23. Will
WILL
Priestley isn’t getting back to me. I can’t stop worrying as I head over to Professor Moreno’s office for this meeting she set up with me this morning. It sounded urgent, so I guess it must be about the internship. But there’s an irrational part of me that’s scared it’s about Priestley.
Fuck, what did Priestley’s dad do?
He’s not an actual psychopath, right? He wouldn’t hurt him or anything?
Professor Moreno calls me straight into her office when I arrive. Before she can say anything, I ask her if she’s heard from Priestley.
“No, why?”
“He went to see his dad and he hasn’t been in touch since.”
“Will, take a seat.”
My stomach drops.
“Rosenthal Asset Management have decided to give the internship to someone else.”
Seeing as my stomach already feels like it’s by my feet, the news I hadn’t even known I had to dread doesn’t hit me the way it should. “Oh.”
She keeps looking at me, so I ask. “Who?”
“I’m not allowed to say, but I’m sure you can guess.”
At first, I can’t. Then it comes to me.
“Priestley.”
Professor Moreno looks down into the wooden surface of her desk.
“I’m sorry, Will. This is the world of finance. But we can change it. We can fight against it.”
“It’s okay,” I shake my head. I don’t know what else to say.
She moves some papers around on her desk, pulling out a sheet of A4 and sliding it toward me.
“I have some excellent opportunities you’d be great for, and you’d best believe I’m writing you the best letter of recommendation anyone’s ever seen.
Alice already has something perfect lined up, and I think I have just the thing for you.
We will not leave you high and dry. I know you’ll have a job offer by the time you graduate. ”
“Thank you.” I mean it, I just can’t feel anything right now.
She lets me go and I wander out of the building in a daze. Why the fuck didn’t Priestley talk to me about this? Where the fuck is he and why is he ignoring me?
When I call the house, Dad answers.
“If you wanna talk to your mom, she’s out. Will I do?” he jokes.
I smile, but I feel like crying.
“I don’t know, maybe.”
“If it’s boy trouble, I’ll try my best. I was a twenty-something guy once, too, you know.”
“Priestley got the internship over me.”
There’s a moment’s silence before he answers. “Oh, sorry son. You knew that was a possibility, right?”
“I was top of the leaderboard, he got it anyway.”
Dad pauses again, probably scratching his head over what I just said.
“How’s that?”
“His dad is the CEO of the company.”
As soon as I say it, rage builds up in my chest. I can feel myself snarling. See Professor Moreno saying that’s the way the finance world works.
“How could I be so stupid, Dad?”
“Hey, listen to me, kiddo. You are anything but stupid. Ever since you were little, you’ve been smart as a whip.”
“Yeah? Well, not with him. I trusted him, Dad. He screwed me over.”
“Hey now, you don’t know that, do you? Could be it’s not his fault. What’s he said about it?”
“Nothing. He’s ignoring me.”
Dad pauses. “Maybe he’s ashamed.”
I snort. “Priestley Rosenthal doesn’t feel shame.” I stop short. Remember him telling me he was ashamed over the country club thing.
“I don’t believe that,” Dad says.
We’re both quiet for a second. He probably thinks he’s doing a bad job at this, that Ma would be better, but he doesn’t realize how comforting it is just to have him on the line.
“You must really like him,” Dad says.
“I do.”
“And it seemed like he really liked you.”
I scrub a hand over my face. “I don’t know. I thought so, but why the fuck—sorry Pop—why won’t he talk to me?”
“No point in jumping to conclusions. Sometimes the cat in the tree is just a cat in the tree.”
Somehow he manages to make me smile. “Was that a lame firefighter analogy?”
“I made it up on the spot. You like it?”
I laugh, imagining his warm eyes and comforting smell. “I miss you guys.”
“Miss you too, son. You okay?”
“Yeah.” I sigh. “I’ll be okay.”
“You’ll figure it out with the internships. You’re smart, you’ll get something. I know you will.”
“Thanks, Dad. I love you.”
“Love you too, son. And hey, give Priestley a chance. Don’t rule him out until you’ve heard it from him directly. Okay?”
“Okay.”
PRIESTLEY
I hesitate before knocking on the door. This house was my home for years. There should be no reason why I’m nervous. But with everything I’ve learned recently, I’m not so sure I’m welcome here anymore.
I’m about to walk away when I hear a car pull up behind me. When I turn around, Nathan’s getting out of his SUV, his hair swept back from his face with a backward baseball cap.
He turns pale the second he sees me.
“Priestley, what are you doing here?” He fixes his expression into a tight smile, the kind we’d wear when the dean came to check up on us. “I mean, hi, good to see you.”
“Don’t panic, Nathan, it’s just a casual social call.”
“Oh, okay …” He rearranges his face into something less pained. “Great.”
“You need any help with that?”
The back of the car is full of grocery bags. Though I never took part in the big food shop at the fraternity, I know what grocery bags look like.
“Thanks, it’s for Ben’s birthday party.”
Ben’s birthday, right. How could I forget that?
I come around the other side of the car to help Nathan with the bags. “I can’t believe Ben’s turning twenty-two. I remember him as a wide-eyed freshman, terrified of everything.”
Nathan’s laugh doesn’t sound natural.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he shrugs.
“Tell me.”
“No, it’s just …” He pauses before grabbing a bag, resting his hand on the car instead. “You do know he was scared of you, right, Priestley?”
My heart sinks. This is becoming a common occurrence these days. Still, my instincts tell me to deny and defend. “Me? Why would he be scared of me? I only ever wanted what’s best for him.”
