by Amanda Abram
“It’s okay,” he said. “So, what did you mean you and Dylan went car shopping?”
I stared out the window as we sped down the highway. “It was for our project. Which reminds me, how did it go at Hannah’s?”
“It went okay. We got a lot done.”
No kidding. In three hours, they not only could have finished the budgeting assignment, but they could have finished all the other assignments we hadn’t even been assigned yet.
“That’s good.” I forced a smile even though he couldn’t see it. Maybe he’d be able to hear it. Regardless, I didn’t want to give any indication that I was upset he’d stayed there for so long.
“Well,” he said, “I should let you go. Dinner’s almost ready. See you in the morning.”
He ended the call without another word. Ten months into our relationship, we still hadn’t made it to the “I love you” phase yet, so all our phone conversations ended abruptly like that.
“So?” Dylan said. “You want to go grab a burger or something? It wouldn’t be a date, I promise.”
He had a smirk on his face, but I detected something underneath it. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Like he was sad, maybe. Not because Elijah had turned down his invitation, or because he knew I was about to as well, but because something else was bothering him.
“My parents are expecting me for dinner,” I replied. I wanted to ask him why he wasn’t going home for dinner himself. If we had been better friends, I would have prodded a bit to find out why.
“It’s all good.” He took a right-hand turn at the light and headed in the direction of my house.
We rode the rest of the way in uncomfortable silence. When we finally pulled up in front of my house a few minutes later, I thanked him for the ride as I unbuckled my seat belt. Reaching for the door handle to let myself out, my hand froze halfway.
Turning to Dylan, I said, “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what?” He blinked over at me curiously.
I wanted to ask him what he thought about the whole Elijah-Hannah thing. If he thought I should be worried. He and Elijah had been best friends since they were still in their mothers’ wombs, so he knew Elijah better than anyone else. Even better than Elijah’s own parents. Those two boys had always been attached at the hip, to the point where everyone at school would often joke about them being non-related fraternal twins. Elijah told me once that he and Dylan shared all their secrets with one another, and I’d teased him about it, saying they sounded like a couple of girls. But now, maybe I could use that to my advantage.
But I didn’t want to talk to Dylan about Elijah. I didn’t want him to know how paranoid I was that my boyfriend was going to leave me for another girl. He would most likely either give me a hard time about it, or he would give me the answer I didn’t want to hear.
“Never mind,” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. I opened the door and let myself out of the car. “See you tomorrow.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but I shut the door before he could get a word out. I waved goodbye as he pulled away from the curb moments later.
Like Dylan had said earlier, I needed to trust Elijah. And until I was given any reason not to, I would just have to follow his advice.
CHAPTER FOUR
The loan officer looked over our paperwork with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“Well,” he said finally, looking across the table at me and Dylan. “Based on all the information you’ve given me on your income, I’d say you two could afford to pay up to three hundred thousand dollars for a house. Depending on how much you’d want to put for a down payment, you could be looking at a mortgage payment as low as fifteen hundred dollars a month.”
I balked at that. “Fifteen hundred? That’s kind of steep.”
The man, whose name was Eddie, nodded. “And that’s if you put twenty percent as a down payment. Keep in mind, twenty percent of three hundred thousand is sixty thousand, and that’s the amount you would have to pay in cash upfront to put toward the house’s total cost.”
My jaw dropped. “Sixty thousand dollars for a down payment?” I glanced wildly over at Dylan. “We don’t have that kind of money!”
Dylan smiled at me, clearly amused. “Sure we do, pumpkin face.” He was apparently still working on coming up with a loving nickname for me.
Eddie smiled at that. “Keep in mind, three hundred thousand is the max amount you should be spending on a house with your combined incomes, and the max amount you’d be able to get a loan for. That doesn’t mean you have to purchase a house that expensive. You also don’t have to necessarily put down twenty percent upfront, but if you put anything less, your mortgage will be higher every month because you will be charged what’s called a private mortgage insurance fee.”
I took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “Okay. Well, thank you for the information.”
“You’re very welcome.” He shook both of our hands. “Good luck with your home search.”
“Thank you,” Dylan and I said in unison as we stood up.
Another couple was waiting behind us, and they quickly filled our empty seats as we walked back to our desks.
Elijah and Hannah had already spoken with Eddie, and ever since they’d returned to their desks, they’d been huddled close together, looking through the real estate booklet Mrs. Andrews had handed out to each of us at the beginning of class.
“Okay, let’s buy a house,” Dylan said, opening our own booklet. Inside were pages and pages of home listings, complete with a short description of each house and their prices. We were told we could either pick a house out of the booklet or go online at home later and find one, as long as we had one picked out before class tomorrow.
As we began browsing, I tried hard to keep my attention focused on the task at hand and not on wondering what kind of house Elijah and Hannah were looking to buy. With their combined salaries, they were probably going to pick out a mansion. Something with a pool and a tennis court. A view of the ocean perhaps. Something with at least five bedrooms and three baths. Big enough to house a couple kids in the future—
“I like this one,” Dylan said, pointing.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I glanced at the house he was pointing to.
