The feels are writing these themselves, I'm not kidding.
The suitcase's latch snapped over the last of the tulle- and silk-fringed, skimpy outfits, all in bright shades of purple, pink, teal, emerald green…Anything to distract the audience, even if the color was the last flag, given all the skin the ridiculous outfits showed.
Henley Reeves cocked her head, examining the pile of luggage before her and wondering if she wouldn't be better off just setting the entire magician's assistant wardrobe ablaze. She wasn't going to be using any of it ever again, actually, and so…
But the expensive shoes, the average price easily calculated by accounting for a hundred dollars per inch of heel. The jewelry. The rare boning in the lining of the corsets. Maybe she could at least make a few bucks off the stuff. But the hats…They could go. They could be burned and set off a smoke detector or two and cause enough trouble to coat the cake of her exit in icing.
Just as she lunged for the latch on the first case, he entered the room, stopping short at the sight of he bags. "Henley…?"
She whirled, the case in her arms banging painfully against her knee with the movement. "Get out."
"But what are you…" Daniel's voice trailed off as his eyes roamed the now-bare walls of her room in the apartment. "Did you get a new place?"
"You could say that," Henley ground out, deciding against taking the time to set the damned hats on fire, as it would mean lingering in this place with this man and wasting more time of her life, something she couldn't bear the thought of right now.
"What is going on?" Daniel folded his arms, blocking her way out of the room as she swung a bag over her shoulder, hefting a remaining one in each hand.
"I may not fit through your stupid trapdoors anymore, but I think I can manage this one," she snapped, pausing a moment to shove a pair of sunglasses over her eyes before shoving past him and into the hall. But when she looked up, he was standing in front of her again. Damn magicians.
"Get out of my way, Daniel." Her tone left no room for argument in the crowded hall. "I'm leaving and you can't stop me. Shouldn't you be at rehearsal with little Rebecca, who can fit through any and all doors you concoct with that ego-inflated head of yours?"
Daniel was floored at her bitter words, sinking beneath the weight of guilt as he feigned ignorance. "You know she is only an assistant-in-training, Henley, I'm doing a favor for a friend taking her on-"
"Oh, I know how much effort you're putting into taking her on," Henley cut in, finally succeeding in maneuvering herself and her bags to the front door. "I don't want to hear anymore. I've got a solo gig lined up. I don't need to prance across a stage half-naked, advertising your act anymore." As she reached for the latch on the front door, one of her bags broke open, scattering clothes across the floor. The bag had been securely locked the moment before, with not one but two locks. Which she held the keys to, stashed securely in her bra at the moment. Damn. Magicians.
She set her intact luggage down, swiveling on the spot and stomping back to face Daniel eye to eye, heels clicking harshly on the wooden floor. "You really wanna do this?" She snapped her fingers, and a rare houseplant Daniel guarded like a mother bear toppled from its perch on a shelf, the ceramic pot that held it shattering with an echoing crash as it hit the floor.
She almost felt bad at the expression on his face. Almost. But then her eyes caught sight of one of those stupid tables in the corner, the ones he used to cut her in half, the ones with the damn secret doors that no human could physically fit through except for damn Rebecca, and all guilt vanished. She pivoted on her heel, grabbing her remaining bags and leaving without a second glance at her possessions that lay abandoned on the floor. His floor. The door slammed, and Daniel atlas was left at a loss, for the first time in his life, staring unseeingly at a green corset poking out of Henley's forsaken suitcase. She'd always looked stunning in that one, and now she'd pulled her most provocative stunt yet, though he would never admit it.
Y'all rock. ~Bon