Somewhere Else

Chapter 6

I loved sassy Jude. There wasn't a chance in hell the grin on my face would be wiped off any time soon.

I set about putting the rest of my things away, and when I finally pulled my laptop from my bag, I opened it up to check my email. I'd been shirking my adult responsibilities over the last few days being so wrapped up in my final hours with Jude that I hadn't checked it. Mistake.

"Shit!" Though I'd meant it to remain in my head, it came quite loudly out of my mouth and brought a concerned looking Lily to my bedroom.

"What's wrong?"

I slammed my laptop shut and banged my head against it.

"Uh-oh. Is this the breakdown? Elle, it's only two months, and—"

"It's not Jude." I picked my head up and swiveled in my desk chair to face her. "I forgot to submit my January payment for my student loans, so now, on top of the nearly $700 I already pay per month, I'm stuck with the fucking late fees. Looks like it's going to be ramen and nights in for this girl."

I probably should've been more careful about the money I saved in not paying rent while Rob had filled my spot at the flat, but I wanted to finally at least try to pay Jude back for all of the times he's paid for me. Now, whatever I had left was going back to the bank to pay down my loans.

"Ouch. Sorry, bud." She clapped a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I guess now is as good a time as ever to bring this up then, so, here goes: have you thought about what we're going to do when our housing stipend runs out?"

I couldn't stop the moan that came out of my mouth. "Sell my soul?"

"We could move into a smaller place outside the city."

"But I like this place and this location."

"I do too, but London is expensive."

"Very expensive," I said. I brought my eyes up to meet Lily's, but she seemed to be avoiding mine.

"When Jude comes back, maybe you can move back in with him." It came out barely above a whisper.

"And what will you do? I can't just leave you, Lil, you moved here for me."

She finally matched her gaze with mine. "I don't know. What if...what if I move back home? If Rob and I last, which, I hope we do, I guess I'd stay, but I didn't really see this move as something permanent. I don't think you did either."

I let her words melt into my brain. "But then I met Jude. And you met Rob. And we will both live happily ever after forever in London. And our kids will be best friends."

"You're getting about a decade ahead of yourself with the kids being best friends part. Best case scenario is that you move in with Jude, and, hopefully, Rob and I are still a thing and we move in together when this lease is up. Worst case scenario, I move back to the States. You'll obviously still be here in London because your relationship status isn't going anywhere."

"But I don't want a Lily-less London. I already have to suffer through two months of a Jude-less London, I can't do a whole lifetime free of my best friend."

"Okay, you know what? Let's stop talking in hypotheticals. As far as we're both concerned, we'll be in London until at least June, right? That would put us here for one year. We can reevaluate when we're being forced to either renew or end our lease."

"I love the Lily who pushes all of our problems under the rug."

"It's not a now problem. We have five months to figure it out. If you're feeling strapped for cash though, I can't really help in that department."