Ecie & Esme II: Another Day Like This

Three

'I was thinking that you had both fallen off the face of the earth,' Ecie said hugging Ed and Verde. 'I haven't seen you both in so long. What's been going on?'

'Nothing much,' Ed replied. 'I went to see Verd's new school in Rhode Island and it looks pretty good.'

'Yeah,' Verde nodded. 'We've just been checking things out.'

'That's good,' Ecie replied. 'So are you guys back together yet?'

'No,' Ed laughed. 'We're trying to work on being friends.'

'Yeah,' Verde nodded. 'I'm going to look around if that's okay?'

'Sure,' Ecie said as she watched Verde walk away. 'So what happened in Rhode Island?'

'Nothing,' Ed replied.

Ecie looked at Ed. 'Come on, just tell me. I promise not to breathe a word to anyone.'

'I kind of...'

'Oh Ed,' Ecie said. 'You're just as bad as me.'

'It just happened,' Ed replied. 'We went out to this club and I met this guy. We hit it off right away. Verd got mad and we had this massive fight, it was so frustrating. I really like Verd and I really want to be with him, but he's got such an issue with everything.'

'I think you should come to my therapy sessions,' Ecie replied. 'Carole has done such an amazing job with me.'

'I can't wait around for the rest of my life while Verd decides whether he wants to tell his parents or not,' Ed said. 'I don't care if he doesn't want to come out to them. I don't care; I just want to be with him.'

'But you know how hard it is,' Ecie replied. 'He's got personal issues with it. He feels like he's being a hypocrite if he doesn't tell them.'

'Well then he needs to sort it out,' Ed replied. 'I'm sick and tired of waiting for him. I like being able to do what I want, when I want.'

Ecie looked across the store at Verde who was looking at shirts. 'So did he walk in?'

'Well you know Verd,' Ed laughed. 'He waited til we were finished then walked in and acted as though he didn't know anything had happened.'

'You guys need to sort this out,' Ecie said looking at Ed. 'You've got to decide before he leaves.'

'I know,' Ed replied. 'I know we do.'

'I have good news,' Stacy grinned at Ecie as she priced clothes at the counter. 'You're going to love it.'

'What is it?' Ecie asked putting a plaid shirt into the priced pile.

'I spoke to the offices in LA and they have accepted your transfer application,' Stacy grinned. 'They said because you've worked with us for so long and you've given in more hours than most employees, you can transfer to their store.'

'That's great,' Ecie grinned. 'Thank you so much.'

'They also said that as long as you have your employee code, you can work in any of our stores across the country,' Stacy continued. 'All you have to do is phone ahead and give them your code then they'll sort the rest out.'

'That's amazing,' Ecie said hugging Stacy from across the counter. 'What do I do now?'

'You just continue working here til the day before you leave or whatever then you turn up at the LA store and they'll sort you out,' Stacy replied. 'It's so easy.'

'Thank you so much,' Ecie said. 'That's so incredible.'

'Yeah,' Stacy grinned. 'And they know that you've got college and stuff so they just asked for you to bring a timetable with everything that you're doing and they'll be able to work out what shifts you can do.'

'So I've got a job when I get to LA?'

'Yeah,' Stacy grinned. 'Well done. You've worked so hard and you really deserve it.'

'I'll still come down to this store and see everyone,' Ecie replied. 'I wish I could work here forever, but I think that LA will be so much fun.'

'I think so too,' Stacy replied. 'So you're okay with everything?'

Ecie nodded. 'I think so, yeah.'

'Good,' Stacy smiled. 'I'll leave you to finish with those clothes.'

'Are you happy about Ohio?' Ecie asked as she made some food with her best friend, Joey.

'I'm so happy about it,' Joey replied. 'It's going to be such a blast. I really hope that I can make the squad.'

'Same,' Ecie replied. 'I think I'll drop out of college if I can't cheer.'

Joey laughed. 'Then come and move up to Ohio with me.'

'Do you know where you'll be living?'

'I want to live in the dorms,' Joey replied. 'But I really want to be in a sorority.'

'Being a Pledge is really sucky,' Ecie said. 'They make you do so much crap. Wouldn't you just prefer to be a regular college person?'

'This is me we're talking about,' Joey laughed. 'I wouldn't survive life if I wasn't in a sorority.'

'You're right,' Ecie laughed. 'You were born to be in one.'

'Besides, being a Pledge isn't as bad as they make it out to be in the movies and stuff,' Joey replied. 'My mom was an Alpha Xi Delta and she said it was pretty cool.'

'I think that means that you'll get in automatically,' Ecie said.

'I don't want to be an Alpha Xi,' Joey said. 'I want to be in another house because then I won't have everything that my mom did always being mentioned.'

'Your mom would be so pissed,' Ecie laughed. 'Her daughter doesn't want to be in the same house.'

'I know,' Joey laughed. 'The only thing my mom has said to be since I was a little girl is "you have to be an Alpha Xi when you go to Ohio. It's the only sorority you have to be in". She gets so het up about dumb stuff like that.'

'Okay, so what movie do you want to watch?' Joey asked as she sat down next to Ecie with two bowls of snacks in her hands. She put the bowls down the opened the DVD player.

'A Man in Rain,' Ecie replied. 'I want a feel good movie.'

'I want to watch something really scary,' Joey laughed. 'It'll probably be one of the last times that we can do this, in a long time.'

'You're right,' Ecie nodded. 'We can watch a scary movie, but I still want to watch my feel good one.'

'Okay,' Joey laughed standing up and getting out a scary movie. 'We can watch both of them.'

'I think we're going to need more food,' Ecie said reaching for the cordless phone. 'I'll order us some takeout.'

'I've got them all on speed dial;' Joey laughed sitting back down and putting a DVD in. 'You should be able to get straight through to them.'

Ecie laughed. 'I bet they've saved this number and everything by now.'