Page 121 of The Jerk in Apartment 1B

“I’ll see you later, Scott,” she says, going to the door.

“Trina, wait.” I walk up to her. “What’s going on with you and that guy?”

“Asher?”

My anger rises just hearing his name. “Yeah. Why was he here?”

“He took me to dinner.”

“Like on a date?”

She looks at me, a hint of anger in her eyes. “Why are you asking?”

“I just wondered. I didn’t think you talked to him anymore.”

“Okay, well, I’m gonna go.” She opens the door.

“Are you seeing him again?”

“You shouldn’t be asking me that. You’re my landlord, and my neighbor. That’s it, right? That’s all you want to be.”

She’s giving me a chance to change my mind about us, but why? Why now? Is she trying to decide if she should go back to her ex? Am I part of that decision? Would she turn him down if I said I wanted her back?

“Just tell me,” I say, frustrated she’s not giving me an answer. “Are you back with him or not?”

“No,” she says, then she storms down the hall to her apartment.

I let out a sigh of relief. I’d convinced myself she’d gotten back together with him, but fortunately I was wrong. So then why was he here? Maybe they needed closure. Maybe last night was a goodbye, an official end to their relationship.

As I’m cleaning up breakfast, I think about the conversation I just had with Trina. I’m disappointed she doesn’t want us being friends. I understand why she can’t. It’s hard for her to be around me and not have those feelings return. I’m struggling with that too. Seeing her just now, I had this overwhelming urge to take her in my arms and tell her how much I’ve missed her. But I didn’t, because I can’t. Having those feelings and not being able to express them is hard, but I’d rather deal with it than not see her at all.

Someone knocks on my door. Three times. Really hard.

I walk to the door and open it. Trina’s standing there, her hands on her hips.

“Hey.” I smile at her.

She doesn’t smile back. She looks angry, like she wants to slap me.

“Why’d you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Why’d you yell at me in the storage room that day? Were you trying to get me to end things between us so you wouldn’t have to?”

“Trina, no. I—” I stop myself, not wanting to tell her what happened.

“You what? What were you going to say?”

“Nothing. I just wasn’t myself that day.”

“It was more than that. Something happened. Everything was great between us and then it’s like you just snapped.”

“I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. But it wasn’t about you. I just… I don’t know. I can’t explain it.”

“Then explain why everything fell apart after that. How did we go from having a perfect morning together to breaking up?”

“I thought that’s what you wanted. You said we needed to end it.”

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