(chapter one)

Maeve watched behind the wheel as Johnny closed his car's door, signaling to the workers who were waiting for them where they should place the boxes.

She sank against the leather seat of her dad's car, her window still closed as she stared at the beat-down condo — not that much different than her own back in Van Nuys.

Johnny scratched his ear as the workers took the boxes out of the moving truck to inside the apartment complex, then he sighed at the new thought that his life would be much different now.

He is not a good father and he knows that, but Johnny couldn't help himself when he thought his best friend's kid would be alone in the world. Because Johnny was alone in the world for the longest, and he knew how that felt.

Johnny looked at the girl inside Tommy's old black Opala, holding a beaten teddy bear against her chest, so he walked to her driver's door, knocking on the window to get her attention.

"Do you wanna head inside so you can see your room? I can help carry a few boxes there so you can get settled." Johnny tried, and Maeve nodded weakly back at him.

It was progress, he thought. It's not like a guy she didn't remember just randomly decided to house her.

Taking off the keys from the console, she stepped out of the car, and Johnny let her walk in front of him. Maeve gave the workers a tight smile before getting inside the apartment.

Once inside, she noticed the yellow walls, a lot like the outside ones, but her eyes caught the mess in the kitchen, with a pile of dishes on the sink. There was a hallway with four doors, and Johnny guided her closer to it, getting them out of the worker's way.

"You can choose any of the rooms at the back. The first door at the left is the bathroom. And the first at the right is my room... Mine's a suite, so you won't have to worry about bathroom schedules or any shit like that," he explained, and Maeve only nodded again.

She walked warily, opening the second door to the left, right beside the bathroom, and looked around. It was empty, completely empty. The windows and curtains closed, the slight smell of stiffness in the air, and Maeve could see that he hadn't recently cleaned the floor.

And she couldn't blame him either. It was not like he was expecting to go there to see his friend and come back with a child to look after.

From the moment Johnny arrived to see her father to know where they were standing, he hadn't returned to his house once. Johnny, Jimmy, and Bob helped her box her entire house and called the truck. They gave her three days to recover and never left her alone during it. It was extremely scary, but in the end, Maeve was thankful when she left her old room, and instead of being welcomed by the loneliness, the three guys her father always talked so dearly of were eating pizza from cardboard plates in her kitchen.

Johnny moved from behind her, going straight to the windows and pulling them open, the fresh air flowing inside instantly. He clasped his hands together and stared at her frame in the middle of the room. He opened his mouth, but then a thought appeared in his head and he got out of the room.

Maeve looked outside, seeing the movements of the cars and the concrete from the street, a tree outside her window covered a bit of the view from inside, but not enough to keep the heat from entering. Johnny then returned, two keys in his left hand, also with a beat-up keychain, handing them to her.

"This one that has the green tag is the bathroom one, and the purple one is the bedroom door," he pointed, Maeve moved the two, and Johnny cleared his throat. "I don't exactly have another copy of the front door to give you... there's the one that's always in the door, but I'll make more copies for you later today."

"Thank you," she smiled weakly at him, and he smiled back, clapping his hands together.

"Alright, I'll grab my tools so we can reassemble your bed. They already took it out of the truck."

"I can help," she suggested, and Johnny shook his head, waving a dismissive hand.

"Nah, you don't-"

"I can help, Johnny." She insisted, and he stopped. "Please."

"Okay," he agreed, pointing to her to help him pick up the wood of her bed.

Maeve left her teddy bear on the kitchen counter, picking up her side while Johnny took the other, and they walked carefully to not hit the walls.

Once the bed was assembled again, Johnny grabbed the mattress and placed it on top of it while Maeve grabbed all the wrapping plastics and threw them in the trash bag. The next thing they did was set up her old wardrobe — Johnny did it alone this time. Maeve decided it would be easier for the both of them if she just took out her clothes from the bags and folded them on top of the now-done bed.

When Johnny was done, he got in with her desk, then her chair, and all the other boxes that were written bedroom and bathroom on the side of the cardboard box, and in the end, he placed her beaten-up teddy bear on the chair.

"Look, kid," he started, and Maeve placed the clothes in one of the drawers, staring at Johnny with curiosity. "I have to leave for work. It's not that far from here, and I left all the important numbers on the counter. If you need anything you can go to apartment number one, it's beside mine, and ask for Carmen's help. She's a friend, and I told her about you."

"It's fine, Johnny," she answered truthfully, playing with the charms of her bracelet. "I'm not a child, I can handle myself. But thank you."

She moved to grab another pile of clothes and Johnny nodded, getting out of the room, and soon Maeve heard the click of the front door and the silence engulfed her once more. The wind of the now-opened window made shivers run up her arm. The feeling of dread now settled.

Maeve just swallowed down the uneasiness and moved open another box, and once she did, she frowned. There was a small star-framed picture of her and her old friend in the fourth grade named Theodora. The brown-haired girl entered the wrong classroom and she only realized it was the wrong one when the teacher started taking attendance, when the girl raised her hand and told the teacher she hadn't called her, the old woman only looked over her glasses, shot a pointy look at the girl and told Theo that her class was on the other side of the building.

