Missy closed the door to her apartment, forcing a smile to her face when she heard the girls in the kitchen. The sounds of spoons stirring in mugs and small gigglings drifting out the door. Walking that way, she ignored the unexpected tugging in her gut. The one telling her to go after Damon.
Something weird was happening inside her. Something she'd never experienced before and it had started when he'd told Myles that she was his. As soon as the words left his mouth her stomach had clenched and her chest had filled with...something. She couldn't place it. At first she would have called it happiness, but it was something that was so much stronger.
She walked through the kitchen door, the girls were sitting around the small island. They all looked up when she walked in.
"Missy!" Monica gushed with a smile. "How was your night? Did you have fun with your friends?" She asked as she looked down at her mug, tapped the spoon on the rim and brought it to her mouth.
"Yeah. I had a great time." She thought about waking up in Damon's arms, about how he was reluctant to let her go in his sleep. The thought brought a smile to her face.
"Uh oh!" Monica chuckled with the spoon sticking out of her mouth. She reached up and grabbed it before continuing. "Does Missy have a boyfriend? I know that smile."
"What?" Jessica asked at the same time Alyssa asked, "Who?"
Missy giggled as she put her bag on the floor beside the door and climbed up into a stool. "I don't have a boyfriend." She shook her head but added, "I did meet someone though. Not that he's interested, but he's so handsome." She sighed dreamily as she clasped her hands in front of her.
The girls giggled at her silliness and she laughed. "He is handsome, though."
"Does he go to the college?" Alyssa asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Yes." Missy answered honestly. "As far as I know. He said he had a class this morning." She shrugged.
"Wait!" Jessica held her hand up. "Did you stay the night with him?" She looked at her in shock. The girls weren't used to her doing things like that.
She nodded. "I did. I wasn't going to. Originally, I was going to stay at the OverNight, but it was full and he was driving me, so he just took me back to his place to stay." Purposefully, she left out that he hadn't given her a choice, not that it had bothered her. Damon may be big and scary, but he didn't put off the creep vibe.
"Did you sleep with him?" Monica asked. Something different in her tone. It wasn't excitement for her friend, it was more accusing and maybe a little mad? Jessica and Alyssa sipped their coffees, not looking at either of them.
"Um, no. We slept in the same bed, but there was no sex going on. I told you. He isn't interested in me." Monica's shoulders relaxed.
"Oh, good. You have to be careful with guys, Missy. I know you, it'll be too hard for you to have one night stands or a casual fling. You're too good and I wouldn't want you to get hurt." Monica smiled and placed her hand over Missy's. "You understand, right?"
Missy smiled. "I do. Thank you for thinking of me." The doorbell rang and she slipped off the stool. "I'll get it." She rushed away. There was some kind of tension between her and the girls and she wasn't sure what was causing it. Some kind of undercurrent that wasn't usually there.
She opened the door. Their landlord was standing on the other side. "Hi! Is everything okay?"
"I'm not sure." He said, looking over her head into the apartment. "I got a call from one of your neighbors this morning. She said the apartment was making a lot of noise last night. She also said that there were at least four people living here. Is that correct?"
Missy started stammering, trying to think of something, anything to say. The lease only had three names on it and none of them hers. It was something they'd changed at the beginning of the year. There were only allowed to be three people living there. She wanted to tell him that it wasn't true, that she was just a friend visiting her friends, but Missy couldn't lie.
Had never been able to. Her breath left her in a rush as one word came spilling out. "Yes." Fear clogged her throat.
He nodded and pushed past her. She followed, shutting the door as he looked around. The girls walked out of the kitchen with wary expressions.
"Which one of you aren't on the lease?" He looked around at the girls. Before she could answer Jessica and Alyssa pointed at her. Monica looked at her in shock and then sympathy. The landlord looked at her and nodded. "You have until the end of the week to get out. If not, I'll be evicting all of you."
"Yes, sir." She nodded as he passed by, the door shut quietly. Missy looked at Monica as a tear slid down her check. "What am I going to do?"
Monica sighed. "I guess, maybe you'll have to go back home."
Missy squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. "Right." Although she loved her parents and missed them like crazy, she didn't want to go home yet. Some things have started to change and she'd just started a new adventure with Damon. She wanted to get to know him, wanted to see if she could get him to smile and laugh. Wanted to see him happy.
She couldn't do that from New Mexico. The distance from there to New York was too great.
"Well, at least your things are packed." Alyssa shrugged. "Less work for you to do."
"Do you have the money for a plane ticket?" Jessica asked.
"Not really." She shook her head.
"Well, no worries. You have time to ask your parents." The two girls went back into the kitchen. She and Monica just stared at each other.
"I'm sorry, Missy. Hey, as soon as the lease is up, I'll put your name back on it and you can move back up here." She said, walking over and hugging her. "I'm really going to miss you."
"Yeah. Me, too." Missy had always hated it when someone said, 'Me, too' after someone said, 'I'll miss you' or 'I love you'. It always felt like they didn't mean it. Or they were saying they loved or missed themselves, but it seemed to work in this situation, because she couldn't bring herself to say anything else.
"Do you want me to be with you when you call your parents?"
"No. I'm not going to call them yet. I'll call them tomorrow. Do you mind if I lay down in your room for a bit?"
"Of course not. Go ahead." She smiled softly at Monica as she pulled away and walked down the hall. Then shut the door before she kicked off her shoes and curled up on the bed. Missy stared at the wall and thought about Damon. He'd be proud of her right now. She didn't feel like smiling.
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