Chapter Five: Picking Up the Pieces
1320 Words
Eliana’s POV
The apartment door clicked open.
My fingers tightened around the crumpled sticky note.
Don’t come back.
I looked up.
It wasn’t Jeremy.
It was her.
The redhead.
She stepped out wearing nothing but a tiny satin nightdress that barely covered anything. Her fiery hair fell loosely over her shoulders, and she held a black trash bag in one hand.
She froze when she saw me.
For just a second.
Then a slow smile spread across her face.
“Well…” she said, her eyes drifting over the garbage bags scattered across the sidewalk. “What a coincidence.”
She lifted the trash bag in her hand.
“I came out to throw away some trash…”
Her gaze returned to me.
“…and I found even more waiting outside.”
A laugh escaped her lips.
Behind me, Dee muttered, “Bitch.”
I ignored her.
I refused to let Ava see how badly her words hurt.
She walked toward the dumpster, tossing the bag inside before dusting off her hands dramatically.
“You know,” she mused, “Jeremy told me you were emotional.”
She tilted her head.
“But I didn’t realize you’d actually come back for garbage.”
Before I could answer, another voice came from inside.
“Ava baby?”
Jeremy.
My heart betrayed me.
It still skipped.
Still remembered.
Still hurt.
He appeared in the doorway wearing nothing but a pair of black boxers, his hair messy from sleep.
For one brief moment…
His eyes widened.
A flicker of guilt crossed his face.
Then it disappeared.
Just like that.
Replaced by indifference.
“What are you doing here?” he asked flatly.
I stared at him.
“You threw all my things onto the street.”
“I told you not to come back.”
“You left them out like they are garbage.”
“I packed your things.”
His voice remained calm.
“I didn’t throw away anything valuable.”
I laughed.
A broken laugh.
“My mother’s blanket wasn’t valuable?”
“My books?”
“My clothes?”
“They’re just things.”
“They were my things.”
He sighed impatiently.
“Eliana, stop making a scene.”
Dee stepped forward.
“A scene?” she snapped.
“You cheat on her, humiliate her, throw her belongings onto the street, and she’s the one making a scene, really?”
Jeremy looked at her with annoyance.
“This is between me and Eliana.”
“No,” Dee shot back.
“It stopped being just between you two the moment you decided to treat her like trash.”
Ava folded her arms with a smug smile.
“Oh please.”
“You act like Jeremy owes her something.”
“He does,” I said quietly.
The words surprised even me.
Jeremy frowned.
“I don’t owe you anything.”
I looked him straight in the eyes.
“No?”
“For five years I paid half the rent.”
Silence.
“I covered bills when you couldn’t.”
His jaw tightened.
“I believed in you when nobody else did.”
Ava rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Oh my God, are you seriously keeping score?”
I ignored her.
“I defended you to my parents.”
“I stayed when everyone told me to leave.”
“I put my own dreams on hold because I believed in ours.”
My voice cracked.
“And this…”
I gestured toward the broken picture frame lying at my feet.
“…this is how you repay me?”
Jeremy’s face remained unreadable.
“You chose to do those things.”
The words hit harder than the slap I never received.
“I never asked you to.”
My entire body went numb.
Five years.
Reduced to one sentence.
“You chose to.”
Ava slipped her arm around Jeremy’s waist possessively.
“Honestly, Eliana, I think you should thank me.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“If I hadn’t come along, you’d probably still be wasting your life on a man who clearly outgrew you.”
Dee let out a sharp laugh.
“Outgrew her?”
She looked Jeremy up and down.
“The only thing he upgraded was his bank account.”
Ava’s smile widened.
“Speaking of that…”
She looked proudly at Jeremy.
“Daddy officially offered him the position this morning.”
She looked back at me.
“Senior Strategy Manager.”
“He starts on Monday.”
My stomach dropped.
Jeremy noticed.
A satisfied smile tugged at his lips.
“Things have a way of working out.”
“Funny,” Dee said.
“Considering six months ago you couldn’t even pay your share of the electricity bill.”
His smile disappeared.
Ava’s eyes narrowed.
“That was before he met me.”
“No,” Dee corrected.
“That was before your father handed him a career.”
The atmosphere turned icy.
Jeremy’s expression hardened.
“I think it’s time you left.”
“I was already leaving.”
I bent down and picked up the first garbage bag.
Then another.
Dee immediately grabbed two more boxes.
Without another word, we carried everything toward her car.
Just before I opened the passenger door, I looked back one last time.
Jeremy was already walking inside.
Ava wrapped herself around his arm, laughing at something he’d said.
Neither of them looked back.
Neither of them cared.
Good.
Because after today…
Neither would I.
Or at least…
That’s what I wanted to believe.
*****
The moment Dee unlocked her apartment, every ounce of strength I’d been holding onto vanished.
The boxes slipped from my hands and landed heavily on the floor.
I barely noticed.
I stumbled toward the couch and collapsed onto it.
The tears came before I could stop them.
Dee quietly shut the door before sitting beside me.
“I thought I was getting stronger,” I whispered between shaky breaths.
“You are.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“If I was, seeing them together wouldn’t hurt this much.”
“It hurts because you loved him.”
“I still do.”
The confession left me feeling sick.
“I hate that I still do.”
Dee wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
“You don’t miss who he is.”
She gently brushed my hair away from my face.
“You miss who you thought he was.”
I buried my face in my hands.
“I gave him everything.”
“I know.”
“And he looked at me today like I meant nothing.”
“You meant everything.”
“Just not to the right person.”
A heavy silence settled over the room.
Then Dee’s phone rang.
She glanced at the screen.
“I need to take this.”
She walked toward the balcony, speaking in a hushed voice.
I couldn’t hear the conversation.
Only fragments.
“…Yes…”
“…she’s here…”
“…I don’t know if she’s ready…”
“…tomorrow?”
“…I’ll ask her.”
A few minutes later, she walked back inside.
She looked…
Different.
Nervous somehow.
I frowned.
“What?”
She opened her mouth.
Closed it again.
Then sat across from me.
“El…”
“What is it?”
She took a deep breath.
“I need you to promise me something.”
I sighed.
“That depends.”
“Just hear me out before you say no.”
My eyebrows knitted together.
“You’re scaring me.”
“I know.”
She hesitated one last time.
Then finally said,
“I think I know a way for you to get your life back…”
She paused.
“…and make Jeremy regret ever letting you go.”
My tears stopped.
Confusion replaced the heartbreak in my eyes.
“What are you talking about?”
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