Blind Passion (Niah & loadedgunn)

The dark brown eyes of Esme Valencia scanned over her daughter's bedroom as she began to lean against the door frame. Bringing her forearms upwards, the thirty-eight year old woman began to hug herself slightly as a solemn look descended upon her face. The room was just so dark and quiet, in fact the entire house over the past few weeks seemed empty and lifeless. This was due to the fact that Esme had to say goodbye to her only child and daughter at the beginning of the month. Of course she was only a phone call away and college was hardly the same as death. However for the past eighteen years it had always been just the two of them. Together against the world, they had been each other's rock and many times Esme thought that she wouldn't have made it this far without her beautiful daughter Sophia. Sure they would fight from time to time, but they were first and foremost, always best friends.

So suddenly being without her, it was almost like Esme was missing a part of herself. Thank God for work keeping her busy, otherwise she might have just stayed at home gorging on pizza and ice cream until Sophia came back for Christmas break. Esme wasn't the only person that her daughter had left behind though. As she glanced about the room, her eyes landed on a t-shirt thrown upon her daughter's old desk. It was Ray's, Sophia's ex-boyfriend... the poor guy. To Esme the two of them had been the perfect couple, he was so good for her daughter. Always coming over and helping out whenever he could. Esme liked to repay him by cooking his favorite meal and then they would all sit down together, laughing, talking and eating. They had been great times, but unfortunately when college came Sophia decided that she needed a clean break. Her chosen college was in a completely different state and she just didn't think that they could make it work long distance, so she broke-up with him.

"Silly girl..." Esme muttered to herself. She shook her head and allowed her hand to glide over the t-shirt's material. In her humble opinion her daughter had made a huge mistake dumping Ray, her mother had said that she'd regret it, but Sophia didn't listen. The older woman picked up the t-shirt and carried it back out into the living room, she'd have to remember to give that back to Ray. She hadn't seen much of the teenager since the break-up, not that she could really blame him. Though she had to admit, she did miss his company. Looking to her watch she decided that it was best to get going and so slipped into her shoes before grabbing the purple jacket that matched her pencil skirt. She pulled it on over her black lace shirt, before exiting her home and heading into town. The walk over was the same as usual, Esme lived in a small town where everyone knew each other. So her neighbors waved and greeted her good morning, they chatted about occurrences going on in their lives and gave loving goodbye hugs before letting Esme go about her business. It wasn't long before she found herself in the town's most popular coffee house for her usual breakfast and caffeine boost. She took a seat by the window and ordered some pancakes before taking out her phone to check her emails whilst she waited.

It took a while, but Ray was finally getting over the "necessary" break up between he and his former girlfriend. After spending much of high school together, sharing good times and bad, it all was bound to end once they both graduated from high school. Sophia broke the news to Ray in a nice fashion, but it still hurt the same. Ray wanted to make it work. They were going to be able to see each other occasionally on specific holiday breaks or even if he had to drive out of town to meet her. Yet, it was apparent that Sophia wasn't interested in making that work for the betterment of their relationship. For that reason, Ray assumed that she wasn't invested in their relationship in the first place. Once he was able to understand that, it made getting over Sophia that much easier. One thing would be unavoidable and undeniable though. Ray had developed a great relationship with Sophia's mother, Ms. Valencia, over the years. She pretty much had saw him grow up and now that he wasn't dating her daughter, there would be no more funny conversations or her delicious cooking.

Those thoughts troubled Ray as he prepared himself for the day. He got dressed in a fitted button down shirt, jeans, and loafers before heading out to the town to grab a bite to eat before finding something to get into later on in the day. He was attending university in his hometown so he didn't have the hassle of moving out and driving his things to a new city like Sophia did. Now that he thought about it, he was thinking he should have considered attending college out of town like his ex-girlfriend. Maybe then she would have decided to stay with him. However, his grades and scores weren't quite on the level of Sophia. Perhaps transferring after a year or so would have been an option. Those thoughts poured into his mind as he made his way down the sidewalk. He checked through his phone, thinking of texting or even calling Sophia to see if she had made it successfully to her college town, but decided against it once he walked into the coffee shop.

Moistening his lips, the young man waited to be seated at the front as he glanced around the shop, smiling when he saw a familiar face. It was none other than Ms. Valencia, or Esme as she wanted him to call her. He had grown comfortable enough with her over the years that he was on a first name basis with her. The last thing he wanted her to do was feel old by adding a prefix to her surname. "I'll just go over and sit with her. I'm friends with her," Ray mentioned to the waitress when he came back. He weaved his way through the crowd of people as he took a seat across from her in the booth, a toothy grin plastered all over his features at the sight of a familiar face. She wasn't Sophia, of course, but Esme was probably the best alternative right now. "Hey Ms. V!" he said with a grin before catching himself and shaking his head. "Sorry, hey Esme. How's it going? You don't mind if I sit here, right?"