Credit, Debit, Regret

Nicole woke up on Saturday morning, eager to go on her morning scroll. She might have been stretching the limits of the word “morning,” but Nicole had no problem convincing herself that 23 minutes before noon still counted. Phone in hand, she was excited to see her favorite InstaFashionista pop up on the screen with a new sweater and phone case to match, which inspired Nicole to hop on her SnappyShop app and add the items to her cart out of solidarity. When she went to check out, Nicole had to think long and hard while scrolling through payment methods to figure out which credit card could carry the weight of a new purchase. She made the right choice, and her shipment was set to arrive the next day. She felt bad about spending the money, so she ordered some breakfast from ZipEats to help herself feel better.

That afternoon, Nicole went to play tennis with her friends: Hope, Ruby, and Penny. The girls went shopping beforehand for new tennis clothes and went to a cocktail bar after for drinks. Luckily, Nicole remembered which credit card of hers could carry the burden of such a fun time.

Nicole’s alarm on her phone woke her up early on Sunday morning. She put on a knee-length dress with a soft floral pattern and headed out. On her drive, she stopped for an iced coffee and a doughnut, but her last credit card couldn’t carry the load of that extra purchase. Luckily, the guy who was supposed to be taking Nicole’s money thought she was cute and insisted on paying for her breakfast.

When Nicole arrived at her grandmother’s house, she went right inside. She found her grandmother in the kitchen, and her grandmother greeted her with, “Oh! How are you, dear?”

“I’m fine,” replied Nicole. “Are you ready to go?”

“Would you like some breakfast?” asked her grandmother. “Let me make you something really quick.”

“No, I’m fine,” said Nicole.

“Alright, dear,” said her grandmother. “Let me go to the little girl’s room, and we can get going.”

Nicole’s grandmother went off to the bathroom, and Nicole glanced at her grandmother’s purse left lonely on the kitchen table. When she heard the bathroom fan turn on, Nicole sidled up to her grandmother’s purse and started poking around inside. She removed the wallet that was inside and opened it up, removing a hundred-dollar bill.

A few hours later, Nicole and her grandmother were walking out of church and towards Nicole’s car in the parking lot. The grandmother said to Nicole, “Would you like to get some brunch?”

“No,” said Nicole. “I have plans.”

Nicole drove them back to her grandmother’s house and pulled into the driveway. Her grandmother turned to her and asked, “Would you like to come in for a little bit?”

“I told you I have plans,” replied Nicole.

“Oh, alright,” said the grandmother. She started digging in her purse and said, “Hold on one second, dear… one second.” The grandmother produced from her purse her wallet, and Nicole stared at it as if it were a bloody knife. The grandmother examined the cash inside the wallet and said, “You’ll never believe this. I got a hundred dollars out of the bank this week to give to you, and now, for the life of me, I can’t find it. I know I didn’t take it out of my wallet.” She pulled out two $20 bills from her wallet and continued on to say, “I’m sorry, but this will have to do.”

“No,” said Nicole, “you don’t have to do that. You’re the one with a birthday next week. I should be giving you something.”

“I insist,” said her grandmother, shoving the money into Nicole’s hand. “You work so hard. Now you take this, and I don’t want to hear another word about it.

While Nicole was driving home to her apartment from her grandmother’s house, she stopped at Burger Town to get a cheeseburger and a strawberry shake. While sitting in the drive-thru, she received a call from her friend Hope.

“Hey, girl,” said Hope.

“Hey, what’s up?” replied Nicole.

“Want to do the casino tonight?” said Hope.

“I have to be at work at 8:30 tomorrow,” said Nicole, “so as long as we’re not there too late, I’m down.”

That night, Nicole, equipped with a new sweater, a new phone case, and the money from her grandmother, went to the casino with Hope. The girls spent most of their time at the bar, being gifted drinks by middle-aged men. They also spent some time playing blackjack, but it didn’t take long for Nicole to get down to her last $5, the same moment she pulled out her phone and saw the time was 2:15.

“Shit,” said Nicole. “I need to go.”

“Okay,” replied Hope, “but let’s do a slot before we go. Just for luck.”

“I just have $5 left,” said Nicole.

