The cigarette was almost dropped when Esther saw the cab arriving. Pathetic, truly, how overly excited she was about this even thought it really hadn’t been that long since the two of them had seen each other. She told herself to keep her cool, to remain nonchalant - but was there a point to it anymore? Part of what Esther was trying to teach herself was that she was allowed to feel things. And that apathy was only going to take her so far. Even Austin, with all his particular feelings on stuff and how detached he was to people in general, had let Sam in. The only thing keeping Esther from fully letting Isaac in was herself. And of course, the fear that the same wasn’t in his intentions, but it wasn’t like she could allow herself to keep using the fear of making a mistake as an excuse to not even try.
Esther stood up, stubbing the cigarette on the railing and pocketing the rest of it to throw away later. She crossed her arms over her chest, watching as Isaac walked up to her with a smirk on her face. “Actually, I was just taking a cigarette break and you so happened to arrive at the same time,” she shrugged, brushing it off but keeping a teasing tone to her voice that made it clear that wasn’t the truth at all. “How was your flight?” Before Isaac could give her an answer, though, Esther let out a sigh, unfolding her arms. She grabbed the front of his t-shirt and pulled him into a kiss, free arm going around his neck.
A hand came up to rest on his chest, fingers curling to clutch at the fabric there. The action was accompanied by a wounded expression a moment later as he took the extra step to stumble forward with his head bowed. “Ouch,” he shook his head, “you could have at least let me believe it for, like, a second, y’know.” Not that he hadn’t expected that exact reaction from her. Esther had informed him countless times that she wasn’t there to build his ego up, but to keep it in check instead. And while he didn’t really think he needed it all that much, his words being more of a joke usually than him being serious, he knew it was never meant cruelly and so it never affected him all that much. He was more likely to brush it off and keep going than to take it seriously. Which was why, a second after his little act the grin was back on his face and he continued towards her as if nothing had happened in the first place.
Isaac made the mistake of looking to the side to think back to his flight when she asked the question. So, when he felt hands that weren’t his grab onto the front of his shirt and jerk him forward, he released an undignified sound and ended up laughing into the kiss for a few seconds before he registered what was happening. His hands moved to cup her face, thumbs brushing against her cheeks. When he pulled back, he didn’t bother to wipe the grin off his face. “Missed you, too,” he meant it, but he kept his tone teasing despite that. “And, well,” shrugging, he continued on, “fine. Screaming kids, angry people taking out their issues on flight attendants, the usual.”
