Ecie & Esme III: Forever and a Day

Three

'Surprise, surprise...'

'OH my god!' Ecie exclaimed. 'Joey. What are you doing here?!'

'I'm in town for a few days and thought I should stop by,' Joey grinned. 'How are you?'

'I'm good,' Ecie nodded letting Joey into the apartment. 'Oh my god this is so crazy. I can't believe you're here.'

'What have you been doing?' Joey asked as they made their way to the kitchen. 'This place looks awesome.'

'Thank you,' Ecie smiled. 'I haven't really been up to much. I'm coaching squads and I'm tutoring.'

'That's so awesome,' Joey nodded. 'Where is everybody?'

'They're somewhere...' Ecie stared as Joey presented her left hand. 'What is that?'

'What do you think?'

'You got married?!'

Joey grinned excitedly.

'To Owen? When? Oh my god!'

'You're crazy, right?' Ecie said holding Joey's hand and looking at the ring. 'You're both insane.'

Joey laughed.

'What did your mom say?'

'She was a little shocked at first and it took her a couple of days to calm down, but she got over it and she's happy for us,' Joey replied.

'Well the ring is beautiful,' Ecie smiled. 'Congratulations.'

'Thank you,' Joey smiled. 'We're really happy.'

'So what are you doing then?' Ecie asked. 'Are you guys living together? Are you still going to college?'

'Yeah,' Joey nodded. 'He transferred to Ohio and we've bought an apartment close to the campus. Everything is going perfectly.'

'What are you now? Joey Miller? Joey Moore-Handler...'

'I'm Joey Miller,' Joey grinned. 'How weird is that?'

'You always were the crazy one out of us,' Ecie laughed shaking her head. 'But I'm so happy for you.'

'Thank you,' Joey smiled. 'What's been going on with you?'

'Not nearly as much as with you,' Ecie replied. 'I've been seeing someone since September and we've got a friend living here with us.'

'That sounds good,' Joey nodded. 'Who's the lucky guy?'

'I met him in Palm Springs last year,' Ecie replied. 'We've had some rocky patches, but we're doing really well at the moment...'

'Hey Ecie...' Lauren stopped. 'Um hi.'

'Oh right,' Ecie said. 'Joey this is Lauren and Lauren this is Joey. We grew up together.'

'Hey,' Lauren smiled at Joey. 'You're from Malibu too?'

'Yep,' Joey replied. 'You guys met at college?'

'Yeah,' Lauren nodded. 'Well um... I'll just leave you two and come find you later.'

'She seems nice,' Joey said when Lauren had left. 'And she's pretty.'

'Yeah,' Ecie replied. 'She's a little quiet but when you get to know her, she's really funny and cool.'

'I'm sure she is.'

'Anyway,' Ecie said wanting to change the subject. 'We're all going out for drinks later. You should join us and stay over. We need a proper catch up.'

'Okay,' Joey nodded. 'That sounds like fun.'

Ecie looked at Joey's hand again and shook her head laughing. 'I just can't believe you went and got married. You've got to tell me all about it again.'

Joey grinned.

'Congratulations,' Esme said. 'I can't believe you got married.'

'Me neither,' Joey grinned. 'But it felt right, you know? I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Owen.'

'That's awesome,' Esme said. 'How is married life?'

'Perfect,' Joey replied. 'Have you heard from Sara? Do you know when she's going to be in town next?'

'When we're in Spain,' Esme replied. 'It sucks that I won't be able to see her for ages, but it's all part of growing up, right?'

'Yeah,' Joey nodded. 'I'm just happy that we've all managed to stay friends.'

Verde pulled Lauren close to him and kissed her.

'It's not going to work?'

'What?' Verde breathed.

'You can't seduce me,' she mumbled. 'I'm not going to move in to your room.'

'Why not?'

'Because I don't want to,' Lauren looked at Verde. 'Do you still want to kiss me now?'

Verde looked at Lauren then released her.

'You are so shallow,' Lauren said. 'You should be ashamed of yourself...'

'Move in with me,' he said. 'Move in with me, move in with me, move in with me, move in with me, move in...'

'Stop that Verd,' Lauren said. 'Just stop.'

'Why won't you just move in?' he said. 'It's not that big a deal.'

'Exactly,' Lauren said. 'Why do you want me to move in?'

'Because I like my room,' Verde smiled. 'Otherwise I'd move in with you.'

Lauren looked away then started laughing. 'Seriously?'

'Yeah,' Verde nodded. 'So what do you say?'

'Verd...'

'We can have a trial,' Verde suggested. 'You live in my room for a week and if it really sucks then you can go back to your room. But if it's totally amazing then I shall personally move all your stuff into my room. What do you say?'

'You know this week is going to last forever,' she replied after a moment. 'And besides, what's going to happen to my room?'

Verde grinned happily. 'Seriously?'

'Yeah,' Lauren nodded, laughing.

'We have to drink to something,' Esme said as a waitress put their drinks down on their table. 'What are we going to drink to?'

'I think you've already had enough,' Lauren laughed. 'We'll drink on your behalf.'

'Get out of here,' Esme laughed leaning on Lauren. 'I'm only getting started.'

Lauren and Esme laughed together as they started talking about a party they had been to together a few months back.

'Those two get on like a house on fire,' Joey said. 'That must be strange.'

'Not really,' Ecie replied. 'We're all really close and we all get on really well.'

Joey nodded.

'We need something to drink to,' Esme laughed at Lauren. 'Come on guys. We can't get drunk without a reason.'

Lauren laughed.

'To friendship and love,' Verde proposed looking at Lauren and smiling. 'Forever and always.'

'You're a heartbreaker,' Esme laughed. 'But I like it.'

'And you're just drunk,' Verde said. 'Try and control yourself tonight.'

'Where's Taylor?' Joey asked.

'He had to fly out for work,' Esme replied. 'He'll be back in a couple of days.'