CHAPTER 13
Daisy
The job interviewwent well and they offered me the position on the spot. It helped that Christa vouched for me. And I don’t need to start until next week. I think the manager saw me sneeze and then hack up a lung near the end of the interview and took pity on me. I explained to her that I was taking antibiotics to clear up the chest congestion and I should be set to go by the weekend. She told me to come in at five on Monday instead. It would be slower through the week and easier to train me. I was grateful. With a job I have some room to breathe. Money isn’t going to be as tight as it would have been otherwise.
Hutch and the hockey team is out of town for the next three games. Christa and Jenny were talking about it when I came home from classes today. They’re gone more than they’re here apparently. I pretended not to listen as I went into the kitchen for a bottle of water.
“Hey, we’re all going out to eat later, if you want to come.” Jenny wanders into the kitchen and plops down on one of the island bar stools. “It’s a Friday tradition for us girls.”
“Uh…” I’m not sure if I want to hang out with all the girls in the house or not. I mean I’m here to graduate, not to go out.
“We were thinking of trying a new soul food place that opened up downtown. Manny swears by it.”
“Manny?”
“He’s a football player. His friend was telling Lisa about it and that Manny swears by it.”
So, she heard it from a friend of a friend. Doesn’t mean Manny actually said that unless she heard it herself.
“I’m in the mood for fried chicken.” Christa yawns. “Maybe a nap first though. I’m tired.”
I could use a nap too. This is why Christa and I are going to be good friends. Girl has her priorities straight.
“There’s going to be a party over at one of the frats we might go to later as well.
“I’m not a party girl.”
Christa shrugs. “Me either. I tend to skip those. Since there’s going to be no party here tonight, maybe we can do a movie night or something. I’m sure we can find a new movie streaming.”
That I might do. I love movies, but watching them by yourself is not nearly as fun. I worked summers at a theater until Nana got really sick. I’d get free movie passes all the time and lived there with friends and or my boyfriend during most of my free time.
“So, I hear that Hutch has been bringing you pumpkin spice lattes every morning.” Jenny blows a bubble with her gum and it smacks loudly as it pops. “That’s very sweet, don’t you think?”
I shrug. I told him not to, but he only grinned and handed it over to me. “Sure.”
“He likes you.”
“But…”
“And don’t say you don’t like him, because you do.” Christa wags a finger at me.
“Even if I do, it doesn’t matter. I’m here for school and nothing else.”
“You’d ignore a great guy because of school?” she sounds incredulous.
“If it means I graduate without headaches, yeah.”
“Hutch isn’t a headache. He’s adorable.”
“Look, I had a really bad breakup and I don’t want to put myself through that again, especially not with an athlete.”
“Last boyfriend an athlete?” Hailey asks as she comes into the kitchen. I hadn’t seen her lurking in the living room. Her boyfriend is an athlete too if I remember correctly.
Sighing, I take a long drink of water before answering. “Yeah. He got a football scholarship to Texas and let’s just say, he got away from his parents and me and went a little wild. I found out about it on his best friend’s Facebook page. The conversation didn’t go well. I was supposed to go to Texas with him, but my Nana got sick and there was no one but me to take care of her. He decided he’d do some wild oat sowing while I watched my grandmother die.”
Total silence.
“So, to say I don’t trust athletes, that’s a little bit of an understatement.”
