Page 114 of The Jerk in Apartment 1B

“Just down the hall, but it’s really small. We should go somewhere else.”

“I don’t mind if it’s small. Can I see it?”

As he follows me down the hall, I’m finding this whole thing really odd. I don’t hear from him for weeks, and then he just shows up here? I don’t get it.

“Here it is,” I say, going into my apartment. “Home sweet home.”

“You weren’t kidding.” He looks around. “You can barely move in here.”

I shrug. “I’m used to it now.”

“I see you got a mattress.”

“I didn’t buy it. Someone gave it to me. Same with the chair and the dresser.”

Saying that makes me think of Scott and when I first met him. It really bothered him that I was sleeping on the floor, and yet Asher, who claimed to love me, didn’t even care.

“That’s it for your kitchen?” Asher points to the microwave next to the tiny sink.

“Yeah. And over there is the bathroom.”

He walks over to it and peeks his head in. “Wow, that’s tiny. I don’t know if I’d even fit in there.”

“You would. You just have to get used to bumping into everything.”

He walks back to me, shaking his head. “Trina, I’m so sorry.”

“For what?” I ask, because there’s a lot he has to be sorry for, although I’m surprised he’d admit it. When we were together, he rarely apologized.

“For you having to live here.” He looks at me and holds both my hands. “This isn’t what I wanted. I never wanted you to be living this way and for us to be apart. I need you to know that.”

“Why are you telling me this? We’ve been broken up for over a month.”

“Which was enough time for me to realize how wrong I was back then. I was blaming you and our relationship for why I wasn’t succeeding at work, but I’ve realized it had nothing to do with that. It was the job. It wasn’t right for me.”

“Are you saying you quit?”

He nods. “A couple of weeks ago. I got a new job, but I haven’t started it yet.”

I can’t believe Asher quit his job. He was always bragging about working there because it was such a prestigious firm. It makes me wonder if he didn’t quit, but got fired.

“What’s the new job?”

“Same as I was doing before, just at a different company. It’s smaller, but they’re growing fast. The guy who hired me said I’ll move up the ranks much faster than if I were at a bigger place.”

“That’s great. You sound really excited about it.”

But I still don’t know why he’s here. Did he just want to tell me about his new job? Why would he think I’d care? We’re not together anymore. We’re not even friends.

“You remember Laurence?” he says. “The guy I interned for the summer between my junior and senior year?”

“He was your dad’s friend, right?”

“Yeah, they’ve been friends for years. They went to college together. Anyway, I was visiting my parents a few weeks ago and Laurence came over for dinner. I mentioned I’d quit my job and he gave me an offer. I didn’t even have to apply. He said I reallyimpressed him during my internship and that he’d love to have me join the company. The pay is the same and I’ll get more time off. Isn’t that great?” He’s beaming as he tells me this, his whole face lit up. I haven’t seen him this excited in years.

“It’s great, but isn’t their office in Connecticut?”

“Yeah, not far from my parents’ house.”

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