Page 42 of The Handoff

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I could do with the money, but I paid four thousand for it, and I would get just over half of that, which didn’t sit right with me. But I deserved a treat; I had come to college getting more than I bargained for, and I could buy Tanya a meal and get her something nice, too. I had to put the past behind me and only look forward. She’d been a good friend to me, even if I didn’t deserve it. I spent no time with her lately, and when I did, all I talked about was Dane or think about him. The amount of times she’d told me the room was free, I knew she’d been hanging out with Bianca to give us space, like a true friend. I had to do something nice for her.

“What’s up?”

I shook my head. “Nothing, just that my aunt gave me the bag and I think she said that she paid around four for it.”

She laughed. “You’re one lucky girl. Your aunt bought you a Gucci, and the other I think must be around the same price.”

I shrugged as I slowly crawled out of bed. I couldn’t lie being so close to her. It was getting too much, and she would see I was lying. I knew it was written all over my face.

“Yeah,” I murmured. “Just need to pee.” I headed to the bathroom, not only to fake pee, but to stop her from seeing my face turning red by splashing some cold water on it.

“Okay, we’ll start at three and if we get no takers, then we’ll drop it a bit,” she shouted as I was about to close the door.

“Sounds like a better plan,” I said as I hovered around the door.

“Cool, let’s take that bag out and take some shots.”

“It’s that easy?” I asked.

She smiled and walked over to me and patted me on the back. “Girl, you’ve got no idea.”

I motioned for her to take it out of my closet. I had to splash water on my face, and I liked the idea of the money, but to take photos and sell it felt too much for me right now. I shut the door behind me as I heard her cheer as she opened my closet.

She was right; I didn’t have a clue how the second-hand market worked, and the idea of my bag going in the hands of another tore at my heartstrings. I had to make sure I was careful with my money. I still had over three years to go in college, and if I couldn’t survive three months in my first year, how the hell was I going to survive my time here?

I splashed so much cold water on my face while she took photos of the bag, and I tried to stop thinking about the bag I loved so much and the money I would gain from the sale.

The bag sold for three thousand, and Tanya was shocked, especially because someone wanted the other bag, too. Just so bad that the person was Fiona. She was all up in my face as she bought it. Tugging at it and cutting her eyes at me after she came to our room to get the bag, firing questions at me, as if I was nothing more than a common thief.

“I can’t believe someone like you owns something so expensive!” she said. “How did you get it again?”

My hands were trembling as I handed the box to her, and thank goodness Tanya was by my side. She gave me the courage to hand it over to Fiona, who took it after transferring the money. I didn’t know who I hated more at the time.

Me for selling it or her for being the person who ended up buying it.

As soon as she left our room, we took our showers and decided we needed to head to the mall. We had to get off campus, and I promised I would treat her. She said I didn’t have to, but as we headed to the bus stop, she said she was grateful as long as I didn’t spend too much.

We waited a little while for the bus to show up.

“I would have loved to have taken a photo of her as you handed her the bag,” Tanya said as we got on the bus. We found seats by the back, and I didn’t reply to her, I wanted us to sit down first.

“I know, the cheek of it. Especially when she said it was used.”

“Right? I mean, isn’t that the point of second-hand. She really has no clue.”

I agreed with her. We both found ourselves distracted as we looked out of the window. I hadn’t been off campus for weeks, so I was enjoying the view seeing other people who were not students or worked on campus.

It was a short bus ride before it was time for us both to hop off again. As we rushed to the mall doors, Tanya laughed as if she remembered something. “But Fiona did surprise me…”

I halted as she did, wondering why she never finished her sentence. As she waved her hand in the air, the reason why she never did was clear.

“Hey, Dane!” she shouted out as he put his arm around an older woman, and by the look of things, I assumed she was his mom. She had the same dark hair, sharp nose, and hazel eyes as him. He said that he took after his mom, and seeing her in the flesh, it was easy to see where he got his good looks from.

Tanya rushed over to them, but the way his hazel eyes darted at me, I didn’t rush over with the same enthusiasm. Not the way I would if we were on campus. I’d never seen him in ripped jeans, let alone a matching dark shirt that had Ray Charles on it. Strange. I never knew he liked jazz.

“Hey,” he replied coldly as he waved his arm up and looked to see who was calling him.

I shifted toward him and kissed him on the cheek like a magnet. I couldn’t help myself, even if he was acting as if I was a complete stranger.

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