hollywood problems,

        There’s not much for him to do but stand there while she scans him and the room like… like. He’s not really sure what she’s looking for but- it’s like a barcode. Reading something that doesn’t even look like letters to him. Luke folds his arms behind his back and does his best to be unobstructive. What she’s already told him-if you needed a place you should have said- left plenty of room for doubt, or a changed mind, or a suggestion of where else he could go. All of it fair enough but way less ideal— someplace else might be just as crashable, a couch was a couch was a couch, but whatever people were there wouldn’t be someone he knew. Someone who didn’t get mad about him climbing through windows, and who could rib him about his digging, and who he could, instead of an answer, give nothing but a fully petulant I-am-Not-a-fan-of-vogue face (mouth half open, tongue hanging out.)

        Or, even worse, there could be no one else there at all.

        It’s not until she sits that he turns his arms loose again. They swing, for a moment, throwing off the uncertainty to give him back his usual ease. It’s that ease which drags him to sit, too. Not on the bed as she has, but the floor next to it: he backs against it, legs crossed and knees bouncing.

        “Deal with ‘em,” he echoes, none of her drawl but plenty of his own exaggeration, “it sounds so hardcore when you say it like that.” He leans back, head against the mattress so that he can look up at her. “You should hire a bodyguard or somethin’, that way you don’t have to do the dealing. I mean they should totally stop trying it, breaking in and stuff,” -not an ounce of self-awareness- “but…I mean they probably won’t. Those guys’ll chase you right off a cliff, huh?”

                                    carmen    stifles    a    laugh    as    he    sits,    OFF    the    bed,    next    to    her.            “        you    don’t    have    to    sit    down    there,    you’re    not    a    pet.        but    i’m    sure    you    had    no    problem    putting    those    grubby    paws    of    yours    all    over    everything    when    i    couldn’t    see    it.        ”            her    tone    is    full    teasing    as    she    scoots    over,    making    room    for    him    if    he    WISHES.        he    doesn’t    look    hurt,    or    particularly    starved,    or    dirty,    though    the    last    two    are    HARD    to    tell,    and    she’ll    probably    enforce    some    NOURISHMENT    AND    A    SHOWER    on    him    anyways    even    if    it    isn’t    necessary.        carmen’s    almost    CERTAIN    he    won’t    mind,    she    definitely    wouldn’t    have    when    she    was    in    his    shoes.        her    bathroom    is    MUCH    TOO    LARGE    for    any    one    person    to    ever    have,    it    makes    her    feel    BETTER    to    share    it.        how    humble,    she    knows.        but    she’s    HARDLY    EVER    HOME    anyways,    if    she    could    call        ‘    random,    expensive    penthouse    suit    no.    56    ’        home,    so    it    wasn’t    like    it    would    be    an    INTRUSION.

                                    an    entertained,    fond    smile-    one    he    never    FAILS    to    bring    out    -crosses    cherry    red    lips,    ones    she    still    needs    to    wipe    off.            “        well    you    know    how    hardcore    i    am,    some    of    my    shoes    are    sharp    enough    to    slit    a    man’s    throat.        not    that    i’d    know    anythin’    about    that,    it’s    just    an    observation.        ”            a    BODYGUARD    is    something    she    had    considered    many    times,    and    she    had    GONE    THROUGH    with    it,    once.        only    to    have    been    taken    advantage    of,    again.        her    PRIVACY,    her    trust.        now,    she    was    A    LOT    MORE    CAREFUL    with    those    things,    and    she    hasn’t    found    someone    worthy    enough    for    the    job.

