Page 75 of Tapped By My Roommate
There truly would be no going back.
Outside, I got into my Honda and tossed my backpack onto the empty passenger seat. I was beyond ready to leave my school doubts and study headache behind and get some real food in my belly.
I put the key in the ignition and turned it.
Nothing happened. I did it again. Nothing.
“No, no, no,” I said with a groan and slapped the steering wheel. I couldnotdeal with this too. There was too much on my plate.
Maybe it was just a drained battery or a loose connection. I had cables in the back of the car. Someone could give me a jump. It’d be okay. It had to be.
I got out and went around front to lift the hood. I stared inside at the mess of mechanics, wishing briefly I’d chosen to major in mechanical engineering. They got paid well, and they could probably figure out a car engine. But it was beyond me.
Need a drink? I’m your man. Want some graphics work done? No problem!But need any kind of repair job whatsoever? I was hopeless. Always had been. It was the one area where my mom’s boyfriend had always bested me—and he’d been sure to point it out.
“Guess you can’t do everything your mother needs after all,” Keith would say. “You think you’re man of the house, and you can’t fix a leaky faucet? Priceless.”
He’d had a good laugh at my expense, and I’d gotten frustrated and called him some unflattering names. No need to revisit that now. I wasn’t about to call up Keith so that he could tell me I didn’t have a real-man card.
I’d figure this out. I’d figure out everything. It’s what I did. I took care of myself. I took care of everything.
I wiggled a few of the connections to the battery. They all seemed tight enough.
“Damn,” I muttered.
“Need a jump?”
I turned toward the older man, probably a professor on campus, who’d approached while I stared helplessly into the depths of my car’s innards. Relief washed through me. “Yeah, could you? I’ve got jumper cables in the back.”
His silvering beard made him seem older than he really was, I realized. His face was unlined and his eyes sharp. He didn’t really look like the type of man to know his way around a car engine either. Keith would no doubt scoff at his manhood as well. But there was something distinguished about him, something that automatically made me feel I should respect him.
“Get the cables. I’ll pull around.” His clipped manner of speaking wasn’t entirely friendly. But I was grateful for any help I could get.
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
I opened my trunk to grab the cables while he fetched his car.
Ten minutes later, my car was idling in the parking lot while Professor Kringle drove away. He’d suggested I drive straight to the mechanic after giving me a jumpstart, but there was no way I had the money for that. I’d just paid bills, and it would be the weekend before I could pull in enough tips to even think about paying for a repair. Even then, it would depend on how big the estimate would be. I was pretty sure now that the problem wasn’t just the battery, but I’d get a cheap tester kit and hope for the best. In the meantime, I had to get to work.
I pulled up my phone to check the time—and my car died again.
Motherfucker.
There would be no time for another jumpstart. Or for a meal.
I retrieved my backpack, slung it over my shoulder and relocked the car. At least I had a campus permit, so it wouldn’t get ticketed. As silver linings went, it was crap, but it was all I had.
I took off down the sidewalk at a fast walk. It’d take me fifteen minutes to walk to the bar and I was due there in twenty. See? Another fucking silver lining.
One broken-down car couldn’t defeat me.
* * *
ETHAN
“I’m sorry, son, but I don’t think you have much of a case.”
The lawyer, a grandfatherly man with graying hair and kind eyes, broke the news gently.
