platonic touch prompts || accepting! - @orphanis.

they needed some time out —- she needed some time out. a restaurant cart packed with friends and caroline only had eyes for one of them: the long haired, blonde woman with the bottle of champagne, sitting by a frozen window and waiting for her. waiting and smiling, sweetness in her glance —- if only hubbard could return the gesture. guilt overcame her as the former actress pushed her way through lap dogs and occupied tables, the sound of her heels muffled by the rouge carpet beneath her feet. everyone’s eyes on her, fearing that, in her despair, the woman might try to jump through an open window and into the arms of death.

but she had tried once, and she had failed once — an empty gun the only thing that stood between her and the relief of eternal sleep she had longed for years.

❝ don’t look at me like i’m crazy. ❞ voice a whisper at the same time that emma’s arms slipped around her waist, pulling her into a tight embrace. caroline on her lap, legs crossing and a pallid hand searching inside her pocket for a cigarette. ❝ poirot is gone, and we are free at last. ❞