HOLDEN
Graduate students threw terrible parties. This was the first one I’d been dragged to, but where my old friends at Columbia used to throw ragers, these people threw bore-fests.
Cheap beer had been replaced with boxed wine.
Instead of kegs, someone crying in a bathtub, and someone else deploying a fire extinguisher, we were all now just standing around, talking.
I was pretty sure that by eleven, these people were going to have the whole place cleaned up and be in bed because everyone had a very important seminar in the morning.
Let’s just say it’s less party, more pretentious gathering.
No one here had any money. The deep-dish pizza we were feasting on had been funded by the meager teaching-assistant salaries of several of the attendees, but from the way they were acting, it was like they truly believed this was a gathering of high-society intellectuals.
The scent of mildew and old radiator heat wafted through the air and we’d probably pass out from lack of oxygen if we stayed down here for too long.
I took another sip of my terrible wine, appreciating that at least the grapes had had aspirations of becoming some form of drinkable alcohol, but that was really the only upside to this situation—the grapes had, in fact, become alcohol.
“This is painful,” I muttered to Price. “Remind me again why we came.”
“Like it or not, these are our peers now.” He took a drink of his own terrible wine and looked around the basement, seeming significantly more optimistic about being here than I was.
“We have to mingle, right? Get to know the people we’re going to be spending all of our time with for the next two years, give or take a couple months. ”
I groaned, but Price was one of the few people I’d met in the MBA program so far who was bearable. That was why I’d agreed to come.
According to Jane, the University of Chicago was supposed to be a fresh start for me. I’d been on my way back to New York for my master’s degree, but things had changed when we’d found out about my dad.
Naturally, my sister had tried to turn that into a good thing.
She’d argued that instead of returning to Columbia, it would be better to start this next phase someplace new.
I still didn’t want to be starting said new phase at all, so in the end, I’d agreed to stay in Chicago simply because it kept me close to the office.
“I can’t spend all my time with them.” I didn’t even wince this time when I took another sip of the liquid in my glass masquerading as wine. “If we have any free time at all, I’d rather spend it at work.”
Price shrugged. “You and me both, but I wasn’t referring to free time. As far as I know, having that isn’t something we need to be worried about.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I’ve heard the same thing, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”
After I’d graduated the first time, I’d taken a break from my studies to work as an account manager for Thayer Steelworks, and unexpectedly, I’d ended up enjoying it.
What had started as a necessary evil, helping out at the office while Ryan had been otherwise occupied, had turned into a role I was actually able to see myself in—and I’d been good at it.
Hell, depending on who was being asked, I’d been more than good. I’d been on my way to being great. When my brother had finally come back, I’d stuck around without even thinking about walking away to go back to school.
If it had been up to me, I still would have been there, working my way up and learning on the fly, but Jane had insisted that I do things the right way.
To her, that meant completing my education, and when I’d tried pointing out that I didn’t need an MBA to work for our family’s very own company, she’d completely refused to hear it.
In her opinion, she’d fought too hard for too long to make sure Ryan, Wyatt, and I had the opportunities she believed we deserved. Fighting her on something like finishing a degree was like arguing with a fish about not being able to breathe out of water.
Utterly pointless. It’s just a fact.
Price nodded at a group standing near the stairs. I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but from the snippets I caught here and there, they were arguing about constitutional interpretation. “We should go introduce ourselves to them.”
“The wannabe lawyers?” I scoffed. “No, thank you. If that’s what you’re into, go ahead, but I’m good.”
“They’re wannabes now, but they won’t be in the future,” he said sagely. “It’s always good to have a few of them on speed-dial in the real world. It’s called networking. You should do it.”
“With lawyers? No.”
I didn’t mind the change of pace or even the bottom-shelf wine over easily chuggable beer, but I already knew I wasn’t going to fit in and this conversation was just confirmation of that fact.
I wasn’t like the social science kids or the law school kids.
Not even the suits, like Price, were on the same track as me.
The guy was alright, but he was business through and through, a strategy and consulting junkie who spoke about the markets like humanity only existed to generate graphs. My own path leaned heavily toward business technology—systems and infrastructure.
Socially, that left me in an awkward position. I wasn’t interested in spending my evenings listening to future attorneys argue about why they were technically correct about absolutely everything and I definitely didn’t care about carbon credits or venture philanthropy either.
“Go ahead,” I repeated when he hesitated. “I mean it. I’ll be fine. If you wait for me before you start networking, you’re not going to meet a single lawyer tonight.”
He chuckled, hesitating for one more second before he nodded and clapped me on the shoulder. “Alright. You know where I am if you want to join us.”
“Yeah, man. Don’t worry about me.”
Price took off toward the lawyers, effortlessly falling in with the group when he reached them. He had them laughing in no time and I shook my head. Maybe if I hadn’t had enough of lawyers in the last decade to last me a lifetime, I would have been right there with him.
I knew how important connections were in this life. God, did I know, but networking just wasn’t on my radar tonight. Things were a little turbulent in Camp Thayer right now. No one I met now, in the before, would want to know my name in a few weeks anyway.
If I was going to take the time to network, I’d do it in the after. Once the bombs had dropped. At least then I’d know who I could trust to actually take my call if I ever needed them.
As I went to refill my recycled jam jar with red wine, a girl standing near the wall caught my eye. She looked vaguely familiar. Maybe we have a lecture together or something.
She looked up and caught me staring, raising an eyebrow before excusing herself and making a beeline for me. As she approached, she flashed me a toothy grin and nodded at the box I was pouring the wine from.