It was a cute Cape Cod style house with definite curb appeal. White picket fence around the front. Two acres of land. Built only a few years ago. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms. Full finished basement. Nearly twenty-five hundred square feet. And only a few thousand dollars short of the three hundred thousand deemed by Eddie as being our max purchase price.
“No.” I attempted to turn the page, but Dylan pushed my hand away.
“What do you mean, no?”
“This house is too expensive.”
“It’s less than three hundred thousand.”
“Barely. Look, just because we can afford a house this expensive, doesn’t mean we should.”
“But I like this one,” he said with a huff, slouching back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Why?”
“Because it looks nice.”
“For that kind of money, it should. But there are more affordable houses that can be just as nice, and I’ll prove it.” I turned back to the booklet and continued flipping through it.
A minute later, I found the perfect house and pointed to it. “How about that one?”
Dylan leaned in for a closer look. “Eh. It’s okay, I guess.”
“What do you mean, ‘it’s okay’? This house is a steal!”
It was a Colonial style house built in 1922. Fifteen hundred square feet—big enough for the two of us, but not too big. A half-acre of land—enough to run around on, but not too much to maintain. Three bedrooms, one and a half baths. A cute porch in the front, a nice deck out back. Sure, the description mentioned it needed a little “TLC”, but for the going price of a hundred fifty thousand dollars, half of what Eddie quoted us at, we could afford to fix it u
p.
I mean, if we were buying it for real and not just for a school project.
“Cass, this house is almost a hundred years old,” Dylan pointed out. “It would need a lot of work. And it’s probably haunted.”
I snorted. “You believe in ghosts?”
“I don’t right now, but if we moved into an old house that had them, I would start believing.”
I sat back in my chair. “We’re not spending any more than this on our house. So, unless you can find a better one in here for the same price or less, we’re going with the haunted house.”
He was annoyed, I could tell. And for the remainder of the period, I watched him scour over each page of the booklet, desperately searching for a better house so he wouldn’t have to go along with my choice.
He was unable to find one.
As soon as the bell rang, he sighed, closed the booklet and handed it to me. “Fine, we’ll go with the horror house. I’ll make sure to add it to our budget later.”
“Did you guys pick out a house?” Hannah asked over my shoulder. I turned to see that she and Elijah had made their way over to us.
“Cass did,” Dylan replied as we both stood from our desks. “I’m going along with her choice like the good, whipped husband I am.”
Elijah snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me against him. “What did you pick?”
“An old Colonial. Dylan’s worried it might be haunted.”
Hannah giggled and whacked Dylan’s arm. “Ghosts aren’t real, D.”
“Says you,” he mumbled.
“So, what about you?” I asked Elijah. “What did you two go with?”
Elijah was about to answer, but Hannah spoke for him. “A mini mansion. It has a pool and a tennis court.”
I knew it. “Does it have a view of the ocean?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Hannah pouted.
“Bummer,” I said with fake sympathy.
“Hey,” Elijah said, looking at Dylan. “You want to hang out after school?”
“Yeah, sure,” Dylan replied.
I perked up at that and pointed between Elijah and Hannah. “You two aren’t working on your project today?”
Hannah shook her head. “Nope. I’ve got practice.”
I should have known that. Lauren was a cheerleader as well, and she’d mentioned having practice earlier.
“Well, I should go,” she added, backing up toward the door. “I’ll see you guys later!”
When she turned to leave, Elijah’s eyes followed her out the door and my breath hitched in my throat. Did he seriously just check her out?
Hannah was hot. She started developing earlier than the rest of us girls, and so far, she hadn’t stopped. She never dressed too provocatively, but most of her clothes were so tight they didn’t leave much to the imagination. Like today, she wore a pair of jeans that clung so perfectly to her curves, they might as well have been painted on. It was so easy to feel threatened by her; she was not only pretty, but she was also quite nice. She was every guy’s dream girl.
Stepping forward, Dylan clamped a hand onto Elijah’s shoulder. “Walk me to my next class?”
Elijah pursed his lips. “No way. You’re not my girlfriend.”
Dylan laughed. “But seriously. Walk with me.” He pushed Elijah away from me and headed toward the door. “See ya later, wifey,” he said over his shoulder before the two disappeared into the hallway.
“Boys are so dumb,” Lauren said behind me.
“Did you just see Elijah checking out Hannah?” I asked her.
Lauren arched an eyebrow. “Elijah? Checking out Hannah? No, I didn’t. I think it was all in your imagination.” She poked my forehead with her finger.
I frowned and swatted her hand away. “I’m serious. He watched her leave the room. And his eyes were pointed down, like he was checking out her butt.”
“Um, it’s hard not to check out Hannah’s butt. Have you seen that thing? Yowza.” She smiled and began staring off into space dreamily.
“Lauren,” I scolded her, slapping her arm. “Stop fantasizing about my boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend.”
“Sorry,” she said, her eyes refocusing on me. “Cassie, how are you going to deal with all this? This assignment has just started. Elijah and Hannah are still going to be pretend married for a while. You’re going to have to let go of this paranoia of yours, or you’re going to risk driving him away.”
