Ecie & Esme III: Forever and a Day

Seven

Esme looked at Ecie as they sat in their closet sorting out their clothes.

Ecie looked back at Esme and saw that she had been staring at her.

'What?' Ecie asked. 'Do I have something on my face?'

'After everything that happened with Ellis, you would tell me if something was up, wouldn't you?' Esme asked.

'Of course,' Ecie nodded. 'You know I would.'

'Would you really?' Esme said. 'You're stubborn and selfish to the point where you would rather die in silence than share a problem with your own sister.'

'Yes Esme,' Ecie said. 'I would share my problem with you.'

Esme looked at her sister unsure.

'Look,' Ecie said turning to Esme. 'You've got to give me time. If I tell you and you get worried, you'll end up telling Taylor and dad, and every single person would get involved. I don't want everyone getting involved and worked up about me.'

'Well they wouldn't if you said what was up in the first place.'

'I'm fine,' Ecie said turning back to the clothes. 'It's just the whole transferring process is taking its toll. I'm tired and I'm working more at the store.'

'Do you know what we need?' Esme said smiling. 'Some quality time together.'

Ecie raised an eyebrow. 'Really?'

'Yeah,' Esme nodded. 'How about now, we can talk about whatever has been going on in our lives recently.'

'You're eager,' Ecie said. 'You can go first.'

'Okay,' Esme nodded. 'I had lunch with Dan recently and he told me that he still had feelings for me.'

Ecie stared at her sister. 'No way. He really said that?'

'Give or take a few words,' Esme replied. 'But yeah, that was the essence of what he said.'

'What did you do?'

'I was shocked,' Esme replied. 'But I told him the truth. I told him that I loved Taylor and that I didn't want to be with anyone else.'

'You didn't tell Taylor did you?'

Esme shook her head. 'I honestly feel like everything is trying so hard to pull us apart. It's like all these old dead things are coming back to life.'

'I know what you mean,' Ecie said. 'I really know what you mean.'

Esme looked at Ecie expectantly, but Ecie shook her head.

'Lauren told me she liked Verd,' Ecie said. 'Now that is shocking.'

'No way,' Esme said wide-eyed. 'You're kidding, right?'

'Not at all,' Ecie said. 'Lauren was here the other day and she said she was having guy trouble.'

'Are you sure?' Esme looked at Ecie. 'Lauren, having guy trouble?'

'That's exactly what I thought when she told me,' Ecie replied. 'She said that Ethan asked her out and said they'd be taking things super slow. Then she told me that she wasn't sure about what she should do because she liked this other guy.'

'Ethan asked her out? For real?'

Ecie nodded. 'She told him that she was still a virgin and that they didn't have sex at that party you guys went to. He was really understanding of it and said they could still hang out.'

'That is huge,' Esme said.

'I was mostly shocked because, no offence to Taylor's friends, but you don't imagine any of them being so courteous towards something like that. You would imagine them to act like total jerks.'