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“Head’s up, Lil. Isaac is on his way over,” Harley said.
“Cool. I have studying to do, so my head will be in my books all night. You two will have the apartment. I already ordered us a pizza though, because I wasn’t planning on cooking with all the work I have to do. I know how Isaac hates pizza...”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. You didn’t know he was coming over, and no one expects you to cook all the time. It was probably my turn to make dinner anyway. Plus, we’re college students, we’re supposed to eat pizza.” She laughed. “I have notes to go over anyway, so it’s more of a study date.”
“With you being the only one studying,” Lily teased. “I’m sure you can’t wait until graduation. Then you and your grown boyfriend can do grown people stuff. No more school, no more pizza, and no more study dates.” Lily knew that Harley planned to continue her education, but it was fun teasing her since she’d not told Isaac yet.
“Yeah.” She answered less than enthused. Wrinkling up her nose in concern, she asked, “Grown folks can still eat pizza, right?”
“Of course! Unless you’re Isaac. You’ll have to make him something boring to eat, but yeah, you can still have pizza. Oh, and please don’t start eating pineapple on your pizza trying to act grown and sophisticated.”
“Ew–no worries there! It’s only pepperoni for me.” It did make her wonder if Isaac ate pineapple on pizza. Nah, the man doesn’t eat pizza, ever.
At the knock at their door, Lily excused herself. “Call me when the pizza gets here.”
Harley opened the door to a smiling Isaac.
He hadn’t said one word to her about their miserable weekend getaway. Either Isaac did not realize it was an issue or he was avoiding it. She was betting on the first one. He may have been smart when it came to his IQ, but not so much in the relationship department. Regardless, things had been bothering her.
Looking at him now, it hit her how much she had dreaded this discussion. She could already tell by his cool and aloof demeanor that he had zero understanding about her feelings. It was time to lay it all out. They needed to discuss things. Tonight seemed like the perfect opportunity. They could eat pizza, relax, and just discuss their relationship.
In her head it all sounded so easy. They would talk, eat, and then each get some studying and work done. By the end of the night he would understand how she was feeling.
She smiled to herself, pleased with her plans.
“Isaac, I think we should talk about that weekend.” Harley said. She was mentally preparing how she was going to address how much it had been eating away at her while Isaac seemed to act like it never happened.
“Yeah, sure, I guess.” He shook his head and furrowed his brow. “I’m still confused how you didn’t know it was a work thing—and that blouse–” He held up his hands in defense.
Not expecting him to go directly to the topic of her blouse, she was caught off guard—which she really should not have been—she knew him better than that.
“That blouse was perfectly fine. It was modest and dressy, and awfully expensive.” Designer-label expensive. Her blood began boiling and she could feel her blood pressure rising. The blouse in question now hung in her closet, waiting for the next opportunity to be worn. “And it’s a moot point now.”
“I’m sorry I reacted the way that I did to it. It was just...well, we already discussed the blouse.” He shook his head and changed the direction of his comments. “But you know that I would never plan a random weekend away like that unless it was for business. Time is money.”
Ugh, she hated this side of him. The time is money side. Taking a hard breath, she counted to ten as she sorted her emotions. Isaac being as successful as he was helped provide the stable future they had planned together.
Yes, she knew Isaac better than to think he would plan some big romantic weekend away for them. The thought of being holed up in a secret getaway with him was too good to be true, and she had gotten her hopes up.
She could only hope that once their plans for the future were set in motion, that he could relax a little and start to enjoy life. Maybe then they could do things like a real couple.
Isaac was rambling on about all of the contacts he made at that retreat, and how much money specific ones made him. He was going into detail about how he invested those funds and what it meant for them as a couple.
Sadly, she was bored. What college girl wants to hear about investments?
At her eye roll he continued. “And everything I do is for our future. Networking is imperative to solidify just that. Some of those folks that were there that weekend have an outstanding business reputation, and they were all wonderful leads for you. Opportunities like that don’t come around every day—especially for college kids.”
He might not be romantic, but he was doing everything to give her the life she always dreamed of—stable, secure, and a real family. And she was understanding until that last part, that he just had to add. Because that was Isaac.
A twinge of uncertainty sat in her chest at his words and the unconcerned look that sat on his face. She needed a moment, and maybe to count to ten again, or maybe twenty this time, before she said anything she’d regret. “Isaac, can you excuse me for a moment? And we ordered pizza, so call me when it gets here.”
“Pizza?” he grumbled and grimaced.
Refusing to respond, Harley hurried up the stairs, skipping a few steps along the way. Bursting into Lily’s room, her roommate looked up with a questioning on her face.
“Is the pizza here?” Lily asked, blankly.
“Uh, no, not yet.” She stuttered a bit. “I just need to talk to you for a second.”
