It's actually been about a few weeks since the road trip with Trish, Jessica, and Luke. Things have been moving smoothly with Trish, and Danny is truly happy with where they're at. Not to mention she's been excelling at her training. She has a natural affinity. Danny had no intention of celebrating his birthday; his partners wanting to throw him a massive public party just leaves a bad taste in his mouth. But now he has Trish and she makes everything besides her seem so unimportant to him.
And tonight will actually be the official public event for them being a couple, both being high profile, with her a celebrity and him the CEO of a billion-dollar corporation. They're gonna draw attention to themselves, but Trish is worth it, he'd do anything for her.
Danny had stayed at Trish's place the few nights before his party since his penthouse is being prepared for his party, and he had made the decision to move all his parent's belongings into storage and begin to make the place someplace he and Trish could enjoy together. Tonight the only present he wants is Trish saying she'll move in with him. He even made a key for her and planned on showing her his secret elevator to get in unnoticed if she needs to.
Danny stood in front of Trish's mirror, messing with his tie, trying to get it straight, not quite happy with it or the idea of having dozens of strangers in his place. He takes a deep sigh, almost wanting to cancel the whole thing, but he catches Trish's reflection behind him in the mirror.
"My God, you take my breath away every time I see you. Is it possible you wake up more beautiful than the night before? " Looking down at his watch. "The car will be here to get us soon. We could blow this whole thing off, order a pizza and just stay in bed."
Trish is pretty sure she's falling for Danny Rand.
She's always been the sort of girl who fell for the wrong sort of man. Whether that happened to be an abusive producer, a junkie, or just a condescending jerk, she never seemed to be attracted to a genuinely good man who simply wanted to know the woman that she was rather than attach himself on the arm of Trish Walker and her bank account. But Danny was about as different from that as a person could be, and she was no less attracted for it. He certainly didn't need her money or fame, as his own more than outranked hers, and he truly seemed to like her for herself. Not for her "public" persona or for the best parts of herself she tried to present, but for the complex, real person that she was, the woman Trish herself couldn't always accept or show. She had yet to show him all of her more broken and bitter pieces, but for the first time, Trish was beginning to think there might be someone beyond her adoptive sister who could see them and still see her as worth being with.
She's never enjoyed her own birthdays; they had been more about publicity shoots than anything as a child and teenager, and as an adult, they marked another year older that might cause the public to discard her as "too old" to be relevant. But Danny's birthday had no such stigma to her, and she intends to fully enjoy it with him. She wants to make a good impression on everyone in his life that is important and those that aren't too; she wants them too to think her worthy of him.
She is somewhat nervous as she wraps her arms around Danny, smiling up at him.
"It's your birthday, Mr. Rand. You call all the shots. If that's what you want, that's what we do."
Wrapping himself around her, he kisses the top of her head so not to mess up her makeup.
"Thank you for saying that, but this is what my partners want, to hell with my feelings. But as long as I have you by my side, I can make it through this. But if I had my way, it would be just us, your sister and Luke on my balcony with some pizza and some beer, giving each other crap."
As tempted as he is to ask her right now to move in with him, he decides to wait. His phone buzzes with a text from the driver who is down stairs waiting.
"Looks like it's time. " Gently lifting up her chin, Danny smiles at her. "Ready for the world?"
"Mmm...does sound like a good time," Trish agreed, smiling and nuzzling against him. "But we can make it fun on our own. It's your day, you can play the eccentric rich guy and make things more interesting if you like."
She grinned, thinking of some of their road trip antics. Stretching to kiss him, she nods and holds her arm out for him to take. "Ready. They know I'm coming?"
"My partners? Yeah, they know. There will be a ton of paparazzi vultures waiting for us, because my partners alerted them."
Walking with her out the door, Danny takes her arm. After a short elevator ride they step outside to the waiting car. Being a gentleman, he helps Trish into the car and follows her in, sitting next to her with an arm around her.
After a drive uptown they arrived to Danny's building, and just as expected a bunch of the press are waiting for them. As the car stops Danny signals the driver to wait outside for a moment.
"Trish, you've become the most important person to me in the world." Reaching into his pocket, Danny pulls out a key to his penthouse and holds it out in front of her."I love you and I want to wake up to your face, fall asleep in your arms...I want you to move in. I want us to make that place our home. Or your place, I honestly don't care as long as you're there with me."
