Ecie & Esme III: Forever and a Day

Two

'I know that you probably wouldn't want to,' Taylor said playing with a strand of Esme's hair. 'But I was wondering if you might want to hang out for a short bit with my friends.'

He hesitated as Esme thought.

'I know you're never mad on the idea, but I think that once you've got to know them all a bit better, there wouldn't be an awkward atmosphere anymore,' Taylor said. 'I just want all of you to get along.'

Esme looked a Taylor. 'Okay.'

Taylor looked back at Esme's smile. 'Huh? Really?'

'Yeah,' Esme nodded. 'I suppose I could make the effort to be nice. I mean, they are your friends after all, and I wouldn't want to break up any friendships.'

Taylor grinned at Esme and kissed her on the lips. 'You're not playing with me?'

'Not this time, I'm afraid,' Esme smiled kissing Taylor back. 'You would be surprised at the things I would do for you.'

'Really,' Taylor grinned moving his hands down Esme's back. 'Like what?'

'Well I don't know,' Esme replied thinking. She shrugged. 'I don't know.'

'Would you strip for me?' Taylor asked kissing Esme as he took off her shirt.

'That would all have to depend,' Esme replied.

'Depend on what?'

Esme shrugged grinning. 'I don't know, you'd have to do something for me first.'

'Like what?'

'You'd have to find out first.'

'Okay,' Taylor nodded. 'Give me a clue.'

'Let me think,' Esme smiled sitting up and pushing Taylor down to the bed. She sat on top of him and started unbuttoning his shirt. She kissed him on the lips. 'It's something really nice and something that I would like.'

'That doesn't really help much,' Taylor laughed pushing Esme's hair back. 'Would you cut your hair for me? It always hits my face when you get on top.'

'I don't care,' Esme grinned unclipping her bra. 'It's something you'll just have to put up with.'

'I could live with that,' Taylor said staring at Esme. He leaned forward and pulled her down on top of his chest. 'Come on then, I'm ready.'

Esme wrapped Taylor's plaid jacket around her as she opened the door. Her mouth fell open and she screamed excitedly.

'Okay now. I can't breathe Es.'

Esme held on for a moment longer before she let go. 'What are you doing here?'

'I start lessons first thing tomorrow morning,' Verde said walking into the apartment with his bags. 'I'm enrolled at UCLA.'

'But what happened to Columbia?' Esme asked as they came to the living area. 'Why didn't you say you were transferring? We would have met you at the airport or something.'

'Its fine,' Verde said sitting down. 'I've missed California so much.'

'I feel like I don't know the first thing about you,' Esme said looking at Verde. 'Why didn't you say anything? Mom's been so worried about you since that phone call. What happened, really?'

'I honestly don't know,' Verde replied. 'I remember waking up in the middle of night and knowing that I had to be honest with myself and that meant being honest with my family.'