll talk to them as soon as they’re awake!”

“Hold on he-” Twigs strove to get a word in between the two, but they cut her off again.

“Okay, but whatever you say to your team, do NOT drop my name!” Seth stressed to her.

“How come?” Simone asked, a frown on her face.

“Because I’m dating your roommate. The very same roommate who wants our relationship to be nonexistent to everybody else in the world.” Seth reminded her.

“And?” Simone went on, perplexed. “I’m still not following you. How is me mentioning you a problem?”

Seth sighed, and clarified further to connect the dots for her. “Think about it, Simone. When you finally make it big, and trust me, you will, people are gonna investigate everything about you. Your entire life from the moment you were born to the people that were in it from that day forward will be identified. If you let my name slip to your team, and they luckily don’t pick up on it right away, someone still might later on down the road. By then, everyone will already know you are friends with Tahliah. They might put two and two together and if she still isn’t ready by then to be public then it could ruin our relationship.”

“Holy shit, I never thought about that.” Simone replied with shame, her eyes flitting to Twig’s orbs. “Here I was thinking all about myself and not once considering how my actions could lead to a breakup!”

Oddly enough, Twigs wasn’t as worried about that as she should have been. Her mind was fixated on what her boyfriend said to Simone a few minutes ago. Arching a brow at the phone in her hand, she demanded. “Seth, are you planning on paying for Simone’s new place?”

Rolling his eyes hard from the safety of his home, Seth sighed audibly. “Yes, baby, I do plan on helping to pay for Simone’s house. If that's what it takes for her to reach her dreams, then I’m gonna help.”

“Hell yeah!” Simone backed him up, crossing her arms over her chest to glare at her roommate for trying to impede him. “The man is just trying to help a bitch out, girl! Can’t you get off his back? Just cause you don’t want none of his money doesn't mean the rest of us don’t!”

“Oh come on, Simone! This isn’t right and you know it!” Twigs refuted, rubbing her temples. She didn’t want Seth to just hand out his money to everybody! Especially her and her friends. That’s not why she was with him. She was with him for the real Seth McFarlene, not the billions of dollars he’s amassed.

“Relax, girl! He ain’t gonna spend a penny on you, so you got nothing to worry about, right?” Simone reminded her, holding up a hand to end her intrusions.

“But Sim-” Twigs started but was once again thwarted for the third time today from speaking. It was starting to get on her nerves that no one would allow her to finish a damn sentence around here.

“Jesus Christ, Tahliah, don’t you get it!” Simone exclaimed, tears glazed in her eyes as she looked at her roommate with grief. Lowering her voice so Seth wouldn’t be able to overhear them, she whispered. “I can’t do this on my own, okay? No, don't tell me that I can! I know I can’t, I can feel it in my soul. I’m gonna need help to do this, honey, so please, don’t stop him from helping me. I need him!”

“Fine.” Twigs whispered faintly, unable to absolve the ire festering inside her. Not wishing to stay and hear the rest of their conversation, she got up from the bean bag chair to go to the kitchen to make some tea. She was quiet as she went about the task. She knew why she was bugged by her boyfriend spending money on her but she couldn’t quite comprehend why the hell it bugged her just as much that her friends got money from him too. Yes, she didn’t want others to think of her as some penniless gold digger taking advantage of Seth...but her friends? What was she so concerned about? Perhaps that others would think the same of them, that they were using Seth too?

After wrapping up her conversation with Seth, Simone entered the kitchen with Twig’s phone. She extended the device to her. “Your boyfriend wants to kiss you good night.”

Taking the phone, Twigs managed a frail smile. “Hey, baby.”

“Giggity.” Seth answered back in his Quagmire voice. He grinned when he heard her break down in laughter as a result. “You can’t stay mad at me, can you?”

“I hate you!” Twigs continued through her laughter, clutching her aching stomach.

“I love you too, Tahliah.” Seth replied back with a smile. “Good night, my love.”

“Good night, Seth.” Twigs said before hanging up.

“Are we still cool too?” Simone dared to ask, having fixed up a cup of tea for them both.

Thanks to Seth they were. Twigs nodded. “Yeah, we’re cool too.”