"Hey… again," Celeste called Jess, climbing into her bed as she did, having already spoken to him that evening before Evie went to sleep. Though truthfully, that callhad been more about Jess talking to Evie than her. While surely, just to hear his voice, that was fine too - but despite having said their goodbyes for that evening and having company in the house, she missed his company.
"Hey," he sighed, sounding pleasantly surprised by her call. "Everything okay?" he felt he needed to ask - perhaps this wasn't just a social call. He had always worried how him being away weeks on end would influence her.
"Yeah, I'm good. I just thought I'd spend some quality phone time with my husband without distractions," she began a little cheekily. But instead of leading him down that path even further, feeling just a tiny bit self-concious about what she aimed at, she asked casually, "so how is Atlanta?"
Jess had been writing, the Clarion Inn in Downtown Atlanta looking rather unimpressive, his window looking at the Mercedes Benz stadium - but strangely enough that type of plainness offered something at least in terms of inspiration and in fact he'd just spent the last half an hour describing this particular room in question as one of the dullest he could think of for his next novel.
"Not particularly interesting this time of year," he replied, struggling to really say anything more exciting. The entire day had been rainy and grey - and if it hadn't been for his writing - he could've actually said he really missed home right now. He did, he was experiencing some form of hypergraphia at the moment and he almost wished he could start taking busses and trains from A to B instead of driving so he could spend that time writing instead.
"Was the venue good at least?" she kept asking, sensing he wasn't terribly exited to be where he was.
"Yeah, it was alright. It was a place that belonged to one of Lauren's friends actually. We went to dinner later," he shared, beginning to wonder if she was really that good at knowing that there was 'something' to ask about. Was that the female intuition?
"So what was she like?" Celeste inquired with a teasing smirk.
Jess cleaned back against the headboard, smiling wide. This was so her.
"A lot like Lauren in her presence - short, blonde, got some piercings," Jess listed, feeling a little amused.
"Hot?" she asked, but not at all in a scolding manner. They both knew that with adoring fans or simply by traveling Jess was going to be interacting with a variety of people, women included. And from his previous books tours, though years ago, Jess had told Celeste that there had been occasions where some of those fans had even tried to make a move on him. In the past he might have even given into it a few times when he enjoyed the company, but now there really was no jealousy as such, rather the entertainment side of this - thinking of the 'what if'. They had trust.
"Not bad, a little skinny to my liking," Jess admitted, knowing just the thing to say. It was funny how tastes matured with age as well. As a teen and in his twenties he'd very much been set on liking the model type, but being with Celeste had taught him what he truly appreciated was the softness of the curves, especially when it came to the hips. Celeste was by no means overweight - she still looked several years younger than she was - but she definitely had that right curvature.
"Good man," Celeste chuckled quietly.
Damn he loved that laugh.
Several seconds of silence followed.
"Do you ever think about what it would be like to bring someone back to your hotel room?" she asked. It didn't sound like she was accusing him, but she was just trying to put herself in his position - being on the road like that - it was very much stringless, no traces. If the opportunity presented it, how many seconds would it take him to think about it?
"This is a trap right?" Jess asked, just in case.
"No..," she said innocently. "I know you wouldn't do that, I trust you, but just… talk me through it," she added, finally admitting to why she'd called in the first place.
"Ah…," Jess exhaled, realizing her agenda.
"Well?" Celeste replied a little impatiently.
Jess closed his laptop lid, placing it onto the bedside table.
"Patience," he scolded playfully, trying to think of how to paint a good picture for her. "Well I guess I'd probably be at the bar, getting a drink," he said. "The woman might walk up to me, while I'm sitting at the bar alone, and say that she recognized me from earlier. She might say something about one of the books - perhaps how she related to one of the characters or how hot she thought the main character was, how she'd most definitely want to do a thing or two to that character," Jess added. That was how it was with fans - they wanted to believe the characters were real, thinking Jess was that main character, they wanted the stories to be real and they wanted to feel like they were apart of it.
"What would she be wearing?" she asked with a smirk.
"Black bodycon, you know - like the one you used to wear," Jess replied, knowing that she'd appreciate him remembering that from one of their early dates.
"Uh-uh," Celeste replied. "And what would you be wearing?" she asked.
"Oh, you know - just the day's clothes - rolled up sleeves on my dress shirt, dark jeans," he said, knowing she had a bit of a thing for forearms.
"Uh-uh," she hummed.
"And then we'd exchange a few words, finishing our drinks," Jess added. "But you're definitely being a little flirty, touching my forearm, whispering to my ear, playing with your hair," he continued, sensing it was probably wiser to turn the conversation over to him and her instead of some random woman.
