Page 4 of One More Weekend

Shrugging, I looked around our place. We would be hard-pressed to find anything cheaper, especially in such an amazing location.

But I swallowed the nerves. “I’ll help you figure something out. Besides, you have a great resume, you’ll get something.”

Of course, I thought this was true. But the job market had gotten more competitive by the week, especially in Jenna’s field. And I wasn’t trying to get an office job, I was always able to find a gig doing something for someone.

Jenna bit her lip, avoiding my eyes as she looked at the place we’d called home for four years.

She was avoiding saying it. I could see it behind her eyes.

“What? You can tell me.” I soothed, letting my hand drift down from her shoulder to her arm.

Meeting my gaze, Jenna sighed. “What if this is a sign for me to leave?”

“Leave the industry?”

Jenna shook her head. “Leave New York. My parents have been begging me to come home for years. Maybe this is a sign.”

I felt my eyes bug out of my head, my entire body clenching at the thought.

That cannot happen.

3

SY

All I wantedto do was screamNO, to shut down the thought of leaving New York immediately. But I knew it would be wrong. Sure, we’d lived together for nearly three years, been friends even longer. Jenna had been by my side for everything. It was my job to walk her through this now just like she would do for me.

“It could be. Or it’s just a rough patch. But all of this just happened. Maybe we should, like, take a night to recover and revisit it in the morning?” I bit the inside of my cheek.

With a sigh, Jenna looked down to her lap. After a moment, her eyes moved up from her unmoving head to meet mine. “Can we do karaoke tonight? Pretty please?”

As soon as she made those eyes at me, I knew I was finished. I’d have to call out of work, which would certainly put me on my coworkers’ shitlist for at least a couple weeks. But how was I supposed to say no to such a simple request from my favorite person?

Nodding, I reached across the table and grabbed her forearm. “Of course we can.” I stood from the table and held outmy hands to help her up. “Do you want to go take a rest and get ready? I’ll finish dinner while you get dressed.”

Jenna placed her hands in mine, her soft skin meeting my rough, calloused hands. “Whatever you say, boss.”

She made her way across the apartment to her room, where a soft lamp had automatically flicked on when the sun set.

Before she fully closed her door to nap, Jenna turned to look back at me. “Thanks, Sy. I didn’t mean to crash your whole night.”

“You never need to thank me for that.” I raise my eyebrow.

Rolling her eyes, Jenna groaned. “Yeah, yeah. But I’m still going to.” The corners of her lips lifted in a sad smile before she closed her bedroom door.

The silence made my chest hurt, only the sizzling of the chicken on the stove bringing me out of my haze. I quickly shot a text to the group chat of my bar coworkers, asking for someone to cover me last minute.

After I checked on the food, I sat down on the couch. Even looking around the apartment, it felt impossible to imagine it without Jenna. We’d made a home here and I wasn’t sure it existed without her.

Not that I could afford it without her anyway.

As soon as my mind considered the logistics, my entire body started to tense up.

Her name was on the lease, odds were we’d… I’d… get kicked out of the rent-stabilized unit and forced into the crazy competitive market. And my credit score was shit.

My foot shook against the wood floors as I pulled out my phone, opening the ApartmentEasy app. I hadn’t needed the app since we’d left college and landed in our gorgeous Chinatown abode. But I couldn’t ever stop myself from scrolling through dream apartments on my days off.

Hovering over the search bar, my brain scrambled to figure out what I’d even be looking for. I could hardly afford the $900 a month here, let alone my own place. There was no way I could afford anything bigger than a studio.

---