Infinite Cashback: My Wealth Rebate System

"That’s great." Sarah stared at her own empty hand like it had personally betrayed her. "I’ve finally managed to lose my keys."

Jason almost had to admire the timing. They’d just spent the walk talking about nothing important, and now, exactly at the moment they were supposed to part ways, the universe had apparently decided a normal goodbye was too easy.

"Can you call your landlord?"

"I can but I don’t have his number."

"Spare key somewhere?"

"None"

"What of a neighbor? Anyone that can help you out or even let you stay at their place for a while"

"No one like that around currently"

"Roommate? Do you have one?"

She gave him a look. "Jason."

"Right. Just checking how committed we are to the situation."

She sighed. "I have a roommate."

He waited a bit observing her and her expression told him where this was going before she even finished the sentence.

"But she’s not home though. She said she won’t be back early today, school duties and all"

Jason glanced at the building like he could find more questions to ask on its walls and then back at her, now officially out of questions.

Getting her a hotel felt excessive for a misplaced key and a café meant her sitting there indefinitely with no clear endpoint.

Waiting outside was technically an option and also a genuinely bad one.

There was only one practical answer, and he’d landed on it several seconds ago

My apartment

He’d just been busy pretending he hadn’t known that conclusion

Not because it’s a bad idea. That’s the actual problem

Sarah was already looking at him and waiting like she was expecting him to save the situation.

"You can come to my place."

After he said that, a few seconds of silence passed by with none of them speaking. They just stood side by side, staring at each other

"I mean–!"

He caught himself, realizing several key words had apparently gone missing somewhere between his brain and his mouth.

"You’re locked out. I figured waiting at my place would beat standing on the sidewalk till your roommate shows up."

She said nothing still and just kept staring at him

This is not how I pictured this going

He’d imagined something simple....

locked out, come wait at my place, yes or no, and that’s done.

Not standing outside her building narrating his own reasoning like he was defending himself in front of a jury.

"You’re locked out," he said again, steadier this time. "Figured my place beats you standing here."

Sarah nodded slowly. "I know."

"Then why are you looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

He stared at her, and something in her expression clicked into place. It was not confusion, just amusement, thin and deliberate, sitting there waiting to be noticed.

Oh. She knows exactly what she’s doing.

He gave up trying to out strategize it. "Forget it. Are you coming or not?"

Something shifted in her face, the amusement folding into something more genuine, her eyes brightening before she could fully suppress it and she nodded, almost too fast.

"You’re right."

I’m right?

That had gone easier than expected, suspiciously so, and he didn’t get the chance to ask what exactly he’d been right about before she was already smiling.

"Okay. I’m coming."

She adjusted her bag and hurried to catch up, falling into step beside him.

That had worked too well. Actually he’d braced for another thirty seconds of whatever cross-examination she’d been quietly running, and instead she was walking beside him like this had been the plan since breakfast

His apartment had never once felt like a variable before. It was just the place things happened to him – sleep, exist, repeat. Now a girl was walking toward it, and every flaw he’d never bothered clocking suddenly filed an urgent report.

When did I last actually clean

He genuinely couldn’t answer that, which felt like exactly the kind of question a person should be able to answer.

His brain helpfully began reconstructing the apartment from memory, a shirt somewhere it shouldn’t be, something left on the table under the very reasonable assumption that Tomorrow-Jason would deal with it and Tomorrow-Jason historically, had a poor attendance record.

And now she’s about to see all of it. Well, she did come in here yesterday. Nothing much has changed since then

He sighed and dug for his keys. Too late to fix any of it now.

"You just casually keep your key in your pockets?" Sarah asked, watching him.

"Yes. What’s wrong with that"

She just kept staring at him before continuing

"I mean, that’s not really a safe place to keep something important"

Jason diverted his eyes from her to the key and then said

"Well, mine isn’t misplaced yet"

Her face pinched into a small, offended noise, and she looked away. Jason smiled, aware it was unnecessary and entirely unbothered by that fact.

His building came into view a few minutes later, and something in his stomach tightened, which was ridiculous.

He’d walked through that door hundreds of times without incident and now the mere presence of one specific girl had reclassified his own home as a site requiring inspection.

He unlocked the door and leaned in for a preliminary scan and after a little bit of observation of the room

Good enough.

He pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped aside.

"After you." He said while gesturing with his hands directing her into his apartment

Sarah walked in and Jason followed behind her, closing the door behind them, and just like that once again she was standing inside his apartment.

Before he could even offer her a seat, she’d made the decision herself and was walking straight to his bed and sitting down like she’d been assigned the spot in advance.

Oh right. We’re skipping the part where guests wait to be invited to sit

She bounced lightly against the mattress, testing it. "Okay, this is actually really comfortable."

"Make yourself at home," Jason said. "Though judging by how fast you claimed my bed, I think you’ve already handled that part without me."

"I’ll take that as permission"

"I was afraid you would."

He glanced toward the kitchen. "I’d offer you something to drink, but my fridge is currently more of a science experiment than a food source."

"That sounds heavily reassuring."

"You’re welcome."

"I think I’ll survive my stay here without refreshments."

"That is probably the wise call."

She crossed her legs, and Jason’s eyes tracked the motion a half second before his brain flagged the problem, her skirt had shifted slightly and showed more of her smooth thighs.

His eyes stayed exactly where they’d landed, the way her skirt had shifted higher when she settled onto the mattress, exposing more of the smooth skin of her thighs, the soft give of her thigh as she resettled her weight against the bed and it didn’t occur to him, not even slightly, to look away.

"You’re staring," Sarah said.

He met her eyes instead of pretending otherwise, no scramble for cover, no wall to suddenly find fascinating.

"I was admiring your legs."

Her face went warm almost instantly, not a slow creep, a full, immediate flush climbing up from her collarbone, and Jason watched it happen with the specific, quiet satisfaction of a man who’d just discovered a new, extremely effective button.

Didn’t expect that to land quite that hard. Filed away for future use.

"You’re–!" She stopped, recalibrated, tried again with slightly more composure than the first attempt had managed. "That’s not...you can’t just say that."

"Why not? It’s true."

"That’s not the point."

"What’s the point, then?"

She opened her mouth, closed it, clearly hunting for the version of this conversation where she still had the upper hand and not immediately finding it. "You’re supposed to be subtle about it."

"I tried subtle. You caught me anyway." He shrugged, unbothered. "Figured honesty was the more efficient option."

"Efficient," she repeated, like the word personally offended her.

"Very. Cuts out the whole pretending-I-was-looking-at-the-wall step."

She pulled her knees together on reflex, tugging at the hem of her skirt with a self-consciousness that hadn’t existed thirty seconds ago, and Jason noted that too.

The shift from completely at ease to suddenly, charmingly flustered, all triggered by one plain sentence he hadn’t even had to work for.

"You’re impossible," she said, though it came out with a lot less heat than the word usually carried.

"I’ve been told."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!