For a moment she wanted to argue, that she didn't play with hair, not liking the stereotype, but she let it go.
"And how would that make you feel?" Celeste asked.
"Hey, you're doing an awful lot of asking, why don't you tell me your side, I'll tell you mine," Jess protested, playfully.
"Fine, but you first," she insisted, pretending to be annoyed.
"Well the touch is electric, and when you whisper something to my ear and it makes the hairs on my skin stand up, my gut feels hollow. I just keep looking at those lips as you lick them, almost unnoticeably - but oh, I notice," Jess described smugly. It was really easy to describe this though - their very first time having been fairly similar.
"And all I keep thinking is why aren't you touching me yet, I almost feel like begging if you keep me waiting much longer," Celeste pitched in, her voice reaching that slightly sultry tone he knew so well.
"There's hardly anyone around now, the bartender is chatting with some couple at the far end of the bar. I stand up but you remain seated at the bar stool, so that your bare knee brushes up against me," Jess spoke. "I say something, just as a distraction, but really just slip my fingers along the inside of your thigh…," he continued after taking a deep, audible, breath.
"Ah..," Celeste exhaled, clearly liking where this was headed. "God, I'm soaked," she whispered, not even having to lie.
"Oh, I know, I can feel it," he murmured, Celeste hearing the smirk on his face.
Jess could hear Celeste clatter with the bedside drawer. Oh, he knew very well what she had in that drawer, they even used toys every now and then when they were at it together.
The man was no doubt good with his words, his tone and Celeste's clear memory of what his touch felt like for real, combined with her Lelo wand brought her to climax at least twice, by the sound of it, in the next fifteen minutes. Jess' own release was amplified by her low, a little withheld, moans, the audio of her being infinitely better than any other visual stimuli.
"Thanks for that," she purred a moment later, thankful to Jess who'd ended up doing most of the talking, though in the end with some lengthy pauses of heavy breathing.
"Anytime," he chuckled. Boring had never been a word to describe their sex life, even from the distance, and he clearly didn't have to be disappointed now during his book tour, his mind already beginning to think up novel ways to repeat this another night.
After the 'I love you's' they disconnected the call, leaving both with a pleasant glow.
Celeste sneaked out of her room to head across the hall to clean up. The house was dark and by now she knew which floorboards to avoid to not make a sound. She was just about to exit the bathroom some minutes later, when she suddenly came to a halt by a sound coming from downstairs - the ventilation shafts were old - carrying sound perhaps a little too well to the room right above it. She heard some stumbling and a sudden sound of melancholic music that was turned down in a matter of less that ten seconds, making her panic for a brief moment whether it would wake Evie. What it sounded like was G having accidentally pulled the earphone jack out of her device, which was forgivable of course, despite the time being quite late already. As the music switched off, she recognized the sniffling.
Could it be that G was crying? - Celeste pondered.
She'd never really been close with G, and to go barging in, asking if she was okay, this late in the evening seemed like overstepping some invisible boundary. This wasn't her sister, after all. Having spoken to her perhaps 10 times on the whole, didn't quite give her that kind of right to know, despite being a little curious and at the same time compassionate. Being a teenager was hard, even she knew it. And it wasn't like there was anything that strange about teenagers getting caught up in the emotions of their relationships, sad movies or music just for the sake of it - especially by the sound of Vianney's 'Je m'en vais', which she thought was what she'd heard the music was, almost having forgotten their joint French connection. If it was that - it was a break up song - and there really was very little someone like her could help her with in that case. Hence she simply took a deep breath and returned to her room, not wanting to seem like budding her nose into where it didn't belong.
Rory had made an early start the following morning, heading over to Hartford to see Paris, bringing the babies, Lorelai, Maya and Finny with her, having had Luke make them a quick breakfast before leaving, even though Celeste had said she wouldn't have minded making them something herself. But she knew, Rory had simply missed Luke's.
But as they hadn't woken her, Celeste had slept late, well - as late as a toddler would allow. She didn't have to go to work until noon, so it wasn't a big deal. She liked how she and Rory could just co-exist, make their own decisions and not keep explaining and apologizing about everything - they knew how they thought and what were the things that either would need to address when staying at each-other's places, making the adjustment during the past few days very easy.
Celeste was now downstairs in the kitchen, making Evie, who sat at the high chair but at least no longer needed to be strapped in in any way, an omelette, while the girl snacked on her veggies in the meanwhile.
"You're going to grandma's today," Celeste explained to Evie.
"Nanna!" Evie said. "Play with Du?" she asked, referring to Doula.
"Maybe, I don't know if she's around today," Celeste added apologetically.
