Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Paige
The shops are busy and overcrowded, and I can’t stop thinking about everything that I should be doing today.
If I’d left campus this morning around six thirty, I would have made it to my studio with enough time to get in several hours of work before lunchtime even hit.
I managed to get what was left of the mirrors taken down and all the broken shards of glass swept up the last time I was there, even if I did have to shove some of the larger pieces in the corner for now.
After a few dozen YouTube videos, I finally sucked it up and ordered a hazmat-looking suit, some gloves, and a sledgehammer to attempt some actual renovations on the place.
Carry texted me on Friday to say she signed for the package and was holding it for me. I don’t know how I would stay sane if it weren’t for her weekly updates. Sometimes I bug her to check in on my space every couple of days when I start to really panic, but she doesn’t seem to mind.
I took some basic measurements to price out the insulation that I was told needed replaced, but of course, when I got online, it wanted square footage, and I about broke down.
My dad would have known how to figure that out with the feet and inches I wrote down, but I don’t have the slightest clue, and I can’t trust Google when it could mean the difference in dollars—dollars that I do not have.
My savings aren’t depleted, but I have to be able to live and cover gas to go back and forth.
If I can’t get there, I can’t get a single thing done, and I’ve got to do something, even if it’s floor washing when the floor needs replaced and pulling the baseboards off but having no way to get them to the dump.
“Earth to freaking Paige!”
My head yanks to the left. Cameron raises a brow, shaking a sparkly, bright-pink dress at me. “It’s…cute.”
“Liar.” She chuckles, putting it back on the rack. “I mean, I think it’s cute, but that was your It’s terrible but I’m too sweet to say otherwise in case you love it expression.”
A small smile finds my lips, and when I look over at Ari, she shakes her head at her friend before facing me with a little tip of her chin.
“You okay?” she asks quietly, the two of us trailing Cameron around the store.
“Yeah, yeah. It’s just…the studio.”
She nods. “You haven’t talked about it much. I figured that meant it was at a standstill. I know you mentioned your grandpa could possibly help. That didn’t work out, or you don’t feel comfortable asking yet?”
“Oh, he’s offered,” I finally just admit. “He’d do it in a heartbeat, but there are…conditions.” I wince, giving her a wry smile. “That makes him sound bad, but I swear it’s not malicious on his part.”
She lifts her hands, her expression gentle. “No judgment.”
I know she means it, but I still feel the need to explain a little more. “He wants to protect his life’s work, just like I was trying to build my own off my dad’s. It just so happens we both need the other to make that happen.”
“I’m sensing a but in there…”
I smile, nodding exaggeratedly. “But even though I’d be getting what I want, I’m not sure I’d be getting what I want.” The last word drags out a bit and we both laugh. “Confusing, I know, but…” I shrug.
“I get it. To gain one thing sometimes means losing something else,” she says softly.
“Still worried about telling Cameron you’re going to travel with Noah during the season after graduation?”
She groans, burying her face in her hands.
“We just had so many plans, you know? I don’t want her to feel like I’m leaving her.
Even if Brady does get drafted, they have already cleared it with her family, fully prepared to take over her parents’ property and build up the farm even more.
She wants a place for him to come home to when he can and to go right to work, and that’s great, but I just want—”
“To be where Noah is?”
Tears fill her eyes, and she looks toward her best friend. “I know she’ll be happy for me, but it’s still tough to throw out everything we talked about for the last decade.”
“Hey, you never know. She hasn’t had to be away from Brady yet. Maybe he’ll be drafted by the same team as Noah, and she’ll want to travel too, at least for a couple years, and then you’ll be together every day.”
“Can you imagine? That would be amazing!” She beams, tears now forgotten as she pulls out a top and holds it up to her. “Speaking of Noah, you do know you could ask him for help with the studio. If he can help, he will.”
“I know, and I really appreciate you not going to him with this. He would insist, and I won’t allow him to.
My initial quotes for just the bones are already astronomical as it is.
My career of choice won’t exactly leave me with much profit.
It’s a modest living, at best, so no loans. Or handouts, for that matter.”
Ari grabs my arm, giving me a little squeeze, and not a second later, Cam comes back around the corner, arms full of clothes.
“Okay.” She smiles. “I have full confidence one of these is going to be it!”
My brows lift, and I take the dozen dresses folded over her forearm. “I sure hope so.”
