. dare devils

[taylor maitson]

It was becoming clear that she had not lost her knack for pushing his buttons. "None of your business." He notices her looking around the apartment and it makes him feel defensive, wanting to explain some of his choices but then feeling annoyed at that impulse. Everything about this interaction was reconfirming to him why he did not want to entertain visitors. She's petulant and infuriatingly, it gives him another pang of nostalgia. He knows what he's said is cruel, a double entendre alluding to her drunkenness and an old accusation of disordered eating. But she doesn't take the bait and he's relieved. He takes her plate and starts washing up. "Ready to go in five?"

[kendra santisi]

"Make it my business," Kendra challenges, unfurling from the bar stool as she moved to wander the space. So many questions poised at the tip of her tongue, wanting to ask when he'd both cleaned up his act and cleaned up his aesthetic. Never trusting of whatever people published even if she'd kept generous tabs, sipping again from her mug as she studied the Jim Dine piece she assumed was also a Frame TV. "What, not going to force me to take another bite?" she pushes, eyeing the plate he was slowly grabbing. Instead she flops on the couch, locating the remote in his coffee table drawers in one go. "I dunno, I kind of need to recover more. Toil in my woes."

[taylor maitson]

She was so damn persistent. "I've got a knitting club in half an hour, then I'm renting the place out for an orgy, then I'm entertaining Meghan and Harry for dinner. So yeah, packed schedule." His worst fear of having someone visit was coming true, in that she point blank refused to go. "No." The old dynamic of battling over mealtimes was one thing he didn't miss, one of many. He groans as she moves to the couch, shaking his head. "I'm serious Kendra, it's time for you to fuck off. If I've got to take a picture and post it to Instagram to piss your boyfriend off I will, I don't give a fuck. Get up now."

[kendra santisi]

There's something about the delivery and the words that come out of his mouth that breaks her, laughing before she can help herself. The tension still simmers under the surface but she giggles again, trying to stave off her raving headache and the quiet chemistry that still brewed between them. "You wouldn't have taken me here if you had somewhere to be," Kendra assumes, though her smart expression falters at the mention of her boyfriend. "Wouldn't matter, seeing as he broke up with me," she shrugs, a big sip falling into her mouth as she turns back to the view outside. "Mystery solved, detective."

[taylor maitson]

Her laughter bounces off the walls, filling the space with it. It's his favorite sound in the world and though his irritation lingers, the corners of his mouth tug up into a reluctant smile, forcing him to let it go. "I would, where else could I have taken you? I don't know your address and you weren't in a fit state to give it to me." What she says next knocks the words right out of his mouth, which hangs open for a few seconds as he processes this new information. He slumps onto the couch beside her, his lanky frame taking up much more space than her contained one. "Shit. I'm sorry Ken, that sucks. Wanna... talk about it?"

[kendra santisi]

"The hospital, for one. And sad, angry or asleep - which one?" It's the three states she often goes too when the world fades behind her eyes, sometimes waking up with mascara rivulets and others with a hoarse throat from singing songs and screaming at whoever came close. Unfortunate habits he knew of hers that hadn't changed, curious why he wasn't admonishing her actions directly and instead narrating everything in between. Either way her admission shifts the conversation abruptly, folding her legs underneath her as she joined to keep the distance she figured he'd require. Always confused about the level of hatred he carried for her when he'd hurt her first. "Not much to say, didn't think we were a good match so," she trails off, picking at the cushion underneath her. "Didn't expect it, so gotta hand it to him on the blindside. It's fine...I'll be fine."

[taylor maitson]

"Didn't want you to get your stomach pumped." It's the honest answer, though he had spent much of the night watching her just in case he did need to whisk her off to Cedars Sinai. "All three, at one point or another. Think you even managed to sleep angrily, which was kind of impressive." So many emotions cooped up in that tiny body. Unfortunately it pleases him that the relationship is off, though there's no good reason that that should be the case, especially when it meant that she was hurting. Pity jolts through him but he knows she'd hate it if he let on, so he reaches out and slips a hand around her calf, trying to guide her legs out from under her so they could stretch across his lap. "I really do have to go soon, but I won't be gone long. You can go back to bed to wait for me, if you want. Or go for a swim, that always brings me back to life when I'm half dead."

[kendra santisi]

She nods, understanding it as one of their strange ways of caring. Much like the conversations they'd had when they were younger, often deeper and more intense than most couples would have in their lifetimes, they'd never done anything in halves. It's why what was left was raw and sometimes untouchable, staring at him sometimes as painful as staring at the sun blaring in the Los Angeles balmy warmth. "For shame, didn't someone say never go to bed angry once?" A youthful promise they'd made and mostly followed up on, even in the depths of silence when they weren't getting along. A strange armistice when they'd be in bed together, reaching for one another even when there was nothing to say. It's why she lets her body uncurl, head tipping to the edge of the couch as she takes in the vaulted ceiling. "You don't need to extend your hospitality because you feel bad for me. Breakups happen." They knew that well. "I honestly just need these Advil to kick in. When did you get this place?"

