She puts a hand on my arm to stop us walking, and stares right into my eyes with her piercing blue ones.

“No, really. There’s no one I would’ve wanted there more than you. You’re one of the most genuine people I know.”

Yeah. Supergenuine. I tug at the collar of my shirt. It’s not like I’m hiding a life-changing secret from you or anything. Or planning on ditching you and never speaking to you again in a few weeks.

8

It’s Sunday, the day after visiting Luke. Annalisa, Charlotte, and I are standing in the hallway of his apartment building, trying to find the hidden key to his apartment, which is on the first floor of a sketchy apartment building in a part of town that’s not the greatest or particularly known for its safety. Apparently, his rent has been paid for the next couple of months, so no one’s been here to pack up his stuff and kick him out.

“Remind me why we couldn’t wait until one of the guys was free to come here again?” Charlotte asks, eyeing the end of the hallway with suspicion.

“Because we’re strong, independent women who don’t need to wait for a man to get shit done,” Annalisa reminds her with a straight spine, seemingly right at home.

“This strong, independent woman wants to get the hell out of here ASAP,” Charlotte mumbles, wrapping her arms around herself.

This place gives me the creeps, so I don’t blame her. The hallway is dimly lit and smells like cigarettes. The fluorescent light in the ceiling above Luke’s door is flashing on and off in no particular pattern, giving the hallway an especially eerie feel. The remnants of police caution tape dangle in front of Luke’s door. What we’ll find here that the police haven’t already, I’m not sure, but at least we can say we tried. We walk to one of the potted plants in the hallway and Annalisa lifts it up to look underneath.

“There are five keys there. What a stupid hiding place, why would everyone just leave their key here?” Charlotte wonders out loud as Annalisa grabs one at random.

“Maybe no one here has anything worth stealing?” Annalisa suggests, trying the key in the door to no avail.

She tries all five keys, and none of them work.

“What the hell? He said it was in the plant. This is the apartment he said, right?” Annalisa asks me, annoyance creeping into her tone.

“Wait—he did say in the plant.” I grimace.

Annalisa groans with disgust as she rolls up her sleeve and sticks her hand in the dirt, fishing around for the apartment key.

“I swear, if I’m doing this for no reas—found it!”

She pulls out a key and brushes the dirt off it, then off of herself. She tries it in the door and we hear a click. Nervously glancing around the sketchy hallway one more time, we push the door open and pile into the apartment, shutting the door and locking it behind us.