“Go, go, go.” She spins me, pushing my back until I’m slipping inside the dressing room. “We have thirty minutes to meet the guys for pizza. Strip, and I want to see each one! We need you looking smoking for your date!”
My muscles freeze, my face falling, shirt half over my shoulders. “It’s not a date.”
Cameron and Ari both laugh, loudly and slowly, and my muscles move again, my top falling to the floor.
We’re just going to a work thing for a job I might have to take one day.
It’s not a date.
Right?
Chase
“So.” Brady drops back on the couch, protein shake in hand. “What time is trust-fund guy picking her up?”
I swing my glare his way. “We don’t know if he’s a trust-fund guy.”
Brady scoffs. “He’s definitely a trust-fund guy.”
He looks to Mason for validation, and I do the same.
“I mean, I’d peg him for one, but my knowledge comes from all the movies the girls used to make us watch and the khaki-wearing dudes in the frat house across the street, so…” Mason grins.
Sighing, I shake my head and go back to my assignment.
It’s Sunday, the one day a week we have tried to dedicate to our friend group since freshman year, even if it’s just for a quick meal.
We were really good about it in the beginning but fell off a little as we all started getting busier.
For the most part, we make it work, even if it’s just us guys or a trip to the pizza place for something easier, which is what we did today before coming back to Payton and Mason’s studio to hang out for a bit.
Brady and Mason are chillin’ on the couch, playing video games, and I’m working on tomorrow’s assignments. Of course, I’d already agreed to come over and had been here with just the boys and little D when the doors burst open and in came the girl gang.
Apparently, Ari and Cameron went over to Paige’s dorm to help her get ready, but Cameron’s curling iron isn’t working and instead of asking Payton to come get hers and bring it back, they all came here.
I’ve spent the last twenty minutes pretending I can’t hear the girls laughing and rereading the same damn question without comprehending a single thing.
“I still can’t believe you’re letting her go on a date.”
My head yanks around once more, and I pin Brady with a glare, swinging it on Mason when he tries, and fucking fails, to hide his laugh.
“Seriously?!” I hiss, eyes cutting toward the hall and back. “It’s not my business.”
“Fuck yeah it is.”
“No. It’s not. Besides, I don’t care.”
Mason laughs. Loudly. And I flip him off, holding his gaze before moving mine to Brady. Both just stare and wait.
I spin in my chair, crossing my arms. “Fine, whatever, but what could I have done, huh?”
Brady raises a brow, his grin way too fucking telling.
I’m already on my feet when he opens his big-ass mouth.
“Hey, Pai—”
I slam my palm over his mouth, wrestling him to the floor as he laughs his ass off.
I flip him, wrapping my arm around his neck from behind, and go to roll him for a pin, but he spears his legs out, pushing up and reversing me, rolling around a few times, chopping arms and legs until we’re chuckling and heaving, lying flat on our backs beside each other.
“Still think you should tell Trust Fund to get fucked.” He huffs.
I punch him in the side, making him grunt.
“Talk a little louder, asshole. And it’s not a date. They’re going to some event for her grandfather’s company. It’s…work.”
“Sure. And I didn’t take advantage of you not coming home last night.”
I chuckle, shaking my head.
“Where you been going, anyway?” he asks, a little quieter this time. “Got someone casual somewhere?”
I swallow, shaking my head, frowning up at the popcorn ceiling. “Nah, man.”
“Then where?” Mase pushes.
Moving so I’m sitting on my ass, my arms draped over my bent knees, I drop my gaze to the old carpet.
“My truck. Out behind the stadium.” I take a deep breath. “My mind just gets heavy after the adrenaline crash, you know? A lot going on. I have to run through the game, break it all down to put myself in a better headspace. I can’t really do that with dozens of people partying in the house.”
“Deaton is usually out by the time I get home, if not well on his way. You can always come here, man.” Mason’s brows are dipped low, worry written all over his face.
I nod, and then the girls are barreling down the hall.
“Get back in here!” Cameron shouts.
“I need to get my things out.”
“Girl. You said I could have two hours, and you were still pulling shit out of the oven when we got there!”
Ari and Payton file into the living room, dropping down near where Little D is napping on the love seat.
“Two hours is an insane amount of time to spend getting ready. It takes me ten minutes on my best day.”
They go by in a blur, and I barely see the tail end of Cameron’s ponytail as they turn the corner into the little kitchen.