[/font

[taylor maitson]

Under Kendra's watchful eye he started to feel even more self conscious of the apartment. It was devoid of many personal touches and a complete contrast to his place when he'd been there, a hedonistic den that was about as far from tidy as it was possible to be, Taylor having gone from a dump of a family home to a dump of a model apartment to suddenly having his very own space, a space no one had ever taught him how to manage. "I think Alessia said that." Her legs across his brings a welcome weight. Instinctively he starts to run his fingers up and down her bare skin just like he used to, her skin responding with goosebumps blooming under his fingertips. "I'm extending it because I don't have plans for the rest of the day, but you don't need to take me up on it." He ponders her question, realizing it hadn't been as long as he'd thought, "around six months ago."

[kendra santisi]

It felt like she was flipping a page back and forth, watching older versions of the Taylor she knew and had loved long ago flicker between this newer, shinier version. Trying to match up this apartment with accomplishments on subtle display with the one who'd just lofted the name of her tenuous friend back at her, Kendra instinctively kicking him with the foot she'd flexed over. "Funny, funny," she mumbles before relaxing in his touch, almost unnerved by how much the familiarity came back to her. How the attraction still lingered, collided with the reflex of her skin. "I knew you were lying - sad there's no orgy with the disgraced royals, though." God, that feels good, Kendra's body settling further into the couch as she subtly confirms she'd like to stay. "You're very secretive about it. A bag over my head, really?"

[/font

[taylor maitson]

"I do have plans," he says, the words coming out more indignantly than he had intended. "They just won't take that long." There had been a time in their relationship when he was very quick to defensiveness, her burgeoning career meaning he had to be more flexible with his time than he perhaps anticipated if he wanted to see her. That, paired with feeling like a supporting member of Cats Cradle, had made him tetchy when it came to proving that he was busy too. Though in truth, these days he really wasn't. The feeling of her skin under his touch is soothing to him too, pulling him back from the brink of starting another fight. Physical touch had always been a balm between them, soothing their quick to flare tempers. "That was a joke. But I'm serious that this isn't going to be a habit, I don't have visitors. So take it all in while you can."

[kendra santisi]

"I genuinely am curious what you’re doing…unless it’s secret band business or whatever." Though they’d kept strange lines of communication over the years, Kendra hadn’t exactly thought through how a conversation with Taylor would go in person. Truthfully she thought she’d never see him again save in passing, at appearances or public moments where a quick hello could suffice. She hopes her voice bleeds sincere, that her interest seems intentional and not because he’d probably saved her life last night, gaze trailing down the second hallway she hadn’t explored. "It’s very bright," she murmurs, feeling his thumb dig into the pressure of her calf and letting out an involuntary sigh. Always pent up, no matter how many massages she sought to sort her out. Embarrassed, Kendra reaches for one of those lofty question they often asked of each other. "Does it feel invasive, having someone else here in general? Or is it stranger because I’ve really known you before and I’m staring at all the differences?”

[taylor maitson]

Whilst he was intentionally weird about his apartment, he genuinely did not mean to be weird about his plans. Were he going to yoga, or a work meeting, or even hanging out with Lenny he would have just told her, but something about this just felt off. "Nothing with the band is secret, not really." A sigh, as he realizes he's just going to have to come out with it. "I'm collecting Zac from rehab and dropping him home. Won't take that long in theory, but sometimes the paperwork is a pain in the ass, sometimes he's a pain in the ass." Her sigh sends a shiver of something down his spine, though thankfully it doesn't seem to be visible to her. "The former, I guess. I didn't set out not wanting visitors but then I didn't have any for the first couple of months and the idea started to become... kind of grotesque to me. Super invasive. Like those dreams where you show up to school totally naked and don't realize it until everyone starts laughing at you."

[kendra santisi]

Kendra half expects Taylor to admit he has a date, waiting for the sheepish confession to spill from under his breath. What actually comes instead has her jolting up onto her elbows, eyes wide with disbelief. "Again?” It shouldn’t shock her one bit, Isaac completely incapable of control in any way, shape or form in his life - but something about Taylor’s involvement irks her. Maybe because once, she’d had to sign him out too. After he’d already kissed someone else of course, her eyes rolling at the sour memory. "God speed,” is all she deigns to say after mulling it over, not willing to harp further and bring that particular moment of her life back to the forefront. Not when it felt nice to be in Taylor’s presence again, impressed with the clear headedness that was far and few between in their youth. Though foggy now, she felt the urge to keep up. "Something tells me if you showed up naked somewhere these days everyone would be far from laughing.” She conjures up the CK billboard in SoHo in her mind, the hint of an appealing smile toying on her lips as she stretches her other leg forward. "At least it’s just me here. Nothing I haven’t dug up before.”

[taylor maitson]

The reaction to his revelation makes him narrow his eyes at her, trying to get a read on why exactly she cared. Or if she even cared at all. It surprised Taylor how much her betrayal still bothered him, given that he was hardly a saint himself, but even now he was irked. "It was only a couple of weeks, he was having a moment of weakness." Entirely brought upon himself, of course. He was embarrassed to be running around after his friend, since he'd done so much damage to a relationship that had meant the world to him, but not enough to leave him in the lurch. Her compliment works to smooth his ego. "I saw the campaign you did for Tom Ford, the basically naked one. How was that?" He's barely conscious of his hand still tracing her skin. "No, it definitely feels weirder it being you." A pause, as something occurs to him. "Where are you living? Not with your ex, I hope?"