AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“These things always sneak up on me,” I said, finally shutting my laptop. There was no point in keeping up appearances. To keep my fingers from trembling, I knit them together on top of the table. I’d probably just had too much caffeine.
“My dad will no doubt come home with a trunk full of shit he doesn’t need because ‘it was on sale!’ and then I’ll have to find space for it.” She laughed. That sounded exactly like Butch, from what I knew about him.
“Oh, do you live together?” I hadn’t known that. There was only so much you could glean from social media sometimes. Esme didn’t seem to share a whole lot of her family or really personal life stuff. I’d done a deep dive trying to find her hobbies, but no luck so far, other than walking her dog.
“Yeah, it’s been just the two of us my whole life. Well, and Stormy.” I’d forgotten that she was also an only child.
“I know what that’s like,” I said through a sigh. Esme kept picking apart her turnover with surgical precision. Her nails were sharp like daggers and covered with a polish that was the color of dried blood.
She was just so damn cool.
“It was just you and your mom, right?” she asked. The world narrowed to the area of my table, and the two of us. The café noise faded away, and I got completely mesmerized by her eyes. They were a light brown near the iris, and a darker brown around the outside. I’d always loved brown eyes.
“I had to get my own place,” I said, a little breathlessly. My brain snapped back into reality. What was I doing? I wasn’t supposed to be gazing into her eyes. I was supposed to be seducing her.
Right, seduction.
“Out by River Road, right?” Esme said, and I sat back in shock. I didn’t know she knew where I lived. To be fair, I did know where her dad, and I guess her as well, lived. I drove by it every day on my way to the café.
“That’s right,” I said, and then decided it was time to test the waters. “You should come over sometime. My porch is right on the water, and it’s beautiful at night.” There. That wasn’t too suggestive, but it was just suggestive enough.
Esme sipped her drink through the straw and then licked her lips. I could feel the blood pounding in my ears, and my skin got tight.
“That would be great. It’s nice to get out, since having a roommate who is also your dad can be a little weird sometimes,” she said.
I couldn’t imagine. I’d left my mom’s house for college and had never looked back. Even when I had to live in the shittiest of shitty apartments with a ton of roommates, I refused to live with her again.
“Sure, yeah, you can come over anytime you want.” Whoa there, getting a little reckless, Paige. Rein it in.
“Really? That would be great, but I’m usually working most nights. Unless you want to hang out at 2am.” She let out a little laugh that made my stomach flip over.
“Okay,” I blurted out. “I’m a night owl anyway.” I mean, that wasn’t completely true, but whatever. I’d take what I could get, even if it was at 2am.
Esme raised her eyebrows. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” I said, choking on my own saliva somehow. I coughed and had to wipe my face with a napkin. Smooth. Really smooth. I was an excellent seducer.
“That would be great,” Esme said, with a smile that warmed me from the inside out. She picked up her phone and asked me for my number. I listed it off for her and then she sent me a message of “hi” and a smiley face.
I wasn’t sure how I’d done it, but I’d cleared the first hurdle: getting her number. I’d never had the guts to message any of her social media pages, even after she’d liked one of my posts.
Esme started to get up and I didn’t know what else to do to make her stay. I did need to get some more work done, but I didn’t want her to go yet.
“So, I guess I’ll see you around?” she asked.
“Yup,” I said. Brilliant. Amazing.
Esme gave me a little nod and then started to walk away, before spinning back around, her dress swirling perfectly, as if she was a model.
“See you later, Paige.”
“You too,” I blurted out.
* * *
“Holy shit,”I said, removing my headphones as Em took the seat that Esme had vacated a few hours ago.
“Hello, friend,” she said. “You look like you’re in a work daze.”
