If Tomorrow Never Comes

6 - Kid

Adrian had bent down to tie his lace, Esme was stood beside him, slowly growing weaker under the sun. She was thirsty, she needed water and who was the only person with water? Adrian. Esme politely asked for some but Adrian said that it was for emergencies only, whatever that meant. Esme grew extremely impatient with the man, tapping her foot and looking straight forward. There was an untouched footbridge across the motorway, which had hundreds of abandoned cars and sand scattered everywhere. Esme walked forward, looking out at the vast, dry area. "I need water." Esme spun around to look at the man, taking in his structure, standing up straight. "In case you haven't noticed, the whole earth is scorched. This may be the only water left. We need to use it wisely." Adrian explained shoving the water in her face.
"In case you haven't noticed, living things need water to survive. If you're not going to use the water, what's the point in having it?" Esme whacked the water out of her face. The man took a step back, realising what she had said, he wasn't stupid. "I know." Were his only words, before striding towards the bridge.
"Adrian, I'll die!" Esme clung to his arm, dragging her feet behind on the sand.
"Good." Esme heard a little slip on the word. She let go of the man's arm, making him turn around. She stood in pure rage, hands opening and closing in balls. Her nose was slightly scrunched up and her breathing was heavy and slow. Her eyes stared straightly through the guy. To be honest, Adrian trembled slightly, the girl scared him a little. He shrugged it off. She'd come around eventually so he didn't even bother apologising. Esme slammed both of her hands on the man's chest twice and made her way onto the metallic bridge. Adrian chased her. "Kid, wait!" He called out with the most sarcastic tone. Esme turned around, walking backwards on the bridge. It creaked and groaned beneath the weight of the duo. "Why should I? You can have the water!" She shouted in the guys direction, still walking backwards. Esme stopped walking as she watched the guys face drop like he really didn't mean what he said. "Listen I—" Esme folded her arms. "I—" the metal below Esme's feet gave in, her whole body fell downwards in one tense movement. Adrian's reflexes caused his arm to shoot out and catch hold of her hand. The force pulled him onto his stomach as the girl started swinging on the man's arm like a rope. She struggled, twisting around as her hands grew sweaty. The pair cursed to themselves as Adrian began pulling Esme up. She slipped once and Adrian almost immediately caught hold of the girl's hand before she broke every bone in her body. She yelped in pain and horror as Adrian attempted a second time to pull the girl up. He had a short sensation of strength and he heaved Esme up with a stronger force than he thought. The girl came crashing down on top of his chest. Their noses were touching and Esme could feel Adrian's cold, minty breath on her face. There was an awkward silence. Adrian stood up and looked down at the girl. Esme huffed, standing up with a killer scowl and leapt across the gap now engraved in the walkway. "I didn't catch your name." Adrian shouted, not really giving a care in the world if she didn't tell him.
"Go to hell, Adrian." Esme spat, still walking into the distance.
"Well I guess your name is now officially Kid?" Adrian smirked to himself.
"It's Esme, asshole." Esme hissed from in front of the leathered up man.
"Alrighty then." Adrian huffed to himself. He went to say something then decided against it. She was pissed enough and she needed to cool down. Adrian just thought to himself as he watched the sunset over the dune, creating a beautiful pinky-orange sky. The fluffy clouds filled the sky and made the girl calmer. Esme was sat on top of a dune, looking up at the sky when Adrian reached her. He didn't say anything, he just kneeled down and tossed a bunch of sticks out of his backpack and onto the sand. He struck a match and set it down on the sticks creating a campfire. Adrian then started rummaging in his bag again, pulling out a blanket and rolling it out so it was flat. Esme was now watching Adrian, hoping he would notice she had nothing to cover her when going to sleep. Adrian pulled out a pillow and threw it down on his blanket. Adrian zipped up his bag and tossed it aside. He lay down and wrapped himself up warm. Esme watched him and turned to look at the dark city as the sun had now set and the only light was the orange flame of the campfire. Esme got close to it and warmed herself, turning again once to look at the man now drifting asleep without even acknowledging the poor girl shivering. For a scorched planet, it was freezing in the moment. Esme lay flat on her back and looked up at the sky, closing her eyes and whispering her prayers. A thud beside her made her jump, she looked up and saw the water beside her feet. Adrian gave a quick nod and lay back down. Esme picked up the water canteen, opened it and took a small yet large swig of it and closed it again. As much as the guy infuriated her, she thought it would be really shitty to throw the canteen back at him when he's trying to sleep — even though that's what he did, but she was grateful nonetheless. She just placed it back in his bag quickly so it didn't look like she was rummaging and zipped it up. She lay back down and went to sleep.