2019-12-25 - A Honeybun Christmas

Christmas Day and the snow is falling. How romantic! Just like a Norman Rockwell painting...or is it more Sam Rockwell; does the actor even paint? Jessica got the call and, of course, Harper can drop by. As long as she travels safe. She wasn't at her parents this year, they decided to spend Christmas in California - probably fed up with the lack of grandchildren.

Jessica wasn't intending to do much but once her best friend was on her way, it was time to cook up something nice fo the pair. The door is unlocked. The interior a bit messier than usual. A Christmas tree set up in one corner...on a table. It's tiny. "I'm in the galley!" she will call out to any knock on the door.

Mysteriously, Harper told Jessica to prepare for presents by taking a bath and shaving her legs. This is not a set of instructions that Harper has ever given before. She does not share any details beyond her demands. She does, however, when she calls the week before, ask if she can bring anything over, food, drink, or otherwise. And as is always the case, as it has always been and will always be, Harper tried her damnedest to get Jessica to tell her what her present is. Harper cannot stand surprises. At least not the ones she knows about. She is a pest about asking. Jessica, of course, either refuses to say a thing, gives an obscure hint, or answers with something outrageous. They've spent many a year following this pattern.

When Harper arrives, she does so singing 'I wish you a Merry Christmas' brightly and cheerfully as she barges through the front door and onto the SS Honeybuns. She is carrying far too much for one person to manage. She has -- count them -- five packages, a plate full of gingerbread and a squirty-can of Redi-Whip whipped cream. She's dressed in a festive red skirt and a black, rolled-neck, ultra-soft sweater. Her hair is swept back with black pins glittering with black swarovski crystals. With one black-booted, heeled boot, she kicks the door closed behind herself and staggers in, still singing, to almost drop the gifts into a pile on the sofa and carry the gingerbread and whipped cream to the kitchen. When she gets to Jessica there, she absently lets the food fall where it may on the counter and she sweeps her best friend into a waltz around the kitchen. No. 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' is not in either 3/4 time or 6/8 time. But Harper doesn't care. Waltz-waltz-waltz. "Merry Christmas, you delectable beauty. I've missed you. This month devoured me. We have so much to talk about." Finally, she shuts up and just beams at Jessica, pushing her to arm's length so she can look her over from head to foot and back again. "Perfect."

Jessica wishes she was perfect but she's only in sweats, fluffy slippers, and an 'Elf On A Shelf' t-shirt - albeit an elf with a bloodied axe in it hands. But who can deny the whirl of happiness that is Holiday Harper? A laugh as she joins the waltz. "Whipped cream? No wonder you wanted me to shave my legs" she grins before eyeing off the packages. "Are you visiting more people tonight? Gray Harbor's very own Mrs. Clause?"

The waltz grip decays into a hug...or improves. "I've missed you too. You been having a great time? Did Geoff end up getting married? Did you? Ooh...what do we have to talk about?" A beat. "No, I'm still not telling you about your Christmas presents. You can wait a couple of minutes and open them yourselves. Grab a seat. Want some eggnog? Nice and warm."

Jessica is always perfect, if you ask Harper Price. It's just the way life is. So sweats, slippers, and murderous elves suit her just fine. She plays her fingers lightly through Jessica's hair with a musing smile and finally steps back after that fierce hug. "Of course. Whipped cream and smooth legs are a dynamic duo. Don't try to tell me otherwise." Harper tips her brown-eyed gaze over her shoulder to look back at the pile of presents on Jessica's sofa. "Santa didn't confide in me. He just told me you'd been particularly delightful this year and left me to carry all those boxes. Well, he didn't wrap them either, the lazy bastard." Harper's brows tip upwards as she uses the b-word and she turns a mirthful smile back to her friend. "I am not married, nor do I intend to be married. So you can stop that line of questioning, teasing or serious, right now." She pauses, smooths her palms over the already smooth line of her skirt then adds lightly, "The man I'm dating is already married. And he's not the type to get a divorce. It's quite alright with me. His husband is growing on me quite nicely." Harper briefly frowns at the word 'nicely' which doesn't at all fit in this circumstance. But she shrugs it off after a moment and lets her statement stand.

Hugs and smiles and banter and ... egg nog! "Yes, please! Hopefully you spiked it so I won't feel so cold after a few swallows." Harper and alcohol have not made a truce in the past few months, but they spend time in one another's company now and again. The tolerance isn't any better, as Jessica is likely to re-establish only a short while from now, should the egg nog indeed be spiked. "Have you?" Missed her. "Have you really, Jessica? Tell me how much." Harper leans back against the kitchen counter and watches Jessica move about the kitchen with an adoring gaze. "As for what we have to talk about? There's quite a lot, including your opinion on one of my gifts for Geoff. I'm afraid I'll get cold feet." She lifts a hand to waylay questions about it being Christmas afternoon and Geoff not having already opened said gifts. "All will be clear. After you open your gifts." Does this have to do with shaved legs? Harper finally relents, takes her egg nog and goes over to sit down on the sofa, taking a large sip, setting the glass down and stacking Jessica's gifts on the floor beside her feet. There are three boxes that have a ribbon that extends around the trio of them. Then there is a smaller gift that is suspicously the size of a book. And finally there is a middle sized box. All are wrapped with the care Harper always gives to her gifts: expensive paper, satin ribbons, hand-tied bows. This is nothing new. "Tell me what you've been up to while I sit here and look useless while you do all the delicious things," she demands.

"Santa said I've been delightful?" That has Jessica laughing. "That senile old coot. He has no idea, does he?" Of course the eggnog is 'spiked'. No such thing as non-alcoholic eggnog in Jessica's book; that book on her kitchen self called 'The Lonely Woman's Guide to Alcohol Goes In Everything'. It is well-thumbed. "Did you just say 'bastard'? Oh my, what has Geoff been doing to you?"

Though there is then some news that has Jessica staring. "Sorry? Geoff is married to another man? So, you're dating a married man?" A long sigh as she processes. "That must make it at least 3.5-0." Harper used to be such a quiet innocent. Those librarians! "Yes, I have missed you. Very, very much. You're my everything, Harpo, and it's been way too long since we caught up." Spiked eggnogs are shared as Jessica settles on the couch alongside her friend. "I'm making you wait for your presents until you spill everything." Though that won't stop her opening her own. "You really are too generous to me, Harpo." First package to be opened!

Harper's grin may lean somewhere close to a smirk at Jessica's protestations about Santa's characterization of her naughty self, but Harper isn't here to stand up for Santa's lists and the merits of one versus the other. "I ... yes, I said that word. Are you terribly dismayed?" Geoff gets blamed. And at that Harper laughs. Or perhaps it's to the query about what he's been doing to her. Either way, Harper is amused and makes no direct apologies for her language. Jessica can come to whatever conclusions her journalist-and-best-friend self decides is fitting.

The librarian's brows skate upward at Jessica's surprise. Harper makes comments about it now and again with an incredibly blase tone. "Yes." He's married. To another man. "Yes he is. Legally married. At least in Elvis' eyes. I'm pretty sure they held hands and gazed soulfully into each others' eyes. But the rest you'll have to get from Geoff. He tells it well." Harper holds up a finger. "And he wants to get together sometime in the near future. I told him it was dangerous to be in our company, but he didn't take me nearly seriously enough. I don't think he understands at all the ... profundity of our relationship." Harper shakes her head slowly. "If he wants to learn the hard way, it's his choice, really." Back around to marriage. "Yes. I am indeed dating a married man. I'm pretty sure I'm not winning Librarian of the Year." For Harper, one's relative morality has an odd correlation to one's profession. The fact that she enjoys flaunting her lack of line-toeing is nothing new. Jessica is one of a very small few who know just how far she strays from staid, respectable, or prim.

