Page 37 of Rim Shot Rebound

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Ten

 

 

Kelsey zipped her duffel bag and lifted it from the bed. Despite her panic over how to take everything with her, she’d decided to pack light. She wouldn’t want to carry around a bunch of stuff later when she was hobbling around with a full belly.

If that’s how this all played out.

If necessary, she could buy bigger clothes at a secondhand store later. No point in taking more than this. If not, she’d be back in a few weeks.

A few weeks. Might as well be a lifetime. She had Natalie to watch her place until she decided how long she’d be gone, but either way she’d have to find another job. She loved working at the record store, but she knew better than to get attached, especially not to a job.

The band would find someone else for the festival. And, like Lauren had replaced Camille, that someone would probably stick around to replace Kelsey permanently. She would lose her job, her music, her friends…the only real family she’d ever known.

But she’d made her decision. No point dwelling on what she was losing. She’d learned long ago how to cut her losses. And when to do it.

She dropped the bag in the living room, then knelt beside the terrarium to view Michelangelo at eye level. “I’m going to be gone for a little while. Natalie and Cadence will come and take care of you, so don’t worry about that. You like Cadence. She’s sweet and quiet, and she thinks you’re the coolest little dude. Well, next to that kitten her mom’s boyfriend has.” Kelsey blinked back tears. “My point is, don’t make a big mess for them, okay? I’ll be back as soon as I can. I promise.”

She just couldn’t promise how long that would be. Everything was still so uncertain. All she was certain of was that she couldn’t stick around. Not when she was more attached to someone than they were to her.

And it was what was best for the band. She was the weak link right now, the agent of chaos that could bring the whole group down, and she couldn’t live with that.

Kelsey picked up her bag again and took one last look around her apartment. It wasn’t much, but it was hers. She’d had to grow up so fast and had been on her own for so long. This was the first place that had been strictly hers. No foster family. No random relatives. No roommate. All hers. She would miss it almost as much as she would miss Michelangelo.

She made it all the way to the front door, where she’d left a garbage bag to take to the dumpster on her way out, before she started crying. She slid to the floor beside the garbage, her bag of clothes on the other side of her, the strap still in her hand.

For the first time in her life, she didn’t want to leave. She just didn’t know how to stay.

A knock on the door startled her, and she choked back a sob. If she was quiet enough, maybe he’d go away.

“Kelsey.” Another knock. “Kel, I’m not leaving until I talk to you.” His voice was strained and even lower through the heavy door, and it carried with it a weight and pain that she hadn’t heard in so long. A weight and pain she’d wished she never had to hear again.

She held her breath to keep quiet. She held it as long as she could, but eventually she had to exhale. Another loud sob fell out.

“Kel, I can hear you.” His voice was softer now, less insistent. “I’m going to use my key. I just want to know that you’re okay.”

A moment later, his key rattled in the lock, and the door slowly opened. Eric poked his head in tentatively. His pale purple shirt collar was flipped awkwardly, and he wasn’t wearing a hat. When he looked down and saw Kelsey sitting on the floor, he closed the door and slid to the linoleum beside her.

“Let me guess,” she said through sniffles. “Robin snitched.” She should have known better. Although, out of any of them, she’d thought she could trust Robin not to break a promise.

“Not exactly.” He placed his keys on the floor, then pulled his long legs up and hugged his knees. “I was worried about you. You wouldn’t answer my calls.”

Kelsey gripped her bag strap tighter. “I need to do this.” Her voice was shaky as she tried to convince herself more than Eric.

“I’m not here to stop you. I’m just here to talk.”

“To talk me out of leaving?”

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