Clementine arrived a few minutes late for her meeting with Anastasia, due to the fact that traffic on Santa Monica was a snarled mess. Anastasia was waiting for her, jacket in a bag at her side.

"Hi! I waited for you to get here so we could order together." Anastasia smiled and rose. They moved through the line and placed their orders, which Anastasia insisted on paying for.

"Oh please, you're doing me this huge favor," she said with a laugh when Clementine objected. "Not that I don't intend to pay you for your work," she added.

"What? No, it's okay, it's fun for me," Clementine protested, embarrassed.

"Don't be ridiculous," Anastasia admonished as they sat with their drinks. "It must take at least a few hours, I need to pay you for your time. How does two fifty sound?"

"Two fifty what?"

"Two hundred and fifty dollars? Not enough?"

Clementine stared at her, aghast. "Are you kidding? For some cutting and crocheting?"

Anastasia shook her head. "People usually take you at the value you put on yourself, Clem, you need to learn that. Two fifty is a bargain for me, please take it or feel like I'm taking advantage of you."

Clementine finally nodded. "Okay, though it still seems ridiculously high to me." She reached for the bag and shook out the jacket. It was pink leather, and Clementine immediately thought of magenta yarn for the accent.

"This is a nice jacket, you sure you want me to cut it up?" she asked doubtfully.

"It's always been a little big, and not really my style," Anastasia replied. "I'd much rather have something like what you were wearing. It was so cool, and no one else will have one like it, which I also like."

"You want me to guess on the size? What are you about a seven?"

"Yup, bang on."

"Okay, give me a week or two?"

"No problem." Anastasia grinned and took a sip of her drink. "So, now that business is taken care of, I can ask you about the guy you were with. Johnny Darling? I know he goes by his full name now, but that's how I always think of him."

"Oh, I wasn't with him," Clementine protested. "He was there with my sister, Hyacinth, I just tagged along."

"Really? Because he seemed into you," Anastasia said, smiling around her straw. "I usually have a pretty good nose for this stuff, and he definitely spent more time with you than your sister."

"We were just talking art and stuff, you know looking around the gallery together?"

"Sounds like a date."

Clementine wasn't sure how to answer. She was now sort of seeing John, wasn't she? But she definitely hadn't been at the gallery opening.

"It's okay if you want to keep it under wraps, I totally get it," Anastasia was saying. "You'd have girls chasing you down the street with meat cleavers if they knew you were seeing Johnny."

Clementine gave up and merely smiled.

"Hey, maybe the two of you could come over to my house sometime for drinks? I could show you my studio?"

"Really?" The word was out of Clementine's mouth before she could help herself. It was almost like Anastasia wanted to be friends with her.

"Yeah, why not? You and Johnny are the most interesting people I've met all year, I think. I'm so sick of my dissipated artist friends I could just die. I need to broaden my horizons." Anastasia smiled at her. "I'll invite your sister, too, just to keep things friendly, and maybe a couple of other people I haven't seen in a while."

Clementine was speechless.

"It won't be big, not like a party or anything, maybe five or six people?" Anastasia was talking to herself. She looked again at Clementine. "You like to play games?"

"What, like board games?" Clementine was finding the conversation hard to follow.

Anastasia nodded. "I love board games, but no one ever wants to play with me. Maybe we can play some games, what do you think?"

"Sure." Clementine was getting her footing. "But I have to warn you, I play Scrabble for blood, I've made my own mother cry before."

Anastasia laughed. "Perfect! Let's do it. We'll have to coordinate with Johnny's schedule, he's the busy one. You talk to him regularly, don't you?"

Clementine didn't even bother to protest this time, but merely nodded.

"Okay, so you find out what dates work for your sister, John and you, and I'll work off that, how's that sound? We'll try to squeeze it in before Christmas."

"What about you, your schedule?" Clementine asked, amazed that this fascinating person was seeking out her company.

"I'm an artist, as long as I have a few hours during the day to do my thing, the rest of my time is my own," Anastasia told her with a wink.

"Sounds so nice. I wish I were better at it," Clementine said wistfully.

"That's right, you're a doodler, too, aren't you? You want me to look at some of your stuff?"

"Oh my god, no! I'd be embarrassed to show you my stuff," Clementine stammered. "I literally scribble compared to you."

"You really need to have more confidence in yourself," Anastasia chastised. "Tell you what, we'll play Pictionary when you come over, that'll be fun." She looked at her watch. "Oops, gotta run, have an appointment with a bigwig dealer at five."

"Sounds cool."

"Nah, I think he just wants to get into my pants," Anastasia said with a laugh and another wink. "That's okay, though he's kinda hot. Talk to you soon, okay?" And she was gone.

Clementine grabbed the bag and headed out to her car. Once inside with the air on, she sent John a text. He'd been excited for her to meet with the artist, and had asked for an update about how the meeting went. Clementine told him about the invitation to her house for drinks and games, and about how much she would be paid for the jacket.

"See, I told you she liked you! And I told you she'd pay for the jacket as well, didn't I?"

Clementine could practically see him grinning as he typed.

"You did, you did, you were right. I'm still a little amazed, though."

"Why? You're brilliant, in every way. So chuffed for you, darling! Gotta dash, TTYS"

Clementine smiled as she headed for home.

She and John had been texting like crazy since Wednesday night, with John lamenting that he had no free time in his schedule to see her. They'd even snuck in some phone calls. He was also upset about the pressure being put on him and Hy to see more of each other off set.

