Ecie & Esme III: Forever and a Day

Three

Esme walked out of her class and down the hall as she lifted her bag onto her shoulder. She checked through her carbon colored Sidekick LX for any messages.

'Esme?'

Esme spun round and saw Dan Bushmore grinning at her. 'Dan?'

She slid her cell phone back into her bag as Dan caught up with her.

'What are you doing here?' Esme asked as they walked together. 'Aren't you supposed to be half way around the world?'

'I told my agent that I wanted to be a teenager before it was too late,' Dan replied. 'He wasn't too impressed, but I've always wanted to have a college experience.'

'Couldn't you have just played a guy in college?' Esme said.

Dan laughed. 'This is way better.'

'So,' Esme nodded. 'How have you been? It's been like a year since I've seen you.'

'I've been good,' Dan replied. 'Work has been so awesome and things have been going really great. I have a girlfriend, her name is Nayla.'

'That's really great to hear,' Esme replied. 'You must be feeling pretty good.'

'Oh yeah,' Dan nodded. 'What about you? Are you still with Taylor?'

'Yeah,' Esme replied. 'It's a couple of months til our second year anniversary. It's kind of weird.'

'I know,' Dan said. 'To think that we didn't even date for one whole year.'

'Yeah,' Esme replied. 'That makes things sound even more bizarre.'

'Yeah,' Dan nodded. 'It's crazy how things happen sometimes.'

Esme nodded. 'So what are you doing now?'

'I was just going to go for a walk then I was meeting Nayla,' Dan replied. 'What about you?'

'I'm meeting Taylor,' Esme replied. 'He's got a surf shop over in Venice.'

'That's so cool,' Dan replied. 'I'll be sure to check it out when I'm over there.'

'Do you still talk to my dad?' Esme asked as they walked out onto the campus. 'He hasn't said anything about you in a while.'

'I still talk to him sometimes,' Dan said. 'It's just that work was quite heavy and I didn't really have time to connect with people.'

'You managed to meet Nayla,' Esme said. 'So it mustn't have been that bad.'

'I guess,' Dan replied. 'Maybe we could double date some time?'

'I don't know,' Esme said. 'I don't think Taylor would like that, and I don't think that it would be totally appropriate.'

'Right, well,' Dan said. 'The offer is always there.'

'Do you live on campus?' Esme asked wanting to change the subject.

'Oh yeah,' Dan grinned. 'I wanted the full experience. What about you? Are you and Ecie living on campus? I assume she's also here as well.'

'Yeah we came together,' Esme replied. 'We're living in an apartment about half an hour away. We're not exactly the wild-party types.'

Dan nodded. 'I take it that Ecie will be auditioning for the squad?'

'Yeah,' Esme replied. 'We're all hoping that she makes it.'

'So will you be signing up to the drama club here?' Dan asked. 'This place has the best stuff in the whole of California.'

'I heard,' Esme nodded. 'But I don't know yet. I think I might just sink into oblivion.'