Howard felt okay being a broke college student the moment she said that. Yes. This girl that he found beautiful and smart and brave was also a broke college student and this made it so he no longer felt bad for being one. He hadn't even recognized until then that he had been ashamed that he didn't have parents with money.

Until then he hadn't even realized how much he went around lamenting this. When she said with a smile "i too am a broke college student." he smiled back and realized for the first time in a while he had felt seen and happy to have been seen.

It would've been different if Ashleigh came from money. Then the joke would've felt ostracizing.

Now the memories from the night were coming back in pieces. He had said something to the tune of her dad buying her all her stuff and she said that actually her parents didn't pay for anything and that she had to work two jobs to be able to afford anything. This shocked Howard. He had assumed she was upper middle class. The way she dressed and acted or something. Strange that he did that. Maybe others did that to him too?