Unapologetically, Juliet

Chapter Thirty-Five

"BUT, Juliet, you can't leave. You're my favorite tenant." Howie had tears in his eyes and an expression on his face that tugged at my heartstrings in all the wrong places.

"Don't make faces like that, you're gonna make me cry." He ignored every word that left my mouth.

"Good! I can't... believe this!"

"I'll still watch all your movies, and I'll come visit whenever I possibly can," I promised, but Howie wasn't having any of it.

"You paid up for a couple more months..."

"I know. I didn't mean to spring this on you. Feel free to keep the rent money in exchange for leaving without much notice."

"Goddammit, Juliet." Howie crushed me with a tight, suffocating hug. "This really sucks."

"I know, I know. But things will work out, I swear." Truly, I had no way of knowing, but I had a good feeling he'd be just fine without me.

I had to reassure Howie for a few minutes longer, before I was finally able to show him out of my mostly packed apartment. King made everything difficult by claiming all the boxes as his own. He had to approve every item that went inside each one, otherwise I'd find it torn up or destroyed a little while later.

After Howie left, I spent the rest of the day packing my car full of stuff I planned on donating to The Rusty Thimble, my favorite thrift store in town. I was just about finished organizing everything, when someone knocked on the door. It was a quick, brusque knock that sounded awfully familiar.

When it didn't stop on its own after a few minutes, I reluctantly went over and opened the door, a lie on the tip of my tongue. "Oh, so you are home. Just wanted to make me wait out here and sweat. I guess that's fair."

She stormed passed me and into my apartment without even waiting for me to actually invite her. "Uhm... yeah, come on in, Maya..." I grumbled sarcastically.

"Oh. You're moving?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she stopped short and looked around at the mostly packed boxes, and my uncharacteristically empty walls. It was weird looking at it all, like I was closing a large chapter of my life. I tried not to think about it much.

"Yep. You won't have to see me ever again." I smirked, and her eyebrows furrowed even deeper.

"Oh. Great..." She didn't seem nearly as thrilled about it as I thought she would.

"What the hell are you doing here, Maya?" I folded my arms and stared at her pointedly, while King came over after he finished digging through the pots where I kept Ethel and Frank, my two favorite spider plants.

She looked offended, like I'd never been hostile to her before that. "I came by to see how you were doing. And to... well... apologize for the whole Thanksgiving thing."

"That was over two months ago. Why do you care now?"

"Well..." Maya's green eyes dimmed, and she looked a little more gaunt than usual, like she hadn't been eating much. "I thought maybe you could... uhm..." She abruptly turned around and started walking toward the door. "Sorry, never mind. This was a bad idea."

"Wait. Maya. What?" There were not a lot of things she'd give up her pride and come to me for. I at least wanted to know what it was.

Her shoulders slumped and she slowly turned to face me. Her eyes watered and she carefully pulled something out of her pocket that I recognized immediately. It was a little, deformed glass raven that I'd made for Chance when I finally convinced Mom to let me take a glass blowing class. He'd been in an Edgar Allen Poe phase, so I thought it'd be a good birthday present.