Borrowed Time

Chapter Forty Two

Esme's particular brand of being sick was just so interesting to Juliette because she'd never met someone who tried so hard to not get other people sick... She'd barricaded the door to try to keep Juliette out. Unfortunately she'd used resources that were easily moved so it was entirely ineffective, and Juliette only tripped once getting into the bedroom.

Esme was curled up on the side of the bed, her hands folded under her head and her face completely relaxed... God, she was so beautiful when she slept... She was beautiful all the time, but she just looked peaceful in a way that Juliette had never even seen before. She sat down on the edge of the bed, gently rubbing her hand over Esme's back before leaning down to press a kiss to her temple, making her stir.

"Hey baby, how are you feeling?" Juliette said, giving Esme a smile as she opened her eyes, squinting at her before she groaned and shook her head, rolling away... Okay, well she could try to make her go away, but she wasn't leaving her alone.

"What're you doing in here? Keep your distance, I don't want you getting sick." She mumbled, and Juliette chuckled, sliding into the bed beside her so she could turn her around and look her in the face... God, she looked tired.

"Tough shit, you're worth getting sick for." Esme opened her eyes again, scowling as she sighed and shook her head, curling into her chest. Yeah. Really seemed like she wanted her to leave right now, didn't it?

"You're being difficult." She was being difficult? Juliette had tripped over a booby trap on the way in here, she was pretty sure that was evidence of Esme being about a thousand times more difficult than she was... She needed someone to take care of her, everyone had to give up control sometimes, and Juliette hoped that she was the one that Esme felt that she could do that around.

"You're the one who tried to barricade herself in her room so I couldn't get in... Seriously, what if you needed to go to the bathroom?" She asked, and Esme looked at her like she'd asked the stupidest question known to man even though she knew that she didn't... It was fair, Esme had been dizzy this morning from dehydration, mobility was important to note.

"I'd have moved everything." Right. Sure. She completely believed that Esme was capable of that right now.

"I have your homework..." Juliette said, and Esme groaned and shook her head, burrowing further into the blankets, like she knew that there was a stack in Juliette's bag... Fair, she'd reacted the exact same way when she'd been out.

"Two days... I've been gone for two days. Why is there so much?" Because teachers suck... and homework didn't pause for sick days... She'd considered just doing it for Esme and turning it in, but she knew that it would be clear that it wasn't her work, they wrote with completely different handwriting and had completely different patterns of thoughts.

"The education doesn't stop when you leave the building." Juliette reminded her, and Esme sighed, wrapping an arm around her waist. There she was, she knew that Esme wanted her there.

"I wish it did. It'd make recovering a lot easier." Wasn't that the truth? Half the reason Juliette hated being sick when she was was because it made her dread going back to school because she was stuck doing three times the work until she got caught up. She ran her fingers through Esme's hair... Greasy... She needed to shower... but Juliette ignored the crawling of her skin at the texture in favor of continuing to comfort her.

"Did you throw up at all today?" She asked, and Esme lifted her head, pushing herself up and away a bit so they were looking at each other... Juliette wanted to pull her close again, but she understood that she'd have to ease her into it... Which sounded weird considering that they'd spent almost every night this week in the same bed, but fair is fair.