Page 54 of Don't Leave Me

I nodded in agreement. Emily turned around and told the polite realtor, “I’ll take it!”

After several minutes of Emily filling out paperwork, we headed back out into the crowded SoHo street and Emily looked up at the sky, sighing to herself.

“I feel good about this. I’m gonna be a lot happier here,” she turned to me, her eyes almost hopeful.

I nodded, taking her hand and smiling. “I’ll make sure of it.”

14

Chapter 14

Emily and I headed back to my apartment where Billie was lounging on the couch with John when we walked in. John was still a little weird with me ever since he saw Michael emerge from my room, not really looking me in the eye or saying pretty much anything other than “hey” to me after that.

“Hey,” Billie said with surprise as she sat up. “Emily, you’re still here,” she glanced at me with confusion.

“Oh, yeah. Em is um…she’s moving to the city!” I announced excitedly, Emily already making herself at home and grabbing a beer from the fridge.

Billie widened her eyes, raising her brows as she stood up and crossed her arms, walking towards me as I leaned against the kitchen counter.

“Wow. What about UPenn?” she curiously asked Emily.

Emily shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m taking an indefinite break,” she answered.

“She found an apartment in SoHo; it’s really cute,” I explained, knowing that Billie was probably getting a little tired of Emily’s presence in our apartment.

I could tell Billie was feigning enthusiasm. “Great!” she smiled.

I turned to Emily and smiled. “We should go look online for the color schemes you were thinking of,” I suggested.

Emily’s eyes widened. “Yes!” she agreed, quickly walking into my room.

Billie watched and then turned back to me with her eyebrows raised. “When did she decide all of this?” she whispered inquisitively.

I shrugged. “She’s been thinking about it for a while,” I answered, although I wasn’t sure if that was the truth or not.

Billie looked worried. She knew that Emily and I together, all the time, could possibly lead to some trouble. But I wasn’t worried;we’re mature, responsible women now. Right?

“It’ll be fine. I promise,” I assured her, then glanced over her shoulder and noticed John eavesdropping in on our conversation.

Billie smile, probably unconvinced. “Okay,” she shrugged.

I turned to the fridge, grabbed a beer, and hurriedly went into my room before Billie could give me any look of disapproval.

As Emily lounged on my bed with my Macbook, I started to text Michael just like he asked, or rather told, me to: “I’m home. Em found a place in SoHo.”

He responded quickly: “Close to me. Maybe you should move with her ;)” Michael using emojis made me giggle a little bit. I texted back: “Too small. I’ve been sleeping next to you almost every night…that’s pretty close to you I’d say.” Another quick response came back from him: “I need you closer.”Hmmmm. Is he just saying he wants me closer to him right now or like…all the time?I looked up at Emily as I thought about a response. “Right now?” I finally texted back. My heart dropped as I read his response: “Now and always.”What the hell is he talking about? Now and always? Is he saying he wants me to move in with him?I texted him back as my eyebrows were furrowed: “Call me.” Only moments later, my phone began to buzz as he called me.

“Hey,” I answered, standing up and walking out to the little balcony I had outside my French door/windows.

“Hi,” he said, his voice soft.

I waited for him to explain what the hell he was talking about.

“Are you coming over?” he finally asked.

“Um, yeah…I can if you want me to,” I answered, freezing as I stared at the New York skyline in front of me.

“I want you to,” he replied, a smile in his tone. “Take a cab though. I don’t want you on the subway alone this time of night,” he went on, his usual stern voice now back in action.

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