Well, last year it fell on the day after Halloween so we celebrated
it on Halloween with all of our friends, and the year before that we did
the exact same thing. So unless someone changed the date for Halloween,
yeah I think my birthday’s coming up soon, right?
“Yep, just two more days.” I turn my body back toward the door,
my finger still on the key.
“Well, that’s awesome, maybe we’ll all go out for drinks again.”
We’ve done the same thing every year since we met our junior
year of college and now just because we’re in grad school, I doubt we’ll
stray from tradition. But why does Andy have to waste my time by asking
these pointless questions? We both know he knows the answer.
“Yeah, I think Johnny and I, and the rest of the gang have that in
mind. Just like always.”
“Okay, yeah, well just lemme know. I’m working with Tom on a
project so I’ll be around a lot this week.”
“Okay, sounds great!” I call out over my shoulder, one foot
already inside the door. Oh, great, he’ll be around even more than usual
this week. He acts like he’s never here. I swear I haven’t gone a full week
without seeing him here.
Once inside my studio apartment, I run towards my dresser, open
the middle drawer, and retrieve a screwdriver that’s buried inside the
sleeve of an old bulky high school sweatshirt. I walk over to the power
outlet next to my bed and twist the top screw until it pops out. Inside
the half opened power outlet is an envelope marked “Rainy Day Fund,”
which I set on top of the dresser as I empty my bra of all the crumpled
bills I accumulated during my shift. Sixty-eight dollars in tips, not bad
for a Tuesday. I decide that sixty of this is going in the bank but the other
eight is going in the envelope.
With the eight bucks added, my total is now $2,463. That money
could go toward an international ticket but if I’m going to travel I want
Johnny there with me and I don’t think he could afford it. Maybe I
should think smaller, a tattoo perhaps. If only I could just settle on a design and stick with it. I should put the money toward my loans but that’s
not what this fund is for, it’s for me and my experiences. I don’t care if ten
years from now I’ll still be paying off student loans, so long as I know I
did this one thing for myself.
A million different ideas of how I should spend the money race
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