Runaways

"And what are you so happy about this morning?" Jet asked with a laugh, handing her friend one of her vulgar teacups that was ironically filled with coffee.

"I had a dream about Paul," Lydia admitted while accepting the cup. "A really good dream."

If she'd still been holding the cup, she would have dropped it in shock. "You had a sex dream about Paul?" A timid nod confirmed it. No wonder she'd been so delightfully cheery without her coffee. "Well tell me about it!"

Lydia blushed while watching her friend happily plop down in the chair across from her. "Why? It's not like we actually had sex."

"No you haven't. But it's nice to know you plan on telling me when you do. Now spill on this lovely dream."

"We did...things. And they were nice."

She snickered. "Of course it was nice." Deciding to take a different approach, she asked, "have you ever dreamt about him before?"

"Once." It was after they'd talked about who he was and she could still feel his touch on her hands. She'd felt incredibly dirty and terrible afterwards. Because those sorts of dreams were few and far between for her. It was just strange.

"And was it a good dream as well?"

"It was."

"Well," Jet chuckled, "at least dream you is having a good time."

"Oh hush," Lydia squeaked, turning an even brighter red than before. While her friend snickered she took a few sips of her coffee in hopes of calming down. After her blush went away and her coffee was halfway gone, she felt confident enough to murmur, "it felt real. Like he would of been there with me when I woke up."

She smiled gently at that, the humour she'd found in the situation now out of her system. "I have that feeling all the time too. With a musician in your life you'll kind of get used to it. So, what do you think brought this dream on?"

"Missing him, I guess. That and I spent a small chunk of last night watching music videos, interviews and really whatever I could on him." Another blush accompanied her admittance.

"You really are missing him," Jet mused.

"I know! And it hasn't even been a full week yet," she whined . "We've gone longer without seeing each other."

"While that's true, he was in the studio at the time. Not in a different country. I think it makes perfect sense. You two are just really starting to get together and leaving in the middle of it is making you go crazy."

"Crazy might be a stretch but I get your point."

"So, did you find anything good last night?" Jet asked.

"I did," she blushed. "He looks wonderful now but he was such a baby face when he was younger! And yeah, he still doesn't quite look his age but," she shook her head and turned an even deeper shade of red as she spoke, "This is going to sound more like something you'd say than me, but young Paul would have had me on my knees in seconds."

Her friend burst out laughing at her confession. Now that was not something she expected to ever hear from Lydia. It took her a few minutes to calm down enough to speak, "you're right! That is something I would say."

"And don't get me wrong, Paul now is still incredibly attractive. I don't think I'd be having such dreams if I didn't find him to be. But my goodness," Lydia gasped, laughing slightly at the end.

"A charmer, huh?"

"Very much so! And he still is. Especially when he smiles. Though it is nice to know that he's always had such a high hairline."

Jet snickered. It was nice seeing her friend gush over a guy for once. Normally she was the one going on and on about a guy. "You are so adorable."

"Oh hush." Lydia rolled her eyes good naturedly and finished her coffee. "And I chose to ignore the cup you gave me."

She laughed again. "But for once I can say it's accurate." The teacup she'd given her this morning had the word "slut" across it in fancy looking script.

"I have one dream!" She groaned.

"You had two actually."

"Jet!"

More laughter, this time bordering on hysterical. "If young Paul could of had you on your knees, what can the old man get you to do now?"

"Oh my God!" Lydia shrieked. She was more surprised, and slightly amused, than offended. "I'm so done talking to you now. I'm going to shower and when I get out we are starting this day over!"

"You love me!" Jet choked out through her laughter. It was amazing she hadn't fallen out of her chair yet.

She would later apologise, all would be forgiven because it was done in good fun, they would indeed restart their day with an actual breakfast and more coffee, and then begin a very long shopping trip. Though Lydia would spend the rest of the day randomly wondering exactly what Paul could make her do.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, indeed.

After the shopping trip and a late lunch the girls went back to the apartment to relax, watch more movies and just get off their feet for a while. This led to a nap and a phone call with Paul a little bit later. Thankfully Jet was nice enough to leave them alone during it. She’d teased Lydia enough for one day. At least on a bigger scale. Afterwards they decided to go out for dinner despite vowing not to constantly go out during Lydia’s stay. And neither felt like making anything anyway.

“So, I have people at the gallery asking about you,” Jet said after they ordered food. “From fans to employees, they all want to know when you are going to ship over a new painting. And I am running out of excuses.”

Lydia flushed a light shade of pink and shrugged, “Maybe after I stop painting Paul.”

“Please tell me you are painting something other than him,” she chuckled.

“A few things but nothing I like enough to send over,” Lydia admitted.

“Are you sure you aren’t being too hard on yourself?” Artists are their own worst critics.

“No.” When it came to painting’s that were to be displayed in a gallery, especially the one run by her best friend, she tended to be overly critical of her work. To the point she made herself so sick over it that she didn’t paint for weeks. This was one of the reasons galleries didn’t tend to get new works very often.

“But you have been painting?”

“I have. Just nothing worth displaying.”

