Chapter Text
He held the piece of paper in his hand shakily.
DATE: July 7, 2022
TENANT: JAYDEN HARPER TORINO
ADDRESS: EVERLAST MAINEWIND APT. NO: 23
CITY, ZIP CODE, ADDRESS: WELLS, MAINE, 69420, 74 THATCHER STREET
Jayden skipped over the general information and read the notice under it. He hadn’t paid his rent, since he was fired from his job. And, great for him, his landlord just wouldn’t fucking have it.
Dear JAYDEN HARPER TORINO,
You are hereby notified to vacate the premises at 12:00 PM by July 7, 2022.
The reason for this is as follows:
You have repeatedly failed to pay…
He didn’t read the rest. Instead, he decided to get his shit together and try to find someplace to live. Well, Theo would probably take him in. Jayden doesn’t want to take up space or leech off of his brother too much, so he probably wouldn’t stay for too long.
…
Alright, at least he was getting somewhere. He grabbed his phone and dialed Theo’s number.
It rang. One. Two. Three times. Jayden tapped his foot impatiently.
Heyyyy! What's good? Theo screamed into the phone, causing Jayden to pull it away from his ear.
“Hi,” he said wearily, getting right to the point. “So uh, I just got evicted, and- well, I kinda need a place to stay, uh, if you’re okay with it, could I stay over at yours for awhile until I can afford a new apartment?”
Oh, damn. I’m sorry to hear dude, that sucks ass. But, um, yeah, you could stay over! Pack your shit and I’ll fix up the couch for you if you want.
Jayden smiled. He knew Theo would agree to house him, but it still made him happy that there was at least someone who understood. “Thanks man, it means a lot.”
It’s no problem. What time do you have to leave by?
“Tomorrow by twelve.”
Oh, shit! You gotta get over here now. I can’t wait that long.
Jayden scoffed. “Fine, I’ll come over as soon as I can. Could you, uh, pick me up outside my apartment building so I could, like, not have to pay for an uber?”
SICK. Yea, I’ll meet you outside. Theo hung up.
He looked at his somewhat-messy apartment. It's not like he doesn’t work, it’s just that the daycare he works at doesn’t pay him well, and he can’t really find another job that works with his schedule.
Oh well. It’s… fine. Yeah, it’s fine.
It’s useless to cry over spilled milk, anyways.
~~ 🎕
Jayden carefully placed his belongings into Theo’s car trunk. Although he didn’t have much, he didn’t want to damage what he already had.
He sighed. Theo, sitting in the front seat with his arm resting on the steering wheel, peered back to catch a glimpse of Jayden. “You almost done? Dude, I was so prepared. I can’t really tell you why I was but you’ll see when we get there. Oh my god. This is gonna be lit.”
Jayden raised his eyebrow. “Lit? Really?”
“Yeah. Lit.”
“Okay. Well, ummm. Cool. Can’t wait to see it.” Jayden replied awkwardly, trying to sound enthusiastic. He couldn’t bring himself to do it, though.
“You sound dead. How about this, I’ll help unpack your stuff, and then you can take a nap?” Theo suggested softly, shrugging his shoulders (dr seuss irl).
“Sounds good. Thanks,” Jayden replied half-assedly, packing the last bag and slamming the trunk closed. He opened the passenger door and stepped in, hitting his head on the low roof of the car.
“Ha.”
Jayden flipped Theo off and tried to get in again. He closed the door and buckled his seatbelt, and Theo turned to him. “You ready?”
Jayden nodded. Theo turned back to the wheel and started driving them to his apartment. “Oh. Wait, thought I’d mention,” Theo started, causing Jayden to turn his head to him. “My friend and their girlfriend are gonna come over in a few days.”
Jayden cringed. He hated socializing. And especially now, when he just got evicted from his own fucking apartment. “Mmm. Okay, well, what’re their names?”
“Autumn and Athena.”
“Wait- they’re both girls?”
Theo paused, then rolled his eyes into the back of his skull. “Lesbians exist, Jayden.”
Jayden blushed in embarrassment. “O-oh, yeah. Sorry. What do they, uh, go by?”
“It’s fine. Autumn goes by they and Ena goes by she.”
“Ena?”
“ATH ENA, get it together!” he yelled jokingly, pushing Jayden’s shoulder. He nearly smacked his head on the window, but unfortunately stopped himself.
“Okay, okay, sorry, jesus.” Pausing, Jayden decided he’d asked a question that was on his mind for a while. It was mostly out of envy rather than curiosity.
“You just moved here a few months ago. How do you already have friends?’
Theo picked up the green-eyed-monster in Jayden’s voice. He drew his mouth into a firm line, pitying Jayden for his introversy. “I dunno. I kinda just meet people around and we end up talking and becoming friends.”
“No- like- you know, where did you meet them?” Jayden pressed.
“Well, I guess to get into specifics, I met Autumn at a bookstore in the mall, and they helped me get a book off of the top shelf, and then I saw them at a Bath and Bodyworks after. With Ena. So we talked and stuff and eventually ended up getting something to eat together and now we’re friends.”
“Bath and Bodyworks? Seriously? Wait, so you’re telling me you became friends because you saw each other in the same stores?”
“Well, yeah.”
“How did you even talk to them, like, did you just go up and say ‘hey’?! Or what?! I’m not- I- whatever. Nevermind.” he gave up.
Theo focused back on the road. He guessed it was a strange interaction in hindsight, but whatever.
Jayden dozed off.
~~ 🎕
Theo and Jayden plopped the bags they were holding down by the door. Theo looked at Jayden and smiled. “Okay, so, you know how I was talking about being prepared earlier?”
“Yeah?” Jayden asked, expecting some kind of gift or spare bedroom.
“Well, my couch can FOLD OUT. I literally didn’t even know that when I bought it, but look,” he shouted, practically throwing the cushions off and pulling on some straps in the back. A medium-sized mattress extended and Theo flopped onto it. The couch made an ear-piercing creak.
“Woah,” Jayden said, slightly impressed at the fact that Theo didn’t even know it could fold out. “And how did you figure this out?” He put his hand on his chin and the other under his elbow.
“Well, I was fucking around with the cushions, also trying to clean it out, and I noticed the straps. So obviously I was like, ‘the fuck?’ And as anyone does, I pulled on the straps,” he explained dramatically, making hand movements to coincide with the story, “and it FLEW OUT at me! Like, it hit me in the hip really really hard. And I was pulling on it really hard, since it didn’t come out the first time. So you can imagine,” he smirked, resting his hands on his hips. “Ow.”
“Huh, that’s cool. You’re kind of an idiot, though.” Jayden replied, glancing back at the bags of his stuff.
“Fuck you.” He rolled his eyes.
Jayden scoffed.
“Well. You wanna start unpacking?” Theo asked, noticing Jayden’s change of attention.
“Sure. I wanna get done with this before your friends come over anyways.”