My eyes hurt. My head hurts. My body hurts. It feels like even my hair hurts. I groan as I wake, searching for Wyatt on the bed, realizing he’s not there. I look around the empty room. Last night comes back to me. Shit. He didn’t leave, right? I scramble out of bed, almost falling on my face as my feet don’t quite want to hold me up. I rush out to see if he’s still in the villa. To my relief I find Wyatt bent over cleaning up our bottles and glasses from the night before. He looks up to see me, a resigned look on his face. I brush my fingers through my hair, fix my clothes a bit to seem more put together as I walk over to him. I clear my throat. 

“So… we should talk?”, I breathe out. No one else is out of bed yet, but for more privacy just in case I suggest we take a walk on the beach. Wyatt agrees and gives me a few minutes to freshen up. 

When I come back he’s waiting for me at the backdoor that leads to the path to the ocean. I’m not looking my best and definitely not feeling my best, but here goes nothing. We walk quietly for a bit, the gentle morning breeze and smell of salt water would have been perfect if the mood wasn’t so heavy. 

“So… Money.”, I start, jokingly continuing, “The root of all evil.”. Wyatt does not look amused. I instantly regret it, this is serious, I don’t want him to think that I don’t take this seriously. 

“I’m really sorry Wyatt. I’m sorry I lied about the price of the villa. I know it’s just an excuse and that I should have talked to you about it, but it was just so perfect I didn’t want to give it up. I know it was wrong, but I hope you know I never meant to hurt you.”, I apologize to Wyatt. 

“And I’m sorry, too. I’m sorry Audrey that being with me might mean that the perfect villa isn’t in the budget. I’ll pay for my share of this villa somehow, but I can’t really spend the kind of money that you can. And I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, but you did. I asked you to talk about the price with me beforehand, so it hurts that you went behind my back to do this.”, Wyatt says. 

“And I’ll never do it again!”, I promise, “But Wyatt, I think we should talk about this a bit more. About money. About what you said last night.” I pause. 

“What do you mean?”, Wyatt asks hesitantly.

“About how you think I’m embarrassed of you for being poor or that I, what? Pity you?”, I say trying to remember our conversation, “Do you really think that?”, I ask. 

“No, I don’t know, maybe? It kind of feels like charity when you pay for me and pity when you have to come up with a fake price for me to be able to join? I don’t know.”, Wyatt explains, brows furrowed. 

“Being with you isn’t charity and I’m not spending money on you out of pity. I think you know by now that I’m selfish. Do I look like I would do something out of pity? No! I only do what I want, with who I want.” I try to reassure him, “And I want to spend my time with you and my money on us. It’s not because I think you’re lacking in anything or that I wouldn’t be able to stay somewhere less fancy, I could, I just don’t want to when I have the option not to. Wyatt, I have more money than I could spend in a lifetime and I’m not dying anytime soon, so let me spend it on us.”, I say, trying to explain that I don’t think less of him in any way.

“I don’t know…still, having you spend money on me feels…”, Wyatt trails off. 

“What’s the real issue with you not wanting me to spend money on you? I think we should get to the bottom of this. Is it like a pride thing? Or what? Scared of being seen as a golddigger?”, I challenge, remembering the gossip from our classmates, “Wyatt, I thought we decided not to let what others think get to us.”, I plead and continue, “I know you don’t want to seem like you’re using me for money, but what matters is that I know you’re not using me for money. Besides, honestly, I don’t care, you could use my money all you want. If our roles were reversed, wouldn’t you want the same?”. 

I can see his resolve melting, so I use a more joke-y tone and smile as I grab his hands in mine.

“Use me, use my money, pleaseee. You know I’m a bit of a bitch, so it’s too late to teach me new tricks, so just let me get my way, please? I just like you so much, so let me spend all my time and money on youuu, okay? Pretty please?”, I joke as I swing his hands back and forth, looking in his eyes, trying to make my smile contagious. Finally, he cracks a smile, jokingly pretending that he’s done with my antics, “Fine, fine, whatever you want, princess.”, Wyatt pats my head and pulls me in for a quick hug before we continue our walk, now with his arm around me. “But I’m still paying for my share of this villa.”. We jokingly argue back and forth for a bit more about who’s paying for what and when as we walk back towards the villa. I sincerely apologize again for lying and promise to never go behind his back again and Wyatt accepts my apology and seems to believe me, but makes sure I know our relationship can’t function without trust. No matter how hard things get, I swear to myself I won’t lie to him again.