Borrowed Time

Chapter Seventy Nine

Juliette wasn't making breakfast for Esme because she felt bad about what had happened the night before... Well, not entirely, obviously that was part of it, but she mostly just wanted to do something nice because it'd snowed so much overnight and school was closed anyway... Might as well make the best of it, right?

She walked into the bedroom, smiling when they saw how Esme was sleeping, curled into a ball around their pillow, where Juliette had been before she got up to cook... God, they were so fucking pretty, how was that even possible? She leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Esme's cheek, making them rouse just a bit. Another kiss, and they sat up, squinting at Juliette in a way that was mean at first, and then she softened her gaze when realized who had woken her.

God, that made Juliette's heart ache.

"Hey..." Esme yawned as they sat up, giving Juliette a smile so beautiful that it made her heart ache in her chest... She didn't know how it was possible for a person to look so beautiful when they weren't even fully conscious to the world, but Esme was living proof that it was indeed possible... And Juliette felt fortunate that she was the one who was lucky enough to love them. "What're you doing up?" She asked, and Juliette shrugged, holding the plate out to Esme... It was nothing special, just some toast and some eggs, when Gianna had called she asked what Esme would eat in the mornings, and this was what she was given... She would've trudged through the active snowstorm to the store to buy things if she needed to, but they had some stuff in the fridge, so it all worked out.

"I made you breakfast." She said, and Esme smiled warmly and sat up against the headboard, taking the plate from Juliette as they patted, the bed beside them, an indicator for her to sit and join them... Which had been the plan, but an invitation never hurt, right?

"I don't really eat breakfast..." Juliette froze as she was crawling back on the bed... Fuck, she hadn't meant to overstep that boundary, but she'd seen Esme eat it before so she'd thought it was a safe guess. Esme cleared her throat, setting the plate aside as they leaned forward to press a quick kiss to Juliette's lips. "But I'll do it today. This looks really good." Okay, good. Juliette settled down beside them and rested her head on their shoulder.

"Thanks." For a long moment, they were both quiet, just existing in each other's space before Juliette chose to speak. "I'm really sorry about how I reacted last night, that was embarrassing, you deserve a lot better than that." Juliette said, and Esme placed a hand on her thigh, rubbing it softly.

"Honey..." Esme pressed a kiss to the top of her head before she started running her fingers through her hair, soothing her in a way that only Esme could. "I'm not mad at you for having trauma and having hang ups... Nobody knows how they're gonna react until they push the envelope a little bit more, and it takes time to get used to." They explained, and Juliette lifted her head, looking over at them... Why wasn't Esme being a bigger bitch to her? They'd earned the right to do that.

"So you're not mad at me for freaking out?" Juliette asked, and Esme furrowed her brows, shaking her head slowly as she linked their fingers together.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Esme asked, and Juliette nodded... Yeah, obviously she thought that they were going to be mad at her... Normally, when she talked back or did shit that someone might think was disrespectful, she left crying or wanted to kill herself... Why didn't Esme do the same thing? She'd earned it.

"I yelled at you." She said, her tone coming out quieter than she thought it was going to. Esme chuckled, moving their arm to wrap around Juliette's waist instead as she pulled her closer.

"Yeah, that wasn't something I appreciated, but I understood why it happened. You weren't screaming at me for telling a teacher about the bruises on my back or beating me with a belt for not cleaning up your beer cans... So it was different." Esme said, and Juliette cleared her throat, looking down at her lap... God, sometimes she forgot just how fucked Esme's childhood really was... Maybe that was why they were so quick to forgive her, because to her it wasn't a big deal.