It was a Monday morning when Brooklyn heard a loud knock on her door. She groaned and got out of bed, walking to the door. She opened the door and saw the owner of the her building and hastily tightened her ponytail and tucked stray hairs behind her ears, trying to make herself at least a little bit presentable.
"Morning! How can I help you?" She asked with a smile on her face, only to be met with the narrow, cold eyes of her landlord. "Miss Adams, we have an issue with your rent. It hasn't been paid." He replied icily. Brooklyn's eyebrows raised at this. "My rent? I paid it last week. Did it not go through?" She queried. Her landlord chuckled at this. "Miss Adams, I'll give you two options: you either find a way of earning your rent in the space of 48 hours or you get the hell out of my building." He smirked at Brooklyn's panicked face. "But Sir! I don't get paid until the end of the month!" She replied. "Well there is one way you won't have to pay." He said while placing a hand on her waist and running it up and down her side.
Brooklyn's eyes widened and her face paled, 'Is he serious?! He's insane if he thinks I'm going to sleep with him for no rent!' She thought before deciding to play along. She wrapped one of her arms around his neck, leaning into his touch before kneeing him where it hurts, completely taking him by surprise. "You bitch! Get out of my building now. I want you out by tonight!" He screamed at her gritting his teeth. "Fine by me." She quickly replied, slamming the door in his face. Her pride was slowly demolished by her sudden dilemma: where was she going to live now?
She began packing her clothes and other belongings into boxes once more. Luckily for Brooklyn, she lived in a fully furnished apartment, so she didn't need to hire a van. Hours later, all her belongings were in boxes by the door, and Brooklyn began to get ready for rehearsal. 30 minutes later, she started brainstorming ideas for a new place to live. Jasmine and Anthony were the first names that popped into her head, but then decided against it considering that she would still see her landlord if she stayed with them. She had thought about asking Pippa, Lin or Renée, but they had family/ fiancés, so decided against that also. She could always call Daveed, but she didn't want to intrude in every aspect in his life just because they had a connection. 'It's worth a shot.' She thought while calling Daveed's number.
"Smalls! What can I do for you? Wait actually it's far too early for you to be up - is everything ok?" He questioned, concern laced in his voice. "Actually I need a favour; a big favour." She replied nervously "What do you need? And don't be nervous, you can always come to me." He said with a comforting tone. "Can you come pick me up and come up to my apartment ? I'll explain later. Oh and make sure you have space in your car." She said quickly. "Sure, I'll be there in 5." He replied, confused. "Thank you so much!! I owe you, ok bye!" She hung up, relieved that she might have found a resolution.
She quickly wrote a letter to Anthony and Jasmine explaining what had happened and that she didn't know for certain what was going to happen and slid it under their door. As she walked back inside her apartment, a blare came through the speaker on her buzzer: Daveed. Brooklyn allowed him in and a minute later he walked inside the apartment, instantly noticing that it was empty.
"Hey, what happened?" He asked as he pulled Brooklyn in for a hug, which she gladly accepted. "It's a long story, you might want to sit down." She replied before telling him everything. She told him about her financial issues, her sleazy landlord and that he kicked her out and her recent problem. Once she was finished, she noticed Daveed's hands were clenched in fists and the kind look in his eyes was replaced with a look of pure disgust. "Where is he?" He said venomously. "I don't know, but let's just leave it, please?" She answered calmly, wanting to forget about everything that happened. His facial expression softened when hearing her voice, and he took her hand in his, giving her a sad smile. "Ok, lets take these boxes to my car. Oh and smalls?" She looked up at him "You're staying with me." He finished with a smile on his face before he turned and walked out of the door.
