To that I snorted before I could stop myself. When she gave me a questioning look I mumbled, a very unconvincing, “I just feel bad.”
“You know kiddo, mom and I would be happy to cover her side of the rent so you don’t have to find another roommate. We could also keep you from feeling strapped.” My dad’s deep blue eyes sparkled sincerely from across the table.
They meant well, I knew they meant well. It was just…. too much. Kids couldn’t wait for college for a myriad of reasons, most were to get away from their parents. And I was no exception. But it wasn’t like I had these terrible parents. They were just…. overwhelming. And before I was even halfway through high school I was suffocating under their strict, heavy-handed rule. Throw in my three guard-dog brothers and there was nothing left of me. Ofme. When I graduated high school I was lost. I had no idea who I was, what I wanted in life or what I was going to do to get myself under my own control. Fast forward two years and I still didn’t know. But I was better, I was breathing and I was learning.
Accepting their money would be accepting that life I struggled so hard to shed. I couldn’t do it. And I couldn’t ask for help with Fin. This was my life, these were my problems. If I had any hope in hell of figuring out who I was and what I wanted out of life it started now, it started with these things.
“Thank you, really,” I gave them a sincere, adoring smile that I actually felt. “I don’t need it though. I’m going to get another roommate before the end of this month and I already picked up a sEcond job with flexible hours that is paying great.” It’s also not paying me in cash, just erasing a debt I shouldn’t owe in the first place. But those were small, minute details. When my mom opened her mouth to object to the idea of me working more I quickly cut in, “Actually the work load is really easy and I can do a lot of it throughout the day so I’m not cutting into study time. Plus my boss is really understanding when things come up. If I need time off, he will give it to me.”
“Where is it?” Grayson asked, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“What?” Not the cleverest response.
“Where’s the job?” Grayson demanded.
“Why?” I sputtered, not at all liking the angry glint in Grayson’s eyes.
“I think what he’s trying to ask, Els, is what is the job?” Lennox asked from across the table, his arms still folded, his biceps bulging and straining.
“Yes, honey, what is the job?” My mom asked, still sounding concerned.
I felt the color drain from my face and my hands start to tremble under the table. I was in no way prepared to lie to my family about this. I didn’t even have a good lie to deliver. And while I stared back at all their intensely concerned faces my brain struggled relentlessly to come up with an excuse that would both check out and not require them to actually check up on me!
Which meant I was so screwed.
Beckett jumped into my rescue, “What they want to know is if you’re stripping for your education?” I gave him a blank look to both appear innocent and buy myself a little more time.Was that our waitress carrying a huge tray of food our way?“Did you resort to becoming a stripper, Ellie? To pay for school? No job is as easy as you described and pays well, so give up the details. What’s going on?”
Saved by the waitress. And lots and lots of food.
Silence reigned as she deposited plates in front of us and gave last minute instructions. This was followed up by grunts of satisfaction from the men and an “Mmm-yummy” from my mom. I cut deep into my chicken…. whatever I was having and stuffed the steaming hot piece of poultry into my mouth before I was required to answer the question.
Also, was stripping technically prostitution? Because if so…. I probably didn’t need to repeat myself, to myself.
“It’s not stripping,” I mumbled through my food, rude as it may be. “Do you all really think I would do something like that?”
This was met with a chorus of, “Of course not!” or, “We’re just worried about you, that’s all.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m so not brave enough to take my clothes off…. on stage. I would bolt the minute I was reduced to pasties and a g-string. Besides my boobs are way too small to bring home any money and don’t even get me started on the kind of grooming it would take to get camera ready so to speak.”
The table fell into another one of those stunned silences, but this one was well orchestrated on my part. My father actually dropped his fork, sending sauce splattering. My mother’s face turned purple, but not nearly as purple as my brothers.Ha! Take that, suckas!When in a pinch with my brothers, always bring up girl problems. My go to was my period but small boobs and waxing worked equally as well.
“I’m going to use the lady’s room.” I announced demurely. “If the waitress comes back, could someone get me more water? Thanks!”
And then I slipped away, forcing myself to walk casually until I was out of sight. Then I practically sprinted to the bathroom, unable to stop the evil grin from twisting my mouth.They deserved that!And it kind of felt good to dish something out, instead of just taking it all night.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and noticed two missing text messages from Fin and three notifications on his Facebook account that was still live on my phone. I clicked to his Facebook first, anxious to see if any developments were being made on the message-front.
Two notifications were tagged pictures of him with some of his track teammates goofing around at their last meet. But one was a message from the girl that was supposed to show up at his apartment tonight. She sent a consolatory message since Fin was “sick” tonight. She felt awful about his “sudden” and “violent” food poisoning and assured him if he needed “anything” she was more than willing to provide it.
Uh, oh, I hoped he didn’t get food poisoning from Baileys!
Ha!
I so wished I could have been there when Ms.-I’m-a-Sure-Thing showed up at Fin’s tonight. Ah, well. There would always be the unlikely chance he would vent about it at our next scheduled indentured-servitude-gathering. More than likely Cassie would message again and then I would get a sEcond chance at this.
Just for good measure I clicked on her profile. She was definitely gorgeous and not nearly as skanky as the girls that usually hung around Beckett. She was also a senior, so she had probably known Fin for a while.
I had to wonder why he shot her down….
