Chapter 11 #2
“You’re 608, right?” Carlos’s voice rang out, and Jaylin almost dropped his phone in shock.
“Your text said 608 and we’re at 608, but I knocked and no one answered and I better not be knocking at the wrong door this early in the morning because I’m willing to give up my beauty sleep but I’m not– hey! ”
The last word was yelped, sounding from farther away, and Jaylin was trying to parse both Carlos calling him and the fact that he’d said we when Camille’s voice then said, “Sorry about him, he’s the worst kind of morning person. He talks.”
“Carlos always talks,” Jaylin said dumbly into his phone. To Camille. Who was… here? With Carlos?
“True enough,” Camille sighed. “Now you wanna let us in? Hallway’s kind of crowded here.”
“Right!” Jaylin yelped. “Right, sorry, um, coming–” He threw Hiro a bewildered look and went to his door, mind whirling.
He did not expect what he saw when he opened the door.
“I don’t–I don’t know if you’ll all even fit in my apartment,” Jaylin said faintly, desperately trying to keep his voice steady.
Carlos, Camille, Miguel, and Pablo were all packed into his hallway, along with Aditi, a man who looked exactly like Aditi but was quite a bit taller, and Diego, who was carrying several brightly colored boxes.
“That’s cool,” Miguel said easily. “Just tell us where you want us.”
“Raul and Martina are sorry they couldn’t come,” Carlos put in, actually sounding apologetic. “But they’re prepping El Guanaco for the Friday crowd.”
“That’s... that’s okay,” Jaylin managed.
“Deepak brought his truck,” Aditi said, nudging her taller lookalike. “We weren’t sure how much you had to move.”
“I thought Deepak was in California,” Jaylin said in disbelief.
“I was,” Deepak said, sounding groggy. He stuck out his hand. “Just got back in town and Aditi’s putting me to work. Been dying to meet you though, so I’m forgiving her.”
Jaylin shook Deepak’s hand, glancing uncertainly at him and the rest of the crowd.
“I brought donuts,” Diego said cheerfully, holding up the boxes. He eyed everyone in the hallway. “I probably have enough,” he added.
A large, warm hand gently touched Jaylin’s back and Jaylin didn't jump. He breathed out under Hiro’s calming touch and did his best to muster a smile, stepping back to start letting people file inside.
“Thanks for coming,” he said, hoping he sounded as grateful as he felt without letting it choke him up.
“Psh,” Carlos said, flapping a hand in his general direction. “Yeah, duh, we weren’t gonna not come.”
“Yeah, kid,” Miguel said, eyes flicking to Hiro. “Happy to help you out.”
Aditi adjusted her glasses. “So what’s the plan?”
A weak laugh trickled out of him, and Jaylin rubbed the back of his neck. “I, uh, it was mostly ‘shove stuff into boxes’ I guess.”
Deepak grinned. “Just your luck then. I’m excellent at shoving stuff into boxes.”
Camille raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him before turning back to Jaylin. “I nominate myself as organization leader. Sound good?”
“Um. Sure?”
She clapped her hands. “Great! Okay, people–” she rounded on the crowd assembled in Jaylin’s small space. “We’re splitting into sections to divide and conquer. And labeling the boxes. I don’t know you four–who’re you?”
“I’m Deepak,” Deepak said. “This is Aditi.”
“Diego.”
“Hiro,” Hiro said, looking amused and pleased.
“Nice to meet you,” Camille said briskly. “Pablo, you, me, and Diego are packing up the kitchen and pantry. Deepak and Miguel, living room stuff. Carlos– ” She rolled her eyes. “Yes, you can pack up the closets, on the condition you don’t make fun of Jaylin’s clothes.”
“You wound me,” Carlos pouted.
Camille ignored him and eyed Hiro for a moment before saying, “Hiro, you’re in charge of the bedroom.
Aditi, you’re assembling boxes and labeling them and then you can work on the bathroom.
Once we’ve gotten going, we can reassess who’s working on what.
Moving might be chaos, but we’re looking for organized chaos here. Everyone got it?”
There were various nods and thumbs-ups and sounds of affirmation as everyone pulled off their shoes and coats, gearing up to get to work.
“Wait,” Jaylin said, frowning at Camille. “What about me?”
Camille looked at him. “You’re moving out of your apartment today,” she said evenly. “Your job is to tell us how to pack stuff up and let us do the heavy lifting.”
“And eat a donut,” Diego added helpfully. “I got them from that gourmet place on Evergreen.”
“El Guanaco’s covering lunch for everyone by the way,” Miguel called from across the room.
Jaylin bit his lip and did his best not to buckle under the onslaught of affection. “Okay,” he was able to say after a second. “Okay.”
***
Jaylin had figured that he and Hiro would probably be able to pack up his whole place in a day, just that it would be a very long one.
