Shane pulled her cigarette from between her lips, exhaling a thin arrow of smoke from the far corner of her mouth so that it didn’t drift into Lara’s face. “Well,” she began, picking up her water glass and taking a sip. “I’ve got more interviews I’ve gotta do today –” There was a soft, almost petulant whine from Lara as she leaned her head on Shane’s shoulder, but Shane continued undeterred, reaching up to catch hold of Lara’s fingers as she played with her collar, gently brushing the ends of Lara’s fingers with her own. “And you can go upstairs and go to bed and get some sleep, finally.”

“But what about you? How long will you be gone? I hate having to sleep without you there,” Lara replied, her tone faintly wheedling as she leaned in and began nibbling along Shane’s jawline.

There was a noise, then, a barely audible rumble of a groan that sounded very much like a purr as Shane tipped her head back a bit. “Not sure when I’ll be back, baby,” she murmured quietly. “After you wake up, you can call Joey and Fiona and they can come and hang out until I get back.”

“No good,” Lara mumbled petulantly, shaking her head a little as she worked her way along Shane’s jaw to her ear, fingers curling around the lapel of Shane’s leather jacket and giving it a tug. “Want you back here with me.”

“L, I gotta do these interviews, babe,” Shane replied, sighing softly as she sat up a bit in her seat and snagged the centerpiece from the middle of the table, a silver urn filled with silk flowers, tapping ashes into it. “You know that. Tim says it’s important.”

“But can’t you hold it off just for a little while?” Lara asked, pouting as she let her arm settle on the back of Shane’s chair. “I mean, how many interviews do you have to do? It’s just one album. It’s been ages since you even released it. You’ve just been touring for weeks and weeks and weeks and I hardly ever see you…!”

“I know,” Shane said, sighing as she slumped back into her chair, pulling the urn a bit closer to hand. Lara reached up and carded her fingers through Shane’s hair and at first Shane seemed to bristle, almost as though she was reaching critical mass for public displays of affection, but she made no move to shy away from the touch. Taking a deep breath, she let it out in another ragged sigh, smoke escaping along with the breath as she tipped her head back into the touches. “I just gotta do this. Tim said if they see me enough, if we make enough noise, maybe the record company’ll give me another chance to put that third album out.”