What Goes Around

Adam sat hunched over his desk, watching a paper plate spin around the pencil he’d poked through the center. The rim of the plate was marked with thirty-eight squares colored red, black, or green. The plate stopped spinning, and Adam muttered something to himself before jotting a few notes down on his scrap paper.

“You’re still playing with that thing?” Bruce asked.

Adam sighed. “There’s a system at work here, and once I figure it out, we’ll all be a lot better off,” he answered without even looking up.

Bruce rolled his eyes. “That’s what you said about your last scheme.”

Across the room, Ryan, their third roommate looked up from his textbooks. “Well, his last scheme did work, mostly.”

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. “Adam’s last scheme was card counting at the casino.”

“But we did learn to count cards,” Adam argued.

Bruce scoffed. “No, Ryan learned to count cards, and when security realized he could, they took our money and threatened to break his legs!” Bruce opened a beer. “Now thanks to you, I don’t even have a decent place to hustle pool.”

Ryan closed his book on American literature and frowned. “Adam, we’ve been trying to find a way to cover tuition, the dorm, and everything else since we got here. Maybe it’s time you just try getting a job like me.”

Adam looked back at his desk. “Ten hours a week as a desk jockey isn’t going to get us much.”

Bruce shrugged. “It’s better than what you’ve got now.”

Adam spread his arms. “Well, I’m tired of living on bologna sandwiches, and now that Cade moved out, we’ll need even more to cover his share of the rent.”

“Alright then. Well, two heads are better than one, so tell me what you’re trying to do,” Ryan asked.

Adam took a breath. “It’s supposed to be a roulette wheel.”

“Roulette?” Bruce gasped, “you want to go back to the casino?”

“Look,” Adam said, “The only reason the casino didn’t work is because they caught us cheating. If we find a way to cheat at something they don’t think we can cheat, then we’ll be fine.”

Bruce folded his arms. “And how do we do that?”

“The wheel spins at a certain speed. The ball spins at a certain speed. That ball is going to stop on a specific square, it’s math. We just need to find a way to add all the factors together and find out which square.”

Ryan looked up from the desk. “He might be on to something.”

Bruce mulled the concept over. “Maybe, but you’d need a computer to figure it out,” he admitted.

Adam dropped his head in his hands. “And I’d have to design a program to check everything, but I can’t do either.”

“Allison probably could,” Ryan whispered.

Adam cleared his throat. “I don’t … talk to her anymore.”

Ryan and Bruce shared a look. “Yes, you do,” they answered.

The next day, Adam scanned the faces in his business lecture for one of the few he’d recognize. A moment later, he took a breath and walked over, then clumsily dropped his backpack next to Allison’s.

She looked over and smiled, but almost instantly a look of confusion crawled over her face. She and Adam had shared at least one class a semester since freshman year, but he’d stopped sitting next to her months ago.

She blinked a few times. “Hello?”

“Hi,” Adam replied. “How... um, how have you been?”

“As good as you could expect,” she answered.

Adam drummed his fingers on his desk. “Good, that’s good.” He paused for a moment, fidgeting with his paper and pens. “Are you still a computer science major?”

“Yes, why?”

“I think I can make some real money off of roulette, but I need a computer to do it,” he said.

“Oh,” Allison answered. “So this isn’t- I know what happened between us wasn’t pretty but I was hoping we’d still be- you know.”

Adam dipped his head. “It’s just weird, okay?”

“I’ve tried reaching out,” Allison offered.

“I know!” Adam answered, a little too loud.

Allison flinched and he lowered his voice. “I just… needed some space, but if you’d like, then maybe you could help me with this, and we’ll see how things go.” He sat a flyer for an event at the casino on the table. “By tomorrow, if possible.”

Allison nodded. “Okay, so, roulette, how’s it work?”

Adam pulled out his paper plate and started explaining the basics. Allison watched intently before taking a small, black notebook from her pocket and writing a few things down. An hour later, the class let out and they walked down the lecture hall to the door. Adam was still on edge like he usually was around Allison, but at least now things weren’t as awkward as they had been in class. He held the door open and let her walk through.

“Thanks,” Allison said. “I… like your idea. It’ll take some time, but we can figure something out.”

Adam tried to hide the smile brushing his lips. “Yeah, maybe this one will actually work.”

Allison blushed and looked away. “Um, I’ve got work today, but maybe I can find you later?”

Adam thought about it, then relented. “Okay, you can hang out at the dorm if you want.”

Allison nodded. “Sure, that’ll work.” She froze, and her smile faded.

Adam followed her gaze and saw a young man in a dark jacket and glasses leaning up against a silver Altima. He didn’t look special, just a short, skinny guy with a cheap car, but he stared back at them like he owned the campus.

“I should go,” Allison said. “He doesn’t like when I talk-”

“To me?” Adam asked.

“To anyone.”

Adam nodded, then turned to leave.

“Addy,” she called.

Adam halted; he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been called that.

“It was nice talking to you.”

A few hours later, Adam sat quietly in front of his paper pate as Bruce lumbered in the dorm with a cardboard box.

