Throw Away the Key

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

“Em! Where you at?”?

“In here!” Emma sat on the beige carpeted floor in her bedroom taping boxes together as she hummed along to the Cowboy Carter album playing from the Bluetooth speaker on her nightstand next to her scent diffuser, which was currently filled with green tea and lemongrass essential oils. More than once, she’d lost the edge of the packaging tape and had to go picking at the roll with her fingernails. Over here fuckin’ up my gel manicure.

“What you doin’ in here?” Zora asked, leaning against the doorway in a pair of joggers and one of her boyfriend’s sweatshirts. Her curls were unkempt, as expected, given the level of sextasy Emma heard going on the night before. “Are you really packing?”

“Yeah, it's time for me to go. I've reached out to a few different buildings to schedule tours and have decided that I am actively looking for a place. I want to get out of your hair.” She finally got enough of a corner of the tape released to pull some across the folded seam of a freshly assembled box, snipping the excess and folding a corner of the packing tape before setting the roll down. “Your girl is all grown up now!” Emma flipped her boho braids behind her shoulder and started to assemble another box.

“But you're not a bother to us! Just because Reid is moving in here doesn't mean that you have to go anywhere. It's not like he's going to use your room.” Zora stepped further into the room and ran her fingers over some clothes folded on Emma’s unmade bed, a lacy pink bra flung over the corner of her teal upholstered headboard. The floor was the only neutral color in the room–the space was filled with bright colors, gold accents, and cherry blossom string lights. “Don’t get me wrong–my man, my man, my man,” she gushed, “but no one replaces you.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “As if anyone could ever!” she tsked. “But you gotta remember, you are just one door away from me. I know you love your man. I just want to be able to give you your privacy because, uh–and I don't want to embarrass you–but you're not exactly the quietest when you two are having your loving moments ,” Emma grinned at Zora with a wink. Quiet they were not–Emma was pretty sure one of the neighbors stood out on the porch for the grand finale of that second round.

Zora's face colored. “I mean, I could be quieter,” she stammered, breaking eye contact.

“Yeah, but who wants to worry about volume when you're in the middle of clappin’ cheeks? I want you to be able to enjoy yourself–I want you to shout when you need to! Seriously, sis, if he's not making you scream like that, he's not doing it right. So trust me when I say it's perfectly fine. Hell, get some for me too,” Emma smiled to herself as she stood and handed an empty box to Zora. She placed flat boxes against the foot of the bed. “You might as well make yourself useful, if you’re gonna be in here.”

“But is this how you're going to spend your Saturday night? You're not going out tonight?” Zora scratched her scalp, smoothing her hands over her hair as she felt its dissheveled state. “You coulda told me I looked like a damn cockatoo.”

Emma smirked. “I needed to imprint this vision on my brain first. And, no, I don't have anything lined up.”

“What happened to that one who you usually went out with on Saturdays for movies and whatever else? Mr. Film Buff…”

“Yeah, I kind of got rid of everybody. I got tired of them. Sort of a social entanglements cleanse.” She stepped into her closet and brought out an armful of clothes still on their hangers, making a pile in front of Zora before she moved over to her lime green bookcase to fill another box. She set another empty box on top of her matching green desk, which she’d carefully painted herself in Zora’s backyard. The wall was covered in Black girl magic–colorful paintings and prints of Black women adorned with flowers, dancing, traveling, and glowing.

“Wait, all of them?” Zora blinked in awe, holding a half-folded shirt in midair.

“Hey, it's not like there was an entire football league, you know,” Emma grimaced, clutching her pearls as Zora cackled. It was true that Emma preferred to date around. She’d found too frequently that the men she dated in DC had diagnosed themselves as allergic to commitment, so she reached out to different people to satisfy different needs. Most recently, there had been the film guy, the foodie, and the deejay. Each served their specific purpose, and compartmentalizing helped her avoid emotional complications.

“No, but you do carry a basketball team with a couple of possible alternates from the bench once in a while,” Zora quipped, removing the clothes from hangers and folding each article to place neatly in the box.

Emma rolled her eyes. “It was just three guys and the rotation was getting a little stale. A couple of them were getting kinda clingy and one of them literally asked me if I knew where we were going. Nevermind that film guy is forty-five and lives with his momma and the foodie and I have nothing else in common. Neither of them are people I’d consider for anything long-term. I just felt like I needed some fresh air.”

“So, are you looking to build a new roster then?” Zora motioned for Emma to come over to her with the tape as she flattened the cardboard, folding it and holding it closed as Emma taped it together.

