A story of fire and ice

17.

But still she nodded and smiled, hoping it would convince him. Alan narrowed his eyes a bit.

'You sure?'

'Yeah... I'll just stay here and do nothing I guess.' At that he laughed.

'You can go out. The weather is lovely outside, it would be a waste to stay in.'

'And go where?,' she muttered, pushing her egg around her plate with her fork.

'I don't know - the beach. Down town? Go shopping.'

'With what money, Alan?,' Jessica laughed joylessly. 'I am as broke as a homeless person on Hollywood Avenue! Dude, I can hardly afford the air I breathe! Honestly...' She sighed and hid her face in her hands, ignoring his annoying chuckle.

'I'll give you some mo -'

'No!,' she let out. 'I'll just get a job... I need to save money to go back to New York anyway.' She looked up at the sound of Alan dropping his fork, seeing him stare at her.

'What do you mean?,' he asked, every hint of his careless joy being gone in his voice.

'Well...,' Jessica started without knowing how to continue. 'I mean... I can't stay here forever, Alan.'

'Yes, you can.' He hadn't even picked up his fork yet, was only staring at her with unreadable eyes. Jessica huffed and shook her head.

'Al, come on.'

'Why do you want to go back to New York?,' he asked, sounding a bit hurt now. 'You don't like it here?'

'I do, I just... It's not that I particularly want to go back to New York - I have no one to go to anyway. I miss the city, but without the only person that I care about -' She looked at him and he smiled a bit. '- it's just another empty city. But I still have some business to take care of.'

'Well, you still have some business to take care of here too,' Alan threw back, walking up to her and leaning in with his hands on her thighs. He kissed her and she chuckled, softly pushing him away.

'I am being serious!'

'So am I,' Alan said. Jessica sighed and smiled a bit.

'I know. And I am very thankful for that, but I also feel like a burden.' She put her hand over Alan's mouth when he wanted to protest. 'I know you don't think I am, but I feel useless and like I am taking advantage of you. I spent my last real money on renting a small box to store the last things I have, and I could only pay for a month. It's time to go back and get my things.' She let go of him and Alan sighed.

'Fair enough...,' he muttered. 'As long as you come back.'

'Do you want me to?,' she teased, biting her lip and throwing him an innocent look. Alan grunted and cupped her face.

'Yes, I really want you to come back.' Then he kissed her, long and tender, until the doorbell rang. 'Guess that's Austin.' He sadly let go of her and Jessica trailed her eyes after him while he opened the door to reveal, indeed, Austin.

'Yo, are you ready?,' Austin asked while he bounced in. 'First day in the studio, baby! Oh, hey Jess!' He smiled when he saw her, his eyes scanning her sitting on a bar stool with her legs cris-crossed, her hair still messy from sleeping and wearing one of Alan's shirt since her only pyjamas were in the laundry. He smirked a bit at that realization and looked at Alan, who was packing his backpack. 'How are you doing?'

'I'm okay,' Jessica answered, sliding off the stool and suddenly being very aware of her bare legs and how short the shirt actually was. She tried to pull it down a bit. 'How are you?'