This rockstar life

2.2 My casa is your casa - pt II

Content: See Introduction for general content notes. 

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Halfway through 'Houses of the Holy' Steve notices that Alice is yawning and when he checks his watch, it is after 1am.

"We should probably get you home."

"Oh, bugger, too late for the tube. I'll have to get a night bus." She grimaces.

"I'll get you a cab."

"To Hampstead? That'll cost a fortune."

"Well, you know, rockstar" he gestures at the gold discs hanging on the wall and she laughs. "Or...you could...stay?"

Suddenly shy again, Alice ducks her head, and then nods.

"Um, there's only one bed. Well, in fact, minus one bed. Lorelei took it back. There's a mattress."

"How bohemian."

Adopting a casual air, they busy themselves getting ready for bed. Steve finds a t-shirt for Alice to wear, and a toothbrush, and they perform the traditional 'you go first, no you' bathroom dance and 'left side, right side' bed negotiation. Finally they slip under the covers and, because there are no lamps (also reclaimed by Lorelei?), Steve switches off the main light and they lie side by side in darkness. Steve is suddenly aware that he is nearly naked in the dark with a woman he hardly knows and who might be crazy in ways that he is not yet aware of. He can hear her breathing. She doesn't sound crazy. There is a rustle and a hand brushes his. He closes his fingers around it.

"Night then."

"G'night."

Steve hears crashing sounds and sirens and someone pounding on the door. He starts awake, heart pounding and breathing fast. Something is wrapped around him and he jerks back before realising that it is a person, a woman who is rubbing his back and whispering.

"...just a dream. It's okay. You're okay."

In the faint light from the street outside he can just make out a pale face and dark hair.

"Alice. It's Alice."

"I remember," he mumbles.

She brushes the hair back from his face, "You just had a bad dream. Nothing's going to hurt you." She hooks a smooth slender leg over his and nestles her head under his chin. A girl that he hasn't kissed, has barely touched, is now pressed against him, breathing into his shoulder. It's oddly comforting. And just, odd.

When Steve wakes again, morning but still early from the watery light filtering in through the curtains, Alice is still there, no longer wrapped around him, but still curled into his side. She lifts her head and, almost as a reflex, he kisses her! They both look surprised, and then she giggles and buries her face back under the covers. There is silence for a moment, and then a sort of muffled 'eeeeeeee' squeak.

"Um...you all right under there?"

This is answered by some unintelligible gibbering and then finally some words in actual English, "The cute boy kissed me!"

"Oh. Is that a problem?" Steve, somewhat perplexed at this unorthodox but endearing reaction, asks the duvet.

"Nooooo. Just a little...overwhelming. I'm fine. Totally."

"If you come out, he might do it again..."

Alice's head appears slowly from under the covers and she wriggles up until they are face to face. Finally she raises her eyes to meet his.

"Hello."

"Hi."

Steve strokes her cheek with his thumb and leans in, keeping eye contact until the last second. The kiss is soft but intense, and Alice feels that if she weren't lying down she would swoon like a Victorian maiden. Eventually she has to pull away to breathe, and buries her head between the pillow and his neck.

"Your heart's going like crazy!"

"Yours too."

(November 1989)