Paparazzi was something Trish was certainly used to, so she prepared herself for her most dazzling smiles to flash for their benefit.
"Hope you told Jess, she hates crowds. And pictures."
She relaxes in the car with Danny, leaning into him and enjoying being close. When he holds out a key to her, she blinks, not getting it at first. Then as he continues to explain his intentions, she begins to smile. She gave a squeak, then threw her arms around him tightly.
"Yes! Yes, I am so ready for this!" She drew back a little, looking at him closely. "You're sure?"
"If I wasn't so sure I wouldn't be so nervous. Trish, you made me nervous... I punched a dragon in the heart and yet the thought of you saying no was more terrifying to me! I love you. I want to share my world with you and want you to share yours with me."
"I make you nervous?" She ran a hand over his neck gently, marveling. "I thought I only made fans nervous. There's not a reason to be scared of me. I feel the same about you."
She paused, her hand stilling against him. "I love you. But...I'm not perfect, you've read the tabloids, right?" She says this lightly, but there is some anxiety in her face. "I'm still working on being who I want to be."
"Trish, who the hell wants to be perfect, perfect people never have to try, never want to grow. I know you have a past, I do too," Danny reassured her. "Trish, I've killed so many people protecting Kun-Lun. It was my duty but it is still part of my past and it haunts me. But you make me feel like I'm getting a fresh start at life. So let's support each other." He leans in to kiss her. "I want to be with you. Now we better get inside before they try to break in to take their pictures."
Danny takes a deep breath with Trish's hand in his. He opens the door to the car and using his free hand, shields his eyes from the blinding lights from the flashes. Helping Trish out, the couple steps away from the car holding hands, putting on his best smile, as people start shouting questions and comments about the couple.
"Everyone Thank you, it's good to see you all, but I have no statement for you tonight other than I hope you all have a pleasant evening."
Reassured, Trish kisses him back, squeezing his hand tightly. "You're pretty smooth for a guy who has a glow in the dark fist," she playfully. Then more seriously, thinking with some somberness that she had no idea that he, like Jessica, is haunted by the deaths she had caused, "I forget sometimes how lucky I am. I want you to feel just as supported as you make me feel."
Bracing herself for the flood of paparazzi, Trish grips Danny's hand tightly, giving everyone a bright smile and slight wave as she keeps up with him. She stays quiet, wondering how Jessica will respond to the crowd. She hopes she won't get too insanely drunk to cope, and that Luke knows her well enough by now to see when she's reached her limit of edginess.
Danny escorts Trish inside the building. Wendell and a team of guards are at the door to keep the press from getting in and walk the couple to the elevator.
"When is your shift over Wendell? You should come to the party, that way I'll recognize a few people at my own party."
"Wish I could but I'm working the entire night and your place tonight is not my kind of scene."
Danny reaches into his pocket and hands Wendell some cash. "How about you order your people something."
Wendell smiles as Trish and Danny gets on the elevator. "By the way you both look very happy, and Ms. Walker you look beautiful."
Danny kisses Trish's cheek and smiles. "Yes, yes she does..Goodnight Wendell. "
About 20 minutes earlier Luke and Jessica arrived at an empty office building across the street from Rand. Luke leads Jessica down to the basement through a hallway to a door with a keypad. After entering a code the door opens to a tunnel running under the stree. At the end of the tunnel is an elevator.
"Danny uses this to get in and out of his building for his nightly missions. I don't like dozens of cameras and flashes in my face," Luke explained. "I figured you'd probably hate that even more."
The elevator stops in a spare bedroom in the penthouse. The door is locked to this room so nobody can see them come out. "Want to go drink all his top shelf booze before folks start to annoy us?"
"That's too bad," Trish said to Wendell sincerely, smiling at him. "Maybe you can hang out with us another night?"
She smiled at his compliment, squeezing Danny's arm. "Thank you...I'm very happy. I've been having a wonderful time lately."
She follows Danny inside, interested in who she will meet and what the night will bring.
Across the street Jessica stays close to Luke as they enter the building in his underground system set up, face screwed up in distaste as she thinks of the massive crowd she had just bypassed.
"I grew up with a superstar and I still don't get it. How the he'll do those people do that shit and not expect to get punched out? I swear, if someone brushes against me, let alone asks me about being a so called hero or what color underwear Trish prefers or some other bullshit, I'm knocking them out. Danny's rich, he can post bail."
She brightens at his suggestion of alcohol. "Knew the guy was a good one to hang with for a reason. Show the way."
