cake and bffs

Who: Jenny and Lily
Where: Jenny's Apartment
When: Evening time

The radio was cheerfully playing Louis Armstrong in the background while Jenny and Lily were leaning against opposite sides of the kitchen counter, digging into a rather nice sized chocolate cake with vanilla butter cream icing and chocolate roses. Happy Birthday Jenny had been written in bright pink calligraphy but was half eaten now as they casually devoured it.

Lily had been there for a couple of hours, dressed in slacks and that men's shirt again, this time with her hair pulled back messily. Not only were they cleaning the spare room, but it had extended to the living area of the apartment. But they'd been working hard and therefore they needed a break.

"What do you think about all new furniture?" Lily asked around a mouthful of cake. She was going to have to buy herself things for her new room and she knew that such a change was a bit difficult for Jenny, but it didn't hurt to ask.

Jenny, dressed in comfortable loose clothing with her blonde hair hastily thrown up in a messy bun, licked her fork clean of icing. She glanced around her living room thoughtfully at the question. "Um." She tried again, "I don't know? Maybe when you're more settled in. Jackson's already going to panic when he realizes you're living with me." With a guilty smile, Jenny confessed that she hadn't exactly told her brother that Lily was moving in with her.

She took a bite of her cake and, mouth full, with an appalling lack of manners her mother would have smacked her for said, "I mean, I'd like some, just not yet. You know?"

"Oh, of course," Lily quickly agreed, not at all minding because she herself was talking with her mouth half full, a few crumbs catching on her chin that she wiped off quickly. "Jackson has high anxiety, doesn't he?" She hadn't talked to the man often but Jenny adored him and she knew he adored Jenny back, but he was rather overprotective. Then again, Jenny kind of called for that sort of behavior and Lily herself should not throw stones because she didn't want to be a hypocrite. "He'd have you locked up back home with your mother if he could, hm?"

Jenny huffed briefly in amusement, then shrugged her shoulders. She took another bite of the cake. Swallowing, she told her, "I think he'd wrap me in cotton and hide me away." Not that'd I'd really complain since I feel like doing that half the time anyway, she didn't say. It was a good day with a good friend and good cake. No sense wasting her happy mood on dark things. "But he's okay." Okay was a bit of an understatement. As far as Jenny was concerned, her brother could do no wrong.

"But that's because you're just so adorable and he doesn't want to share you," she teased with a grin, taking a sip of water. "Thanks again for this." Lily was more quiet this time as she looked around the apartment. "I can't really believe that I'm actually moving out. And... yeah, I still haven't told her about it." Her being her grandmother.

The other girl reached out and squeezed her friend's hand, offering Lily a small smile. "If I can move out, Lily, so can you. And where else better than with someone you know?" She released her friend's hand and picked up her own glass, taking a long sip. With an exhale, she added, "I guess we're both probably in trouble, huh?"

How pathetic am I that Jenny could move out of her mother's house and I couldn't?. Not that she thought any less of Jenny or that Jenny wasn't an equal or anything like that. She was more angry at herself. More ashamed of herself. But she brightened, smiling up at Jenny. "Trouble? Two lovely, sweet young women such as ourselves in trouble? You must be mistaken."

Jenny giggled softly and shrugged again. "Well, what they don't know won't hurt them, yea?" She leaned against the counter and helped herself to another slice of cake, sticking her fork in it. "When are you planning on telling her, by the way? For my telling Jackson, I think I'll just let him figure it out for himself. Payback for not visiting more." She took a bite of the cake and chewed thoughtfully. "I could come with you if you wanted," she said after she swallowed.

"No," Lily said immediately. "No, you really don't want to be anywhere near the house when I tell her. Although, you know, the whole 'letting them figure it out' route isn't such a bad one. I'm thirty years old and it's not like I'm taking out my furniture anyway. Just a trunkfull of clothes and a box of things I can't part with. The book collection would take up more though," she reconsidered. Half of her wanted the old woman to be dead in her sleep when she returned. Agatha was nearing eighty-five after all and it was hard to think of how the old bird had lasted this long.

