Kaitlyn leaned on the lab bench, watching the clear gel box before her. Small bubbles streamed up from the electrodes positioned to either side as her samples slowly began crawling through its center. The soft sounds of whirring instruments and quiet beeps served as background noise as she thought.

  Gel's running, PCR's running, centrifuge still has twenty more minutes to go… I don't think it's worth starting something new, but it's just long enough that waiting feels bad.

  With an effort, she clamped down on the mixture of impatience and restlessness welling up within. She was already ahead of schedule. There was no reason to push herself too hard. Besides, taking rests was important.

  As she continued watching the gel run—an activity on par with watching paint dry in terms of excitement—she allowed herself to consider the main issue that had occupied her thoughts recently. Namely, her money problem.

  I have too much money. WAY too much money.

  She'd run into the issue before, of course. But that was different. Her money had in spurts later in the loop, allowing her to buy up equipment and other items in periodic shopping sprees. Even then spending it felt like bailing water out of a leaky boat with a bucket. Now, it was as though a tidal wave had submerged it entirely.

  Everything she could possibly want—kitchen appliances, computer equipment, a top-of-the line electronic keyboard, and even a few impulse purchases besides—had already been checked off her list. She'd even forced herself to splurge on new clothes and decorations for the dorms, something she'd never even considered doing before. But even with all that, it barely left a dent in the signing bonus, not to mention the salary she'd be earning from here on out. It was too much.

  Groaning, she let her head fall into her arms. This is the weirdest problem I've ever had. Seriously. I know that there's a saying about suffering from success, but I didn't think I'd ever actually feel like that…

  There was only so much space in her dorm for all this stuff. The fact that she didn't want to outright waste the money just made things even more complicated. Ordering delivery or going out to eat for every single meal was one thing, but spending it on something that she would never feasibly use was a completely different one. That being said, leaving the money alone to gather dust also felt like a criminal waste as well.

  How do rich people deal with this? I can't even imagine…

  She lifted her head to look across the lab. Elliot stood at his bench, pipetting something into a row of microfuge tubes with precise movements. An idea sprouted in her mind.

  Kaitlyn bit her lip. It… it would totally be weird to ask. I shouldn't. But then again… what do I care? It's not like I'm going for an ending this loop.

  The more she thought about it, the more she realized this was a golden opportunity. If anything, it was a perfect chance to ask strange questions without having to worry about the consequences.

  "Hey, Elliot?"

  "Hmmm?" A pair of emerald eyes flicked toward her in acknowledgement before returning to his work.

  "You're rich, right?"

  His pipette froze in midair. After a moment, it resumed its motion, albeit a bit more slowly. His face remained impassive. "Why do you ask?"

  Despite herself, Kaitlyn found that she wasn't entirely sure how to answer. How exactly was she supposed to explain her situation? Wouldn't it sound like she was bragging?

  Well, I'm already in this deep. No backing out now.

  "I need some help. I got a really good signing bonus from a job, and I have no idea what to do with it… I honestly don't even know where to start."

  His brow furrowed. "I mean... why not invest it? Put it into something that will make it keep growing—stocks, real estate, a business…"

  Kaitlyn winced. Yeah. That's a totally reasonable thing to do, isn't it? Problem is, I don't want the number to get bigger.

  She'd already invested as much as she could in Kate's Kitchen—at least, as much as she could possibly fathom. As for the other options… even if she did want to grow her wealth, the reset would render those options useless anyway.

  Kaitlyn nodded slowly, then shrugged. "I get that. And don't get me wrong, it's a great idea. But… I kind of already have. That's why I want to know about the other stuff."

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  Elliot finished his pipetting, shooting his empty pipette tip into a sharps container with a soft click. He set the pipette down and leaned forward. "I hope you're not talking about things like fancy purses or jewelry or things like that. Because while those are definitely things that people buy... well, it's usually people who want to look rich, rather than actually put their money to use on something worthwhile.”

  She shook her head at the implied accusation in his tone. “No, not really... I've never really gone for that kind of stuff, anyway.” A small huff of annoyance escaped her as she searched for the right words. “I mean... I'm looking for things that are useful, but more in the short term than investments? Things that I can actually put to good use, but wouldn't normally think to buy because they're so expensive. Like...”

  “Like what, a car?”