Three point five to zero? Harper isn't convinced. "That would only count if I was sleeping with his husband, which I am most certainly not. I did see him almost naked one time, and I may have petted him a little bit, but --" She holds up her hands in a show of innocence, "I didn't know it was him!" So she contemplates and pets nearly-naked men who aren't in a relationship with her boyfriend? And that's fine? She swallows a laugh at the implication of her own line of logic and -- instead of tucking her legs up beneath her on Jessica's couch like she typically does -- she slides one booted leg over the knee of her other leg, smoothly. She is wearing black stockings beneath that red skirt! Dressy Harpers are dressy. She picks up her glass of egg nog and takes another sip. "Mmmmm. The ... is that bourbon? ... is warm going down." Jessica is making Harper wait? Presents do not instill patience in Jessica's best friend from high school. Jessica curls onto the sofa and Harper wiggles her way closer to her friend until they're (Jessica's) knee to (Harper's) hip on one end of the comfortable piece of furniture. The hand not holding her glass settles atop a sweats-clad knee of Jessica's and she sighs happily as Jessica reassures her about how much she's missed her. "Completely mutual, darling," she replies. "We'll actually set a date in our calendars for our next get together, and it will be before January is over." Her smile flags. "You can't make me wait. Part of my telling-you-everything requires presents be opened. I promise, you'll like it. We'll have to take our clothes off, too." Harper smiles a winsome smile at her bff. She's not joking. "I'm not too generous. I'm selfish. I love seeing you happy. So deal with it." The first present is the book. It's the autobiography of a successful Fortune 500 woman who also came out in the midst of her meteoric rise to the top of the man's rat race. "It's supposed to be a fabulous read," she comments. Torn paper flutters to the floor and Harper makes Jessica wear the satin ribbon, as is tradition. "Any news for me on the interpersonal front?" Harper is doubtful. Not because she doesn't expect success in love from her friend, but because she's quite certain she would have heard from Jessica immediately upon an development in said life-sphere.

"I know you far too well to be bothered by your language" Jessica snorts. "Your jerking off of unknown men in the dark, however..." Petting meant jerking off, right? "Okay, so it's more a 3.25-0. If we're tied at the end, that will win you the game. Though I very much doubt we'll get near a tie. You've just opened up a whole new world of married lovers. You go, girl! Though an Elvis sanctioned marriage is a big deal. Who is he married to? Colonel Parker?"

A shrug to the dinner invitation, if that is what it was. "The last time I was invited around to meet one of your boyfriends, he threw a salad bowl at my head. Though I guess I know Geoff a bit better." Jessica grins happily. "Okay, we'll show him the error of his ways when the two of us are in the same room."

With a roll of her eyes and a 'fine', Jessica jumps up briefly to get some presents for her BFF. She is pretty much the only person she buys presents for but she did get something for Kevin and Magnolia. Four presents placed on the floor next to Harper before she is back on the couch and resuming friendly snuggle pose. "How many times do you want to win Librarian of the Year anyway? Bourbon...sure." An innocent smile arrives before nodding about a future date. "It better be. I don't think I could handle only seeing you once a quarter."

A grin at the book - would you believe one of Harper's gifts is also book shaped? "Did you see that I wrote to the help column in the gazette? He told me that I needed to love myself to be loved. Umm...I do love myself and I'm not looking for love. I'm looking for sex!" She holds up the book. "Maybe she can tell me how to do it. Naked? What?" Jessica definitely knows when Harper is not joking. "So, nothing happening in my sex life. Sorry to disappoint. If anything happens, I promise I will call you straight away. Even if I'm eating her out." Harper's book gift is a first edition 'Alice Through the Looking Glass'. Sure, it cost a fortune, but Jessica is also happy to see her friend happy.

Harper's brown eyes widen at Jessica's assumption about what 'petting' may or may not have meant. Her laughter is incredulous. "Jessica, my love. You really think I did that? Truly?" Because that's as far as she's going to try to dissuade Jessica about what she did or did not do. It's too good just like that. Too good. 3.25 will win the game? "Or lose it," she counters with a curving bit of a smile. "I think I may be more and more convinced that you're cock-blocking yourself with this attitude of yours." Cock-blocking? Who is the woman sitting beside Jessica on this Christmas afternoon? "If you start to think positively, you'll be swimming in as many numbers as you wish to ... paddle around in." Harper's smile turns to a bemused expression. "Who is Colonel Parker?" Don't ask, don't tell indeed!

Salad bowls hurtling across great rooms. "You know Geoff better." He was a rowdy kid in high school. They ran in entirely different groups. Except for when he punched that kid in the face out of nowhere for calling Harper 'crazy'. And there was the two-person 'book club' they had for several months after Harper invited Geoff to a dance Junior year when his bitchy, cheerleader girlfriend broke up with him. But there was no dating. No romance to speak of. "You definitely know Geoff better. And I don't see him throwing things at you unless you asked very nicely."

Harper watches Jessica get up and retrieve four presents. "Pot, kettle, Jess." She teases, but isn't at all bothered by her friend's extravagance. Her brown eyes dance with anticipation. Harper reaches for one of the gifts that were set down and pulls it atop her lap while watching Jessica. Librarian of the year. From Gray Harbor? Not likely. Harper may love her job, but she has no delusions about how the town feels about her. Bourbon. She's reminded to take another drink from her egg nog before setting the glass back down. "Once a quarter is unacceptable," Harper agrees. "I'd invite you to come watch wrestling with us, but it doesn't seem like ... your cup of tea." A playful smile. Of course Jessica would hold her own with Wrestlemania.

If one of Harper's gifts is also book shaped, you'd better believe that it's the one she picked up first. The advice column. "I wondered if that was you," Harper admits. It's hard not to recognize her best friend's voice, even in writing. "Yeah. Sweetie? You needed to say it more bluntly. People always assume women are all about the romance." She shrugs her shoulders in a what-can-you-do gesture of solidarity. Harper was not joking about the potentially naked encounter. "Maybe wait until after before you call," she advises, completely unphased by the coarsely spoken promise. She unwraps the gift, eyes widening as she examines the precious book, opening the cover to check the copyright to make sure the book is indeed a first edition. "Jessica," she half whispers. "What did you do?" She tears her gaze away from the book, clutches it protectively to her chest against the ultra-soft sweater and leans in with the other arm to hug her best friend long and sweet. "I don't know what to say. I really can't bring myself to tell you that you shouldn't have because..." She finally draws back and holds it out, her gaze returning to the book. "-- this."

Harper tells Jessica to hold off on the triple-wrapped gift and points to the other remaining gift. When it is opened it is a very high-end santoku knife. Perfect for all the cooking Jessica does. Harper smiles at Jessica once it's opened. "I've got to keep you in the kitchen. It's a selfish gift, really."

"Oh please, when we were at high school, the library was the place for handjobs. You're a librarian. Ergo..." Jessica considers this. "Okay, maybe I'm drawing a long bow but, sheesh, you are a hussy at heart. And groin." Of course, this is all said with the obvious affection they share. "I think you would win the game at 1-0 the way my life is going. 3.25 is just rubbing my face in it." She sighs, "Oh how I wish I could rub my face in it. Be fair, when have I cock-blocked myself? What's the female equivalent? 'Cunt-punted'? 'Pussy-wussied'?" This is an important question! "Colonel Parker was the lover of Elvis. Or manager. Same thing."

"I think I'd be a third wheel at any event you attend with Geoff." Jessica laughs suddenly. "Actually, I'd be a fourth wheel, wouldn't I? That's...funny. I watch wrestling, thank you very much. Have you seen those girls? Greatest bodies that money can buy."

Jessica is obviously happy at her friend's reaction to the book. "I wanted to show you how much I cared about you...and it seemed to be appropriate with what happens in this town. Fair warning though, the other presents are cheap and tacky" Jessica grins, happy to share that hug, before opening up her knife present. "You just want me barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen" she teases. "It's a lovely knife. Thank you. Oh, speaking of, I have food for us!" But there are more presents to open. The next for Harper being a jasmine scented air purifier, the kind with bamboo stalks to spread the smell. "If you have a guy over a lot, you'll need one of those."

"Oh please, when we were at high school, the library was the place for handjobs. You're a librarian. Ergo..." Jessica considers this. "Okay, maybe I'm drawing a long bow but, sheesh, you are a hussy at heart. And groin." Of course, this is all said with the obvious affection they share. "I think you would win the game at 1-0 the way my life is going. 3.25 is just rubbing my face in it." She sighs, "Oh how I wish I could rub my face in it. Be fair, when have I cock-blocked myself? What's the female equivalent? 'Cunt-punted'? 'Pussy-wussied'?" This is an important question! "Colonel Parker was the lover of Elvis. Or manager. Same thing."

"I think I'd be a third wheel at any event you attend with Geoff." Jessica laughs suddenly. "Actually, I'd be a fourth wheel, wouldn't I? That's...funny. I watch wrestling, thank you very much. Have you seen those girls? Greatest bodies that money can buy."

Jessica is obviously happy at her friend's reaction to the book. "I wanted to show you how much I cared about you...and it seemed to be appropriate with what happens in this town. Fair warning though, the other presents are cheap and tacky" Jessica grins, happy to share that hug, before opening up her knife present. "You just want me barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen" she teases. "It's a lovely knife. Thank you. Oh, speaking of, I have food for us!" But there are more presents to open. The next for Harper being a jasmine scented air purifier, the kind with bamboo stalks to spread the smell. "If you have a guy over a lot, you'll need one of those."

