The Girl is Mine • MJ Fanfic • COMPLETED

Forty-Nine: Tying Up Loose Ends

Three Weeks Later - June 1989

I made the random decision to take a trip to New York so that I could clean out my apartment. Once I finally came to a long awaited realization, I made the hard decision to terminate my lease. The apartment had basically become abandoned, with me spending more time in California than I did here. With the exception of last time, when Michael and I had that falling out, whenever I visited New York, I stayed at my parents' place.

With the apartment sitting in its loneliness and us shopping around for a place here, keeping it was beyond pointless. Although those were very compelling reasons, I had to admit I wasn't being honest with myself. Continuing to keep this apartment has been the one thing that has been holding me back from completely settling into my life with Michael.

New York has been home to me since the day I was born. It's the only place I've truly known and loved for 24 out of the 25 years of my life. My first everything pretty much happened here, this apartment included. It was a gift from my parents once I completed my sophomore year of college.

Looking around the spacious, teal living room, I began to absorb all of the many memories that filled this apartment over the years. Allowing my mind to mentally press play on my mental remote, I sat and basked in this moment of nostalgic bliss.

All of the good times well spent with Ashlyn, including our many sleepovers. It was without question that Ashlyn was my unspoken roommate. I'm still amazed that we were never roommates outside of the dorms, though it was honestly for the best. Especially with the whole Derrick debacle.

I thought about the times I've spent here with my siblings. All of the sibling weekends I excitedly put together for us so that our relationship never once faltered. The different breaks they had off from school where they were practically beating down my door to get over here. The thought of my time spent here with Christian and Camille was enough to have me erupt in a brief laughter, but also bring a wave of sadness.

And how could I forget the many parties and get togethers I had here during my junior and senior year? As I sat in complete silence in my lonesome, I found it ironic just how filled my apartment could get, and my place was far from small.

"We just got back to work, and your ass is already taking another break," Ashlyn spoke, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Well excuse me for being pregnant as hell," I playfully retorted, defending myself.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay girl. Come up with something else." She waved me off and I laughed. She had a cardboard box planted in the crook of her arm as it sat at her side, with her hand firmly securing it at the bottom. "Why do you look like that?" She asked as she took a seat beside me after sitting the half filled box down.

"Like what?" I asked, wrinkling my face.

"Like you're a second away from crying." She pointed out.

I allowed a momentary silence to fill the room, and the next thing I knew, I was sniffling. "Because I am," I cried. "I'm sorry, Ash. I'm just so emotional right now."

"Big surprise," she joked as she snickered. I desperately wanted to laugh, but couldn't. Instead, my ass was only crying. "Shit, I'm sorry, Ren. You know I was just playing."

"I know, girl. And you don't have to apologize." I assured. "I just didn't realize how hard this was gonna be," I said motioning to the stuff we had began packing up.

"I mean, we technically don't have to do shit. We can always get Christian and Camille to do our hard work," she suggested.

"No," I laughed and shook my head. "I meant actually saying goodbye to this apartment." I clarified as I sniffled.