Late-Night Conversations

Who: Jesse and Lily
Where: Jesse's place
When: Night

Arsenic & Old Lace was a hit with Jessie. The teenager had been absolutely enchanted with the limo and the servers and the private box at the Hill Street Theater. On the way back to dropping her off, Jessie had fallen asleep, the pitter-patter of icy rain providing the perfect song that Lily herself was tempted to fall asleep as well. She wrapped her black fur jacket around Jessie, contemplating how to get her upstairs. She didn't want to wake the poor dear, she was clearly tuckered out. So Charles scooped her up in his arms (Jessie was rather light it seemed and Lily recalled Jesse's injuries earlier in the week and was hesitant to have him carry his daughter up some flights of stairs).

Lily led the way to the apartment. It was such a terrible night that everyone seemed to be staying in because they encountered no one on the way. Lily knocked on the scarred wooden door. She was a little nervous, shifting uncomfortable and straightening the thin straps of the red corseted dress that she was wearing. She couldn't cover herself with the fur coat -- Jessie was wearing that -- but Jesse had seen cleavage before. Mature adult that wouldn't.... ogle or something. Why did she get these new dresses again? Oh right. Because she wanted to be noticed.

Jesse opened up the door when he heard the knock, and while he couldn't say he was overwhelmingly happy with someone else carrying his daughter while she slept, he couldn't exactly say anything at the moment or anything. It would appear ungrateful, and just because he was paranoid didn't mean he was right. Either way, he shut the door behind his daughter after she rolled over and curled back up, and he took Lily's coat back to her. "...thanks for everything." he said, keeping his voice low. "She have a good time?" he asked, not sure if she was taking off right away, or where the man who'd carried his daughter up was going, or if he was staying, or who the fuck he was in general.

"Not a problem at all, she was lovely, really. I thought she was going to bounce off the box any minute," Lily said just as quietly, smiling at him and took her coat back. "Charles, would you take care of the car please?" The driver tipped his hat and excused himself promptly, addressing Jesse with a "Night, Sir". "I was going to come up and get you," she told Jesse once Charles had left. "But she was asleep and the last time I saw you, you looked banged up. I wasn't sure so..." she trailed off a bit nervously. "You look much better," Lily said finally. "Feeling better?" Really, the last time she'd seen Jesse, he looked like he went ten rounds with a giant. And she hoped he wasn't mad at her for not getting him to get Jessie from the car.

And she'd be right on that, something he understood was logical and the like. He still had stitches in his arm from when he'd bailed Helena out and the bar decided to go psychotic on him and do things like draw blades in broad fucking daylight. He was looking slightly less like he'd had his ass handed to him and all, but there were faded remains yet of his tussles. So, yeah, he could see why she'd done what she had. He was mildly weirded out by being addressed as 'sir', though didn't much show it. instead, he focused on Lily, and what she was saying. "I'm feeling alright. Better than I was." he admitted. "So JJ had a good night?" he asked. "That's good to hear. Did you?" he asked. He figured he'd be getting a full rundown from his daughter when she woke up the next morning.

Lily nodded, adjusting the strap of her dress again. A nervous habit that was starting to form. "I did. She was wonderful company. She's a lovely girl. And talked about you a lot." Lily smiled a little, recalling Jessie's talk of all the wisdom her father had ever imparted. And... it made her sad. Lily couldn't remember much of her father. "Oh! I almost forgot." Lily shifted her jacket around to free her purse and dug into it, pulling a medium sized brown envelope and took a hesitant step closer to Jesse. "I got a program autographed for her. I wasn't sure when I'd see you next and I didn't want to send it through the mail and... well, yeah." She trailed off with a soft nervous laugh

Jesse arched a brow. "She did, huh?" he asked, feeling good about that, at least. Then he reached out to take the program, noticing that it seemed like Lily was nervous, though he didn't know why, exactly. "Thank you, I'm sure she'll love it." he said, setting it on the counter where it wouldn't get stepped on or thrown out, or anything of the kind. "Thanks so much for doing this...I'm sure it's not something she'll forget." Jessie was a good kid. Grateful, appreciative, all that. She'd already talked about doing something nice for Lily in return. "I really appreciate it, Lil."

Lily shrugged, blushing. "It was nothing, seriously. Every girl should try to enjoy the theater at least once. Glad I could help. To be honest, I was just as excited. The kids that I always find in the library, it's hard to do nice things for them." Her eyes widened immediately when she realized what Jesse could think about that. "Not that Jessie is like the street kids or anything. No, nothing like that." She winced. She was babbling. She hated it when she babbled. She paused, letting herself take a few deep breaths. "But yeah. It was fun. I'd be more than happy to take her out again if there's anything she wants to see. You should come with us next time."