Luke put a hand on her waist as they move through the arriving crowds of people, including celebrities, titans of industry and politicians. For a second he thought he even saw Tony Stark but it turned out to just be Robert Downey Jr. Well that was disappointing.
"I don't get doesn't know any of these people, just a bunch of egotistical entitled vultures. I know Danny this isn't something he would ever want."
Getting to the bar, he leans against it so he can face out into the crowd. "Two bourbons, no ice, leave the bottle." Luke holds up his glass to Jessica's. "We'll have to throw him a proper party later on.
As the elevator doors open Danny and Trish are greeted with a rush of people with fake smiles, wishing him happy birthday. Danny tightly holds to Trish's hand as the make their way through the crowd, greeting folks as they move. It's a good 40 minutes before things die down around them. Finally, a moment alone with Trish.
"My God this is your life all the time isn't it? I'm amazed that you can deal with it so well. I don't think I could do this without you here with me."
Jessica lets Luke keep his hand on her as they work through the crowd, grateful for the touch. It feels steadying, grounding, although she wouldn't tell him that. She relaxes as they reach the bar, clinks her glass to his, and throws it back.
"Why the hell are they all here? They just want free drinks, hope to get famous? Why doesn't he tell them to go screw themselves? I would. Hey, I can do it for him, it can be my gift."
Trish is very used to the rush of attention and fawning fakeness of the crowd and so shows very little reaction of any stress as they descend on them. She notices how much easier it is to smile through though with Danny beside her, holding her hand. When they finally have a moment to catch their breath and Danny expresses his overwhelm, she smiles, shaking her head.
"Can't say I love it, but I'm used to it. Playing nice is my livelihood. It was scarier when I was ten than it is now, I used to think they were going to crush me."
She smirked, giggling a little. "When I got too sick of it I would just get Jess to act out, divert some of the attention her way. It worked. She made my mother ashamed of her and focused on how mad she was at her for embarrassing her instead of what I did or said wrong, for a change."
Looking around the room, Danny smiles when he sees Luke and Jessica at the bar. "Finally some familiar faces. Come on, let's go tell them our good news."
Leading Trish towards the bar, Luke and Danny greet each other happily.
"Happy birthday Danny, and Trish WOW! You look...unusually happy…too happy. Something is up?"
"Thanks for coming, it's nice to see actual people that care about us."
Danny glances at Jessica and smirks. "Jessica, you wore your formal leather jacket for me. You do like me."
Danny looks to the bartender, asking for 2 more glasses, and Luke then pours another round of drinks for everyone, holding up his glass.
"Happy birthday brother and here is to getting absolutely smashed!" Danny holds up his glass touching with everyone else's. He takes a long drink and slips an arm around Trish.
"So yeah we got some news. I asked Trish to move in with me here in this place and she said yes!" Danny has the biggest stupid grin on his face.
Luke wraps his massive frame around both of them, lifting both off the floor." WHAT? THAT'S AMAZING CONGRATS YOU TWO!"
He turns to Jessica, putting his arm around her. "Damn, if I ask you now I'm gonna look like a dick just trying to keep up with them."
"I promise Jessica, I'll take great care of your sister," Danny looked over at her, speaking earnestly.
Jessica smirks back at Danny when he approaches. "Yeah, brushed my hair and wore deodorant too, feel special all right."
Trish returns Jessica's smirk but smiles genuinely after, knowing that it meant Jessica truly did care about Danny that she came. "Danny, that's almost a confession of deep love from her."
She giggles,startled but happy, when Luke hugs her and lifts her and Danny off the floor in his massive embrace. "Thanks...wow, a little dizzy!"
Jessica smiled at them both, genuinely happy for them, and wrapped an arm around Luke in return. "Cool. Warning you, Danny, she uses up all the hot water in showers, hogs covers, and makes a lot of noise in the morning. Then again we know you're one of those crazy people who thinks mornings are cool, so I'm sure you'll get along fine."
Trish smirked at her, giving her a light, affectionate push. "If I can live with you and my mom, I can live with anyone and be a shining beacon of consideration in comparison."
Jessica regarded Danny seriously after his promise, drink empty, hand tight around the glass. "You better. Protecting Trish is the most important thing in my life, and I've fucked it up enough. Don't join me in that."
Trish regarded her softly, understanding that from Jessica, this is more or less a declaration of her fierce love for her. "You haven't messed anything up, Jess. I know you always do what you can."
