Tiffany got into her first scandal the following year, which caused her enough social damage for both the band’s publicist and their manager to yell at her fiercely for almost a week. If you asked her, she didn’t really think it was a big deal; doesn’t everyone drive around a bit drunk nowadays? Sure, she slammed the car into a tree, and sort of injured herself in the process, but no one died.

Their manager only slammed the door after they picked her up from the hospital, and the next morning she took her Marlboros. It was a stupid punishment; she always hid an extra pack somewhere despite everyone’s protests for her to stop smoking.

It had gone a while and the scandal had died down; the media didn’t talk too much about it and their ever so loyal fans had forgiven her. Whenever the paparazzi’s were in the area they usually asked about other rumors about her, but as usual Tiffany only let out a smile, one she used to make people believe she was genuine. They believed her either way, so it didn’t matter.

Lately she had been more careless, and to be honest, she didn’t know what it came from. She was never a totally innocent goody two shoes, but she didn’t get into serious trouble either. Tiffany liked to have fun and make memories, to laugh and sometimes bend the rules, but never break them. She wondered what had made her change.

“You’re quiet,” Taeyeon commented after a while, nothing but a towel around her body after coming out of the shower. Dwindling drops of water fell from the tip of her hair, running down her bare shoulders, still some steam running from the bathroom. She came closer, smelling something alike her Jasmine body wash, and nothing like what happened before.

“I’m just thinking,” Tiffany stated, chewing the bottom of her lip, wanting a cigarette so badly in that moment. She would’ve taken one, though Taeyeon would only nag at her, so she opted not to and settled for torturing the rest of her body, cold seeping against Tiffany’s bare skin.

“Care to share?” The shorter woman asked, taking a seat on her own vanity table, running her petite fingers through her hair. She wasn’t looking in her direction, but Taeyeon could see Tiffany through the mirror. She began to distract herself by pouring on some creams, applying them unnecessarily slow, as Tiffany only watched her silently for a moment. Her eyes lingered on the red mark situated on Taeyeon’s right shoulder, the area flushing against pale skin, some scratching marks barely visible behind the towel. She didn’t answer her question.

It took a moment and Taeyeon’s brown eyes to meet Tiffany’s gaze through the reflection, before she sighed and put down one of her products. Turning around and crossing her slim legs together, she placed her petite hands above her knees, while Tiffany was only silently looking at her. She was still a bit buzzed from the shots they had earlier at the after-party for their London show, but she was still there, just a little gone as well.

“I’m going out for a walk,” Tiffany concluded with herself, although she didn’t even think of it, rising from the bed and letting the covers fall. She grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, not bothering to even put on any underwear underneath. All she needed was fresh air and her trusty cigarettes to wake up again from this daze, to figure out if recent events really happened.

Taeyeon wasn’t really a woman who said much, but she got her point across, so maybe she didn’t really need to say anything at all. “Don’t drive,” was the only thing she heard Taeyeon utter before Tiffany exited her hotel room, trying to steady herself a bit. Her feet felt a bit wobbly, as if they would fall and collapse any minute from turning into jelly. Tiffany didn’t know if it was from the alcohol or something else.

A while later and two cigarettes, she was walking down the streets of London with her hands in her pocket, altering from looking up at the smoky sky and the dirty pavement. It was a lonely Friday night for her, and she wasn’t in the mood to do much. It was a late summer; the weather was slowly becoming colder and the days were shorter, she wondered what autumn would bring her.

In that moment she felt her feet ache a little by her boots, she had been walking a lot that day, turning around swift corners to avoid paparazzi, and sometimes she ran a bit as well. She would have been safer inside somewhere, anywhere, but she liked the night air. It made her mind clearer and she felt real solitude, in a good way, escaping the spotlight for once. Hiding underneath a gray hood and with no heavy makeup, she had managed to dodge the lurking paparazzi’s for now anyway.

