Page 21 of The Odds of Happily Ever After
She was right—I had blown the issue out of proportion. Despite promising Tala to give her sister a chance, I didn’t. Not truly. I’d judged her by my interpretation of Tala’s stories and let that color every interaction we had since.
If she had been the spoiled princess I’d pegged her as, she would have complained to her sister about me. Maybe even used that to try and turn Tala against me. But she hadn’t.
No wonder she was wary about accepting my help. I would be too after how I’d treated her in the past.
“Are you going to take my stuff hostage again?”she’d taunted me at the grocery store, reminding me of how I’d taken her bags without her consent before. And not just once, buttwice. First, when Tala and I picked her up at the airport and I grabbed her suitcases before Tala could introduce us. Then there was that day I saw her after she went shopping.
I winced. Luna was right again—Iwasan ass. Even if I’d been concerned about her taking advantage of Tala, it didn’t excuse my harsh behavior toward her. She’d done nothing to warrant it. In fact, she often attempted to make peace with me.
Guilt followed me until I was in bed, recalling my interactions with Luna. Almost every encounter went against my sense of fairness and convinced me I had a lot of making up to do.
I just needed to determine where to begin.
chapter eight
luna
Kriz
Sooo rem Shawn from the party?
Luna
Of course! Are you dating him?
Kriz
Uh NO. He asked for your num!!
Luna
You know I’m not interested in dating right now . . .
Kriz
But I totally ship you 2 together!
Also, I might have alrdy given him your num
Stifling what feltlike my hundredth yawn in the last hour, I stood and rounded the cashier counter to wake myself up. Withfinals week in full swing, I was running on an average of three hours of sleep a day and twice that many cups of coffee—which meant I alternated between hyperactive and almost zombielike.
I wished I could indulge in a midday nap, but since I was on shift and had to save my remaining caffeine allocation for tonight’s study session, I did the next best thing and tried to keep myself busy.
Going through the rack of university-branded clothes, I sorted them by style and noted the sizes I needed to restock. My hand paused on a beige oversized shirt with Sterling University spelled out in a cool retro font. We’d released the design only last week and already, we were running low on inventory for this specific color. That wasn’t surprising, because we rarely had merch in colors other than maroon, black, or white.
Again, I asked myself if I should just go ahead and buy it. But the voice of reason in my head reminded me I’d spent way too much on Christmas gifts and international shipping, and I needed to save for important things. You know, like food, water, and electricity.
Adulting sucked big time.
“You’d rock that shirt.”
I shoved said shirt back onto the rack and faced the guy who had spoken. He was a couple of inches taller than me, with an athletic build and short, curly dark hair that was tapered on the sides. Dressed in a graphic tee and distressed jeans, he gave off a laidback vibe.
“Thanks.” I smiled at him. “Can I help you with anything?”
His brows swung up. “You work here?”
“Yup, you just caught me fixing the merch.” Wincing, I added, “Okay, I was kind of admiring this shirt too.”
