“Why do you think? He needs help in a couple of classes.” I grab my own pretzel and munch on it.
“Who’s going to help him?”
“Not me,” I scoff. “I don’t know who is going to help him.”
“Angie.” Harper’s tone tells me I’m not going to like what she’s about to tell me. “Why aren’t you helping him?”
“Why do you assume it has to be me?”
“Why else would you be bringing it up?”
I take another sip of my beer in lieu of answering. I don’t tell a lot of people no. Only the ones who have classes that I don’t understand. But I couldn’t in good conscience tell him yes.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you tell someone no before.”
“It’s not like I have to say yes to everyone. I wouldn’t have enough time for my own classes. Besides, I was cutting back on tutoring anyway.”
“Were you?” Harper raises a skeptical brow in my direction. “How many times have you told yourself that today?”
“Get out of my head, Harper.”
She shrugs, taking an easy sip of her own drink. “I’m just saying, it’s not like you to turn down someone who needs help.”
“I can’t.”
The words taste sour in my mouth. I told him no.
So why does it feel so bad?
“If that’s what you need to tell yourself to feel better about it.”
“Harper.”
“What? I’ll stop saying anything.”
“Because you’ve already said so little.” I finish my beer and flag down the passing server to order another. If this is how the night is going to continue, I’m going to need more to drink.
“I’ll stop talking now.”
“You will?”
Harper mimes zipping her lips and only smiles at me. It won’t last long. She’s the chattiest person I’ve ever met.
My second beer gets dropped off and she pipes up. “Thank you.”
“I think that’s a new record for you.” I laugh.
“Thirty seconds? I can do better than that.”
“Does that mean you’re going to ignore me all night?”
“Not going to ignore you. Even if I disagree with your decision.”
“Why don’t you tell me about your day?” I try to change the subject.
“I hung out with Marcus.”
Great. Another topic I really don’t enjoy discussing.
