Page 19 of Nerdelicious
Annabel lifts a spoon out of the soapy water, waving it in the air. “I get it. It’s hard to decide and it feels like you’re supposed to know everything by the time you’re eighteen, you know? But sometimes it just takes longer to find your niche.”
“You should do something with your degree.” Reese hands me a clean plate and I dry it with a dish towel.
“I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology. There’s literally nothing I can do with that, unless I go for my master’s. I might as well have majored in English lit.”
“What’s wrong with English lit?” Reese frowns.
I shrug. “Nothing, if you’re not concerned with gainful employment. It’s a good thing I have experience in food service. Not only because food is awesome, but because at least I can do something. But unless I want to go back to school, I have no chance of getting a job that could support myself with my bachelor’s degree.”
“Something will come up,” Reese says.
“I have no real plan. Everyone has a plan. I’m a loser.”
“You’re not a loser.” She hands me a bowl.
I take it and scrub at it with the towel. “Says the genius.”
“I’m not a genius.”
“Sorry, says the person who’s like a bajillion times smarter than me and knows exactly what she wants to do with her life. I don’t know anything. All I know is that I need to prove that I’m not a useless drain on society.”
Annabel rolls her eyes. “You’re so dramatic. You’re only what, twenty-two? You still have time to figure things out.”
“I guess. It just feels like everyone else my age has dreams, goals, aspirations... I don’t know what I want to do other than go to Comic-Con at least fourteen times before I die.”
“Fourteen?” Reese’s brows lift to her hairline.
“At least.”
Annabel laughs. “That’s pretty arbitrary. Look, Fred, don’t stress. It will all work out. We’ll help you search for jobs, right, Reese?”
Reese nods encouragingly.
Well, if Annabel and Reese believe in me, that makes two of us.
“Hey.” I tap on the partially closed door before pushing it open. “Where’s Granny?”
“Granny went out,” Grace says, her fingers not missing a beat at the keyboard, eyes fixated on the computer screen.
“Where did she go?”
A half shrug. “Oh you know. Wouldn’t say.”
She’s been disappearing a lot, but I don’t question her anymore. At first, she would say it was “none of my never mind,” and then she told me I was “more interfering than a wet noodle.” Which didn’t make any sense and didn’t really sound complimentary either.
“I’m going to take a walk to the tree house. Wanna come?”
“No thanks.” More tapping. “Beast is still around. Maybe he’ll want to go. Have you seen him?”
I shrug. “Not since dinner.”
She frowns. “Maybe he’s in the barn then.”
“He’s staying tonight?”
Grace nods, distracted by something on her computer screen, so I leave her to it.
I need to clear my head anyway. It’s easier to do that alone. Normally, when I need alone time, I crawl out my bedroom window and onto the roof above—there’s a level spot perfect for stargazing, but the stars aren’t out yet. I try to soak them up when I can, since I never see anything like it back in the city. Too much light pollution for stars, let alone a sky full of them.
