I smiled to myself. Sophia, when she was happy, was a completely different person from when she was mad, and I preferred her happy. I squeezed my hand around hers as I hurried us to the cafeteria, feeling so happy that I managed to get on her good side.
We weren’t too late to the cafeteria, but we still encountered a short line and had to wait a minute to get served.
“Get whatever you want, and I’ll pay for you, okay?”
“You don’t have to,” she said quickly, looking up at me with wide eyes. “I can pay for myself fine.”
“Then you can pay for my meal later, how about that?” I offered.
She pursed her lips, but eventually nodded.
I frowned a little at her when she was ordering. I’d thought I imagined it before, but she seemed self-conscious whenever I mentioned anything to do with money. I didn’t exactly keep my background private at school, it wouldn’t be easy considering I was part of the hockey team, and anyone in the team with some secret got outed quite quickly.
It was just Dad and me in the family, and yeah, we were quite well off. It was annoying when people hung around me because they knew I had money and wanted things from me. The only people I tolerated were the guys from the hockey team, and they did the same thing, much to my irritation. Because of this, a lot of people thought I came off as a jerk and full of myself when I wasn’t.
I sighed. Sophia probably thought of me that way before. I just had to get rid of all those negative thoughts she had about me before, and we would be together for a long while if I were lucky.
Maybe even after college.
Her mom will be coming by in another week, I thought. If I get introduced to her mom, maybe… Can I get Dad to meet her?
We got our food and went to find a good seat. I set aside my plans for later. In any case, I’d have to run it by her, then Dad first. Dad would be surprised, because I didn’t introduce a lot of my friends to him, and never a girl I was dating before. But then again, I’d never dated a girl like Sophia before. Besides getting to hang out with me, she didn’t seem to want much from me.
“Did you hear anything more from your mom?” I asked as I sat down beside her at an empty table.
She hummed. “She called back a few times, seems like she’s coming.” She stabbed at her food with her plastic fork, looking agitated. “I… don’t know if I’ll introduce your guys yet, but we can decide when she comes, right?”
“Sure,” I said evenly, patting her hair. “Just let me know what you want to do then, and I’ll go along with it.”
She nodded, then dug into her food.
I watched her for a moment before I started eating my food. The peace didn’t last long between us, though.
“Hey, Elijah! Dude, where have you been disappearing to lately? Buy us some lunch!”
I looked up to see a group of my friends walking toward us. Some had food already, others didn’t. Logan and Dana were with them, and they sat to the other side of Sophia before my other friends crowded around us.
“You guys can pay for your own food,” I said dismissively. “If that’s all you came here for, please get lost.”
Logan laughed. “I told you guys it wouldn’t work this time! All of his money’s been going to his girlfriend lately; even I don’t get privileges anymore.”
I could feel Sophia squirm beside me as the guys grumbled, and I wanted to smack Logan in the back of the head.
“You better keep your mouth shut, Logan. If
you wanted, it’s not like you couldn’t pay for them yourself.”
“Are you kidding me? You think my parents give me as big an allowance as you get? They can get their own lunches!”
I rolled my eyes, but Logan was always like this. He didn’t mind playing me up but liked to play himself down. It wasn’t that his family was much less well off than mine, but he came from a big family. It was me and my dad, but Logan had two brothers and sisters, and besides his parents, he lived at home with his grandparents.
To some extent, I envied him, because of his large family even if his house was crowded. Whereas in my house, which was too big for Dad, my brother and me. There were only three of us living in a six-bedroom house.
The guys grumbled, and the ones without food got up to go and get some. It meant the table was a bit less crowded, but it wouldn’t last long.
“Do you want to move?” I asked Sophia, leaning close to her and lowering my voice so no one else could hear.
She shook her head. “No, it’s fine. They’re your friends, right? I can put up with it.”
“You don’t like sports players, though,” I teased. “Besides Dana, everyone here is on the school’s hockey team, you know?”
She ducked her head, but not before I noticed the blush on her cheeks. “Well, I’m dating you, so it’s fine, right?”
I went back to eating, hiding how pleased her words made me. The guys started talking about our last game. I didn’t have much to contribute since I wasn’t myself for most of the game, but they sang my praises anyway, led by Logan, of course. I just rolled my eyes and ignored them.
“We have another game in a couple of weeks, don’t we?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.
Logan sighed. “Yeah. Another strong school.”
“Hey, so what if they’re strong? It’d be boring to only go up against weak schools.”
“Yeah, man. It’s still some time away, but I’m getting pumped!”
I kept glancing at my side at Sophia, to make sure she was okay and not just faking it. She didn’t seem to mind all the sports chatter, though, and I wondered if she had stopped hating it.