Ecie & Esme III: Forever and a Day

Stats and Facts: One

'Who looks embarrassed doing the walk of shame?' Esme joked as Lauren crept out of Verde's bedroom with her clothes and shoes from last night bundled in her arms. 'I take it you had a good night.'

'Erm...'

'It's okay,' Esme smiled. 'Do you want coffee or something?'

'Yes please,' Lauren said walking towards Esme. 'I think I'm going to need it.'

'Do you have class this morning?' Esme asked as they sat in the kitchen.

'Yeah,' Lauren replied. 'I hope I'm not too late.'

Esme smiled. 'So you did you come home with Verd?'

Lauren gave Esme a look.

'You've got nothing to be ashamed of,' Esme giggled. 'Verd is a really good guy and he's really nice. I'm sure he's used to waking up alone all the time.'

'I am such a slut,' Lauren moaned. 'What am I supposed to do now?'

'It's not all bad,' Esme said kindly.

'You don't understand,' Lauren said leaning into Esme. 'I had sex last night...'

Esme stared at Lauren. 'No way. Oh my god.'

'I know,' Lauren said sitting back again. 'Exactly my point.'

'So this means that you're no longer a virgin?'

Lauren nodded. 'And it just complicates things with Ethan,' she said. 'I was going to tell him that we should definitely give it a shot. But now look, I've ruined everything.'

'You'll just have to tell him...'

'Oh no I won't,' Lauren said shaking her head. 'There is no way on this earth that I'm going to tell Ethan about what happened last night.'

'Well I think he'll find out when you guys eventually have sex and he notices the lack of blood on the sheets,' Esme pointed out. 'What are you going to do then? Lie about it?'

Lauren shrugged. 'I'll have to think of something. I don't know.'

'But then what about Verd?' Esme asked. 'What about everything with him?'

'I don't know,' Lauren shook her head and sighed. 'Stuff like this never happens to me.'

Esme looked at Lauren.

'But in a strange way, I've got to admit,' Lauren smiled. 'I kind of like all this drama.'

Esme and Lauren started laughing.

'You are so terrible,' Esme laughed. 'I hope you realize that somebody is going to get hurt, right?'

'Of course,' Lauren nodded. 'Hopefully it won't be for a very long time.'

'Okay now,' Landon said passing out sheets of paper. 'This next case is something that you will find happening all over the world, all the time. Some might even say we live at the epicenter of it.' He rested against his desk for a moment as he looked up at the empty seat next to Lauren Holliday. 'What do you think about it?'

'Divorce?'

'Correct,' Landon said. 'Divorce,' he started writing something on the black board as the class continued reading the sheet. 'Divorce happens every single day and has been increasing steadily ever since the fifties. For the next couple of weeks we'll be looking at a number of different divorces and I'll be giving you an exam when we are done.' He turned back to the class and wiped his hands of chalk dust. 'Now, are there any questions before we begin?'

'I want your essays on my desk as you leave the class,' Landon said as his students packed up their things. 'If you haven't done this essay, don't bother coming to any classes until you have. I will not hesitate to kick you out.'

The class finished packing up their things and left their essays on his desk as they left the room.

Landon sighed as he sat down at his desk and started neatening the pile of essays on his desk. As he sorted them, a long lavender envelope fell out and he looked at it curiously. His name was written on the back of it, but he could not recognize the handwriting. Landon opened the envelope and unfolded the sheet of paper then read what it said.