• Tomorrow Will Be Different • {J.C} (P.1)

• Chapter Eighteen •

        Erin's eyes closed; her body slumped in defeat the moment she stepped outside the apartment—it was raining.

It was bucketing down—cars passing over large puddles that looked like mini ponds against the sidewalk. The gray overcast of the city made the brake lights of the passing cars seem bright.

        Erin sighed, going back inside to search for an umbrella. She didn't have one—nor had she ever owned one—not since living on her own. Surely to god Al had one somewhere; most likely in the hall closet.

        She cussed under her breath as she dug through the mess of jackets and blazers. Someone—Julian—had been tossing them in there, not even bothering to hang them on the empty hangers lining the metal rod overhead. There were cardboard boxes filled with shoes, golf clubs, sports equipment, random tools they never used—but no umbrella.

        Erin's eyes began to flood with emotion. She wasn't sure what had come over her, but her hands had begun to tremble and her face was growing hot—she was about to have a nervous breakdown.

       It was pouring rain, there was no umbrella, her car wouldn't start, Al wasn't home, she was leaving next month, and she felt unwelcome at every turn. She had been bottling it up inside, pretending that everything was just fine—it wasn't—things were far from fine.

Now she had to walk six blocks in the pouring rain. She hoped her hooded sweatshirt wasn't one of the many clothes Michael had so spitefully destroyed back at the apartment.

       Erin sobbed quietly—feebly whimpering in overwhelming disparity as she slung clothes out of her bag. It was difficult to see through the blur of tears in her eyes, causing her to angrily burrow the heels of her palms into them.

She was losing it—Erin was slipping into full-on crisis mode, getting ready for an emotional collapse.

       "You weak fucking baby—you deserve this—you fucking deserve this." Erin chastised under her breath, moving onto the second bag of clothes. "Useless, worthless, piece of-"

      "What's goin on?" Julian's voice prompted Erin to stop moving.

She inhaled deeply—dying a little inside from utter embarrassment as she quickly wiped her face. She cleared her throat, blinking her remaining tears away as she went back to searching for something she knew no longer existed.

Erin didn't turn around, she kept her eyes to the bag before her, sitting up on her knees while digging through her luggage.

       "Nothing." Erin spoke with her back to him.

"You alright?"

"I'm great, thanks for asking."

       "Anything I can help you with?"

Erin stopped—she started to tell him that getting lost would help, but couldn't find the strength. She knew the moment she did, the floodgates would open again.

"No, but thank you."

"What are you lookin for?" Jules stepped into the room—she could hear his footsteps coming up behind her. The last thing she needed right now was for Julian to see she had been crying.

"I was looking for an umbrella, but-"

"Unless you're Mary Poppins, I don't think you're gonna find one in there." Julian teased.

        Erin rolled her eyes at Julian's lame attempt at a joke. "No, I was trying to find a hoodie—something with a hood."

"What for?"