hold me really tight (until the stars look big) - I

Jael

She closes her eyes for a while and manages to relax, thanks to Mica's humming and fingers. 'I wonder how it looks on me,' she mutters.

Hays

'Believe me, darling, it'll look great. I know these things. I was actually the one who dyed Tate's sister's hair the first time around, and even Tate thought it looked good.'

Jael

She smiled a bit. 'I wish I'd had the chance to meet her. Macy I mean.' She doesn't look in Hale's direction.

Hays

Mica smiles sadly. 'I meant Vicki. But you would've liked Macy, too. She was... she was great.'
Tate leaves the room. The door slams shut.

Jael

She flinches and then covers her eyes with one hand. 'I said something wrong, didn't I?' she groans.

Mica

'Oh no,' she reassures. 'He's just on edge and he needs to cool off.'

Jael

She heaves a deep sigh. 'I wish he was easier to read… Usually I don't--I don't have any problems figuring someone out…'

Mica

'Hale's always been a tough nut to crack. The entire family is.'

Jael

'Oh…' She smiles sadly. 'How did you manage that? Don't get me wrong, but… you weren't the type I expected Hale to be friends with…' Or it was just because that reason they were friends.

Mica

She smiles widely, reminiscing. 'Tate and I... we go way back. Before he got all...' She makes a face.
'If you make the face I think you're making, I'm telling Vince that you hid the engagement ring he bought to propose because you weren't ready!' Tate screams from the other room.
Mica laughs.

Jael

She can't help but laugh, too. Hale's probably still listening. 'When is it done?' she asks, now dying to know what it will look like. A new Jael. That's everything she needs right now.

Mica

She takes a step back and inspects her work. 'Yes,' she says, 'go take a shower.'

[it lasts longer usually but whO CARES creative license]

Jael

'Thank you,' she genuinly says. She gets up from the chair and goes looking for Hale. She finds him in the living room. 'Do you have fresh clothes for me?' she asks. 'You could… put them in the guest room. I'll go shower now…'

Tate

He gets up from the chair and smiles. 'They'll be there when you get out.'

Jael

She smiles back tentatively. 'Thanks…' And then she's gone. She gets her stuff--the few things Hale bought for her in the past few days, lady stuff--and makes her way to the bathroom.

Tate

He puts an outfit on her bed and goes to join Mica in the kitchen. 'It's ridiculous. How does she not hate you? How does she not hate me? How—'
'Calm down, tiger. Either she's hiding something, or she wanted to get away in the first place, or you're having an acute case of Stockholm syndrome on your hands. Anyway: It's going to be fine.'
Somewhere on the floor above them, the shower starts.

Jael

The warm water does good. She washes the dye out of her hair, carefully to see if nothing went wrong. And then there is blonde. Really light blonde locks of hair, her hair. Enthusiastically she washes everything away, and then she turns off the shower. One look in the mirror makes her gasp in surprise. She barely recognizes herself.

Hays

'You really think so? I mean... I think I would've been able to handle her better had she been a mess that wanted to go home. At least that's predictable.'
Mica hums. 'And at least you wouldn't have been reminded of the fact that she's a real, functioning human with feelings.'
Tate shrugs. Yeah, maybe that too.

Jael

It takes a while, but eventually she comes stumbling down the stairs, her eyes sparkling. She pushes open the kitchen door, a wide smile on her face. 'It looks so great!' she breathes.

Hays

Mica jumps up and laughs—outright laughs, a wonderful, happy, tinkling, excited laugh that even sounded a little proud. 'It looks fucking wonderful!'
Tate smiles, too, a little tentatively, but he does. 'It's nice.'

Jael

'I barely recognized myself,' she admitd. She twirls once, way too happy for the situation she was in. She can't stop smiling like an idiot. It's the very first time she drastically goes against her parents and it feels great.

is in*

Hays

Mica grabs her bag and her keys and kisses Tate on the cheek. 'Get your coat, we're going to get you some real clothes.'
'I'll pass on the message to Vicki,' Tate says dryly.

Jael

She smiles a bit. 'Her clothes are wonderful, but they're Vicki's clothes…' She puts on her wornout sneakers. 'Aren't you coming…?' she asks Hale, when seeing he doesn't bother putting on shoes or a jacket.

Tate

He shakes his head. 'No, I'm not.' Then: 'You should go outside, Mica gets really cranky when people aren't as fast-paced as she is.'

Jael

She hesitates. 'Are you sure you want to let me go alone…?' she asks, her head a bit cocked to the left. She doesn't care now for Mica's good mood.

Tate

He shrugs. 'I kind of trust you to know what's the right thing to do.'

Jael

'I hope so, too.' She shakes her head. 'I promise I won't try to run.' She smiles, though she highly doubts she'll keep the promise.
Mica calls from outside and Jael waves goodbye.

Tate

He smiles, but it's just an upwards motion of the mouth corners. His eyes are hard, glassy, their light colour reflecting kitchen light. He doesn't think she sees it.
Outside, Mica honks two times as a goodbye.

Jael

She heaves a big sigh when Mica drives away from the house. 'I'm surprised he even lets me go,' she admits. 'He must trust you with his life.'

Mica

She smiles sadly. 'He does.'

Jael

She smiles a bit. 'You know,' she starts, 'I keep thinking about that night… when he killed Tina.' She glances out of the window. 'Somehow I keep seeing someone else that did the deed. I can't… connect Hale to that evening. He's not that person. He's not a killer.' Of course he is, a voice in the back of her head reminds her. He killed Tina. He kidnapped you. 'He's not that person,' she repeats. 'He's… a good person.'

