Page 7 of Buckin' Around

The woman scrunches her nose up as she lights up with an amused smile, which I’m assuming my accent elicited. My Northern Ireland accent is a blessing and a curse some days. I can only imagine the havoc my two brothers would bring to the girls on campus with it.

Stacey is seated and waving at me by the time I reach the register.

“That will be seven fifty, hon,” the woman says, her brown eyes dialed in on me, her hair almost as dark as mine under the hairnet.

I pull out my card to pay, holding my breath as I tap it to the machine.God above, please work.

This guttural fear of my card declining elicits a heat prickling its way up my neck.

Feck, I hate this.

The card pings.

Approved.

The breath I lose almost deflates me entirely, but I hold it together long enough to get to the small table Stacey found and sink into my seat as my tray meets the top.

“You okay, Riles? You look flustered.” Stacey is stabbing her salad like it’s personally offended her.

“I’m fine. Low on funds, is all.”

Urgh, saying it out loud is as horrid as I imagined it to be. But I have to be honest with her.

“So, I’m not sure I can stay in your unit here on campus. My financials are not looking great, and?—”

She holds up a hand. “I got you, don’t worry about it.”

“No, I have to pay my share.”

Stacey loses her fork to the bowl before she shoves it aside. “Okay, well. How about this. You be my date to every family dinner I have to attend, and I’ll cover you for the time being.”

How bad is her family?

“I can’t let you pay for me with only family dinners as the repayment.”

I swallow past the air trying to crawl up my thickened throat. I’m trying so hard not to be humiliated right now. I know her well enough to know she is just trying to be kind. But thesentiment that I get room and board in exchange for merely attending a weekly family dinner, which I also don’t have to contribute to, is...

“You would be doing me a solid, babe. Besides, if I lose you as a roomie, I will have to advertise and interview. Or worse, campus staff will pick for me.”

“That’s exactly how I became your roommate, Stace.”

She winks at me. “But I like you.”

I huff a small laugh and turn my attention to the soup, diving the spoon into the hot liquid. I guess I could use a break, just this once.

And I will start job hunting first thing next week, if not tonight.

I raise the spoon, blowing on it before sipping the unidentified goop. It burns my tongue, and I purse my lips before forcing myself to swallow. Typical. Like the rest of my day, lunch is going up in flames as well.

Stacey’s phone pings.

She slides it from the table before tapping out a reply to someone. When the phone vibrates again, she sighs and frowns.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, my brother is trying to get out of tonight’s dinner.”

“Oh, is that a regular thing?”