Relinquish(6)

“No,” I answer hesitantly. I crawl over her, seeing my suitcase unzipped and my things spilled from it.

“No. No. No,” I whisper, shuffling through the clothes to find the envelope that contained my cash gone.

“What?” Jayden asks, looking from my bag to me.

“My money is gone,” I grit with disbelief. I look around the seat as if it had fallen out, but I know as well as anyone that someone stole it. How could I be so stupid to just leave it unattended?

“Shit,” Jayden whispers angrily. “Did you see anyone over here?” Jayden hollers to the front of the bus at the driver. The man runs his hand over his bald head and shrugs before looking out the front of the windshield.

“What are we going to do?” My voice cracks with emotion. “Shit!”

Jayden shoves her hand down her shirt and pulls out a wad of cash.

“I always keep my money close. We’ll use mine to find a place.” She shrugs, stuffing it back in her bra.

“I worked so hard. Not only did I save that money, but I also kept it hidden from bratty little shits who lived with us, only to have it stolen in a matter of minutes,” I mutter under my breath, running my hands through my hair in distress. “How much do you have?” I look at her with weary eyes, nervous at the number she’s going to say.

“About seven hundred.” She shrugs.

I close my eyes, my bottom lip trembling. Fuck!

“How are we going to live? That money was…” I pause, emotional. “Our everything,” I cry.

“We can find something for seven hundred, even if it’s a shitty hotel for a couple nights,” Jayden suggests, reaching over and giving my arm a reassuring squeeze.

Tears fall from my eyes as I glance over at Jayden. We have to figure out a way, have to stay strong and keep moving forward, because going backwards is not an option. I worked too hard to get here to turn back now. Most importantly, I need to stay strong for Jayden. If she sees how f*cked we could possibly be, she may panic. And having us both panic will only detour us from finding a solution. I straighten my back and wipe my tear-stained cheeks.

“We’ll just have to find jobs quickly,” I reassure.

“Right,” Jayden agrees, a big smile etched across her face. I nod, taking a big breath to calm my racing heart.

We travel down sidewalk after sidewalk, the blistering heat causing a stream of steady sweat to cascade down my back and between my breasts. And don’t get me started on the swamp ass I got going on downstairs. We pass casinos, little stores, and some streets even have men with hot dog carts. Even with the unbearable heat, the smell of the hot dogs makes me want to throw myself over the cart and scarf as many as I can into my mouth. It wouldn’t be pretty, but I’m not one for class.

“Charlie, what’s the plan?” Jayden yells out, her voice giving away how exhausted she is.

“I need to get a newspaper,” I explain, looking every which way for one of those machines that holds them. Do they even make those anymore?

“So just go into a store and buy one,” she complains. Jayden hands me a few bills from her bra and purses her lips. The heat is making us irritated. Hopefully, we find something soon. I side-step off the sidewalk into a little dumpy convenience store that doesn’t have air conditioning. I grab a water and newspaper then meet Jayden outside.

“Here, see if you can find something.” I hand her the paper while I chug the cool water down. I literally moan from the cold spring liquid splashing down my dry throat.

“Ah-hah!” Jayden exclaims, poking the newspaper. “I found a place that’s only charging six hundred a month. Hopefully it’s still available.”

“Is there anything cheaper?” My eyebrows rise. That amount’s high considering we still need food and furniture.

“That’s the cheapest by a landslide, and it says partially furnished.” She scrunches her nose, eyeing the paper.

“All right, let’s do it then.” What other choice do we have?

“I’m going inside to pee and ask the store clerk where this address is. Then we can go,” Jayden explains, folding the paper and handing it to me.

I lean against the hot brick making up the small convenience store, watching the sun dissipate behind the large buildings. Their vibrant lights flicker on to light the way for the life that stalks through the night.

“Let’s go. We head this way.” Jayden points to the left, away from the lights and down some back alley.

“This looks promising,” I sneer, following Jayden with my suitcase trailing behind me.

Eight blocks later, I start finding more and more people walking by with college logos on their shirt.

“We must be close,” Jayden pants, out of breath. “The clerk said it is near the college.”

“This bag is getting heavier, I swear!” I complain, shuffling it from hand to hand.

“I think this is the last block, right across this street,” Jayden replies, pointing toward some rundown buildings. Between us and the buildings sits a little café. It’s small and painted white, the roof flat. It’s cute, but it’s like the stepping stone into the ghetto. On this side of the café, the blocks are made up of little businesses and stores that eventually lead off to the heart of Vegas. The other side, which Jayden is pointing to, has grimy rundown buildings with graffiti sprayed on the sides.