Page 11

Just When You Think You Know What’s Going On

Abi

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the knock.

After stopping at the convenience store in the lobby for a twelve-pack of Diet Pepsi, I came straight up and had barely removed my shoes when three very heavy knocks banged on the door.

I looked through the peephole and it was Declan.

“Who is it?” I said.

“I know you can see me,” he said, looking calmly exasperated.

I opened the door. “Hi, there.”

“Hi, there,” he said, somehow managing to inject sarcasm into the two tiny words. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure. Come in.” It was a ludicrous thing to say when it was his house, but my life had become ludicrous.

I turned and went into the living room, assuming that’s where he’d want to talk, and after he closed the door, he followed me over.

I plopped down on the big white sofa, very tired of wearing the cocktail dress, and said, “What’s up?”

He reached up and loosened his tie a little more, looking unhappy. “So, what would you say if I asked you to keep up this little charade with me for the shareholder weekend?”

I accidentally made a you’re nuts noise in the back of my throat as I tucked my legs underneath me. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “I’m totally serious.”

“Oh.” This was definitely unexpected. “Well, then, no, thank you.”

“Come on,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

“Absolutely not,” I said, uninterested in more pretending.

“Why not?”

“Why not ?” Had he not been there? “For starters, I have a life.”

“Which you chose to drop into mine without permission.”

I rolled my eyes. “And you don’t even like me.”

“That’s not true,” he said, but his face didn’t support the argument. He looked like he was discussing getting a second root canal when he added, “I don’t not like you.”

“It’s embarrassing when you gush like that, Powell.” There was no way I was going to spend an entire weekend juggling lies and chitchat with wealthy strangers. I’d found a way to make it fun for a few hours, but as a rule, I avoided situations where I had no control. “And again—no, thank you.”

“I’ll make it worth your while.” He rubbed the side of his neck.

“Nope.”

“There has to be something you want. Something that would make this doable.”

“Give me your car.”

“Okay,” he said with a shrug.

“What?”

He shrugged again, like it was literally no big deal, and said, “I have other cars. I’ll give you the twelve-ninety if you give me the weekend.”

“Oh, my God, I don’t want your car,” I said around an incredulous laugh. “I mean, of course I do but I don’t; I was making a point. And I have to work all weekend.”

“So call in sick.”

His argument said just so much about how different our lives were. “I can’t just call in sick. I need that money for rent.”

Without giving it a thought, he said, “I’ll pay your rent.”

“And I don’t have shareholder-quality clothes.”

“Edward will bring some.”

“ What? ” I kind of yelled it, but this conversation was reaching unbelievable proportions. “You really don’t care about money at all, do you?”

He just shrugged again. “Does that mean you’re in?”

“ No ,” I snapped, feeling that my face was all screwed up. “I mean, let me think for a second. You’re talking too fast and it’s making my head spin.”

“Okay.” Something in his eyes, in his face, changed.

He looked less tired and irritated and more awake and challenged, like he was an animal about to go in for the kill.

“I’m going to go into the bedroom and get some things from the closet—if that’s okay with you—while you just ‘think for a second.’?”

It was irritating, the way he air-quoted me. “Go.”

He went into the other room and I tried getting my thoughts in order.

Two days. Saturday and Sunday. I only had to play with him for two days, and he’d cover my rent.

Or give me his car.

I wasn’t greedy so I wouldn’t ask, but I kind of thought I could get both if I wanted. He seemed to be desperate enough and also rich enough to not give a damn about the material things he’d be throwing away.

I didn’t want to do it, but I’d be a fool not to, right? I could take his money for rent and put my money toward my student loan principal.

Or …

I got off the couch and wandered over to the windows, looking out at the downtown night sky while my brain kept replaying the thought, over and over again like a flashing neon sign.

Ask him to pay off student loans.

Ask him to pay off student loans.

Ask him to pay off your motherloving student loans!

I mean, technically, the balance that I owed was less than what his fancy car was worth, so as ballsy as it seemed to demand a stack of cash, it was less than he was offering.

Right?

The only thing was that I wasn’t sure if it was possible for me to say those words. Could my mouth actually say the words and demand forty thousand dollars? That felt like extortion or prostitution or…some other - tion that I was probably too overwhelmed to think of.

“So what are we thinking?” Declan said as he walked into the room, and when I turned around, I was shocked to see him looking so… regular . He was wearing sweatpants and a Cubs T-shirt, with a baseball hat on backward, and it kind of threw me.

I hadn’t expected that he ever went casual.

This was a little mind-blowing.

I cleared my throat and crossed the room, needing to get closer, because if I were going to say the words forty thousand , I wouldn’t be saying them loudly. At best, I’d be mouse-squeaking them; at worst, soundlessly mouthing them before fainting dead away from mortification.

I crossed my arms over my chest—I was freezing in the cocktail dress—and didn’t stop until I was standing in front of him.

“So,” I said, looking down at my red toenails. “I’ll do it on one condition.”

“Name it,” he said.

I kept my eyes on my feet as I blurted, “I’ll need forty thousand dollars.”

Silence.

I’d expected a laugh or a gasp, but not silence.

“Did you hear—”

“You better look me in the eyes when you’re saying things like ‘forty K,’ honey.”

My eyes shot to his, and he didn’t look as insulted as I’d expected.

Or even shocked.

His green eyes were pinning me in place with their intensity, and he wasn’t smiling, but his voice was absolutely calm when he said, “Maybe you should tell me what’s included with this price tag.”