Page 33 of Pinkie Promise

Fallon remains quiet for a beat and then, as we step out into the lobby, she says, “My roommate’s family owns the whole complex. I, um… I don’t pay rent.” Then she shakes her head and quickly adds on, “Of course, when I finally get a long-term job I will absolutely give them the money that I owe them. Theyhaven’t asked me to, but I have this really big thing about paving my own way.”

I reach around her to shove the door open as she scans her key-fob against the electric lock.

The more time that I spend with Fallon the more evident it becomes that money is a real issue for her. I’m not sure how she’s made her way through college, and I’m even more concerned about what she’s going to do after she graduates.

“Is that why you’ve been looking for a job? To pay back your rent?” I ask her.

She lets out an embarrassed laugh and says, “That’s actually so that I can stay on at Carter U for another year. I know that working a Sunday job won’t pay for a Master’s, but it’s more about amassing cash in case I don’t get the grant that I’m applying for. All grants are really hard to get and I literally don’t know what I’ll do with my life if I don’t secure one. I guess getting a loan, but I’m not exactly crazy on that idea.”

I unlock my truck when we reach it and I pull the passenger door open for her.

She looks at the interior of the cab and says wistfully to the passenger seat, “We meet again.”

I breathe out a laugh, glad that her spirits have lifted now that we’re at my truck. I close the door gently once she’s tucked her legs inside and then I round the hood to the driver’s door and hunch down under the roof. I shut the door after myself and click the belt into the mechanism.

I kick the truck to life and battle with myself about whether or not I should push her further. I settle on asking one more question and then vowing with myself to mind my goddamn business.

“What about your parents? Can’t they help?” I ask, and instantly I feel her body stiffen at my side. Right. So there’s my answer to that question.

When we approach the red light I glance over at her and she gives me a little nose scrunch.

That nose scrunch speaks a thousand words. She doesn’t want to talk about it, which means that, whatever the situation is, it isn’t good.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” I admit, my tone low as I ease the truck back up to speed. “I won’t ask any other shit like that.”

“It’s fine,” she says on the weariest sigh that I’ve ever heard. “Maybe it’s good that you know. At least it explains why my emotions have been all over the place lately.”

My eyes flicker down to her lap where she’s currently wringing out her hands. Fuck. My right fist flexes on the wheel, wanting more than anything to lock my fingers right through hers.

“What about you?” she asks, twisting slightly to face me. I would do anything to hit another red light right now, just so that I could look at her again.

“My parents are fine. They work me like a dog though.”

She breathes out a small laugh and I flash her a grin.

“You know the war paint that I had on my face when we were over at the corn maze for Halloween? Mine wasn’t from a paint bottle. I’d literally been under a car all day. My dad’s a mechanic so I spend my Saturdays grinding at the workshop.” I think for a moment and then quickly add on, “And Sundays too. I work… both days at the shop.”

Definitely do not mention the fact that you used to work Sundays at the diner.

“Busy guy,” she comments as I pull up outside the cinema.

I shrug, shaking my head. “It’s nothing. Just work, classes and hockey, and then shooting the shit with the guys.”

“And the girls?” she asks.

I smirk and shake my head. “Ain’t no other girls, Fallon.”

She lifts an eyebrow and tries not to smile at me as she crosses her arms over her chest. “That’s how you’re going to play it, huh, Captain of the Carter Ridge Rangers? You’re six-four and built like a truck. I’m not an idiot. You must get girls all the time.”

I unfasten my seatbelt without meeting her eyes. I don’t know if it’s best to correct her assumption here and now or ignore it completely until she forgets that she ever mentioned it. If Tanner was here he would tell me to definitely not fucking address what she’s hinting at, so I get out of the truck without saying a word, reaching her door before she can let herself out.

Her eyebrow is still cocked and she’s looking at me like I’m a serial fucker. I jerk my chin at her, my cheeks turning beet red, and say, “Out, or we’ll miss the trailers.”

She slides out of her seat with a heated look in her eyes. “Well we wouldn’t want that,” she says as she brushes right past me.

I lock up the car and tail her into the building.

I already know which movie she’s hankering to see so I slap down two tens in front of the guy on reception and point to the poster that’s framed in the Now Showing section above his head.

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