“Lou, I’d pay you rent. I should be paying you something now, but you don’t let me.”
“You cook,” Larissa replied.
“And you do my laundry,” Harlow tossed back with a small smile. “I think it’s good for me.”
“Me doing your laundry?” Larissa asked with a lifted eyebrow.
“No, me moving into my own place again. It’s a nice apartment.”
“It is,” Larissa agreed.
“And it’s closer to the office, so…”
“Farther from here,” Larissa said.
“I know. But it’s not like we won’t see each other. It’s only forty-five minutes.”
“Yeah, I get it. And I want you to have whatever you want. It was just an idea. I thought it might be fun to be real roommates and for you to maybe decorate the guest room how you want. The bed stuff is yours, but everything else is mine.”
“Can I say thanks, but no thanks?”
“Of course, you can,” Larissa replied.
But things were awkward now, and Harlow wondered if they werethisawkward when she turned down being roommates, how awkward they’d be if she actually told Larissa how she felt and Larissa didn’t feel the same way.
CHAPTER 17
“What are you doing here?” Aggie asked when Larissa walked into her office.
“I was on campus. Had a meeting. Thought I’d stop by and see if you wanted to grab lunch.”
“I’m technically in office hours right now, just no one wants to talk to me, it seems. Their test next week is going to be hard, so they really should be here, asking me questions. Want to sit?” Aggie motioned for Larissa to sit in one of the two chairs in front of her desk. “Social psych is the class everyone thinks will be easy until they realize how hard my tests are.”
“Why are you torturing them?” she asked with a laugh and sat down.
“For fun. Anyway, how was your meeting?”
“Good. Yes, before you ask, I’m still behind, but I’m working on it.”
“You’re an adult. I’m done trying to talk you into finally finishing something you set out to do close to twenty years ago if we count undergrad.”
“I will finish.”
“I believe you.”
“Do you, really?” Larissa asked.
“You know, it depends on the day. Sometimes, I get a text from you where you’re talking about research or the help youneed to get the paper done, and I think she’s really going to finish this thing. Other times, you’re talking to me about some book, and I think she’s never going to finish.”
“I will.”
“Okay,” her sister replied. “You don’t have to convince me. Convince yourself there, Larissa.”
“I’m convinced, thank you very much.”
“Yeah? Good. How’s everything else going?”
“Fine, I guess.”
