In addition to Mondays, when the restaurant was closed, Wednesday was Mia's dedicated day off. She looked forward to sleeping in, even the rare November sun peeking in her apartment's one east-facing window not encouraging enough to get out of bed.
But, her phone buzzed. Once, and then again.
Mia groaned and rolled toward it, squinting at the text message from a phone number without a corresponding contact.
Its Jonah
RU free 2 get ur stuff today
Upon reading, Mia threw the phone from her as if it burned. Fucker, she contemplated responding. RU free 2 go die in a hole. She drafted a few more snarky texts in her mind but finally settled on typing back:
I can be there in an hour.
If she could get the cat back, it'd be worth it.
*
When Mia arrived at Jonah's apartment – hers, too, until recently – she was met immediately by the cat, Leviticus, the fluffy tortoiseshell twining around her ankles and purring.
"Hi, buddy," she whispered, thrilled to see that the normally cantankerous animal remembered her. Two hands interfered with her view of the cat; Jonah's. He wrenched Leviticus away from her, holding the cat to him.
"Your stuff is over there," he pointed, refusing to meet Mia's eyes. She noted the three large boxes, still labelled with her handwriting from when they'd first moved in, together: Kitchen Stuff. Books. Pics and mementos. There were also two huge laundry bags, stuffed with her clothing.
"What about Leviticus?" She tried affecting coolness, like she didn't care one way or the other.
"He stays." Jonah's face was screwed up into a twisted and miserable expression, and, while she was devastated she'd be leaving without the cat, Mia was pleasantly surprised to find within herself that any feelings she'd had left for Jonah were gone; that she truly was better off.
The discovery soon wore off, with the three boxes much too heavy to carry without a dolly or wagon, not to mention the massive bags slung over each shoulder. Mia felt utterly humiliated, shuffling along the street to the subway - a taxi was out of the question; it'd cost a fortune - stopping every couple of yards to rest her arms, wondering how she'd get down to the subway platform, let alone onto the train itself. It was on one such stop that she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and half-expected Jonah to lob some other complaint or insult her way, but the name John Marston appeared on her screen instead.
What are you doing today?
Mia shed herself of the bags and staged them in front of the miniature tower of boxes, and snapped a photo, captioning it;
Moving day.
She turned the camera on herself and took another picture, sweaty and unkempt despite the cold.
Mover I hired is trash.
Mia saw the evidence of John forming a reply, dancing dots appearing and then receding, until finally:
Where's that, Elm and Vine?
Mia noticed the street signs in the background of her selfie and started typing aren't we perceptive, when John sent another text:
YOU ARE READING
The Night Shift: A Red Dead Redemption 2 AU
Fanfiction[ Arthur Morgan x OC ] Mia North needed a job. Kicked out of the apartment she shared with her (now ex) boyfriend with nothing but the clothes on her back, she'd found a new one for half the size and twice the rent. When she applies for a nighttime...
