Lovesick | JERRIE

4.

5 months earlier

"... it's the second month you haven't paid your rent. I'm really trying to be understanding but the times are hard not only for you..." Jade was nervously cracking her knuckles while listened to her landlord.

Perfectly. It was not enough she couldn't find a job but now getting kicked out of the apartment for not paying rent was the cherry on top of the cake.

"I will give you one or two days to find a new place and move your belongings, okay?" the woman was empathic at least.

"Yeah, thank you." Jade mumbled into the speaker.

"I will call you soon." she said before hanging up.

So what?

Jade felt numb. Laying on her back while her thoughts were racing. She projected life better than... this. When she graduated a few months ago, she expected to find a highly paid job because hello, this degree in university was not useless but... if she had to turn back she would admit it actually was.

At least Jade didn't have debts. Her tuition were fully covered and her parents helped enough. Yet this didn't solve the now main problem... Where would she live or stay for awhile?

She didn't have relatives in London, neither too close friends so she could ask them... except Leigh-Anne. Fuck, this was out of question. Leigh was an adult with her own life and problems, Jade couldn't bother her.

Returning to South Shields sounded better than sleeping on the streets, right? Jade hardly doubted it. Once she went back to the small city and that's it. Her determination to establish herself in London for a long time would be crushed and probably thrown in some dark corner of her mind.

Anyways, she started packing up her things. Which were not much. Just clothes and pile of books. Jade was so bounded with worry that she jumped scared when the doorbell rang.

"You forgot that you actually invited me over, don't you?" Leigh-Anne joked when met Jade's confused expression behind the opened door.

Of course, the brunette had forgotten. She was a terrible friend sometimes. Acting like her problems were the only thing that mattered.

"How are we feeling today?" Leigh asked but abruptly stopped in the middle when spotted the boxes. "Where are you going?" she turned to face Jade who somehow avoided the eye contact.

Jade didn't tell her best friend about the rent or any of the issues because this was basically a burden on the Jamaican shoulders.

"I'm moving out." Jade mumbled and went to turn the kettle on.

"That's cool, did you find a better place?" Leigh's pure happiness contrasted with Jade's ready-to-be-shot answer.

"I actually..." the brunette had suddenly lost her talkativeness.

"Jade, look at me." Leigh was good at reading people and her best friend didn't made an exception.

When the brown eyes timidly rose, she already knew there was something wrong happening.

"I'm all in ears." she indicated her correct assumption.

"It's... fuck, nothing. It's some minor inconvenience."

"Jade!"

"Okay, okay." the brunette surrendered; knowing Leigh won't give up any time soon. "I didn't pay my rent for two months and now the landlord is kicking me out... and..." she paused, pondering what to say so it wouldn't sound as if she was asking Leigh for help. "I'm going to be okay... once I find a job."