Some nights when it is inevitably not quiet because the city is too small for everything to be still at once, and when the walls seem to close tightly upon their bodies with the pressure of long work hours, minuscule paychecks, late rents, and expensive grocery bills - on top of everything else that is not a listed necessity but is somehow vital to their existences, Jessica wraps herself around Tiffany’s sleeping, worn, exhausted frame and whispers love into her neck.

She recites notes she has and hasn’t written, poetry she’s read, and lines from films and books. For every vague, meandering passage that somehow perfectly captures the feeling of the tightness in her chest, ever present and ever aware of itself above all else, she follows with a more direct meaning and says “I love you.”

Even in her sleep, Tiffany always manages to answer. She turns in Jessica’s scrawny, limp hold, and with an adjustment of a neck curtains over Jessica’s sight with midnight spun down in long spools of silk strands. She nestles Jessica in darkness and artificial strawberry shampoo scent. She breathes in and out, deeply, evenly, and just the sound of that - of her presence - calms Jessica in ways that tax returns never can.

They’re always running out of things - money, food, patience, time - the both of them. Jessica thinks they’ve been too close to getting evicted too many times, too close to losing each other in the oncoming storm, the waves that crash down and threaten to drown them in the name of survival. But even when they skimp down on another “extravagance” (who needs electricity anyways?) and pinch another dollar, they always without hesitation spend generously on the most costly expense of all.

“I love you. I love you. ‘No mistake about it. Ice is cold; roses are red; I'm in love. And this love is about to carry me off somewhere. The current's too overpowering; I don't have any choice. It may very well be a special place, some place I've never seen before. Danger may be lurking there, something that may end up wounding me deeply, fatally. I might end up losing everything. But there's no turning back. I can only go with the flow. Even if it means I'll be burned up, gone forever.’”

The End.