Borrowed Time Part 2

Chapter 252

The mundane-ness that Chemistry class brought was actually a welcome reprieve to how fucking crazy the past few days had felt, and the boring drone of Ms. O'Brian's voice made Juliette feel oddly relaxed... Like shitty ASMR that shouldn't have even worked, but somehow it did. 

She could probably make a killing on YouTube... Or at least enough to afford a better wardrobe.  The only thing that was making it harder to focus was Esme, scribbling flowers on her arm, their attention anywhere but the board.  Normally she wouldn't have cared, but she needed them focused.  She needed them to pass their classes.

She wanted them to succeed.

"Baby." Juliette murmured, watching Esme lift their head, their focus broken in the cutest way possible... Because they still looked oddly locked on what they were doing, eyes squinted, fingers holding her arm down... But the problem came in with that being the wrong focus.

The focus was class.

"Hm?" She chuckled, jutting her chin towards the board where their teacher was frantically scribbling down notes and going on about something that she didn't quite catch because she'd been too busy observing Esme herself... She was just as bad at paying attention as they were, but what they didn't know couldn't hurt them.

"Aren't you going to pay attention to the lecture?  We have a test soon." She kept her tone gentle, and Esme shrugged, resting their chin on her forearm as they continued to look up at her, a soft warmth coming from their gaze that made heat rise to her cheeks.

"Eh, I've got a C.  I'll be fine." That was not what she wanted to hear, and no amount of loving gaze or adorable yearning was getting them out of that.  She pulled her arm out from under their chin, making them let out a quiet grunt of dissatisfaction before she kicked them under the table.

Silence.

"A low C.  You need to make sure you do well on your tests so that you can maintain that." She mumbled, watching as Esme sat up, stretching in a way that made the hem of their tshirt come up, and in spite of her attempt to not look and the reminder to herself that she literally saw that daily, her eyes were drawn downward anyway, and she found herself clenching her fists on the table to keep from reaching over to trace her fingers over the skin.

It just looked so inviting, she was really powerless against their charms.

"Is that your way of saying you don't want me drawing on you right now?" They asked, and she snapped her gaze back up their eyes, clearing her throat when she saw the smug look on their face... They'd noticed she was looking.

She quickly turned forward again, trying to think her way out of it.

"No.  It's my way of saying that I want you to do well because I love you and want you to succeed." She said, rendering Esme silent for half a second before they scooted a little closer, lacing their fingers together.  She squeezed down instinctively.

"So... You don't want me drawing on you." Esme clarified, and she sighed, shrugging... She did want them to, it was a nice feeling, but if it was at the expense of their education, then she couldn't let them.

"If you can't do both at the same time, then no.  I do not want you drawing on me right now." Esme let out a sigh, unlacing their fingers as she frowned, not releasing their hand.

They were gonna be touching one way or another, goddamn it.

"... Damn." After a beat, they let out a soft chuckle. "You're a buzzkill, baby." She raised an eyebrow, looking over to see a cheeky sort of grin on their face, tucked bashfully behind their hand like they hadn't even realized what they'd said until they said it.