Page 73 of A Quick Buck

“You really are an asshole, you know that?” she asked. “Like a king of assholes.”

“Yeah, so?” Noah flopped down with an angry huff. “You gonna tattle on me to Alistair, huh?”

“What are you, fuckin’ five?” Crybaby wrinkled her nose. “I’m just saying you’re a dick.”

“Whatever.” Noah did feel a small tug of guilt for how he had treated Landon, and he promised himself to apologize.

Maybe.

Possibly.

“What do you want from Frida?”

Noah flinched. “What are you talking about?”

“That business at breakfast. Now this.” Crybaby squinted. “Seems to me that you’re only nice to people when you want something. And you’re being very nice to her all of a sudden.”

Ah, fuck.

“And before you ask, yeah, I am probably gonna tattle on you.”

“I can’t just be trying to make up for what a giant asshole I’ve been?” Noah asked sweetly.

“Ha! I don’t buy it.” She smirked. “And I promise you Mr. Star doesn’t either.”

“I am trying to be a better person. And okay, yeah, it’s maybe for my own personal gain…”

“What?” Crybaby pushed.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

If he was gonna lie, it had to be good.

“I want her…” Noah scrambled for a reply.

“To what?”

“To teach me how to cook, okay?” Noah could feel his face getting hot, and he looked away. Fuck, that sounded so lame. Maybe it was just lame enough to work. “No one ever taught me, and I, you know, I wanna learn.”

“Seriously?” Crybaby sounded skeptical.

“You can cook! Fuckin’ Alistair can cook! I… uh…”

“You wanna cook for him?”

“Yes!” Noah tried not to sound so excited that his lie was working. “I wanna make him dinner or fuckin’ something. He really seems to dig Frida’s cooking, so I thought I should ask her.”

“Okay, well, you clearly traumatized her.”

“Yeah, I know.” Noah sighed longingly. “I guess I’ll just have to come up with something else.”

“You idiot. I’ll teach you.”

“What?”

“I don’t usually make it a habit to help out spoiled brats, but hey, I’ll make an exception this one time.”

“Oh, great.” Noah forced a smile. “Thank you.”