Ivan said, “You got money to go. You get paid every time you host. You’re making a thousand dollars a week now, aren’t you? Plus you work at the Thai restaurant during the daytime now.”

She said, “Yeah, but that’s just enough to pay for my living expenses. You know I don’t share rent with Audrey anymore. She has her own place now.”

Ivan did the math and said, “You’re making more than four thousand dollars a month, and you’re talking about me sponsoring you to go to college. What are you talking about? I had to pay my way through college with half of that.”

She said, “Yeah, but I wouldn’t be able to work that much once I start. I would have classes, homework, and other things to do full-time.”

Ivan told her, “Yeah, that’s what all full-time college students do.”

He thought, I’m not treating this girl like she’s my child just because we’ve been intimate. What the hell is she thinking?

Christina stood up from her spot on his sofa and told him, “You know what, I can make it happen on my own. I’ve been doing that all my life now anyway. I just wanted to see if you would support me to do something more, that’s all. But now I know that you won’t.”

Ivan looked up at her and argued, “I support you as a friend, and I would help you out if you really needed it, but all this sponsorship talk…I mean, for what? You don’t need me to sponsor you. You can pay for school.”

“Okay. Bye, Ivan,” she told him as she headed for the door.

“Oh, now I’m wrong?” he asked her. “I give you steady work and income, and now I’m the enemy because I won’t pay for you to go back to school, too?”

“Whatever, Ivan. You can afford to do what you want. I’m just not a priority to you,” she responded. “So, thanks for letting me know that.”

When Christina walked out the door, Ivan stood up from the sofa himself and shook his head.

“Two nights of this in a row, hunh?” he stated. I guess this is what I need to get used to now. I’m supposed to make everybody’s dreams come true. Well, I haven’t even achieved my own dreams yet.

To add insult to injury, before he could walk out the door that night, his brother Derrick called him.

“I may need you to bail me out of a jam, li’l brother. What you got that you can spare for me?”

Ivan started chuckling to himself. You gotta be kidding me, he thought. He asked his brother, “Are you serious, man? I already got you on the payroll.”