Page 2 of Now or Never

She had just pushed open the door when the sound of tires crunching along gravel pulled her attention to a small U-Haul truck coming up the driveway.

“Aunt Jae!” Ben called.

“Wait on the porch until she stops!” Chelsea said, dropping their bags just inside the door.

The truck came to a stop, and Jae hopped out, gracefully landing on her white sneakers. Her long, shiny, nearly black hair was fluttering in the breeze, just as soft and beautiful as the features of her face. She threw her arms open wide. “Benny! Chels!”

Chelsea and Ben both took off running toward Jae as if it had been a century since they’d seen her last. Not three days.

When they pulled apart, Jae took a step back and let out a low whistle. “This house, Chelsea. Oh my god! How do youownthis?”

Chelsea followed her line of sight, looking at the multiple balconies, the fancy tiled roof that desperately needed work, and the rickety windows. “The better question is ‘How do you afford it?’” Chelsea said, hoping this would segue to the gigantic issue hanging over her head.

Jae rubbed her upper arm and gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m guessing you haven’t had luck getting us more roommates?”

“Unfortunately, no. I listed it everywhere, too.”

“And the location scout sites?”

“Crickets.”

Jae lifted a carefree shoulder and quirked the corner of her mouth in a move that Chelsea had seen hundreds, if notthousands, of times before. She also knew the words that would immediately follow.

“We’ll figure it out . . .”

Chelsea smiled and added the usual, “. . . eventually.”

A flood of memories followed: their first time directing a short film for class when everything that could go wrong did go wrong; the time they came home from class and found out that Jae’s father, who’d been so proud of his daughter, had died suddenly and she needed to go back to South Korea for the funeral. Or the time they were sitting on the side of the tub, hand in hand, surrounded by the smell of vomit as two pink lines began to form.

They always moved forward, together. And they always had their shared goals that acted as a light at the end of whatever dark tunnel they were walking through.

But Chelsea was sick to death of walking through dark tunnels. She needed stability, and that meant letting go and allowing her balloon house to fall off the edge of a cliff so she could save the weird bird, a.k.a. Ben.

“Jae, there’s something—”

“Here,” Jae said, not hearing her whisper. She passed Chelsea a brown box from the U-Haul truck. “There aren’t many. And I’ve got some light ones that Ben can take.” She looked up and scanned the driveway. “Where did he go, anyway?”

Chelsea sighed. “Probably ran up to his room to get his helmet. I bought him a bike.”

Jae’s perfect dark eyebrows rose from their usually low position over her striking dark eyes. “Bike? As in, two wheels?”

Chelsea nodded.

“Training wheels?”

“Nope.”

“Oh God,” she said, shoulders slumping and eyes quickly scanning the dozen boxes in the truck. “Let’s unpack the boozefirst. If I have to watch your kid fall and cry, I’m gonna need a drink.”

Chelsea smiled slightly, but it dropped. “I have a feeling you’re going to be needing a lot of drinks tonight.”

Jae gave a funny look but shook it off. “Your sister’s coming tonight, right? Natalie?”

Chelsea nodded. “Yeah. She’s excited to meet you finally.”

Jae stopped, narrowed her eyes. “What’s up with you? Why are you sighing so much? Is it Natalie?”

“No,” Chelsea said quickly, then sank her teeth into her lower lip and glanced up at her best friend.

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