Freshman Girl and Junior Guy (a short story) INTERIM GODDESS OF LOVE PREQUEL

5. Thursday Evening

By now, most of the basic necessities have been packed and delivered. Food, clothes, medicine. There are several dozen more relief packs to be loaded to the truck tomorrow, but they're all ready to go.

Tonight, I'm cleaning books and toys. They're going to be sent to the evacuation centers first, likely the ones that are schools with daycare facilities. I'm going over the books with a rag, getting rid of the dust collecting on their covers and edges.

Quin is already here with me, and I've put him to work sanitizing the toys. He's talking about his classes. He always wants to talk, which I find so annoying right now, because I've got a song (thanks to Toby and Traci and their new love) stuck in my head.

I'm annoyed that I'm sitting here with this guy who talked me into publicly asking for flowers to be bought for me.

I'm annoyed that he's now talking about some dumb basketball thing that doesn't interest me at all.

I'm annoyed that I have no right to be annoyed, because we're cleaning toys and books for kids who've lost everything.

So I'm just here. Not talking.

"You've been here every day, haven't you?" he asks me.

"Yes." I'm still pouting.

"You've probably done more than anyone else here."

"It's not a big deal," I say. "It's just packing."

"It's way more packing than anyone else did," Quin says.

"Because they gave money. That helps more people."

"I don't think you believe that," he says, and it makes me growl inside.

"You think you know what I believe?"

"Actions matter," he tells me.

"Giving money is a mighty big act," I retort. "That I can't do."

"Oh, people can do something and it can mean nothing to them. This means something to you."

Exactly what I'm thinking.

"Which actions matter to you then?" I throw back at him. "If not giving money and helping so many people with it."

Quin shrugs. "I don't know. Being reliable."

"That's...responsible of you."

"I am. I'm going to be captain of the basketball team next year."

"A team you say never wins."

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't commit everything to it. I do. I should."

I don't know what to say.

"I study more than I should," Quin continues, filling the silence. "I'm in the honors class. I don't have to do that. No one expects me to."

He's probably richer than anyone I know. Yeah, they don't have to work as hard. They're not expected to.

"You spend time talking to me and walking me home," I add. "No one expects you to."

I want...

I want the time he spends with me to mean something to him.

We both stop speaking, and I'm not sure what's supposed to happen next.

"I saw your name up on the Flowers For A Cause board," he says. "Good for you."

"Yeah, well, you made me do it," I say. Not so angry anymore. "You're not going to let me humiliate myself when no one picks me, right?"

Quin shrugs. "I don't do roses."

My shoulders fall. "You don't?"

"No." He says it so matter-of-factly. Like, duh.

Great. Whatever. I wipe dust off another book and roll my eyes, and I don't mind if he sees.