Chapter 43
Walking back into her apartment, Maggie sees Willa sitting on the couch. She exclaims to her roommate, “Guess what? I did it! I got Ingrid to give me the job! I’m writing on Summer Rain!” She gleams hopefully at her roommate. She could really use some love right now.
She’d texted the news to her parents on the way home, and this was her mother’s reply:
When are you going to realize, this dream of yours…it’s a sickness. It’s a disease.
She almost threw her phone out the window, she was so furious. Instead, she tapped on Call. Her mom answered for once.
“It’s my decision, and it’s what I’m doing. And I hope you change your mind about your dental appointment—”
“I won’t. Not unless you stop. Your pick—save your writing or your mama.”
Maggie pounded on her steering wheel. How could her mother make her choose like that? She was blind with fury, thinking of all the times her mom had pulled this on her. Emotionally manipulated her using everything she’d ever done for her. Well, not this time.
“Goodbye, Mama.” Maggie choked out the words.
Now, as she glances up at Willa, she sees her holding up some packaging. Maggie squints. That’s when she sees the Visa logo on the top left corner.
“Have you been sending me the Visa cards?” Willa asks. She’s sitting cross-legged on the couch, and the way she’s looking at Maggie makes her want to disappear into its crevices.
“I can explain.”
“I told you not to do it.”
“I know,” Maggie says. “I was just trying to help—”
“I don’t need your help!” Willa says, tossing the scraps and jumping up from the couch. “How many times do I have to say it to you? I want to be the architect of my own life!”
“And you will be! This doesn’t change that!”
“It does for me. I don’t want a handout from you or anyone else. Why do you think I cam?” Willa asks.
“I know that’s why you cam!” Maggie says quickly. She thinks back to the session she walked in on when that rude grandpa made Willa miss her audition. “But this way you don’t have to—”
Willa narrows her eyes. “You think the way I make money is somehow beneath the way you make money…” Before she can stop herself, Willa blurts out, “At least I’m not selling my organs!”
Maggie’s so shocked by the statement, she stumbles backward for a second. The shame coils inside her. When she looks at Willa again, her roommate’s already in her room. As Willa grabs a duffel bag, Maggie panics.
“Where are you going?” Maggie demands.
Willa ignores her and dumps clothes into her bag.
“Are we not going to talk about what you just said?” Maggie asks.
“I won’t be made to feel bad about what I do!” Willa says, doubling down. She pauses packing and glances up at Maggie. “And I won’t have a friend who lies to me, either.”
Oh, is that how she’s going to play it? “I didn’t lie!” Maggie tells her. “I might have overstepped, but my intentions were good!”
“You lied. You let me think those cards were from random fans. Do you know what was going through my mind whenever I got them? I was thinking, finally, those fools online appreciate me,” Willa says, pounding a finger to her own chest. “They want to support me. I got through to one or two of them with my emotions. With my craft!”
Maggie tears up, hearing her roommate get so vulnerable.
“You did,” Maggie tries to tell her. “You moved me. You’re the one who inspired me to even think I could write Summer Rain! To stand up for myself and get Ingrid to give me what I deserve! My whole idea for the movie is based on us! This, right here. What we have!”
“Then why’d you have to mess with it?” Willa asks her.
There’s a long, heavy silence. Maggie answers honestly, “Because I thought it was unfair…that I had all this money and you didn’t.”
Willa swings the duffel bag over her shoulder.
“For the record, I never once thought it was unfair. I was always happy for you,” Willa says before walking out.
Maggie sinks to the floor, feeling like the world’s shittiest friend.
She crawls to her room, a sob welling. She thinks of all the times she and Willa lay on the bed, holding each other, supporting each other’s dreams, telling each other things would get better.
The world would see them for their talent.
They were sure of it. But on this day when she finally gets her big break, there’s absolutely no one. Everyone she loves is gone.
She reaches for her laptop.
Story’s all she’s got now.