Where Lost Things Go | ✓

【零柒】ECON MAJORS

chapter 7.
econ majors

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REAGAN HAD A habit of blending into the walls.

Unlike her, Molly commanded attention. People seemed to gravitate towards her, attracted by her openness. Sometimes Reagan resented her for it.

Kate, the talkative bubble that she was, was the same way. She quickly made new friends who matched her energy, easily filling any silence with nonstop chatter. Sometimes, Reagan resented her, too.

For whatever reason, Reagan had let the two of them drag her to the local student bar for trivia night. It wasn't her activity of choice for a Wednesday evening, but once again, it wasn't like she had anything better to do.

Throughout the night, her two friends barely paid attention to the trivia questions and instead, spent their time catching up with mutuals they knew at the bar. Reagan just sat and smiled politely at everyone. She never found the ability or energy in herself to make friends like Molly and Kate did.

Reagan sighed and took a sip from her piña colada. She looked down at the sheet of paper before her, gazing at her list of answers for the trivia questions.

"Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize?" The question boomed over the speakers, not that anyone was really paying attention. The loud music continued to play.

Reagan wrote down Marie Curie and leaned back into her seat as she waited for the next question. She didn't really understand the concept of trivia night at a student bar where everyone was mostly there just to get wasted.

She was still busy cursing the establishment when someone slid into the seat across from her. Just one look at him and Reagan already knew where this was going. She didn't have enough fingers to count how many times some random white boy approached her and tried to explain trickle down economics to her throughout the night.

"The name's Finn," this one said. He had his cap on backwards.

"Charmed," she said flatly.

"What are you studying?"

Reagan searched her head for a major that wouldn't seem like a threat to him, "Art History."

"Cool, cool, cool," He nodded, pursing his lips. "I'm in econ."

Of course he was.

"So how's trivia night going?" he asked, before answering his own question. "My group's doing pretty well. They have me, after all." He laughed loudly at his own joke.

She smiled weakly, "I'm sure.'

"I'm in CES, the Economics Society. I'm only a sophomore but I got a big interview lined up this weekend," he said, arrogance spilling through his nasally voice. "The boys and I are celebrating tonight, you know what I mean?"

"Totally."

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"Sure I do."

He laughed loudly again, even though she didn't say anything funny.

"Pennies are made of mostly what type of metal?" the speaker announced the next trivia question.

Deciding she wasn't the best company, the boy stood up and tapped the wooden table. "I'll give you this one for free," he leaned in and winked, as if he was telling her a secret. "Copper. Trust me. I'm an econ major."

Reagan stared at him, wondering if he was serious.

"I'll catch you around," he said with a smug nod, before sliding out of the table and greeting another friend of his with that loud, obnoxious voice of his.

Reagan sighed and wrote the correct answer on her paper. Zinc.

Molly slid into his spot. "Who was that?"

"I don't know."

"He seemed into you," she said before looking at Reagan with an accusing stare. "Did you scare another one off again?"

Reagan shrugged and took another sip from her drink. She was bored again.

"Final question! What are the only two egg-laying mammals in existence in the world today?"

Reagan filled in the last blank on her sheet of paper. Echidna and Platypus.

Pushing her seat back as she stood up, she took the piece of paper and slid it over the bar counter.

The bartender, a short girl with tattoos down her arms, took it and added it to the stack. She glanced warily at Reagan, who stood across the counter and watched her grade the papers. Reagan was again reminded what a bad idea drunk trivia night was when she saw the range of answers on the other papers. When the bartender got to hers, she looked up Reagan.

"You got them all correct," she said, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I know," Reagan said back.

"Did you cheat and Google them or something?"

"No."

The girl didn't seem to believe her. She nudged her partner and showed him the piece of paper. He glanced at it, and then glanced back up at Reagan.

"Alright," she asked with a sigh. Even if she did cheat, there wasn't anything they could do about it. " And your group name is The PowerPuff Bitches?"

"Yeah," Reagan cringed. Not her idea.

The other bartender grabbed the mic, "Aaaaand first place, with every single question correct, goes to....The PowerPuff Bitches!!!!"

He cheered into the mic, although most people were either too drunk or too high to care.

"Congrats," the girl said to her over the music. "You get two free drinks. What's your order?"

"Could you send two gin and tonics to that table?" Reagan pointed over to where Molly and Kate sat.

"Sure."

Across the room, Molly caught her eye and gave her two thumbs up, mouthing something unintelligible at Reagan.

Reagan just smiled at her before pointing at the door and mouthing, I'm going to go.

Somebody walked in front of Reagan, blocking her view of Molly. She took the opportunity to slip away without having to deal with Molly's protests. She pushed through the sweaty crowd, taking a deep breath when she finally made it out of the bar.

She hated Trivia.

The cool fresh air danced against her skin. She walked home, accompanied only by the moon and stars. With her perfectly scored trivia sheet in hand, Reagan realized the loneliness from her childhood had never left.