Mica

The sad expression doesn't leave her face. She nods, anyway. 'Tate was... weak. He lost Macy, and it's not my story to tell, but they had issues. Macy was... his everything. They were close. But before she got killed... things happened. Between her and Tate. And he wanted to make it up and Tina's brother took that chance. So he took away Tina... as a payment. It was wrong, but... you're right. He's not that person. He's good. Tate is... Tate is good.'

Jael

She looks at Mica. 'I don't think he'll ever tell me, though. He's distant, and although it's fine, I… I don't know, I just… I'm not his person I think.'

Mica

'Honey, if Tate is comfortable enough to close his eyes for more than a second in his presence, you're his person. Believe me.'

Jael

'Yeah, you said something like that,' she says with a faint smile. She stares out of the window again. She knows this part of town. It's a few miles away from her own, but there's also lots and lots of new, huge houses with big gardens.
It reminds her of home. Strange feeling, homesickness mixed with disgust. She never expected to feel like that one day and yet here she is.

Mica

She breathes through her mouth for a while, tries to breathe away the sudden nausea that overcomes her while she stares at the road ahead. It's gone in a flash, she got it under control, but she pushes the gas pedal in a bit harder anyway.

Jael

'You okay?' She notices the change.

Mica

Mica nods, then stops, parks the car at the side of the road abruptly and shakes her head. She turns to Jael. ‘Okay,’ she says, resolutely. ‘Girl to girl, I’m going to tell you something that you cannot tell Tate, okay? I’m kind of lacking on the female friends front, and you’re the next best thing, so you’re going to listen, and then you’re going to give me advice—you look like you can give some pretty damn good advice. You in?’

Jael

"O-oh..." She takes a deep breath and gives her a reassuring smile. "Yeah, I'm in." It didn't take long for her to decide to trust and befriend Mica—it's been a while since she really trusted someone as a friend. Mica immediately captured her heart, though.

Mica

‘Okay,' she says, taking a deep breath. 'Okay... so, hypothetically...' She stops, shakes her head. 'No, wait, scrap that. Not hypothetically. Just real shit.' She shrugs. 'This is the case: I’m pregnant. I found out the day Tate took you. I’m almost ten weeks along and I didn’t even notice. I went—I went to the doctor, yesterday, and she said—she said I’m having twins. ’ She takes another deep breath. ‘It’s from Vince, I haven’t—I haven’t been with anyone else. I haven’t told him yet, I haven’t told Tate yet. I want to keep it. I don’t want to take my baby away. Not again.’

Jael

She stares at Mica for a really long moment, visibly thinking what to say.
"That's wonderful," she then manages to say. "That's—that's amazing, Mica." She gives her a bright smile and takes her hand. "Do you think Vince will take this positively?" Possibly that's what she's struggling with. And she can perfectly understand; having twins isn't just something.

Mica

She smiles, relieved, then bites her lip. 'I don't know,' she answers truthfully. 'I really don't know. He's... Vinnie is intense, you know? And he's nearing his 30s, but—but I don't think he will want them. But at the same time I think he will? I'm not sure. It's all—it's all really new and fresh and I'm also afraid to tell Tate? Because Tate's a good person, but I don't want to drop this on him—I don't want him to have more shit to deal with, you know?' She takes deep, gulping breaths. 'Oh god, I swear, Jael, I'm not usually like this. I'm not usually this—this emotional. I'm not usually a wreck.' She laughs, and it's a genuine laugh. 'You just caught me at a bad time, babe.' She smiles.

Jael

"It's perfectly fine, Mica. Usually I'm not like you found me, either, so I guess that makes us even." She smiles a bit. "I could help you—with Vinnie, I mean. I don't really know how to handle Tate, to be honest." She shakes her head. "But I think—I think you should tell Vinnie as soon as possible, before it gets obvious and he'll accuse you of holding things back." She squeezes Mica's hand softly. "And—if you'd want me to—I could tell Tate when you're back home again." She shrugs lightly. "Maybe it warms him up a bit."

Mica

She shakes her head. 'I'm going to have to be the one to tell him. I'd like it if you'd stay with me, though? I'm going to tell Vinnie when I get home, tonight.'

Jael

She nods. "You should." Then she embraces Mica, giving her a warm hug. "Congratulations," she murmers. "I'm really happy for you..."
It then crosses her mind how strange it is she feels so content with these people, though she knows them less than a week—Mica even less than a day—not to mention what Tate did...
She lets go of Mica and has to fight to put on a smile, because suddenly there are tears. She never had really close friends and this—all of it, even the weird thing she has with Tate—feels so incredibly right.

Mica

She nods, smiles and starts driving again. It's not much longer. After the accident (when Tate paid nineteen thousand quid) the car couldn't be saved, Tate gave her his matte back Audi r8 (on indefinite loan), and she fell in love with the car immediately. Tate got a camaro, so he didn't need it anyway.
Not much longer, she parks in the parking lot of the mall. 'Here we go,' she says.

Jael

She unbuckles the car belt and stretches. "I'll warn you—I'm a shop disaster. I tend to be too picky about everything." She smiles apologetically. "You might need to drag me out of a shop because I can't choose."

Mica

She winks and flashes Jael the platinum card with the "T.J.S. HALE" inscription. 'That, honey, is why we have this. If you can't choose... we'll just take both of em.'

Jael

"Oh my God—" she exclaims. "Are you serious? I can't do that." She shakes her head. Even still at home she wouldn't.