Was that a compliment or an insult?

“Argh! I can’t believe you caught me trying to pay for you! Aangmdjslasdkjf!”

AJ is complaining between mouthfuls, half intelligibly at best.

“It was obvious the moment you insisted on going behind me to order.”

She takes a massive swig of her drink and forces herself to swallow.

“Gah. Even if you did know, you could’ve played along. It’s a good rule of thumb to repay kindness, you know. Reciprocity is important.”

“You were trying to be cheap with the smoothies.”

She freezes mid-bite and feigns ignorance.

“Was I? I don’t think so.”

“Yeah. You admitted it.”

AJ is too busy grinding her meal between her teeth to answer but the look in her eyes tells me she’s thinking of something snappy. I better make myself clear this time, otherwise she’ll drag me around all day until she can find some expense to cover.

“Don’t. Repay. Me.”

“Okay. Okay. I didn’t realize how serious you were about it. I’ll drop it.”

She goes back to slurping her soda.

“Good. Thank you.”

Now that the matter is out of the way, I return to my meal.

“So, how’s the food.”

To my shock, AJ has completely finished and is watching me eat. It’s my turn to answer through self-conscious mouthfuls. Chewing is shockingly arduous. I can’t even taste the food in my mouth anymore. Not that it had much flavor to begin with.

“It’s just your average airport burger. Salty. A little on the greasy side. What’d you think? You finished really fast.”

“Hey! No, I didn’t. You’re a slow eater. That’s all! I haven’t eaten anything all day. Of course, I’m hungry!”

Her expression seems flustered? Embarrassed? No, that’s not it. Ashamed and angry might be a better description.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” I attempt to clarify. “Just commenting.”

Crap. That’s not the right thing to say. At this rate, she might choose to repay me with a trip to the hospital. I better salvage the situation or else.

“Anyway, you said you haven’t eaten anything all day? Are you not a breakfast person?”

No! Don’t keep talking about food! I scream internally. Talk about something else! Change the subject! You probably said something offensive!

My mind is blank. I’m screwed.

“Hm, now that you mention it, I guess I’m really not a big fan of breakfast. I’m never really that hungry in the mornings.”

Huh?

“I mean sometimes I’ll eat a slice of toast or an egg but most of the time…”

Am I safe?

“…what about you?”

Nope. I’m in the danger zone again. I was too lost in the throes of false victory and missed the first half of her question.

“Um. Well, um I, um.”

I’ve said too many “ums.” I can’t tell what she thinks of me. Her attentive face is too neutral for me to tell.

“Um, I don’t know. I don’t really have an opinion on this sort of thing.”

“I get that. It’s not like we’ve had much of a choice growing up. My parents would always nag me about it but now that I’m on my own, I don’t have to worry about breakfast anymore.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Yeah, so most of the time I wake up thirty minutes before class. One time I woke up five minutes before my literature class and I was booking it across campus. It was in the middle of winter, but by the time I made it to class, I was so sweaty I felt like I was dying in my coat.”

I laugh along with her. She stops smiling suddenly and stares at me intensely.

“Is there something on my face?”

She breaks out into a smile again.

“Oh, sorry. No, there isn’t. By the way, are you still in high school or…”

“I’m in university,” I clarify.

“Me too. I didn’t think about it at first, but we never mentioned our ages. I was worried for a second that you were a lot younger than me.”

I do my best to not take offense. 

“Do I look a lot younger?”

“No. It’s just that there’s only a few years between us and high schoolers, so I thought it was possible.”

“Fair enough. So, what are you studying?”

She seems like a liberal arts person. AJ is outgoing, spontaneous, and irrational. So, probably something like gender studies or whatever is popular these days. There are so many random majors it’s impossible to remember them all. I can’t even picture what sort of career path she would aim for.

“Can’t you tell?” she giggles. “I’m a business major but I’m thinking about going to law school.”

I nearly spray my soda. The fizzy bubbles burn the back of my throat and nose.

“Law? Law school? You?”

“What’s so funny? You don’t think I can get into law school? Huh?”

Hmph. She shifts lightly away from me in her chair and slides one of her legs on top of the other. Her legs dangle from the high bar-style chair. A glint of gold catches my eye from her ankle. Resting above her white sneakers lies a slender golden anklet. I shake my head, focusing back on our conversation.

“No. No, that just wasn’t what I expected. But if you’re as determined about going to law school as you were about repaying me, I’m sure you’ll make it in.”

Despite my best efforts, a chuckle escapes my lips. I can’t imagine her in a profession as serious as a lawyer.

AJ arches her brow and nibbles her straw.

“Was that a compliment or an insult?”

I’m still recovering my composure but manage to choke out a few words.

“What do you think?”

AJ uncrosses her legs and taps her drink on the shiny white tabletop. She lets go of the cup, placing it on the edge of my reflection.

“I’m still making up my mind…”

She slides the drink around, back into the reflection of her elbow.

“…But I think it can be both.”