Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
───────────────────
CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
❝ Heartbeat On The High Line❞
"I'm moving out," Esme said, more to herself than her mother who stopped mid-bite into her vegetable wrap and looked at her with enormous eyes.
Through a mouthful, Hope said, "Okay."
They were sitting around the kitchen island, the lunch prepared by Rose displayed in front of them.
Esme gasped and threw herself on the stool by the kitchen counter. "How could you say that?" she protested.
Eyebrows knitted, Hope asked, "But you just said - "
"Well, I was saying because - " and she waved her arms frantically around in the vague direction of the whole house.
Apparently, Aunt Janet had just had a very bad bout of cold. And apparently, after catching up with them, Hope had invited and brought them back here. Them, plural, which included: Aunt Janet, Aunt Sylvie, and Jaimie (Aunt Sylvie's daughter). It was like living with a natural disaster.
For starters, Aunt Janet rarely ever slept at night -- watching reruns of sitcoms and throwing things at the TV when the character did something too American. Aunt Sylvie never let anyone else talk when she was around and Jaimie was here for her holiday from college which meant she stayed mostly in her room, sulking to music (which was fine by Esme).
"Mom," Esme protested with an exaggerated groan and looked up at her mother with a pout, "Centuries of damage are being incurred in just a weekend."
Hope made a noise of disdain. She said, "Oh, you." Then, "Do you still want to go to Winchester?"
Esme raised her eyebrows. "Sure," she said, knowing it would never happen.
"Then you should go talk to Ms. Lynn about it."
"I was actually maybe thinking more about John Jay."
"Here?"
"Well, I don't wanna leave you to deal with all this crazy by yourself," Esme gestured vaguely in the direction of a snoring Aunt Janet during lunch hours and the blaring sound of emo-death metal coming from the guest room. "I was thinking about moving to an apartment closer to campus."
"You really don't want to go to England?" there was something in her mother's eyes that Esme couldn't quite decipher. It had been a long, long time since Esme had been to England. More than a decade. She didn't know if she'd handle it well.
"I do," she said, quietly, unsure. "But-"
"Then you should think about it some more."
"Fine. I can at least wait for the rejection letter," she shrugged, placing the dirty dishes in the sink. Her phone buzzed. She fished it out of her pocket to check. "That's Clary. I should go. Probably some news about her mom."
"Oh, is she okay?" her mother asked as Esme moved to get her jacket and head out.
"Oh, um, yeah," Esme had almost forgotten for a moment that her mother was blissfully unaware of this world, "she's great. Why wouldn't she be? See you tonight."
