Young Writers Society

"Why would I mind that?" She cracked a grin, one of the few truly genuine ones she'd had all week. "Sounds like the best thing that's happened to me all day."

James looked up at her and returned the grin. It was good to see her more relaxed - far better off than when she'd been trudging down the sidewalk all muddied by herself.

"Perfect. From here on out, you are honorably dubbed The Guardian of the Chickfila," he said in a somewhat nasally posh-sounding accent with a deadpan expression.

Then, he pulled up to the window.

He handed over his card, and they started handing him the bags of food. One - he handed it off to Jerica. Two - he passed the next one to her. Then the drinks. He put the coke in the empty cup holder, and then removed the water bottle from the other, tossing it at her feet, and setting his water down.

They handed him back his card and the receipt.

"The sauces in there?" he asked.

"Yep!"

"Alright," he said, waving his hand by way of thanks and stowing his card away quickly. He shoved his wallet back into his pocket, rolled the window back up, and started driving back out on the road.

"All I want is one of the sandwiches," he said. "You can have the rest."

"The--" she laughed, eyes getting misty again. She shook her head but handed one of the sandwiches over to him. "I can't eat all of this by myself. At least have some fries."

She propped the fry bag in the center between them and then grabbed one of the sandwiches and all but inhaled it. Her aching stomach felt a bit better. And greedy. Like it wasn't done with its protest against her abuse of it -- and was now demanding to be fed all the food now that she'd given it some.

She hesitated as she pulled out the second sandwich, hunger satiated just enough to realize she'd completely ignored James in the few moments it took her to eat the sandwich. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude." Her stomach gurgled, and she started unwrapping the second sandwich, but looked at him. "How's yours?"

James was about halfway through his, eating at a slower pace because he was focused on driving.

"You're fine," he said. "And it's good."

He glanced down at the basket of fries between them and picked one up, plopping it in his mouth. Just to make her feel better. He wasn't that hungry, and he had food at home.

"Whatever you can't finish, feel free to take home. I don't eat out much, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it more than me."

Jerica swallowed her mouthful of food without really chewing it, realizing sheepishly that she was already halfway through the second sandwich.

"You're really nice." She flushed a bit, realizing what a stupid observation that was to say out loud. She picked up a fry and shrugged, trying to play it off coolly. "And if you ever, like, need anything or anything, hit me up."

She ate the fry in nearly a single gulp. Now she was turning into fry boy.

"You seem smarter than me so I doubt I could help you with homework," she said. "But give me a few weeks and I'm sure I can get you an invite to any party, and I'm a hella good wingman... or I could just keep Lordy's attention focused on me. Whatever works."

James laughed, and took the last bite of his sandwich. He waited until he finished chewing and swallowed before speaking.

"Trust me, I don't need more invites to parties," James said. "Living with a frat boy gives me enough of those, and each one I decline. And don't dig yourself in a deeper hole with Lordy. He probably barely even noticed me. I'm pretty sure Elias stole all the attention by bringing a literal chicken into class."

Jerica laughed too. It felt out of place, with the way she still felt. But she was almost full. And out of the sun. And with someone who was kind. This day was starting to look up after all.

"Frat boy, you say?" she asked playfully, going for more fries. "And I'm, uh, good at digging holes." She gestured at her muddy self. "Kidding. But Lordy seems like a fun prof to troll. I think I will have a very fun semester... and, well, we'll see how fun the grade is in December, won't we?"

She snickered again and took a long drink of her coke.

James glanced over at Jerica, crumpling up the remains of the sandwich wrapper in his hand. He stuck it into a crevice under the radio for the time being and took another shared fry.

"He does seem like he had a sense of humor. And a bit of a temper. But I do hope for your sake that he's at least unbiased with his grading. It's unfair when professors let their opinions about a student's character affect how they grade their work, but I know, unfortunately, it can be pretty common."

He spotted their complex up ahead and turned down a road that led to an easier route to the street parking since there were a few one-way streets.

"Maybe Morrigan will talk some sense into him. It looked like maybe they were friends or something."

"See, my plan is to just sit in a different spot each class so he doesn't associate my name with my face," Jerica said, finally satiated. She waved a fry in a vague gesture. "And then just bury my assignment in the stack so he doesn't know which one is mine."

She might or might not have done this before. But, some professors just deserved to be trolled. And she was happy to be their karma.

"But it'll be nice if I can be likeable for Morrigan, yeah." She finally ate the fry and nursed her coke. "Although I'm not great at English. So, there's that."

"Well. That's something I'm not bad at. So maybe I can help you out if you need," he said with a little nod in her direction, though his eyes were preoccupied with looking for open street parking. He finally spotted one on the side of the road and was happy no one got to it before him.

Quickly, he pulled up to the car in front of the spot and then backed into it. Their complex was just a building down.

He unbuckled and opened the car door, glancing at Jerica, then down at the fries on the little island between their seats. He grabbed them along with his drink, knowing her hands would be full with everything else.

"Want help carrying anything?" he offered.

"I'm good." She got out of the car, offering him a small smile. "And I appreciate that, though I'm running out of ideas for things I could help you with... want anyone beat up?"

She winked at him. But was only kind of joking.

James laughed weakly and rolled his eyes at her. He wanted to ask her the same question, but he had a feeling she wouldn't want to talk about it.

That said, he knew she wanted to pay him back somehow, and the problem was, he couldn't really think of anything. James had always prided himself on being as independent and self-sufficient as possible. He'd have to make something up.

"I could use some help... getting to know some of the people in our complex, I guess," he said. "Since I'm new here. But I know you're new too, so - meeting you is a start."

It wasn't exactly something he wanted, but maybe if he made some new acquaintances, Carter would shut up about him being a hermit.

"I don't know," he said with a shrug, starting to walk down the sidewalk, gesturing for her to follow with a wave of his hand.

"Fair enough!" She started after him, quickly catching up with her CFA bounty in her hands. "Yeah, this is my first night in the apartment--" She cringed. Shouldn't have said that. But recovered quickly. "But I tend to make friends quickly so I'm sure we could have you over to hang out sometimes. I'm gonna room with my cousin Rek. He's chill... and less uhhhhh... boisterous? than me. I think you'd like each other."

"Is he as sporty as you?" James asked.

"Um, not really?" She took another drink of her coke. "Like, he's fit and will play me one on one sometimes or even 2 v. 2 if we have people we want to play with, but he's not --" She puffed out her chest a bit, proud of herself. "On the football team."