How she was going to get her things out, she wasn't quite sure yet.

Uncertain but trusting, Jenny nodded her head. "Okay," she said, albeit reluctantly. "If you're sure." She didn't quiet understand Lily's aversion to her meeting her grandmother. Jenny had never seen her and barely only heard the scantest things about her. Deciding it best to change the subject, she twisted her body enough to look in the direction of the guest bedroom. She pointed at it with her fork. "What do you think about a new paint job in your new room? It's kinda..." She trailed off. When she first moved in, the manager of the building had told her that if she ever felt the need to paint to go ahead. He probably wasn't gonna do it any time soon.

"Not pink flowered wallpaper," she grinned. The more she cleaned in here, imagined what kind of bed she should get, where her bookshelf should go, Lily seemed to stand up straighter. HEr shoulder's squared, as if the burden she'd been carrying was lifted away. "It's completely fine, trust me." So it was a boring kind of beige. It didn't matter. It just wasn't in the old house and if she really wanted to, she could cover it all up with paintings or something.

"Alright," she said and spun in a slow circle, peering around the room thoughtfully. "Maybe I could paint the other rooms, anyway. Looking at the same colour every day gets kind of boring." Jenny tapped her nails against the counter top. "Oh, I know! I think I'll paint it blue," she announced triumphantly, grinning widely. "A pale blue, like the sky on a clear day." She paused, then frowned a little. "Might take some time to get used to, though."

"If you paint it blue, what you could do is paint clouds up around the top so it's like you're really outside," She suggested with a smile. "You know, we could even paint a fake picket fence around the room.... paint in some flowers. Really brighten it up." She looked around the room, her smile getting bigger. "And the kitchen? We could maybe do... a pale green with yellow flowers and roses and stuff around the top."

Jenny grinned again, the size of it matching Lily's. "That sounds very springish, which would be great considering I'm sick of the cold outside." She pouted a little and walked around the counter, thoughtfully examining the walls of the kitchen. "I think I'd like that."

Lily stabbed another piece of cake with her fork and chewed thoughtfully. Oh, it was good cake. Very good cake. "Yeah. Need more sun in this place." Figuratively speaking since there was never any sun in this city. She wondered about that sometimes but it was just a way of life whne you lived in Eidolon City. "Would have to get stencils for the flowers or something."

"I think they sell some at the crafts store down town," Jenny said and picked up her mostly emptied glass of water, moving towards the faucet to refill it. "I went there once, on my way home, when they first opened a while ago. It looked like it would sell those kinds of things. Among other things, actually. I think they sell cheap paint there, too."

She wanted to say that money wasn't a problem, but recalled how Evelyn had acted when Lily tried to help her. What was she meant to do with all the money she had? Well, she reasoned, having an apartment filled with expensive things might not be the best idea. This is going to take some getting used to. "Sounds good to me. I meant to ask earlier: How's the writing coming along?" She knew Jenny was considering another story a few days ago and wondered if her friend had made any progress.

"Nicely, I think," Jenny said a little vaguely. As much as she enjoyed writing, she wasn't a fan of talking about it. The attention left her flustered and embarrassed. Though half of her enjoyed the praise, the other half wasn't certain what to do with it and she tended to dismiss the compliments. "What about you? How are things at the library?"

Lily shrugged, used to Jenny's vagueness when it came to her writing. "Same old. If I didn't like the library so much, I'd probably look for another job." What she meant was if she didn't like the library itself so much. It had started to lose the shine of being a haven lately. "I don't even know what I'd do though. It's not like I have any decent skills." And she liked kids but really wouldn't want to go into teaching.

Pursing her lips, Jenny braced the heels of her palms against the counter top and hoisted herself up onto it, sitting down comfortably. It wasn't exactly "proper," but it was her home and it was only Lily with her. Her heels banged into the support as she steadied herself. "Hm. What about, um... Well, I guess you get skills from experience, so... What do you enjoy, other than being at the library?"