Maeve had just rolled her eyes when everyone started laughing, and she offered to help Theo find her class, excusing both of them from the idiots and forming a good friendship. Theo was Maeve's first-ever friend, and she missed the times when her only worry was to know if the cafeteria would have apple pie as dessert.

Hours had passed, but she finally was able to unbox everything. The sky was already turning a nice shade of orange, and Maeve's stomach growled in hunger when she folded another empty box. She moved to the small kitchen, opening the fridge. Inside were just two packs of cold brew, a bottle of water, and old ham — the smell taking over the small space, and Maeve shut the door fast to avoid gagging.

The dishes on the sink were also smelling just as bad and her shoulders fell at the thought that this was her life now.

Summer was almost over and there was not enough time for her to get a summer job. She didn't know her way around, so Maeve bit down her fingernail as she leaned against the counter, opening the maps on her phone and looking for the closest pizza place to order.

Maeve smiled satisfied after she paid over the phone, leaving it on the counter, deciding to shower while she waited for the delivery.

++++

Miguel fidgeted with the keys of the apartment complex, his mood had soured after his encounter with the most random guy at Sam's house. But when he rounded the corner, he saw a biker standing by the complex's entrance with his phone in his ear, cursing loudly when whoever he was calling didn't answer.

"Hey, dude. Can I help you?" He asked, and the biker looked at him.

"Do you live here?" Miguel nodded, as the guy sighed in relief. "The owner of apartment #2 is not picking up and I gotta dip, I have other orders. Can you bring this in?"

The delivery man asked as he already handed the boy the pizza box before Miguel could even answer. He hopped on the bike and drove off. Miguel just blinked as the pizza weighed his hands down, the keys jangling.

"Yeah, sure..." he mumbled, rolling his eyes as he balanced the box on his left hand, opening the door with his other one.

Typical Johnny, the boy thought as he continued to fidget with the keys, grabbing the purple one and stopping in front of the door, unlocking it expecting to see his sensei sitting on the couch with a cheap beer in hand and his ancient laptop in his lap, but instead he felt weird with the void of any of that, just the living room lamp turned on.

But before he could close the front door, the bathroom door opened and a cloud of steam escaped right away, with it a rather short girl with an overly large Metallica t-shirt, baggy shorts under it, and her hair pinned up. Miguel stopped himself for a moment, wondering if he entered the wrong apartment for the next few seconds while he watched the girl placing the towel in her arm as she sang quietly something to herself, but when her eyes turned up, she jumped, taking a step back, keeping down a shriek.

"Who are you?!" She asked loudly, looking bewildered at him, her eyes searching for something to defend herself.

"Who am I- Who are you?!" He asked, the box still in his hands and Maeve blinked.

"You're the delivery guy? How..? How did you even get in?" Miguel looked down at the box, then back at her even more confused.

"I'm the... No! I'm not-"

"Hey, kid," a voice behind startled the two, and they both stared at Johnny, who had a somewhat empty expression on his face, entering the apartment and looking at the boy while he closed the door. "Oh, hell yeah!"

He opened the box and took a slice of the pizza, placing it in his mouth as he moved to the kitchen, opening the fridge and taking a beer out. Maeve was left gapping when Johnny flickered the cap and it landed on the trash, her arms falling defeatedly at her sides.

When the bottle was placed on the table, Miguel — who was still holding the pizza box, but now with the lid opened — just decided to break the sound of Johnny's chewing.

"I'm sorry, what is happening?" Johnny looked up to his student, then back at the girl, realization setting in.

"Oh, yeah," he cleared his throat and scratched the back of his ear, pointing the hand with the pizza slice to the both of them. "Miguel, that's Maeve. She's the daughter of my friend Tommy."

Realization seemed to dawn on the boy's face, and Johnny continued.

"Maeve, that's Miguel... he's my student, and he also lives next door." He tried to explain the best he could due to the situation. Maeve walked closer to the boy.

"I'm guessing the pizza is yours, then?" Miguel asked, and she nodded, taking the box from the boy's hands.

"Yeah, thank you..." she smiled tightly, placing the box on the table, then she opened the lid again and her stomach rolled over with hunger, but she turned back to the boy. "Do you want some?"

As much as she asked just to be polite, Johnny grinned, slapping the counter with his hand. "Yeah, grab a slice! Maybe you can tell Maeve a little about yourself... today was a good win!"

Miguel smiled awkwardly, moving to stand beside her, staring at her as she took a bite of one slice.

"What do you learn, by the way?" She asked after swallowing, staring at him under her lashes, tiredness appearing on her body.

"Oh, Karate." A smile graced her features at his answer.

"Really?" Johnny smirked, shooting a wink at the boy at her reaction.

Miguel wanted to roll his eyes at the man, but he found himself giving in to the conversation, his mind slipping away completely from the previous matter earlier the same night.

The first chapter is more like an introduction, and it was long overdue.

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