Borrowed Time

Chapter Sixty Nine

What if Esme's cousin absolutely hates you?

That question had been echoing through Juliette's head since they'd gotten outside of the city limits of Franstend and onto the highway, and she couldn't get it to stop. It'd been an hour and thirty minutes of that question on a loop to the point that she was now convinced that it was true... She was so lost in her brain about it, nothing could pull her out.

Except Esme, apparently... At least now, it hadn't worked a moment ago.

"Hey... Sweetheart..." Esme's voice pulled her out of her own thoughts as she looked over at her, trying her best to seem like she wasn't desperately overthinking everything about this trip... They were already fifteen minutes away from the hotel, there was no turning back now anyway, it was stupid to be thinking about the worst case scenario.

She placed her hand over Esme's and gave the best smile she could manage, which Esme easily saw through. Bastard.

"What?" She asked, and Esme shrugged, glancing over at her worriedly before she turned a corner... Okay, she had every right to be worried, but Juliette was perfectly fine, there was nothing to actually freak out about.

"Nothing, you're just lost in your own head... Care to let me in there for a second? Maybe I can pull you out." She offered, her voice soft and her tone understanding... God, that was a really cute way to say it, okay, she could try to look for support right now instead of spiraling... That was fine.

"Oh... Uh..." How did she phrase this in a way that wasn't completely stupid? "You're gonna think it's stupid." She really was, but Esme chuckled and shook her head as she looked out the windshield, stopping slowly at a stoplight.

"I doubt I will, try me." Well, she could doubt it all she wanted, but that didn't make it any less true... Still...

"Promise?" She asked, and Esme nodded, squeezing her hand as she did. Sweet.

"Promise." Okay, that was convincing enough, she could voice her worries now without fully freaking out that Esme was going to think that she was some kind of freak for having them in the first place.

"What if your cousin hates me?" She asked, and Esme furrowed her brows, shaking her head like her question had been ridiculous. See? Stupid question. She'd earned that look of confusion fair and square.

"He won't, he's nice." Esme insisted, but Juliette still wasn't too sure about that. "He's the only person I still talk to from my dad's side of the family, the rest of them disowned me along with them." Oh. She'd almost forgotten about that, she'd just started assuming that any family that Esme talked to was related to Gianna because the rest were just... The worst. How had they reconnected?

"How'd you two start talking again?" She asked, as though she'd remembered how they were related at all. Esme chuckled and shrugged, turning another corner as she did. Well, that wasn't an answer, now was it?

"He found me on social media once he turned eighteen and we started talking from there. He gave me my first real tattoo when I was sixteen years old." Esme said, her tone fond and nostalgic... Which tattoo was her first? Juliette had never actually asked her that question, it felt like something that she should know by now, but she had no idea.

"Which one was your first?" She asked, and Esme grimaced, chewing on her lip as she drummed her thumbs on the steering wheel, looking embarrassed... It couldn't be that bad, right?

"Like my first real one or the stick and poke? Because I've got a stick and poke of Penny, Emma, and Tegan's initials on my ankle." Aw, that was super sweet. Juliette smiled as she tucked her knee up against her chest, looking over at Esme's side profile... Pretty girl.