Looking up at Luke, Jessica leaned into the circle of his arm. "Well, what are we waiting for? Want to copy these dorks and move in together?"
Luke looks at Jessica grins. "We can do that when you let me call you Jess. And we find a place we both like."
Danny starts to say, "You know there are 3 bedrooms here-"
Luke quickly jumps in. "AWW HELL NO! I'm not waking up to-" he waves his hands around Trish and Danny, "All that everyday for the rest of my life, with your chipper morning routines. I love you both but y'all get on my nerves in the morning. I want to wake up to Miss Grouch here."
"You can call me Jess," Jessica shrugged. "Trish does, it's Jessie that gets you knocked out."
"Hm, that would be cool," Trish mused, considering Danny's suggestion. She smirked, cutting her eyes at Jessica slyly. "It would be like a sleepover that never ends."
Jessica's expression mirrors Luke's horror. "No. Hell no. World of no. Squared. I can kind of handle living with Trish, but two of her that make out with each other, way too much to ask."
Luke starts laughing and pointing at Danny "She thinks you're a woman, must be your legs!"
"Well at least she stopped calling me a virgin monk. Baby steps I guess. Well the offer stands if you need a place to crash."
Luke pulls another round of drinks and the room gets dark, a bright light comes from the direction of the kitchen as a server wheels up a huge cake. The room chimes in singing Happy birthday, and the cake stops in front of Danny and moves to his side, putting his hand on Danny's shoulder.
"Make a wish Danny!" The crowd starts shouting.
After a brief pause Danny leans forward pretending to blow out his candles, but he actually slyly just snaps his fingers, causing a tiny shockwave that puts out the candles.
Luke leans in and whispers. "I think that's cheating! Not sure you'll get your wish."
Danny smiles at Trish. "I already got it, besides who wants to eat something someone blew their breath all over...that's gross!"
"Well as much as you stick your tongue down my sister's throat, I'm guessing you're an impure monk now," Jessica shrugged. She smirked, looking at Danny's legs deliberately with Luke's comment.
"Hm, they are pretty smooth and shapely, Danielle."
"Hey, don't make fun of him on his birthday," Trish admonished. She kissed Danny's cheek, then ran one pedicured toe sneakily over the back of his leg. "Feels manly enough to me."
As the cake is wheeled in front of Danny, Trish sings for him, smiling, and then gave him another quick kiss after he made his wish. Jessica crosses her arms, refraining from singing, but she smiles a little and doesnt gag when Trish kisses him.
"Hey, as long as you two don't start feeding each other. It's a birthday, not a wedding."
"Danielle? I kind of like that name." Luke repeats the name to himself as if Jessica just implanted an earworm into his head, then another when she mentioned wedding cake. "You trying to give them ideas? They just agreed to live together."
Danny does the whole traditional cutting the first slice, which Luke quickly grabs for himself. "I should taste test this for you, make sure it's not poison."
Danny grins at Luke. "Well that is always a possibility.I mean wouldn't be the first time. It could be one of those eat you from the inside out kind of poisons."
Luke just shrugs his shoulders and keeps eating. "I been filling up on bourbon all night long, I'm sure it will destroy any poison."
Danny looks at Jessica and Trish. "He's so pretty and so dumb."
"I'm pretty sure they are sappy enough to come up with the basics on their own," Jessica said dryly. "No need to go on about baby carriages."
She raised an eyebrow at Luke. "You like the name, huh? What, you going girl on me secretly? Will I have to call you Lucy?" Reaching around Luke, she snags the cake slice he just snatched from Danny and takes a bite. "We die, we die together, eating your sickeningly sweet cake. Hm, Appropriate. It matches the Trishanny display."
"Did you just give us a celebrity relationship name"? Trish asked, tilting her head, and Jessica shrugged. "Yep, seems ridiculous enough to be appropriate."
The party keeps going for a few more hours, winding down about 2 a.m. Danny had suggested that Luke and the ladies hang out with him on the outside balcony while the staff starts cleaning up. After all the guest have left it's just the couples drinking and joking.
Suddenly Danny goes quiet. He stands and walks towards the edge of the balcony.
"What's up Danny, you feeling sick?" Luke asked.
In a swift movement Danny snatches an arrow fired for Trish's head. Luke jumps to his feet putting himself in front of Jessica and Trish, expecting more arrows, but none come.