“What’s that?” Adam asked.

Bruce pulled out a cheap, plastic roulette wheel. “One of the frats was having Vegas night, I figured it would help if I borrowed this.”

Adam smiled. “I’m glad you’re coming around.”

Bruce shrugged. “Eh, I figure I don’t have much to lose at this point.”

Adam set the wheel on his desk, letting the ball rattle as he spun the wheel, stopping to take more notes. A few hours spinning, and he was interrupted by a knock at the door. Adam opened it and let Allison inside.

She handed him a small tool bag and a box of random parts. “I’ve got the algorithm figured out and I could probably run everything on my cell, but I still need a camera and an earpiece.”

Ryan perked up. “I’ve got an old phone and some Bluetooth headphones you can use; will that work?”

“Probably,” she answered.

Ryan walked to his room, then handed the equipment over. “Good luck, guys!”

“Thanks,” Adam said, then turned to Allison. “We can take Cade’s old room. There’s more space.”

As Adam took Ryan’s phone apart, Allison pulled out her laptop and began typing in the plans from her little black notebook. They worked in silence for a while, then Adam spoke up.

“So earlier today, did you get in trouble?”

Allison stopped typing and sighed. “Like I said, he doesn’t like me talking to other guys.”

“But was he mad?”

“He wasn’t happy, Adam,” she snapped.

The room went quiet for a few minutes, then Adam spoke again.

“He doesn’t deserve you,” he whispered.

Allison paused. “I know,” she replied.

“Then why stay?”

Allison’s eyes began to water. “Because it’s better than going back to my mom. Because he’s been in my life longer than almost anyone else. Because even if I don’t love him, I already lost him once and I don’t want it to happen again.”

“That doesn’t mean-”

“Drop it, Adam.” She took a shaky breath. “Please.”

Adam nodded, then tried to change the subject. “If you could get away from everything, then, what would you do?”

Allison’s shoulders slumped as she stared at the screen. “If I could, that’s exactly what I would do. I’d run away from everything.”

“Even me?” he asked.

Allison stopped for a moment, then nodded. “I’ve wanted to run away my entire life, just, start over and be a new me. I’d leave every part of the old me behind.” She sighed. “But I can’t, so I hold onto him.”

Adam cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean-”

“It’s fine.” She looked back at the computer. “Can I stay tonight? I want to finish this.”

“Yeah,” Adam answered. “I have an early class tomorrow, but I can meet you at the casino?”

“Works for me,” Allison muttered.

The next day, Adam stood outside his car as Allison placed the camera on his collar.

“You’re sure it works?” he asked.

“It drops the odds from thirty-seven to six. Put the earpiece in, it’ll beep for the number you should bet on.”

Adam frowned. “I guess losing sometimes makes it look more real.”

“How much do you guys have?”

Adam emptied his pockets. “Forty bucks.”

Allison nodded. “Ok, so ten bucks a bet. We can do this.”

Adam took a breath, then they walked inside. They took their places at the table and watched as the wheel spun around and around. Adam turned his camera on and put a ten-dollar chip on the table.

The earpiece buzzed.

“Fourteen!”

“Miss!” the dealer announced.

Adam swore, then put more money on the table.

“Twenty-nine.”

“Miss,” the dealer answered. “But close!”

Adam sighed as he set down one of his last chips.

“Eight.”

“Hit!” the dealer exclaimed.

Adam broke out into a relieved grin, spinning around to hug Allison, then collected his winnings and placed a fifty on the table. They played on, laughing as their pile of chips grew until they struggled to carry it.

Allison looked at the chips in awe. “That’s almost thirty-thousand dollars!” She glanced over at her partner. “How are we going to split it?”

Adam gave a sad smile. “I don’t think we should.”

Allison leaned away like she’d been slapped.

He pushed his pile of chips towards her. “Take it. All of it. A quarter share isn’t much, but thirty thousand? That’s more than some people make in a year. It’s enough to start on at least.”

A tear dripped from Allison’s eyes. “I can’t do that.”

Adam grabbed a hundred-dollar chip from the pile. “This is still more than we walked in with. I’ll keep the computer, and I’ll come back in a few days. I’ll make even more than we have now, and you get that fresh start. You don’t have to go back home and you don’t have to stay here.”

Allison wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Adam.”

Adam hugged her back, trying to keep his own tears from coming. As they pulled away, he stood.

“I should go. You know where to find me if you still want to send a card.”

Allison smiled through her tears. “Or to say goodbye.”

He chuckled. “That too.”

Adam trudged away but stopped when he saw Bruce at the door. “What are you doing here?”

Bruce shrugged. “I wanted to see how well you did.”

“About thirty grand well.”

Bruce nodded. “But we won’t see a penny of it.”

Adam shook his head. “Not really.”

Bruce put his arm over his friend’s shoulders. “Eh, she needed it more than we do. Thirty grand won’t last her a lifetime, but maybe it won’t need to. You just gave her a chance, and that might be the first time anyone’s ever done that.” Bruce looked at the chip in Adam’s hand. “Besides, what goes around comes around,” he said with a wink.