Ecie & Esme III: Forever and a Day

Seven

'How was mom today?' Ecie asked passing the basket of bread rolls at dinner.

'She was fine,' Esme replied. 'She was happy to finally be going home.'

'That's cool,' Ecie nodded. 'Were you there all day?'

'Pretty much,' Esme replied. 'Mom couldn't leave until Eric came to get her. Apparently, he'd paid the nurses not to let mom leave by herself.'

Ecie laughed. 'No way. First he takes her passport and now this.'

'It's cute,' Esme grinned. 'I felt the baby kick today, for the first time.'

'Oh my god,' Ecie said excitedly. 'That's awesome. What was it like?'

'Weird,' Esme said. 'It was like this live thing wasn't quite live yet. I don't know how to describe. All I know is that I really want to have a baby.'

'That's weird,' Ecie said. 'Landon and I were talking about having kids.'

'Now way, are you kidding?'

Ecie shook her head.

'Taylor and I were talking about the same thing. How weird is that?'

'That is quite weird...'

Lauren scraped her chair back and picked up her plate before heading to the kitchen to put her food into a plastic container.

'What's up with her?' Esme asked.

'I don't know,' Ecie replied. 'I thought she was okay now that she was dating Verd.'

'So did I,' Esme said. 'Do you think it's school?'

'I doubt it,' Ecie replied. 'But you never know.'

'I feel like Lauren's changed since September when we first met her,' Esme said. 'She used to be so bubbly and outgoing, but now she's really withdrawn and quiet. It's like she's a completely different girl now, it's weird.'

'We're going to have to talk to her,' Ecie said. 'She's our best friend, our sister, our roommate. We can't allow her to sit on the roof all day and smoke her life away. We've got to her to smile again.'

'So in other words we've got to call Verd?'

'No,' Ecie said. 'We've got to wait for Verd to get back. It'd be rude to interrupt his shift.'

'Hey guys,' Verde breezed into the apartment. 'Did you save any dinner? I've been having pasta cravings all day... what?'

'It's Lauren.'

'We're worried.'

'What happened? Where is she?'

'She's out on the roof,' Esme replied. 'She doesn't leave it.'

'You've got to talk to her,' Ecie said. 'She's your girlfriend and I don't think she wants to talk to us.'

'Right,' Verde nodded. 'Well. Could you put my plate in the microwave or something?'

'Sure.'

'Is it anything you want to talk about?' Verde asked standing next to Lauren on the edge of the roof.

Lauren smiled a little, to herself and laughed. She tucked some stray strands of hair behind her ear whilst allowing the night breeze to blow the rest of her hair.

'What are you thinking?'

'I want to have kids too,' Lauren smiled.

Verde looked at Lauren. 'I don't understand.'