“I know,” I sighed. “I’ll get over it.”
Lauren linked her arm through mine as we exited the classroom. “I sure hope so.” She paused. “Hey, you want to come over after dinner tonight and pretend to study?”
I smiled and nodded. Perhaps a girl’s night would be exactly what I needed to get my mind off the whole Elijah-Hannah thing. At this point, I could use all the help I could get.
◆◆◆
“I have an idea,” Lauren said later that night while braiding my hair. She was sitting on her bed and I was in front of her on the floor, flipping through the latest issue of Cosmo.
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” I asked, popping a chip into my mouth.
“Hear me out.” She tied off the end of my braid and then joined me on the floor. She grabbed the magazine out of my hand, closed it, and then pointed to one of the headlines on the front. It read, The Perfect Plan to Please Your Man. “If you’re so worried that Elijah is going to stray and make his way back to Hannah, maybe you should think of some ways to, you know, keep him interested.”
I swallowed my half-chewed chip and it scraped the back of my throat on the way down. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, Cassandra,” Lauren breathed. She wrapped her arms around me in a side hug. “So young. So naive. So innocent.”
I shoved her off me. “Seriously, what are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about sex. Since you guys haven’t done it yet, maybe you should think about giving it a shot.”
I shook my head. “Laur, I’m not going to ‘give it a shot’ just for the sake of holding onto him. If sex is the only thing that will keep him from leaving me, I don’t want to be in a relationship with him anyway.”
But Elijah wasn’t like that. Sure, he wasn’t a virgin like I was, but he had never even brought the subject up with me once, nor had we been close to doing anything like that yet.
Lauren stared up at the ceiling, deep in thought. “Hmm. What else can you do to keep him interested?”
I couldn’t help but feel defeated. Lauren was racking her brain to come up with a way to prevent Elijah from leaving me, which meant she thought there was a good chance he would.
I suddenly wanted nothing more than to change the subject. “By the way, how’s the assignment coming along for you? What house did you choose?”
She seemed to immediately forget about my dilemma. “House? I didn’t pick a house. It’s unnecessary for a single woman to have a whole house to herself. Why would I need multiple bedrooms? I’m going to be renting a studio apartment.” She grinned and pulled her laptop off her bed. Opening it, she clicked on the tab she still had up for the apartment listing.
“Isn’t it gorgeous?” she asked, scrolling through the pictures. “Granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and the bathroom has a bathtub with jets in it!”
It was endearing how excited she sounded about the place. I almost wondered if I should remind her that she wasn’t going to be renting it for real.
We spent the rest of the evening talking about our projects, giving each other makeovers, and watching reality TV. We never revisited the topic of Elijah and me doing it, and for that I was thankful.
I did, however, stuff the Cosmo magazine under my shirt before I left, when Lauren had her back turned. I wasn’t planning on using the information in the article for anything, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to be educated, at least.
No harm in that.
CHAPTER FIVE
“We should have your husband over for dinner tonight,” my mom said to me over breakfast th
e next morning.
Dad arched a curious brow at her. “Her husband?”
“Yeah.” Mom set a plate of toast down in front of me. “You know, her husband for that Life Economics assignment.”
“Ah, yes. That husband.”
“I don’t think that’s a great idea,” I said, taking a large bite of my toast.
“Nonsense!” Mom said with a wave of her hand. “You don’t have to work this afternoon, so you should invite him over to work on the project, and then he can just stay for dinner after.”
“I wanna meet him!” my little sister, Caitlyn, said through a mouthful of Frosted Flakes.
I knew Mom wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so I caved. “Fine, I’ll ask him. He might be busy, though, so don’t get your hopes up.”
“I won’t,” she said, but I knew she would. Mom loved to entertain, and she loved to cook for people. Because of that, my parents were constantly throwing dinner parties for co-workers, friends, and family.
At the sound of a car horn honking outside, I gulped down my orange juice, jumped up from the table, and grabbed my backpack off the counter. “That’s Elijah. Gotta go.”
“Okay. Have a good day, sweetie. Love you.” Mom gave me a quick peck on the top of my head, and then Dad ruffled my hair as I walked past him.
“Love you too!” I called over my shoulder as I bolted out the door.
I made my way to Elijah’s car and climbed in. “Good morning,” I greeted him brightly, leaning over and giving him a quick kiss before buckling up.
“Good morning,” he greeted me back with a smile as he backed out of the driveway.
“So, how was your date with Dylan last night?” I asked.
“Good. We just grabbed a couple of burgers. Hung out for a little while. How was your date with Lauren?”
I blushed at his question and was glad he was too busy driving to notice.
After leaving Lauren’s house with the stolen magazine, I spent the rest of the night studying the article about how to please your man. After reading every word of it, I had so many questions. Questions like, did women really go to those kinds of lengths to please their men? Were there magazines for men with articles about how to please their woman? And if so, had Elijah ever read them? Had he taken notes and then put the information to use with Hannah? Had Hannah ever read any of the Cosmo articles and then put that information to use with Elijah?
