I'll Be Seeing You

Betrayal

Lydia's work and school schedule had picked up to the point where she was having difficulty managing both. She had somehow been roped into a work project that involved being out every night for a full week. She cursed herself for taking the job in the first place. It was supposed to be easy hours. She hadn't anticipated being asked to pull fourteen-hour days but she had no choice. They were letting her go to school. They didn't seem to care if she missed class because of after work events and she didn't know how to say that she only had so many allowed absences. It felt childish and ridiculous to explain to her boss that if she missed more than three classes a semester, she would receive an incomplete. For the past three weeks she had been helping out on a large project. Her team had been pulling all-nighters and she herself hadn't slept in three days. She was going, going and going so much so that at night she couldn't quiet her mind. She would try to close her eyes but like a wind-up toy, they would bolt open and remain that way until morning. She was too exhausted to trek home and she needed affection.

"Hey, I know this is super inconvenient but do you mind if I stay over tonight?" As an afterthought she added, "I can sleep on the couch!" She shook her head. Why did she even offer to sleep on the couch? Jamie was hers now. She should sleep in the bed with him. Why did she feel so insecure about assuming that?

His reply came immediately, catching Lydia off guard. She was so exhausted she could barely see straight. Had she read that correctly?

"Yep, hold on. Let me see if I can get you the spare key."

"Really—it's totally fine if you can't!!" She gagged at her desperate exclamation points. Who was she? She could have easily gone to home to her own bed but she wanted to be able to see him. She needed some form of connection. She waited for his response with zero patience as the minutes ticked by.

"Hey, okay. Yeah, of course you can. I left the key at the desk and you do not need to sleep on the couch. Take the bed. I'm going to be out, but I'll see you when I get home." She questioned where he was going out to and why he hadn't said the location. It seemed weird considering he normally texted an accurate location. 'Going out' felt vague and hard to grasp.

Lydia remember he had moved. "Um where am I going?"

She still hadn't been to Jamie's new place. It seemed odd since he had already been there a few months. She half expected it to be a total dump.

"Oh, shit sorry, here's the address"

She popped this info into uber and waited for her car to arrive. Half an hour later she looked up at the imposing doorman building in Williamsburg. Jamie moving to Brooklyn hadn't seemed like a big deal at the time it happened but the fact that her new journey involved either a bridge or a tunnel to get to him was mentally exhausting. She had gotten used to the fifteen-minute subway between hers and his old place. His new home took a lot more effort and she was already over it. She cursed her need to see him and longed for her own bed. But it was too late now. It was one am and she needed to be asleep ages ago.

She walked into the large lobby and looked around. The central desk branched off into multiple corridors and she wavered trying to figure out where to go.

"Can I help you?" A kind looking night doorman popped his head up from behind his computer screen at the desk. Lydia approached hesitantly. She was very aware that she must look like a mess. Her mascara had long ago given up and her hair was set up in a messy necessity bun at the top of her head. She was anything but put together

"Um yes. Jamie Chancellor? I don't know what apartment he is." The doorman looked her up and down before smiling like he was in on a secret.

"Ah yes, Ms. Barrows, 10B. He left you a key. Take the corridor to the left, go past the first bank and through the door to the second set of doors to the second set of elevators. 10th floor.