“Okay.” Lily closed her laptop. “What’s up?”
“How am I supposed to know that I’m doing the right thing?” She sat down on the edge of Lily’s bed.
“About?” Lily’s face twisted in confusion.
“School, graduation, my degree, my future, job–and Isaac.”
“Are you having second thoughts about going for your master’s degree?”
Harley sighed unsure. “I don’t even know. I’m so confused right now.”
“Are you so sure it’s school that has you confused?”
Harley looked up at Lily, taken aback at her comment. “Meaning what?”
“Maybe you aren’t sure about Isaac and that future?”
Her friend might be right but admitting that wasn’t so easy for her. She cared about Isaac, and he was going to give her everything she thought she needed. She did her best to shake off her uncertainty.
“Har?” Lily asked when she didn’t respond.
“I don’t know.” She stared at her friend and waited for an insightful response.
Lily was left silent and only blinking at her words. No hugging, no scolding, nothing.
“Lil?” Harley asked. “You okay?”
Lily shook her head. “Yeah, just processing all of this. You are sure about getting your master’s degree, right?”
“Yes.” Harley’s answer was confident. This is definitely what she wanted.
“And you haven’t told Isaac any of this yet?”
“Correct.” Harley felt a twinge of guilt in her gut over doing all of this behind his back. But it was technically her future, not his. It’s not like they were already married.
“He’s not going to like this.”
“I think he will adjust.” She nodded. “Right? I mean, we can still do everything he had planned; it will just have to wait.”
“Well,” Lily smiled with an evil grin. “Technically, you could still get engaged. And use the two years while you’re in school to plan the wedding. You know you have a best friend who would be so much help with the planning process.” Lily goofily pointed to herself.
“Oh, I do know, trust me. But I just don’t think that is such a great idea. I will need to concentrate on school and not wedding stuff. Isaac is just going to have to push everything back.” She shrugged.
“Or is that what you are unsure about?” Lily pressed.
She shrugged. How was she supposed to answer that? She was unsure about practically everything in her life at the moment. When things should be falling into place, they were just a mess.
“I think you know what you are so unsure about, and it’s not school.”
She had hoped that Lily had missed that in her earlier rambling.
“Stop playing. I wouldn’t judge you if you weren’t ready to be tied down to Isaac. Out of all the guys you have dated he is the one so unlike you. And this is a night out for you two, a study date. You’ll be studying and he’ll be reading documents on his phone, or better yet, he’ll bring his laptop. You guys just seem to be in two different places. I mean, he’s all about work and business, and you’re young and still enjoy getting a little wild and having fun. As well you should be. We are college students. We should be enjoying movie night, lots of pizza, and just having fun. I don’t blame you for being unsure.”
“Pizza’s here,” Isaac called up the steps.
Saved by the pizza.
“Lil, I can’t get into this right now.” She cut off her friend’s concern and went to retrieve their dinner. The aroma of cheese and sauce filled her nose as she walked down the stairs.
Isaac was setting the pizza box in the kitchen. “Oh, I thought the delivery guy was still here. I didn’t add a tip.”
“I took care of it.”
“Thanks, sweetie.” Harley kissed him on his cheek. Isaac really was a good guy. He was sweet and thoughtful. Who needed fun anyway? Fun was overrated. She had many years of goofing off and being wild; she had her fair share of boyfriends, all of them with a letterman jacket, or being the beer chugging champion. Maybe it was her time to settle down and be with a stable, nice man. Or was she trying to convince herself that’s what she wanted?
“So, I assume this,” Isaac said, motioning unimpressed to the pizza, “is dinner.”
“Yes, Isaac. We are in college, we eat pizza.” Lily said in an unusual judgy tone that Harley was not used to hearing.
“I am aware. Does it at least have pineapple on it?” Isaac asked, peeking into the box and grimacing.
Lily’s eyes bulged out of her head at Isaac’s words. Harley just hoped that her roommate would keep her comments to herself, at least while Isaac was here. Even though Harley, herself, was gagging at the thought of pineapple, and the idea that she didn’t know he was that kind of guy.
“Harley, I think I’m going to head home. I have some meal prep dishes that I can heat up,” Isaac said as he closed the pizza box.
“Yum,” Lily sarcastically mumbled, as Harley proceeded to gently smack her friend in the arm.
“You have studying to do anyway. Right?” he continued, unfazed.
“Yeah. But are you sure you just won’t stay for pizza? Maybe you’ll like it?” The words fell out of Harley’s mouth as if her brain were on autopilot. There was no way he would eat pizza, so she didn’t know why she even attempted.
“No thank you. Had I known, I could’ve brought some groceries over with me.”
“I wasn’t cooking tonight, Isaac. Study nights are always pizza nights in this house,” Lily said.