"Blasphemy! Truth," Harper then admits, "-- but blasphemy anyway!" Handjobs in the library! Harper looks up and to the right for a moment as if to think back to make-out sessions other kids might have had in the library. "You know when you call me a 'hussy', Jess, it just sounds like a compliment." She shakes her head slowly when Jessica mourns the way her life is going. "My life was similar before this summer. Random hook-ups a couple times a year but nothing else. Your time is coming. You have to trust that it is." The librarian starts laughing as Jessica bemoans how much she'd like to be rubbing her face in it. The female equivalents simply spur the laughter on. "Colonel Parker, huh? Well that's a fact I didn't know."

Jessica thinks she'd be a wheel. Harper tips her brows up and grows more solemn. "I can tell him you said no if you want." She grins, "We joked about wrestling outfits when we got together after he broke up with his girlfriend, so I bought one. It's a silver micro-mini and a tiny top. And these delicious silver boots." The gift rp hasn't happened yet, but it may be that Geoff got her the cape to go with it all, not knowing that she bought the attire. "I gave him a hat and a tee shirt with his wrestling name on it. Now we can dress up for wrestling night. We could get you some spandex if you want." Harper's brown eys are glimmering with that inimitable I'll-do-it promise of a look. "I might enjoy watching you salivate over female wrestlers."

"You know money can't buy a gift that comprehensively demonstrates how much we mean to each other," she teases. "Though a first edition Lewis Carroll goes an awfully long way." Another kiss to Jessica's cheek. "Thank you so much." Harper actually pushes to her feet from her seat on the sofa and goes to place the book somewhere that nothing will spill on it. She pets the cover as if the book were a living thing, then returns to sit close up to Jessica with a floof of sofa pillows at her slender weight colliding with the cushions. "Oh no! If you want to have babies, I'll be the best godmother they could have. You've definitely got to be the one of us who does kids." Because Harper most certainly isn't. Jessica knows about this fervent decision on her friend's part. "You're welcome." There's food! "The house smells amazing. When do you not make food, sweetness?"

Harper opens the air purifier and sniffs at it. "This will be perfect in the break room." If she has a guy over a lot? "Geoff doesn't smell," she argues. Then she smiles a secret little smile. "He doesn't smell badly, I mean." Then she's looking back at the gifts. Jessica has the three boxes all tied together with the same satin ribbon. "You can't open your gift until I take my clothes off. So you have to decide if you want that to happen before or after we eat." Did Harper just say she was going to take her clothes off? What alternate universe is this?

"C'mon, at least it was only handjobs" Jessica smiles before adding under her breath, "That you knew about." A worried quirk of a brow. "Hussy is a compliment? Damn, I'm gonna have to think of another 'h' word now? 'Hoochie-Mama Harper'? You know, for when you get trapped in the 1930s." A little laugh at her friend's poor prior love-life. "Random hook-ups? Aww, you poor thing. I would kill for random hook-ups! Definitely my time is coming. 2070, I'll be sitting in a home and woman of my dreams will walk in to give me a salt bath. The thrill will kill me of course, but hey, what a way to go."

"I have plenty of facts no one knows. I'm a journalist. And you have plenty of facts I don't know. Like...you have a wrestling outfit." Jessica has to laugh and shake her head at that one. "Jesus-Mohammed you have grown this year" she grins. "You think I could make spandex work?" A shrug. "Couldn't hurt, right? If you don't advertise, you don't make sales."

"That book is your gift because it is you to a tee. It just happened to cost money too. That was immaterial compared to its meaning." Jessica smiles at the care it is being given. It's also a good time to get another drink and some more nibblies for the pair. But she is back in spot for cushion cuddling before Harper returns. "Babies? Umm...I'm trying to be a lesbian remember? I mean, they can work wonders with strap-ons these days but I think even that one is beyond them. Have you told 'Stinky' Geoff about this lack of children in your future? Or his husband. Hey...they're not using you as a breeding farm, are they? A man's smell is his soul, right? I heard that in a movie."

Jessica looks confused, again. "Wait. For me to open my present, you have to take your clothes off? What kind of present is this? And I'm pretty sure that seeing you naked will not put me off my food, so let's do it now. I doubt I can handle the suspense."

Harper's innocence in high school may have been formidable, but she made up for it with an expansive imagination, not to mention the regency romance novels she devoured along with anything else she could get her hands on. "You -- and only you -- are allowed to call me any insulting thing you like, Jessica." Brows tip upward. "The 1930s wasn't the worst decade, all things considered." And there are a lot of things. "Random hook-ups aren't so difficult. Get your hands on a Seattle newspaper and answer some ads." Salt baths. Harper smiles fondly, and silently disagrees. Not about the salt baths, but about Jessica waiting that long to find physical happiness.

"We'll work on catching you up to date on some of those facts this afternoon, I promise." Of course Harper thinks Jessica could make spandex work. "I think a metallic blue or a scarlet red. Though you'd look hot in aubergine. And you need a wrestling name."

Harper gets a refill on her spiked egg nog and takes another healthy sip. Several delectable nibbles are devoured. "Are you familiar with Agent Provocateur?" she inquires mildly. The tres chic, scandalous, and shockingly expensive lingerie producer. "I bought something to wear on New Year's Eve, but I need your unfiltered opinion before I get the nerve to wear it for Geoff." Harper awaits Jessica's approval and agreement and then subsequently removes that uber-soft black sweater, unzips the scarlet shirt at one hip, and steps out of it. Finally she pulls off first one boot and then the other, stepping down about three inches in height. This leaves her standing in a shockingly provocative ensemble in all black. Bra, waist suspender, panties, black stockings held by garters. She isn't at all shy to stand in front of Jessica dressed (or undressed) thusly. Settling her hand on her hip, she arches a raven brow and asks simply, "So?"

"I guess I could always use Grindr" Jessica suggests with a smirk. "I don't meet enough serial killers in my profession as it is, so why not? Ooh, fact catching. That's what I'm all about. Red? You trying to make me into a hussy now? Aubergine?" That makes her laugh once more. It's good to be laughing again with her best friend. "Only you could suggest aubergine or even know what that color is. I do love you so, Harpo."

"I know of that website" Jessica nods. "You bought something? Oh, you're wearing it now? Please, I will be happy to offer the 'bisexual male' perspective" she grins. Harper seems to be turning this into a striptease but, hey, Jessica doesn't mind. You can have platonic stripteasing, right? And then the big unveil and she stares, wide-eyed. "Wow. If I had a penis, it would be exploding. No doubt. He will love it. He better. Seriously. Things are stirring in me that I thought had atrophied. Did I say 'wow' yet? Give me a twirl."

Jessica starts suggesting forums on which to explore. Harper just arches a brow. "Please avoid the killers, serial or otherwise, Jess." The journalist's laughter at Harper's use of 'aubergine' starts Harper laughing, too, which just makes the clothing removal that much more unsteady. Add to that the alcohol in the egg nog. Harper's cheeks are rosy.

Yes. She bought several somethings that are revealed one by one. To the tune of over two thousand bucks. "Do you think --" Jessica tells her Geoff will love it. "Are you sure? I don't want to seem crazy." Ironic that she used the c-word as it's what she was called all through school. Jessica takes it past compliments and Harper starts laughing, but she obediently walks a slow circle, ending up back where she initially stood. She lifts a hand to pluck at the cross straps that climb her chest. "I don't look like a caricature?" She truly wants to know.

Pointing to Jessica's boxes, she simply says, "Your turn." Sounds like there might be a theme to the trio of remaining boxes. And yes, Harper knows Jessica's sizes quite well.

"Look, honestly..." And Jessica would never be anything but honest with Harper, "...I have no idea how a man would react. But as a virgin lesbian, it is doing amazing things for me. So much that I would almost be happy to be a man to be able to do something about it. It's like a 'Lattice of Lust', a 'Web of Wow' that will entrap Geoff in its decadent delights. If he looks anywhere else on New Years Eve, his equipment isn't working." A beat. "Not that I have any idea if it does now but you would."

"My turn?" Jessica eyes off the boxes and giggles. "Awww, you are so gorgeous Harpo. I think wearing spandex and this will get me anyone I want." A little wiggle of her eyebrows as she starts opening the boxes. Wide eyes and gasps at what is inside. "They certainly save on material" she laughs.

And Harper would never expect anything but forthright honesty from her best friend. It's why they've stayed so close for so long. So it takes her awhile to begin to process some of what Jessica is saying. She shifts, straightens, frowns and reaches for her sweater. "I didn't think that -- I was hoping you would tell me if -- ah, hell, Jess. I'm sorry." Harper looks like some cross between mortified and penitent as she struggles to pull her sweater back on correctly. Yes. Jessica's turn to see the satin and lace delicacies in her boxes. If Harper can only ... get-her-skirt-back-on!

