down as Navy followed behind the tow truck with my car hitched to the flatbed.
“Why would you risk tanking your credit just to prove a point?” I whined.
“The car isn’t in my name. Good lord child, you didn’t even pay attention to who your car is registered to? You assumed that me and your mother put the car in our names?” His laugh was a gut punch.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
“No. We thought you’d have enough sense to hold up your end of the bargain which was what?” He paused and waited for my answer making me feel like a toddler repeating the rules.
“To get a job until I got a seat as principal harpist.” My lips were heavy and poking out.
“You haven’t done that, sweetheart. You know I’ll always go to bat for you but you’re in the real world. You have been for six months now. You graduated and you’ve been running amok ever since. Life is not about shopping sprees and vacations, Xari. You were supposed to find a sustainable job, get a credit card in your name, build credit on your own, and start taking over payments for rent and your car note.”
Fuck. Rent.
“Wait…Daddy, if you guys let the car get repossessed, what about my apartment?” I stayed in a beautiful studio apartment in a neighborhood that boasted celebrity and politician neighbors. Living in Maryland meant I was D.C. adjacent. I got to see all the fine senators and congressmen. I did not want to give that up because my parents had something to prove.
“Have you paid the rent, Xari?” He asked quietly.
“No…” I never saw the rent. I assumed it came out of my parents’ account automatically every month.
“Have you gotten any eviction notices?” He quizzed. He was far too calm for this conversation. My heart was about to pop from uncertainty.
“I don’t think so. I haven’t checked the mail. Do they send stuff like that in the mail?”
“God, Xari. We did you such a disservice. No more. That stops now. Better late than never,” he huffed. “Go home. Check your mail. You need to know if you’re getting evicted.” The call ended and I sat there holding the phone in a daze. All the luxuries I’d been afforded blinked in my head like blaring red lights.
My phone.
My internet.
Netflix. Hulu. Amazon Prime.
Oh my god. My Neiman Marcus card.
“So, as usual, you have no idea what’s going on in your own life since it doesn’t revolve around music and shopping?”
“What if I get evicted, Navy? Can I live with you?” I stared at her with wide, hopeful eyes.
“Um, no.” She pulled onto a gated lot and parked on a gravel lot before getting out. “Come on, you’re going to learn how this goes. Pull up the bank information for whoever Mom and Dad make your payments through.” She looked at me before opening the door to the small, rundown building and sighed. “Oh my god, you have no idea what I’m talking about do you?”
“I know what you’re talking about. I’m not stupid. I just don’t know the login information. I’ve never had to put it in.” I felt my cheeks turn red under Navy’s judgmental gaze. I’d never hated myself so much for not paying attention to simple adult details that most people paid attention to daily.
“Okay, call Dad back and get the information.” For the next twenty minutes, I felt like a complete ass having to be walked through the process of making a payment online then having to pay the tow company their fee once the payment was processed. It was slow, torturous, and it made me never want to ignore a car payment again.
“Thanks, Navy for having my back.” I hugged my sister before she got into her car, which was current on all payments.
“Uh-huh. I love you, Xari but I expect you to pay me back. I just came up off twelve-hundred dollars between your late payment and the towing fees.”
“How am I supposed to pay you back? How am I supposed to pay this shit next month?” My heart was racing again.
“Looks like you have a lot of growing up to do in a little bit of time, sis.” She gave me a polite smile before getting in her car and driving off.
…
Turns out, I’d missed so many weeks collecting mail from my mailbox that they returned it all to the post office and I had to go pick it up before they closed for the night. I walked into my apartment