The Jerk in Apartment 1B

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Trina

“I’m home!” I call out as I come into the apartment.

“I’m in the bedroom,” Asher yells back. “Wait there. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Going to the kitchen, I grab an open bottle of merlot and pour myself a glass. I need it after the day I’ve had. I can’t believe I was fired. But it’s not the end of the world. I’ll find another job, and in the meantime, I can put all my efforts into planning the wedding.

“Hey,” Asher says, coming into the living room. He’s still in his suit, a dark gray pinstripe, his tie undone, hanging loose around his neck.

“Did you just get home?” I ask, sitting on the couch with my glass of wine.

“I got home an hour ago,” he says, joining me on the couch.

“You left early?” I ask, wondering if he’s sick. I hope not, because I really want to go out tonight. Dinner at a nice restaurant with my handsome fiancé is just what I need to feel better about what happened.

“I had some stuff to get done. So how was work?”

“They let me go,” I say with a sigh.

“You got fired?” Asher says, sounding alarmed.

“It wasn’t because of something I did. They said they didn’t have the budget to keep me.”

“How could they not have the budget? They barely paid you anything.”

“Yeah, but interns are free. And they have interns lining up to work there. I’m not worried. I’ll find another job, but I was thinking maybe I’d wait.”

“Wait for what?”

I turn to him. “Instead of rushing to get another job, I was thinking I could take some time off to plan our wedding.”

“Trina, you need a job.”

“Eventually, yes, but it doesn’t have to be right now. Planning a wedding is basically a full-time job. Even if we hire a wedding planner, I still need to be available to work with her. What do you think?”

He clears his throat. “I think your focus should be on getting a job.”

“But there’s so much to do for the wedding. And it’s not like we need the money. You make enough for both of us. I can get a job later, after the wedding plans are done.” I smile at him, my excitement building. “First, we need to pick a date. I was thinking May would be perfect. The weather is warm but not too hot, and it’ll be easier to book a place in May than in June. Obviously, this coming May is already booked so it’ll have to be—”

“Trina, stop.” Asher’s eyes lock on mine. “Stop talking about the wedding.”

“Why? If we don’t talk about it, it’s—”

“Never going to happen.”

“Exactly, which is why we need to pick a date.”

“It’s not happening,” he says with a heavy sigh.

“What’s not happening?” I cautiously ask, my heart beating faster.

“The wedding.” He stands up and rubs his hand over his jaw. “I’m not marrying you.”

“Wait—what?” I bolt up from the couch. “What do you mean? Of course we’re getting married.” I hold up my hand, pointing to my two-carat diamond engagement ring. “We’re engaged.”

“Not anymore.” He looks down, shaking his head. “I can’t do this, Trina. We’re just not right for each other.”

No. This can’t be happening. Am I dreaming? Is this a nightmare?

“I was going to tell you tonight at dinner,” Asher says. “But then you were talking about the wedding plans and I had to stop you and tell you it was over.” He looks at me. “I’m sorry. I really am. But I can’t marry someone who’s not right for me.”

“Not right for you?” I throw my hands up. “Are you kidding me? We’ve been together for four years! It took you all that time to figure out I wasn’t right for you?”

“I’m not the same guy I was four years ago. I’ve changed, and so have you.” He puts his hand on my shoulder. “I still think you’re a great girl. Just not the girl for me.”

I yank away from him. “You asked me to marry you six months ago. Six months! You’re telling me you’ve changed that much in six months that you no longer want to marry me?”

“Getting married isn’t what I want right now. I need to focus on my career. I like my job and I’m good at it.” He smiles a little. “I got a promotion today. It came with a big pay increase.”

“Great,” I huff. “I’m sure you and your money will be very happy.” I stare back at the guy who just moments ago was my whole world, the person I’d planned to be with forever. “Is that really what you want? To be alone? Spend all your time at work?”

“For now, yeah.” He says it so casually, like the last four years meant nothing. He’s not even showing any emotion. Do I mean so little to him that he can let me go without feeling even a little bit sad?

Tears are stinging my eyes, but I’m trying to hold them back. If Asher isn’t going to shed a tear over the end of our relationship, then I’m not either. He doesn’t deserve to see my tears. But I have no problem letting him see my anger.

“I gave up Paris for you!” I say, raising my voice. “And trips home to see my family! I missed my grandma’s birthday to go to your stupid work party!”

“You could’ve gone back to Chicago. I never said you couldn’t.”

“You never gave me the option. You told me you didn’t want to show up at the party without your fiancé, so I went. To support you. But if I’d known you were dumping me three months later, I would’ve gone to see my grandma!” I walk away from him, back to the kitchen to refill my wine.

“Trina, I’m sorry. But I couldn’t keep this going if I knew it was going to end.”

“When did you know?” I ask, pouring the wine in the glass.

“It wasn’t a specific day. It’s just over the last few months I realized how much we’ve changed. How much our goals have changed.”

“Meaning what? What goals?” I gulp the wine, the alcohol stinging my already burning throat.

“Like today. You lose your job, and instead of hurrying to find a new one, you decide you’d rather do nothing for the next few months.”

“I wasn’t going to do nothing,” I snap. “I was going to plan our wedding!”

“That’s not a job.”

“Actually, it is. Wedding planning is a business. People get paid to do it.”

“You know what I mean.” He joins me in the kitchen, stopping a few feet away from me. “You used to be ambitious. You used to want to have your own fashion label. Be a famous designer.”

“When I said that, I was still in school. I didn’t understand the industry. You don’t just start a label and become a famous designer. Almost no one makes it to that level.”

