"Okay, fine, there's nothing on here." She placed his phone back down on the counter. "Actually there's barely anything on here. Which is suspicious all by itself."
"Sorry to disappoint you."
"Well I'm adding myself into your phone. Because if Penny winds up in the hospital again, I want to know."
"You'll be the first person I call," James said.
"I'd better be. And her parents. Have you talked to them yet, by the way?"
"We did." I lifted my head off of James' shoulder. "It went pretty well actually. My dad was not thrilled about me losing my scholarship, but other than that...it was good."
"Oh crap, Penny. I didn't realize you lost your scholarship. What are you going to do?"
"I don't know why everyone is making such a big deal out of this. You know I have the money to pay for it," James said.
"The perks of having a loaded boyfriend." Melissa smiled. "Speaking of which, I'd love a tour."
"I will let you handle the tour, Penny. I need to get some work done." James stood up.
"But you're not a professor anymore," Melissa said.
"I'm working on some other stuff." He kissed my cheek. "I'll be in my office."
Melissa didn't say anything. She just watched James disappear. "Oh my God, this place is so cool! Show me everything!"
I laughed and slid off the stool. "Okay, so this is the kitchen." This whole part of the apartment was open. I didn't really need to say anything. "And the dining room and living room."
Melissa walked over to the big box in the living room. "New T.V.?"
"Yeah. James knows that I like to watch T.V. and he didn't have one. Plus his brother, Rob, is coming to town tomorrow. He wanted something to watch football games on with him."
"That's cute. Are you excited to meet him?"
"Yeah, and I'm really curious to see what he's like. I feel like I'll know James even better once I meet his brother."
"And you two are good? I mean, I saw all the news vans outside. It's kind of ridiculous."
"We're good. I'm just trying to ignore everything else. What was class like today? Did you hear anyone talking about it?"
Melissa shrugged. "A few people. But I wasn't in any of James' classes. I feel like your Comm class is going to be a nightmare. Have you decided whether or not you're going to drop it?"
"I mean, I'm already halfway done. There are only a few speeches left. I don't want to have to take the whole class over." But I also didn't want to have to face the other students. Especially Raymond Asher. But it was also the only class I had with Tyler. Tyler was one of my best friends. I liked getting to spend time with him. And I wasn't sure how James would feel if I hung out with him outside of class.
"I get it. So..." Melissa's voice trailed off as she looked around the living room.
"Yes?"
"James mentioned paying what your scholarship used to pay. I know that he has a lot of money. But do you have any idea how much? I remember when these places were being built. They were selling them for like a million dollars or something ridiculous."
I looked at the door that James had disappeared into. I was pretty sure anyone could look up the price he sold his company for. It didn't seem like a big deal for me to tell her. "I don't know exactly. The only thing he's told me is that he sold his company for 2.8 billion dollars before he became a professor."
Melissa started laughing. But she stopped when she saw my face. "What, are you serious? Billion with aB? Who the hell has that much money? That's like...well I don't even know who makes that much money. I don't even have a comparison. Are you serious?"
"Yeah, that's what he said."
"Well you should totally let him pay for your education."
I laughed. "I don't want him to do that."