“I know that,” Nathan says with a sigh. “And I tried to tell him that, but you made him feel like shit. Whenever you were in a room, he’d visibly shrink in on himself.”
Like Jamie around my father.
“Hey, Priestley? I thought you knew all this? I didn’t think you gave a shit.”
“Of course I give a shit,” I snap out of it. “I care about Ben. He reminds me of Jamie.”
“Oh.” Nathan rubs the back of his neck.
“What happened with the German? Is Ben okay?”
He looks like he’s thinking about not telling me, like I’m not to be trusted, but finally he relents. “He’s heartbroken,” Nathan says. “Elias was his first love.”
“I’m sorry. That sucks.”
Nathan narrows his eyes at me, like I’m tricking him by pretending to be nice. Does he really believe I have no empathy? How much of a monster president was I?
“It does,” Nathan agrees. “But this party is going to cheer him up.”
He rummages in one of the bags and pulls out a furry green onesie with ears. “I’m dressing up as Yoda.”
I don’t recognize the freshman milling around the first floor as we carry the bags in. The second they see us, they jump at the chance to help. They don’t look like the kind I would have allowed into the fraternity, but then, I guess that was the point.
I’m not sure what I came here for. To seek guidance from people I don’t hate?
To ask the advice of someone in a functioning and healthy relationship?
Now I’m here, I realize I don’t have the right.
For the first time in my life, I’m somewhere I’ve been told I ought to belong, and I don’t feel like I deserve to be there.
“Priestley, wait,” Nathan says when I turn to leave. “Stay a while, let’s catch up. We can go into your old office.”
I appreciate him referring to the executive office as my old office. It is very firmly Nathan’s office now. He didn’t have to do that. No wonder he’s so popular.
I accept the invitation gratefully and follow him into the hallway. Glancing at the photographs of old classes and awards. Pictures of the tennis team lifting the championship trophy two years in a row.
Nathan closes the door behind us and offers me the seat in front of the desk.
“Unless you’d like the other—”
“No, thanks. That’s your seat now.”
“Everything okay?” Nathan asks as he sinks into my old, cracked leather desk chair.
I sigh, run a hand through my hair. I have been trained to pretend that everything is fine when it’s not. I can’t do it anymore.
“I’m in love,” I blurt out.
Nathan’s eyes bug out and he covers his mouth with one hand. I almost laugh at the way Nathan tries to hide his surprise.
“Yes, contrary to popular belief, I am in possession of a heart.”
Nathan drops his hand, shooting me an unreadable look. “I never thought you weren’t. I mean, you never seemed very interested in sorority girls—I mean, women.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Oh … oh. So, who’s the lucky guy?”
This time, I do laugh. “You don’t have to pretend he’s the lucky one. I’m starting to think I’m a nightmare to be around.”
“What? No way, who told you that?”
I hold my hand up for him to stop the charade. “It’s okay. I’m coming to terms with it.”
Nathan relaxes a little. “So, who’s the guy?”
“His name’s Will, Will O’Reilly.”
Even saying Will’s name makes me smile. Nathan has to notice.
“He was my biggest rival this year. He beat me.”
Nathan’s eyebrows shoot up. “And you fell in love with him? You didn’t have him killed instead?”
“Very funny. Believe me, no one’s more surprised than I am.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“I told him he’s unsuitable as a partner because he doesn’t have a good family name.”
“Wow.”
“And my father screwed him over for an internship opportunity and gave it to me despite the fact Will won it fair and square.”
“Double wow.”
“Don’t you have anything more intellectual to say after four years of an Ivy League education?”
Nathan winces. I immediately regret being so sharp.
“Sorry—instinct.”
He shakes his head with a smile.
“Okay, we can still fix this.”
“We?”
“You’re still part of this fraternity, Priestley. We’re brothers for life now.”
Why does that warm me so much?
“You’re really that willing to forgive me when I was an asshole to you for years?”
Nathan shrugs. “Sometimes I deserved it. You cared about this fraternity and the tennis team. You just wanted us to be our best. I get it more now that I’m the president.”
I lower my gaze to the familiar cherry tone of the desk.
“For what it’s worth, I am sorry.”
“I forgive you,” Nathan says. “But I think you should apologize to Ben. He’s the one who got the worst of it.”
I open my mouth to explain that it’s only because I could see how much potential Ben had but stop myself just in time.
“I will,” I say instead.
Nathan nods. “So, let’s get back to your love life?” he says, eyes shining.
Ignoring the discomfort talking about my love life with another human being elicits, I ask, “What do you do when you piss Evan off?”
A blush creeps up his neck while he fumbles for an answer.
Oh. “I don’t think I’m going to get him in a position for sex until I can apologize sufficiently.”
“Okay, so you need a grand gesture.”
“Will isn’t a grand gesture kind of guy.”
“Isn’t he? Are you sure?”
Am I sure?
“What does he like to do?”
“Study and play hockey.”
“Hockey?”
I nod.
A slow smile spreads over Nathan’s face. “Priestley, have you been dating a hockey player?”
“Ex-player. He was at Boston College, now he just helps out the equipment manager here while he gets his grad degree.”
“A smart hockey player.”
“Put your tongue back in your head, Nathan, or I’ll tell Evan you’re fantasizing about other men.”
He squirms, fixing the collar on his polo shirt. “I was not fantasizing. I’m just impressed.”
“He’s very impressive. He’s kind and funny and romantic ….” I trail off when I spot Nathan getting all googly-eyed.
“Tell me, Nathan, how do I make this right?”
“First, I’ve told you for four years that everyone calls me Nate.”
“You have?”
“And second, don’t worry. We’re going to figure this out.”