Page 57 of Puck Drop
“That doesn’t make you stupid,” she protests. “There are plenty of other jobs out there that would suit you.”
I bring my hands to my eyes, pressing the heels into my eyeballs, hoping to relieve some of the pressure there.
“You have some money to hold you over until that happens, right?” Mona asks.
“Yeah,” I sigh. “But I can’t rely on that. Everything is so expensive. I’m sure I’ll be out of money in no time if I don’t have anything coming in.” I let out a long puff of air. “Life is so damn expensive.”
Mona remains quiet, and I am grateful for it. It allows me to try and gather my thoughts. Apparently, she does the same, and when she talks again, she has ideas about what I should do next.
“Okay, hear me out,” she says. “I think you should take Logan up on his offer.”
I have to disagree with her on that one. “I don’t think that’s smart.”
“But why?” She sounds surprised. “You guys love each other, have great chemistry from what I understand… That’s very important, you know?”
I let out a little snort of laughter. “I do know. But wouldn’t me moving in with him just make my failure at adulting more obvious?”
“Ha,” she huffs. “So would you being evicted from your apartment for non-payment of rent.”
I throw my hands out in annoyance, and maybe just a little bit of amusement. The phone I have sitting on the couch next to me bounces to the floor. When I bend down to pick it up, I bang my head against the corner of the coffee table, causing me to let out a small cry of pain.
“Uh, what’s happening there?” Mona asks. “Should I call nine-one-one? Are you being attacked?”
“Only by my coffee table,” I snicker.
I stand up from the couch, making sure to take the phone with me. As I walk to the kitchen, I rub at the sore spot on my head. I open the freezer for some ice, surprised to see that is literally the only thing inside of it.
Ice forgotten, I slam the door to the freezer closed and turn on my heels to look around. I can see the entire apartment from where I’m standing. It makes me so sad.
“I hate living in a shoe box,” I cry to Mona. “This is nothing like I thought it was going to be. It all sounded so romantic when I was planning my move. But now that I’m here, I really hate it, Mona.”
My friend makes a few sympathetic noises while listening to my woes. “Aw, honey, it will be okay.”
“I don’t see how. I was so proud of my apartment when I first got it, but now it represents all my failures,” I tell her. “It’s a shoe box that I can’t even afford. How am I going to tell my father about this?”
Mona has heard enough. “Listen to me,” she snaps. “You have a man who loves you and wants to help you. Why would you want to crawl back to your father?”
I wipe at my face, unsure of how to respond to that. I have no idea what to think about anything anymore. I never thought of myself as stupid until this very moment. I rushed into things.Now that I have to pay the price for it, I am not willing to do so. Instead, I am ready to beg my father for help.
“Have your feelings for Logan changed?” Mona asks me in a much softer tone now.
The question gives me pause. “What do you mean?”
“You don’t love him anymore?” she clarifies her question. “Or not as much as you did before?”
“I love him more,” I cry out. “I hate that he had to see me like this.”
“But he did see you like that, and he still wanted you,” Mona points out. “He asked you to move in with him. He wants to help. Let him.”
I sigh while wondering what the best course of action would be. I don’t have a good track record as far as making decisions go. I’ve always followed my heart, and my last major decision left me unemployed.
A knock at the door prevents me from wallowing in self-pity some more. I am just about to ask Mona to hold for a second when she speaks first.
“I have to let you go, honey. Alex is calling me on the other line.” She hangs up before I have a chance to say anything back.
Whoever is at the door knocks again. For a brief second, I wonder if maybe Jennifer called my landlord and told them I was out of job and wouldn’t be able to pay for this place soon. Do they have to report it like that? I have no idea.
“Thank God it’s you,” I murmur when I open the door and come face to face with Logan. He has a duffel bag in one hand and another one with the logo of a restaurant on it in the other.