"It's over, whoever it was did what they meant to do and are now long gone," Danny told him.
Examining the arrow, Danny notices a piece of paper tied to it. After reading it, he drops it to the ground, clearly shaken. Luke picks up the note and reads it aloud.
"Miss, you. Colleen XOXO." He looks up, frowning. "Danny, It may not even be her, it could be someone messing with you!"
Danny shook his head. "No it's her, she's with them again. I shouldn't have let her try to take them on by herself! Now they have her again!"
Jessica is pretty drunk by the time the party is winding down, but not enough so to be obnoxious or ready to black out from it. Trish is a little past tipsy and closer to drunk herself and keeps giggling periodically, clinging onto whichever people are close, and Jessica even allows that to be herself a couple of times. Both their moods plummet immediately when Danny catches the arrow. Trish freezes, her face draining of color, and Jessica grabs her arm, yanking her down flat to the balcony ground and covering her body with her own, even as Luke jumps in front of both of them. She doesn't get up or let Trish up even when Danny said they were gone; she wasn't certain of that herself.
"Colleen? Who the hell is that, why would she try to kill Trish?! Danny, call your security to go after her!"
"Danny...Jessica, what?" Trish starts, totally confused and scared, but Jessica hisses at her.
"Shhh, be quiet, and stay still!"
Danny snaps the arrow between his two fingers before turning to help Trish up. " Seriously, it's over and its pointless sending security. Even if they caught her it would just be sending them to their deaths, and I don't want to make that call to their families. Come on, let's go inside and I'll explain everything."
Luke steps in front of Danny, holding a hand on his shoulder and looking concerned." Danny, if they took Colleen, then Misty?"
Danny interrupts him. "They either broke her like Colleen or they killed her. The Hand doesn't keep prisoners!" Looking away from Luke. "For both your sakes, I hope they killed her or you might have to. Come on Trish, let's get you inside."
Luke looks over to Jessica. "This is messed up! Just when he started to be happy again!"
Trish clings to Danny, still about five steps behind from shock and alcohol. "What...why are they killing me? I don't know them..." Then she added as an afterthought, "Oh my god, it's one of my fans! I have a stalker, but this time they want to assassinate me!"
"Trish, board the reality train," Jessica snapped. Her posture is rigid, and she is hypervigilant, eyes darting at every noise. "That was no sad Patsy fan. Go inside for fucks sake!"
She shoves at her, grabbing Luke's arm to follow them. Once inside she rounds on Danny, her fear and anger narrowing in towards him, the only person there to target.
"Who the fuck are those women and why are they trying to kill Trish? And how the hell are they so deadly you're scared to send men with guns after them?!"
Trish is still catching up, her eyes wide. "I could have died...again. I'm like a cat...how many times have I almost died now?"
Danny, softly rubbing Trish's back."She didn't want to kill Trish, if she did, I would have been able to detect her. Here name is Colleen Wing, my ex. Last I heard she and Misty, Luke's kinda of ex, were in Singapore trying to shut down a Hand Stronghold. It would have been the 9th one."
He looks over at Luke. "Sorry if I made you think I wasn't in contact with them, I know you were worried about me."
"That is a conversation for another time Danny! But we will have it!"
"I guess The Hand got wise to who was attacking them and laid a trap for them, broke Colleen's mind. If she's lucky they killed Misty, I don't think you could deal with her if they broke her too."
"So between you and them, a society of ninja assassins are highly pissed off and now want some pay back! Well ain't that a bitch!"Luke growled.
Danny squeezed Trish's hand. "Trish, I was so concerned about how I would deal with your world I neglected to think about how mine would affect you. You didn't ask for this, nor do you deserve it."
Trish leans into Danny, her head swiveling between him and Luke as she tries to process what Danny is saying.
"They didn't want to kill me? They wanted to kill Danny?"
"No," Jessica corrected, frowning. "He's saying that wasn't an attempted murder at all, right? Just some kind of twisted, show off message. For Danny, not her. Apparently they are a sucky shot."
She frowned at him, still abrupt in her communication. "So how is this going to affect her? What exactly kind of revenge do they want here?"
Luke chimes in. "Colleen doesn't want revenge on Danny! It's them. They did something to her mind. That's what you're saying right Danny?"
"They torture and twist people minds, until they're just mindless drones," Danny started.
Again Luke jumps in. "Drones that can fire an arrow 1200 feet against 50 mile an hour wind and put it right were she wanted it."
