Lost in Thoughts
Trish called Jessica to ask her if she wanted to come over and have some dinner with her. She could hear in the tone of voice that the private eye didn't seem too eager to accept. Jessica kept pausing between her answers and seemed too preoccupied to even take a minute to talk exclusively to her. Trish heard shuffling and something that sounded like a pen tapping against a book; not that Trish thinks Jessica would ever read one. She was about to give up but put her pride on the line and tried one more time. She promised Jessica her favorite pizza – and of course, Jessica caved.
**
Jessica munches on a BBQ chicken pizza while Trish has her own, much smaller, vegetarian pizza with what Jessica would call 'all kinds of creepy green.' She definitely ordered it on purpose. It's amusing to see how disgusted Jessica gets by it. As if on cue, the private eye speaks up.
"You know that's not a pizza anymore, right?"
"Yes, it is. I need to stay healthy. I don't magically stay like... That." Trish gestures toward Jessica's body who in turn has to face away because a slight blush threatens to come and greet her face.
"I don't even think you have the capability to get fat. Maybe we should test my theory. Either way, you're hot Trish."
Trish nearly chokes on a piece of pizza. She isn't sure whether Jessica meant to say that. She sees Jessica swallow thickly and the woman doesn't make any eye contact. Trish bites her lip, not knowing how to reply. She keeps her gaze on Jessica.
None of them speak or move and Trish hopes Jessica will look up at her. She wants to know what the woman meant exactly. When she eventually does look up, Trish sees Jessica struggling. Her mouth slightly opens before closing again, and her eyes tell Trish that she's conflicted.
Jessica eventually settles on a 'what?' It comes out a bit hostile and Trish doesn’t want to ruin anything so she schools her expression into something more neutral before asking the private eye if she really meant it.
Jessica frowns for a moment and it looks like that was the last thing she thought Trish would say or ask. When she replies Trish hears it's without a hint of sarcasm. "Yes, I do."
Trish stares at her and a small smile grazes her cheekbones. If only you meant it like I do.
Jessica clears her throat after a few moments of silence and adds: "So eat up, milady," in attempt to diffuse the tension.
Trish grins and takes another bite. Her elbows are leaning forward on the table and she has her head propped up on it. Her whole body is angled toward the private investigator. They talk about Jessica's cases and as Trish looks into Jessica's eyes, she notices that the woman is having a hard time forming coherent sentences. She's cute when she gets like this.
The intricate mix of lighting shining into the kitchen from the window in the living room, makes Jessica's eyes look like a bright emerald. Definitely not brown, then. She takes a sip of her drink and takes a moment to look at those beautiful orbs. She isn't sure whether she imagined it or not but she thinks she saw Jessica's eyes dart over to her lips.
Trish feels the shift in the atmosphere; she knows Jessica is about to say something ridiculously sarcastic so she walks over to Jessica, wipes some sauce off the corner of her mouth with her finger and puts it into her own mouth. She knows that Jessica didn't see it, so she speaks up while heading to the couch to start up Netflix.
"Mmm, this sauce is not bad. Give me a slice next time?" She pauses but when Jessica doesn't answer, she continues: "Let's watch something, you have time right?" Please say yes. Please say yes.
She starts flicking through the catalogue and Jessica is still stunned, frozen on the barstool.
"What?"
Trish snorts and looks over at Jessica who has her fingers splayed out on the corner of her mouth and chin. She raises an eyebrow but the private eye still isn't looking at her. Well, that sight is pretty hot.
"Earth to Jessica Campbell Jones?"
"Hmm, what?" she says a little more focused now as she drops her hand, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
Trish smirks in amusement. "I asked whether you have time to watch a movie, but maybe you should take a nap instead."
"No, no. A movie sounds great," Jessica replies a little too quickly. After a moment’s hesitation, she adds: "Did you just call me Campbell? You know I hate that name*."
"Sorry, it did get your attention, though, didn't it?" She smirks and taps the couch to signal the P.I. to join her. Trish can barely contain her excitement when Jessica sits a little closer than she normally does.
Trish does the cliché stretch move - but toned down - and moves her hand closer to Jessica but the other woman doesn't move to lay her own closer in reply. The blonde can tell that Jessica isn't really paying attention although her eyes are fixed on the screen in front of them. The truth is that Trish is also more interested in the woman next to her than that stupid movie she picked out. She decides to mess with the private investigator a little.
