That Last Little Spark

*
After a night out at their favorite restaraunt, Jess said goodnight to the girls outside and left them to wander the city nightlife on their own while she caught up on some much needed sleep. But first she caught a cab to take her a mile down the road to a small grocery store to get things that she had run out of or that she would need for the next week. She walked out with at least four plastic bags before she hailed another cab to take her back to her apartment building.

She walked barefoot through the nearly empty lobby and stepped onto the empty elevator.

"Hold the door!" someone yelled as she pressed the button for the seventh floor. She instinctively stuck her hand out as the door started to slide shut. Most people would've let it close, but she knew many of the people in this building.

A man hurried onto the with a large suitcase. He didn't look familiar, but he looked friendly enough. He reached for the seventh floor button but drew his hand back when he noticed it had been pressed

The elevator slowly ascended up and she impatiently watched the numbers light up as she set the heavy bags down on the floor to put her shoes back on, knowing it was almost impossible to hold onto the heels and the bags at the same time.

"Do you need some help?" the man asked when she was about to pick up the bags.

"If you don't mind." she smiled gratefully.

"No problem." the man nodded as the door opened.

"Are you visiting someone on this floor?" Jess asked as they both walked out. She only knew the woman who lived in the apartment next to hers, but it was better than the awkward silence that seemed to hang in the air

"My aunt. She came down with something earlier this week and I live closer to her than the rest of my family." the man said. Jess led him to her door and fumbled in her purse for her key.

"Thank you so much." she sighed when she set two of the bags down inside her door.

"Have a good night." the man handed her the other bags.

"You too!" she called cheerfully. The man simply continued down the hall, turned the corner, and disappeared from her sight.

As soon as she closed her door, however, the man came back around the corner and walked back to the elevators, glancing back at her apartment number before he got on the elevator and descended to the lobby, exiting the apartment building for what he hoped would be the first and last time.

A short walk later, he was knocking on the door of a motel room. Another man answered the door.

"713." he said.

"You sure?" the other man growled.

"I helped her carry her groceries to her apartment!" he exclaimed. "Can I please have the money now? I don't wanna be in on this anymore. Kay's already gonna be pissed that I left without even telling her where I was going for the weekend." he complained.

"Man, you're whipped." the other man laughed.

"Hey, I'm doing this for her. We need the money. You know how much she means to me." he softened slightly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." the other man sighed and tossed 8 $100 bills at him. He nodded once at the man and left, hoping to get out of this city and get this out of his mind as fast as he could.

That poor girl, he thought to himself. What's with Chase's fixation on her?