He squeezes my forearm. “I didn’t know you were still struggling. Have you been talking to a therapist?”
I bow my head. “Not as regularly as I should,” I admit. “But I have one that I talk to remotely, and she’s really good about working me in when I call.”
“I’m not pushing you or telling you what to do. No need to rebel. But I’d like you to consider talking to her a little more regularly.”
“I will,” I agree, nodding. “After this summer, I guess.”
“There are technology huts or whatever on Kala. You can start while there,” Lix says. “Not that I’m pushing.”
I laugh. “Noted. I’ll consider it.”
“Good. Back to your transfer. Is it ready to submit?”
“Will you look it over?” I ask, sliding my tablet toward him. “The essay is up in the background too. I didn’t mention Trevor.”
Lix doesn’t comment as he picks up the tablet. His smile says enough though. He’s amused that I waited for him before submitting it. This will make college application number nine that I haven’t submitted without Lix looking it over first. Even though he was busy with hockey my senior year of high school, we spent a lot of time on the phone together while I filled out college applications, and he looked over every single one.
I feel like maybe I’m getting better at it since Lix doesn’t correct or adjust something for quite a while. He doesn’t do anything to my essay at all.
“You have a great GPA,” he comments as he hands it back to me. “I can pay for the application fee. How’s your bank account?”
Small. “It’s fine. I can do this one.”
“You sure?”
I roll my eyes. “I haven’t spent anything in the last couple weeks, and I won’t be until summer’s over. It’s fine. But… I might consider a work study if I qualify.”
“How do you think you’ll have time for that, school, and soccer?” he asks.
I chew my lip as I look out over the water. “I don’t know, but I practically live off you already. I think I need to grow up sometime.”
“You can grow up after you graduate and begin your career,” Lix says. “I enjoy being able to help you with school, Roux. I don’t want you to begin your adult life with massive debt.”
Not gonna lie, I don’t want that either. “You’re going to let me buy you a house or something someday,” I mutter.
“Sure,” Lix says, though I know he’s only agreeing to humor me. He takes the tablet back and changes out the credit card information. “Ready to submit?”
I take a breath and nod. “Yeah.”
Lix presses the submit button, and we watch the little circleas the site processes the information. There’s a series of confirmations, credit card entries, and finally contact information, which is filled out with Lix as primary since I’ll be on Kala and unable to receive phone calls.
Then it’s done.
The message on the screen reads:
Thank you for your application to Rainbow Dorset University. We will be in touch with a decision on your enrollment. Go proudly into the world!
I grin.
“I already like this school,” Lix says.
“You should check out their website. It’s incredible. I wish I’d stumbled upon them right away when I was looking for colleges in high school. They need better advertising.”
Lix pokes around their website for a while as I munch on another biscuit and watch the ocean and the clear sky with the occasional wispy white cloud.
“Where’s Noah?” I ask.
“Hanging with Azure and Max,” he answers. “I think they were going to play checkers or chess or something.”
