𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐲 | roger taylor

IX

 It was the next morning.

The night before, I had stumbled into my flat around three a.m., falling asleep as soon as I wiggled out of my dress and my head hit the pillow. The rest of the party had been rather uneventful- for me, at least- after Roger had run off with that girl. I hated to admit it, but he kept things interesting.

The sun had begun to seep into my bedroom by eight, acting as a natural alarm clock to wake me from my slumber. As I stood on my bare legs, my headache began to pound, and I nearly fell back from the pain of it. I always seemed to forget the downsides to drinking- the hangover.

I stood in a cold shower for a few minutes, letting it brighten up my senses, feeling more awake as I exited and wrapped a towel around my body. Once I was dry, I simply put on a fluffy robe and padded into the kitchen for tea.

I barely had time to put the kettle on the stove before a hesitant knock sounded on my door. This always seemed to happen to me, especially on mornings where I was nursing a hangover. If it's my mother, I'm throwing myself out the window.

It wasn't my mother. The face behind the door was a much less menacing one. It was my landlady, Mary Jane, looking uneasy and a bit pale. She was a tall, towering woman, with a inky black hair chopped right at her shoulders, and skin white as chalk. She always wore a bold red lip paired with electric blue eyeshadow, but today her face was blank. She seemed to be fighting some internal conflict as she stood, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Hi," I greeted her, flashing the most pleasant smile I could muster.

"Hi, Ms. Rhodes," the woman sputtered. "Do you mind if I come inside for a bit? Just for a chat?" She gave me a once over with those beady, bird eyes of hers.

I blinked, only hesitating briefly before welcoming her inside. "I'm making tea if you want any," I offered, scanning my flat to make sure it was presentable. Mary Jane and I had always been on good terms, if not friends. I racked my brain for an answer on why she'd want to speak with me, but I couldn't think of anything.

"No, no, that's alright. How about we sit, though? I don't know quite how to say this." She refused to meet my eyes.

Swallowing, I gestured for her to sit at the kitchen table, taking a seat myself. "Is there something wrong?" I asked, not bothering to hide the fear in my voice. Was she gonna kick me out? I had been a good tenant. I had no pets, I wasn't loud, my rent was always paid on time.

Mary Jane hesitated. "I got a call from your mother yesterday afternoon," she began, and I felt myself stop breathing. "She's putting the apartment up for lease. I-I'm not sure if you knew about this. I thought I should tell you just in case."

"What?"

Her eyes flicked to meet mine, once, before falling. "She didn't talk to you about this?"

"No, we-we haven't talked in about a week or so. This has to be a miscommunication."

"You should call her right away," Mary Jane suggested, with a slight frown. "But when I talked to her, she seemed pretty set on this."

"You're joking."

I searched her face for a sign of any sort- but it remained folded into a soft frown, only pity coating her dark irises. That's when I knew. This wasn't a joke. My mother was kicking me out of my apartment, for a reason unknown.

She continued to talk, but the meaning of her words didn't register. "I'm really sorry, Ms. Rhodes. If it were up to me, I'd let you stay. But, since the apartment is in your mother's name, she has the final word. You have until the end of the week to pack up. I'm so sorry..."

It was impossible to wrap my head around. But at the same time, this was so like her. Making huge decisions without involving me, not even thinking about how it might affect anybody besides herself. But no, this was done on purpose, by the one person who was supposed to love me the most in this world, and never had. Anger was the first and only emotion that coursed through me- it ran thick like blood through my veins. I let it overtake me.

Mary Jane cleared her throat, watching me warily, not knowing quite what to do. "I'm sorry," she repeated again. "She didn't give me any other information. You-you can always stay with me until you find another place."

"No, it's alright," I said quietly. Underneath the table, my fists were balling tightly, nails digging into the skin of my palms. "I'll call her. We'll sort this out."

"Let me know if you need anything at all," she told me eagerly, eyes full of sympathy I didn't want. "I'll see you." After a few minutes, she reluctantly left the apartment, the door clicking softly shut behind her. As soon as she was gone, I fled to the phone, harshly dialing my parents' house.

"Hello?"

Just the sound of the woman's voice brought my jaw down in a hard clench. "It's me," was all I could say. The anger turned my brain cloudy with a million violent thoughts.

"Oh." There was a deep sigh in my ear, as if I was the one inconveniencing her. "Hello, Thea."

I was trembling, positively shaking with the weight of the words I wanted to say. But I kept silent. She should be the one to speak first, after all.

"You quit school."

It came out as an accusation, laced with poison, as if I had done the worst thing possible.

"After all we've done for you. All the money we paid for your education, getting you that flat, and in return all you had to do was finish. And you didn't," my mother spat. She had surpassed disappointment- she was disgusted. "You quit."

The words withered and died in my throat. I grabbed for something to say. "And your answer to that is... kicking me out of my apartment? Putting me out on the street?"

"Don't be dramatic. Your father and I figured that if you can't finish school, you shouldn't be allowed the flat, either. The whole reason we're paying for it is so you can live near campus. What's the point if you're not even going anymore?"

"So I can have somewhere to live, maybe?"

"This was your choice. No school, no apartment, no trust fund. You knew that was the deal in the beginning-"

"You're my parents."

"And you're an adult. Those were privileges we were generous enough to give you."

The knots were working their way up my throat, reducing my airflow, making it hard to breathe. "I can't believe this," I whispered, sounding weak and small.

"You must have some sort of plan," she continued, voice sharp like a sting in my ear. "I mean, if you drop out, you have to have a back up plan. What did you think, Thea? We'd keep supporting you after this? When you completely-"

She continued to jabber on, yet my mind blocked out all meaning. Soon, the sound of her talking was much too painful to bear, and I set the phone gently into its cradle. Silence.

I had nowhere to go.

-

a/n

short chapter this time! there will be another longer one coming soon; this is more of a transitional chapter anyways... hope you don't mind! thank you for getting me to 4k reads! I'm blown away, and I'm so happy you're liking it! Thank you, thank you!

elizabeth