Borrowed Time

Chapter 103

Juliette's heart was racing as she stared at her house, feeling like she was going to throw up at any given moment... She didn't want to go in there, she didn't know what was waiting for her on the other side. It could be a totally normal, well adjusted woman... Or it could be a total nightmare.

And she didn't have the energy to deal with another living nightmare, that sounded like something that she couldn't really handle right now.

How the fuck was she going to do this?

"Hey." She looked over at Esme, at their trusting, loving face and felt her heart rate calm a bit. They were like the eye of the storm - safe even as chaos went on around her. "You're gonna be fine, alright?" Esme insisted, rubbing their hand across her upper back. She pressed into the touch even as she shook her head... There was no way for Esme to be sure that they were right, that everything would be fine, and she was pretty sure that it would be foolish to believe them just because she loved them dearly.

"I... I don't know about that, babe... What if she's just like Samantha? What if she's worse than Samantha? How do I even handle that? How do I approach that situation without having a panic attack?" She asked, and Esme shrugged, like they'd already thought of that... Hell, they probably had already thought of that, Juliette wouldn't be surprised if they already had a whole action plan in place.

"Well, if you start to panic... You call me. I come over. And I hold you while you panic." Esme said, as though that was the most obvious thing in the entire world, but it hadn't been to her... She'd been thinking about the fact that Esme was hanging out with her friends and accounting for the fact that they most likely wouldn't be available... She didn't want to take them away from the people that they wanted to spend time with just because she was freaking out.

"Really?" She asked, and Esme nodded, linking their fingers together before they brought them to their lips, pressing kisses across the back and on each knuckle, a devoted look on their face.

"Really." They sounded so sure, like there was no way to argue with them... Juliette was always powerless to do so anyways. "I'll drop everything." Esme insisted, but Juliette grimaced and shook her head. There was no way that she was calling Esme if something happened, they deserved their time.

"But you're hanging out with your friends-." Esme interrupted her before she was even able to finish her statement, giving her a look... She knew what it meant, it meant 'stop being a goddamn idiot and let me love you'... She could allow the love, but it was getting increasingly harder to stop being an idiot.

"Who would happily join me, they love you." They reminded her, and she sighed, nodding... Maybe that was true... Actually, she knew that that was true... But she didn't want to be the reason that they were pulled away from things, that wouldn't be fair to them, if she'd said that once, she'd said it a thousand times now.

"Right, but I don't want to interrupt you guys." Juliette reminded them, but Esme shrugged it off once again, giving her a look that silenced any thoughts that she might have had... God, they were so powerful sometimes...

"You're adorable... Truly the cutest person in the universe, but you need to shut up and accept that if you need me, I'll be there. Morning, evening... I don't fucking care. You've got me, I'm there for you." They insisted, and Juliette sighed, taking a deep breath as she leaned forward, resting her forehead against theirs as she breathed in and out, trying to relax herself fully.

"Right." She pressed a quick kiss to Esme's lips before pulling back. "Thank you." She said, turning to exit the car. Esme grabbed her shoulder before she could, holding her there. What now? They'd already said goodbye, right?