To Caress My Day

Simone didn’t have that many things to pack. Then again, neither of them did when you clustered both of their items together. It was enough to fit inside their living room. By the earliest of Saturday, they had everything packed in labeled cardboard boxes and ready to be dispatched off to the States. It was at that time Twigs received a call from Seth. Frowning at the number, she answered it. “Hey, baby. Shouldn't you be sleeping right now? It’s pretty late over there, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry about me, Pixie. I get plenty of sleep when the sexy siren that sometimes shares my bed with me isn’t around to tempt me.” Seth chuckled on the other end, his voice containing a tinge of fatigue he couldn’t guise.

Twigs rolled her eyes to herself with a smile. “Oh, whatever, Seth. I do NOT keep you up.”

“That’s an argument for another day. Where are you right now?” Seth inquired.

“In my apartment, why?” Twigs asked, arching an inquisitive brow.

“Is Simone nearby?” Seth inquired next.

Twigs turned her head to check on Simone, finding her inscribing on a cardboard box she almost missed. “Yeah, she’s here too. What’s going on, Seth? Is everything okay?”

“IS everything okay?” Simone echoed, eyes filled with concern as she got up to stand beside her.

“Yeah, everything is great. Can you put me on speaker phone so she’ll hear me too?” Seth requested.

“Sure.” Twigs answered before withdrawing the device from her ear to do as he asked. Once activated, she spoke aloud with the phone still in her hand. “Alright, you’re on speakerphone, Seth.”

“Morning, ladies!” Seth greeted them both, a grin on his face from where he sat in his living room.

“Morning, Seth.” Simone hailed back, concern still evident on her face. “Is everything cool over there? Did something go wrong with the house?”

“No, like I said everything is going smoothly and with zero problems.” Seth assured them. “I just thought if you two weren’t busy Monday, you might want to drop by and see the house yourselves.”

“Seriously!?” Simone gasped, her brown orbs magnified in size and filled with excitement. “Fuck yeah!”

Twigs deflected by raising a hand up to ease Simone down. She wasn’t thinking reasonably right now. She was allowing the excitement of her first new home fog her decision. “Wait a minute, Simone. How the hell are you supposed to get a ticket to California by Monday? That’s impossible, and expensive!”

“Goddamnit!” Simone grumbled to herself, glaring at the wall to her right. She absolutely loved her roommate even in times like this when she wasn’t living in the moment but thinking logically for the both of them. It may not seem like it at the moment, but she wasn’t exasperated with her for being the voice of reason, she was pissed at the facts for always obstructing her luck every chance it could. “I really gotta start making me some REAL money so I won’t keep finding myself in these kinds of situations!”

“Relax ladies, I’ll take care of the flight.” Seth allayed. “I can get you a private jet to California in no time.”

“WHAT!?” Twigs exclaimed incredulously.

“OH MY GOD, ARE YOU SERIOUS!?” Simone shrieked into the phone before covering her mouth, contrite for being so boisterous. Lowering her voice, she repeated. “Are you serious, Seth? Don’t play with me.”

“I’m not playing with you. I got you two covered.” Seth guaranteed. “Hell, if you can get your things packed in time before tomorrow, you can think of it as a free one way ticket to your new home. Tahliah has to come too though because she still has to get a late Christmas present from me.”

“No, Seth, you can’t do this!” Twigs lamented, feeling bad that he was about to fork up a whole lot of money just to do this charitable favor for them. He’d already done enough locating Simone a home. Surely, this was unnecessary.

“Tahliah, don’t!” Simone disrupted her, pleading with big brown puppy dog eyes. “Nobody is holding a gun to this guy’s head to make him do this! He’s totally willing here!”

“Listen to Simone, Pixie, she’s right. No one is making me do this. I want to help in any way I can.” Seth sided with his girlfriend’s roommate. It was risky because he didn’t know the fallout of standing in solidarity with Simone against her, but he was willing to do it if there was a chance it would work. “And I don’t expect any form of payment for it. Let me be charitable, babe.”

Twigs stood there soundlessly holding the phone with two people tag teaming against her once again. They had won the round Friday night, but they weren’t about to win this one, and she was not sorry about it. “I’m sorry, Simone. But I’m not gonna let my boyfriend get us a private jet to California! It’s too expensive!”

“It’s too expensive for us, Tahliah!” Simone stressed, setting her hands on her hips to keep from abducting her phone from her. “This is like a $5.00 charge to him!”

“True.” Seth muttered audibly enough to be heard, but that was all he was gonna say any further about it. He could tell from the hardness in Twig’s voice that she wasn’t going to back down. They would have no choice but to accept defeat this time and wave the white flag of surrender. “It’s alright, Simone. We’ll work somethi-”

But Simone wasn’t gonna wait that long. Pushing aside the remorse swelling her stomach, she kidnapped the phone from Twig’s hand and sprinted off deeper into the apartment, hollering down the phone to Seth as fast as she could before she could be apprehended by Twigs. “SETH, WE’RE GOING! HURRY UP AND BUY THE DAMN TICKETS NOW BEFORE SHE GETS A CHANCE TO CALL YOU BACK!”

“SIMONE, STOP IT!” Twigs screamed at her as she dashed after her into her bedroom and tackled the thief onto her bed. The roommates were breathless as they toppled onto the mattress and Twigs reclaimed her phone back. “What the fuck!?”

Lifting her head off the bed, Simone shot an apologetic smile from under her. “Too late, I ended the call.”

Glaring down at her, Twigs snagged up one of Simone’s pillows and smacked it down onto her smiling face. “Damnit, Simone! Why the hell did you do that when you were already planning to purchase a ticket on Monday to move over there any-damn-way?!”

Lobbing the pillow off of her face to speak, Simone said with a smile and eyes sparkling with excitement. “Because I wasn’t gonna be flying there on a fucking private jet, Tahliah! And besides, you know you wanna see Seth again. You still haven’t gotten your Christmas present from him, you know?”

“That’s true, but I don’t have time in my busy schedule to go with you tomorrow.” Twigs sighed miserably.

“Tahliah, it’s Seth we’re talking about here. It’s not gonna kill you to pull out of a gig or two for him, is it?” Simone reminded her, watching her contemplate something somber in the privacy of her mind. “Is it? Honey? Is there something going on that you’re not telling me?”

“No, nothing is going on!” Twigs duped, burying away her worries on the piles of bills she’d be taking on once Simone was gone. “I’m just worried others are gonna think I’m unreliable for passing on a gig.”

“Shit, I’m sorry, Twigs. I didn’t mean to bug you this much about it, or make you feel like an irresponsible dancer for hire.” Simone fretted for her, feeling like a lousy friend. “I thought I was doing you a favor, you know? I know how much you’ve missed Seth. I’d be an idiot not to.”

“It’s fine, Simone. I’m okay.” Twigs consoled her with a natural smile.

“How about I help you think of an excuse, that way they won’t think you’re unreliable?” Simone advised with determination, her mind already conjuring one up. “How about a family member being ill or something? No one with a soul would ever dispute an excuse like that!”

“That’s a horrible thing to lie about, Simone!” Twigs criticize with a disagreeable frown. “But...it’s not like I have much of a choice if I wanna see Seth again.”