“No, I feel like I'm done with that.” The finality of Emma’s tone felt a lot like freedom. Something was missing from her romantic life–namely, the romance.

“Wow,” Zora’s mouth gaped open. Her wide stare was riddled with disbelief.

Emma threw her hands up in the air. “What?” She was perfectly capable of flying solo. It’s not like anyone needed to maintain a rotation at all times, did they?

“You've had dating rotations as long as we've lived in this house together. I just wasn't sure I would see the day when you would make the choice to stop.” She regarded her best friend with wonder as her eyes narrowed. “So does this mean what I think it means?”

“What's that?” Emma bit her lip as she turned and pulled more clothes from the closet. Why does this chick always read me like a book?

“You always said that when you stopped your rotation, it meant that you were ready to date another woman and fall in love.”

It had been a long time since Emma’s last relationship–her only love. Things didn’t end on good terms and she didn’t like to talk about it even though her therapist seemed to bring it up with far more frequency than Emma felt was warranted.

Emma shrugged. “I'm more open to it, but I don’t think dating was the reason I decided to end things… I just know I'm tired of trying to keep up with these guys, so I decided to give it up for a while.” Maybe I’m ready…

“Okay,” Zora nodded, accepting the next pile of clothes.

“Y'all up here?” Granny Marion called as she neared the top of the stairs. “How are my babies?” She stepped into the bedroom, a smile on her ruby lips as she smoothed the front of her slacks. Her bronzed brown skin was moisturized with Vaseline and shea butter, her dark eyes bright with mischief and framed by laugh lines.

“Granny, we could have come downstairs!” Zora chided her grandmother.

Ms. Marion stood just as elegantly as ever, her silver hair pulled back into her signature chignon, her dancer’s feet poised in fourth position. “Nonsense. I came here to help my girl pack. “That's why I have my casual attire on today.”

“I see you, friend.” She was always a sight to behold–the matte red lipstick on her lips brought her entire look together. The clean white collar of her blouse was flipped upward. “You're so stylish, Granny Marion,” Emma gushed, holding a hand out to her as they sat on the bench at the foot of Emma’s bed.

“So, what is it that we're going to tackle today?” The elder clasped her hands in her lap as her ankles crossed, as if on queue, looking around the room at the state of disorganization–assembled boxes and flat ones, random beauty products in piles, clothes scattered everywhere, and half of Emma’s books missing from their shelves.

“We're gonna put some boxes together, and I think I need to make a pile of things to purge. I've got clothes and shoes that I need to get together to donate, though I think I could probably do away with half of the stuff in this closet.”

“Well, just make sure you're not donating my clothes,” Zora warned. More often than not, Emma found her way into Zora’s closet to discreetly borrow some of the more colorful pieces of her friend’s wardrobe. In most instances, the articles of clothing were never seen again.

Granny looked between the two. “What were y'all talking about when I came up here?”

“Get this–Emma said she's gotten rid of the roster.”

“Have you?” Granny perked up. “Got bored with the gentlemen?”

Emma’s shoulders bounced in response. “Yeah, it was time–the connections just stayed on the surface, so there wasn’t any potential.”

“Well, I might know some people that I could connect you with depending on what it is you're looking for at the moment,” Granny winked. “I met a couple of young men the other day when I was visiting the fitness center, and they were being trained by this lovely young lady with the cutest little posterior.”

Zora’s eyes widened.

“I really need to go to the gym with you sometime,” Emma grinned at Granny.

Granny giggled and raised her index finger, she and Emma pressing the pads of their fingers together in their own mini high five.

“Here you two go,” Zora muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Listen, this is just how we roll,” Granny said, pointing a finger at her granddaughter. “You know she's leaving because of you.”

“Granny!” Zora wailed, her face bright crimson. “Because of me?”

“Well, you do holler, baby. You gotta know that if your window's open, I'mma hear you–I’d be surprised if the neighbors didn’t hear that encore performance this morning,” Marion nodded, a matter of fact expression on her face.

“Lord,” Zora groaned, covering her eyes with her hands. “I think I need to soundproof my room.”

“If she did that, would you stay?” Granny gently rested a hand on Emma's knee.

She shook her head. “Honestly, I think I need to do this, and I'm excited. This is the first time that I’ve ever lived alone–I lived in the dorms and then I moved in here and lived with you and Zora. And I just want to have this experience before whatever comes next. I think it'll be good for me!” She smiled brightly. “A new adventure.”

