Xander's whole life wasn't Cordelia of course, just the biggest and best part as far as he was concerned. But he also had a job or rather two jobs. One as a Private, not the Lt. he'd bluffed the idiot agent as being, in the Army Reserves and one working for an insurance company. That second one was boring, so boring he wasn't sure how he managed to stay awake doing it, not to mention it involved math. "Somewhere Willow is laughing at me." He muttered as he completed another assessment, fortunately it mostly involved going through a checklist, but seriously he needed a job that didn't bore him to tears. But to get something better, he needed more education.
"You mentioned once that you want to go to college, but were going to wait until you could pay for it yourself." Xander said one evening as he was helping Cordelia run lines for her play. She'd been part of three call backs as they whittled the pool of wanna bes down and she'd finally won out over the others, much to both of their joy and was throwing herself into the role, even If it wasn't the kind of role that would win her awards, it would give her experience and that counted for a lot.
"Yes, you're already paying for almost everything Xander and I refuse to allow you to add college expenses for me to the list."
"No, I agree and I couldn't afford it anyway. We're scraping by as it is and only because I'm in the Reserves, but that brings me to what I do want to talk to you about. If I want something better than an entry level insurance job that bores the hell out of me, than I need to go to college myself."
"How would you do that?"
"The G. I. Bill also covers Reservists to a certain extent. I could do community college and work study as a job, instead of the infinitely boring insurance job, which would allow me to gain experience as well. And afterwards I'd have better job prospects myself."
"You would, wouldn't you? Would the G. I. Bill cover everything?"
"No, but I might be able to get a scholarship and the work study of course. Things would continue to be tight, but once through it, things should improve."
"What would you study?"
"I always did well in literature and history and thanks to working with Giles and Buffy, I know a lot about myths and stuff. I could get a degree in History or Literature or even Writing. I didn't just read On The Road by Jack Kerouac because I wanted to go on a road trip, after all."
"Any of those could be the foundation for more. If you wanted to, you could go back later and get a four year degree, but to start with, it definitely sounds like a good idea. How's the Reserve work going?"
"Good actually, they want me to take some classes too, I could get called up to active duty and they want me on an artillery officer position and I need the classes to get the position. They're impressed with how much I know. I still don't know how I held on to it, but I'm glad I did. I like the Army stuff a lot more than the insurance stuff."
"And you look hot in the uniforms." She grinned at him. "So that means a lot of school in your future.
"I told that idiot agent of yours that I was a Lt. when I'm actually a Private, not that he'd know the difference, but if I stay in the Reserves and I see no reason to leave them because I'm doing good with it, I'll advance and I think I'll take leadership courses too, become a noncommissioned officer. Better pay and more responsibility."
"You can handle it." She assured him.
"It's good to know you believe in me." He smiled his own lopsided grin back at her.
"You believe in me and we're working out because we believe in each other. I say go for it and I'll be there cheering and wolf whistling when you get your degree handed to you."
"And I'll be there in the front row on your opening night. Every one of them if I can manage it."
"Alright, that's settled, let's get back to running these lines, dress rehearsal is in two days and I refuse to flub any of my lines."
"You know our twentieth birthdays are coming up." Xander noted. "It's been a year and half since we graduated and I just realized we haven't spoken to anyone back in Sunnydale since we left. They never did return any of my messages. Which is a bummer because it makes me wonder if we were actually friends or was I the only one making an effort? They can't be that busy that they couldn't find even five minutes to call, could they?"
"Well, to be fair we're really busy too, but you're also right that you're the only one of you guys that bothered to call anyone at all. Maybe you should try again at Christmas and if you don't hear back, then move on."
"Good idea. I love you, Cor."
"I love you too, Xander. Back to work."
"Slave driver."
"Any objections?"
"Nope." He held her copy of her script and read the next line and she responded with the correct next line and they continued for a couple more hours before calling a break and making something to eat. Cordelia definitely wasn't fat and both of them wanted her to stay healthy.