She walked a good while more, until she saw the flashing lights from a club a couple of meters ahead. The lights shifted from blue, to red, to white and then back again, heavy bass music protruding through the walls, the main door open.

The closer she got the more she noticed a bunch of people by the door, talking loudly, probably drunk as hell. For a moment she considered going inside, to try and blend with the crowd. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and they were most likely too out of it to notice that it was even her. Her eyes scanned the entrance, watching the group of drunken people in one corner laughing hysterically about something.

Then a blond figure emerged from the strobe lights in a tight, black dress and high heels. There was a phone in her hand, fingers painted in red, and a certain slim figure that only belonged to one person. “Hey,” Tiffany called out without even thinking, wondering if Jessica could even hear it through the heavy music.

 It had been a while since they had seen each other (a year to be exact), but there was no doubt that it was her. It was something in the way she walked and held herself; full of confidence, yet laid back at the same time. It made her look cool, but not unapproachable despite her neutral expression.

“Who? Me?” Jessica replied, and it took her a moment before she looked up from her phone and over to Tiffany. There was surprise in her eyes, no doubt, but it was quickly covered by a small smile. It seemed a bit odd on her rather stoic face with that outfit, because it made her seem so innocent, as if she didn’t belong there… or she probably did, but Tiffany wasn’t too sure.

“I wonder if either one of us is stalking the other,” Jessica began as Tiffany approached her, looking at her with a small chuckle. “But you’re the star here; you’re supposed to be impossible to find,” she continued, only for Tiffany to roll her eyes before replying.

“You’re usually the one finding me, so you’re the stalker,” Tiffany retorted before looking at the now blond woman standing in front of her. Her eyes were painted in a thin layer of liner, a twinkle hiding underneath her lashes, something playful and mischievous there, something so typical Jessica.

Jessica laughed then, her lips turning a bit more upwards, and her hands folded out the hem of her dress. “It’s too late for people to take midnight walks,” she began then while looking at her, probably wondering why she was out so late. It was almost as if Jessica wasn’t even surprised anymore by their random encounters, as if she expected them, and Tiffany didn’t know what to think of that.

“Needed the fresh air,” Tiffany retorted, silently eyeing the area for any unwanted fly on the walls. Even if she didn’t really want to care, she couldn’t risk being caught and her manager yelling at her again for her actions. Her gaze returned over to Jessica, her eyebrows quirked a bit up.

“Paparazzi after you?” she asked then, probably already knew and she didn’t even need to ask. Tiffany nodded by that as an answer, because when weren’t they after anyone in the band? She knew she had to pay a big prize for fame, but sometimes it made her second guess if she made the right decision, even if she knows she did.

“Follow me,” Jessica gestured before taking a few steps ahead, not bothering to look back as if expecting Tiffany to follow. She wanted to scoff, but she found herself trailing after her later. It wasn’t as if she had anything better to do.

“Where are we going?” Tiffany asked as they were next to each other, moving down narrow streets with questionable reputations. The streetlights shone above them, cutting through the darkness. There were multiple cars and other vehicles making a lot of noise, they couldn’t be too far away from a crowded part of London.

“Somewhere the paparazzi won’t find you,” Jessica only hinted her with that. “It’s not too far away,” she finished off mysteriously before taking a sharp turn to the left, Tiffany only slightly following along. It was late or early probably four am, and she wondered what the hell Jessica was going to do now.

They end up by a pretty much demolished and worn down townhouse, stuck between buildings of a more or worse construction. Tiffany had no idea what Jessica wanted to do over there, the entire area in itself seemed abandoned and she couldn’t see a single person there.

“Are you going to kill me?” Tiffany nearly accused then, although she didn’t really mean it… she thought so at least. The whole atmosphere was a bit creepy.

She turned around to look at Jessica rolling her eyes as if she was dumb, and Tiffany knew that thought was on her mind for some reason. “If I was going to kill you I would have brought a gun or drugged you by now,” she said before walking up a small, stoned staircase. Opening the green and slightly rusty double doors, she took off her high heels and tossed them inside the house. Tiffany had no idea what was going on, or if Jessica was drunk.

