Borrowed Time Part 2

Chapter 209

Well, that was one hell of a year for Leukemia, huh? Her mom's death followed by a new expert in the field... The world works in mysterious ways. Plus, maybe if she was good enough at her job there wouldn't be more kids watching their parents die.

"That's really cool." Esme nodded, resting their chin on their hand.

"Maybe you should go too." Esme grimaced then, lifting their head for a second... Juliette could hardly hold back her chuckle, mostly because she didn't realize that Esme had thought that she wouldn't also go to the lecture. Shelby was the only person she knew on that campus, and she wasn't going to be wandering around without her. "I mean, with... I don't know if it's genetic, but..." They stammered, and Juliette rested a hand on their thigh, leaning over to press a kiss to their cheek.

Relax.

"Maybe I should learn more about what killed my mom?" She asked, and Esme nodded, looking so achingly concerned and unsure of if they were doing the right thing. Juliette stroked her fingers through their hair, feeling her heart swell at the sheer amount of love and care that Esme had for her, the amount that they thought things through...

She had no doubt that Esme had done research on their own into Leukemia, even if they did struggle to read documents like that because of the font, just to understand it better.

"Mhm." Even more uncertainty. "Is that... That's the wrong move, don't do that-." Juliette cut them off, leaning in to press a long, soft kiss to their lips. She felt them relax against her, their hands coming up to rest on her waist, drawing her a little bit closer. She smiled against their lips, wanting nothing more than to crawl into their lap and just let this whole thing go, but she wanted Esme to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their idea was a good one.

Juliette pulled away much to her own disappointment, and Esme's as she felt their hands squeeze against her waist more, all but whimpering at the loss of their lips on hers. She opened her eyes to see them looking at them with a soft pout as she brushed hair from their face, a wide grin settling across her own face.

God, you're so fucking cute, aren't you?

"No, you're right. I should know more about it, and if this Hazel person is an expert... Maybe it'd be interesting." She said, and she meant that. She wanted to know if there was a risk of her getting it, or a bigger risk than she knew about, and what she could maybe do to prevent it if anything. The last thing she wanted was her friends burying her in an early grave, it'd kill her to know that they had to carry her casket.

Esme rested their chin against her chest, looking up at her still, their hands slipping back to fold behind her lower back, their thumbs rubbing against her back.

"I think it would be." They murmured, and Juliette nodded, tracing over their face softly... It didn't hurt that going was already part of her plan and that Shelby had voiced more than once that she was nervous that Juliette would just spend the whole time in bed while she went and did something interesting to her... Granted, she was fine just traveling with Shelby and relaxing, a trip where Shelby got to do what she wanted was still a trip well spent.

"Plus I'm sure Shelby would be thrilled if I did something other than just sleeping in the hotel room." Esme's smile was so achingly beautiful at that moment that Juliette wanted to stop time and watch it forever... But she couldn't do that, all she could was blink and hope that somehow in the last few minutes her brain had become a camera so that she could look back on it time and time again.

What the fuck... Emotional... Weirdo...

"I'm sure she would." They said, and Juliette nodded, clearing her throat... She wanted to switch gears to something more sexy, because she'd planned a surprise for Esme as an apology for leaving for so long.