No Midnight Mercy ☾ (gxg)

20-visitor

"Ruth?"

Eden hadn't seen that face in person for several months. She hadn't even seen it at all, besides through all the negative memories that her brain played like a broken record every now and again, since she had seen her Instagram post two months ago about her and her fiancée moving into a new apartment.

It was those light blue eyes she had always known that pierced through her in that moment. It was like those eyes were a harpoon shoving its mighty hook right through Eden's chest like she was nothing but paper—that's how it always felt. Ruth's hair was cut right at her shoulders at a downward angle, straightened and sleek, caramel brown with some streaks of blonde. She had that look on her face, her lips set in a subtle smirk that screamed I'm about to cause trouble and like it. But it wasn't charming or cutely devilish. It made Eden's heart sink.

"Ruth," Eden repeated, almost in disbelief that the woman was standing right there at the door. She heard her microwave beep, signaling that her coffee was now warm, but Eden felt like heaving up all the contents in her stomach. "What are you doing here?"

"Stopping by," she spoke, her thick eyebrow raising as she boldly took a step inside the apartment. Alarms rang in Eden's head, sheer panic filling her as she watched the woman, dressed in a black tank over flowy beige pants, click her heels on the wooden floor over the threshold. Her eyes raked over Eden who immediately stepped backwards, not in allowance but in fear. Her eyes took in her figure condescendingly, as they always did. Eden felt suddenly exposed, only dressed in Cecilia's sweater and white socks.

"W-Why?" Eden stuttered as Ruth walked past her, her familiar scent invading her nostrils and making her nauseous. She pressed her back against the wall in the entrance hall as Ruth glided into the kitchen, her eyes roaming all about the place.

The woman's eyes landed on the danish wrapper and the sticky note on the counter. She grabbed the sticky note and read it, eyebrows arching up in surprise. She glanced back at Eden mockingly and let the paper fall back to the counter, the sweetness of the message turning sour under Ruth's touch. "Did I just miss someone else passing through?"

"You need to leave," Eden breathed as Ruth walked towards the living room, waiting until she was far away enough from the counter to quickly and cautiously put her danish down on the wrapper and wipe her hands. "Or I'll call the cops."

Ruth stood at the window beside the TV and chuckled, her bare shoulders moving up and down as she did. "What are they going to do? Kick me out of my own apartment?"

The girl's dark blonde eyebrows twisted up. "What is that supposed to mean?"

The woman sauntered over to the curtain and ran her hand over it until it reached the part in the middle, peering her head through it and seeing Eden's bed where there were two indents on each pillow, confirming that someone else had slept there that night. She patronizingly chuckled. "Has it been so long that you've forgotten?" Her eyes met Eden's again. "I co-signed on this place."

"So?" Eden immediately shot. "That means nothing. I'm the tenant. I pay the rent. It's in my name."

"So young and clueless," Ruth laughed, moving to the couch and running her finger along the back. "Look, Sandra and I are looking for a place to put all our stuff." She paused and turned to look at Eden again, a devious expression on her face. "Sandra is my fiancée."

"I'm aware," Eden grimly spoke, remembering the Instagram picture. "You're hilarious for thinking you can just walk into the place that I pay rent for and pretending like you have the authority to kick me out and turn this into a storage unit."