"Wait, what are you doing?" Jessica is now rather alarmed by Harper's reaction. "You look fabulous!" Presents put aside so she can move to hug her friend tight. "Did I say something wrong? Honestly, Harpo, it is incredible and Geoff will love it. I love it! Don't you dare put those clothes back on. I am going to change into what you bought me and we are going to have dinner in the hottest lingerie ever. The kind of dinner that guys dream about seeing."

Harper stops with her arm in one sleeve and the sweater dangling from it like a flag in no wind. "The last thing I'd ever want to do is make you feel uncomfortable or break our closeness, Jess. You've seen me in less and I didn't think of anything but getting your opinion about this because I'm so not used to dressing in --" She waves her unsweatered hand at her scantily clad body. "-- crazy things like this. I wanted to surprise him. You know, really surprise him for our first New Year's Eve." Furrowed brows, a down-tipped moue of a frown, dismay. All the dismay! Jessica closes the space between them and Harper exhales some relief to wind her arms around her friend and hug her tight. She laughs, a little breathless, in regard to the type of dinner guys dream about. "I just need you to tell me I didn't waste my money. What if he doesn't like this style? There were so many different options." It may be that Harper's laying a bit too much weight on New Year's Eve.

But then it's time to download all the secrets that Jessica hasn't heard since they spent time together last. She confides, while hugging Jessica close, "He told me he loved me, Jessica." But that's not the startling part. The startling part would be: "And I said the words back to him." Harper? The I-don't-do-love princess? The confidences begin to fall hard and fast. "He still says it so much more. And it's still hard for me to say. But I ... I believe it, Jessica. He makes me feel safe, like all my nightmares can't happen to him because we've known each other so long and we have a history." And they do. Harper visited him regularly while he was in prison and she went through college and then started her job in town. Harper's still clinging to Jessica as she speaks all this. "We had a picnic in the orchard where he carved our initials without me knowing it when we were in high school. We shot each other with paintballs. We went hiking and camping up in the mountains. We went to Wild Waves Amusement Park:his first time ever. He'd never ridden a roller coaster before. And he won me a prize."

"It's just so ... right, Jess. And he's so sure. He makes me laugh, and he makes me feel safe and confident, and he just knows me." Where does Easton fit in? That's probably the question on Jessica's mind. "We even went into the Dream together to look for some asylum with Easton. We cook dinner together and watch wrestling and movies. We stare at the stars and we read books together. We listen to the blues and the rain. Back at the start, he asked me to dance like we did at that dance, junior year. He even played the same song we danced to. And he told me he'd felt this way about me for a long, long time. It was incredibly romantic. And that's when he kissed me the first time. I don't think that would have happened if we hadn't both been plastered." So much to tell Jessica. So much to lay at her feet to be told that no indeed, the nightmare of her life will not come and steal Geoff away, too. Harper's gaze searches Jessica's for that reassurance, for the approval she needs from the only family she has left, for advice and wisdom.

"You're not making me uncomfortable, I promise. I like this confident, sexy you. I like how you're going out there and being you. It's not crazy, it shows you care and he will appreciate that just as much as the damm hella good looking girl you are in it...and out of it too" Jessica smiles warmly. "You are my best friend forever and I intend to keep it that way. Yeah...it will definitely be a surprise. And a good one. You didn't waste anything. Stick with it and show him what he's lucky to have."

And then there is a torrent of emotional talk from the librarian, including the dreaded 'l' word. Not lesbian. Love. Far from being horrified, Jessica is actually smiling happily at the confession. "It sounds like love to me" she whispers, still holding her friend. "And it sounds wonderful. Maybe it's time to stop being frightened? Have faith in yourself, and Geoff, and make this work. Even with someone else involved too." She has no idea who the husband is. "And he's loved you all this time?" There's a little tear she has to wipe away. "I'm so happy for you, Harpo. No one deserves it more."

Harper draws back from that hug to look Jessica in the eyes as she speaks so much of the reassurance and approval that is largely absent from Harper's life otherwise. Family, indeed. She curves a slow, delighted smile at the compliments and advice. "I will. He doesn't know, yet. I just told him to take me to the casino for dinner on New Year's Eve and that he'd better have a nice suit. I told him I had his last present to unwrap that night." Harper's smile is positively sinful, now that she has Jessica's approval. "Thank you for not laughing."

Jessica declares what she's heard to be 'love' and it draws a line of relief across Harper's shoulders. "I think so, too. I mean, if it isn't? Then I don't think there really is a thing called 'love'." She nods slowly. "I'm having faith. Lots of faith. Now try yours on. I want to see!" Jessica asks about the longevity of the man's feelings. "That's what he says. And he really has no reason to lie. I don't think he's ever lied to me, except for not telling me about how he felt all this time." Unwittingly, she smooths her palm over her lingerie as if it needed to be adjusted, which it does not.

"That's technically not a lie. More of a restriction of information" Jessica smirks about Geoff's lying. "I'm glad that you finally found each other" she adds with a much warmer smile before glancing down at the 'clothes'. "Okay, time for me to get out of my high class sweats and slut it up a little in a suspender belt." A grin for Harper to go with her wiggling eyebrows. "Can't wait." A jerk of her head towards the kitchen. "You want to serve up the food while I change?" A quick peck to Harper's cheek before she heads off with her gifts, a playful wiggle of her butt as she walks. "I mean, I'm already pure sex. Imagine how hot I'll be in this."

Harper's brown eyes twinkle as her best friend uses nearly the exact same logic about truth versus deception as her boyfriend does. "I'm glad, too. It was so unlikely. I'm fortunate that he's an incredibly patient man." The librarian arches a brow as Jessica announces she's going to abandon her sweats for the insanely expensive, sexy bits of satin and lace that Harper bought for her. "Sure. I'll serve the food. But I'm going to get dressed first. If I spilled something on this before New Year's, I think I'd kill myself."

Laughing, Harper pulls her soft, black sweater back on, then steps back into her crimson skirt before sitting down to pull her boots back on and zip them up over the black stockings. Looking festive and dressed she heads to the kitchen to plate the delicious foods Jessica made for the holiday. "Yes, yes, Jessica," she calls after her friend while doing all this. "You're pure sex. Maybe that's the problem. You're erotically intimidating." She shakes her head and murmurs to herself, "There's no problem. It's just a matter of time. But does she listen? Noooo." She tastes a bit of the food while she waits and groans with pleasure. "C'mon. What's taking so long? I want to objectify you. And I want to eat this feast. Hurry up, sex goddess."

It may be a logical idea from Harper to get dressed but that means that only Jessica will be shivering in her scanties while a snowstorm rages outside. "Hang on! Why am I getting undressed but you're getting dressed? This doesn't seem fair!" she calls out from the bedroom. "Hmm...maybe you're right? I scare people away with my sheer sexuality. I did frighten Lex away after she saw me naked. I could always pretend she was overcome rather than disgusted. Are you muttering something about me not listening out there?"

"If you're objectifying me then you won't have time to eat" Jessica grins as she steps out from the bedroom. "Okay, objectify away." A little twirl. https://www.agentprovocateur.com/int_en/mercy-corset-black (with added knee high stockings) "Why do I have the feeling this cost more than the first edition?" she teases. Though once the look and ratings are given out, she will throw a dressing gown on to avoid food damage. "How's the Pavo en mole poblano? Probably white wine for the food."

Harper took her turn to shiver! And it's not like she removed the items she's wearing. They're all still there. Under her clothes. "It's fair. It's your turn, that's all. Don't argue with me about this," she is happy to call back across the living space of the houseboat. "You're not scary," Harper counters. "I don't know why you're being so stubborn about your skewed point-of-view." These words from Harper, the queen of stubborn. "I doubt you frightened Lex. And I've already told you my theory about that situation. Countless times. You just don't listen, you stubborn sex goddess." Is she muttering? "No, no. I would never mutter at you, Jess. And on Christmas? That would be so wrong." Harper nibbles a bit more at the food and smiles a spritely smile to herself.

