𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝑒𝑑 | 𝐴 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑎 𝐹𝐹

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐹𝑖𝑣𝑒

Maria sat on her bed at home, typing away on her laptop. She was working on getting a college credit, but she was taking the classes online. Sighing when she heard the door open, she assumed it would be James, but to her pleasant surprise it was her friend, Theodosia, or Theo for short.

Smiling as she got up, she made her way over to her friend before hugging her gently.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were out of town."

"I came back early because my mother said she had something 'important' to tell me. Turns out she wanted to ask me if I had found my soulmate yet, so here I am because I came back early for basically no reason." Laughing at her best friends explanation, Maria walked back into her room so the two could sit down together.

"Well, while you're here, I don't suppose you'd like to help me with college work?"

"Ha! Good one 'Ria, but no thanks~" Theo responded, smiling at her friend before sitting down on the bed with her.

"Hm.. well I won't be able to get much done with you here, how about we go somewhere?" Maria looked at Theo, suddenly remembering the coffee shop.

"There's this new coffee place I've been going to, I think you'd like it." Smiling, Theo nodded and stood up.

"Lead the way then 'Ria."

——

Sighing as she got a call from her boss, Eliza grabbed her phone and headed into work. One of the people she worked with had called in sick, so now Eliza had to take over for him. She supposed it wasn't that bad, she would get paid extra for covering the shift, but she still wasn't keen on going.

Angelica dropped her off since it was faster than walking, and Eliza headed inside. Pulling her hair into a ponytail, she turn around when she heard the door open. Much to Eliza's surprise, it was Maria, and she had walked in with someone else.

The woman she was with was taller than Maria, and she had long hair. Maria's hair was down, and it was slightly curly, which Eliza thought looked amazing. She had on a pair of black ripped jeans, and a red t-shirt, along with a black jacket.

When Eliza realized she was staring again, she shook her head slightly to snap herself out of it. She took the orders of the two women, and just as she suspected, Maria ordered the same thing as she always did. The other woman ordered a medium iced coffee, and Eliza got to work making the drinks.

Giving them to the women, she watched as they sat down at a table in the corner and quickly started talking. Eliza texted with Peggy for a while, the two of them talking about random things before the younger of the pair had to go.

Sighing, Eliza accidentally overheard part of the conversation that the two women were having.

"So he's gone... for good?"

"Yes, he won't hurt you anymore 'Ria. He's in jail."

And that, left Eliza with so many different questions. Had Maria been hurt in some way? Was she ok now? She had heard the woman say that someone was in jail, so he had probably done something bad to Maria... and Eliza didn't like the thought of that.

She shook her head, wondering to herself why she was so concerned in the first place.