Athena's Enigma

18 - Adding More Worries

Weeks passed and little changed between me and Logan. I did notice him linger a second longer whenever we would hug goodbye but I never repeated the kiss on the cheek thing. I was tempted to every time I felt Logan hesitate before letting me go but Peyton’s voice would always pop in my head. ‘…you’re digging yourself deep in a hole.' 

Evie left to go back to New York without meeting up with me again but we did talk on the phone. It was nothing too overly exciting but whenever I was feeling lonely or sad, I trusted Evie to cheer me up just by hearing her voice.

I didn’t talk to Jason much; in fact, I found that whenever I tried to catch his attention, he would run off the opposite way. I wasn’t even able to give him the money he wanted personally. I gathered it together and left it in his mailbox in our apartment building. The next time I did run into him was when I was pressed for time and was going to Olympus for the Thanksgiving Bash.

I was locking my door since I knew I would be away for the entire weekend when I heard the door across from me open. I turned quickly greeting my neighbor with the accusation. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

Jason looked like a deer caught in headlights but at least he didn’t run away. He slowly unfroze from his stance. “Um…yeah about that…”

“What’s going on?” I leaned against my now locked door.

“It’s nothing,” Jason dismissed with a sad expression. ‘I just can’t pay you back your money right now. Actually I need more money now than ever.’

I looked at him apologetically. “If you have a problem then you can talk to me about it.”

Jason’s chocolate brown eyes met my own bronze ones and he sighed. “I don’t have your money.”

“That’s okay,” I said in what I hoped was an encouraging manner. “Take your time. I’m not in dire need of the cash right now.”

Jason rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Yeah and I am in need of it.”

I reached out in attempt to comfort him but I stopped myself before I actually came in contact with him. I bit my lip before I gently asked, “Do you need more?”

Jason’s eyes widened at me and he began shrinking back away from me even though I wasn’t advancing on him. “I can’t take more money from you. I already owe you some and I’m not going to keep taking all your cash.”

I pulled out a hundred dollars that I had left over from shopping. I had taken out my full amount earlier to buy groceries and it was what I had left over. I waved the collection of twenty dollar bills in front of his face with a smile on my face. He watched it like a dog watches a treat.

“So you just owe me more?” I shrugged nonchalantly. “You can pay me back in increments if you need to. I’m really not that worried about getting the money back.”

Jason slowly put his hand out to grab the cash I was still holding but he held back before he became too close. I briefly considered throwing it at him then running out of the building.

“What are you?” Jason raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Are you rich or something?”

I shrugged still holding the bills out. “I would say decently funded.”

Jason took the money slowly as if he was unsure if the bills would disintegrate upon his touch. He began counting the bills in his hand still looking pretty depressed.

“I feel like such an asshole that uses you for money,” he confessed meeting my eyes once again.

I shook my head. “I don’t feel like that, so don’t worry about it! Go get back on your feet and have a happy Thanksgiving!”