We're Cool in College//Hamilton/BMC

Dinner With Rich

Jeremy's Pov

I glanced down at my wristwatch, sighing when it only read 5:00. I had been standing in front of Rich's door for about five minutes, debating whether or not to knock. Right when I had finally made up my mind, the door flew open and there stood Rich, staring at me with a look of shock on his face.

I shuffled my feet nervously. "Um, hey Rich."

He raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Jeremy. What are you doing here?"

How should I put this?

I lowered my voice carefully as I whispered, "My squip came back and I don't know what to do. I figured you could help."

Instead of looking surprised like I had expected, Rich only sighed.

"Jeremy, I really don't know what to tell you," he said somewhat sympathetically.

Then his face lit up.

"I was just leaving for dinner, wanna come? We can talk more," he offered. I stopped to think for a moment.

Do I really trust Rich? I think he's definitely a better person now than he was a few years ago, though to be fair, it wasn't entirely his fault. Well, I suppose I don't have any other choice.

I nodded.

After I agreed to eat dinner with him, Rich led me to his car and we drove to this semi-fancy Italian restaurant. When we sat down, Rich was the first to speak up.

"You're friends with Michael, right?" he asked, even though I was almost 100% sure he knew that already.

"Yeah. He is."

Rich moved his hair out of his face as he questioned me further. "How is he?"

"As far as I know, he's fine," I told him, wondering what he would care about how Michael was doing. I didn't even know they knew each other. Rich gave me a small smile.

"So, what was it about your squip you needed to ask me about again?"

I rolled my eyes, he seriously already forgot?

"Well," I started. "I was in the bathroom this morning, and he just appeared out of nowhere and started talking to me. I asked what he was doing back, and he simply said that I can't get rid of him," I explained quickly.

Rich leaned back in his chair, sipping his drink that had been brought over a few minutes before.

"And why would I know what to do?" Rich questioned me.

"I-I just thought that maybe since you had a squip-"

He cut me off by suddenly saying, "Jeremy, I don't know what the hell you did, but you must have screwed up something because my squip hasn't come back."

Rich leaned forward again to look me in the eyes. "The only thing I can suggest is that you learn to live with it, or try to ignore him."

I let out a disappointed sigh and stood up, then pushed my chair back under the table.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more help," Rich told me.

I mustered up a smile.

"Don't be."

I began to walk towards the exit, only to turn around when Rich called, "Tell Michael I said hi."

I waved as I kindly replied, "I will."