“I just needed something to take my mind off… life. I’m just messing about with it all.” It’s the same argument I’ve used since they followed me in and found everything I’ve been working on for the past few weeks drying all around the room.
“This needs to be more than a bit of fun, Cal. It’s incredible.”
“You should set up an Etsy shop or something. Maybe you can earn enough of your own money to move away from Cruella de Vil,” Emmie suggests.
“As if they’d allow that. The only reason I’m going to be able to move out is when I’ve got a perfectly suited soon-to-be husband to move in with.”
“That’s bullshit,” Stella spits.
“You don’t need to tell me that. The fact that they let me move down here is a minor freaking miracle.”
“So I’m assuming Alex isn’t a worthy suitor for you?” Emmie asks.
“Honestly, her standards are so high, I don’t think anyone is going to be worthy.”
“Have you ever brought a boy home?” she asks, although I’m not sure why she bothers. She must already know the answer.
“I try not to bring you two here when I know she might show her face. I’m hardly going to subject a boy to that.”
“Nico has no idea how easy he has it, does he?” Stella asks, folding the hoodie up and moving over to the next one. “I’m going to need one of these, by the way.” She holds up the navy fabric against her chest, and Emmie laughs as she reads the text across the front.
Not your average princess.
“Have it. I basically designed it for you. You too, Em.”
“I’m not wearing anything with the word ‘princess’ on it and a fucking crown,” she sulks.
“Fine, what about this one?” I rummage through the pile I’ve already folded until I find a black, long-sleeved shirt with Underestimate me, I dare you, scrawled across the front.
“That’s more like it,” she says with a smile, reaching out with grabby hands to take it. “Thank you.”
She quickly strips out of her school shirt and drags it over her head.
“Goes perfectly with my resting bitch face, don’t you think?”
“You’re an idiot,” Stella laughs. “She’s right about Etsy, though. You could totally sell all this.”
I shrug. “Maybe. We’ll see. I’ve already got enough on my plate. This has just been an escape.”
“It might be the answer to your questions about your future.”
“I’m not sure locking myself down here and making hoodies and stuff is going to pass the Cirillo expectations of me somehow,” I mutter sadly. If my parents were like either of theirs, then I’m sure it could be a possibility. Unfortunately, that’s not my reality.
“You should do design and business, if that’s a thing. Learn everything to get this up and running.”
“I wish,” I mutter. “Nothing short of my standard business degree will do.”
“But you don’t want to do it.”
“You don’t need to tell me that,” I argue.
“Just fail your exams. Do another year at Knight’s Ridge with us. Double up on art and design and force their hands.”
“At the rate I’m going, I might not have to try too hard.”
“Calli,” Stella sighs. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re gonna do amazing.”
“Amazing in their eyes or yours?”