Ecie & Esme III: Forever and a Day

Eight

'You should be forceful and just lay down the law,' Verde laughed. 'There's no point in beating around bush because Taylor won't get any of your hints.'

'And this worked with Lauren?'

'He actually repeated the same four words over and over again,' Lauren laughed. 'He screwed me into submission basically.'

'Eww, you guys.'

Lauren laughed. 'Well I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be back in a sec.'

'You must be happy,' Esme said. 'You've got everything under control now.'

Verde shrugged. 'It hasn't been easy and I know that we're going to have some obstacles.'

Esme looked at Verde. 'Do you fancy sharing?'

'It's not my story to share,' Verde replied. 'Lauren's really had it rough, right from when she was a baby.'

'How do you mean?'

'Just stuff that happened with her parents and her family,' Verde replied. 'If you want to know anything, you should just ask her. I don't want this to turn into something else.'

'Okay,' Esme nodded. 'I'll ask her.'

'You'll have to get her really drunk by the way,' Verde said. 'That's how I managed it.'

'Thank god for tequila then,' Esme grinned. 'That'll get her out in no time.'

Verde laughed. 'But you should seriously talk to Taylor if this whole thing has been eating at you, okay?'

Esme nodded. 'Okay.'

'What's the worst that can happen?'

Esme looked at Verde. 'He'll call me an overbearing in-your-face obsessive girlfriend,' Esme replied. 'I don't feel like fighting him today.'

'Well then ask him tomorrow,' Verde smiled. 'Come on, you've got nothing to worry about. You've been dating for like two years, his lease is coming to an end, and it makes perfect sense.'

'That's the thing Verd,' Esme said. 'Taylor is a completely different breed of male.'

Verde laughed. 'It's worth a try and you've got nothing to lose. If he says no, then you know where you stand and you can just get on with your relationship. It won't be that big a deal.'

Lauren came back and sat down smiling. 'What happened? When I left we were all smiling.'

'Nothing,' Esme smiled. 'We're going out tonight and we're going to get drunk.'

'Okay,' Lauren grinned. 'That is fine by me.'

'This will have to be the last shot,' Lauren said squeezing her eyes. 'I'm going to puke if I have anymore.'

'Okay,' Esme nodded closing her eyes. 'We'll do more shots in a couple hours.'

Lauren nodded. 'God this reminds me so much of home. I used to get so drunk.'

'You don't say,' Esme laughed. 'You can drink all of us under the table.'

'Ha,' Lauren laughed. 'Not at all. I can only have a few drinks and I'm already passed out on the floor.'

Esme laughed. 'So you drank a lot?'

'Oh yeah,' Lauren laughed. 'It never got really bad, but I did get alcohol poisoning once or twice.'

Esme looked at Lauren. 'Why did you do it?'

'I don't know,' Lauren shrugged. 'At first it was "fun" but then after a while it just became the thing to do. I didn't see why I couldn't drink.'

'What did your parents make of it?

Lauren laughed. 'My mom was "concerned" and my father was repulsed,' she laughed. 'I think they were more concerned about what other people would think when they saw me.'

'That's really bad?'

Lauren shrugged. 'Did you drink or do anything that even remotely broke the law?'

'No,' Esme said. 'College has been the beginning of my wayward behavior.'

Lauren laughed. 'I guess I knew you were the goody-goody and Ecie was more hardcore.'

Esme laughed. 'Yeah, that's about right. I didn't drink, smoke or do drugs,' she said. 'That was all Ecie. She was the cooler twin.'

'Why do you act like you're her shadow?' Lauren asked. 'You don't talk with conviction when you talk about yourself. I see how you are with her and it's like you don't think you're good enough for her.'

Esme laughed.

'I don't want to hurt your feelings,' Lauren said. 'I'm drunk.'

'It's fine,' Esme said. 'We're both drunk here.'

'You're just as good as Ecie,' Lauren said. 'You may not be multi-talented, but that shit is overrated. You're cool, you're amazing.'

'You think?'

'Totally,' Lauren nodded. 'Why don't you?'

'I don't know,' Esme shrugged. 'I guess I don't see much point in exposing myself when Ecie's the more interesting one. She's got the stories to tell and the adventures to share. I don't have anything.'

'Who told you that?'

Esme looked down at her fingers.

'Listen Esme,' Lauren said looking at her. 'Only you can destroy yourself. You can't destroy yourself. You're too amazing to do that. Forget about Ecie. You're more interesting, you've got the stories to tell and the adventures to share.'

'You think?'

Lauren held Esme's face in her hands. 'Of course. You're totally cool.'

Esme smiled. 'Thank you.'

'I think I'm ready for another shot,' Lauren said pouring some vodka into two shot glasses. 'Are you ready?'

'You are such a bad influence,' Esme laughed taking a glass from Lauren. 'Did anyone ever tell you that?'

'How about we get this down then we talk?' Lauren laughed.

Esme nodded.

'One...two...three...'