Read Online Origin - Season One by Nathaniel Dean James - Free Book Online Page B

room. Amanda went straight to the bar and returned with two glasses and a pitcher of Coors Light.
    “Bottoms up,” she said and poured each of them a glass.
    Jesse took a sip and grimaced.
    “It gets easier,” she laughed and took a long drink from her own glass.
    “Wow! You’re an alcoholic,” he said.
    The conversation began naturally enough. Reminiscences about life in what they had always called the “Big M”. Jesse told her about his job at the Herald and his decision to become a journalist, and the flamboyant Mrs. Abernathy. Amanda described her life at Penn State with increasing contempt.
    Her advice about drinking turned out to be accurate. After the first glass, Jesse found the acrid, metallic taste of the beer developing an odd appeal. He also discovered it worked wonders on the tongue. By the end of his second glass, the room had taken on a euphoric clarity in which every detail seemed to spring out at him. He felt as if the world around him had been coated in a thick layer of pure optimism. Amanda found the situation amusing; she kept looking at him with a knowing grin.
    “Someone’s in a good mood,” she said as she poured him a third glass.
    “So tell me,” he said, picking up the glass and downing half of it in a single gulp. “Why did you come back? I’d like to think you just missed me, but I doubt that’s the whole story.”
    Amanda’s face turned serious for a moment as she considered the question. “I guess you could say I fell in with the wrong crowd. I know that sounds kind of lame, but you have to be there to see how things really are. There are people with money and people without, and all the progressive politics in the world won’t change that. Behind the scenes, the class structure is as medieval as it’s always been. I can’t say nobody warned me, I just refused to believe it. I guess I’d just seen one too many bullshit movies.”
    “So what happened?”
    “I started dating a guy. Real charmer. He played varsity football and drove a BMW. Enough to make you puke, right? Anyway, his dad was a state senator. He took me to Aspen for the weekend and bought me a Rolex. Can you believe that? A fucking Rolex. His dad came up to see him and we went out for lunch. I’d like to say the bastard at least made an effort, but he turned out to be the most obnoxious prick I’ve ever met.”
    When she didn’t go on, he leaned forward and said, “What did you do?”
    “Suffered through it. When we left, I actually started crying in the car. I thought he would take my side, but the spineless shit bag actually started making excuses for him. So I told him his dad was an asshole and he –”
    She stopped and looked down at the table.
    “He hit you,” Jesse said. It wasn’t a question. Every muscle in his body had gone rigid.
    She reached over and put a hand over his. “It wasn’t that bad. More of a slap, really. He was a bit of a pussy. I’m not making excuses out of guilt or anything. It stung a little, that’s all.”
    “What did you do?” Jesse asked. He felt like picking up the nearest chair and throwing it across the room. The fact that he was a little drunk made the idea seem perfectly reasonable, if not compulsory.
    “I got out and walked away. He followed me for a while trying to apologize. When I told him I’d be reporting him to the Dean if he didn’t leave me alone, he took the hint and left.”
    “Where did you go?”
    “Back to my room. I packed my bags and took off. My dad paid for the ticket and here I am.”
    “You should have called me,” Jesse said.
    She pulled her hand back. “I should have done a lot of things. Starting with minding my own damn business.”
    “Christ, Mandy. It’s hardly your fault.”
    “I know. But like I said, I had fair warning. I even lost my only real friend when she tried to tell me what I was getting myself into.”
    Jesse reached over and took her hand again. He looked her straight in the eye and said, “But you’d seen