Borrowed Time

Chapter 139

Times like this really made Juliette think about just how much her life had been affected by one little decision in this year. It was a major example of the domino effect... Or maybe the ripple effect, she wasn't sure, all she knew was that it was an example of one of those two effects. Sitting next to Esme in Chemistry class had seemed entirely inconsequential at the time, but it wasn't, it'd been the catalyst for the rest of her life, and that was something beautiful.

Had she not been uncomfortable with her jeans touching her body that morning, she never would've changed into sweatpants, which would have led to her perhaps slipping past Samantha without the body shaming, which would have meant that they would've gotten to Shelby at the time that Micheal considered to be 'on time'. Had they done that, they would've gotten to school earlier, she would've found her Chemistry class before the bell, and she would've probably picked a seat next to Tara Jansen instead of Esme - she never would've willingly sat next to Esme. They never would've spoken, they never would've kissed, fallen in love... and she never would've met Penny, Emma and Tegan... Shelby never would've fallen in love with them.

She wouldn't have her chosen family, she'd be so fucking miserable that she wouldn't have been able to breathe, and she wouldn't be surprised if in that alternate universe, she was currently in an in patient program for trying to drown herself or something... But no. No. The universe had been looking out for her so deeply that it'd made her late, and it'd made her sit next to a scarily pretty girl with a nice voice and a tattoo on their wrist...

And now she was outside of Franstend high school, waiting for everyone else to arrive so that they could go watch Tegan and Penny's orchestra concert. Weird.

Honestly, she was surprised to hear that either one of them did orchestra, but she supposed it maybe wasn't that far of a branch out - she hadn't been surprised that Emma did musical theater and choir, she just didn't know why this had been something to shock her. Tegan played percussion, and Penny played the classical bass... That was something she hadn't expected at all, because who the fuck played the behemoth of an instrument, right?

Well, when she asked Penny about it, she was greeted with their response being 'That's exactly why I took it up, there are a lot of untapped scholarships for the instrument. I've actually gotten a few, it's been fruitful. ' She supposed that made sense, but she hadn't thought of that as a reason to play an instrument before.

"Hey." Juliette jumped, glancing over to see Esme looking over at her with soft, worried eyes as they reached over, stroking their thumb over her cheekbone. She sighed and leaned into their touch, taking any opportunity she could to be touched by them... There was nothing like their touch - so subtle, and yet so perfect. God, I love you. "Are you okay there, princess?" They asked quietly, and Juliette nodded, smiling as she cupped their hand to keep it pressed to her cheek. Never stop touching me, and I will be okay until the day that I die.

"Mhm... I was just thinking about how crazy it is that we found our way to each other." She explained, and she noticed that Esme's lips turned up into a smile, displaying that they were just as happy about that, which she could've guessed.

You've got the prettiest smile I've ever seen, I would literally fucking die for you.

"Yeah... I mean, I'd been hoping that we would for years, but I'd sort of given up on that until we were seated next to each other in Chemistry... Even then I hadn't thought anything would come of it." They said, and that made Juliette's heart ache... She wanted to tell them that their fears were unwarranted, but she knew that they weren't wrong to feel that way. It was a miracle that she'd been able to accept herself enough to get this far to begin with, and Esme had every reason to believe that at first nothing would come of it.