“I sent you to film school because you wanted to go.  I didn’t think you wanted to be the breadwinner.”

            “Okay,” Tina said angrily, standing up and walking down the hallway.  “It’s clear that want me to have absolutely NO autonomy.” 

            John caught up with her. 

            “How can you even say that?  That’s not true.”

            “Then let me do this.  Please, John.  It would mean the world to me.  And to be honest… I’m going to make this move with or without you,” Tina said, turning to walk away.  John grabbed her hand.

            “Hey,” he said quietly, lowering his head to meet her gaze.  “With me.  Definitely with me.”

15 Years Ago

            Bette waited while Tina unlocked the door to the TenMart.  Being such a small convenient store, their boss only needed two employees on at once.  Most mornings, it was up to Bette and Tina to open up the store on their way in.  As Tina opened the door, she flipped the closed sign over to open.  Bette turned on the lights before getting the coffee started.  Lastly, the girls checked to make sure the security cameras were working.  In this part of town, break-ins and hold-ups were not foreign events. 

            “So I was going through my savings jar the other day,” Bette said, closing the small door that would put Bette and Tina behind the circular counter.  “And, not counting the money I have to give my Dad for the electric bill this month, I have a couple hundred dollars saved up.”

            “I think I have 150… Maybe 200,” Tina answered.

            “So, only a little bit more and we’ll have enough to each take a class at the community college.”

            Tina sighed.  Talking about money like this always depressed her.  She wished her and Bette’s parents had money, like the kids she used to go to school with.  Most of them went away to good schools, expensive schools, even though they weren’t as smart as the two girls.  It seemed completely unfair.

            “Don’t worry, my baby,” Bette said, squeezing Tina’s hand.  “We just have to stick to the plan.”

            “Tell me that plan again.”

            “Well, we’ll start off with one class.  Two, if we can afford it.  And we’ll take them at night, so we can keep working during the day.  And we’ll just keep saving, like we have been.  Take enough classes until we can apply to a real university.  Once the schools see how well we’ve been doing in our classes, they might offer us scholarships, you never know.  We’ll just try to get as much financial aid as we can.  You’ll get a hot shot degree in Film and I’ll go art, and we’ll both get incredibly high paying jobs.  Pay off our college debts right away.  And move into a huge house in LA, where the arts are everywhere.  How’s that?”