TODAY WAS THE DAY. LADY’S MOVE-IN. he had his doubts about them doing this, but in reality, there was no reason it wouldn’t work out. sure, they were still in a bit of a weird place after the last time he saw her. they never did really finish talking things out that night — they had cut the conversation short and ran back up to the apartment, then after that was pretty much all a blur. the reality was that he didn’t know which parts of that night’s conversation were real and which parts belonged to the dreams he had when he finally caught some sleep. it was as if the fear of what her loving him would mean had stopped him from believing that she had ever confessed to it at all . . . but things were going to be alright, he just knew it. the vagabond had left his bike at home for today and convinced tony to lend him his car, so that he could transport the remainder of lady’s belongings over to his apartment. the vintage cadillac that he adored so much gave him some confidence as he cruised to her aunt sarah’s house.
her voice on the other side of the line sounded chirpy and excited, which was a good sign. his phone had been on the dashboard the whole drive, as he found himself obsessing over making sure she had everything she needed and would be ready to go. “i’m just comin’ up to corona right now, alright pidge? five minutes away. i guess we can hang up now.” he chuckled lightly. she agreed, and he was about to hang up when suddenly their goodbyes were cut short by a few strange, muffled sounds. “lady? what’s goin’ on? you drop the phone or somethin’?” he waited for a response, only to hear more of the same thing. shouting... some kind of altercation. this wasn’t like the times si and am would snatch the phone from her and try to talk to him, this was different. he sat bewildered as he drove into the neighborhood, listening closely. that was when he heard it. sarah’s voice. then lady’s voice. then a hollow, rumbling crash. “pidge?!” he called out, stepping on the gas. he didn’t know what had happened, but he knew it was something bad. “hold on. i’m coming.”