Emma had been lucky, because she always had a strong support system. Whether she was on the West Coast with her family or on the East Coast with Zora’s, she had people she could depend on. None of that would change if she got her own place, and though Zora never saw her as a burden, it wasn’t lost on Emma how much her best friend did for her without even thinking about it. Zora had mentioned the possibility of expanding and opening a second bookstore in the future, and Emma wanted to be the obvious frontrunner to manage that new location when it happened. Why not start with my own household?

“And besides, I've saved so much money living here with you all, eating all your food and doing all the things… it's time for me to be a grownup.”

“That's fair, and we will absolutely come over and raid your fridge,” Zora chuckled. “But, seriously, just know you can always come back.” She reached for Emma’s hand to give it a squeeze.

“Thank you. I appreciate that, sis.”

“Well, I'm excited. Just make sure that you're not too far away because I want to come visit. I gotta keep up with my bestie,” Granny smiled sweetly.

“Of course! You’ll both have keys and an open invitation. Now, let's get started,” Emma scrambled to her feet as Granny leaned forward and held a box before her on the floor.

“Let's put some of those items from your desk in here.”

Zora began rifling through Emma's closet. “See, half of these things in here are mine!”

Emma turned and grimaced at Granny who winked conspiratorially.

“Hi, I saw an ad about the apartment available in your building, and I was curious whether you had time for someone to come by and visit?”

“Yes. When are you thinking of coming by?” The shortness of tone made Emma sit up straighter.

“Would today be okay?” Emma bit her lip, her leg bouncing nervously as she and Granny sat at the dining table. Her phone sat on the hard surface with the speakerphone enabled.

“What time?”

The woman on the phone’s voice was curt, but Emma was so excited to see the apartment in person that she paid her no mind. She never took another person’s attitude to heart–she was focused on the goal and always assumed that bad energy had far more to do with what that person was going through and less about her.

The pictures online made the space appear bright and airy, the rooms seemed spacious and the price was exactly what she was looking for. The apartment building was a few blocks south of Union Market, and just north of the H Street corridor, which Emma thought was perfect, given the shopping and restaurants all around there.

“How about three o'clock?”

“Fine. Don't be late.” The phone clicked and then beeped to indicate that the property manager hung up the phone.

“Sheesh. What a sourpuss!” Emma's eyes widened as she typed the address into her phone to make sure that she knew how to get there. “As long as I've lived here, you would think I wouldn't need GPS, but I can't help but get lost!”

“Honey, you would lose your head if it wasn't attached,” Granny teased.

“Yeah…” Emma dipped her head slightly. Granny wasn’t wrong–in the past week, Emma had misplaced her phone, her work keys, her sunglasses, and her work tablet (twice). And actually, those were Zora’s sunglasses and they’re still missing. We’re definitely not going to tell her though–maybe she won’t notice.

“Tell me about this place.”

Emma squeezed her eyes shut, recalling all of the details and ticking them off with her fingers. “So, it's in a ten-unit building. It's all brick on the outside. Um, there are four basement-level apartments, and then two with two bedrooms each on the first floor, and four one-bedrooms on the second floor. They have a one-bedroom open right now. The building is across from a bunch of row houses, and there’s a fence around the property and there's some patio space out front with some tables. So we could feasibly sit outside and enjoy some lemonade once it gets warm.”

They’d had a mild winter, but the weather still threatened chilly temperatures in late February. Emma's favorite time of year was quickly approaching–she absolutely loved to be out when the cherry blossoms hit peak bloom. Being surrounded by incredible views and a sea of pale pink petals brought a calming energy to Emma that she relished each year. And it wasn’t like she was a plant lady with an amazing green thumb–hell, she killed the last two succulents she bought from Trader Joe’s.

“It's been nice weather, so I'm gonna go over there and check out the neighborhood a bit today. If it ends up being something that seems worthwhile, would you want to come see it?” She stared hopefully.

“Of course I would,” Granny nodded, setting down her mug of tea. “We can’t let you leave us to go any old place, you know.”

“Okay, well, I'll keep you posted.” Emma plopped a kiss on Granny's cheek before she waved goodbye.

“See you later, sweetpea.”

As Emma walked out to her royal blue Mini Cooper, the breeze ruffled the hem of her pleated maxi skirt, its pink and blue paisley design billowing softly against her ankles. Emma breathed in the fresh air and rolled up the sleeves of her chambray blouse that she’d tied at her waist. “This is gonna be the one,” she whispered. She reached into her purse and cursed to herself before running back into the house. “Forgot my keys!”