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There’s more on Elise’s mind, and after a few pointed looks from her, I give in. “What’s wrong?”
She sits down her chopsticks and sighs heavily. “I just don’t see why you have to even get another apartment. You’ve been doing so well at home…”
“Yeah, you would know, since you’re constantly up my ass,” I reply, causing Dan to laugh.
“I’m just worried, okay? It helps me be less anxious about you being out somewhere ruining your life if I can see you from time to time.”
“Elise…” I blow out a breath. “The commute is bullshit, and I need to be independent. I’m an adult.”
“I think you know why I’m so worried. You weren’t exactly prepared properly for the real world.”
This gives me pause. “Why do you say that? I lived abroad for a year.”
My sister seems to be struggling to find the right words, wanting to explain herself while also not bad-mouthing our parents, but Dan saves her by interjecting.
“I think she’s trying to say you weren’t ready for the heartbreak that comes with it. In the real world, people lie, keep secrets, cheat, deceive, sell sex for money…”
Dan has a point. A really good one, actually. Of course, I knew about things like drug use and escorts when I moved here last year, but I wasn’t ready for the lies and deceptions that came with my first relationship.
“You aren’t wrong,” I say grudgingly. “But I still think that’s a problem with society itself, not in the way Elise and I were raised.”
“I don’t know,” Dan replies. “Like I said, a lot of us love the city and all the gritty parts of it. We don’t want something that has been scrubbed clean. The immoral side of it can be fun sometimes.”
“I guess I’m just not a fun person, then.”
“Yes,” Dan laughs. “We already knew that.”
I let it go, not wanting to get into this argument with Dan for what feels like the millionth time. I know I shouldn’t care that he enjoys the seedier parts of the city, but I just wish I didn’t have to know about it so much.
We continue eating, the food made better by the company I share, and it feels like the perfect send off for a space I wish hadn’t become so irreparably tainted in such a short amount of time. Still, it’d be an enormous weight off my soul to never have to step foot in here again soon enough.
“Can you pass the—oh, hold on.” Elise jumps up, grabbing her purse and sitting back down. I can hear her phone vibrating inside, and she pulls it out to read the text.
Her face goes through a range of emotions; shock, disgust, and then annoyance, obvious from her tightly pursed lips. I ignore it, figuring it is something going on with her friend group, but I see her eyes darting to me as she reads.
“What, Elise?” I ask in a groan.
“It’s my friend Cassey. She just texted me something that I can’t even wrap my head around. Do you remember Patricia, the girl that sent me the voice message?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, Cassey just texted me because it seems like Patricia just took a job offer from the one and only Roxanne.”
My world threatens to tilt on its axis at the name, but I keep my cool. “No way. Everyone you hang around is barely eighteen. Did Roxanne need a fucking receptionist or something?”
Elise leans in, appearing both scandalized but also excited to share such incredibly dramatic gossip. “No. As an escort! I guess she was offered €10k for only four hours of work! Can you believe that?”
Even Dan frowns. “But she’s at least eighteen, right?”
“Yes,” Elise confirms. “But like for a month or so.”
“That’s…” I shake my head, the convo we just had with Dan replaying in my mind. “That’s disgusting.”
“I’m going to text Patricia directly,” Elise says, typing on her phone. “I have to know if it’s true.”
My appetite gone, I push my food away, clicking the to-go lid back into place on a few of the dishes. Dan is not fazed by the conversation, and continues eating, but Elise is so invested in her phone that she is letting her food go cold. I pack hers back up too.
My sister’s phone vibrates again, and Elise gasps. “It’s true! Oh my God!” She lets out a slightly hysterical giggle. “I can’t believe she’s going to go prostitute herself just for some money.”
