“This could be a great opportunity, then. You’ve been talking about investing in a brewery—you could take this chance to tour some, talk to the owners, taste test. You could gather everything you learn and present it to your father.”
“Actually, I don’t think it’s smart to pursue that anymore. The market is saturated with breweries and if I don’t invest wisely on my first go, Father willnevertrust me. But my mates and I went to a pop-up restaurant in London a few weeks ago—the food was absolutely brill—and the chef’s looking for an investor.” He turns to Frank. “Wasn’t that food amazing?”
“It was. But you still shouldn’t invest in him.”
“You don’t think I should invest in anything.”
“Because it’s notyouinvesting—it’s your father’s money. You’ll never get away from him if you do that. You need to invest in yourself.”
“He’s always going on like that.” Will rolls his eyes at me.
“You need to find something you’re really passionate about,” Frank continues.
“I don’t know about that. People who do something they love end up hating it.”
Frank throws his hands in the air. “That’s not true!”
“People always hate their jobs. The quickest way to hate something is to start doing it for a living.”
“Then what are we supposed to do with our lives?” Huan asks.
“Do something you don’t care about that makes you lots of money. You can do everything you love on the side.”
I bark out a laugh in surprise. Well,that’sa new life strategy. Maybe I should go premed after all. Huan and Frank exchange a derisive glance. Frank catches my eye and shakes his head just slightly, as if to say, “Don’t listen to his BS.” I suppress a smile.
The game is never-ending. Huan and Frank don’t notice, though—they’re too caught up talking about music and theconcerts Frank’s been to lately. I love seeing Huan so happy and animated with Frank. It’s exactly what I want with Will. Our conversations aren’t quite as comfortable as Huan and Frank’s yet, but we’re definitely getting there.
Eventually Will pulls out his phone, a universal sign that he’s bored. I look around, trying to think of anything to liven this up.
“There’s not much around here in the way of concessions, but I could probably raid the Emberton kitchen,” I say. “Snacks always make things better.”
“That would be fantastic.” He leans in to kiss me. “Hurry back.”
“Whoa, look who you’ve brought to cricket. What a trade-up!”
I freeze, inches from Will’s face, and turn at the voice. It’s the girls from the welcome orientation—Nicole and Heather. Their expressions hold no malice, but my stomach tightens with worry. They lookwaytoo intrigued by Will. I hope they don’t blurt out something crazy in front of him. All I want is for us to have a fun day here without any reminders of what happened with Andy or Crystal.
I shake my head in warning, but they pay no attention.
“Hello,” Will says curiously.
The girls practically squeal. “Hiii!” Heather turns to me. “Where’d you meet?”
“Northampton.” It comes out as a whisper.
Nicole’s eyes widen. “Aren’t you lucky.”
“Nah, you’ve got that backwards.” Will stands and reaches for my hand. “Are you girls looking to meet someone? I have loads of mates who’d be chuffed to have an American girlfriend like I do.”
I inhale sharply. He thinks of me as hisgirlfriend? I didn’tknow we were so serious. Tendrils of electricity zip through my arms and legs and I have to stop myself from doing high kicks across the stands like Heath Ledger in10 Things I Hate About You.
Nicole beams and Heather steps up next to her. “Yes, please.”
“Your word is my command,” Will says with a laugh. “We can’t send you back to university alone.”
Nicole and Heather exchange confused glances and my eyes bug out. Oh no...
“We’re not in college yet—we’re here with our high school study abroad program.” Nicole flutters her eyelashes at him. “But I’d be happy to never go back. Iloveit here.”
