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“You’re really surrounding yourself with a high class of people.”
“His dad’s a senator.”
“Then that’s where he gets it from.” I stand from my desk and start pacing up the length of my windows. “Look, kid. You don’t have time or leverage. Just accept the loss and get back here.”
There’s silence on the other end, and I swear I hear him hit a vape. I pretend I didn’t. I really don’t need something else to fight with him about.
Finally, Jack asks, quietly, “You sure you want me there?”
I sigh. The truth is that I don’t. I love my brother, but I enjoy solitude and also really don’t need more problems right now. Unfortunately he’ll be up to more trouble if he’s running around New York City all night with his gang of friends. At least staying here I’ll be able to keep an eye on him, maybe put out the fires before he starts them. Literally.
“If I didn’t I wouldn’t be asking you,” I say gruffly. “But you’re going to have to get a job and start studying for your GED, okay? You’re still going to college next semester.”
“Yeah… About that…”
“You are going to college,” I say deliberately. I’d already anticipated that this was going to be the next war Jack and I would fight and I’m prepared to pull out the big guns.
“I want to take a gap year!” he protests.
“Bullshit,” I say. “You want to party. Well good news. You can do that in college.”
“Dad says college is for people who are too stupid to make it by themselves.”
I ignore the pointed jab at me and say, “You’re really going to listen to what Dad of all people says? Did he tell you that before or after he complained about how bad prison food is?”
Okay, maybe I don’t actually ignore it.
“He’s not wrong,” Jack challenges. “Lots of really successful people never went to college. But just because you had to…”
“Those people had a plan and skills,” I say through gritted teeth. “Of the two, you have neither. Or, at least none that aren’t going to lead to sharing a cell with Dad. Is that what you want? Because believe me, once you turn eighteen, the consequences for fucking up are a lot more serious than getting kicked out of another prep school.”
“So I should just get a business degree and come work for you?” he sneers.
“You say that like it’s not a great opportunity,” I say. “But I wouldn’t force you to come work here. Or even to get a business degree. I just want you to have the opportunities that come with college. It’s all paid for. Why not go?”
“Whatever,” he says instead of answering. Jack must sense that this is a debate he’s not going to win, though I know for a fact that he’s only retreating until he can regroup and try again later, maybe when I’m in a better mood. Of course, he should know by now that I’m never in a better mood, and once I make my mind up about something it rarely changes.
I hear Jack shuffling around his dorm room, no doubt trying to think up a new angle. I let him, flopping down on my black leather couch and putting the news on mute.
“How’s work?” he finally asks. If he thinks that’s going to soften me, he’s quite mistaken.
“The same,” I say, trying not to picture Evie’s lithe figure flouncing away from me.
“When’s the ship set to launch?”
“We haven’t set an exact date yet,” I say vaguely. Even that’s more positive than the reality. It’s pending a solid ad campaign and at this rate the Seafarer may never set sail.
“I saw it on Reddit the other day.”
Reddit? I frown. Evie had mentioned the platform earlier. I’m not too familiar with it, chalking it up mentally to yet another social media site where people act like assholes for the enjoyment of no one.
“And what did Reddit have to say about the Seafarer?” I ask, trying to sound like I’m not that interested. Evie’s assessment of my issues with marketing the cruise liner to young people has stayed on my mind.
“That it’s uglifying the New York skyline. That cruises suck ass. All the usual things.”
“Cruises aren’t that bad,” I say.
“Have you ever been on one?”