"So, who's that guy?" Trish knew it was the main character as she briefly scrolled through a summary of the movie before putting it on.
"Hmm, what?" Jessica is so absorbed by the action scene that she didn't hear what Trish said. She turns to face her briefly.
"I asked who that guy is," Trish points at a guy currently holding some kind of rifle. Now, Trish is not an expert in gun combat but she's pretty sure that if the guy really fired the gun, he'd lose his eye due to the recoil.
"Oh, him? Just some random bad guy. Not important. Why, you like him?" She casually snuck the last question in, pretty sure she talked her way out of that pretty well.
Nope.
Trish tries to keep from laughing at the private eye. For someone that's supposed to pay attention to everything, Jessica is pretty nonobservant - to both the movie and her.
"Are you sure that's not the protagonist?" Trish knowingly quips back.
Jessica recognizes that tone of voice. Trish caught on and it's no use to try and deny it so she relents. "OK, maybe I wasn't really paying attention."
Trish purposely didn't answer the second question. What is she supposed to say? 'No, but I kinda like you?' She has no idea how Jessica would reply to that even if she said it jokingly. Figuring that both of them aren't paying attention, she turns her body to face Jessica instead of the screen. She knows Jessica is aware but the woman doesn't mimic her moves – yet.
"So when are you taking me to a stakeout?" Trish asks in a calm tone.
Jessica looks at her like she's crazy. "Why would you want that?"
Trish shrugs. "Seems like fun." All huddled up next to you as you act all serious. Sipping on some coffee. Whispering as you teach me how to take photos with that DSLR-camera of yours.
"Tonight? I mean it's almost the reason I couldn't make today. Hogarth needs me to serve papers to some guy."
"Yes, this is going to be awesome," Trish says with a smirk. She's planning to annoy the hell out of the private eye.
"Alright, let's go," Jessica says, already putting her jacket on.
Trish follows behind silently, putting on her boots and coat. Jessica waits for her in the hall and they walk through it together.
**
Jessica walks determinedly towards something. Trish doesn't know what, but she doesn't question it. They eventually settle on a staircase with a view of some kind of office. They sit in silence next to each other. The staircase isn't very wide but Trish can tell that Jessica is keeping as much distance as possible. She isn't sure it's because she doesn't want it to be potentially awkward or because she really just doesn't want to sit too close and give off the wrong vibe. The thought makes Trish a bit sad.
Trish thinks back to the day when she got drunk at Indigo and Jessica picked her up. She actually asked the bartender to call Jessica and he did, after getting a 100-dollar tip from her. She went out with someone she met a few times at events and such and he seemed like a nice guy. That was until he asked if she'd be in for a threeway with his girlfriend of two years. She almost threw her drink in his face but decided to be the bigger person and simply told him to get lost. He didn't want to leave but when she threatened to crush his balls, he couldn't get up quick enough. She only wanted to enjoy the night, not get laid and definitely not with two people she didn't really know. When he left her alone, she went to the bar and ordered a drink. She pondered on his invite only to have her mind drift off to the one person she could never have, would never be hers. Fuck. She tipped the bartender hundred bucks to call Jessica to have her to pick her up. Honestly, she knew it would be a long shot. Jessica hardly ever picks up. By some weird force of magic, Jessica was by her side in less than an hour. There was this annoying guy who wouldn't take no for an answer. She didn't want to dance with this guy. He told her that her girlfriend would be here any minute. His face morphed from disgust to lust in seconds. Trish couldn't believe the luck she had today; why does every guy seemingly think about threeways. Like one isn't enough to satisfy you? She scoffed at him, ready to take another sip while waiting for him to take a hint. Before she could, he kissed her… It caught her by surprise and she was momentarily stunned. Jessica seemingly came out of thin air and saved her like some Knightress** in shining armor. Trish caught herself thinking about the words Jessica uttered more times a day then she can count. 'Fuck, you're beautiful.'
Trish scoots closer to Jessica while asking about her target. "What time does he usually come out?"
It takes Jessica a split second too long to answer and Trish can hear some kind of waver in her voice when Jessica answers that it could be any moment now.
Trish isn't sure whether the waver is positive or not. She likes the way their legs are touching. She feels a warmth spread through her body and it helps to fight the cold. It isn't that cold, really, but her hands are freezing. Her hands are usually cold somehow, even if it's warm outside.