“Good,” said Hope. “Then we’ll do a $5 slot.” She scanned the casino floor like a pit boss, and once she had a target in her sights, she grabbed Nicole’s arm and pulled her over to the $5 slot machines.

Hope spun her $5 and went bust. “Lady luck just isn’t on my side tonight,” she said, shaking her head with a carefree smile. Hope stood from her seat and said to Nicole, “You ready to go?”

“One sec,” said Nicole, and her hand slapped the button to start her spin. The first reel landed on a dollar sign, then the next reel, and the last one, too. A flood of lights and sounds took over Nicole’s senses. It took her a while to fully register that she had won the $100,000 prize.

Nicole woke up on Monday at one in the afternoon. Riding the high of her good fortune, she decided to ignore the calls from her job and treat herself to a new BMW. Nicole thought it wouldn’t be very economical of her to spend all that cash at once on a car, so she took out a loan to pay for half of it at a 24% rate.

Nicole woke up on Tuesday morning and decided to answer the calls from her job that she had been ignoring. “I won’t be coming in anymore,” said Nicole over the phone to her supervisor. “It’s just not worth my time.” That evening, she treated Hope, Ruby, and Penny to dinner at L’Orso, the fancy new restaurant downtown. Nicole became very aware of her heart beating when she saw the total on the bill, and she decided to save herself a little money by only tipping 15%.

Nicole woke up on Wednesday and started searching the internet for cruises to Italy. She found a cruise she liked and ended up purchasing a suite for herself and one for each of her three closest friends. Nicole didn’t want to be too extravagant in this purchase, so she decided to buy the cheaper option of nonrefundable tickets.

Nicole woke up on Thursday and was bored, so she decided to give herself something to look forward to. She texted Hope, Ruby, and Penny, telling them she was going to take them shopping after they got out of work to prepare for their Italy trip. On their shopping excursion, Nicole bought everyone in the group a week’s worth of clothes. She also had them stop at a jewelry store so they could all get matching gold friendship bracelets with diamonds in them, and was very proud of herself for opting for the 14 karat gold instead of letting the jeweler talk her up to the 18.

Nicole woke up on Friday, and while doing her morning scroll through her phone, she saw that her favorite InstaFashionista had a new handbag. Nicole was beginning to worry that she was spending too much money, so she ordered the handbag in two color options, instead of all three options that were available.

Nicole couldn’t shake her lack of frugality from her mind, and her anxiety continued to grow. In an attempt to make herself feel better, she decided to buy VIP tickets to a concert that was happening that night. She didn’t really like any of the bands playing, and decided to take Hope with her so she wouldn’t be alone.

Nicole woke up on Saturday at noon, still drained from the night before. She picked up her phone and saw a text from her mother that read, “Don’t forget, grandma’s birthday party starts at 2. Please don’t be late. Love ya!”

At 1:30, Nicole walked into the jewelry store where she had purchased the friendship bracelets for herself and her friends. She was approached by the same jeweler who had helped her on Thursday, and he said, “Welcome back! I hope all is well with the bracelets.”

“Oh, yes. Thank you,” replied Nicole.

“Let me guess,” said the jeweler. “You decided to go with the 18 karats after all. Don’t worry, it happens all the time. Once people see them, they can’t get them out of their minds.”

“It’s not that. The ones I got were perfect,” said Nicole. “I’m here to get something for my grandmother.”

“Splendid!” said the jeweler, clasping his hands together. “Was there something you had in mind?”

“Nothing too fancy,” said Nicole. “Do you have like a small gold cross on a necklace?”

“Right this way,” said the jeweler.

He brought Nicole over to an assortment of options. She decided to go with a small cross pendant of 10 karat hollow gold on a simple chain. The total for the purchase came out to $150. Nicole swiped her debit card, entered her PIN, and was met with a message of “Declined: Insufficient Funds.”

“I’m sorry,” said Nicole to the jeweler. “This is embarrassing. Do you mind if I try one of my credit cards instead?”

With an accommodating smile, the jeweler replied, “Go right ahead.”

Nicole tried one credit card after another, and gave up after her fifth try. Her grandmother’s gift stayed at the jewelry store, and Nicole didn’t go to the birthday party. Instead, she went back to her apartment and crawled into bed, hoping that when she awoke, things would be different.