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“Bold or extra bold?” Nikki asked.
“As black as you can get it,” I said. “Make it sludge.”
“Yikes. Maybe we should go straight for the alcohol?”
I giggled as Nikki began crunching into her bagel.
“Start spilling. I’ll get you coffee while you talk.”
“Well, it all started three weeks ago when my landlord informed me that my rent is going up almost a thousand dollars.”
“Excuse me, what?” she asked.
“Yep. I only signed a six-month lease, so once that lease comes back up, rent’s going up. And I don’t have the money for that and not enough to move either.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Have you applied for loans?” she asked.
“You have enough things to worry about. As far as the loans, I applied with everywhere I could think of, but everyone’s turned me down. My back’s against a wall, Nikki. I have no idea what to do. I’ve drained my measly savings account. I sold off my car, and I’m walking everywhere. I took that extra money from gas and insurance and threw it back into the business. Nothing is working. That bakery up the road is sinking me, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“Thank fuck you don’t have student loans.”
“Not helping,” I said.
“Have you tried running discounted specials? Like, Uber-discounted? To drive business to you? Maybe some people just don’t know what you have to offer.”
“I’ve tried that. The bakery up the road discounts slightly underneath me to drive the customers to them.”
“What about a freebie day? You could open on a Saturday and set up a little stand outside. People could try for free. Those cocksuckers up the road can’t beat free.”
“I’m sure they’d find a way,” I said.
“You could always call up Charlie.”
I slowly panned my gaze up to her and watched her grin from beyond her coffee mug.
“You know that boy has crushed on you since high school, and he’s loaded now. I’m sure one phone call to him while batting your eyelashes would dig you out of all this.”
“One, I don’t like Charlie. I never have, and I never will. Second, I’m not calling him up to use him for his money. I’m not that kind of person,” I said.
“You could trade a date for it.”
“I’m pretty sure that borderlines on prostitution.”
“I didn’t say sleep with him.”
“Moral prostitution.”
“You and your ethical code.”
“I know. It’s so terrible how some people have those,” I said.
I had too much respect for myself, and I couldn’t do that to Charlie. I knew how he felt about me, and I wasn't going to take advantage of that. I’d made it known to him on multiple occasions that I wasn’t interested, and he’d finally backed off with his constant insistence on a date. I wasn’t breaking that wall I’d finally thrown up between us so I could have a go at his money.
“It would be nice to have a sugar daddy, though,” Nikki said.
“Okay. Cut it out.”
“Fine, fine. But it might be the only option you’ve got. If anything, you could approach him as if you would any other person investing in your bakery. Give him five or six percent of it in exchange for his money. Something like that.”