When the guy still hasn't left the building while dozens of others did, Trish feels the cold getting to her. She rubs her hands together and brings them up to her mouth to blow on it. She doesn't notice that Jessica is looking at her.
She's in the middle of shoving her hands into her way too small pockets when Jessica catches one. She guides their hands towards her own pocket and doesn't let go of Trish' hand. Trish looks at her curiously but the woman won't meet her stare.
"There he is," Jessica nudges with her chin.
She lets go of Trish' hand and grips her camera and immediately starts to snap some shots. She gives the camera to Trish. "I probably should've told you how this works beforehand, but I'm sure you can figure it out. Just press this button and well, try to keep the shots in focus. I'm going to give him the papers. Make sure you get a shot of me handing it to him, OK?"
Jessica doesn’t wait for Trish' answer and makes her way down the stairwell to catch the guy before he enters a cab. Trish sees Jessica walk determinately towards the guy and yell something in his direction.
Damn her and the way she walks with so much fierceness. I want to run my hands all over those legs.
The private eye is already talking to the guy when she finally snaps out of her daydream. She tries to take a picture but she's not entirely sure whether she's actually taking a picture or not. She's still fidgeting when Jessica appears next to her again. Jessica's voice startles her and she almost drops the camera.
"Trish, are y-"
"I'm so sorry, Jess. This thing. I didn't. You. I. Shit. I don't think I got a picture. I have no idea how this thing works and that button you told me to press didn't do anything."
Little does Trish know that it did do something. It recorded video. Not only moving images but also sound. Her voice during the recording.
Jessica smirks at her. "Don't worry, I took a selfie with the guy and the papers I served him."
Trish isn't sure whether to be relieved that Jessica had proof of delivery or mad that she assumed she wouldn't be able to do it (it doesn't matter that the assumption was correct. If anything, it made it worse.)
"Hello? Trish?!" Trish has no idea how long Jessica has been calling her name for - or why. She looks up at her with a questioning look.
"Nevermind, let's get you home. The cold is getting to you." Jessica takes the camera back. She sees Trish shiver slightly and takes off her own scarf and hands it to Trish.
Trish is confused at the gesture. She wasn't cold anymore. Not really. When she's was about to voice that thought, Jessica already put the accessory around her neck. Oh, fuck, this smells like her. Don't be too obvious in smelling it, Walker. Trish shivers again but for very different reasons now. Jessica furrows her eyebrows at her but Trish ignores her gaze and walks ahead of her. This woman is going to drive me insane.
When they're just a block away from Trish' apartment, someone seemingly deliberately bumps into Trish. Jessica wants to slap this person into tomorrow. She sees Trish tense up more for it to be just accidental. Although her hands are in her pocket, she can see the outline. They go from open palmed to fists in a second. She recognizes the guy now. The broken nose gave it away.
"Hey. Your girlfriend can still join, you know." He gestures to Jessica. The tone of this guy's voice is way too smug. Trish internally groans and hopes that Jessica isn't going to question the 'girlfriend' thing. It does strike her as odd that he isn't afraid or angry at Jessica, considering she gave him a new face.
"No. We're good," Trish answers and drags Jessica along by her hand and ends the conversation. She can feel the private investigator thinking but doesn't know what to say. She had called Jess her girlfriend just to get this guy to take a hike, sure, but it also felt so good to call her that. It wasn't just the alcohol speaking either.
She glances up at Jessica whose gaze is set on the road before them. She seems more stoic than usual to Trish. The woman isn't grasping her hand back, no, Trish realizes that this is one-sided. At that realization, she drops Jessica's hand. Jessica doesn't react at all.
They reach Trish' place and the whole block over was spent in total silence. It was awkward to Trish but she didn't know how to diffuse the situation. Jessica also seemed to be in her own world and dragging her out of it didn't seem like a good idea.
"I have to run by Hogarth for my check." Jessica nods towards Trish and turns to leave. Trish can't let the evening end on this note so she grabs Jessica's arm.
"See you soon?" Her voice betrays her. There's a pleading tone in her voice and she knows that Jessica heard it too.
It takes Jessica too long to reply and Trish drops her hand from the other woman's arm.
The corner of Jessica's mouth twitches upward for a split second. "Of course," she answers honestly and places a quick peck on Trish' forehead.
It is so sudden, so uncharacteristic, that it takes Trish a long time to process it. The private investigator is already out of sight when a huge smile appears Trish' face. Fuck..