Page 47 of Hold the Pickle
“That’s boring,” Fitz says. “Surely you’ve got something you can confess about her.”
That I like being around her? That I think she’s ungodly beautiful, even laid out on a bathroom floor? That I know she’ssmarter than I am, despite her working at a deli with an MBA and me in a med program?
I’m not saying any of that.
“She can cook. She lets me eat the leftovers.”
“Marry that girl,” Harrington says. “Marry her now.”
Fitz flicks a balled up straw wrapper at him. “Women are more than personal cooks.”
“I know!” Harrington says. “Most of them don’t cook at all anymore. Marry this one! Act fast!”
I manage a short laugh. “I think I need to be more financially solvent to marry anyone.”
“Right. You pay for mom back home.” Fitz closes her eyes. “Wake me when our phones go off.” She lays her head of unruly curls on her arms.
Harrington looks at her longingly. I don’t say anything about it. I get the whole unrequited business.
Not that I have unrequited feelings for Nadia.
I don’t.
Fitz gets approximately ninety seconds of rest when her phone dings. Then Harrington, then me.
“There’s lunch,” Harrington says, belatedly cramming half a sandwich in his mouth.
I force a couple of bites of noodles down and return my lunch bag to the fridge.
Then we’re off again, ready to handle another round of emergencies.
And hopefully done with the gossip about my roommate.
15
NADIA
Imostly put off Max and Camryn when I get home. I return their worried texts and promise that Dalton is keeping watch over me.
Camryn in particular feels distraught because she feels the group pressured me into drinking. Max wants to wring Luca’s neck for continuously bringing me margaritas and a second shot.
But they don’t know where I live, so it’s not hard to dodge them until Sunday when I arrive at the deli for a shift.
When I walk in, they’re both there waiting as the rest of the staff preps the restaurant to open for lunch.
Camryn rushes forward to throw her arms around me. “When I realized how long you had been gone, I was beside myself. I should have gone with you.”
“It’s fine. I was in a big hurry to avoid puking in front of all your friends.”
Max growls low in his throat. “I’ve already had words with Luca about how much liquor he forced on you.”
I pull back from Camryn to stare him in the eye. “He didn’t make me drink them. And he didn’t make me take the firstorsecond shot.”
Camryn holds my wrist. She doesn’t seem to want to let go of me, as if it might happen all over again. “Our group runs fast and loose. I should have been more attentive.”
“You were exhausted, if you recall.”
“Well, no more dive bars for us,” Max says. “The last thing I wanted when we invited you was for you to get peer pressured into binge drinking.”