"I want Du!" Evie insisted, getting a slight frown in return, which curved her eyebrows just as Jess' eyebrows usually did - clearly indicting her being her father's daughter.
"We'll just have to go and see if she's there," she began. She didn't want Doula to see playing with Evie as an obligation - she was too young for that but so far she'd been willing enough to babysit even without payment, which they'd actually even offered, having decided between themselves to just give her something a little bigger for her Christmas and birthday presents in return - but it seemed the teenager was too easy to please, quite content with a few new books, which hardly seemed like enough. "How about - if she can't then we'll go swimming in the evening, just you and me, okay?" she suggested, wanting Evie to start her morning with a good mood. Working at the Inn Annex, like that day, was rather convenient, enabling her to take the girl swimming whenever she wanted.
That suggestion definitely worked on Evie, who was a big fan of the water.
Celeste returned to the stove, turning the omelette around in the pan.
"Hey," came a weak voice from by the doorway leading to the stairs.
"Good morning," Celeste replied, trying to put on a straight face and not ask as the first thing if she was okay. While she still felt like not intervening had been perhaps the most appropriate thing to do, she was quite an empathetic person, which meant that it had been difficult for her to just forget about what she thought she heard last night.
G greeted Evie by stroking her pigtails with endearment.
"Coffee? There's enough of this omelette, if you want but I also have homemade granola," Celeste offered, taking a sip of her own coffee.
"Anything is fine, thanks," G replied.
Celeste gestured towards the coffee machine - surely the girl could push a button.
The coffee maker buzzed letting out a whiff of that freshly ground aroma.
Celeste hastily cut the large omelette in three parts, adding some cucumber and tomato to her's and G's plate, she'd already cut ahead of time.
"Thanks, it looks great," G smiled weakly, returning to the table with her cup of black coffee.
The three sat at the tiny breakfast table, G nursing her coffee for a bit. She did look like she'd slept poorly - slightly darker circles around her eyes and a little seeming a little puffy. Celeste was pretty sure she'd been right about what she'd thought she'd heard.
"Have you thought about what you are going to do today? Rory already left to Hartford with the kids," Celeste asked, making polite conversation. She didn't want to go asking her how she was, not in front of Evie at least in case she broke down again. Evie sometimes got scared of things like that.
"Yeah, she texted me last night - I'm not a huge Paris fan," G commented. "But I don't know, I'll maybe just read today or something," she added.
"Paris is something, that's for sure," Celeste replied, quite understanding her decision to stay, but somehow just the idea of her sitting alone in that room, or any room, grieving whatever she was grieving, didn't seem like the best outlook either.
"If you want, you could come with me to the Inn Annex, there's a spa, you could go swimming. Might be more fun than sitting here, bring the book if you want," Celeste suggested. "I'm going around noon," she added, glancing at the large industrial clock on the wall that indicated it was 10.15 now.
G wasn't really feeling like going anywhere, putting up a brave face the whole day, but she did recall that ultimately the idea of this whole weekend was to be a distraction. She took a bite of the omelette, thinking.
"I don't have a swimsuit with me and I don't think they have a lot of selection in this town," G said.
"Hmm… If you'd be okay with wearing something of mine, I think I have one I haven't worn in years. It should be about your size. I still like to keep stuff around in case I ever lose these few extra pounds," she added, squinting her nose. She knew it was silly, clearly some middle-aged woman thing to do - hope that she might someday have her old pre-pregnancy body back. Wishful thinking, and a little unnecessary, but still…
"Okay, sure then," she replied. She was cried out to be honest - feeling dry, simply wanting something else to do. Maybe it would indeed help?
"I'll go up and look when we're done here," she replied, friendlily.
Celeste ate a few more bites, and drank the last of her coffee, reminding Evie to finish her cucumber. She then rose and walked over to the kitchen cabinet which she still used as her drug cabinet. She took the two pills she took every morning, and ran herself a glass of water. She saw no point in hiding this motion, actually liking the presence of some additional control, like she often did with Jess.
She swallowed, drinking the entire glass of water to flush them down. She took a few more pills, her supplements, that she hadn't quite forgotten about, though the number of those had diminished greatly after having Evie.
"What are you taking?" G suddenly asked. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry, I just… I know you're dealing with something and I'm just a little curious about the drug combinations. I want to go into psychology, but I've been reading a little about psychiatry as well," she explained, Rory having mentioned something in passing.
While she was a little surprised that she'd known, she wasn't angry or ashamed - it was just another situation that was a good reminder to her that this was not who she was and essentially she was just treating an illness by taking the appropriate medication.
"Wellbutrin and Effexor," Celeste replied, "and some supplements," she added.
