Thread: Beautiful Disaster [[Writer & AshlinnRose]]

A soft sigh of relief left the young woman's lips as she reached across her chest with her right arm and unfastened the seatbelt with an audible click. Her limbs felt heavy, exhausted, a result of a severe lack of sleep from the previous night and the stress that over-powered her small frame within a matter of mere minutes, and she slowly pushed her legs out to plant her feet on the pavement, hands reaching up to gently grasp the frame of the car as she pulled herself up and to her feet. In the lamplight over the parking lot, she looked up to see Ash waiting for her with a patient smile, and her own lips seemed to curve upwards out of reflex, or maybe it was just that the smile Ash had on was impossible to resist from returning. Turning slightly, Jaime grasped the frame of the door and gave it a firm push, allowing it to move and close firmly but without slamming it. A cool breeze blew across the lot as she turned back toward her friend and started walking with slow, calculated steps. The air kissed her exposed skin and sent goosebumps up her arms, a shiver rolling up her spine, and a sudden warmth radiated against her lower back, hip, and left side as she felt herself gently pulled into Ash's warm, comforting body. She had to mentally remind herself not let her eyes fall closed in the flood of relief and comfort that her friend brought about, especially when she head a jingling sound and saw that Ash had taken care of getting out the keys to the front door of her apartment and handled leading them inside the main entrance to the building. It was nearing the end of August, and thus the end of the summer season in the run-down city of Flora in which they resided, so the nights were starting to get cooler while the days were as warm and humid as ever, but the maintenance guys that managed the central air systems hadn't changed the settings of the building yet, so the moment that they walked through the front door, they were met with icy cold air. Any other night Jai would have been fine with it, indifferent, but she'd felt as if the warmth and life in her body had completely vanished from existence the moment she had seen that guy's eyes and heard his voice. The memory caused her to shudder, and subconsciously she pressed closer to Ash as they started up the stairs and towards the third floor where her apartment was. It wasn't overly fancy or expensive, but it was tasteful and comfortable. The color scheme consisted of soft browns and baby blues, those being two of her favorite colors. The living room furniture was leather and anything with wood grain was cherry-wood. In her bedroom, she had a full sized oak dresser with matching vanity and bed-frame, and the bed itself was queen sized with a tempurpedic memory foam mattress, extra soft. The kitchen had been something she'd had no control over the design of or time to redesign, but the granite counter-tops and beech-wood cabinets with stainless steel appliances was nice enough that she couldn't complain, especially not with the island bar counter roomy enough to seat up to five people on stools. The light fragrance of honey and vanilla that floated into her nose when Ash let her inside caused her nerves to all but turn to jell-o with the amount of calm it brought out in her. Oh to be home, where she knew that she was safe and no one could get to her that wasn't expressly invited. Home, the one place she knew she could be entirely herself, with no fronts and no barriers and no walls, and not a single person to ruin that for her. Home... where she was often alone, and incredibly lonely, secretly longing for the company of a single person that had some mystical way of making a bad day turn around with nothing more than a simple smile. Leaning down in the darkness, Jaime unfastened the straps of her pumps and slid them off, allowing her bare feet to sink into the soft white carpet on the floor beneath her as she heard Ash fastening the locks on the door and making her way into the living area. The darkness didn't allow her to see very much, especially not with the late hour that it was, but she knew the layout of her apartment like the lines of her palms, and there was just enough light entering through the window of the sliding glass door in the back of the room, that led to a small balcony overlooking the city, for her to make out the shadow of her friend sitting down on her couch. Any other time, she'd have shrugged out of her work clothes and been clad in none but her underwear and bra by the time she got to the couch, but with Ash there she knew better, and given the night and day she'd had, having clothes on or off wasn't really going to affect her ability to relax. So instead, she quietly padded across the carpet, unable to really think of anything to say, and paused in front of her friend as she glanced down at her with a soft sigh. Her eyes slid closed as she leaned to lay her left palm on Ash's knee, giving herself a bit of guidance as she turned and sank down onto the cushion beside her, drawing her knees up toward her chest and tucking her legs in next to herself before she leaned over and pressed her cheek into Ash's shoulder, allowing her arms to rest against the woman's lap. Thank you... She murmured quietly, her voice wrought with emotion. I don't think there's anyone I could need more right now... And my mind is just going a mile a minute and I just want everything to stop... just for a minute... just so I can have this...