Page 148 of The Snowball Effect

“I’d only been there for, like, a day when Sutton came over to check it out. She was… less than impressed.” Regan’s lips curled into a cute smile as she laughed. “Actually, the exact thing she said was,no. Then she packed up the only bag I’d unpacked and took me back to her dorm room. She had a single, and was staying here over the summer,” she explained, “Taking a bonus lit. course for fun, the nerd.”

“Sutton got on the phone with her parents and sent them the pictures of the apartment. We worked out a deal – I would pay a third of the rent, and Sutton’s parents would pay the rest. When Sutton finished undergrad, she took over a third, too. I could afford my full half, after I got my promotion. And I offered,” Regan was quick to inform her, as if still wanting to makesure Emma thought the best of her, clearly still thinking about how Emma had expressed her irritation at Regan’s privileged upbringing. “But Katherine said she’d prefer it if I take some time to bulk up my savings. When Sutton comes back from Rome, the lease is going to be re-evaluated.”

“I always assumed you had some sort of trust fund or whatever to fall back on,” Emma’s voice was quiet as she tried to wrap her mind around all of the new information she was being presented with.

A sharp smile flashed over Regan’s face. “Well, Idid, technically. You weren’t wrong about what you said a couple months ago; I did grow up super lucky because money wasn’t an issue. And both my sister and I had trusts set up for us from our parents. But as soon as I dropped out of college, my parents were very clear that I wouldn’t ever be getting a penny of it.”

Emma slumped back against her chair, heavily. Yes, Reganhadgrown up with wealth and privilege, but she didn’t actually have it,now. And, if Emma was honest with herself, that would have changed the way she’d seen Regan a lot sooner.

As soon as the thought hit her, Emma gasped and sat at attention. “I let you pay my hospital bill!”

Oh, she didn’t like this feeling that curled through her and sat like a stone in her stomach, not at all.

Regan’s confusion was obvious, as was her shame. “I mean, paying your hospital bill was the right thing to do, since I sent you there.”

Emma was already shaking her head, though, and she reached up, rubbing at her temples. “Regardless, I only agreed to let you do it because I thought you had, like, family money at your disposal. Even with my insurance, it was over a thousand dollars!”

Still, Regan stared across from her, undeterred. “And I was happy to do it; I owed you that.”

“No, you didn’t. I want to pay you back.”

“I won’t take it,” Regan immediately returned, looking affronted. “Emma, I almost killed you. Literally. Paying the hospital bill was the least I could do. And I don’t want to argue about it, especially on ourdate,” she insisted, a steely tone under her typically relaxed demeanor. “It’s been months; the statute of limitations has run out.”

Emma felt it, again. That feeling of sliding deeper and deeper into this. “You, Regan Gallagher, have a lot of character.” She almost wished she’d seen it sooner, but… honestly, she probably would have fallen for Regan a lot sooner, too, and she had no idea howthatwould have gone.

The look on Regan’s face was pure radiance, as she hummed happily. “Why, thank you. Now, let’s pick something for dinner – afterwards, we’re going to do something I’m super excited about: pick out each other’s next read.”

Oh, yeah. It really was all over for her.

“All I’m saying is that vanilla gets a really bad reputation!” Regan ardently insisted, as they walked into the elevator of their building several hours later.

Emma shook her head, utterly amused. “I don’t have strong feelings on it either way; I’m mostly just invested becauseyouare so adamant.”

Regan’s heartfelt defense of vanilla ice cream had started two blocks over, when they’d stopped at the gourmet ice cream shop on the way home from the bookstore. Emma had gotten a mocha chocolate chip – a choice she stood by, wholeheartedly – and after she’d ordered, Regan had stepped up and gotten… vanilla.

Emma had given her a baffled stare, because out of any flavor she could imagine anyone but especiallyReganchoosing, vanilla hadn’t been on the list of possibilities.

Admittedly, Emma had gotten a little lost in her argument, as she’d watched Regan lick her vanilla ice cream for the last few blocks. She’d gotten her own in a cup, a choice she’d been making since childhood. And she was grateful for her decision as they’d walked, because her mocha chip had melted a bit from neglect, as Emma had gotten far too easily distracted.

“It’s a classic, it goes with everything,” Regan stated, firmly. “And I don’t like vanilla slander, that’s all.”

Emma hit the button for their floor, before stepping back to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Regan. “I’ve never heard someone be so intent about vanilla ice cream, but if anyone was going to do it, I’m not surprised it’s you.”

“Thank you,” Regan accepted as if Emma’s simple statement had been an outright compliment.

Even as her lips ticked into a warm smile at the response, Emma took a deep, bracing breath as the doors opened to their floor and they stepped out into the hallway.

“So…” Regan started, glancing down the hall at their door. “I think date etiquette states that the date is coming to an end, as we’re coming to your front door.”

“Your front door, too,” Emma reminded her, amused.

Regan waved her off. “Yeah, sure, but this wasmydate that I planned foryou. As your date, I’m walking you to your apartment door for the end of the night to close out our date, and then I’ll become your roommate again.”

“Ah, I didn’t realize that you haven’t been my roommate all along.”

“Easy mistake to make,” Regan murmured with a quiet chuckle. A chuckle that sounded riddled with nerves, which were reflected in Regan’s face as she turned to face Emma in thehallway. Her hands were locked together in front of her, Emma’s work bag still slung over her shoulder as she’d insisted that she carry it home, as well. The bag also now contained the three books Regan had bought for Emma at the store, and the one Emma had picked out and bought for Regan.

“So, how was it?” Regan asked, her voice soft, as her gaze searched Emma’s. “On a scale of one to ten. One being that we need to forget this ever happened and you’re back to not even liking me as a friend, four being that you were disappointed with the evening and don’t see us working out romantically, but you still want to be platonic roommate-friends, seven being that you had a good time but you think there’s room for improvement and you see possible pitfalls in our romantic future, and ten being that you had a great time and you’d love to do this again with me, because you see that we have something real between us.”

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