“Anyway,” Isaac kissed Harley on her forehead. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Once Isaac had left, Lily put a piece of pizza on her plate and sat down on the couch, eyeing Harley. “Okay, let’s talk.”
“Don’t you have studying to do?” she asked.
“This is way more important. Grab a slice and come over here.” Lily patted the couch cushion next to her.
Harley took a piece of pizza and tried to lighten the moment with a comic response of, “When is anything more important than studying to you?”
“Ha, ha. Now come sit down.” Lily ignored her attempt at humor.
Harley sat next to Lily. Taking a bite of pizza, she waited for Lily’s inquisition. Chewing on the delicious pepperoni, she sat quietly.
“Okay, spill. You’re not ready for this future plan he has, are you?”
“What would make you ask that?” Harley knew that playing dumb wouldn’t derail Lily’s line of questioning, but she couldn’t help herself.
“The fact that you basically said as much upstairs. In your list of things you were questioning you added his name at the end. And I know I didn’t hear you wrong. Then your speech about not wanting to be engaged over the next two years. I would be in seventh heaven if Zane asked me to marry him, even though we aren’t at that point yet. Obviously.” She picked up her slice of pizza and before she took a bite, she added with a scrunched-up nose, “I mean besides the fact that the guy doesn’t like pizza. And we won’t even bring up the pineapple. You two seem to be worlds apart.”
Harley took another bite of pizza, buying her time to think of the best way to approach this. “It’s just...I was just thinking out loud. It was nothing.”
“But you said–”
“I know what I said!” Harley said a little more crazed than she meant to. “I was just thinking about my future, and I might have some new ideas of what I want.”
“You mean about Isaac, and his future plans for you two? Right?” Lily asked.
“Yeah.” She was questioning all of that, but she was starting to question her other choices as well, and she hated to admit that maybe she might still like having fun, and like having someone who also enjoys having fun.
“You have been spending a lot of time with Spencer lately,” Lily pressed.
“Not really,” she responded flatly.
Just then her phone buzzed.
“Isaac? Is he admitting that he regrets not staying for pizza?” Lily teased.
Ignoring her friend, she looked at her text message. It was Spencer.
Spencer: Want to meet up for lunch tomorrow?
Lily looked at her phone. “Oh, Spencer, huh?”
Pulling her phone away for privacy, she responded.
Harley: Sure. Let me know when and where.
Spencer: I was thinking of catching a movie after. Are you in?
Harley: Sounds like a plan.
“What about your afternoon class?” Lily asked curiously.
“First of all, none of your business. Second, my professor has an appointment, so no class tomorrow. And thirdly,” she repeated, “Mind your own business.”
“Please, you know I can’t do that. No more than you could when you put up the flyer for a boyfriend for Christmas,” Lily teased. “So, lunch and a movie with Spencer? Sounds like a date to me.”
“It’s not. And I’m dating Isaac.”
“So? You can date more than one guy, haven’t you seen like every teen movie ever made? You’re not doing anything wrong. It’s not like you’re shacking up with Spencer while planning your wedding to Isaac. You’re just having fun.”
“And may I repeat that I am not dating Spencer. We are just friends.”
“Whatever you say,” Lily said, with an unconvinced look on her face. “But...can I ask you something? Something personal?”
“Why stop now?” Harley joked. It was comical that Lily even took a minute to ask.
“Is Isaac that good in bed that you’re planning to spend your life with him?”
“Okay, that is a really odd question...even for you.” Harley laughed. She had to think a minute before she answered, seeing as how in her head, her answer sounded so lame and unlike her it was almost scary. “That’s not what’s important in a relationship.”
“Well, we know it’s not his personality that you’re attracted to. So, does he have a secret trust fund I don’t know about?”
Lily’s phone rang. “Oh! It’s Zane!” she jumped up. She motioned between the two of them. “To be continued.”
Harley shrugged and grabbed another slice of pizza, glad that Zane interrupted that conversation. Not that she didn’t tell Lily everything, but when it came to her sex-life, she liked to keep a few things to herself.
It was just lunch and a movie. Friends do that all the time. It was nothing to fret about. Right? But why was her heart racing just thinking about an afternoon with her friend?
Spencer: You know your BFF is telling Z all about how your boyfriend hates pizza, and something about pineapple, I didn’t quite catch that.
Harley: How do you know this?
Spencer: He has her on speakerphone while working on his computer.
Harley: Lovely.
Right at that moment, the butterflies in her stomach got the best of her. And she knew what she had to do.
Harley: You know, turns out I have study group tomorrow afternoon.
Spencer: No problem. I’ll just see you at movie night?
Harley: It’s a plan.
Spencer: Well Goodnight, Har.
Harley: Goodnight, Spence.
