Eye For an Eye
Part Two
Stella (POV)
“So how’s Stirling treating you?”
Ethan asked me as he ate a chip. Ethan is constantly occupied with work. Well, exactly busy looking for work for himself. He’s not interested in taking a low-wage job.
He believes he is qualified for a high-profile position in a multinational corporation such as AXA or Royal Bank, and while it is admirable to have extravagant goals, one must begin someplace in order to progress.Nothing comes without hard work, consistency, and, I suppose, good luck, but my man. does not think that way.
We always meet on weekends, even though Ethan says we should get along on weekday evenings as well, but based on our prior chat, he chose to back off because I constantly inquire about the latest updates on his job search, and that conversation does not go well at all.
We were out in the diner, eating fish and chips. We felt like we didn’t have a date for so long after my classes started.
I smiled as I cut the fish into pieces.
“It’s really fantastic. I’m enjoying it so far, and I’ve made a friend who is both well-known and wealthy. Can you believe that? I made a friend who is over my league.”
I giggle at the end while eating the fish.
Ethan smiled sweetly at me.
“Oh, that’s wonderful to hear, honey. And don’t underestimate yourself. You know you have something that fascinates everyone who sees you for the first time. That’s how I fell in love with you, and I wanted to claim you as mine the first time I saw you at the club five years ago, and now I’ve done it; you’re mine. All mine.”
He took my left hand, which was grasping a butter knife into his enormous and dusky one, which often does funny things to my stomach, and talked in his alluring voice. Blushing excessively, I took my hand away from his, gazed into his lovely golden eyes, and said,
“Quit flirting with me. What was I saying, right? Carla. I understand I shouldn’t overthink it. She’s far too friendly to me. Like, I’ve always wondered what’s her motivation for being friends with me. Aside from being a backbencher, she is extremely intelligent in her studies and has the beauty of a Greek goddess, is popular as a star, and has more money than the Lord of Scotland. Actually, she is the Lord’s daughter. So it feels strange for her to be friends with nobody like me.”
It was highly alarming, and I conveyed my concerns to him.
Ethan rolled his eyes at me.
“Stop your paranoia, Stell. Not everyone has a reason for their actions. I understand that your previous experiences with bullying in school and college were negative. But now, no one has time for that. This is not acceptable behaviour among adults. Maybe your buddy Carla isn’t like that, and you mentioned that her life isn’t as typical as yours, so being friends with you could provide her with some feeling of normalcy.”
I felt a touch of relief in my heart and felt a little lighter because of Ethan. Even though he was difficult in some ways, he made me better by his words and being. That is why I adored him.
“Enough of your affluent friend; your food is growing cold. Now, tell me where we should go after supper?”
********************************
“My goodness gracious! My eyes were fatigued from working on the screen for so long, and my hands were still sore from typing that ridiculous thesis. I need to go to a spa after submitting it, and you’re coming with me.”
Carla flexes her hand and sighs quietly when her knuckles crack. I grin at her dramatic ranting.
“If you could work on it bit by bit every day. You wouldn’t have to cram yourself like that, but you always choose to work on it in the last two days.”
I was double-checking the thesis even though it was baseless because I had it printed from the store after working on my old desktop. I couldn’t afford the laptop like everyone else, so Ethan offered he buy it for me for my birthday, but I told him no because his limited funds were for his upcoming costs since he hadn’t had a job yet, and he wasn’t convinced about taking even a part-time job.
Anyway, I was reviewing my work while Carla was transferring her work from the laptop to her USB so that she could print it from the university’s office when she screamed out of nowhere, making me jump with fright.
“What happened, Carla?”
“I cannot find my thesis document. I can’t believe I saved it last night and now it’s gone. Oh! God, Stella, what am I going to do? I can’t miss this thesis at all.”
She was shaking and panicking at the same time, frantically searching her laptop screen for the important file.
“Do you recall that you saved it last night? Perhaps you simply missed it by accident since you were weary and drained after working all night.”
I approached her and cowered behind her to see at the screen, where the cursor was scanning every recently deleted file. She said she eliminated it by accident, but I strongly suspect she neglected to save it. After being friends with Carla for a month, it became clear that Carla, who was the pinnacle of perfection, had a tendency to forget things. She is constantly chastised by her social butterfly mother, who is a carbon duplicate of Carla, for missing key events such as the gala or parties with amusing names, which Carla laughs off.
Returning to the present situation, which was becoming growing uneasy as we only had an hour to submit our thesis, Carla was on the edge of breaking down with each passing second. And seeing my friend like that broke my heart. So I decided to help her.
“Carla! It’s okay! This happens. You may take my thesis. I could miss it.”
Carla twisted her head and snapped at me even harder than her glare.
“Are you crazy? Why would you think like that? It is your hard work, and you have already printed it with your name on it, so it is of no value to me. I suppose my GPA will be reduced. It would be a firsthand experience, and my mother would be quite proud of me.”
Her lips quivered as she spoke the last few phrases. I placed my hand on her shoulder and quietly whispered,
“I have my document stored in my email; we can open it on your laptop; all you need to do is change my name to yours. What are best friends for? To save each other, to support one another through good and bad times.”
Carla shook her head firmly.
“No! I am not doing that. It is your hard work, and I will not claim credit for it. It was my responsibility, and I should be held accountable.”
“But your mother is going to be pissed and I don’t want your GPA to get dropped.”
Carla rolled her eyes.
“And I told you this isn’t the first time she’s disappointed in me. It’s fine, Stella.”
Before I could argue with her, an idea hit me. Only one person can assist us in this situation. How could I forget that he was a tech genius, which is why he was so confident about getting a position in a higher niche.
“Just a second, Carla. Allow me to connect with someone.”
I took out my phone from my backpack and dialed Ethan. He picked up two rings. Before he could greet me, I blurted it out.
“Ethan! I need your help! You need to come to my university. Now!!!”
To be continued.
