Borrowed Time

Chapter Forty Four

There was something incredibly gratifying in seeing the way that Esme reacted to Juliette in different outfits, how her expressions would change ever so slightly. Sometimes her eyes would soften, they'd darken, they'd warm... It was never the same look twice either, each one was tailor-made for her.

Esme seemed to like how she looked in practice clothes, if the way that she was holding her around the waist while sitting on the bench told her anything... They'd been standing like that for five full minutes, and Esme hadn't stopped begging her to skip and hang out with her... And the offer was incredibly tempting.

"Are you sure you have to go to practice? You could just stay here... With us... so that I could look at you." Esme asked, resting her chin against Juliette's upper abdomen as she grinned up at her. Juliette smiled, brushing the hair out of her face before leaning down to press a soft kiss to her lips... It was tempting, staying here to bask in Esme's compliments, to touch and hold her... But she couldn't, she needed to go to practice today.

As they broke apart, Shelby let out a quiet gag, giving them a look as she grimaced, shaking her head. Okay... She had no legs to stand on, she was just as sickening with Micheal, if not more.

"That's so disgusting, oh my god." She groaned, and Juliette looked over at her, rolling her eyes. Yeah, her expression betrayed her, nothing could hide that smile, no matter how strong her expression of faux-disgust was.

"You love it." Juliette reminded her, and Shelby rolled her eyes, giving her a look,

"Oh, I love it it just makes me fucking sick." Shelby sighed, and Carly, who'd been lounging with her head on Shelby's lap, cleared her throat, not looking at any of them as she responded to the conversation.

"So you have a love-hate relationship with it." Carly commented, and Shelby nodded, looking down at her with a grin. When had they gotten close? God, Juliette needed to pay better attention, she missed so many formations of relationships because of her own self involvement... Did that make her a bad friend? Maybe... But she couldn't get into that right now.

"Exactly. Thank you, Carly." She said, and Carly nodded, dropping her book to return the smile before picking it back up and flicking to the next page, sighing as she crossed and uncrossed her legs, laying them flat on the bench.

"No problem." When did they all start hanging out like this? Had this been going on the whole time? Anything was possible...

"Is this what you guys do while I'm at practice?" She asked, and Shelby shook her head.

"Not normally, but Carly asked for help with her Physics homework and Esme... Esme what are you doing here?" Esme cleared her throat, looking up from her phone as she jutted her chin over to Juliette, winking at her. She felt her whole body flush as she smiled, leaning back on her heel.

"Waiting because I want to drive Juliette home after because she won't be at my house." She said, and Shelby nodded sagely, giving Juliette a look as she leaned back on the bench, folding her hands behind her head.

"Ah." She smirked at Esme before looking back to Juliette. "And your girlfriend has separation anxiety." That earned her a smack on the arm as a blush crept up Esme's neck before she glanced away.

"I do not have separation anxiety." Esme's voice cracked over the word separation in a way that made Juliette let out a laugh that was a little too loud before she clapped her hand over her mouth. How cute.

"Oh yeah? You're sleeping alone tonight, remember that." Shelby said, leaning close to Esme as she did it. She rolled her eyes and pushed Shelby away, crossing her arms across her chest in a way that made Juliette chuckle.