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“I think it’s great,” Hannah said with a cheery tone. “We’re clear about our vision. We’re thorough with our research. We just have to nail the presentation.”
I chewed on my bottom lip as I nodded. Not only did we have to craft a business plan, but we also had to give a presentation to some of the professors and business faculty members to let them judge our efforts. I was exhausted from just getting the business plan done. Now, I had to gather myself for a formal presentation.
“We can divide up the sections between all of us,” I suggested, prompting nods from the others. “Later, we can send our schedules for next week and figure out when we can get together and practice.”
“I know that next Friday is off the table for me because I have a date,” Nick said bitterly. He stared down at the table as he rested his head on his hand.
“I’m guessing your dad set up that date for you?” I asked him with a faint frown. Typically, we joked about this with him, but he didn’t seem to be in the joking mood. I could imagine that this was starting to get very annoying to him. No one should be told who to love.
Nick nodded. “I told him no a million times, but he never listens to me. He’s so uptight about his stupid reputation like my wife is going to destroy it if she’s not successful enough or doesn’t have a family that’s rich enough. It’s disgusting,” he muttered.
Hannah reached across the table to place her hand on Nick’s wrist, coaxing his eyes to hers.
“I’m really sorry,” she told him. “I think it’ll be easier for you after college. You can move away and do your own thing. How much control can he really have over you once you move out?”
“You’d be surprised,” Nick sighed. “I’m just tired of feeling like a puppet.”
“Don’t worry. After we graduate, our business is going to blow up. You’ll be even more successful than him,” I said as I leaned forward slightly, smiling at Nick. I knew that he was stressed, but he had more power over his life than he thought. It was just hard for him to see it after being controlled for so long.
Nick chuckled lightly and nodded. “Let’s hope. I want to rub it in his face,” he said before sitting up straighter. “I just want this idea to work out. It can really help people, especially those trying to escape their parents and forge their own paths.”
“UniVerse is going to change everything. You know how many times I needed to do some sort of adult thing and had no idea what to do? I literally filed my taxes wrong last year,” Hannah said as she shook her head at herself.
I couldn’t help but laugh softly, remembering that frantic phone call from Hannah when the IRS reached out to her. She got everything straightened out, but it wasn’t like any of us had been taught how to do our own taxes in any of our high school or college classes. That was why there was a portion of our business that linked college students and recent graduates to tax professionals for advice.
“We just have to convince the board that we’re not in over our heads. Our business tries to tackle a lot of things,” I told them. It was a big idea, but it could help in a big way. If everyone shied away from big ideas, none of them would ever see the light of day.
“Because there are tons of problems people like us have to figure out on our own,” Nick pointed out.
“Did Tyler mention anything about us taking on too much?” Hannah asked as she angled her body toward me more.
I felt a faint, warm flush fill my cheeks when I heard Tyler’s name. I hadn’t told them about Tyler and I officially being together yet, but the thought constantly circled my mind. I was Tyler Ashland’s girlfriend. It seemed like some sort of fantasy, but it was my reality.
“No, he thinks it’s a great idea. We just have to be organized,” I replied. If we were going to try to tackle so many problems, we had to have a good team behind us. At least we already had three sharp minds working on the business.
Hannah brightened up at my words. “Great! We need any advice that he’ll give us,” she said.
“He’s happy to help,” I replied. It meant a lot to me that Tyler was so helpful when it came to our business idea. He knew how much I wanted to put it into action, and I trusted his opinion. He was as successful as he was for a reason.
“Is he being truthful or just saying what he thinks you want to hear?” Nick asked as he raised an eyebrow at me.