"I think my friend Amelia takes Wellbutrin, it's quite common," G replied. While it wasn't something a lot people talked about she knew that the percentage of people taking antidepressants at one point during their lives was major, and she really didn't judge. In fact the her mother's problems when she had been younger had been a very major part in her developing her intetrest in the field.
"It was a little challenging to find the right combination at first, but it seems to be working alright now," Celeste commented, smilingly, feeling to some extent glad that the teenager was at least showing some signs of getting past whatever had been troubling her.
The two continued to chat a little about G's school and what and where she wanted to study, while Celeste cleaned up and waited for Evie to finish her breakfast. It was definitely a different side of G she was seeing.
Celeste was managing a small wedding of barely 30 people at the Inn Annex that day - and in many ways that kind of wedding was her favorite, the most intimate and least pretentious. And in this case what she really loved was the way the couple had gone all out but instead of simply spending a lot of money of flasy things, they'd done it in quality, insisting on healthy, local and organic meals and drinks, down to locally handmade wedding gown and in-season sunflowers as decor. Clearly - it was her kind of people. What topped it off for her, even though she was just running the event not really attending it, was the band, having heard them practice alone, had for a moment taken her breath away.
She listened to a variety of music herself, especially when Jess was around, but time and time again she would be drawn back to a certain style of romantic pop and indie. She couldn't help - there was just something about bands like Beta Radio, Blanco White, Wild Rivers and many others, that just moved something in her. And the band in question - Us The Duo - was right up her alley as well. And in a way it was kind of cool to interact with artists from that side of the curtain so to speak - here she wasn't the audience but the organizer, but she had to admit that she was a little starstruck too.
"Alright, I'll just go check on those refreshments for you," Celeste said to the band, leaving them to do the sound check in the ceremony hall, having instructed them on a couple of things, and headed off towards the kitchen.
Just as she was about to pass the hallway she thought for a moment that perhaps the responsible thing to do would be to go check on G for a moment, whom had decided to spend the day getting a mani-pedi, clearly having no trouble paying for some pampering herself, and was now hanging out by the pool in Celeste's old black-and-white striped bikini.
"Hey, do you want me to get you some food, I'm just going to the kitchen anyways," Celeste asked G hastily, who was at the moment laying on the recliner by the pool, the book she'd started the day before on her lap, a finger acting as the bookmark.
"Thanks, but I'm good for now," she replied.
It was only then Celeste noticed G had actually been in the middle of chatting to a guy, who was sitting on the recliner next to her. The guy was well toned, blonde haired and clearly quite handsome. He looked like an average teenager, maybe 17-18 no more, and she really didn't think much of it, but was actually a little relieved that G was interacting with other people. Clearly, the guy wasn't bothering her - she had looked relaxed and composed.
"Okay, I just might be a little busy once the wedding starts," Celeste replied.
"I'll be okay," she said smilingly.
As she headed off she heard the guy ask G, "Was that you mom?" and for a moment she cringed. Sure, she knew some had kids young, but she really didn't want to think she looked like a mother of a 16 years old, though in reality that really wouldn't have been that strange at all.
She brushed the thought aside and headed towards the kitchen to complete what she'd set out to do, the list of things she needed to do next already flowing around in her mind.
It was just after the ceremony, as she showed the gleeful newlyweds to the winter garden for their photos from where also the pool area was visible when she noticed G was nowhere in sight. But it had been a few hours since she'd seen her so she figured she must've just either gone to get some food or just headed back to the house. Though she had to admit, it seemed a little odd that she'd gone without telling her, she had her number after all or could've just left her a message at the front desk.
Even though she knew that G was essentially as capable as an adult, she kind of felt like G was her responsibility when Rory wasn't around. She knew it was ridiculous - G was essentially living on her own, and she herself at 16 hadn't really needed much supervision at all, but it was just a feeling, especially when accompanied with last night's crying.
For a split second the thought of the possibility of her abusing her meds - she had asked about them after all. Thankfully, just as she was about to give her a call, beginning to get a little worried, she saw her emerging from one of the rooms down the hall on the same floor. Celeste was far enough so G didn't notice her. She saw as G paused at the door, the guy she'd seen her with before, grabbing her ass to pull her close and kissed her. It was no innocent kiss. Celeste really didn't need much translation to what just had happened.
Celeste didn't want to linger, knowing that that type of confrontation - asking here what that was, scolding or any of it really...could hardly go well. Who was she to say anything to her?
Next one of the wedding guest came to ask her a question about the seating chart and she had no choice but to carry on with her work. Still, she worried - should she say anything? To G? To Rory?
AN: I am not a doctor, so the drug combinations I used were just based on a quick google search of what could theoretically be a combination. Not sure if that'd actually be the appropriate combo.