Page 51 of Love, Academically
He probably waltzed into the Rich-Boy-Jeans-Shop and picked up a thirty-two-inch waist, regular and they fit like… well, like good-fitting jeans. That’s just not how it worked for her. If jeans fit her arse, they did not fit her waist. If they fit her waist, it felt like her legs were squeezed in like sausages.
“Sorry,” she murmured.
“It’s okay.” He was peering at her as if he was doing some incredibly hard maths in his head. “Shall we stop for coffee?”
A break from this horror? Yes please.
“And cake?” she asked in a small, pathetic voice.
“And cake,” he said, giving her a small smile.
She took him to Bumblebee Cafe because it had the best (and biggest) cake, where she ordered a raspberry milkshake, a millionaire shortbread and a huge slice of chocolate cake.
“You have so much sugar there, Lila.”
“Shopping is stressful, I need comfort sugar.”
The fortification was definitely needed, especially with Rhys’s crumpled up mouth saying ‘it’s fine’ etched into her brain.
“Why is buying a dress so difficult?” he huffed, closing his hands around his black coffee. Because of course Rhys drank boring black coffee. He poked at the muffin she’d forced him to buy. “Seriously, why is it so hard? I don’t see what was wrong with those other dresses. They were fine.”
Lila stared at him incredulously. He actually didn’t see it, did he? How could he have gotten to early thirties without havinganykind of shopping experience with a woman?
“Look Rhys, I get that shopping is boring and you’d much rather be doing pretty much anything else with your Saturday morning, but I’m doing this to help you,” she said. “What would your posh, rich family think if I turned up just looking ‘fine’?”
Rhys had the decency to look a little bit ashamed. Just a little, mind you.
“I don’t want to make a fool of myself.” The words came out quietly. Trying new things often didn’t work out for her and she really should just stick in her lane. But Rhys had done her a favour and she did say ‘anything’.
“Okay, I understand,” Rhys said, breaking off a bit of muffin and forking it into his mouth.
A sad smile pulled at her lips.
“I’m not super rich, I work at a university, I’ve still got some debts from Jason, and I can’t afford hundreds of pounds to spend on a dress I’m only going to wear once.” She stirred her thick milkshake with the straw. “It’s a waste.”
It was embarrassing, talking about what little money she had. Well, it wasn’t like she was poor, she was just a normal person who couldn’t fork out about a million pounds for a dress.
“You have debts from Jason?” Rhys tilted his head towards her. “Why?”
She snapped her eyes to his and raised an eyebrow. That was a bit much, wasn’t it?
“Too personal. Rhys, not answering that.” She flashed a smile. Rhys let out a breath and closed his eyes for longer than a blink.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. There was a tension around his mouth that wasn’t there before and she took pity on him. Societal niceties were sometimes a bit beyond him, but he was learning and that was good.
“Perhaps I’ll rent one. Put it on the credit card, and send it back when we’re done.” She tapped her chin with her finger. “Or I’ll just get that green one and alter it.”
Rhys stared off into the distance and she busied herself with her cake. Both cakes. Sugary fortification for yet more crappy dresses. Perhaps they could go somewhere expensive and she’d put it on her credit card. But she’d been so good with the creditcard, and it was nearly paid off. Things had been tight when Jason was in medical school; he hadn’t been earning and her salary didn’t go very far. Joint credit cards and a loan had helped get them through some really tough spots, but the repayments came out of her bank account. She was so close to being free of the last vestiges of her relationship with Jason.
Rhys
Life wasn’t fair for some people. It just wasn’t. Jason had a lot to answer for. Lila, for all her rainbows and ridiculous pink steering-wheeled car, was kind. Perhaps she was too kind and dickwads like Jason took advantage of that.
Rhys took a quick look at her, sliding her second cake towards her. Two cakes. She must really need sugar if she was having two cakes. The muffin was all right, but he would have preferred one of her cookies that she’d threatened to bring but ultimately didn’t.
Although, as he watched her attack the chocolate cake, he realised he was just as bad as Jason. Here she was, helping him out when she really didn’t have to and he was asking her to spend her hard-earned money on something she’d only wear once.
Spend her money for him and his stupid family. Yeah, they’d made a deal, this was her end of the bargain, but if she’d said no, it’s not like he could have forced her to do it, was it?
