Ben looks confused at why Ollie’s confused. ‘Yeah.’
My mouth drops open. Ollie’s mouth drops open. Liv’s doesn’t, though, and she stirs her coffee, her eyes purposefully fixed on her cup.
‘Get a job then,’ I say eventually, still trying to work out if Liv is on an allowance from her parents too. I think she might be.
Ben looks horrified. ‘A job? While I’m here, studying?’
‘Yes,’ I say, casting a conspiratorial glance at Ollie. ‘I’m getting one. If the Student Union will have me. They need people on different nights and days and my lectures aren’t full-time, so I’ll have a bit of downtime to earn some money.’
‘If the SU won’t take you, maybe they’ll take Ben,’ Ollie says, returning my glance with his own, a slight smile at the edges of his mouth. Then he goes in deeper. ‘What about you, Liv? Getting a job?’
‘I mean … maybe,’ she says uncertainly. ‘Might try to do something related to my degree.’
‘Whatisyour degree?’ I ask.
Liv arrived so late we didn’t get the chance to delve much into her life before we partied. Come to think of it, Ollie’s been a bit vague too, although he did say his A-Levelgrades were triple A in the sciences, when we were sharing our dismal results.
‘Law,’ says Liv.
‘That’s pretty cool. What you going to do?’ Ben asks. ‘Be a lawyer?’
‘I’m not sure,’ she replies. ‘Maybe.’
‘You might be handy to know. I’ll stick close,’ he replies, making Liv smile.
Funny how living together for such a short time has broken down barriers so quickly, as we’re trading financial details so early on into our friendship. On a sliding scale I’d say I’m the poorest, followed by Ollie, or perhaps he’s just hiding his wealth and has a healthy attitude towards early employment. Liv and Ben, I suspect, are on a financial par. Liv looks cagey. Ben is merrily owning it, sensing he’s in a safe space here, although Ollie and I are clearly judgemental, but we’re being friendly with it.
‘Go on then,’ Ben says, trying to shift the heat off himself. ‘What are you doing for work, Ollie?’
‘I need to find out when my placements are. I suspect I’ll only be able to work weekends.’
‘Why?’ we all ask.
‘My degree’s going to be a bit full-on, I think.’
‘Something sciency?’ Ben asks.
‘Medicine,’ Ollie replies, surprising us.
‘Medicine?’ we all echo.
He nods, looking baffled at our reaction. ‘I did say, last night.’
Did he? ‘Are you going to be a doctor?’ I ask.
‘I’m going to try.’
‘Wow,’ I say, because … wow!
‘For the next five years I’ll be—’
‘Fiveyears?’ I ask. ‘Five?’
‘Yeah. And then a few more for in-depth training and the rest of it.’
There’s an awed silence. And then Liv points out in a sad voice, ‘You’ll be here by yourself for two years after we’ve gone.’ As if Ollie won’t make friends on his course.
‘Yeah, I guess I will,’ Ollie says. ‘I’ve got three years to worry about that, though. I’m more worried about passing each year, to be honest.’
