Imagining Us

Ch. 32- What are Friends For?

Esi stood with her towel wrapped tightly around her, observing her room. Clothes were strewn across her bed and her desk. It was five past 6 which meant that she had ten minutes to head down to her car if she wanted to get to dinner on time. She still hadn't made up her mind about her clothes, but at least she had already forced her hair into a sleek yet wavy bun.
She'd filled in her brows, swept some mascara on her lashes and colored her lips with a matt copper-brown color and a dab of nude in the middle.

"You have plans tonight?"Lena asked, walking into her room. Her roommate must have just woken up. She wore a black onesie that complimented her inky bob.

"Yea," Esi answered. "Just trying to figure out what to wear."

Her friend sidled up next to her and observed the clothes.

"Looks a bit fancy...got a date?" She asked flippantly. As if the question didn't have many implications. What she really wanted to know was if she and Porte had somehow reconciled.

"Not a date... just helping a friend out with a project," Esi said.
Lena walked closer to the bed and pointed. "With these kinds of outfits?" She gave Esi an incredulous look. "Babe, just a friend?" Lena didn't believe her.

Esi shrugged. "Yes. Just a friend," she said. "He lives out in Westport so I'm thinking it might require more than jeans."

"Westport," Lena mused over the word slowly, like she was trying to place it. "That's a bougie area...who lives there?"

Esi hesitated, not because she didn't want to tell her, but because she knew what Lena would think.

Lena narrowed her eyes at Esi, the wheels turning in her head.

"That's a very wealthy area, Elizabeth...who lives there?"
"I'm going to help Luke with a project," she answered.
"Luke?" Lena mused over the name, trying to place a face to the name.

Esi sighed. "Luka Danvers."

She had looked away to avoid eye contact.

"Luka Danvers as in Porte Danvers' brother?" Lena asked, eyes bugging out.

Esi pretended to fiddle with the outfits that lay on her bed, pretending to decide which one she was going to wear.

"Esi..." her friend said softly, pulling her attention towards her. She could hear the empathy in Lena's voice.

"It's really not what you think," Esi protested to her friend.

"It's been weeks, Esi...I know that I was pushing this so hard because you don't put yourself first," Lena started. "And you deserve to be spoiled to be put on a pedestal...I thought he would've done that."

She had finally turned to look at Lena, and she saw the fierceness in her friend's eyes as she spoke about her wishes for Esi.

"I hadn't seen you be that flustered...so filled with glee in a long time. I just wanted you to open up yourself," Lena stood and folded her arms, perching against Esi's desk. "But he doesn't get to disappear on you like that, and I won't let you go after him like this."

The first feeling that Esi felt was offense. Yes, she knew that her friend was looking out for her, but it seemed as if she thought that Esi was spineless. That she would go crawling after Porte.

"Give me some credit, Lena." Her temper rose slightly. "Andrew may have made a fool out of me, but he didn't break me. I still have some sort of pride."

Esi saw when her friend ran her tongue across her teeth, trying to hold in a remark.

"I am not running behind Porte," she said and she saw when Lena visibly deflated. "Plus, I told Luke that I won't come if he's there, and he assured me that he wouldn't be there."