"This is it isn't it?" Margot questions turning off the car's engine as the two pauses just a little longer to start out at the imposingly posh manor house they'd come to clear out. The bartender immediately wants to slap her head into her palm because of course this was it. Tilly had been directing them towards this exact address for the last half hour.
"I hate this place." Tilly sniffed from the passenger seat.
"I don't blame you." Margot says eyeing the two-story, multi-roomed, and easily two thousand plus square foot house with a mix of envy and nausea. Compared to the spare room of the modest apartment she'd offered to let Tilly stay in until she'd decided what to do next this was well a palace in comparison "I mean who needs this much space and it's still considered a house?" she questions trying to ease the obvious deepening tensed set of her friend's shoulders ever since they'd or rather Tilly had decided she wanted to officially end her rollercoaster of a romance with Ivy Belfrey.
"It's not a house it's a prison." Tilly counters her voice low almost as if she hadn't intended to say the words aloud. Her breath catches in the back of her throat as she adds a soft "and all I've wanted to do since I left was to come back." Under her breath the longer her watery gaze stays fixed on the overly impressive house.
"This isn't your prison anymore." Margot promises one hand sliding into the other woman's hair. The fact Tilly seemed to instinctively nuzzle her cheek into Margot's palm encourages the bespectacled woman to twist more than a few wavy strands of Tilly's washed yet unbrushed hair around her fingers. "You're free and I'm here to make sure you stay that way." She vowed when watery blue finds the steady green of her companion.
"Because what's the point of being free if your all alone?"
Tilly's heartbroken words in answer to one of Margot's more annoy asked communitive questions on why the savvy young woman would continually subject herself to Ivy's toxic brand of supposed love replaying in her mind.
"Thank you." Tilly murmurs still nuzzling her cheek against the hand Margot had yet to drop from the resting place along the other woman's jaw.
"Any time." Margot smiles before the pair finally decided to exit the car.
"Hey." Margot chirped coming back from dropping off another load of packed-up boxes to the waiting car. Her hands were warm and steady against Tilly's trembling own as the slightly taller of the two pull her to a stop before Tilly could trip yet again into the bedroom doorway. Tilly having spent the last half hour making a point of checking the halls and windows every other time she wasn't distracted with packing to check her ex hadn't suddenly decided to come back early despite Ivy having been away from the place since the couple's latest 'spat' as Ivy called them.
"Dance with me."
"W—what?" Tilly questions in genuine surprise at the request as the strap of the duffle bag was stripped from her shoulder as the panicked blonde felt her unease melt away the longer, she held her friend's concerned gaze. The bag itself lightly dropped beside the door to be delt with later.
"Dance with me, Tilly. Please." Margot asks again already pulling up a slow tune on her phone she leaves balanced against the edge of the vanity.
The opening notes of light guitar chords leading into a rather slow song choice already calming Tilly's scattered mind as she finally allows herself to take a breath against the sheer panic her decision had caused inside her own mind.
"I'm not alone. I won't be alone. Margot believes in me I can never be alone as long as I know that." Tilly all but shouts to snickering whispers buzzing about inside her head the longer the two trade shy glances as the song's first few measures play out around them.
Margot patiently waited for her to make the next move. So curious. Not like Ivy who would already be crowding into Tilly's space not even giving her another option but to go along with whatever it was the dark-haired woman wanted.
"You were right."
Margot's head does that adorable little head tilt to one side like a puppy who'd been cutely puzzled by something and trying to work out what that something was. "How so?" the other woman questions unknowingly proving Tilly's comparison correct by the act alone.
Tilly doesn't fight the amused giggle the question triggers as she takes a few measured steps closer. Still, Margot doesn't make a move to cowed her.
"When you said, 'You're the only one in this suffocatingly small town that makes it bearable.' 'the only one that makes it feel right to be here at all'" Tilly clarifies her hands now gingerly interlocked behind Margot's neck her fingers twisting of their own accord in the small under hairs at the back of the taller woman's neck as she spoke.
Margot's eyes widen in panic behind the glare of her glasses at the repeated words. "Y—You heard all of that?" she stammered even giving a small nervous gulping motion as Tilly's lips curl upwards into a teasing smile the other woman's fingers still playing with teasing slowness to the baby hairs at the back of Margot's neck making the taller woman's knees weaken by the second at how pleasant the action felt.
"I'm not as deep of a sleeper as I can pretend to be." Tilly shrugs with a little gasp of her own considering her friend's hands now rest warmly yet respectively against the middle of her back as the two sway in slow circles as the song's repeated pre-chorus lyrics continue playing around them.
I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now
The night in question happened only a few days previous after a surprising side trip turned unintended sleepover on the rooftop of the building housing Roni's bar.
The sky had been so clear the number of stars they'd been able to see had been truly mind-blowing.
"And here I thought you knew all the best rooftops in the city." Margot had joked after Tilly's startled gasp after she'd consented to layback on the already spread blanket Margot had laid out. The woman herself had sat down a wader space than Tilly would have thought on such a cold night on a much smaller blanket of her own to watch the sky along with her.
The separating space not lasting long at all given the nightly chill meaning that sooner rather than later Tilly had been snuggling against Margot's side the bartender absently toying with her hair with Tilly pretending to be at least dozing restfully under the spared blanket considering neither had wanted to head back inside where it was far warmer when the sky looked so inviting now it wasn't blocked by the haze of the city smog and lights.
"I won't let her hurt you." Margot whispers coaxing Tilly out of her quiet remembrance as the song draws to a close. Or maybe it was the tickling feeling of the other woman's fingers once more gingerly tracing the shell of her ear as she twists the more unruly strands of Tilly's golden wave behind her ear again.
"I know," Tilly promises her voice now a light whisper of breath the longer she holds Margot's gaze.
Neither knows just who leans in first. Not that either of them cares just that the movement isn't hesitantly stopped before it can reach the end as Margot's head dips downwards at the same time Tilly lifts her chin.
Both of them with the same goal in mind. Finally, find out just how warm the other's lips would be pressed against her own.
The louder than-needed banging of the door on the floor below their own has the couple jumping apart as if struck by a lightning bolt. Stopped from parting completely only by their tightly clasped hands.
"Oh, Tilly."
Margot's hand was already closing tighter around Tilly's own as she slowly inched closer towards the final bag Tilly had so greedily packed up. Everything else would have to wait as the sounds of designed heels clicking up the main staircase reached them.
"Come on, sweetie can't we talk this out, one more time?"
Tilly's hand gently squeezed Margot's own drawing the other woman's gaze. 'Do you trust me?"
Margot snickered rolling her eyes for good measure as she tossed the duffle strap of her shoulder so the bag now rested against her back for a firmer hold than risk losing it should they actually need to run as her instincts were screaming at her to do. 'Always' she assures now pocketing her still playing cell phone just in case.
Tilly blushed even as the sounds of her ex's still clicking heels drew closer. 'then pretend you're chasing a rabbit' she warns before giving her hand a hard tug and dashing off down a secondary hallway.