                                as    she    searched,    her    movements    were    frantic.        it    was    STUPID,    she    knew.        but    at    that    moment,    TRAGICALLY,    she    couldn’t    bring    herself    to    care.        the    feeling-    URGENCY    -was    not    an    unfamiliar    one,    but    it    certainly    was    one    that    she    hadn’t    FALLEN    PREY    to    in    a    while.        perhaps    this    was    just    the    awakening    she    needed,    perhaps    she    had    let    her    guard    down    too    FAR.        ruby    red    nails    nearly    shredded    the    bag    as    she    searched    through    it,    turning    it    upside    down    and    letting    its    contents    SPILL    OUT.        brown    orbs,    wildly    anxious,    look    his    way,    DEVOID    of    the    normal    ease    and    devil-may-care.            “        have    you    seen    a    red    ribbon?        like,    cherry    fuckin’    red.        about    the    size    of    a    finger?        i    need    it.        ”            words    are    hissed,    less    than    POLITE    tone,    but    she    doesn’t    have    time    to    be    polite.

        BUSTED! the warning that carries ahead sends the intruder to his feet, jumping away from the magazine he’d been looking at like it bit him. (She’s got the kind of digs most people dream of, dripping class and preaching success. It’s not wrong to be curious.. right?) Carmen turns the corner and Luke thinks she looks like the room was waiting for her appearance — or, at least, the way she looks, all painted to the nines and back like that. 

        “I would’ve! but- well-” Voice swooping up into a energetic pitch, he’s on the defense with excuses and a ring-laden, open-palm gesture for, “You were out and, and, and” -new gesture, thumb over his shoulder- “the cops crashed on the garage again, and you know they’ll send us back or whatever, so me an’ the boys had to split so. I didn’t know that I did… ‘til I did.” End on a shrug, oh but then: “I didn’t break anything, promise!” Still, his smile is really more of an apologetic grimace. It quickly turns for a mild alarm on her behalf, eyes wide.“Wait– who’d you think I was?”

                                he    looks    so    out    of    place,    it’s    honestly    REFRESHING    more    than    she    can    say.        carmen’s    stature    relaxes,    possibly    for    the    first    time    all    day.        perhaps    it’s    NAIVETY,    she    should    know    better    than    to    let    HER    GUARD    DOWN    so    quickly    with    the    blanket    of    the    night    thrown    over    the    city.        HERE,    anyone    can    betray    anyone.        even    LUKE,    who    hasn't    quite    been    hit    by    hollywood's    heavy    hammer    just    yet.        she    knows    it's    DIFFERENT    for    him,    and    carmen    hopes    it    stays    that    way.

                                when    she    arrived    home,    she    noticed    that    the    curtains    were    closed.        the    finding    halts    her    in    her    tracks,    carmen    never    does    that,    she    likes    to    hear    THE    SOUNDS    OF    THE    CITY,    even    in    her    sleep.        letting    the    heat    out    and    driving    up    the    bill    is    no    LONGER    something    she    has    to    worry    about,    and    if    she’s    LUCKY    the    cold    adds    a    sense    of    numbness    atop    her    skin.        but    most    days    she    ISN'T,    most    days    the    countless    blankets-    DOZENS    of    different    patterns    and    materials,    but    all    EXPENSIVE    and    either    dark    cherry    red    or    black    -she    keeps    strewn    over    her    keep    her    from    FROSTBITE.        perhaps    that’s    where    this    little    intruder    has    found    themselves,    TUCKED    into    the    covers    of    carmen    sanders.        what    a    story!        she    can    imagine    the    HEADLINES    already,    a    groan    unfurling    from    a    cherry    coated    mouth.        there    HAS    and    will    be    worse    than    this,    paparazzi    is    RUTHLESS.        but,    still,    it’s    night,    she    wishes    to    REST.        it’s    a    rarity    in    itself    that    she    lets    herself    CLOSE    HER    EYES,    and    the    one    day    she    tries,    of    COURSE    someone    wants    to    test    her    patience.            “        there’s    nothin’    in    here    you    don’t    already    know,    creeper.        you’re    not    the    first    one    to    break    into    my-        ”            her    exhausted    drawl    is    cut    SHORT    as    she    rounds    the    corner    to    her    bedroom,    finding    luke    looking    awfully    like    a    kicked    puppy    for    someone    who’s    in    HER    house    so    late.            “        god,    honey.        if    you    needed    somewhere    to    crash    t’night,    you    could’ve    just    asked.        ”