It was odd, it had been such a long time and they didn’t really talk to each other. They never did. They had this playful banter between them, throwing odd remarks or jokes, but if someone were to ask what she knew about Jessica, she wouldn’t have an answer. Her favorite color? Her favorite song? The things she hates? Is she allergic to something?

Tiffany didn’t know why she even wanted to know.

 “Come in, I think it’s going to rain soon,” the blond offered, looking up at the dark clouds covering the moon. It was only a white, smudged out spot in the sky in that moment, hidden between layers and layers of mist. The air almost felt a bit moist when she uttered those words, the wind turning cooler, indicating bad weather. Tiffany did as told, not really knowing why, walking inside the creepy looking house with much doubt. Jessica didn’t seem too fazed of it and she wondered why. Was this her actual home?

Inside there wasn’t much light; there were some oil lamps on the walls, the ones she had seen in an old movie once she was bored on the plane, above a tattered and dusty green wallpaper. The lists were in dark wood, matching the equally as dark floor that creaked a bit underneath her feet, and the orange glow only made the place look older.

“Don’t tell me you actually live here,” Tiffany said flatly, not knowing if she wanted to believe it or not. The furniture was mostly covered in white sheets, something that indicated an abandoned home, and the place seemed like a setting from a ghost story. The wooden planks covering the windows did not help one bit.

Now, Tiffany didn’t actually believe in supernatural stuff, but being in that house almost made her a believer of it.

“Only out the week,” Jessica began before lighting up what seemed to be a path to a living room. Tiffany was about to ask why, but Jessica already beat her to it. “Why pay for a crappy hotel when you can live in a house for free?” she continued as if that was totally normal to steal an abandoned house for her own gain. From the wooden arch that separated the rooms, there weren’t any white sheets, but velvety blue living chairs and a matching sofa in front of a fireplace. Maybe there was a bookshelf beside it, but it was empty, so Tiffany wasn’t too sure.

“You are ing crazy,” was the only thing Tiffany could say before following her into the living room, watching Jessica stand by a window with only peeks of the moonlight casting through. It would fade soon with the clouds, Tiffany thought for a brief moment, trying to ignore the fact that Jessica was casually changing in front of her.

She slipped of the red dress so it pooled down on the floor, tying up her long and bleached hair. Her narrow shoulders were illuminated by the orangeness of the lifht and the pale skin that covered her, seemed almost softer by the glow. Tiffany only swallowed, drifted her gaze towards the fireplace beside her, only listening to the sounds of Jessica moving around the entire living room.

“I know,” Jessica retorted, but Tiffany didn’t look at her. “But sometimes you just have to take a walk on the wild side,” she continued and it made Tiffany want to laugh. She could’ve almost said the same to some of the people around her, who didn’t seem to understand the concept of fun, but that wasn’t really her problem.

Jessica seemed much shorter again when she moved to stand in front of Tiffany, although they were roughly the same height. Her posture was a bit more slouched than hers though in that moment, one strap of her tank top hanging loose on her shoulder. It had gone a while since they last met and even if it didn’t feel like it, the change was evident and standing right in front of her.

“You should laugh more,” the blonde commented then. “You seem so serious all the time,” Jessica continued before moving to sit down on the sofa. Tiffany hesitated for a moment, but mirrored the action despite not wanting to think about what might be lurking inside of it.

Tiffany only gave her a weird look though, because she laughed all the time according to herself. It was a part of her personality and that was what the fans liked; her open and funny nature. “Just because I don’t laugh every second, doesn’t mean I don’t laugh.”

Jessica didn’t really seem to agree though, shaking her head slightly. “You seemed easier to amuse when I met you back in LA,” she retorted then, a memory that was so long ago although it felt as if it happened just recently. “Last time you looked lost, Honey,” the nickname rolled out of her tongue more as a sassy remark than a sweet one, making Tiffany scoff.