“The Trina I used to know would’ve at least tried. She wouldn’t have settled for an assistant’s job.”

“I took that job so we’d have time together. Do you know how many hours I’d have to work if I really wanted a chance to make my own designs? We never would’ve seen each other.”

“But that’s my point. I’m willing to put in the extra hours and do whatever it takes to get ahead. You’re not. Like with the job in Paris. You never should’ve turned down an opportunity like that.”

“I did that for you ! For us! When I was offered that job, we were talking about getting married. We’d just moved in together. If I’d left, we would’ve broken up!”

“It’s in the past. We don’t need to talk about it.” He checks his watch. “We need to talk about other things.”

“Like what?” I pick up my wine glass. “How you lied about wanting to marry me?”

“We need to talk about your living arrangements.”

I was about to sip my wine, but stop and lower my glass. “What about my living arrangements?”

“I need you to move out. This is my apartment, so obviously you can’t stay. I’d like you out tonight, but if you can’t leave until the morning, you could stay on the couch.”

“You’re kicking me out tonight ?” I say, shocked that he expects me to leave before I’ve even had time to process what just happened.

“Or you could go in the morning,” he says. “It’s up to you.”

“Where am I going to go? I don’t have money for an apartment. I just lost my job and I have almost no money saved.”

Working in fashion, I have to look the part, meaning a lot of my money goes to pay for trendy clothes and shoes. Showing up to work in clothes from last season isn’t an option, although I guess that no longer matters since I don’t have a job.

“I called Sara and she agreed to let you stay at her place for a few nights.”

“You told Sara you were breaking up with me?”

“I told her I have the flu and you needed a place to go so you wouldn’t get sick.”

“So you lied.” I roll my eyes. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Hey, it’s better than telling her the truth. I didn’t want her knowing about us before you did.”

“How kind of you,” I say with a huff.

“Anyway, I packed your things.”

“You what ?” I race to the bedroom and sure enough, moving boxes are stacked up around the room.

“I can schedule someone to pick them up,” Asher says. “I’ll even pay for it since it’s short notice.”

“And since I have no money,” I point out. “And no job.”

“You’ll find something. It doesn’t have to be in fashion.”

“Oh, so you think I should give up on my dream and take whatever job I can get?”

“For now, yeah. You need money. You can still look for a job in fashion, but it could be months before you get hired. You can’t afford to wait that long.”

“Thanks to you,” I mutter, going over to the closet. All my things are gone and Asher’s filled the space with his suits and dress shirts.

“I think I got everything,” he says, watching as I check the dresser drawers. They’re cleared out too.

“When did you do all this?” I ask. “Did you take the day off?”

“No, just the afternoon. I’ll make the time up tomorrow. I’ll be spending the weekend at the office.”

He doesn’t sound upset about that, like most people would. He almost sounds happy about it. Maybe he really would rather be married to his job than to me. But then why did he propose? Why did he spend the last four years with me? It doesn’t make sense.

“Is there someone else?” I ask, knowing it’s possible. Asher’s a good-looking guy and he makes a lot of money.

“I didn’t cheat on you,” he says, like he’s annoyed that I asked the question. “When would I even have time? Whenever I wasn’t at work, I was with you.” He checks his watch. “I’m meeting the guys for drinks in an hour. I need to know if you’re leaving tonight or waiting until morning.”

My head is spinning. I can’t believe this is happening. Just last night, Asher and I went out for a nice dinner, then came home and made love. And less than a day later, he dumps me?

I walk up to him. “Why now? Why didn’t you do this sooner? Why did you ask me to marry you if it isn’t what you wanted?”

He shrugs. “My parents?”

“What do your parents have to do with this?”

“They want me to get married. Have kids. Do the family thing. You know how they are. They’re very traditional. This is what they wanted. For me to marry you, have some kids, move to the suburbs. But I don’t want that life, at least not yet. Maybe in ten or fifteen years I’ll change my mind. Who knows?”

“Did you tell them about us?”

“No, I’ll do it later. They’ll be upset, but they’ll get over it, especially when they find out my brother’s news. He’s having a kid. He called me last night to tell me. It’s perfect timing. My parents will be so happy about the grandkid that they won’t even care that we broke up.”

They’ll care. His parents liked me. They said I was good for him. And I was. I took care of him. Supported him. Loved him. But it wasn’t enough. Because this isn’t what he wanted. I spent the past four years with a man who didn’t want me.

“So what’d you decide?” he asks. “Are you staying here or going to Sara’s?”

“I’ll leave,” I say, looking around at the boxes. “But everything’s packed. I need stuff for tonight.”

“Oh!” He races into the bathroom and returns with a duffle bag, a proud grin on his face. “I packed enough for a few days, including your makeup and hair stuff. That should be enough until your boxes arrive.”

I stare at him, wondering if I ever really knew him. How could I go all these years thinking we wanted the same things when he never wanted that at all? There had to have been signs. Comments he made. Something.

“So I guess this is it,” he says, like he wants me to hurry up and leave.

“Yeah,” I mutter, taking the duffle bag from him. I walk out of the room, still feeling like this is a nightmare I’m going to wake up from any minute now. But the closer I get to the door, the more real it feels.

“Good luck with everything,” Asher says, holding the door open.

Good luck? That’s all he has to say after spending the last four years with me?

I don’t know how to respond to that, so I don’t. I leave without saying goodbye, mainly because I still don’t believe it. How could it be goodbye?

An hour ago, I was planning to marry him, and now it’s over? He kicks me out? Acts like I meant nothing to him?

How does a guy go from wanting to marry you to never wanting to see you again?