Borrowed Time

Chapter Thirty Two

Juliette woke up from the sun filtering through the windows of Esme's room and sat up, stretching... Part of her was incredibly glad that she didn't actually get to drink anything last night because she felt great. She looked over at Esme and smiled... she looked so peaceful when she was resting; all the normal worry and sort of hardness that her face carried melted, she just looked peaceful, sweet... She didn't look like she was carrying the weight of her entire life on her shoulders. It was serene, peaceful... and then Esme actually woke up.

"I'm gonna kill myself, oh my god, why did I do this?" Esme groaned, covering her eyes as she curled into a ball and sighed. Juliette chuckled and leaned over, pressing a kiss to her forehead as she let out a noise like she was in pain... Right, probably sensitive to any stimuli right now, but she seemed like she needed it.

"Good morning sunshine... How are you?" She asked, and Esme covered her head with her blanket, burrowing down into Juliette's chest as she let out another groan... Either she was being dramatic, or this was one hell of a hangover.

"No... Too bright... Ugh..." Juliette sighed and rubbed her back, thinking of what she could do... She could close the blinds and grab her a cup of water, but that was about all she could think of right now... Yeah, she'd do that.

"Okay... I'm gonna go get you some water, alright?" Esme shook her head, burrowing down more so that she could hold Juliette there... Bold move, understandable, but not one that was going to make her not get up and take care of her. She admired that sureness of it, though.

"Not drinking it." Yes. She was drinking it, she was also going to eat something, but Juliette was still figuring out what that should be. Esme could try to hold her there all she wanted, but it wasn't going to work, this was something that she was set on doing.

"Yeah. You are. You're dehydrated." Esme lifted her head to give her a look but winced instead, setting it back down on the bed as she loosened her grip on Juliette's waist, letting her slide out of bed. She slipped on a pair of Esme's pajama pants and yawned, trying to shake the sleep out of her body. Esme needed to be taken care of, that was more important than sleeping longer.

"Mmmm... Come back soon." She mumbled, and Juliette smiled to herself as she glanced in Esme's mirror... Well, she didn't look too unpresentable... and it looked like all of Esme's puke had actually made it into the trash, so that was a good thing. She took the bucket, grimacing at the smell before she pressed a kiss to Esme's temple.

"I will, honey." The first thing she did was wash the trash can out in the bathroom and drop it back off with Esme- she wanted to keep the track record of not having to clean Esme's carpet in her room. After that, she made her way into the living room, going over what she needed to do in her head.

"Who the hell are you?" Juliette jumped, gripping her chest as she looked at the woman sitting at Esme's small dining room table with a book in her hands and a cigarette in her mouth.

"Ah!" She flicked up a thin eyebrow, looking amused as she set down the book and took a long drag, mimicking Juliette's movements.

"Ah! What are you doing screaming, you're the one in my house, kid." Esme's mom. It made sense, she looked like Esme, only a little older. Her eyebrows were pencil thin and she had a piercing right above her lip and another in her nose. Her hair was a wavier and pulled up with a gray streak through it, and it was brown instead of black. She had blue eyes, not brown and a different nose from Esme's, as well as a sleeve of tattoos up her arm that snaked across her chest... She'd seen her before at the diner, but she'd never put two and two together... God, what did she say? She was intimidating. How did she not make this seem like she was hooking up with Esme? Because she wasn't, she was here to take care of her and... She could explain that, it would be fine. Juliette put on her best church girl smile and extended her hand out to the woman.