"First of all," he said when they found time to talk, "us being seen together doesn't do much good when we're filming. It only helps them if we can provide that sort of publicity when the bloody film comes out, you know?"

"I know, John, and I'm sorry," Clementine commiserated.

She'd been hearing the same thing from her sister, though Hy wasn't nearly as upset about it as John seemed to be. "John and I might actually go on a date soon," she'd texted to her sister. "I think he's getting ready to ask me."

Clementine had merely sent back a smiley face, not knowing what to say.

"You have any time tomorrow?" John asked suddenly. "I just found out today that the schedule's changed and I have tomorrow afternoon off. Fancy doing something together?"

"Sure, I'd love to," Clementine answered. "What can we do, though, besides get together at your house? I mean, we can't be seen together, right?"

"Well, I was thinking we could just walk around in Santa Monica, you know, the boardwalk and pier and all that?"

"But Santa Monica Pier's full of people," Clementine said doubtfully.

"That's the thing, though, sometimes being in a really crowded place works in my favor, and I can just blend in with the hordes," John explained.

Although Clem seriously doubted that someone as tall and handsome as John could "blend" anywhere, she agreed to meet him the next day.

It was a warm fall day, and when he got out of the car, she saw that he was dressed like most of the people, in a hoodie and shorts. And in a weird way, he did blend, even with his height and good looks.

He waved at her and loped over, pulling her in for a very thorough kiss. "I've missed you," he said, rubbing her nose with his own.

"Missed you, too," she said breathlessly.

He released her and turned to walk, clasping her hand in his own.

"You're not worried about paparazzi?" Clementine asked, lifting their hands in question.

"Not particularly, but now you mention it, I suppose a regular person could take our photo and post it somewhere, so perhaps we'd better not do this." He released her hand.

Clem missed its feel immediately. She turned to look at him as they walked past the souvenir stores and head shops. His hair had highlights from the direct sunlight, and the shorts really showed off his gorgeous thighs. He was wearing sunglasses against the glare, so she couldn't see his dazzling eyes.

"What?" he turned and smiled at her, making his dimple pop, and she nearly swooned.

"Nothing, you just look really nice today."

"I should be saying that to you, with your cute blouse with the lacy collar and your linen shorts," John responded.

"You can tell my shorts are linen? Wow, I'm impressed," Clementine responded with a smile of her own.

They walked in silence for a bit, just looking at the myriad people who made up the world in this little corner of Santa Monica; there were tourists, roller bladers, body builders, and joggers galore. The air was redolent with the smell of cotton candy, popcorn, and fried food.

"You come here a lot?" John asked at one point. "It's where you live, after all."

"Not a lot, no. We used to come hang out sometimes when I was in high school, because it was nearby and free as long as you didn't buy anything."

"Hey, I wanted to tell you something before you heard it from Hy." John led her to a bench and they sat down.

Clementine looked at him attentively, and he was once again captured by her lively beauty, only enhanced by her interest in the world around them.

"Hy and I are going out to dinner this Friday night. The studio arranged for us to have time off, and they're paying for the whole thing." John looked at her, concerned. "I just didn't want you to think it was a date or anything, yeah?"

Clementine nodded. "John? Can I ask you something? Actually two somethings?"

"Course."

"Are you seeing anyone else? Besides me, I mean." Clementine bit her lip and looked down at her lap.

John tipped her chin up so he could look into her eyes. "No," he said emphatically. "No one else, only you."

"I wouldn't mind if you were," Clementine began.

"What? Really?" John stroked her cheek. "What about you, Clem? You seeing anyone else?"

Slowly, Clementine shook her head.

"Well, for the record, I would mind, a great deal, so let's just make sure it stays that way, okay?"

"Okay." Clem looked around a shivered a little.

"You cold? Here, take my sweatshirt." John pulled his hoodie over his head and gave it to Clem, who put it on immediately, smiling her thanks.

"What's the second something you wanted to ask?"

"Are we going to tell Hy? About us, I mean? Not that there's much to tell, we're not picking out china or anything, but—"

"Please don't minimize what's happening here," John said, his voice serious. "There was a time when girls were as interchangeable to me as hotel bathroom guest towels, I'm the first to admit. I had to learn the hard way that treating women that way got me nowhere quickly. For as long as this lasts, this is a serious relationship to me, Clem, okay? Whether we make it to picking out china, or it ends next week, it matters to me." He leaned back on the bench, stretching his long arm out along the back behind Clementine. "As far as telling Hy, maybe not, unless you have a problem with that? Again, I've found out the hard way that, especially at the beginning, when everything is so new and friable, the fewer people who know, the better." He looked over at her. "How do you feel about not telling Hy?"

"I guess I'd rather not, too," Clementine admitted. "My life will be easier, I think. You know she likes you?"

John sighed. "I know. I'm trying to let her down easy, but it's hard when the studio, our publicists, the whole fucking world is waiting to hear that we're a couple."

"In a way, Hy's a lot like you," Clementine offered. "She's beautiful, guys love her. This might be the first time she's been into someone that those feelings haven't been returned."

"Well, she's just going to have to adjust, because I'm definitely into her sister," John responded with a grin.

Clementine smiled at him, a beautiful thing that melted his insides a little bit.

"Come on, I'll buy you an ice cream."

"Ooh, yum, let's go."

John laughed. "You're so easy to please. Makes me want to do it more often."

"Sounds good," Clementine replied, rising from the bench. "Lead on."

After he got home he put his hoodie back on, so he could enjoy the fragrance of Clementine for the rest of the night.