I’d slept like shit all week. A concoction of random thoughts wouldn’t stop swirling around my head and sucking out all my energy. Between the failed threesome with Jay and Dean, my encroaching deadlines at school, my boss chewing out my ass for something I didn’t do at work, and the sump pump backing up in the basement at the Santiagos’ house on Tuesday, which meant sleeping on the floor in Aaron and his brother’s room for two nights while they fixed it, I was spent.

I took the stairs down to the small cafeteria in the computer science building and bought a coffee before finding an available table away from the crowds of people.

I’d met with a finance guy at the university the previous day and got an extension on my next year’s fees. Returning students were supposed to pay a deposit by month’s end, and our promised first installment from the photo gig wouldn’t be happening until after that date.

Instead of taking out textbooks and studying for the endless upcoming tests I had, I dropped my forehead to the hard table and closed my eyes. Every muscle in my body was heavy and tired. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I groaned.

When I found the energy to pull it out, I read the text from Asher.

Asher: What’s up?

Atticus: Dying a small death.

Asher: Dramatic much?

Atticus: Always. WDYW?

Asher: Mom and Dad won’t be home tonight. They’ve got a thing until ten, and it’s out of town. They won’t be home until around midnight.

I read between the lines. How about we practice tonight while they’re gone instead of me sneaking you in this weekend?

It would have been nice to have a bit more time to psych myself up for this, but it was ideal if Mom and Dad were gone.

Atticus: Will Matilda be home?

Asher: Nope. Night off.

I hesitated, my fingers brushing over my phone while I searched for the right words. There weren’t any.

Atticus: Cool. Can we order pizza?

Asher: Yup. Need a ride?

Atticus: Yeah.

Asher: When is your last class done?

Atticus: Done now. I should be studying, but I’m not. In the CS building cafeteria. You?

Asher: OMW. Buy me a latte

I dropped my phone on the table and scanned the cafeteria. He could buy his own damn latte. Some of us didn’t have the pleasure of Daddy’s credit card anymore.

I pulled out a stack of textbooks and shuffled through them, deciding which needed my attention more. My Database Management grade was suffering, so I opened that one to our current chapter. Two paragraphs in, I dropped my head on the open pages and moaned. That was how Asher found me fifteen minutes later.

“Learning through osmosis?”

He fell into the seat across from me and kicked my foot under the table.