Ecie & Esme III: Forever and a Day

Four

Dylan leant on Esme and placed his arm across her shoulder. He kissed her on the lips and she turned and kissed him back. They sat next to each other kissing passionately. Dylan moved a little and started taking off his plaid shirt as Esme took off her tank top. Dylan slowly pushed Esme down on the sofa they had been sat on, and climbed on top of her, pulling down his pants.

Esme shot up in bed and immediately shielded her eyes from the glaring sun. She looked beside her and saw that the space next to her was empty. She looked around the room and found that it was neat; all the clothes had been placed on a chair by the bed.

She slowly got out of bed and pulled on the nearest pair of sweatpants then left the room and walked out onto the balcony where Taylor was sitting and smoking a joint.

'Are you okay?' he asked looking at Esme as she sat down on a seat next to him.

'I'm fine,' she replied stretching her legs onto another empty seat. 'How long have you been up for?'

'A couple of hours,' Taylor replied. 'I was working inside then I thought I'd take a quick break.'

'Right,' Esme nodded. 'What were you working on?'

'Some figures for the store,' he replied. 'I'm thinking of selling it.'

'How come?' Esme asked looking at him. 'I thought you loved it.'

'I do,' Taylor replied stumping out the joint. 'I'm just not feeling it anymore. I think the most loving thing to do, would be to let it go. I should sell it to someone who would really do great things with it.'

'What would you do?'

'I don't know,' Taylor shrugged. 'I could live in an RV and drive around America for the rest of my life.'

Esme laughed. 'Would you want me to buy you a straw hat?'

'Would you?'

'You can't sell the store,' Esme said. 'That place is like your whole life. You've put so much effort into getting that place on its feet.'

Taylor shrugged. 'What else do you have planned for today?'

'I'm heading home,' Esme yawned. 'I miss my bed.'

'Do you want me to drive you back?'

'Sure,' Esme replied. 'Are your friends coming over later?'

'Yeah,' Taylor replied. 'Feel free to stay and hang out if you want. I wouldn't want to force you.'

'Did you manage to find anything else about Lauren and Ethan?'

'Nope,' Taylor replied. 'To be honest, I even forgot about it. Have you talked to her since we got back?'

'No,' Esme replied. 'She's sent me a couple of messages, but I haven't got round to replying any of them. I've got so much work to get done and I think I'm working tonight.'

'Do you regret going to Europe last week?'

'Not at all,' Esme smiled at Taylor. 'I had such a great time. Thank you for taking me.'

'You don't have to say thank you for anything,' Taylor replied taking Esme's hand and holding it. He played with it a little and smiled at her. 'Thank you for coming with me.'

'Did you want to stay longer?'

'It doesn't matter,' Taylor replied looking at Esme's hand.

'You did, didn't you,' Esme said looking at Taylor's eyes. 'We could have stayed for longer if you had wanted to. I could have collected the assignments and stuff from my professor or someone.'