He’d already twisted himself into a guilty knot over knowing that Hiro would be losing an entire Friday to helping him move out, and had been prepared to work as hard as he knew how to lift at least some of that burden from Hiro’s shoulders.
With seven additional people, though, it was incredible how fast things happened. It no doubt helped that Jaylin didn't have a lot of stuff, but the entirety of his life was all boxed up by noon, stacked in neat piles, all ready to be carried down to Deepak’s waiting truck.
Pablo and Miguel ducked out for a bit while everyone took a break, and they returned carrying boxes of freshly prepared Mexican food. Everyone plopped down in various places on the floor to eat, and Jaylin took them all in, not quite able to believe this was his life.
Diego enthusiastically complimented everything before he got sucked into what seemed to be a discussion about quantum theory in relation to sugar crystals with Deepak and Aditi, as Carlos and Pablo did their best to follow along.
Hiro, Camille, and Miguel had their heads bent together too, and Jaylin left them to it, not wanting to interrupt.
When Jaylin finished his food, he got up to throw his paper plate and stuff into a garbage bag, then went around with it to collect everyone else’s trash.
The bag was full by the time he was finished, so he tied it off and set it next to the other garbage bags that needed to be taken outside to the dumpster.
It was so weird to see three full bags of stuff waiting to be thrown away.
It wasn’t a lot, Jaylin supposed, all things considered, but still.
He'd managed to fill three garbage bags of stuff to dispose of, after packing everything else he had away into boxes.
Two of the boxes taped up in Jaylin’s little living room were labeled to sell.
They were full of too-expensive clothes and shoes and jewelry he didn’t want, and they made Jaylin sick to look at them.
Carlos, in the midst of packing up Jaylin’s closet, had turned to Jaylin, obviously about to make some sort of remark about the differences in the Armani suits and Jaylin’s ratty T-shirts.
But he’d taken one look at Jaylin’s face, glanced back at the suit jacket in his hand, and then had said in quiet Spanish, “You could get some decent cash selling this stuff off. But I’m all for chucking it, if you don’t want to deal with this fancy shit. ”
A lot of stuff said and not said. It had given Jaylin the ability to reply, “Like it didn’t just hurt your heart a little, suggesting that we throw it out. It’s okay. I’m all for selling it.” Every bit he was able to take back counted. “You can keep anything you want, though,” he’d offered.
Carlos had given him a downright offended look. “You think we’re anywhere close to the same size, Jaylito? Excuse me!”
“There’s watches and stuff,” Jaylin had interrupted, hoping to nip Carlos’s righteous indignation in the bud.
Carlos had sighed. “Buddy, if I let you give me a Weiss watch, I’d never forgive myself. We’ll pack it up and you can sell it, okay? Pay those college bills.”
“I’ll help you take out the trash,” Diego said, appearing by his side. He was already wearing his jacket. “Between the two of us, we could take it all out in one go.”
“Oh,” Jaylin said. “Thanks. Okay, let me just grab my coat.” It wasn’t that cold, March having warmed up some, but there was enough of a chill to need a layer.
On reflex he grabbed the gray coat that was still hanging in the closet.
Brent’s coat. Not warm enough for winter, but fine for a spring afternoon.
He stared at it a touch too long.
“You okay?” Diego’s voice floated through him and Jaylin shook his head.
“Yeah. Yeah, sorry.” Jaylin put on the gray coat and wrapped Hiro’s scarf around his neck before hefting two of the garbage bags. “Okay, ready.”
Diego nodded and grabbed the third garbage bag, holding the door for Jaylin, and they made their way out of Jaylin’s apartment and down to the dumpster.
“I’m, uh, I’m not gonna ask,” Diego said as they walked. “Since it isn’t any of my business or anything. But I just, um, I, you know, I wanted to like–let you know I’m here. If you ever wanted to talk about anything.”
“Thanks,” Jaylin mumbled.
Diego nodded and they finished their walk in silence. Diego slid open the door to the dumpster and tossed in the first garbage bag, stepping aside so that Jaylin could throw in the two trash bags he was carrying.
Jaylin was left wearing the gray coat he hated, shielding him from the spring breeze. The scarf Hiro had given him was helping to keep out the rest of the chill.
He shrugged off the coat, staring at the dumpster.
“Hey, Jaylin?” Diego shoved his hands into his pockets, and he sounded serious in a way Jaylin wasn't used to, in the time they’d known each other.
Jaylin tore his gaze away from the dumpster to look at his friend. “Yeah?”
“You’re gonna be okay, right?” Diego’s expression was tentative, concerned, but there was no pity on his face. “This was a good thing?”
“Yeah,” Jaylin said. “Yeah, this was a good thing.”
He didn't throw the gray coat in the dumpster. It wasn’t a warm coat, but it was still a nice one, and Jaylin couldn't bring himself to send it to a landfill.
He knew a donation bin he could drop it into though, so instead of throwing it away, he tucked the coat under his arm as he and Diego made their way back to the apartment Jaylin was leaving behind.