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“Yeah, she’s a cutie.”
“Well, perhaps you should talk less and listen more. Actually hear what it is she is saying instead of just analyzing the surface. Get to know her, and not just the outer part of her. You can be the most attractive person in the world, but if the personality doesn’t match, well…”
My brother had never spoken to me like that before. I thought about what had happened today and over the past three months and realized that perhaps he was right. Perhaps I didn’t listen to what it was she was saying.
“I suppose you might be right.”
“You know, not everyone has to be the same as you. If you were actually going to work for what you wanted, you might understand that. You might understand the dedication and hard work it takes to build something. You might also understand what I mean when I say success isn’t the same for everyone. But when I know for a fact that you hand Dad a good grade, he is going to slide you into one of the top restaurants in New York for a job, and then he’s going to bribe someone to give you what you want, it makes me sick to my stomach.”
I listened to my brother. Most of what he was saying was making me angry, but I was trying. Zach had worked his way up in the company he worked for. He had started in the mail room and had risen right through the ranks and now was one of the three CEOs of the company. He had done it all on his own and never once complained. He had never once quit when things got hard, and he’d never once refused to do something. It was amazing how differently we turned out coming from the same family.
“Tristen, you can do whatever you’d like to try and get this girl, but I say, talk less, listen more, and maybe you should work for something, for yourself, instead of just taking the easy way out.”
“Thanks, Zach,” I said, rolling my eyes at his advice.
“Look, I’ve got to go. Lana is back. We’re headed out for dinner. Just try what I say.”
“Okay, have fun.”
I hung up the phone and flopped back down on the bed. Was Zach right? Had I really done this all my life? Had I really only ever taken handouts from Mom and Dad?
* * *
I was already seated in class the next morning, flipping through the textbook, when Brooke walked in. She was smiling and laughing with two of the other girls when she looked up and met my eyes. Instantly, the smile was washed from her face as she approached our instructor and whispered something to her.
I watched the exchange between them. Brooke said something, the instructor shook her head, Brooke rebutted, the instructor once again shook her head. She went to say something else, but the instructor turned away from her. Then, with her head down, she made her way over to the seat beside mine and slipped in without so much as a word.
“Good morning,” I said, leaning over to her, and in the process catching a whiff of her perfume.
“Is it?” she questioned, opening her books.
“Looks like it.” I chuckled. When she didn’t laugh, I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Look, I think perhaps we may have gotten off on the wrong foot.”
“Is that so?” she said while flipping through the pages of her book.
“Yes.”
“Hmm, imagine that.”
“Think we could start over?”
Brooke sat there, not saying anything, just flipping through her textbook page by page. “I don’t know. Depends on you.”
“Okay, well, first let me apologize for everything. How I’ve been acting was uncalled for.”
Brooke looked over at me and squinted her eyes.
“I shouldn’t have been so judgmental. I am sure that you have your reasons for being here.”
“I do, thank you. As I’m sure you have yours.”
I nodded. “Yes, and if you feel you need to know how to make fine little deserts when scones and butter tarts would probably do, then more power to you.”
She stopped thumbing through her textbook and looked at me. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Well, you say you live in a small town. I’ve never heard of Willow Valley. In fact, I don’t even have a clue where it is, but I am sure most of the people who live there have never set foot outside of it. They probably all love seasonal pies and cookies and have never truly had a wonderful desert like they serve in the big cities. So, as I said, if you want to waste your time when scones and butter tarts would do, go for it.”
Brooke looked at me, a frown on her face, and turned back to her book. Slowly flipping the pages. “You know, I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I think that has passed. So, how about we don’t speak anymore. Oh, and I tried to get you a new partner, however Evangeline said no. So, let’s just work through this year, and next year we can separate.”