"Oh, God, I have no idea," she said with a sigh, hopping up on the counter beside her friend except facing the opposite direction. "Could work in a shop, I guess." A small smile played over her face. "Could open up a bookstore. Or one of those curiosity shops with all sorts of things in them, not just books." That sounded rather Dickens-like when it came down to it. It actually seemed rather appealing, despite it being a silly idea. "Anything and everything. Clothes, jewelery, books, trinkets..." She looked shyly at Jenny, nervous as to what she'd think which was rather silly in retrospect since the two of them were usually on the same wavelength. "What do you think?"

Jenny twisted in place and sent her friend a warm smile. "That sounds like a great idea," she said. "Maybe you could even sell food and drinks for people browsing. I'd probably live there half the time," she added, giggling a little. "But, yea, you should. If it makes you happy, do it. I'll even help! Dunno what I'd do, but, I'd still help!"

"Like a cafe counter or something," Lily agreed with a nod, feeling reassured at Jenny's enthusiasm. She was like that. 'What makes you happy, do it'. "You could be my partner. Half of the profits. Or more than half. Buy as many books as you could ever want. You could be the pretty shop girl that the handsome patron falls in love with," she finished with a teasing smile, trying not to frighten Jenny at all.

She pointedly did not reply to the teasing comment and instead replied to the others. "I think I'd rather leave them there," she said, "else I'd run out of room here." Already Jenny had two bookcases full, one in her bedroom and the other in the living room. The one in her bedroom had the most well read ones, the ones she read every day, while the one in the living room had the ones she had bought because it looked interesting, but she rarely returned to them. Sadly, that was the larger bookcase.

"Maybe that's what I'll do," Lily continued softly. "After everything is all taken care of. Should probably look around to see where we could set it up." She was thinking of other things too. Things she could do for Jenny. Things she should do with her finances. That sort of thing. "Is it okay if I give someone the address here. So they know where to find me?" While Lily was moving in, it was still Jenny's apartment and Jenny was a nervous sort of girl and if Jenny wasn't comfortable with it, then she'd just let Jesse know that her building was here. Maybe he'd be less adverse to doing things if he didn't think he would ever have to wander on Millionaire's Row.

Startled, Jenny blinked at the question and fidgeted a little. After a moment of thought, she gave a firm nod. "Yea, sure," she told her. Though the thought of having someone she didn't know come to her apartment, where only Lily or Jackson or her mother were the only ones to enter it, made her nervous, she trusted Lily. If Lily thought this person was alright, then they probably were.

"I won't bring them in or anything," she promised quickly. "It's just he might be more inclined to take me out on a date or something if he knew I was living here than back there. That whole walking your date home thing or something."

"Ah!" Jenny nodded in understanding. "I see, I see. Yea." She waved a hand dismissively. "Yea, don't worry about it," she said, feeling more secure. "Go ahead. I don't mind." She smiled and squeezed her friend's shoulder after she turned to face her, bringing one leg up onto the counter top. Oh, well. At least she was wearing socks.

Lily smiled back, nodding and leaned against one of the ceiling supports. "I can't believe this is actually happening." It was hard to imagine that in what? Five days she'd gone from bemoaning her fate to moving out and thinking of opening up her own shop (as silly as the idea had sounded, it was still nice to think about). "It feels good." She gently pushed at Jenny's knee playfully. "You are a Godsend, you know that?"

She nodded, still smiling brightly. "I'm glad it's happening, for you and for me." Despite the Hell she'd surely catch from Jackson once he found out she had a room mate, she knew this was going to be a good idea for her. A way for her to truly begin to move on with her life, if only socially. "I'm really, truly glad you're moving in, Lily."

She leaned forward and slung her arms around Jenny's neck in a tight hug. "Oh, me too, sweetie," she said, giving her a smacking kiss on the cheek and holding tight. "Me too. And you don't worry about your brother. If he starts getting mad at you? Blame it on me. I can take him," she teased.

Jenny wrapped her arm around Lily's waist when she leaned towards her and hugged her back, just as tight. She giggled a little at the kiss and at the faux threat. "I'm sure you could," she said, grinning widely.