"If I'm objectifying you ... da-amn, Jessica. You look ..." Loss for words for a few moments. "Just wow. You're going to make someone extremely happy when you let them see you in that. Wow. I have spectacular taste in lingerie. Who knew? And with the stockings? Rowr." She claws the air with her fingers and a delighted grin. "We'd better lock the front door because I think the fire department is on the way." Jessica asks about the money and Harper just waves a hand dismissively, not even addressing the expense of the piece. The robe comes out and Harper can't complain. She put her clothes back on, after all. "It's an experience to wear these pieces under clothing. At least for me. It's like knowing a secret." The food? The food Harper's been picking at with her fingers after plating it as requested? "It's transcendant. Just like everything you make. Your food gives me an actual appetite." Wine? Harper looks around for a corkscrew, and likely the chilling bottle in the refrigerator. "So," she asks as she works to pop the cork. "Do you like it? Will you wear it? Did I choose the right style for you?"

"Of course I listen, I'm a journalist. I take all the facts, present them, and analyse every now and then. Sure, Lex was involved with half the town but, sheesh, couldn't she at least have had sex with me? The woman's name rhymes with 'sex' for goodness sake." At least Jessica is laughing rather than maudlin. "I can't wait to show someone. Anyone. Heck, I might even walk down Main Street like this. Though in this weather, I may end up losing the use of what I want to use."

Tying up the dressing gown, Jessica makes her way over to the food. "You have incredible taste, it's true" she nods. "Though I was trying to figure out where some of the straps went for a while. At one point it was totally in the wrong place...felt nice...but in the wrong place. And if I ever put these panties on back to front..." A smiling shake of her head about the fire department. "Steady on, there might be some lookers." Time to eat...and more gossip no doubt.

Harper's rueful smile is full of warmth and a shared history of just about everything. "Well," she replies to the Lex commentary. "-- you've shifted perspectives on that topic." A breath of laughter. "I'm glad you like it. I'm pretty impressed with my sizing skills, as well." Walking down the street like that? "That's one way to go about getting what you want. But you have to be prepared for part of your focus group to be a little on the desperate side. Still, you definitely have the siren thing working in your favor. Maybe sing to some sailors." Harper arches her brows. "You mean the backside that's nearly no coverage at all? I say keep it the way it is. It makes your behind look delicious." Harper pours wine, grabs her plate and her glass and sits wherever Jessica chooses to sit and eat. "Have I mentioned that I've missed you yet today, Jess? You've been putting in some excellent pieces at the paper. Any scoops in the queue?"

"Grindr is probably equivalent to walking down the street in lingerie then. And, you know, just because the desperate approach, doesn't mean I'm desperate enough to take anyone" Jessica pouts. "Okay...maybe I will be. A siren? You have heard me sing, Harpo, you know it sounds more like an air raid siren than an alluring siren." They can sit at the table since it's Christmas. "No, you haven't mentioned missing me at all" she teases with an aloof sniffing tone. "I'm working on some strange murders that seem to have been going for decades. People losing organs. You never know..." Her voice adopts a spooky tone. "Could be some Frankenstein like vampire staying alive by stealing body parts that decay." Since it's Gray Harbor, it could possibly be just that. "Maybe you could research those past murders for me? What about you? Had any strange dreams lately?"

"It won't matter what you sound like if you're wearing that confection on that body," Harper argues. She takes a few bites, drinks some wine and crosses her legs as she murmurs praise for the delicious-delicious food. "You know I have." Missed Jessica. The two have been inseparable for over a decade now. That's not changing anytime soon. If ever. "Strange murders sound about right for this town. Just don't get hurt. I won't take that well at all." Understatement of epic proportions. "Of course I'd do research for you. You know it's one of my favorite things." Harper blushes faintly and takes a larger drink of wine. Some of her favorite things may have re-ordered themselves this autumn. "Get me the details you have and let me know what you want me to look for and I'm your girl." She takes another bite, contemplates Jessica, swallows and inquires, "What'd you give your parents for Christmas?"

"Dreams? Yeah. I was at the tattoo parlor and Geoff had a customer come in. Military kid. He was adorable, young, enthusiastic, great sense of humor. As Geoff was getting ready to work on him he ... " How does she even explain it. "... well, it turned out to be Bennie Oakes' brother. Her brother who was dead. He went from alive and playful to dying with a part of his head, I don't know, blown off? Right there. And then he was gone. That was ... well, I think it was beautiful that he got a message through for his sister, through Geoff. But seeing him drain of all that life-force was tragic. I don't think the circumstances of his death were ..." Harper shakes her head and leaves it at that. "When I had the plague at the end of the summer? I dreamt about just about everyone I cared about going through gruesome, torturous deaths. It -- was the worst that's ever been in Dreams. And then, most recently, I don't know if it was a Dream or if we actually went through to the other side, but Easton Marshall had a key that he used in the Addington House and we ended up in this bizarre fairy-tale-jail-asylum place. That was just plain surreal. But no one other than the story antagonists were getting tortured there. And then we were back. I don't even know what that was all about. But there was this young man named Aidan who kept me from getting fried or zapped or something. He was impressive." Harper's Dream tales are a surreal experience in and of themselves. And she wouldn't be so forthcoming with many other individuals besides her best friend. "You believe me, right?"

"Harpo, are you saying I should lounge at the pier in my lingerie waiting for the fleet to come in? In more ways than one. I guess I'd be Jezebel Jessica after that one" Jessica smirks while eating and drinking. "First off, investigate any murders over, say, the last hundred years that involve an organ being stolen and or wounding to the brain by a thin weapon. And why are we talking about this over Christmas dinner?" A smirk about the presents. "I gave them peace and quiet. We're a bit beyond doing the presents thing. I think we're both fed up with discussing the lack of grandchildren so this year we took a break and they went to California to have a warm Christmas. Which was quite insightful of them with the weather here."

And then it's time to listen to Harper's Fairy Tale Theater. The food is not as interesting as listening to all this, so Jessica rests her chin on her hands, elbows on the table, and listens. "Did I get gruesomely tortured? Of course I believe you but do you think these dreams are 'real' or dreams. I mean, was it really Bennie's brother, or was it your dream form of his brother and the message came from Geoff's subconscious rather than the real brother? See what I mean?" Her brow furrows. "Wait...you broke into the Addington House? Harpo...what kind of people are you hanging out with now?" It's only a teasing question.

Harper shrugs in a continental fashion that suggests you-do-what-you-can-do rather than some demonstaration of apathy. "If you ask me? I think you keep that smokin' body for the right conquest to come along. And she will." Harper is certain of that fact. She continues to eat the delicious meal and drink from her glass of wine. "I'll bet they're realizing how much they miss you today," she says simply. And then she argues, willfully, "I think the snow is beautiful."

Harper watches Jessica watch her as she relates the various stories. "Yes," she answers hesitantly. Jessica did have gruesome things done to her person in Harper's plague Dreams. "But I'm trying to forget those Dreams." She tips her head. "They're different. I don't know how to explain it. It's like they're more vivid or more believable, like they're real when they happen." On to Bennie's brother. "Geoff saw the same thing I did. He even quickly sketched the design the kid asked for so he could show Bennie. That wasn't a sleep-at-night dream, Jess. I can't even tell you how real it was." Then she's listening and nodding. "We did. We snuck in. It's been closed down. And Easton's key flashed us through to this vivid-but-farcical asylum for antagonists. It wasn't where he hoped the key would lead us, I don't think. But it happened nonetheless." She frowns. "That's off the record, darling. We're always off the record, right?"

"Of course it's off the record. Anonymous sources and all that" Jessica winks. "Seriously though, I won't be saying anything about your descent into crime. I'm sure they miss me, and I miss them, but I don't think this year's answer to no grandchildren as 'I'm gay' would really make their Christmas. But, yeah, the snow is nice. You might have to stay over tonight though. Dangerous to travel in this. Oh...is Geoff expecting you?"

"And I know about the dreams here. I had one recently where there were snakes on a plane. Yep, tacky horror movies seem to be on my subconscious" Jessica grins. "Maybe the break in was a dream too?"

Jessica promises confidentiality for all of Harper's tales which wins her a pleased smile. Harper didn't expect any less, but when Jess goes into reporter-mode, all bets are off. "You haven't told them?" This surprises Harper. "I think they'll do better with it than you're expecting." Harper tips her head. "I was going to head back over to his place, but if you want me to stay, I know he'll understand."

"Snakes on a plane? Was Sam Jackson there, too?" How could he not be there? "Wait. What break in?" Harper frowns and sets down her wine glass. "Someone broke in here?" This displeases Harper greatly.

"Why would anyone break into Fluffybuns?" Jessica laughs. "I meant your break-in to the Addington place. What if even that part was a dream? And of course I haven't told my Muslim mother and Catholic father that I'm gay. That one is something to build up to. I'll probably tell them around...oh...2050? Of course I'd want you to stay, both because it's dangerous outside and I miss you. I love having you around. But, it's also your first Christmas with the man you love...and his husband. So, if you are going, we better think about it before the weather gets even worse. No Sam Jackson. Just a bunch of people. Erin was there but I didn't no any of the others."