“We’re so elegant, don’t you think?”
I shrugged. “There are worse things in life than free booze.”
She grinned again, and this time, I almost shuddered. Up close, she was very pretty, but not at all my type. Way too loud and with far too many teeth on display at all times.
While she’d spoken at a perfectly reasonable volume, I could tell from her energy that she was one of those people who was always making their presence known. As she was now, coming over just because I’d been trying to figure out where I knew her from.
“You’re the guy from ethics,” she said. “I’m Tasha.”
“Holden.”
“I know.” She laughed, proving that I’d been right about her being loud, and leaned over to refill her own glass. “We’re in the same lecture twice a week and it’s been a few weeks. Our class isn’t that big.”
“It’s big enough.”
“Clearly.” She glanced up at me while waiting for the dwindling wine supply to trickle into her glass. “Are you having fun at the party?”
“No.”
She laughed again. “Do you have a study group yet?”
“No.”
“Well, you do now.”
“That seems presumptuous. I haven’t even been invited to one, but you think I’ll agree to join yours?”
“You will.”
“You’re pretty optimistic, aren’t you? You don’t know anything about me. There’s no way for you to know if I’ll agree.”
“Maybe I don’t know anything about you, but I do know a lot about me, and I’m collecting the people who take the best notes. From what I’ve seen, you’re not one of them, but I’m feeling generous, so you can join us.”
A guy behind us said something I didn’t catch, but Tasha spun to face him without skipping a single beat. “Are you seriously going to stand there and say capitalism won’t survive climate change? I mean, are you serious?”
He blinked hard. “I didn’t—”
“Yes, you did. I was standing right here.” When he glanced at his friends, she folded her arms. “Don’t look at them. They’re not going to save you.”
The guy muttered something but then turned and walked away. Tasha shook her head. “That’s what I thought. Just another spineless blowhard whose mouth is bigger than his brain.”
Without paying any attention to his gaping friends, she turned back to me. “You really should join my study group. We’re mostly normal. Except for the law students.” Tasha leaned closer. “They’re not invited.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Because I hate lawyers.”
Okay, I like her. Platonically, obviously, but between that statement and the fact that she’d just given a complete stranger shit about his incorrect point of view, she seemed like she would be fun to be around.
“In that case, I’ll think about joining your group.”
She grinned and held out her hand. “Excellent. Your application has been accepted. Give me your phone.”
I unlocked it and handed it over, watching her send herself a message before she gave it back. “There you go. Now you can reach me and I’ll text you the schedule. See you around, Holden. Watch out for box-wine hangovers. They’re a bastard.”
With that, she flashed me one last grin and walked away, seamlessly sliding into another group and completely taking over their conversation. I chuckled, my head shaking, then finished my wine and decided that my work here was done.
Price was networking, and evidently, I’d found a study group. That was good enough for me. So I set down my jam jar and left, honoring my long-standing tradition of the Irish Goodbye.
As I pushed through the slightly busted main door of the apartment building, the cool air outside smacked me right in the face. After a couple hours in that stuffy basement, it felt genuinely cold out here. I shoved my hands into my pockets and started walking.
My phone vibrated against my fingers with a notification of some sort, but when I pulled it out and saw I’d missed a call from Alex, I slid the phone back into my pocket. He could wait until the morning. Or next week. Possibly forever.
As much as I loved the guy, he and I were not on the same page at the moment. When he’d married my sister, I hadn’t been convinced we would ever be on the same page, but over the last few years, he’d become more of a father figure to me than my own father had ever been.
I looked up to him. I just didn’t want to talk to him about what I knew he wanted to talk to me about.
Halfway across the street toward my block, a car came speeding through the intersection and a woman who’d been crossing on her bicycle swerved. The car missed her by inches and my stomach clenched as I registered the narrow miss.
“What the fuck?” I muttered, seeing her trying to keep the bike upright, but the basket attached to the handlebars tipped and groceries scattered all over the road.
The driver didn’t even stop to check that she was okay. I scowled after him but immediately doubled back toward the woman. Because some people still have common decency.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I jogged closer.
Already on her haunches next to the bike, she barely looked up at me as she nodded, her voice coming out in a dazed, breathless rush. “Yeah. Yeah, I think so. That was a close one, though.”
I grabbed a packet of ramen before the next car could crush it, then collected a few more before I realized she had a truly impressive amount of the stuff. College student, then.
As I handed it over, she took the packets from me, still gathering a few other things from all over the pavement. “Thank you.”
“You should wear a helmet,” I said bluntly. “If he’d hit you, we’d be cleaning up way more than your groceries right now.”
Her eyes finally snapped up. I looked into them and it was like I could feel the world shifting. Obviously, there was no dramatic music and no lightning strike to indicate that anything had changed, but for a moment, I completely forgot what I’d been talking about.
She has beautiful eyes. What color even is that?
In the ambient light on the street, I couldn’t quite decide if they were blue or green. Maybe both. With a dash of gold in there too.
Her cheeks turned pink as she held my gaze, but then she pushed to her feet and looked away. “Thanks again for your help.”
“It was nothing. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Without looking back at me, she dumped all her stuff into the basket and climbed onto the bicycle, taking off and disappearing down a narrow alley between two buildings before I’d even regained enough brain power to ask for her name.
Maybe it’s for the best, though.
My life was busy enough right now. The last thing I needed was a girl with pretty eyes to complicate things even more.