Both alarm clocks went off simultaneously so the roommates could get to the same 8 AM class.

Valentina really didn’t want to wake up because she was not a morning person but registration for afternoon classes had been full when she signed up. Keeley had to coax her with the promise of introducing her to donuts, the great American breakfast food.

They swung by a donut and coffee shop on campus that was covered by their meal plan and made their way to the life sciences building.

As expected, all of Keeley’s classes only covered the syllabus. First classes always went that way in college. And her classes were spread so far apart!

There were two back-to-back that were on opposite sides of campus. With only ten minutes to get there, Keeley had to sprint as she weaved her way through the other students and she arrived panting.

“What’s with you?” the guy she plopped down next to asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I…just came…from the furthest building…on campus,” she puffed.

The guy laughed. “Geez, hang in there. You’re in for a long semester.”

“I know,” she said with despair, making him laugh again.

She secretly sized him up. He wasn’t bad looking, with light brown hair and olive green eyes. His smile had one small chip in the front tooth but it gave him character. She had the random thought that Lydia would definitely be interested in this guy.

“What brings you to Chem 105?” he asked.

It was one of the harder intro level chemistry courses but it was required for all chemistry and biomedical engineering majors instead of Chem 101, which could be used as a science credit for general education.

“I’m a bioengineering major. You?”

“Organic chemistry.”

So he was just as big a science geek as she was. No one in their right mind would major in organic chemistry if they didn’t have a passion for it.

“What do you plan on doing with that? I want to get a PhD in developmental genetics and do research on diseases such as cystic fibrosis.”

He seemed impressed. “Wow, that’s super specific! I plan on going into the pharmaceutical sector in medicine development. And I just realized I didn’t catch your name. I’m Ryan Bradley.”

“Keeley Hall, nice to meet you.” She held out her hand to shake his right as the professor began speaking.

At the end of class, Ryan offered to save her a decent seat in case she was running late again. He seemed harmless enough so she accepted the offer and said she would see him Wednesday before heading off to work.

Unfortunately, she was in such a hurry after missing the first train that she wasn’t watching where she was going and smacked right into her former father-in-law on the sidewalk.

She apologized in a panic, frantically searching around for any sign of Aaron but he wasn’t there.

Thankfully Alistair didn’t recognize her because they hadn’t met in this life. To him, she was nothing more than a random clumsy New Yorker.

He looked down his nose at her. “Watch where you’re going!”

“Yes, sorry sir,” she said meekly before sprinting away from him.

Alistair Hale was terrifying. It was a good thing she wouldn’t have to deal with him regularly anymore.

Keeley didn’t notice that Aaron had stopped several feet behind his father to send a text message and saw the whole thing.

===

Aaron had seen someone that looked like Keeley a few times from a distance over the summer but didn’t realize that it was actually her until he saw her crash into his father wearing a Burger Barn uniform. He thought he was hallucinating because he missed seeing her every day.

It transported him back to their sophomore year of college when he went to pick her up at her place one night but her shift ended late. He waited at the door for a few minutes before she showed up behind him, apologizing profusely and smelling like bacon grease in her black and red Ace Burger uniform.

He knew she worked in a restaurant but hadn’t realized it was a fast food chain. Ace Burgers were dotted up and down the highways all throughout Massachusetts. He frowned. Ace Burger only paid minimum wage; she deserved more than that.

“Why do you work at a burger chain?”

She gave him a look that clearly indicated she thought he was stupid. “Um, because they were hiring when I needed a job? Duh.”

“Aren’t there better jobs on campus that you could do?”

Keeley shook her head. “Nope. There aren’t very many student jobs and they’re high in demand. It’s not so bad; I’ve gotten two raises since I started working there!”

“How much?”

“Twenty-five cents each,” she said proudly. “I’m making eight dollars an hour already!”

The fact that she seemed pleased with that was mindboggling. It cost more than $8 to get a muffin and coffee at his favorite café.

He wanted to tell her that she didn’t need to do that; as his girlfriend he was more than happy to provide what she needed for her but he didn’t dare so he kept his mouth shut and let her go shower so they could go on their date.

Over time she complained more about her manager and her back began to hurt from standing so long during the shifts so he finally broached the subject.

“Keeley, you know you don’t need to work, right? We’re going to get married after graduation anyway and my money will be your money so you may as well take advantage of it now.”

She was appalled. “Are you crazy?! No way, I’m not letting my boyfriend pay my bills.”

“But that job isn’t any good,” he said bluntly, thinking of her previous complaints about work.

“It may be a crappy job but it’s MY crappy job. I value hard work.”

So did Aaron but there was a difference between meaningful hard work and pointless hard work. She had a way to pay her bills readily available so breaking her back for no reason was foolish.

“Keeley, you should reconsider. Ace Burger is a terrible place.”

Then she got mad at him so he didn’t bring it up again for a while. He tested the waters about six months later after she got in trouble for calling in sick even though she followed the company’s policy.

She got upset again and told him to drop it; she would quit when she was done with college and found a better job back in New York. Her stubbornness, which could be endearing, was very frustrating on this point.

Working unnecessarily got in the way of them spending time together and she was always tired and moody after she got home from her job.

It was a point of contention between them until after graduation when they officially got engaged and he told her that she should take a break from work for a while to focus on the wedding.

He didn’t realize then that she would take his words to heart and never go back to work again, fully acclimatizing to the socialite life.