"What is it?" Keeley asked, suddenly nervous. She had never heard Valentina sound so serious before—was someone dying?
She looked distinctly uncomfortable, shuffling in place and not meeting Keeley's eyes. "Well, you know how our deadline to renew our contract here is in two weeks?"
"Did you find someone?"
"No. Actually, I'm moving out," she said miserably. "One of my classmates' apartment has an opening and the rent there is $400 cheaper per month…you know I'm not working and can barely afford food with the money my family sends. It would help them a lot."
Keeley's jaw dropped. She couldn't fault her for thinking about her finances; $500 a month in the city was practically unheard of. She must be sharing a room with someone for it to be so cheap.
But could she have given a little more notice? There was no way Keeley would be able to find two new people to move in during that time frame. It had been months and she hadn't even found one.
"How long have you known about this?"
"Two weeks," Valentina admitted, still refusing to look at her.
Two weeks?! If she had known about this two weeks ago she could have had more time to make other arrangements! She would have to move out for sure.
Where on earth was she going to find somewhere pet friendly for $900 a month? She couldn't afford a rent increase, let alone a deposit.
It wasn't like she could stay with her dad either—he was severely allergic to cats. Keeley would die before leaving Molly behind like her old owners did.
"Why didn't you tell me?!" she exploded, ready to tear her hair out.
"I'm sorry!" her friend wailed. "I didn't know how to. We've been roommates for so long…I thought you would be mad at me!"
She was mad at her but not for the reasons Valentina thought. It was really inconsiderate to leave her hanging like this when she thought they had a deal to find a third roommate and stay here.
She took a few deep breaths to calm herself and lied. "I'm not mad. But it really wasn't cool to hold off on telling me. I'll figure something out though. Don't worry about me, okay? I know you're only doing what you have to."
A relieved smile lit her face. "You're the best, Keeley."
"Yeah, yeah," Keeley grumbled. "If you'll excuse me, I need to go look up pet friendly housing."
She tried her best not to storm off. This wasn't Valentina's fault. She was only looking out for herself, like anyone in her situation would.
Unfortunately, the prospects did not look good. A studio apartment cost $2,000+ a month which was almost as much as their current three bedroom one. Keeley checked sites to see if anyone was looking for an extra roommate but had no luck.
All the ads she saw either weren't pet friendly, cost more than she could afford, or had more people than should be squished into a single apartment legally. She was doomed.
The worst part of all of this was that she didn't even know if she would be in New York after January. It would be pointless putting down a deposit she couldn't afford just to leave six months later.
With that in mind, she tried checking long-term stay hotels to see if there were any that cost $900 a month or less. What a joke. It would cost that much to stay in one of those for less than a week.
Technically, she could have Molly stay at a cheap, low quality pet boarding center for $30 a night while she stayed with her dad. That would amount to $900 a month but she would be depressed in a place like that long-term. She was considered a senior cat—in her old age she deserved consistency and peace.
Unfortunately that was looking like Keeley's only option at this point.
She banged her head against the desk and sighed before looking up at the cat that was enjoying a leisurely snooze on her bed. Molly had been through enough in her life. She shouldn't have to go to a terrible boarding center.
"Molly, what am I going to do?" she asked miserably.
The cat merely blinked at her in response.
===
The following morning Keeley was a wreck. She had been up half the night worrying about what to do with her impending homelessness. She covered it as best she could with makeup—she didn't want to ruin Jennica's pictures after all—but it wasn't completely effective.
She doubted anyone would be paying attention to how haggard she looked anyway. Aaron and his gigantic black eye should be sufficient distraction.
When the photographer saw how bad it looked—it had turned even more purple overnight—she promised to do her best to fix it with Photoshop. Jennica was thrilled. Cameron made her promise to give him the original copies as well so he could always remember Aaron's face.
He was lucky Aaron wasn't in earshot when he said that. He might have frozen over the entire wedding venue.
It was Keeley's job to help Jennica do her hair and makeup as the maid of honor in the bride's room. Her mother kept fussing about how she wanted to be the one to do it so Keeley did her best to keep the woman involved in the process. They compromised—Keeley did makeup as Anna did hair at the same time.
The photographer was sure to get some 'before' and 'after' shots in the bride's room. Jennica was absolutely radiant.
The bridesmaids didn't look half bad either, albeit very colorful in their one shouldered hot pink dresses that went to their knees and orange heeled sandals. To complete the wedding color trifecta, Cameron and the groomsmen had red ties and pocket squares.
They all looked very summery and tropical, just like Jennica wanted. At least Keeley might actually be able to wear this outfit again. Separately. The two bright colors together were a bit much for her taste.