Bad Habits by Amy Gentry

Author:Amy Gentry [Gentry, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358125051
Google: fb3NDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2021-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

I arrived home that evening, mildly tipsy and utterly elated, to find Gwen curled up on the sofa watching a rerun of Project Runway.

“Where were you?” I cried, forgetting that I was avoiding her. “We won! We actually won!”

Gwen smiled sleepily. “Really? Congratulations.”

“It was looking bad at first,” I buzzed. “Connor had pop music covered, and Aggressively Bland Matt knows sports. Morgan is a political junkie, and Letty knows a little bit about everything. But I wasn’t, you know, bringing much to the table. We could have used you on ‘New York, New York.’ Where were you, anyway?” I didn’t wait for an answer. “But then there was an Oscars category and one about horses, and—​you know Lily’s obsessed with horses, right? I’ve seen so many documentaries about them I cleaned out the category.”

“Congratulations,” Gwen said again. “I would have sucked at that one.”

“I know!” I was almost hugging myself. After winning at trivia, I had gotten more good news: a message from Lily’s doctor, confirming that the visit had happened as my mom described and apologizing for having billed the insurance incorrectly. A reimbursement check was on its way, and though I knew that could mean months, the relief was palpable. I still couldn’t get through to the Social Security office, but it seemed less important now that I knew my mom was being honest about one thing, at least.

Overflowing with generosity, I pulled three twenties out of my pocket. “This is your share of the winnings, by the way.”

“Keep it.”

“You were there all season. You can buy me a drink sometime.”

“No really, keep it. I flaked on the team,” Gwen said. “You were their pinch hitter.”

“That hardly seems fair.” But I pocketed the money anyway, too fizzy for pride. “Thanks.”

“I’ve been home all afternoon.”

In my frictionless mood, I accepted the lie and sat down beside Gwen on the sofa. On-screen, Nina García was wrinkling her nose, and the contestants on the runway cowered. “Enjoying sobriety?”

“I got a lot of work done. I did some laundry.” She made a face. “So, no.”

“I got a job today. I’m Margaret’s new research assistant.”

“On top of Bethany?”

The phrasing amused me, but then nothing felt very serious right now. “She hired Connor instead.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” It was, right now at least. “Connor said she’s already texted him four times in the middle of the night. Once to come over and set her coffeemaker, so it’d go off at the right time in the morning.”

“Guess you dodged a bullet.”

“Yeah.”

We watched Michael Kors snark at someone.

“Never lost two jobs in one week before.” I laughed ruefully.

“Are you going to be all right?”

“I’ve got the thing with Margaret,” I said, hurrying us past the danger zone. “Anyway, it’s probably for the best, not having an off-campus job. I feel like I’ve been missing out on all the fun parts of the Program—​don’t look at me like that, you know there are a few. I’ve just been working and studying and studying and working.”

“It feels like you’ve been gone more than you’ve been here,” Gwen agreed.

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