Ecie & Esme II: Another Day Like This

You and I Both: One

Ecie was sat on top of Langley Duke as light from the new day started to seep through a slight slit in the curtain.

She pressed her palms into his chest and moved her hands up his chest. She kissed his neck and then his chin.

'You look really beautiful in this light,' Langley said, sitting up a little. He pushed back some strands of Ecie's hair that had collected on her face with sweat. He went to kiss her on the lips, but she got up and wandered over to her draws and rummaged through them for something. Langley waited patiently. Ecie returned to Langley a few moments later with an Alexander McQueen silk skull scarf. She climbed back on top of him then lent forward and tied it around his eyes. She no longer liked the way his eyes created a shield around her when they were together. She was slowly beginning to resent his piercing and entrancing eyes. She wanted to stop falling into them.

'You need to stop looking at me,' Ecie replied simply, once her double knot had been made. 'It could be dangerous.'

Langley put one arm around Ecie's body then flipped her over so that she was lying on the bed. He didn't see her wince silently as he brushed past a bruise on her inner thigh. Langley pulled the scarf from his face and smiled at Ecie, whilst she waited for Langley to finish.

'I think this is finished,' Ecie said. 'It's over.'

'Yep,' Langley breathed lying on his back and staring up at Ecie's ceiling. It took him another minute to fully work out what Ecie had just said, but before he could say anything, the door bell rang and Ecie was already half way out of bed.

'That must be Smith,' she said grabbing a bathrobe. 'I thought he'd never get here.'

Ecie left the room quickly and went to let Smith Bacon in.

'I just thought that maybe next weekend we could go out a bit further,' Smith said by the time Langley had come downstairs dressed. He looked up at Langley. 'Hey dude. How are you?'

Langley nodded. 'I'm just feeling a little out of it.'

'Right,' Smith nodded. 'Well I was just telling Ecie that maybe we should try out some different waters for the up-coming annual surfing competition.'

'I don't think Langley will be with us next weekend,' Ecie said. She got up, 'let me get dressed quickly and I'll be down in a sec.'

'Are you guys okay?' Smith asked when Ecie had left the room. 'I thought you were totally pumped to try and enter into some of the real competitions.'

'So did I,' Langley replied. 'I was. I am. I don't even know what happened. I thought we were cool, but then she ended it this morning.'

'Oh right,' Smith nodded understanding. 'That sucks.'

'I mean, you guys are pretty close, did she ever say anything?' Langley asked. 'I'm totally confused.'

Smith shook his head. 'She never said anything to me,' he shrugged. 'But I suspect that it's the beginning of school and that, and she probably doesn't want to have to deal with it.'

'Oh right,' Langley nodded. 'So I'm an embarrassment to her then. Thanks man, you're a real wordsmith.'

'I didn't mean it like that,' Smith laughed. 'But maybe you should just talk to her about it. See what she has to say.'

Langley nodded. 'I knew this whole thing was way too good to be true anyway.'