"Maybe she scheduled in preparing for sad, creepy future time?"

He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him, even as he knew that it was entirely unfair of him to pick apart his girlfriend or to let T.J. do the same. Still, there was enough truth in T.J.'s comment that he couldn't help himself as he continued to work on the cherry twist, his eyes watching the fire pit idly. 

"Oh, please, tell her. Not that she'll buy it for a heartbeat," he added. She always seemed to think he was slacking off, even when he wasn't. He was an E and A student. There wasn't any shame in that. Not everyone could pull out O's and he just had ever thought they were worth the effort. Sure, a lack of O's might, initially, make it more difficult to get a job, but once you did, it was entirely your abilities that moved you forward. And, unless every job on the planet involved reading boring books and writing ridiculous essays, he was sure he'd be just fine.

"What? This?" he asked, tugging at the cherry twist as he continued to gnaw at it. "It's real food," he added. "Sugar: more real than real food. 'Less you're talkin' sandwiches. I could go for sandwiches," he said, nodding thoughtfully.