"You seriously doubt the experience of capital-D dreams? They're like you fall into the Sideways for a little bit and then fall back out. And they're so ... strange or awful or significant, it seems obvious how different they are from sleeping dreams. You haven't had them?" Harper regards her friend thoughtfully over her food, forgetting to keep eating as she dives into the inquiry of Jessica's belief system. "Well, honestly? I don't have a problem with breaking and entering. Nobody got hurt. We didn't damage the property. No harm, no foul, I say." As to Jessica coming out to her parents? "They might do better with the news than you'd think, Jessica. I know they are hardliners, but you said it: a Catholic man and a Muslim woman found common ground. If they didn't expect they'd create a child who made her own rules, then they were deluding themselves." Jessica would like Harper to stay. "I told Geoff you might. He'll be fine. We'll make a sleep-over out of it if you want." Harper finally remembers to start eating the delicious repast again and murmurs a sound of sheer pleasure as she does. "Snakes on a plane without Sam Jackson is just wrong. I hope you at least threw the necessary lines in." Harper actually finishes her plateful with a groan. "I'm so full. And it was so delicious."

"Of course I have capital-D dreams. I just don't have as many as you do" Jessica smirks. "I dunno. There's something out there that's...watching? It knows when we Dream. And I don't think it is a nice thing. So I try not to do it until I know what's going on. You know me, Harpo, gather all the facts before making decisions. Or try to at least." A sad shake of her head. "I screamed when a bunch of snakes fell on my head but, no, none of the big lines. There was a guy there called Liam who seemed to have that figured out. I also think he believed we were all figments of his imagination. Different aspects of his personality or something. If he really exists then he probably has quite the ego."

A shrug about her parents. "You might be right but it's going to screw up the grandchildren ideas even more. But, hey, I've only ever kissed one woman, just kissed, maybe I'm not fluid?" A little laugh. "Life is a bitch and it's never in heat." She reaches over to squeeze one of Harper's hands. "Thanks for staying over. Definitely sleep-over time! Though I'm getting back in my sweats. You have a habit of drooling on my shoulder and starting food fights at sleepovers. Glad you liked the food. Just wait for dessert. And we are going to get soooo drunk tonight." Finishing up her own meal she takes out the plates to the kitchen - in very expensive lingerie. Another every guy dream fulfilled.

"How's work by the way? Are you closed until after New Year or anything like that?"

Jessica has capital-D dreams. Harper settles back in her chair, crossing her legs smoothly as she considers the journalist in the robe and sexy unmentionables. "Something's watching? I suppose it does feel like there some sort of awareness of who we are, what we think and fear and hope. I just don't really have any understanding of what that might be, where it comes from, or how it works. I wish I did. " Harper nods solemnly to Jessica's fact-based search for decisions and analysis. "Did any snakes bite you? I've always wondered how getting really hurt in a Dream would affect you in the ... awake world." Harper listens to talk of this Liam fellow and is ego and id with an amused expression. "And what part of his sense of self did he decide you were?" A fond smile ghosts over Harper's lips as she considers the possibilities.

"You don't need a penis to have children, Jessica. I mean not on the spot. You know this. And for goodness sake, I'm certainly not trying to pigeon-hole you to any particular identity. You know I'll love you no matter what or who you decide you are. You're just plain stuck with me." Harper holds Jessica's hand with both of her own. "I wouldn't say 'never in heat'. The bigger issue is finding relief for the heat, you know?" Staying over? "Of course I'm staying, you crazy harlot. Just because I'm dating someone doesn't mean you end up relegated to the back burner. It just doesn't work that way. And if you've been staying scarce on purpose, you need to stop it. Now. I'll be deeply wounded if you distance us for any reason." Food fights? "I think the last time there was a food fight, you spilled red wine down the front of my dress and I had to strip." Harper arches a brow. "As for drooling on your shoulder? You can't tell me you don't enjoy it. You're already planning how you'll get me to do that tonight." Harper grins playfully. "Dessert?" Harper groans. "Can we wait a couple of hours so my stomach can actually consider allowing further input? What did you make?" Harper helps clear the plates and clean up the kitchen. It's tradition that the best friends' get-togethers fulfill certain male fantasies. Men simply rarely learn what they're missing.

"There's plenty of theories about the dreams but nothing certain. How can anything be certain in the real of dreams, small-d or capital-D? Dreams are normally the product of your subconscious but capital-D dreams could be the product of anyone's subconscious. And, even worse, what if they are the products of someone's conscious? We are all but players on a stage - as Willy the Shake would say." Jessica has to think about the snake bites. "No, I don't think so, though they wanted to bite. You know how dreams are, things are weird. There was a woman treating a giant one as a baby. Swaddled and goo-goo talk." A little snort of amusement. "I think i was Liam's lust. But I was in control. I made the decision to wear swimwear when we got to the tropical paradise at the end. Shame he's not real, I could be in there."

"Children is a long way away regardless of penises or test tubes. I have to be ready for that and I am sooo not. And, maybe, one day you'll change your mind. Might want to establish a new life with Geoff. It's not as if he can with his husband. Not genetically." Jessica starts filling the dishwasher...while wearing expensive lingerie (Jessica, not the dishwasher). "I can find relief for the heat but it's all solo. Well, me and Mr. Vibes." A grin of happiness at Harper's willingness to stay over. "I may have been giving you a little space but that's good at the start of relationships. That's the most important time. But I will never stay away forever, you're just plain stuck with me too."

"You had to strip? Oh, how awful, Harpo in her undies" Jessica gasps in mock horror before a gentle nudge of her friend. "Not sure I enjoyed being drooled on. It was my shoulder after all. But you do look cute when you do it." Everything packed away, Jessica points to the couch. "Get thee to the couch! I'll bring wine and nibblies before I get changed. And you can decide what movie we'll watch while talking about life, love, and the universe. You never know, we could have a capital-D dream." She makes some ominous music noises, "Dun dun dun."

By the time both women are comfortably attired in some combination of lounge-wear and pajamas, Harper startles. "I forgot Geoff's present for you!" She stuffs her bare feet into her black, high heeled boots and clamors out through the snow to her car. She returns with two fabric covered bottles. It's really hard to disguise bottles of alcohol unless one really decides to do so. And that's not Geoff's style. It might be that Harper is the one who put the bottles in red with white faux fur santa-themed wine-bags. She closes the door with a shiver and stomps the snow off her boots before she removes them and runs back over to the sofa to curl up under a blanket beside Jessica. "Geoff sent these for you." She shoves them into Jessica's lap, still shivering. There's one bottle of a nice red wine and one bottle of a nice white wine. "He wants to get together sometime." It takes Harper awhile to stop shivering. It was silly of her not to wear her coat when she ran to her car. "And he gave me something besides the hand-carved bookcase and the silver wrestling cape and moon boots. You need to take a breath," Harper advises with an affectionate smile. Then she's reaching into the neck of her hoodie and pulling out a silver filagree, very fine chain and ... what do you know. Attached to that chain is a delicate silver ring, very simple, without adornment. And yes, it looks a bit like a wedding band. But Harper is wearing it on that chain, around her neck, under her sweatshirt. She watches Jessica's reaction with a weighted gaze.

"Don't go out there dressed like..." Too late. Better get that hot chocolate started. Still, Jessica is back on the couch and ushering her friend under the blankets when Harper reappears. "You lunatic" she admonishes cheerfully before snuggling up against the ice queen and finding a little shiver herself. "Ooh, wine. Shall we share one now or when we all get together? I love the covers" she grins. "I better get Geoff something now..." A quick glance around the room to see if there is anything she can palm off...umm...give as a heartfelt gift. "I owe him one" she decides.

Things are sounding serious as Jessica holds her breath as advised. Her reaction is one of growing shock as she sees what it is. Only a couple of hours ago, Harper was admitting to love, now there is marriage in the air? "Harpo...does this mean what I think it means?" Since Geoff is already married, Harper would hve to wear it around her neck though that doesn't stop them having made a committment. "Bigamy? I should say, big of you, not me. Umm...am I intruding on your honeymoon?"

Harper's smiling like the lunatic she's accused of being. She slides her bare feet under the blanket and presses them against Jessica's pajama-clad thigh. Scamp! "I think you should save them to serve with one of the amazing meals you conjure up in that magical kitchen." Harper teases about the kitchen. She loves Jessica's food so much. "You don't have to get him anything. I just talk about you pretty often, and he remembered you from school. So ... yeah, wait and give him something when something makes sense. He's not really a stuff for stuff's sake kind of guy."

