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Sure, maybe pay me this time.“No problem.”
“So, uh…”
Was he finally about to ask me out, or to have random next-door neighbor sex with him?
Because I’d turn him down. Definitely.
Probably.
“Can I get my key back?”
He’d asked me a total of fifteen times to watch his cat over the past two months. You’d think at this rate he’d just give me a key. Instead, I turned my back on him and dug into the drawer I kept my junk in.
“Here you go.” I handed it to him, and he just stood there, staring.
I had entertained the idea that he might ask me for a random hookup a million times since moving in, but he never had. Not once.
But now, he was glancing at me in a way that made me think it might finally happen, and he’d—
“So, um, I’m taking a trip next month, and I’ll be gone for like a week. You think you can feed him for me?”
Well, that went an entirely different direction. I didn’t know why I cared. I mean, in some strange way, I thought Darrow and I were friends. I had built up the image so much in my head that I had believed I wasn’t alone in the city, but he wasn’t my friend.
He wasn’t my anything. Well, he was my neighbor, but it wasn’t like I was asking him to kill roaches or lend me his cat to kill the rats in this fucking place.
Suddenly, with an overwhelming clarity, I realized I didn’t want to be here anymore.
I’d graduated three months ago, and since then I’ve worked as a bike messenger, in the mailroom of a law firm, and as a dishwasher. I could put practically nothing against my student loans, and I had no friends. None.
They had all left the city the second we graduated. Now I was here, and I had no idea why.
“Actually, I’m leaving,” I said numbly as my resolve firmed up.
Darrow’s head snapped up in surprise, his eyebrows arching. “Really? Where are you going?”
I never went anywhere, unless it was work, so his shock was warranted.
I turned away from him, thinking I might actually kind of miss his cat.
“Uh, home, actually.” I started for my bed, grabbing for the suitcase underneath it.
“Like right now?” He sounded like he was watching someone unravel, both pity and caution lacing his tone.
“Yeah… Well, no.” Not right now; I had to contact my landlord and quit my jobs. “In the next few days.”
“Oh.” He continued to stare at me. “Well, okay then. I guess I’ll see you around.”
I rolled my eyes. He wouldn’t see me around if I was moving, but whatever.
He walked away without so much as a goodbye. I strode over to my door, which he’d left open, slammed it shut, and continued to pack.
* * *
Two Weeks Later
A streakof lavender lit up the sky, ridding the world of darkness, and more importantly the stealth required to enter Macon undetected. Hurrying down the street, I pulled my suitcase, willing it to roll faster.
“Come on you piece of discount trash,” I grumbled as streaks of orange began to fill in the graying spots above my head. Soon, all the early busybodies in town would be out, getting their paper and starting their walking routines.
