Ecie & Esme II: Another Day Like This

Tick of Time: One

'I'm excited about seeing the two places,' Esme said as she looked out of the window and pulled up her black Cutler and Gross D-frame leather sunglasses. 'Do you have the right addresses?'

'Yep,' Ecie nodded adjusting her plum round-frame Marni acetate sunglasses. 'Neither can I.' Ecie took a left onto the south Pacific Coast Highway. 'What happens if we don't like the places?'

'I don't know,' Esme shrugged. 'I wish we'd gone to Starbucks first. I'm dying for a frappucino.'

'We'll pass another one,' Ecie replied. 'This is so exciting. Once we've got a place sorted then we can start looking at furniture and stuff like that. We should definitely follow Eric up on his offer to go shopping at Williams-Somona. I was looking on their website last night and I saw some really great stuff.'

'Okay,' Esme nodded. 'Dad said that one of the places was an apartment and that the other one was a proper house. I'm not sure which one I would prefer to live in.'

'I think it would all have to depend on which one was closer to the college and what the area was like,' Ecie replied. 'I think I would prefer the actual house because then it means we've got a lot more space.'

'But the apartment means there's a doorman and they do stuff for you,' Esme said. 'I think they might have cleaners.'

Ecie laughed. 'You are so lazy.'

They arrived at the apartment forty minutes later and met Jonathon outside the building.

'Hey dad,' Ecie smiled hugging him. 'How are you?'

'I'm good,' he replied. 'I'm so glad you girls could find it.'

'Hey dad,' Esme hugged him too. 'Did you spend the night here?'

'I was in the area for a meeting,' Jonathon replied. 'Shall we go up?' They went up to their floor and Jonathon opened the door. 'Ta-da. What do you think?'

'This place is awesome,' Ecie said looking around. 'It's big.'

'It's really big,' Esme corrected. 'How many square feet does this thing have?'

'I think it's roughly about six thousand,' Jonathon replied. 'There's another three thousand for the outside terrace...'

'There's an outside terrace?' Esme said excitedly. 'This place is awesome.'

'It's got three bedrooms and four bathrooms,' Jonathon said as they looked around the apartment. 'There are two levels...'

'Look at these views,' Ecie said as they came to the outside terrace. 'You can see the whole of LA from here and look at the sea. I would love to wake up to this every morning. At night, the lights must be amazing.'

'I don't even want to look at the other place,' Esme said. 'This is where I want to live for the next four years.'

'There is a slight problem,' Jonathon said. 'Sofie and I couldn't really find any places we thought you'd like close to USC. It would be at least a half hour drive from here to your college.'

'That is a problem,' Ecie nodded. 'How close is the other place?'

'It's about a fifteen minute drive,' Jonathon replied. 'I mean, obviously we're still looking at places and stuff, but if you don't like the other options then you'll have to be responsible for being on time for class.'

'Yeah,' Esme said. 'But this place is awesome. I mean it's a penthouse. It's a really big penthouse with amazing views and it's just perfect for us. It's young and cool.'

'I don't want any wild parties though,' Jonathon said. 'This place is nine million dollars and I wouldn't want that to be a waste of money.'

'Nine million?' Esme and Ecie stared at their dad.

'I'm not going to give you guys the cheapest thing,' Jonathon said. 'You only go to college once and I want you to be as independent as you can be. I don't want you to be worrying about accommodation and stuff when you've got your studies to concentrate on.'

'Okay,' Ecie nodded. 'We shall definitely take that into consideration.'

'I really want this place,' Esme muttered to her sister. 'It's perfect.'

'I have a question,' Ecie said to Jonathon. 'This is penthouse four; could we perhaps take a look at penthouse five as well?'

'I had a feeling that you might want to,' Jonathon said. 'Come on, let's take a look.'

They went over to penthouse five and looked around.

'I really love it here,' Esme said. 'I don't think we need to take a look at Culver City. I am sold.'

'I asked them about penthouse five too,' Jonathon said. 'They said that we could buy the whole top floor of this building.'

'How much space would we have then?'

'There would be six bedrooms and nine bathrooms,' Jonathon replied. 'I think it would be ridiculously big, but you girls do take up quite a bit of space with all your stuff.'

'Very funny dad,' Esme laughed hitting her dad playfully. 'I think we should get both. We should own the whole top floor.'

Jonathon and Ecie looked at Esme.

'I mean lets think of it like this,' she said. 'We're both going to need studies, so we'll use two bedrooms for that. We'll have our own rooms, so that's another two rooms. Now we're left with two more rooms which can be guest rooms. The bathrooms and stuff are all connected, so that's sorted. We'll use most of the space as closet then we can have cocktail parties and dinners on the terrace.'

Jonathon nodded. 'I think I like the sound of that.'

'How much would both penthouses four and five cost?' Ecie asked. 'I don't want you and mom to be spending unnecessary money on living.'

'We'll work something out,' Jonathon replied. 'Don't worry.'

Ecie rolled her eyes as her father and sister nodded and talked about the penthouses.

'We should take a look at Culver City,' Ecie sighed. 'It couldn't hurt to look everywhere.'

They drove over to Culver City and to their second option.

'This place looks so homey,' Ecie said. 'This neighborhood is kind of cute.'

They walked into the house and looked around.

'I think this place is more of a family home,' Esme said. 'I don't think it really encapsulates our youth. I would totally get this place if I was turning thirty or something.'

'It's cute,' Ecie said looking at Esme. 'But I think you may have a point. It's a little, dated?'

'Yeah,' Esme nodded. 'Are we going to get the Wilshire Boulevard apartment?'

Ecie thought for a moment. 'I suppose.'

'So what do you girls think?' Jonathon asked. 'Do you like it here?'

'Dad,' Ecie started. 'We've decided that we'll take the Remington building. We want the apartment.'

'You girls are sure?' Jonathon asked. 'You're really sure you want that place.'

Esme and Ecie nodded.

'Okay then,' Jonathon nodded. 'I'll talk to Sofie and we'll finish sorting out the paperwork and stuff. What do you say we go out for lunch now?'