Jesse was wondering what Lily meant there, unsure entirely where she was coming from. He might have said something about it, but then she was covering, so he didn't. He figured if he did, it would just make it worse. "It's really good of you to offer." he told her, leaning back against the counter himself as he watched her kind of flailing. He just didn't draw attention to it, in hopes that she kind of let it go, calmed down. He gave her a light half smile that didn't quite reach his eyes at her last comment. "...you do know that they probably wouldn't be all that overjoyed to let someone like me in...right?" he asked, not sure if she did know. After all, she seemed naive in some pretty significant ways. Maybe she missed the memo. It was possible. He kept his voice light, gentle, not wanting to fluster her worse, but also not really intending to give her false hope, either. He didn't want to tell her he'd go, with the idea in his mind that he might not even get let in. She'd probably take the brushoff personally, and he didn't want that.

"Really, I don't mind. The theater is fun. Most of the time." His stance was relaxed and he wasn't pressing her for anything and Lily let her shoulders relax a little bit. She just felt uncomfortable in his apartment. Not that it was scary or anything, but she felt out of her element. She felt vulnerable. She didn't really like it but Jesse wasn't going to hurt her. Jesse was nice. She took a deep breath again and leaned against the counter beside him. Not very close to him, but close enough to show that she was relaxing a little bit. She realized then, that he'd be able to see the scar on her arm, the one she'd forgotten to cover up, but hoped that he wouldn't notice it. If he did, maybe he wouldn't ask questions. "I dunno why they wouldn't," she said lightly, with a bright albeit still slightly nervous smile. "From the sounds of it you hung the moon and the stars. Superman cowers against your awesome might. No, we'd dress you up nice. Seriously. I'd be the absolute last person people would expect to bring in some ne'er do well." Lily knew she was naive. She'd heard enough convent jokes and the like to know that people thought she was meek and shy but she was trying to change that. "And if I wanted to bring you to a play so you could enjoy it with your daughter. See how glowing she was, then I'll find a way to do it. Even if I have to sneak you in through the back."

Jesse did notice the scar, his green eyes falling on it and staying there, though he didn't say anything about it. Not just this minute, anyhow. He had scars of his own he wouldn't especially relish telling the story of, so he wasn't sure she would either, and plus--she was just looking like she was untensing, he didn't want to go get her riled. "Lily, I'm a little on the wrong side of the tracks, here, darlin." he told her, figuring that phrase would clue her in better than coming out and saying something stupid like 'so yeah, I've been hauled in before for criminal activity, quite a lot of which I did, and a whole lot more I never got caught for, and people know it'. It wasn't like he was one of the mobsters, who could make nice with city officials, and get a smile wherever he went because people were afraid not to kiss ass.

It sounded like an excuse to her. The thought struck her quite forcefully. It sounded like an excuse he tried telling himself a lot. And Lily wasn't sure if she should say that to him. She was not Jesse's confidante. She did not know all the intimate details of his life and could only go on by inferring what he told her. "You know that talk we had where I completely humiliated myself?" she said instead. Her voice was not soft and shy and nervous. Lily looked at him square in the face, brown puppy eyes big and gentle, voice steady and clear. "You were right. I'm thirty years old and I still let my grandmother control me and I hate it. So I called someone up that I really disliked and had her help buy me some new clothes. A new look." She plucked at the skirt of the dark red dress, still feeling somewhat uncomfortable in it. "And I like this new look and it probably wouldn't have happened if you hadn't said whatever it was that you said. I even got hit on by this really nice guy who sat down with me at the bistro the other day. I let him and tried flirting back the best I could and he scared me so darn much that I went and cried to a friend about it." Her tone called for no sympathy from him. She didn't want sympathy anyway. Lily still had no idea why he made her cry. "But what mattered was that I tried. I tried because... I think it's because I wanted to come back here and show you that you were right and that you helped me and I tried for myself too, but I'm not there yet. To being a new person.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe you should try. This is something I think you're daughter really loves and I hardly remember my father but from what I do remember, he wasn't even half the father that you sound like."

He listened, a bit surprised, but he didn't show that so much. He just gave her his full, undivided attention. He smiled a little when she picked at her dress. In the end, he gave a moment, then answered her. "You look great." he told her first, since she seemed to need the little boost there. "And I'm glad that what I said had it's impact. I'm glad that you're trying to take control of your own life. Not so much that you cried, but I'm happy to hear you gave it a shot anyways. Don't give up. Keep going." he encouraged, giving her a smile. It was tinged with a bit of regret, though it was on his own behalf, not hers. "As for me...darlin I don't want to be anyone else. I am who I am, I accepted that a long time ago, I'm not going to change. I just know I'm not perfect, and that some things? Like going out to the theater and all that, that's just...it's not really in the cards for me. Besides, you? You can do this. You can shed the old life and do whatever you want. You don't have cops who come banging your door down any time something vaguely shady happens in the near vicinity--sometimes when it's not even the near vicinity. You don't have people who know your name and for certain reasons. You can walk away from your life, I've got far too much attached into mine that aren't ever going to cut loose."

"It's because I was there when your voice started cracking. Right. Gotcha. I see how it really is," she teased with a bright grin, nodding to show that she understood and respected his reasons. She was completely relaxed at this point, now that she knew that Jesse wasn't going to yell at her and kick her out or something for crossing a line. "I don't know what it was about that guy that terrified me so much," she said on a somewhat more serious note. "He was really nice... maybe he was too nice. Uhg." She shuddered in memory and wrapped her arms tighter around herself in memory. Lily thought of her talk with Finn and how he'd comforted her. "Just, let me know if there's anything I can do for you or for Jesse. I like doing things for people. I like helping people. And you're the only friend I have that's my age." The last part she said with another smile, her whole face lighting up, making her look younger, less frightened and scared. "And if you want to pay me back, I might make you help me shelve books." She actually winked at him. It was a surreal feeling but she just felt so much more comfortable and more at ease after speaking her mind. Perhaps she should do it more often.