"No, no no no. It doesn't mean anything traditional. It means he wants me to have a way to show the world that we're together and that he sees a future together." She pulls her icy feet back and rolls to her knees on the sofa cushion and leans in close to Jessica so she can see the inscribed ourobouros on the inside of the band. "He did that himself," she murmurs from that close proximity. Once Jess has had a chance to see what Harper hasn't had time to show anyone else, the librarian settles back in the cushion, her fingertips tracing around and around the delicate ring. "I feel the same way. I don't want something finite. And I'm mostly able to feel that way without panicking." This is a huge step for Harper. And the 'mostly' is utterly honest. From the way Geoff gave her the gift, it's likely obvious to Jessica that he knows the way that broken brain of hers works quite well, too. Harper frowns abruptly, "I suppose I should give him something to wear, too."

"You have your suspender belt" Jessica suggests for Geoff to wear - she's only teasing! There is a look of pride in her eyes as she gazes on her beloved Harper. A look of sheer joy at how well her best friend's life is going. "If he wants to show the world, you might have to stop wearing it under your clothes" she points out before peering over the inscription. "Fancy. I thought he was a tattooist? Seems to be very talented with his hands." There may have been a little wiggling of her eyebrows.

Harper's feet are cold but Jessica won't object...until they're taken away. "You want something infinite with Geoff? If only you knew about his feelings at high school. You could be wearing that on your wedding finger. Though, I feel I have to point out that you're denying me the chance to be a maid of honor and catch the bouquet by loving a married man." She reaches over to ruffle Harper's hair. "I'll forgive you since your happiness is making me happy."

Harper exhales a burst of laughter at the image of Geoff in the women's lingerie. Harper sees Jessica's proud look and since she's truly the only 'family' she has left, her approval is dearly important to the librarian. "I'm ... he just gave it to me this morning," Harper answers hesitantly. "It feels both monumental and so fragile. I'm petrified it will fall off." That's not really what scares her, but it's a fabulous symbol of it. "He is," she agrees. "-- a tattoo artist. He's so talented. I find it incredibly charming that he doesn't want ink on my skin." Talented with his hands. Harper may just blush at that. "He's fantastically talented with his hands. And his mouth. And just about every ... Jessica," she says solemnly, "--he takes off his shirt and the world just --poof-- disappears. And damn the man, but he knows it. Uses it against me every chance he gets." She smiles that smile at Jessica. "Yes. You don't have to say it. Against me, and all the other prepositions."

If Jessica objects to Harper removing her cold feet, she'll return them and settle in close with her friend and listens thoughtfully to what she has to say about 'infinite' commitments. "There is absolutely no way we would have gotten married out of high school if we'd dated. I had plans. An order of events that -- we wouldn't have gotten married. I mean, we're not getting married now. So how can you even say we'd have been impetuous like that then? I guess I just have a hard time imagining how I feel now juxtaposed with how young I was then. It's like our lives have led us together and it always should have happened this way. I don't know how to explain it." Jessica speaks about what Harper is denying her of. "You have a baby and maybe I'll be a bride, how's that?" Harper has some thoughts of the likelihood of either, though neither is innately bothersome. "How about I buy a bouquet and throw it to you. Would that work? We can even dress up." Harper scoots closer so that they're sitting arm-pressed-to-arm under the blankets. "Your happiness is next on the docket. I think we should go to some clubs in Seattle. Get all rave-a-licious. Find you some hotties. I'm your wing-woman. Let's set a date."

"Put it on a finger and it won't fall off" Jessica suggests about the ring...but she knows what is really bothering Harper. A consoling squeeze of a cold foot. Her other hand held up in a 'please stop' way as Harper answers the innuendo with far too much information. Though it also makes Jessica giggle.

"I suppose it would have been way too early to get married then. And you can't be a bride while Geoff is married to this other person." Jessica still doesn't know his name. "Will Geoff want to be godfather of my baby? I should get to know him a bit better first then. And I think, out of context, throwing my a bouquet would be like throwing a bunch of flowers at a passer-by. Might even be assault" she grins. "Seattle? The Lesbianville of the West?" Jessica laughs. "Sure, I'm up for raving the light fantastic. Umm...I spend most of my time making people upset these days, work related, so I could do with a break."

The talk of putting it on a finger is somehow one step too far for Harper. She shakes her head quickly. She sees that look of understanding in Jessica's eyes and relaxes into both touch and affection. She's laughing by the time Jessica cuts her off from the TMI aspect of her relationship. This from the woman who once asked her if she prefered long or thick penises. (Penii?)

"Exactly!" Harper agrees. The other marriage! "He and Easton aren't getting a divorce. I just don't see that happening. They were meant to be together. And I'm good with that." There is nothing beneath the statement. She really is okay with her committed boyfriend having a husband. Poor Jessica. It must sound so bizarre. "I think he'd be a great godfather to your hypothetical infant. He tries to hide his kind side with all the gruff, but his heart is one hundred percent gold." Harper drifts off for a few moments imagining Geoff holding a baby that would definitely not be hers. This brings a smile to her lips. "Well, I'm certainly not throwing this hypothetical bouquet to anyone but you, and if you're going to claim assault, where's the fun in that? Seriously, Jess. You're such a buzzkill. I create solutions and you just shoot them down, one by one." Harper's brows tip up. "Is Seattle really the Lesbianville of the West? I would have put money on San Francisco. Or Eugene, even." Jessica's up for some raving. Harper's brown eyes light up. "Marvelous. When are we going?" She then adds, "I can't go on (x dates) because we're going skiing. But any other time. The weekend after New Year's? Or do you need longer to purchase some rave-wear and get some fluidity going? We're going to have so much fun. Let's put it in our calendars. And if it goes well, we can go back a few times. You're going to have so many phone numbers you'll need a special book." Because Harper thinks of it in terms of books, not cell phone memory.

"You were meant to be together too" Jessica points out with a smile. "Maybe you three should move to a commune or something where you can all be spiritually married to each other? Hey, create a religion to allow it. That's been done before. But, seriously, I'm glad you're all okay with it and you're all happy. Let's not get too far ahead in the baby stakes. You'll have one first." This will happen! No matter what Harper thinks.

"I would have said San Francisco too" Jessica nods about Lesbianville, "But I thought you knew something about Seattle that I didn't. It seems you know something about Eugene that I don't." A giggle and shake of her head about the phone book for her numbers. "I will definitely make sure to get a really big book that I'll take with me to the clubs. That's probably pretty sexy. I do love you, Harpo. A woman perfectly ahead and behind of the times. And of course I'm a buzzkill, hence the needing a wingwoman for Seattle...or walking down the street in my lingerie. You'll have to give me a couple of weeks to get my fluid going. Wait, you're going skiing? Awesome. Try not to break your legs before going out dancing."

Jessica is rewarded with a smile for saying that she and Geoff were meant to be together, even if Jessica is just saying it to be kind. "Okay. Should I be clearer here? I'm pretty sure Geoff and Easton don't have sex. And, aside from one time when I thought Easton was Geoff, early on, I haven't put my hands on him, nor do I plan to. They are very close. But I don't think I have any competition in the physical arena." She tips her head, regards Jessica for a moment. "But I did tell them that I got to watch if they did." Harper shrugs, smiles a far too blase smile at Jessica for the topic. "We don't need a commune or any religion. Though I think Geoff used to go to church when he first got out of jail. I can't remember if that was from growing up or not." Harper will have a baby first? There are too many wrong words in that sentence. Jessica knows about Harper's conversations with her doctor. Her body doesn't release eggs. And that doesn't even account for the fact that Harper has vowed she will never have children, no matter how good she is with the children at the library. It may be that Jessica and Geoff and both proved to be immune (so far) to Harper's self-perceived curse after both parents and her best friend in elementary school died violently, gruesome deaths; however, Harper's not risking creating a child that has half her blood to test the theory. Her eyes go a bit steely at the teasing, but she isn't harsh with her friend.

"I just know Seattle is the right size. You get to turn down a couple dozen propositions before you find the right one. And oh Jessica... you'll know she's the right one. I promise you that." Harper might as well be the one who is promised a sex connection for how excited she sounds. "Definitely Eugene," she agrees. Though how she knows this? "Yes! A giant, sexy book. And a calligraphy pen. That won't bog you down at all." Harper nods. "You're definitely wearing your Christmas present when we go. Unless you're planning to go commando. I mean that's allowed. If I want Geoff all over me, all I have to do is tell him I'm not wearing any underwear." Jessica needs a couple of weeks. "Your timeline. You choose. But I'm not holding you back. I'll go as soon as you're ready." Hardly a pause. "Yeah. I think we're going to Tahoe for a week. I'm going to try to ski. I think Geoff's planning to snowboard." She shakes her head and grins, "I will not break my legs. And my main reason will be because I need to go dancing with you.. until you find a much, much better partner or twelve."

