【Ｏｈ．】

CHAPTER 9

Stuart feared going back to his apartment, as he had planted into his head that Paula was just waiting for him. But it would be pretty unreasonable for her to do so. Murdoc tried to reason with him that she probably blew off steam at a club, and was already with someone else. It was a little hurtful to Stuart, as he realized that he was now single, and his status was going to be damaged, just like he thought at his house when Noodle was over.

"Forget about Paula, she's out of your life now. Period. Let's do things that you want to do, yeah?" Murdoc said to him when he was starting to give himself a small anxiety attack, constantly thinking about her. Stuart agreed hesitantly, starting to get out of the house more. He always had Murdoc with him, however, because he was scared to be alone. They went to bookstores, art museums, and even impulsively to a very loud, cigarette-smoke-filled club.

Each week they would leave the house to try a new thing, just once a week.

After the second week of Stuart staying at Murdoc's apartment, he finally felt that it was safe to go back to his own. Murdoc stayed with him during the full journey, in case Stuart's suspicions were ever right. Which they weren't, as they arrived and her car was gone. Stuart walked into his apartment cautiously, seeing that everything was the same, untouched. Paula didn't care about him enough to ruin things. Stuart let out a short hum at the realization, not sure if he felt hurt or relieved.

He had his house back. But Paula possibly still had his house key. Stuart looked behind him, where Murdoc was. "She still has my house key I bet." Murdoc shrugged. "Just get a new lock. New key." Stuart furrowed his brows in surprise. "You can do that?" Murdoc chuckled lightly. "Yes? Just talk to your landlord." Stuart looked at him with his mouth open, a little bit more stress and anxiety leaving his body. He definitely was going to do that soon.

He then slowly started to smile, as happiness and relief flowed through him again. He never had to expect Paula was over and had some random dude over. He never had to be surprised with her in his shower, his bed, or his house in general. He didn't have to be yelled at or manipulated just because Paula wasn't getting what she wanted. It was all over. It was going to be quiet.

Stuart went to his couch, sitting down. "I'm finally alone." He said mostly to himself, but Murdoc was leaning on the back of the couch beside him. "Yeah, you are." He tried not to sound like Stuart was leaving him out, but he still averted his gaze away from him. Stuart sat there for a moment, just looking around his apartment. He found a few pictures hanging up of him and Paula, to which he stood up and started taking them down.

Murdoc absolutely loved this action, and even started to cheer for him. Stuart laughed blushingly, putting all of the pictures, the little mug that she made for him, and other trinkets that reminded him of her in a pile. "So, are we going to smash them, burn them, or what?" Murdoc asked playfully. Stuart's brows twitched at the word we, as Murdoc didn't even have a relationship with her. But Stuart had been having Murdoc around him so much, that he probably assumed that he wanted Murdoc to do everything with him. But that wasn't the case, as all of this stuff was still very personal, even if it was attached to a horrible person. Stuart shrugged. "Not sure, but I think I'll deal with it later." Murdoc hummed in understanding, asking him if there was anything that he wanted to do, such as find other things that had Paula relations.

Stuart shook his head, as just the pile that he had gathered was making his head spin. He did find an empty cardboard box in his little storage closet, however, where he started to throw everything in. It was a lot better than he wouldn't be able to see it, and if he wanted to, he could just dump the entire box into the trash without having to look at everything being destroyed.

But seeing his somewhat cleaned-out apartment made him feel better, more refreshed. And he really did miss his home, so being back really felt good. And Murdoc could tell, which is why after a few hours of them hanging out, he didn't even offer Stuart back to his place. He just left him, as it was dark and he didn't really feel like sleeping over.