hadn’t been at his house, because I’d been screaming at the top of my lungs and jumping up and down when Zac threw a pass that CJ connected with and won them their game.
I’d stayed up that night to make them donuts that they could eat when they got home the next morning as a treat. Even Deepa had texted me with firework emojis at the end. I’d said bye to her a couple of days ago when I’d gone over to her place and helped her pack before she drove home to be with her mom. I was going to miss her a lot, but I knew she had to go. We would keep in touch, I’d make sure of it.
I still had no idea what I was going to do without her or in general. Zac had helped me the last time I’d filmed, but I knew I couldn’t rely on him always being there. I was still recording videos, getting ready for the day I’d get my channel back. Zac was trying to keep me optimistic.
Anyway.
Sure, the current season wasn’t over-over yet, but they had to win the next couple of games to make it into the playoffs. If they made it into the playoffs, that was one thing. If they didn’t… well, that was going to be a totally different story for Zac.
The pressure he was under kept me up at night.
Well, that and the fact WatchTube still hadn’t taken access of my channel away from the motherfucking hacker assholes who had taken it from me. I’d raised hell this last week and had some of my viewers call and email too. I’d even had a couple of other blogger friends post about it.
And they still wouldn’t give me an update or just straight-up give it back to me.
But the more time it took, the more convinced I made myself that I was going to get it back and shoot straight for the damn moon with it. I wasn’t going to lose it, especially to some assholes. If I had to sue WatchTube, I would.
I’d just sell a kidney to get a lawyer.
Or ask one of the two people who loved me who would give me the money without a blink, if I stopped being stubborn.
If I wasn’t feeling so stressed from Zac’s future being on the line, me not knowing what the hell I was going to do and where I was going to live, and all the drama with having my channel hacked, I would have been overjoyed that some things were progressing.
Things were going to get better though; I could feel it. I just had to stay strong and keep my eye on the prize.
And quit my job.
I was doing that shit the second I got my channel back, I’d decided. My three weeks off from work were coming to an end, and I was ready to cut ties now that I didn’t feel any obligation to stay at Maio House. My two weeks’ notice was already typed and saved as a draft.
Now, I just needed my channel back.
I made my way toward the door after gesturing to him again that I would answer it, instantly spotting a woman standing in front of the glass door, holding a baby on one hip and her cell in the other.
She was pretty. Beautiful really. Way taller than me. And the baby in her arms, squirming to get down from the looks of it, couldn’t be three years old. A toddler.
A neighbor?
A… friend of Zac’s?
The woman had dark blonde hair tipped at the ends in a dark green. The baby had dark hair and rich brown skin. I waved through the glass, and it took the woman a second to see me before she lifted her hand almost hesitantly in return.
Oh God. Please God don’t let this be some woman Zac hangs out with. I didn’t want to have to leave right that second. But I would. I would, I would.
I had planned for this, thought about it during the empty spaces in my day since I’d moved in. I’d mentally prepared, or at least I liked to think I had. But I accepted in that moment that I wasn’t prepared for shit.
And that terrified me.
Unlocking the door, I tried to smile as I stood in the doorway, keeping the door about as close as possible to my side as I said, “Hi.”
The woman looked a little older than me and had a wary expression on