Imagining Us

Ch. 79- Reasons

FEBRUARY

"Why are you still here?" Esi asked Lena with false irritation. 

Christmas had passed two months ago and her friend was still teasing her about the necklace around her neck. Porte might as well have bought her a ring with how dramatic Lena was being.

 Esi could only imagine if she knew about the model home that he'd built for her.

 Porte had taken everything that she'd told him about her dream English country home and had built a miniature estate. That was what he had hidden in his spare room before she left for London.

No one had ever done anything like that for her. 

He had put so much care into it right down to the garden and hedges with carefully painted blue hydrangeas. She remembered how he tried to mask his nervousness–his uncertainty–as she took in his gift. Esi knew that he certainly hadn't expected how quickly she launched herself at him, her head falling to that favourite spot on his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

He laughed as she told him that she loved his gift, but didn't know where she would keep it. Porte assured her that he could keep it until they were ready to make it a reality. The promise fell from his lips right into her heart.

Was there no end to her falling in love with him?

She flicked her eyes back to Lena. She never understood how her friend could love love so much while being in a disconnected marriage. 

Well Esi wasn't sure how disconnected Lena and Yohan were because she knew that he'd been in their apartment while she was away. Those size twelve flip flops adorned with the Jamaican flag couldn't belong to anyone else but him. Sometimes Esi would pretend that she didn't see that crumpled photo tucked between the pages of her favorite music book. One time the photo had fallen out, and there was a single word at the back 'melody'. With how quickly Lena had grabbed it up, Esi knew not to ask any questions.

Her friend never told her everything that went wrong with the marriage. She knew that they were young, and Yohan had to go back to Jamaica, but she suspected that it was more than that. Esi did tell her that if she ever wanted to talk that she would be a listening ear. 

So Esi indulged her and took the teasing that came with it if it gave her friend a bit of comfort.

"You need to enjoy the time that you have with me," Lena informed her as she lounged her body across Esi.

"Do I?" Esi wheezed. "If this is the kind of torture I have to deal with..." She teased her roommate, but she was glad that she was still around even after graduating in December. 

She wouldn't officially walk until May, the same as Esi, granted her thesis was approved. It saved Esi having to find another roommate despite Porte's insistence that she could live with him.

She could barely function being around him regularly, she couldn't imagine living with him.

The more she thought about it, the more tempting the prospect seemed. Luckily, Lena had stuck around.

Esi lifted her head as best as she could to peer down at her friend.

"What time are we supposed to pick Lo up?" she asked. Lauren was coming to visit them for the weekend. Unfortunately, Alicia couldn't make it this time due to a big case that she was working on.

"The train gets in around quarter to six, and we wasted enough time inside today," Lena replied, pushing herself to sit up while adjusting her hair bonnet. She meant  to preserve the life out of that silk press. "Which means that Mr. Danvers does not get the pleasure of brooding around here today."