So, apparently it was just that easy. He gives an excuse, valid even if it was, and she was right back onto talking about her. Which Jesse wasn't at all adverse to, because he would rather keep the conversation there, he just noticed it. He knew a lot of people like that. He also didn't comment on the friends her own age thing, because that didn't surprise him at all. It was a little creepy, but it wasn't his call, and it wasn't like he was showing at all what he might think on the matter. He just nodded, at least able to appreciate her smile. "You don't want the local criminal element mussing up your library." he teased in return, smirking. "What do you mean by too nice for this guy?" he asked, not really happy with the defensive posture she took up when talking about it.

"He was... polite. Very nice but the waiter, Bradley, I mentioned that I tutored him and there was this," Lily bit her lip, trying to find the word. Yesterday she hadn't really been able to identify it. Now, after being able to think, the mannerisms were a little clearer. "He seemed to get possessive. Not openly, but you could just tell. Bradley's barely sixteen and this guy, this Aaron, acted like me tutoring him was a vast insult to his manhood or something and I swear I thought he was going to club me over the head and drag me to his hut or something." She wasn't able to explain it very well, but she was at least able to figure out exactly what it was about him that frightened her. She looked over at him, hesitant and unsure. "Was it just some guy thing that I don't know about? You're nice. You're very nice and sweet and this guy was too, but you don't look at me like you want to devour me." And while Lily would certainly not mind if Jesse wanted to devour her (at least, she was pretty sure she wouldn't mind), she was pretty sure Jesse didn't want to club her over the head and drag her body away.

Aaron. Jesse noted the name, definitely filing that information away quietly. Just in case. He also frowned as she spoke, thinking that he did know the type, and it was never good news. "I advise you to stay as far away from that man as possible, Lil. Even if you have to make up excuses to leave his presence? Do so. No one like that is good news." he said. "Especially if you just met, and he's getting shitty over a teenager. That's...not right. Nothing good'll come of it." he warned, hoping she took him seriously. "If you ever have any trouble or anything, you call the police, or me, alright?" he asked, watching her eyes to be sure the message actually did sink in, and she didn't blow it off.

Lily nodded, meeting his eyes solemnly. "Okay," she said quietly. Part of her wanted to point out that he didn't have a phone, at least, she couldn't see one anyway, but she could tell that he wasn't actually being literal. But still, the sentiment was nice. "Thanks. It's good to know that I wasn't freaking out because I was just scared of having some guy hit on me." It was a relief to know that the behavior Aaron exhibited was a cause for concern. "But, um, I should get going. It's late and I'm sure you had stuff to do or something." She gave him a small smile, unsure if she should shake his hand or hug him or just bolt.

Maybe this is why she preferred the company of Jenny who still acted like she was fifteen and Finn who just randomly grabbed her in hugs anyway.

He didn't really have a lot to do but he took her statement to mean that she had better things to do than hang out here and chat with him. "Thank you again for everything." Jesse told her genuinely. "Have a good night...I'm sure I'll see you around." he told her.

Lily paused in pulling on her jacket, thinking of how she said she'd wait for him at the bar on Saturday night. "Next time we're talking about you, okay?" Because she knew how she'd sounded. She sounded self-absorbed and selfish and only caring about her but no, that wasn't Lily. But when someone didn't add much to the conversation, she had to fill it with something and at least with this situation, she could get advice. "Because I don't know about you but I get tired about just listening to one person. So do you want to do drinks tomorrow night or just wait for another time?" Best not to beat around the bush. As far as she was aware, there was no RSVP to Maya Walker's ball the following evening and she knew she was expected to go, but those plans had been sort of made awhile ago. Lily did not want to think of herself as desperate.

"Nothing to say on my end, Lil." Jesse told her even if that was as far from the truth as he could get. It just sounded like the truth. Like nope, he was fine, nothing to talk about. It wasn't necessarily that Jesse didn't give people second chances, but he did tend to have a memory for things like being brushed off. So even if she was becoming a little more self aware with how she talked to people...she'd have to work at it if she actually wanted to know what was beneath the surface of Jesse James. "We'll get together sometime...I'd assume that you've got better things to do tomorrow...yeah?"

"If sitting in a fancy dress and wanting to stab yourself multiple times in the eye with a silver fork constitutes as a better time than buying you a drink and, oh, I don't know, making up stories about all the other people at the bar." There was that voice inside of her that was laughing at her. Dancing it's little jig and singing that he was brushing her off when it wasn't that at all. "I'll be there at ten instead of eight." With that, she left the apartment, shutting the door gently behind her so as not to wake anyone up. Insufferable. That's what he was. Or was he toying with her? Teasing? Maybe she just wouldn't show up at all.