  She stopped to consider it. "A car... That's not a bad idea..."

  The gears started turning in her head as she mulled the possibility over. She'd never bought a car before. How did she even go about doing that? Didn't it involve getting a loan and all sorts of other red tape?

  I mean, I guess it doesn't have to. I have enough money to just buy one outright. Although...

  A realization struck her like a bolt of lightning. A loan. This whole time, she could have been taking out loans to buy whatever she wanted. It wasn't like she'd have to pay them back or anything. The resets made that a complete non-issue

  I'm an idiot. How did I not think of that sooner?

  She nearly smacked herself. Regret at all the time she'd spent working consumed her. The thought that all of the literal years she'd spent at various jobs—first at Chella's, then at various software companies and now at John Avenue Capital—could have been avoided entirely...

  ...No, what am I thinking? After a moment of bitter reflection, her mind cleared. This is exactly the kind of thing the Enforcers would have taken issue with. I bet they would have shut me down almost immediately. Even if the loan didn't need to be paid back until after the reset...

  The fact mostly mollified her. Besides, it wasn't like she hadn't benefited from working in other ways, too. If she really had found an easy out like that, then who knew if she'd be where she was today?

  “You're seriously considering it, aren't you?”

  Kaitlyn snapped back to the present to find Elliot studying her intently. A mixture of curiosity and disbelief warred there, though she thought there might also be a hint of judgment as well. It made her feel like she had to defend herself.

  “Hey, don't give me that look! It would be a really good investment! I mean, I don't have a way to get around right now, and it would open up so many options...”

  “But don't forget that a car introduces as many problems as it solves, not to mention costs. Parking, gas, insurance, people constantly begging you for rides...” The ginger listed off the downsides as though acting the part of a reasonable parent. Still, Kaitlyn didn't let that deter her in the slightest.

  “Still completely worth it. I can eat the costs, and I know there are parking spots that I can pay to reserve. Besides, you act like I'd mind having my friends drag me to all the cool places around campus.” Her eyes practically sparkled with the possibilities.

  Elliot studied her once again, shaking his head. “Well, if that's what you want, I suppose…"

  "It is," she insisted. "Thanks, Elliot. You're a big help."

  He moved to run a hand through his hair, then took one look at the blue nitrile glove encasing his hand and stopped. Instead, he just lowered it back to his side. "Sure, I guess? Though… well, that's honestly not what I expected when you asked if I was rich."

  "Yeah, I know," she shrugged, trying and failing to suppress a grin. "Sorry to surprise you like that. It was just too good an opportunity to pass up. And I really wasn't sure who else to ask about something like this, you know?"

  "I mean… you know I'm not rich, right?" He raised a questioning eyebrow. "Not really, at least?"

  "Yeah, but your dad is. That's way closer than I've ever been to someone like that," Kaitlyn pointed out. There had never been a point where she'd personally known someone with that much money, either in this world or her own. Even if Elliot himself wasn't particularly wealthy, he had a much better perspective on the lifestyle and thoughts of someone who was than Kaitlyn could've ever dreamed of.

  "Sure, but it's not like he's out here buying megayachts and eating caviar with every meal. He invests pretty much everything back into the business."

  Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Are you about to tell me that you actually grew up in a trailer park, eating TV dinners every night and having to make your own toys out of sticks and rocks?"

  The ginger rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "No. I didn't. But we also didn't have gold-plated spoons lying around the house or a staff of butlers. I'm not saying we didn't have nice things growing up. But It's not like he went around flaunting his wealth and buying everything all the time. Really, the most expensive things I can remember him spending money on were vacations."

  Vacations. That's also an option….

  She had no idea how far she could go with those. Even if the game would let her book an impromptu trip to some tropical island somewhere, it didn't seem like something she could work into an actual route with any kind of ease. But during a rest loop?

  Maybe that's one other thing to investigate…

  Some part of her thoughts must have shown on her face, because Elliot's mouth twitched in amusement. "Look. Just… don't go wasting all of your money on dumb stuff, ok? Try to be at least a little smart about it. I've seen way too many privileged jerks end up with nothing because they didn't think their cash could ever run out. They're always wrong."

  Kaitlyn "Of course. Thanks, Elli. Seriously."

  She turned back to her gel, flicking the box's power off as she moved to image it. Believe me. I couldn't waste it all if I wanted to.