An Opportunist is Born

LIAM

This isn't creepy is what I tell myself as I sit in the corner booth of the café, laptop open to a half finished economics paper I have zero intention of completing. I have been here for two hours, nursing the same cold coffee, watching the door.

April Chen walks in at exactly 2:47 PM. Right on time with a little help from a birdie.

"Hey, can I get a small black coffee?" she asks the barista, her voice tired. "And blueberry muffins, thanks." She pays in crumpled bills.

Chris walks in, some guy from a rival frat, sociology major. They settle into a table near the windows, close enough that their voices carry.

"Thanks for meeting me," April says, wrapping both hands around her coffee cup like she is trying to absorb its warmth. "I needed to talk to someone."

He gives her a quick kiss, leaning in. "Of course. What's going on?"

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Chris." Her voice cracks, and I pretend to adjust my earbuds while slipping them off my ears. "The rent is going up another thousand a month. Where am I supposed to afford that?"

"A grand? Jesus." Chris shakes his head. "Can't you talk to Steven? Explain y'all's situation?"

"We tried." April laughs, bitter and hollow. "He said if we can't pay, there are ten other students who can."

My fingers move as I pretend to type. The document on my screen is just random letters at this point, but my focus is razor sharp on their conversation.

Chris kisses her on the cheek. "What about your loans?" he asks April.

"I'm already at one hundred thousand, Chris. By the time I graduate, I will be drowning in debt for years." April's voice spikes before she catches herself, glancing around the café nervously.

I risk a glance over my laptop screen. April has her head in her hands, fingers tangled in her dark hair.

"I'm thinking about dropping out," she says, blowing out a frustrated breath.

"April, no."

"What choice do I have?" Her voice is muffled now, like she is talking into her palms. "I can't keep doing this. What's the point of a degree if I destroy myself getting it?"

Chris reaches across the table, takes her hand. "There has to be another way." he says, as a couple at the counter laugh about something.

"If there is, I haven't found it," April says. "My mom keeps asking when I'm coming home for Thanksgiving."

April continues, her voice hollow. "I can't tell her I might not finish school. It would break her heart. She is so proud that I got in here, you know? First person in our family to go to a university."

"Maybe you could take a semester off? Just to work and save up?"

I watch her gather her things. "I'm late for class. I will figure something out," she tells Chris, standing up. "I always do."

The hollowness in those words is audible even from across the café, because she doesn't believe it.

April walks past my table on her way out. For a split second, our eyes meet. She gives me a polite smile before pushing through the door.

After they leave, I sit there. My mind already running calculations as my coffee goes from cold to room temperature to disgusting. I don't care.

April Chen is Skylar's close friend. Has been since freshman year. And right now, April is desperate.

My father's voice echoes in my head, clear like he is sitting across from me. "Liam, never forget everyone has a price, son. Everyone."

Vincent Harrington. Hedge fund and real estate mogul. The man who believes he is God, and honestly, with his net worth, maybe he is not entirely wrong. I have spent my whole life watching him achieve the impossible, using his resources like weapons.

The same man who drilled into my six year old head to see the world in terms of leverage. To always learn what someone has and what they need. Then calculate how much it would cost to bridge it.

"that's the easiest way to successfully manipulate anyone" he whispered in my naive mind.

Growing up I told myself I was different, but sitting in this café, staring at April's empty chair, I feel my father's blood running through my veins like ice water.

The thing about desperation is that it creates opportunity, and I can solve all of April's all I want in return, is one thing access to Skylar.

My phone buzzes against the table, a text from my father's assistant about Thanksgiving plans, probably wanting to parade me around at whatever charity gala he is attending. I completely ignore it.

I go back to April's dilemma, this wouldn't be crude. I'm not a cartoon villain. This would be a business proposition between two intelligent people who understand how the world actually works.

I would be saving her from dropping out over something as mundane as money.