"Geoff and Easton are married but they don't have sex. Umm...why did they get married then? And, hey, if you're watching, so am I." A beat. "Did Easton need a Green Card? It sounds like one of those 'comedies' in the 1980s about straight people pretending to be gay to get a cheap apartment." Jessica winces a little. "Obviously it won't be a natural childbirth... Oh, I have an idea! It could be a natural childbirth...hear me out. We mix up Geoff's sperm and an egg of mine and you carry." Only with her best friend would she be able to talk about such things. Only with her best friend would she even suggest it.

But back to the fluid and Jessica has to laugh. "You know that I wouldn't turn down the first one, right? I may be so surprised that I fall off my chair, but turn it down after this long? Not a chance. So, that's why I will have a wingwoman. Quality check. Don't let me run off with any obvious drug addicts or psychopaths please." Jessica purses her lips and nods solemnly about the book. "Definitely calligraphy. I am sure the ladies will be quite happy to wait while I artistically write down their name and number for a couple of hours. Definitely be wearing the lingerie." Another grin about handsy Geoff. "Oh, please, all you'd have to say was 'hello' and he'd be all over. Heck, I doubt you'd have to say a word. But we will definitely do this. Thanks, Harpo." She leans over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You're the best."

"Well, let's be clear. I haven't asked if they have sex. But, well, I just don't think they do. But their friendship is pretty intimate. It's --" Hey! Realization strikes Harper. "It's like you and me." Harper frowns. "But I don't know if Easton is bi." Or if Geoff is. She should probably ask. She simply has so little problem with it that she honestly doesn't care either way. If Geoff gave her only pieces of himself, that would be another thing entirely. She's quite content with the way things are. There might even be some growing affection for Easton to be heard in what she's told Jessica. You really can't love Geoff and not feel something for Easton. Jessica goes on about sit-coms with straight people pretending to be gay to get a cheap apartment and that starts Harper laughing. She's still laughing when Jessica makes the hyperbolic suggestion that they somehow incubate Geoff's and Jessica's gametes in Harper's body. She levels a look at her best friend. "I... no, Jessica. You have the most beautiful heart, but no." Curse. Harper's beliefs. Not happening.

"Oh, believe me. I'm not going along to step in between you and potential hook ups. I suspect the first few will be the sort of thing you consider only within the confines of a dark, noisy club or warehouse. "But if you think your heart might get all tangled up, I'll play a more active defense." Harper just can't bring herself to speak the feminine version of cock-blocking. She nods solemnly to the thought of Jessica making prospective make-out partners wait while she does calligraphy in a giant, leather-bound journal with all sorts of hand scrawled decoration. "They'll stand in freaking line," Harper agrees. Again, not quite able to be profane enough to sound as serious about this as she is. "You can wear that number, but I don't think it's conducive to a club quickie. You really should think through your wardrobe decisions with that in mind." Handsy Geoff? "He's more self-controlled than all that, Jessica. At least until he's not. Until the steam comes out of his ears? When he wants to hide it, his poker face is spectacular. The first time we -- the first time? I thought we were about to eat dinner. He may have been handing me my food. So forget the 'saying hello' theory." Harper smiles. She kept it pretty PG there. The fact that they're going raving? "Don't even thank me. I look forward to seeing you very happy. Or maybe the better word is 'satisfied'." Harper accepts the kiss with a smile and turns her other cheek to tap at it expectantly. Only when she gets the other kiss does she relent. "Well, of course I'm the best. I have to be deserving of you in my life." A playful smile. "You're very welcome, Jess. We're gonna do this. We're gonna do it hard."

Of course Harper will get the complete pair of cheek kisses before Jessica sits back, gasping like a giddy schoolgirl. "Oh my gosh, Harpo. Did you just ask me to marry you?" That would make them just like Geoff and Easton. Jessica places a hand upon her heaving chest. "I'm flattered, my dearest love, but I need sex in my marriage. I need sex out of it too. So, I'm afraid I shall have to turn down your proposal. Sheesh, you didn't even get on one knee. Or two." Jessica understands Harper's aversion to children...but they shall revisit this one day.

"I think it will be a long time before my heart gets tangled in anything. I tried to quickly in the past and all it does is hurt. I'm worth waiting for." A beat. "Back me up here, Harpo. But it will be great if you cast your expert eye over any prospective long-term partners. Shouldn't take you more than a couple of seconds." Jessica is not so confident about this long line idea. A nod in agreement about whether the lingerie is good for club quickies. "Maybe I'll go downstairs commando then? Wear a short dress. Find a mirror dancefloor and give people a thrill...or nightmares." Another gasp. "You gave up a meal for sex? I don't know who you are anymore" she grins.

"Definitely. So hard it will snap off inside. What the fuck am I talking about?" How much has she drunk tonight?

Of course Harper gets her kisses. This is Jessica and Harper. Anything less would mean something was wrong. Harper stretches out her legs across the tops of Jessica's thighs and over the edge of the sofa and contemplates her while she waxes on about proposals. "No, Jess. When I propose to you, there will be bouquet throwing involved. I'm not really sure that I'd be very good at sex with you, but you have to admit I'm a great cuddler ... and drooler, if what you say is even true." Harper nods to the whole concept of needing sex. "It's definitely a must-have."

"It sounds like you have your plan of engagement all set. And I'm good with it. On the drive to Seattle we'll have to settle a few hypotheticals so I can step in or step back at the right times. I mean, it's not likely, but if I see hearts in your eyes and I'm watching a total player mess with your head? I need to know if I'm supposed to let that slide and be all have-fun or if I should make a judgment call." Harper nods. She'll always back Jessica up. Name the time. Name the place. She'll be there. And she'll back everything the hell up. Don't question the librarian. For a long set of moments, Harper isn't sure if the 'shouldn't take you more than a couple of seconds' is a teasing slur or some dramatic compliment about her powers of observation. She tips her head and lets that query show in her brown eyes. "Commando is risky," she argues thoughtfully. Especially in a short skirt." She holds up both hands, "I won't stop you if that's what you want to do, but there's something to be said for panties. And really, hook a finger and pull them to one side and you're ... in." Harper even can't believe she just said that. Harper shakes her head as Jessica crosses the line with talk of mirrored floors. "I don't think our raves will be in that kind of club. "We're definitely taking you to Cherry." Harper's favorite waxer is named Cherry? It's so wrong and yet so right on so many levels. Jessica gasps and Harper laughs. She gave up a meal for sex. "And I will every, single time if it involves Geoff." Oh, damn it all. Harper can't see how dreamy she goes when she talks about the man. It's cavity-inducing. Jessica totally knows Harper gives up food on a regular basis. And they both realize this. "So, tell me how hardcore you want this to be. Are we getting a room in Seattle so we don't have to drive afterward? Am I staying sober? Do I let you do drugs?" There are so many questions to ask. Would Geoff have a conniption at the thought of the two women on their own at a rave? It could be a dangerous venture.

They're going to do this hard. So hard it ... wha? Harper almost does a perfect impression of a dog who has just heard something completely perplexing. "What the actual fuck are you talking about, Jessica?" So she can repeat the word, at least. Or be startled into using it. "Did you take something while I wasn't looking? Are there edibles in the kitchen?"

"I'm sure you'd be great at sex with me. Think of everything you enjoy and do it to me. Simples. But we don't have to worry about that. We're not doing that. No need to get into any details." Jessica replies with a shrug.

Nodding about the parameters being set up on the drive to Seattle. "We'll have to stay overnight. Clubs don't really get going until early morning. I'll take a couple of days off - the G.H.P.D. will be thrilled. Hmm...total players? I guess they know what they're doing but, please, don't let me get hearts in my eyes. This isn't about finding my soulmate...she's sitting here on the couch with me...or my perfect long-term partner. This is about reminding me about all the good feelings you can get entwined with another person." Seeing the confusion about the 'couple of seconds', Jessica clarifies with a "I mean the list will be so short it won't take you long. Fine, panties it..." She stares at Harper's talk of pushing to one side. Who is this woman!? Where has she been? "Yes...'in'...as it were. What have you been up to, young lady. Wait, don't tell me. Just send me the home movies."

"No drugs but no staying sober. Either of us. And I'm hoping to be very hardcore by the end of the night...if you know what I mean." That one may be easy to understand but Jessica has no idea herself about hard things breaking off. "I assure you I am only drunk." That's alright then. "I didn't get the edibles out. Would you like one?"