I bat her hand away and take a step back. “Chill your grill, Red. I’m not going to mess up anything. Our arrangement is mutually beneficial. I need it to work, too, remember?”
“Which is why you are going to keep your hands to yourself so it stays that way,” she warns. Her russet brown eyes slide to the side, watching Blondie for a moment. Then, in a solemn voice I can only just hear over the music, she adds, “I don’t think you understand how much she needs this money.”
Okay, now, I’m definitely confused.
“Listen, I know she loves cosplay, but that’s a bit extreme, isn’t it?” I ask, trying not to sound like a judgmental asshole and failing completely. “It’s not like she’ll die if she doesn’t get the cash to buy helmets, or weird wigs, or whatever off eBay.”
Ronnie blinks up at me. “Cosplay? EBay? What the fuck are you talking about?”
I match her bewildered stare. “Lexi said she needs the money to finance her cosplay addiction.” When Ronnie’s frown deepens, I hold up my hands in adon’t shoot the messengergesture. “I’m just repeating what she told me.”
Angry Spice blows out a loud breath through her nose. “Wow, okay, there’s a lot to unpack there. Um, first, that’s a load of horseshit. Andie is the one who cosplays, not Lexi. Second—and I havenoidea why she would keep it a secret—but Lexi needs that money to pay for her mom’s cancer meds.”
As her words penetrate my brain, the entire world seems to drop away from under my feet, leaving me standing on nothing but air. It’s a horrible, weightless sensation, like time has frozen around me, keeping me suspended in a moment I’d give anything to escape.
Or like I’m falling.
It’s a feeling I know all too well…and one I never wanted to live through again. And yet, here I am as if the last four years have come full circle.
“What?” I gasp, fighting against the sudden tightening of my airway.
“Yeah,” Ronnie says, eyeing me strangely, no doubt picking up on the panic ripping my insides to shreds. “Did she really not tell you? Her mom has leukemia, and their insurance recently stopped covering her prescription. A veryexpensiveprescription that they wouldn’t be able to afford without this money. So,yeah, you’re right. Lexi won’t die, but her mom could if this all goes south.”
So,that’swhy she responded to the job listing. Oh, my god, I’msuchan idiot.
It takes all my inner strength to stop the hysterical laugh that threatens to escape. Of all the people who could have answered the ad, what are the odds?
This has got to be the universe’s bad idea of a joke.
“No, that can’t be right. If what you’re saying is true and she needs the money that badly, why didn’t you offer to pay it? Aren’t you loaded?” I ask.
“You think I didn’t?” she fires back, her voice a menacing growl. “Itried. Twice. She refused me both times. Said she couldn’t deal with the imbalance accepting that kind of money would bring to our friendship. Which is insane because I wouldneverhold it against her, and my dads are awesome and would’ve paid all the costs, no questions asked.”
I can easily see the pain behind Ronnie’s eyes—the hurt she feels, visible only to those who know what to look for. Because her friend won’t accept her help. Because there’s nothing she can do to improve the situation that doesn’t involve her money.
That’s another feeling I’m intimately familiar with. That powerlessness.
It haunts me every fucking day.
“I…” The lump in my throat is so thick it’s hard to swallow. “I had no idea…”
Ronnie crosses her arms in a huff. “Yeah, well, it seems like you aren’t aware of a lot considering she’s supposed to be your ‘girlfriend.’ Seriously, how well do you even know her?”
That’s a great fucking question, Red. Clearly, not well at all.
I look back out at the living-room-space-turned-dance-floor where Blondie takes a swig from one of her two drinks and laughs at a silent joke no one else can hear.
I flail a limp hand in her direction. “I know she’s on scholarship and that she’s apparently a math prodigy, so she’s smart or whatever. And I know first-hand that she can be mean. Like,reallymean. Though, maybe not as mean as you. Oh, and she likes nerdy T-shirts and…pie? Wait, no. Pi,” I correct, then frown, realizing that in no way clarified the difference.
Before I can amend my response, Ronnie snorts out a humorless laugh. “She’s not just smart, dumbass. She’s a genius.Literally. Like, smarter-than-Einstein smart.”
“Okay. She’sreallysmart. I get it.”
“No, youreallydon’t,” Ronnie counters. “Do you think being intellectually gifted makes her life easier? Because newsflash: it doesn’t. In a lot of ways, it’s made her life harder.”
Harder?I want to scream.Harder than having a family member with cancer?
But I don’t say that. I can’t.
