Page 14 of The Pinkie Pact

"Yes, and soon. Do you have any idea where I should look?"

She thought for a minute while we continued down the sidewalk. "I know. The library! It's hard to get a job there, but I know someone."

The library? That sounded pretty great actually. Quiet, calm.

"I mean, you get to sit around and read all the time, right?" she said. "What better job could you have?"

"That would be amazing and way better than my crazy job before as a waitress. Thank you."

"No problem. I'll call my friend later. Sometimes it pays to be my mother's daughter."

"I guess so. Too bad my mom's a dentist."

We laughed together as we entered our building and took the elevator. I couldn't wait to get rid of these heavy books. As we walked down the long hallway and came closer to our room, I noticed a bunch of paper bags sitting outside our door.

"What's this?" I asked, looking at all the groceries from Trader Joe's, one of my favorite stores from home.

She rolled her eyes. "Kieran must have gone shopping."

My jaw hit the floor as Kara pushed some bags aside to unlock the door. "Are you kidding me?"

"He does that sometimes. Buys me a bunch of healthy food, fruits and vegetables."

After unloading her books, she grabbed a few of the heavy bags and brought them in, and I did the same.

"But this," she said, slightly out of breath, "is more than usual."

She jammed a bunch of things into the refrigerator as I unpacked another bag full of bananas, apples, and organic strawberries, which I loved.

"Have you had this before?" Kara held up another one of my favorites, their frozen gnocchi.

"Oh, my God, I love that shit."

Kara cracked up. "Me too. He bought like four of them."

She shoved them in the freezer along with a bunch of their other easy frozen dinners. I returned to my bag and unloaded carrots and salad.

"Here." I handed the bagged lettuce to Kara.

She scrunched up her nose. "Ew. Salad."

"What? Do you just live on cereal and chips?"

"Pretty much. But I can't let all this go to waste, so I end up eating it. I never get my lazy ass to the grocery store, especially Trader Joe's which is way too far. And Kieran has a car." She shrugged her shoulders. "So..."

"He has a car?"

"Sure does." She unpacked some milk and eggs. "And he comes to Foggy Bottom all the freaking time because he likes to run at the Mall."

"The Mall? As in the place where the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument are?"

"That's the one." She paused for a second and tore open a bag of peanut butter-filled pretzels. "But really, I think he's just trying to escape Christina."

"Do they live together?"

"Yep, they have an apartment in Georgetown."

"Let me guess. Christina went to Georgetown too."

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