Imagining Us

Ch. 43- Spill the Tea, please?

"You seem to be in a good mood," Lena noted, walking into the kitchen where Esi was making an omelette and singing to herself.

"I'm always in a good mood," she answered.

Lena gave her an incredulous look. "You are normally in a good mood if not a bit pensive sometimes, but you haven't been in this good a mood for a while."

"Do you want an omelette?" Esi asked, ignoring her roommate's pointed words.

"Stop deflecting and spill. Why must I always beg for details?" Lena complained.

"So, is that a 'no' to the omelette ?" She asked dryly.

Lena sighed. " May I please have an omelette and details about your life?"

Esi moved to crack two more eggs, pretending to ignore the latter part of her friend's question.

"I'm just glad that I have a free day to do nothing," she started. " I've finished my part of the group project and sent it to Gio. I'm waiting to hear back from my advisor on a draft that I submitted for my thesis, so I can actually take the day to watch tv or read a book."

"And that's all? That's why you're so happy?" The disbelief was clear in her friend's voice.

Esi sighed and turned to her friend.

"It's the simple things in life, Magdalena."

Lena mocked her words. "Yea, right. I'm not stupid, Elizabeth.  I know when you're hiding something from me."

Esi wasn't hiding anything—she was genuinely happy for a day off. However, she despised conflict, and it would be remiss of her to not note that she felt more at ease since her reconciliation with Porte a few weeks ago.

Porte Danvers.

Her friend.

Sometimes she thought that she should've just left things alone. Not had that conversation that night. Not forgiven him.

Esi still had doubts about whether or not he would disappear on her again, but equally, she had a fear that he would want to stick around—that he would want to stay.

That in itself was baffling, and she knew, even this early in their friendship, what could happen. What she could allow to happen.

It was a dangerous game that was being played, and she had a feeling that as much as Porte Danvers struggled with his grief...with his past, he was a master at that game.

"How's Luke?" Lena asked randomly, halting the ascension of eggs into Esi's mouth. "Or actually, how's Porte? I can't seem to keep up with the all Danvers men in your life."

Esi heard her friend's teasing, and decided to raise her one. "How's your husband? We never finished our conversation from the last time."

Lena scowled, but still a blush made its way to her friend's face as she fiddle with her hairnet that kept her silkpress preserved.    

Esi knew that it was very complicated between Lena and Yohan, but she also knew that her friend was still in love with her husband. In the few moments that she'd seen Yohan with Lena, she had an inkling that he also loved her, but neither of them would give in—past actions haunting them into orbiting each other, but never touching. Never communicating.

"Touché, Elizabeth, but these are two completely different situations," Lena retorted. "Some things you just can't come back from, so just please let me live vicariously through you and all your men!"

"All my men?" Esi gasped. "I don't even have one man. Why must you scandalize my life so? Porte and Luke are just my friends."

"Two extremely good-looking friends," her friend inserted with a grin.