Despite not believing that she could paint something not amazing enough to display, Jet nodded along. She was constantly in awe of her friend and told her that quite a bit. But unless she believed it herself, there was really nothing Jet could do to convince her. No matter how hard she tried. “I’ll come up with something to fend them off then.”

“At least for now.” There was no telling when inspiration would strike and how things would turn out, after all.

“Oh? Are you going to stop painting your non boyfriend that’s still kind of your boyfriend?”

Lydia playfully rolled her eyes at her friends teasing, “I have painted other things.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” she chuckled.

That part of their conversation drew to a close as their food was delivered by their waitress. While they did continue to chat during their meal, it was about random things that came to mind. Most of it bringing laughter and quite a few pauses in their eating so as not to choke.

After exiting the restaurant sometime later, Jet decided to bring up something she’d been thinking about for a while. “I think I want to get something pierced.”

Lydia’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You want to do what and how long have you been thinking about it?:

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while, actually. I voiced my thoughts to Richard once and he seemed to like the idea quite a bit and that’s been making me want to get it more. Would you go with me? I didn’t feel like going by myself and since you are here…” She trailed off with a shrug.

“That’s nice. But what do you want pierced?”

“My nipples.”

Her eyes went wide. “You want what?”

Jet laughed. "It's not that bad."

"But that's such a sensitive spot."

More chuckles. "I could do much worse. You don’t have to go with me if you really don’t want to but I thought you might like to. That and maybe get a little treat for Paul.”

It took Lydia a second to realize what she was hinting at, but when she did she froze in place on the sidewalk. “What? No. Oh no. I am not getting pierced just because you think Paul might like it. For all you know, he’ll never see me topless!”

The look she received was one of pure disbelief. “I’m going to remind you of the dream you had this morning as proof that your statement is false. And you don’t have to get it for him. It was just a suggestion. You could get them pierced because I am.”

“Friendship nipple piercings? Really?”

Jet laughed and shrugged. “It could happen. But I am going to ask you this. When was the last time you did something impulsive?”

“Moving to Berlin.” Though that wasn’t entirely true. She’d taken quite a bit of time to decide if that was really where she wanted to live.

“And what did Berlin get you?”

“Paul.”

“Exactly!” Jet exclaimed. “It gave you a great guy who cares about you, I’d even go so far as to say he loves you. So maybe doing something impulsive sometimes is a good thing.”

She wasn’t entirely sure just how solid her friend’s logic was, but in a way she did understand what she was getting at. “Do I really have to get a piercing?” Lydia asked after a few minutes of silence.

“No. If you really don’t want to, I’m perfectly happy with you being there for moral support. But I really think you’d like them,” She answered honestly.

“I don’t know if you just want matching piercings or what but I’ll go with you,” she muttered. At her friend’s small cheer of victory, she said, “That does not mean I’m getting anything pierced!”

“Of course not,” Jet said with a laugh and her hands slightly raised in a surrender pose. “I’m just happy you are going with me, darling.”

“Yeah, yeah. Are you doing this tonight?”

“Absolutely! I know just the place.”

“Of course you do.”

So Lydia followed Jet to a tattoo parlor that doubled as a piercing shop. The place was nice and slightly fancy looking with multiple chandeliers hanging from the painted ceiling. She was too busy studying the scene on the ceiling to hear Jet telling her piercer that her friend might be interested in getting something done as well. If she had, she would have left immediately. She didn’t like people making decisions for her any more. Even if it was Jet.

She sat in one of the back rooms with her friend while a very nice and pretty woman named Lara explained the piercing process, what to expect, how to clean them, the healing process and so on. During this, Lydia started to think. She’d always wanted to do something rebellious to spite her parents and getting a divorce didn’t really count in her book, even if it did in theirs. And the more she thought of it that way, the more she started to like the idea. And then Jet’s words of Paul potentially liking it floated through her head. And as much as she didn’t want to do something just because a man would like it, she stopped doing that about halfway through her marriage, the idea had it’s appeal. Even if she wasn’t sure they’d ever have a sexual relationship. Or a relationship in general.

By the time Jet was done, she’d made up her mind. It was rebellious and crazy and so not something she would do, but she wanted to.

“Um, Lara?”

Their lovely piercer paused in putting her tools away. She smiled and asked, “Do you want them done to?”

Lydia nodded. It was going to be hell going through airport security in a few days but she hoped it was worth it. "Yes please."

Jet happily cheered her on the whole way.

Meanwhile, back in Berlin, Paul sat in the studio with Richard. They were supposed to be recording a series of guitar solos but ended up taking a break due to their hands cramping up. Even after playing for a large chunk of their lives it was still an occasional problem. And an annoying one at that.

“Have you heard anything more from Lydia?” Richard asked.

“We talked this afternoon. She’s having a good time,” Paul answered with a grin.

“And her Grandmother?”

“No problems so far.”

“That’s good.” Richard had listened to his dear friend rant away in both anger and worry over the incident and spent a fairly large amount of time trying to calm him down. “She’s coming home soon, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, four more days. She’s already planning on taking an early flight so she can get settled and sleep a bit before dinner.” Paul suddenly frowned and groaned, “I still need to decide what to cook.”

His friend laughed. “Do you need help?”

“No. I should be fine by then,” a pause and a sigh, “I think.”

More laughter echoed through the studio.