Free So Many Reasons Why by Missy Johnson

something to wear.” I looked at her sadly, motioning
to the mess of clothes covering my floor.
    Cass jumped up, determined and smiling. “I’ve been telling
you for ears you have no taste. Give me an hour. Have coffee ready for me.” She
instructed, putting on her jacket.
    “Cass, what the- At least take some cash.” I called, waving
some notes at her. She ignored my pleas and raced out the door. I stretched my
legs out on the couch. I knew I had a few hours wait ahead of me. Cass was an
obsessive shopper. I checked my email.
    My mood dropped slightly when I saw there were no messages.
I really wanted to call him, but I couldn't bring myself to press dial. In the
end, I settled on a text, in the hope he'd ring me. It worked.
    “Hello you.”
    “Hi.” I smiled. I loved hearing his voice.
    “So, do you know anything about forcing children to eat
vegetables?” He asked, amused. I laughed, childhood memories of me stuffing
cabbage into my socks filling my head.
    “No children like vegetables,” I giggled. “Did you?”
    “No, but that's not the point.” He laughed. “I’m not four
and throwing a little tantrum.” Maddie cried loudly in the background. Poor
girl.
    “What are you trying to make her eat?” I was picturing a big
plate of cabbage and cauliflower.
    “Broccoli and sprouts.” Well, I wasn’t that far off. Even I
wouldn’t eat that.
    “Look, you have to make it fun. No kid is going to eat that.
You have to pick vegetables that are edible, for starters.” I loved that he was
asking me for advice. For once I didn’t feel like the inexperienced one in our
relationship. “Tell you what. Boil some potatoes, pumpkin, carrots and beans,
then fry them off together, all mashed up, and serve it on toast. Tell her it’s
my secret recipe.”
    “You’re secret recipe hey?” He repeated, amused.
    “Just do it. And call me back.” He laughed and agreed to
call me back. My stomach rumbled. All that talk of food had made me hungry. All
that was in the fridge was some mince, and a few vegies that were heading past
their prime. Maybe I could pull a Masterchef moment and make something out of all this.
    Twenty minutes later, my full plate of pasta was looking
pretty good.
    “Open up, Em!”
    I rolled my eyes. Cass had the worst timing. I put aside my
dinner and ran to the door.
    “Do you purposely wait until it's a bad time, or is that
just luck?” I teased her. She looked up at me in mock horror.
    “I guess it's just luck.” She poked her tongue out at me. “I
can go if you prefer. And take this shopping with me?” She held the bags within
my view and started backing toward the lift. I eyed the bags. We both knew
she'd won this round.
    “Get in here.” I grumbled. “If you want pasta, there is
leftover in the pot.” Cass never said no to a free meal. She joined me on the
couch, her plate piled high with pasta. I envied her ability to eat whatever
she liked and still stay so thin. It's not like she exercised either. Her idea
of exercise was shopping. She caught me looking at her.
    “What?” She asked, her eyebrows creasing.
    “Nothing. I wish I could eat like you.”
    “Why not? Not like you ever go out. Who is going to care if
you're a few pounds bigger?” She faked a surprised look.  “Oh, that's
right. Professor Hottie.” She teased. I rolled my eyes at her and gave her the
finger. “His eyesight is probably so bad it won’t matter what you wear.” she
made a face at me. “You know, being so old and all.”
    “Jealous much?” I gave her the finger. “He’s 38, not 60.”
    “ Jealous? ” Cass
made a face. “Not me, but I'm sure I could name quite a few females who would
be royally pissed off.” Cass licked her fork and giggled.  “You should
hear the talk about him before classes. I swear half his roll is only taking
the class to perve.”
    “I can understand why.” I giggled. Cass smiled too. It was
good to be able to talk to her about him. I needed this.
    “So” Cass