Surrender To Love

22. Wealthy Not Rich

"Dude just chill out alright?!"

"Fuck no! You making me pay double what you pay! You want me to chill about that! What the fuck Eva?! Max?!"

"Guys let's just talk about this, ok?" Eva says trying to de-escalate the situation.

"What's there to talk about? Huh? You making me pay almost 2,000 while you pay what? Hundreds? That's insane!"

"Dylan please!" She shouts back, getting worried.

"Go then," I say sternly and very angry.

"I got fired some time ago, OK? And Max doesn't get paid well. I know it's fucked up, but we promise that we'll pay you back, okay?"

"It is fucked up. I don't care if you pay me back. I actually don't want you to." I say.

"Dude you're rich! Why does it matter?" Max adds.

"That doesn't mean you get to take advantage of me. Just because I have the money doesn't mean I have to use it. I won't be taken advantage of." I say sternly. I turn to walk away. I already have plans to buy an apartment close to Stanford but I have to wait till the lease is up.

I found out I was paying more by seeing the division on a sheet of paper Eva was doing for this month's rent. The rent for an apartment like ours is almost 3,000 dollars. We had it split evenly in the beginning between the three of us. I would have been perfectly fine paying extra if I knew they were struggling but for them to lie about it, hurts.

As I left the apartment, Astrid called me. Today were spending the evening with my cousin and her friends. We are all going to Mia's big ass beach house. She claims it is hers but her parent pays for it. Everyone will be there including Hunter. Max and Eva were supposed to go too but they're not, no way they are.

"Hey baby, how are you?"

"I don't know, babe. Max and Eva have been making me pay almost double more than I should be," I say while shaking my head and buckling my seatbelt.

"Damn, that's fucked up."

"Yeah, but I'm excited for later."

"Same."

"Okay, I'll see you later, I love you."

"Okay, hopefully, you can work out the shit with Max and Eva, I love you."

"Bye, babe," I hung up the phone and focused on driving. Before I go to Astrid and pick her up, I'm going over to the library for one last reading with Aaron and Lana. After this, it's hard to tell when I'll see them again. First, I headed to the grocery store to get cookies for both of them. They were both there before me and I greeted them with a hug.

"Hey kiddos, how are you?" They both reply saying good and we walk to the books. When they picked the books they wanted, we went to sit down. Before I started reading I had to break the news. "Hey, this is the last time we gonna be reading together."

"What?!" Aaron spits out in surprise. His face looks hurt and I feel bad.

"Yeah I start school soon and I won't have any time."

"But you already have school, you have more?" He says in confusion.

"Yeah, I wanna be a doctor so it's gonna take a lot of school," I respond nodding my head.

"Will we see you again?" Lana quietly asked and I could see a tear forming from her eye.

"Of course, I will keep in touch with your parents and if I'm available, we'll read together again," I assure them and rub Lana's shoulder. She gets up and hugs me.