“I only get lost or sad when people say stuff like that,” Tiffany replied without even thinking. She didn’t really want to discuss it; Jessica didn’t know her, not really, despite them meeting a couple of times. “So Princess, don’t make me sad,” she retorted then before leaning on the sofa, watching the profile of Jessica’s face through the dim lights.

Her tied up hair seemed a bit longer than before, and her face had gotten a bit more defined as if she lost weight. The long lashes and striking eyes still look the same however, placed between her narrow and tiny nose and equally as thin lips. In that moment she nearly looked like a porcelain doll her mother bought Tiffany when she was three, although Jessica was very well alive.

“Still haven’t settled down?” Tiffany asked then, playing with the hem of her hoodie, tapping her feet to the floor ever so softly. It wouldn’t surprise her if she said yes; though Tiffany had no idea what Jessica was doing most of the time, and for all Tiffany knew she might be a secret agent or something like that.

The said woman shook her head. “I’m too young, and beautiful, to settle down somewhere now,” her voice came out a bit thoughtfully, a tad huskier than before, her jaw barely moving while uttering the sentence.

“Thinking highly of ourselves, aren’t we?” Tiffany retorted with a light kick to Jessica’s leg, covered in jeans herself. Jessica scoffed, looked over at her for the first time with something different in her eyes, something more serious than she had ever seen her before. Then, after a short while of awkward silence, she spoke ever so softly.

Many would have been confused about her words, and Tiffany couldn’t say she completely understood, but it seemed to hauntingly run through her head, even the seconds after she uttered that sentence…

“I’ve had men claim they are in love with me, but I know that their love only lasts until someone younger and prettier comes along,” Jessica began ever so slowly. “I’ll settle down somewhere, with someone, when they only have my soul left… Or maybe I’ll die first.”

And Tiffany could only look at her fair skin and the curves around her face, wondering for a split moment if anyone had ever seen beyond Jessica’s appearance and inside of her inner self. She knew the feeling too well, of people seeing you and loving you for your image, yet not really loving you for who you really are. “Playing hard and dying young?” Tiffany asked then, her head tilting a bit, and Jessica leaned on the sofa as well only to face her with a crooked smile.

“That was what my father taught me; it’s the art of life,” Jessica said, and Tiffany would probably never know if she was serious or joking, but Jessica was a mystery on her own. There wasn’t really any way to read her, and Tiffany didn’t know if it bothered her or fascinated her. Maybe both.

“So no one special?” Tiffany had to ask, and Jessica shook her head, and Tiffany subconsciously bit her lip. She barely registered the fact before she noticed Jessica’s eyes darting downwards, and from her sudden reply, basically saying no. There never was, probably never would be.

The first kiss comes a bit surprisingly planned from the overall tension and proximity, warm lips and Jessica’s hands in her hair. It’s hard and pushy and not the most romantic experience she’s ever been in, a dark creepy house and all, but there was something about the way Jessica moved her lips in such a sync that matched too well with her own.

It turns into a heated one, with heavy breathing and chests heaving, cold hands underneath her shirt yet only staying on the same place. On top of her rips, Jessica’s fingers almost landing between the small bumps caused by Tiffany’s slightly arched back.

“You’ll be gone in the morning, won’t you?” Tiffany had to ask when they parted, even if she didn’t really expect anything. To be honest she didn’t even know if she cared, but she didn’t even think of the possibility for her staying around. Jessica didn’t seem to do that.

“It’s already morning,” Jessica said then, her eyes slightly hooded yet still aware. Her tank top was messily sprawled on her upper body due to the large size, almost falling off from her torso. Her pretty face only inched closer then, something hidden in that spark her eyes showed, something that made Tiffany almost lose her breath for a second. She had no idea what that reaction came off, however, or whatever foreign nonsense Jessica said after that, but she learned to not think too much as another breathless kiss shut her up.

“J’ai besoin de toi.”