Danny looks away. "I have to stop her. Put her down before they make her into a mass murderer!"
"Them being a society of ninja assassins," Jessica recalled. "Who are using his ex to get to him, through his new girl? What the hell, you turn them down in joining their kill society and they start shooting message arrows? I thought ninja stars were their weapon of choice."
Then she stopped, her heart skipping a beat. "Wait, what? Twist people's minds? Like...brainwashing, or mind control?" Her thoughts immediately fly to Kilgrave. "How many are there?"
Trish chimes in. "They can make people murder if they don't want to? Jessica, it's like Kilgrave!"
Jessica glares at her. "I got it, thanks."
"Who's Killgrave?" Both Danny and Luke ask at the same time.
"Don't laugh at me but it's like magic, yes magic does exist. Hence this." Danny held up his glowing fist. "My powers aren't science or genetic, they're mystical, magical. I don't know how The Hand Brainwashes someone, I just saw it's results. And it's permenant. The only way to break it is death. At least that's the only thing that's worked so far."
"Can't we capture her, lock her away?" Luke asked.
Danny shakes his head no. "There is no prison that can hold a member of the hand..Not that I know of. And as to why they want me dead, It's because for centuries they've been trying to find and invade Kun-Lun and every time an Ironfist stopped them."
"I told you," Jessica muttered to Luke. "Remember? Mind control guy?" Both she and Trish look somber and far more sober as Danny explains.
"Are you sure there's nothing we can do for this woman?" Jessica asks. "Something or someone has to break mind control, it can't just be hopeless. You know her, you have magic."
"He doesn't want to hurt her," Trish said quietly, seeing this. "He cares about her."
"Well, she wants to kill him, she could have killed you!"
Danny snaps. "DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME! THIS HAS GONE ON FOR CENTURIES!" Quickly calming himself down. "I'm sorry, look not only do I have the power of past fists, but I have their knowledge, and not one knew how to fix what has been done. The only thing is to put them down. Also you asked how many. The Hand is numbers are endless and I'm stuck fighting a war that I can never win till I die, and then the next fist picks up where I ended forever and ever. I'm so damn tired, I just wanted a night with the people I love with my curse touching them!"
Trish squeezes Danny, rubbing her hand over his back. "We're here with you and for you. We will figure this out. And we'll help you. Together."
Jessica nodded, ignoring his outburst. "Once someone challenges me or threatens my people, I don't take it lying down and I don't stop. We will get this. It can't be hopeless."
Luke is not used to seeing hopeless Danny, it's as if the world was tilted and just not right.
"Just because something has gone on for a long time doesn't mean it's endless, just means no one has discovered how to end it. And if I have faith in anyone to find it, that would be you Danny. Besides none of those other ironfist had us by their side, so we're gonna do what we have to do and that's all that's to it."
"Besides, you've been training Trish, sure she doesn't look like she can right now seeing how she's tipsy Trish right now, but I'm sure she can handle herself."
Danny perks up a little, smiling at Trish. "Yeah, she's a badass and looks good doing it. So I'm not gonna worry, we'll finish this crap then I'm gonna live happliy with Trish, hang with my brother, and Jessica will drink all my booze and make fun of me."
Jessica rolled her eyes a little but didn't disagree. "Damn straight. Now that we all kumbaya and rah rah pep talked together, you gonna step away from the ledge?"
Trish looked at her, confused, before the metaphors clicked in. "Hey, I'm not tipsy!"
Jessica gave her a light push and Trish almost toppled over before she grabbed and steadied her. "Funny, looks like you're tipping to me."
Danny smiles again taking Trish off Jessica's hands. "I wonder if she'll even remember any of this? This is actually the first time I've seen her drunk, kind of cute. Hope she's not a puker though."
Luke moves behind Jessica, sliding his hands onto her waist and resting his chin awkwardly on her shoulder, whispering into her ear. "I'll admit it, I'm kind of jealous of them. We should find a place we both like."
"Nah, she's going to get obnoxiously cuddly, and then she'll go to sleep," Jessica said casually. "And snore. And if you share a bed, kick."
As if on cue, Trish turns and nuzzles into Danny, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his waist.
Jessica leans back into Luke, not self conscious of it as she might have been in front of the others before. She covers his hands with hers. "Why jealous? What, you want me to go blonde and clingy? She wrinkled her nose, playful. "My brain cells have lost out to vodka enough already."